Cnn breaking News Amar codes alongside John Berman. With cnns continuing coverage of Hurricane Helene, the Monster Category four storm set to make landfall just south of tallahassee, florida. And at any moment, nearly 1 Million people are already without power across florida and also georgia and the impacts they are far reaching this is new Video Tonight of rescues that are taking place in fort Myers Beach in southwest florida. Youve got local deputies using boats to rescue people who call for help. Streets. Theyre turning into rivers the warnings are dire. This is a patent strophic storm, packing can winds around 140 miles per hour and the Storm Surge Forecast or say, will be unsurvivable 20 feet in some parts. Helene is one of the biggest storms to ever hit the gulf coast. Its about 400 miles wide absolutely massive and making matters even worse all of this is happening in the dead of night. Florida governor Ron Desantis is set to hold a Press Conference a few moments from right now, and he has been urging people to evacuate all day. But now the time is running out. Well bring you his update live as soon as it begins. Team of correspondents and meteorologists had been fanned out all along The Storms path. All night long and our width us as we approach this historic landfall, john will begin with you right in the bullseye there in tallahassee. Whats it like there right now the wind is so strong behind you were unable to hear you effect actively right now, which just tells us just how significant is were going to come right back to you so we can get this taken Care Of. Please Stay Safe. Well come right back to you. John berman in the bullseye of this storm. Lets go right now to Cnn CorrespondentCarlos Suarez in st. Petersburg, florida, just southwest of tampa. You have had to move to higher ground all throughout the night because of the flooding in the area, what are you seeing so far . Thats exactly right, laura. So we began today out in gulfport. That is about 20 minutes from where we are. But because of the Storm Surge that they are late this afternoon, anywhere between four to six feet of it. We had to find higher ground and then from there, we tried to make our way back to hillsborough, which is the Tampa Area, but because several bridges have been closed because of this storm, we decided to stay put in st. Petersburg and the flooding here is just as bad as it was over in gulfport. If you can kind of make out where on that because much of this neighborhood is without power, you can see he just how much of the bay has pushed into this one street out here. The white stuff that you might be able to make out in some of this water here, some of this Bay Water we believe to be a part of some styrofoam, a party. Of a concretes, a doc that was broken in half that sits just behind me, but its really well be difficult for you to make out just because again, theres no Power Out here and its really difficult to put a light considering the amount of flooding that is going on at that place. Theyre going into The Storm. The concern from Emergency Officials in Pinellas County was the fact that even though the hurricane was going to track North And West still vause. And so this area was not going to get a direct hit. The concern was that these lowlying areas would flood no matter what. We have prepositioned in Pinellas County the last two years in a row to cover to other hurricanes. One hurricane was en, two years ago, that hit to the south. And then last year here we were in Pinellas County to cover hurricane idalia, which made landfall to the north. And in both of those hurricanes is this part of Pinellas County flooded and it flooded pretty bad. In fact last year during hurricane idalia, which again stayed off the Coast State to the west, went to the north, did not have a direct impact on things out here for more than 1,500 homes here in Pinellas County were damaged in the flooding. Laura unbelievable. Were seeing the water. Were seeing the white matter and substance. Its floating around. Youre thinking about the power to be able to break up some sort of a dock is unbelievable. And we know the winds are picking up. We just tried to talk to John Berman as you can hear, hardly hear anything he said because the winds were that strong. Were learning up to 100 140 miles per hour. This is incredibly dangerous look earlier this afternoon when we were in gulfport, The Storm was directly to the west of us when we saw the worst weather of the day. Thats when we started getting those strong gust of wind. Thats when we started seeing that Storm Surge just push all of this water from the bay onto this one neighborhood where we rely from. Its also where we saw the heaviest rainfall throughout the day. And so what would john is experiencing is obviously a magnitude that we did not see here. But the fact that we were on the western, the eastern side of The Storm rather is he cut as part of the reason why we saw the worst weather even though it was about 100 miles to the west of us and the real big issue laura, with this storm and the other storms that weve seen the last couple of years, is that what ends up happening is when all of these forces some these confluence of Forces Kind of come together, you end up with exactly this. And what i mean by that is when The Rainfall hits and then youve got the Storm Surge hitting and then you add to that High Tide, there is absolutely nowhere for this water to go. And in fact, this does seem pretty high already well, a little bit below my knees here, but were being told its probably still got a couple more feet because High Tide is around the top of the hour and 1 00 in the morning. So even though The Storm has all the way up by the panhandle, several hours from where we are were still not only feeling the effects of the Storm Surge, which again its pushing all this water in were still seeing some of that rainfall. Were still seeing some of that strong wind. And yet we still have to deal with the fact that we have High Tide, which is going to hit tonight, which is why we dont expect a lot of this flooding to recede until Tomorrow Morning when low tide comes in unbelievable. Carlos suarez please Stand By. I want to go back to John Berman. He is in tallahassee. John what is it like for you right now very wet. The water was getting into more wires, which is why we lost audio before and its down now in my boots, you mean you Cant Wear Rain gear that keeps rain out like this . I mean, its just coming from every direction now, the winds are picking up. It is going to get progressively worse over the next several hours once The Storm makes Landfall South of here, it will really speed right over a tallahassee in tallahassee while there have been names storms that have passed over the last several decades, none that seem like theyre going to be as strong as Hurricane Helene is with sustained a Hurricane Force winds over the city of some 200,000 people. This city has got the beautiful live oaks everywhere in what theyre most concerned about here. In tallahassee. Hes isnt the Storm Surge thats going to happen 25 miles south of here. Theyre concerned about the winds bringing