we saw heavy downpour, strong winds and would hit lulls and become dry and calm. now the winds moving steadily over past couple hours and notable, the water line. the gulf has slowly inched closer to land hitting the dune, probably moved up 10, twenty, 30 feet overnight consuming the beach behind me. seeing combination of high tide with storm surge we've been reporting on. this area is low lying area, st. pets beach is barrier island, popular tourist destination. there are hotels and sprawling resorts up and down the beach. mandatory evacuation orders for this town, mostly a ghost town. most people are cooperating. governor desantis said if you have not evacuated by now, a first responder may not be able to respond to you. >> todd: matt finn, thank you. bring in nicole valdes live on the ground in tampa. nicole, what are you seeing out there? >> nicole: just along tampa bay, show you this, we are seeing three feet of storm surge come crashing over bayshore boulevard, site local police officers tell me they have not seen in 20 years. this road is low lying and under mandatory evacuation, what is usually not seen, how far inland this water is pushing debris with how strong wind gusts are. waves are crashing against the road here from the bay, creating breaking waves. it's a wild and almost scary scene as we feel the incredibly strong wind gusts push against us and push the waves to the road. in a couple of hours by high tide, could see more water reach further inland in tampa bay and threaten many homes, businesses and hotels that line this road twochl major bridges, how ard franklin and sunshine ska skyway bridge already shut down. the florida highway patrol deemed those bridges unsafe to drive over. feeling impact of this major now category 4 hurricane despite landfall still hours away and further north in big bend of florida. >> todd: janice dean joins us from the fox weather center. we saw pictures with matt and nicole, you got the 5 a.m. update, what do we know now? >> janice: category 4, strong hurricane hitting an area that has not been hit by intensity like this since records began. 130 mile per hour sustained wind, 5 a.m. advisory. pressure continues to drop. winds go up and pressure comes down, we have had rapid intensification over the last few hours. this is major hurricane, feeling wind gusts close to hurricane strengths, we are about three hours from landfall. the eye wall, where we have strongest, most powerful wind going to scrape the coast within the next hour or so. water is rising. latest storm surge for tampa bay and st. pete area. the bulls eye will get the worst of the wind and rain and the most vulnerable coastline. it cannot take a big storm surge of 15 feet, which is what we are predicting. this will unundate roads and homes and big structure. one for the record book and i am very afraid for people that decided not to take the evacuation seriously. storm is starting to interact with land. outer band across west coast of florida, resque for heavy rain and storm surge and hurricane force wind and tornados, tornado watch in effect for tampa bay down to the coast here to the east coast of florida and up toward the carolina, that will be part two of the story as a hurricane moves to south georgia. one saving grace, it is moving quickly and will move into florida and toward the southeast today and thursday and friday, it is offshore. worst damage will be over vulnerable coastline of big bend of florida. could see 6 to 12 inches of rainfall and that storm surge 15 feet this will devastates, it will be catastrophic this area. flash flood threat over next couple days, power outages, not just days, weeks for some areas, widespread power outages from big bend to the carolinas and again, we will get another update from the hurricane center within the hour temperature is now on an hourly basis approaching landfall and landfall is just historical point, lowest pressure that moves onshore. impacts are widespread and this area of big bend will have changed forever because of this hurricane and this is not just hype, this is historic and it will devastate the areas and i am so concerned for life that they have not decided to evacuate. they just have to hunker down now and hope for the best. >> todd: that is concerning, thank you. bring in florida chief financial officer jimmy petronis. you heard janice mention concern for the people that decided to play. time has run out for you to leave whachl is your message to those that have stayed? >> so we have got 900 search and rescue first responders sitting on go. they can't go save lives until they have a clear path. if you did not heed warnings, you will be taking your own life in your own hands and that is unfortunate because your devastation could have been avoidable. >> ashley: any places that were told to evacuate, this was going to be widespread, any places people can still heed the warning and leave or people who didn't leave are stuck where they are? >> ashley: you are pretty much stuck where you are. i'm in tallahassee at the state eoc. this morning it was mild, the storm has not made landfall. outer bands can be spinning off tornados. i care about safety of first responders, they can't answer 911 calls, we have bridges shut down. that part of the state is probably the historic low point of the areas susceptible to storm surge. first time this area has been hit in my 17 years of being here. >> todd: you are in emergency operation center, you have crews