could be. >> neil: the first major hurricane of the new season is on. certainly in the atlantic. idalia is anyone's guess. a category one could be a category three by tomorrow at this time with winds in excess of 120 miles an hour. 16 million americans are in the path of this with the dangerous winds and surge. governor desantis warning residents to make sure that they have a plan to get out and get out fist. welcome. i'm neil cavuto. we're following this thing. hard to gauge exactly the path of this storm when all is said and done. let's get the very latest from steve harrigan in duneden, florida. steve? >> the path could be huge chunks anywhere along the westest coast. throughout much of that territory today, people were filling sandbags. right now, a lot quieter. like a ghost town here. most businesses have shut down. the 120 miles per hour winds, that could knock down houses and uproot trees. the storm surge could be eight to 12 feet. that could submerge cedar key. there's been mandatory evacuations for 16 counties. when you talk about warnings, advisories or watches, could affect 20,000 people. some are evacuating, just going inland trying to get to higher ground. the state has been preparing now for several days. 25,000 electrical workers on the ground. they expect electricity to go out in huge parts of the state. the governor mobilizing 5,000 national guard. >> neil: thanks, steve. let's get to latest from adam kl klotz, our meteorologist and what he makes of the storm. could be very different. >> yeah, the storm still has a lot to strengthen. the winds are at 90 miles an hour. it's still sitting a ways off of the coast of florida. people are feeling it. these are some of our winds speeds. remember, this storm is going to intensify. already some spots across the florida keys saw winds up to 60 miles an hour. they're going to get stronger. we're already beginning to some some initial bands of rain. some of them are impressive. we've seen a ton of lightning and strong winds. absolute downpours. this is still way out to shore. the storm will get stronger and going to get closer to shore. that means more damage will be on the way. tornado threat for the entire state. you can see the conditions are possible that those storms that i was just showing you could spin up as much as an ef-2 tornado. ultimately, this storm does track itself up to the florida big bend. tomorrow morning, a whole lot of different conditions. the wind, the rain. obviously the storm surge. you can pay attention to the time stamp in the corner. gives you a good idea of what we're expecting, this is in-house model. that's mid night. by the time you get to 7:00 a.m., this particular model showing it off of the florida big bend making landfall between 7:00 and 11:00 with the powerful winds, that's when the surge will be at its worse. this runs you through that entire time frame. we have indicated wind speeds getting up to 100 miles an hour. that would be absolutely devastating to be in some of those regions. with that much wind, that large of a sum, you talk about what the peek storm surge could be. right in that general area, you're talking about as much as 15 feet of storm surge. the florida big bend, while it's not the most populated area in florida, fairly low-lying territory there. that could be doing a lot of damage. i want to show you this. we're talking about landfall at this point. it's going to be a major storm as it moves across the southeast. for a little while, staying as a hurricane before becoming a tropical storm. everything you're looking at here in this orange, somewhere in the range of four to eight inches of possible rain. there will be isolated areas getting up to a foot. infl ffl ffland -- inland flood major concerned. a huge swath of the country, not just the landfall, but all the way across south georgia, south carolina, north carolina. you'll be dealing with tropical storm, maybe some cases hurricane force conditions. so a lot of folks will be dealing with this. it's not just necessarily about when this makes landfall. >> neil: thanks, adam. he's tracking this monster. just to bring you up to date on what it's precipitated, the tampa international airport suspended all flights this morning. all the other florida airports are working business as usual. not too far away in orlando, they're taking things hour by hour. but for now, all facilities remain open. all florida parks, amusement parks are open. also taking it hour by hour. that could change dramatically tomorrow. we're also seeing out of an abundance of caution that a rocket launch was delayed for 48 hours. the florida public schools, again, out of an abundance of caution are shutting down as are most state universities. the new college of florida, the university of north florida and the university of south florida. in a lot of those cases, out of caution, ahead of the storm's arrival formally tomorrow. andrew fosso, the pasco county emergency management director. how is your vantage point? >> so we're still looking at a possible category three phase storm. paralleling our coast, going by us. we are looking at a storm surge of anywhere between six and nine feet. we've been informed that we're going to have sustained winds anywhere between 60, 80 miles an hour along the coast and inland also. we will get some stronger gusts as the storm passes by us. we've been very proactive with this storm. compared to when we had ian. this storm is one of our worst nightmare storms. we're hoping that it stays on the track and does not start making more of an easterly trajectory because that just puts us in a worsen ordinary yes. we do have six shelters open. we have nine