the trees down, knocking Power Out, closing hundred of roads. Their concern over the next day or so. And then of course, theres The Rain also. I mean, its rain in parts of this county, eight inches. Already and i dont think the worst of it is going to come down for the next hour or so. So it was just so wet the ground is so saturated, its going to create major, major problems overnight, everyone hopefully inside now, youre gonna to ride this out over the next several hours. Laura, regarding berman, there are colleges in tallahassee, florida. There our students who are probably far from home wondering how theyre seltzer and the Fema Administrator has all but begged begged residents. Its okay. This hurricane seriously do even seek shelter on higher ground. Have locals heeded those calls . So florida say you mentioned the colleges, florida state, they evacuated several of their dorms on Campus And Move students into one evacuation centers, some 750 students moved out in many of those students are staying at a shelter on the football team, got out early so that they can get to their game this week. Yes here in tallahassee itself, Leon County, the evacuation orders, the mandatory orders were only four Mobile Homes and manufactured homes. Those were the mandatory orders. Everyone else just told to be really, really careful and be careful will means pay attention to where the trees are near your house Governor Desantis, the last time you spoke to talked about when you hear the limbs cracking, you know, theres a problem, gets somewhere safe inside your home into a center room, maybe a bathroom, depending on where you live, maybe a basement. Not so many basements in this part of florida, but thats the main concern. And nasa, what you need where you need to take precautions, laura. Well, John Berman, i hope you robert, as well Stand By. Were going to keep relying on you lets turn now to cnn Meteorologist Derek Van dam, who was In Apalachicola, florida. Youre in that big Bend Area. What is duration like on the ground there at this very hour yeah, apalachicola, so were roughly 50 miles or so from the center of Hurricane Helene, which is now just moments away from making landfall in Taylor County just watching for these updates because remember, landfall is not win the Eye Wall crosses land. It actually has to have 50 or more of the ai to cover, to go over land. And this is important because it effectively begins the process of taking away its energy source, which is the abundantly warm record recordbreaking, Warm Ocean Waters. So this is going to stop its strengthening process, which it has been doing for several days and rapidly here within the past 24 hours to different rapid intensification cycles before its final approach. Just to land. So we are just seeing whats happening and unfolding as The Storm makes its imminent landfall. And in the big Bend Region, not only with the record breaking Storm Surge coming out of Cedar Key eclipsing hurricane idalia, thats happening as we speak. But there is this extreme Wind Warning and i want to talk about how important that is, because the national Weather Service reserves that warning for only the most extreme events such as this. And they asked the residents who decided i did laura not too, actually evacuated. That they need to treat this where theyre under this extreme Wind Warning, Taylor County, for instance, treat this as if a tornado was barreling down at your house. So you need to move into the center of your home away from windows. The sturdiest part of your home . To ride out The Storm. And i think its really important to note too, if we do have viewers that are tuning in, in and around the eye are will receive the center of Hurricane Helene as she works her way inland this storm will go calm for a period of time. This is the nature of hurricanes, especially when theyre this powerful and you may get curious. You may want to go check out your property your business, your home that is not the time to do it because what will happen on the ballot . Backside of an ai will be a change in Wind Directions and wins just as fierce as what you are struck with on the northern side of the eyewall. So i think its really important that people understand that this extreme Wind Warning, the most intense part of Hurricane Helene, right now is not that time to go outside and check on your property. This is the time to bunker down and it really just ride The Storm out as best as possible you know apalachicola here i think weve been spared the worst, but were really going to be thinking about the people too our east who are taking, taking the brunt of The Storm as a meteorologist here, im fearful what sunrise will bring for the big Bend Area. And so many other locations that are being impacted by this theres No Doubt in my mind, laura, that this will be another billiondollar disaster to write on the History Books my god, derek Van Dam, thank you so much, guys, please Stand By and thank you for those warnings to make sure people are aware. This is not the time to go and check property. I want to bring in Cnn Meteorologist Chad myers. He is at the weather center. The latest advisory saying the Hurricane Helene is very close, very close to making landfall in that florida big bend. And you just heard our colleague, what is your biggest concern right now . Certainly that we have a 7. 5 or eight Foot Surge and its only about halfway done because now that the center of the eye has moved very close to shore or onshore. Now, its going to be the West Wind that pushes all that water back into seen hatchie into Cedar Key and the water is just going to go up all night long. And we he talked to people earlier today that said, were not leaving, were going to stay and i think that might have been the wrong wrong answer. Were going to have to see that morning, perry, you just got a Wind Gust of 76, seeing some other gusts now, over 90 miles per hour also, the threat of tornadoes on the ground tonight, when a landfalling hurricane gets into the land and itself, The Storms that rotate around it start to spill. The friction of the land. They begin to spin and some of those can put down tornadoes. Weve already had a couple of reports of some damage today, so theres the ai before i got here, just two minutes ago, i was anxiously hitting refresh as fast as i possibly good because we are right there On The Edge of half of the eye being on land and the other half of the eye being still offshore. Thats exactly when that center passes. Thats when they call landfall will still have to see this is 140 mile per Hour Wind here in this center thats the problem were seeing right now. Berman backup here in tallahassee getting these outer bands, derek back over here still seeing the northern bands getting pushed that way and then cross city Steen Hatchie, door to Cedar Key. Boy, that water could go up here for a moment after speaking, lets listen some sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and is moving north nor see northeast at 24 mile per hour Hurricane Force winds are extending up to 60 miles from the center of The Storm and tropical Storm Force winds extending 300 miles f