sandbag sites open at this time. we've been proactively messaging the citizens of pasco county to heed the warning. you know, run from the wind, hide from the wind. evacuate tens of miles, not hundreds of miles. if you need a shelter, go to a shelter. we have transportation. we just know the storm surge is going to be very messy for us. >> neil: how do you handle the possibility -- you touched on it -- if it does move more eastward that is more problematic. for people that might be going further inland to seek shelter, at least they don't have to go 200 or 300 miles to seek shelter as things stand now. what do you tell them? >> so the only thing we can do is preach the word to these folks. people came very complacent when storms pass because they don't hit us. it's not just our county. it's all counties through florida. unfortunately all we can do is message message. try to get the word out to them that, you know, this storm is dangerous even though it's not a district impact. >> neil: earlier sir, i had a chance to talk to the st. pete mayor. they were going door-to-door recommending evacuations. somewhere in heeding that, they said year going batten down the hatches and get our way through it. you can't force that. i understand. even when they're mandatory, not all evacuate. >> so we do the messaging. we push it out. we have seen today that this morning when the shelter is open that it was only a trickle of citizens going in. but our population right now has doubled and almost tripled since earlier in the day. some people are heeding the warning. we put ever bridge messaging out letting them know that it's a mandatory notification, that it's mandated evacuation. unfortunately like you said, we can preach it, they can go around with loud speakers and blast it through the streets. the citizens unfortunately will do what they want to do. >> neil: you know, there's 22 florida counties under evacuation order. but we have 46 at the very minimum that are under the state of emergency. so evacuation orders i guess could follow. how does that work? you don't want to jump the gun or have people evacuate that might not have to. is the better part of caution here to evacuate even though you're in an area that might not be directly hit? >> so our messaging for evacuation is a very methodical process in pasco county. we've seen the ramifications of when counties don't proactively message early enough. they get behind the curveball. we during ian, we did after ian came through, we did a citizen survey on what things we could have done better. one of the things that came out was more early messaging for evacuations. so this time we were very proactive with it. we sat down, we looked at the models, we got with the national weather service. got their concurrence on what we looked at and decided to message people to get out. >> neil: and you're doing your job and then some. director, you're not getting sleep or rest. i'm sure people appreciate you. be safe yourself. thank you. >> thank you. >> neil: a lot of the communities along this way, some dealing with similar situations with ian last year. how they're bracing for that right now. we'll talk to the mayor of tampa after this. it's easy to get lost in investment 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liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> neil: all right. you later a lot about the storm surge expected with idalia right now. depending who you talk to and when and given the path of this, it could be from 9 to 12 feet above normal tides from where they stand right now. the surge is a big issue here. that's something that robert ray is keeping a close eye on and clearwater beach. that's where he is right now. robert, how does it look there? >> yeah, neil. good afternoon from clearwater beach. look at this. the outer bands have begun to come in. look out over if gulf of mexico and in the distance, you still see people here even though there's a mandatory evacuation. those squalls are beginning. every once in a while, we get wind and the rain. that is the thing. mandatory evacuations here. they want everybody off by 7:00 p.m. the storm surge is expected to potentially be up to seven feet rolling across the beach, in the parking lots, on the main streets causing big damage to structures and vehicles. governor ron desantis haas been updating everyone for days now. he talks about the emergency preparedness and his latest discussion with the media and public. >> the state is already starting to feel some effects of this in the southern part of the state. you'll start to feel some effects in the northern part of the state probably later tonight, the beginning of tomorrow morning. we have expanded our executive order this morning. we now have 49 counties total. >> 49 counties, neil. 29 of them are in evacuation orders. there's 64 counties in the state of florida. that shows you how intense this storm, idalia, is. it's a category one, almost a category two right now as it is trekking up the coast, expected to make landfall on the big bend, which is north of here called the -- basically the forest and nature area as it leads in to the panhandle. the last time a major hurricane hit the big bend, 1950. it was called hurricane easy. that entire area could see up to 15 feet of storm surge that could go in miles in that pocket. we won't see miles of surge here near tampa and clearwater beach. be very dangerous as tonight about midnight, this is all going to go in full hostile environment mode and last through noon tomorrow. you have a very limited finite moment here to create your game plan. be careful. don't lose your life as the water comes in. >> right back at you. i hope you have a safe place to hunker down. i see you going out in the middle of this. just be safe. robert ray, clearwater beach, florida. by the way, if you want to keep up with this and who doesn't, this fox weather app is still a go-to site. man, i don't think i've used that so much than i have in the last 24 hours. all things about the weather, the prop ticks, what you have to look for. safe places to go, safe places to avoid. just tips for people that are out of mediate harm's way. what riptides could do to you. all of this that is spelled out neatly on that app. in the meantime here, robert was touching on tampa and the impacted there. the community knows well from ian about a year ago what you have to do to prepare for this. jane castor kind enough to join us now. mayor, good to have you. how are things look something. >> well, right now things are looking wonderful. we're just starting as you heard from robert, we're a few miles awhy from clearwater beach across a bridge. we're starting to see the first rain bands coming through. as indicated, we should have hurricane force winds later this evening around midnight. tomorrow with that storm surge and that will include a king tide, which is the highest of our tides based on the full moon, it will be very impact for. >> neil: that complicates efforts here. how many have left or evacuated the area, mayor? >> well, you know, we've changed the evacuation approach. as you have heard from the governor and many others, it's hide from the wind, run from the water. so we're not asking people to evacuate to another state. just get up to higher ground. so we feel that our community has heeded that warning and getting out of those zone a, low-lying areas. one of the issues with us, we've emptied out our storm water ponds. taking care of a lot of the issues that we could take care of. when that storm surge comes in, there's no place for that water to go until that goes out. we're looking at the storm surge staying in for hours. >> neil: that is interesting, too. it's a relatively fast-me having storm but almost doesn't matner a case like this. i'm also told that -- i'm glad you cautioned us. people don't have to go a couple hundred miles. just a few miles further inland, higher land. but what if it does tilt a little bit more eastward? all bets are off. you can't plan for that. a lot of people oftentimes stay in place not knowing how far to go. is it worth the trouble of going with the traffic and everything else. >> one of the things we have learned in these instances, mother nature is in charge. so we thought we were in the cross hairs of ian last year. it took that dogleg turn in to fort myers beach region down there. so anything is possible. that is why we do all that we can to prepare our community. as far as evacuation routes, we work very well together here in the tampa bay area. but really pinellas evacuates through hillsborough county through the tampa area. so those individuals in clean water need to get out soon. that's where the traffic will start to pile up. but, you know, those individuals that although we don't have a point of reference having been hit over 100 years ago, the lessons that we learned from the impact of ian last year i think are still on everyone's mind. they understand the significance of this storm and the unpredictability of it as well. >> neil: absolutely. mayor, best of luck to you and your constituents and all floridians as you get through this. you will get through it as you did last year. we'll focus again. thanks, mayor. jane castor. want to update to the mayor's point here. a lot of tolls, all tolls across the state of florida now have been waived on highways particularly out of the danger area to allow for the fast processing of traffic. shelters are open, hotels are prepared to take in evacuees. anyone that wants to get out and find shelter can. more than 30,000 utility workers were gathered to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's way. we're also learning about 5500 national guard troops that have been activated throughout the area in a moment notice to deal with this. we're learning in tampa, by the way, not far from tampa, that 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of a concern that the system could bring more storm surge. again, that notion that you hear, you run from the water and hide from the wind is apropos here. we're keeping an eye on that as the tempo builds up later on. this is a do-or-die moment. ron desantis has cancelled all campaign appearances as those vying for the presidential nomination are competing specifically and gathering in iowa as we speak. the latest on that front after this. 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>> good afternoon, neil. the caucus goers and donors trying to maintain the momentum from the first gop debate. one republican front runneder donald trump skid. a federal judge set his trial the day before super tuesday. 2/3s of the republican delegates could be up for grabs during his trial. >> he's going to go to trial on march 4. he's going to be there every day for six to eight weeks. instead of being out there, taking the case to joe biden and the democrats. we need a republican that is beating the democratic incumbent. >> much of the republican field is focused on foreign policy as vivek ramaswamy shows his proposals. he says israel should normalize with its neighbors eliminating the need for aid. >> you need a president that understands that, that understands that iran, israel is the front line of defense when it comes to us dealing with islamic terrorism in iran. he doesn't get it. you can tell the kind of leader based on how they run their campaign. >> ramaswamy said professional politicians have twisted his words. governor ron desantis is off the trail back in florida for his state's response to hurricane idalia. there's one fewer republican and floridian in this race. miami mayor francis suarez has suspended his campaign after he failed to make the cut for last week's debate. neil? >> neil: thanks, rich. suarez the first candidate to concede and get out of the race as rich said. the impact of that. we have alex here, the hill reporter. alex, to you first on the significance of suarez stepping down. it's not a shocker what did you make of it? >> yeah, it's not a surprise. it's notable that he was a fellow floridian going against governor ron desantis. he was trying to take votes away from him as well as former president trump. so that is just one other person away that may be floridians would have sided with. he was also a young person who really brought kind of fresh face to the field and i think he might have excited some people by being kind of a new name. but of course hi didn't make the debate stage and that's a huge hurdle to overcome. so his campaign definitely had reached a dead end. >> neil: what is difference in this case, usually the test would be caucuses or something like that a primary itself and the weeding out begins, this is the rare case it didn't make the debate stage. might we see more before iowa? >> yeah, potentially. you'll have a coming debate in fox business next month. you'll have the rnc is setting a higher threshold for getting into that debate. so potentially lacking candidates, whether it's doug burgum or asa hutchison, do they face the choice of dropping out or not. so yeah, potentially you'll see more people drop out before these races, these contests begin next year. >> neil: alex, if you think about it and for obvious runs, governor desantis stepped away from the campaign to focus on what's going on in florida. that could work for him just to show that, you know, leading through something like this. your thoughts. >> yeah, that's right. i think the way he handles this hurricane will show off his leadership qualities or not. the governor's presidential race has been a lot about culture wars and fighting this woke agenda. this is an issue that doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. dealing with a hurricane in your state is a huge issue. that matters to the people on the ground. republican or democrat. so the way he handles this and the way that floridians respond to the way he handles it will be huge and put him on the national stage. we know he's spoken with president biden and he works with the federal government is important. he can put politics aside and focus on floridians. so all of this is telling especially after the debate and going to the next one where we can talk more of these cultural issues and have this in his back pocket. >> neil: thanks, guys. thank you for that. by the way, we're getting more updates from florida as we prepare for the big storm. hotel chains are offering hurricane distress rates to help those that might otherwise fear going there or don't have the money to go there. also waving pet fees for some evacuees that want to make shower they're taking their dog or cat or anyone else. don't forget them. after this. 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. >> neil: all right. here's a vantage point that you don't so i every day. looking inside via the noaa folks, what idalia looks like right now. expected to be a category three storm tomorrow when it makes landfall overnight sometimes we're told. could be 2:00, 3:00 a.m. maybe by then with winds in excess of 115 or more miles an hour. jonathan shannon, the noaa public affairs specialist. that's what these guys do. i appreciate that and all. what does it tell you and what you hearing back from those that venture in. what kind of storm are we looking at? >> yeah, thanks for having me, neil. we work hand and hand in our aircraft back down to the shore with the national hurricane center. we're taking the weather station to the weather over the ocean where they don't have instruments. yeah, we have satellites. this gives us a close-in look with the orian aircraft that grow see there. we go in there, we launch weather instruments to collect the data, in order to understand how this storm is building up, if it's intensifying and also gets really good idea about the track or which way the storm might move based on how the upper atmosphere is acting. that's our gulfstream 4 aircraft that does a lot for that. >> neil: obviously looks massive. you're a trained eye at this. i'm curious, we're also told it's a fast storm moving when last i chicced, 15, 14 miles an hour. so that could be a mixed blessing. advantageous if you're worried about severe flooding, storm surges are a given and maybe substantial ones. it could be fast. >> yeah, and we spend about six to nine hours inside the storm in order to get really good positioning. we cross through the storm four or five times during one of those missions in the p-3 in order to be able to tell the national hurricane center forecasters exactly what's going on inside that storm so we can drop these drops and get pinpoints to measure the speed. as we're flying, we're looking at winds at the surface. that helps with storm surge and an instrument that is a downward looking instrument underneath the wing. measuring that the entire flight. that helps get how big the wind field is and how much water that will push ahead of him. so all of that goes to our talented folks at the national hurricane center center. they're the ones getting that advisory out there to let you know what to expect. our main job is to get out there, get the data and make sure people have enough time to make those decisions and make those evacuations that you talked about with the mayor. >> neil: you guys are crazy or both or brave. to go into that beast and take these images is startling. thanks very much. >> thank you. >> neil: florida resident, gary kaltbaum. a lot of floridians tend to be eager to evacuate or get out of town when everything is hitting. not everybody. a good many will do that. but many opt not to because it's a pain in the neck. if the retreat area is only a few miles away, it beats driving 200 miles, right? >> yeah, look, it ends up being a personal decision. unfortunately the state of florida has a lot of experience with this. i just tell people, you know, think about life first, everything else second. i talk about andrew in 1992 in boca raton. they took us around after the storm. it was levelled. looked like an a bomb hit. i just think everybody just needs to be careful. these hurricanes, they have no bias. they will -- rich or poor, does not -- young or old, they will come and get you. if you're not careful, you know, bodily harm will be done. they're no fun. >> neil: you've always reminded me of the many years regardless of where the hurricane is, there's disruptions for folks across the country in the path of it or not. i mean, the immediate impact, the higher energy prices is refineries shut down. we have not seen a huge impact of that thus far. but there's disruptions and particularly in a busy and economically, you know, strong area. and that has an impact. >> well, florida is a great economic roof. the cruise industry, eight to $10 billion a year. so if that gets impacted, does not help the situation. so yeah, you know, the overall gdp, if things -- let's keep our fingers crossed this doesn't get too bad. if florida goes south, it hurts the rest of the country. leave no doubt to a certain extent as far as the numbers are concerned. you just have to watch very careful. the good news and bad news is we have plenty of experience here. businesses get out of the way, cruise ships move out of the way. they take people off of the rigs in the gulf and protect life first. everything else is secondary. >> neil: thanks, gary. all the mayor theme parks around orlando are remaining open, plan to remain open. they're taking things minute by minute, hour by hour too many. we're also following carnival cruise lines, which is redirected a few ships as has royal caribbean. more after this. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. 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>> neil, good afternoon. congress can pass a band aid bill with a mix of democrats and republicans. some conservatives don't want that. that's because an interim bill renews all old spending. that's what the right opposes. >> for leader mccarthy, speaker mccarthy to say that he wants us to extend that is insane. he's known for nine months that we need to deliver the appropriation bills. >> the freedom caucus is raging at kevin mccarthy for suspending the debt creeling with more democratic votes than gop votes. conservatives don't want to see that again. some republicans have seen the consequences of previous shut downs backfire on the gop. >> government shutdown waste funding, when we shut down the government and bring it back up, we spend more money, not a single federal worker loses a day of pay, but we lose the productivity of the working. they go home. >> republicans will push for cuts in a final spending agreement. that could take until late fall or the winter. that could mean a series of stop gap spending bills. >> i don't think there will be a slut down. we're having lots of internal discussions now with respect to how to fund the budget the next 12 months. i hope we can agree on cuts and holding certain bad actors accountable in the federal government. >> this comes as steve scalise was diagnosed with blood cancer, a source close to scalise says that it was caught early and is not aggressive. it's unclear if scalise will miss time for treatment. the house returns september 12th. neil? >> neil: thanks, chad. we told you about the tampa international airport shutting down. it closed early in the wake of the hurricane. that was the same thing with the st. pete clearwater international airport. we'll have more after this. lowt fall's shorter days... call for bigger deals. get the most out of your fall projects... by getting the most out of our deals now. and with lowe's pay, it's never been easier to shop at lowe's. labor day savings are here. in-store and online. #1 isn't a status earned overnight. it's earned in every wash, and re-earned every day. tide. america's #1 detergent. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ what do we always say, son? liberty mutual customizes your car insurance... so you only pay for what you need. that's my boy. now you get out there, and you make us proud, huh? ♪ bye, uncle limu. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> neil: all right. the administration has been monitoring the developments in florida. peter doocy has more from the white house. >> reporter: i am just out of the oval office where president biden kept most of his comments to his costa rican president but he did make a comment. >> we are in constant contact. we had the director of fema. we are worried about the surge, the ocean surge. it's hour to hour we're watching this. i told the governor and the mayor areas that are likely to be hit first, that we're there as long as it takes. we'll make sure they have everything they need. >> reporter: and the fema administrator joined us earlier to say ron desantis, governor desantis, is concerned about getting as much federal help to evacuate vulnerable populations as possible. >> this storm is very strong and is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane by the time it makes landfall due to high surface temperatures in the gulf of mexico. this means heavy winds, high wind, heavy rain and a forecasted 12-foot storm surge. very few people can survive being in the path of major storm surge. this storm will be deadly if we don't get out of harms way and take it seriously. >> reporter: they took a lot of incoming here at the white house because the reaction to the maui wild fires. they're at least preplanning for this storm. much different. neil? >> neil: thank you for that, peter, at the white house. speaking of that storm, we're learning right now out of clearwater, florida, clearwater public utilities reduced the flow of drinking water to clearwater beach today. we do this, they say, so if there is a mainbreak on the beach during the storm, we don't lose all the water. makes sense to me. brian onst is the mayor of that beautiful city. he joins us right now. mayor, how are things looking there? >> we're prepared. the good news, neil, is that after ian last year, the devastation in ft. meyers, sanibel, people are taking this seriously. in the past people didn't because we had so many people that just went by us, never hit us. they saw the devastation. we are not in the path to get the full brunt of this, but we're still going to get around 2 p.m. tomorrow peak of the storm surge, which will be 4 to 7 feet. which means clearwater beach will be under water, as will most of our beaches up and down the coast here. people need to get off the beach. the transportation stops at 5. there still will be emergency vehicles available to help. until winds reach 40, 45 miles an hour. >> neil: you talk about prior experiences, mayor, and they're not taking anything for granted. i get that. there were some early hopeful reports on the tracking of this storm, sir, that showed it veering ever so slightly. i'm just going by governor desantis' latest press conference, to the left. the more to the left the better. more east into the florida proper, the worst. any updates on that, mayor? >> last i saw it went a little left. it's going back to port a little bit. for it to turn right and come up tampa bay was not going to happen. we were lucky there once again. still, we're going to get sustained winds and tremendous storm surge. it's still going to be a serious situation until we get through tomorrow. >> neil: i know you've been pounding that, mayor, saying more people are listening. but where are they going, when that happens? i notice the governor, in his multiple pressers, told people, you don't have to drive 200 or 300 miles like you might have had to do with prior storms. some have long memories of that and they don't want to do it. he's saying drive six, ten miles inland. where do they go? >> that's correct. that's what we're telling people. just get to higher ground. not only about five or six miles. get to a friend's house, a shelter, a hotel. you don't have to drive to orlando. you don't have to leave the state. ride it out tomorrow. hopefully, you will be able to go back to your beach home, your facility you live in, whether a mobile home or whatever, by thursday. >> neil: i know your local airport has been shut down. they followed tampa. in the surrounding, in the greater state, mayor, none of that is happening. i mean, the other airports are open. they're working on slightly revised and slowed schedule, but they're still operating. any indications what plans are for the next 24 hours? >> our airports will be closed through tomorrow. i'm sure they will be reopening as they can on thursday. the local forecast call for this to move pretty quickly once it gets here and be gone by the end of the day tomorrow. >> neil: we're at the height of the hurricane season. that's what people fear. it's kicking off with a bang. i'm wondering how you see it now and how you prepare your constituents. many just moved to your beautiful town. for many, it's the first time they are experiencing something like this. what do you tell them? >> that's correct. so far most of them are listening. it's a good learning experience for us this early in the season, as you mentioned. i'm sure this is not going to be the last one we're going to have to prepare for. as you know out in the gulf, the atlantic, around the keys, extremely hot, unseasonably hot. that just means if there's any storm systems that come through, they pick up steam in a hurry. >> neil: i was surprised, mayor, that we didn't see more prior. given the water temperature. that's remarkable in and of itself. >> indeed. we've been fortunate. hopefully, we will be fortunate in this with the least amount of damage as possible. get through the storm surge, get the water receding and hopefully get things back to normal as soon as possible. we're ready. the energy, duke energy, our power company, is ready. they brought extra trucks in. they're ready to go. >> neil: i have no doubt. mayor, thank you very much. be safe yourself. thank you again. all right. so you've heard a little bit what about they can expect. sometimes between the hours of 2 or 3 a.m., tomorrow morning, this thing hits. maybe as category 3. floridians are ready for this. many have prepared for this. but so far we're waiting for this. hello everybody. i'm jesse waters, along with dana perrino. it's 5 p.m. in new york city and this is "the five." will the real joe biden please stand up? 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