throughout the state of florida. any reports of damage or other from crews at this point this early in the storm? >> no, the guys and gals we have they are staged around the state. we have 900 urban first responders ready to deploy out and canine unitses will accompany them. the dogs have ability to help find lives buried in debris. urban search and rescue embedded with structural engineers and trauma surgeons, they are built to save lives on the spot in case those who did not heed the warning need help. >> ashley: britta merwin made a good point yet talking about people who moved to florida from midwest or coastlines that don't deal with hurricanes. is that something you guys are concerned about, there may be more loss of life because they don't know how to deal with this? not saying people in florida are not as prepared for this, but there were hundreds of thousands of people who never dealt with this before. it is usually the locals who think i experienced cat one or cat two, this will be okay thchl is category 4 here at the last minute and sometimes stubborn ness of people that don't want to leave their stuff. i can replace stuff, i can't replace you. the new floridians are usually scared and head to far north places. i'm worried about those too stubborn to leave. >> todd: all eyes on florida, thoughts and prayers with you folks getting ready for the historic storm. thank you. turning to the race for the white house, trump teaming claim who is the rising threat. wait until you hear how much donald trump raised after his mug shot went public. >> ashley: we are following hurricane idalia before it makes landfall in just a few hours. keep it here on "fox and friends first." more shopping? 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(announcer) change your life at golo.com. that's golo.com. >> todd: hurricane idalia category 4 storm expected to hit florida in just a matter of hours. bret is in keaton beach. he is a storm chaser and joins me now. bret, what are you seeing now, where are you in relation to the concerning area everybody is talking about, that unprecedented bay area that could see what we have never seen before? >> we're right off appalachia cola bay at perry 15 miles and this area is going to take a direct hit based on the current trajectory and track. the flow is offshore, wind is blowing toward gulf of mexico at the moment, however, the center will approach this area in the next hour to hour and a half and winds will switch around and we'll have to watch for major water push that will come inland. we have not seen much in the way of people in thisirria, a great thing. we were here yesterday talking to residents and taylor county deputy. there is mandatory evacuation in effect with this category 4 approaching. looks like most people took the warning seriously. >> todd: the word unprecedented keeps popping up, how does this storm compare to others you have covered? >> this is different because of the area it is in. typically you don't see major hurricanes in ap palachian bay. the wind may impact areas such as tallahassee, gainesville, lake city and as far north and east as valdesta and savannah, georgia. rare scenario out of gulf of mexico that made major hurricane status, that does not happen in this region. >> todd: in a storm of this size and you are in it, what are you looking for? what is your coverage plan? in simpler terms, why are you there, bret? >> well, best thing for me to do while i'm here is a, report the story and not become it. we've been here a couple days scouting the areas and found safe spots where we can go to bring the imagery. most people evacuates, but they want to see what is happening in their community as quickly as they can. we bring images out to the public and let you disseminate those as safely as we can while spreading the message of what is occurring on the ground during the deadly storm. >> todd: so glad you mention that. in sandy, my family was evacuated. i wanted to see what we were going to be going back to and it is tough. having individuals like you on the ground to give a sense of the situation is invaluable. thank you. we appreciate your coverage. >> ashley: mayor eric adams has had enough of kathy hochul criticizing him for the migrant crisis. >> the governor is wrong, she is governor of the state of new york, new york city is in the state, every county in this state should be part of this. >> ashley: more of the big apple's migrant crash. >> todd: track ing hurricane idalia, which has become category 4 storm ornight. pam bondy is living through this in tampa and joins us live next. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am. we put it off long enough. we are getting that $9.95 plan, today. 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>> so here is the good news, we have seen high water police vehicle come through, beyond that, seen no one, best case scenario. we don't want to see anybody out. this is clearwater beach, across from the inlet is clearwater. they are at higher ground. winds kick up, we hope there is not debris that comes flying and water does not way its way to pockets they were not expecting. it is coming through like this. it is just moving as if it is its own entity, like it should be here thshg is storm surge. >> todd: robert, you are in a foot of water, some areas expecting 15 feet of storm surge. safety is paramount and we know you will get to higher and safer ground. most homes in florida are single story and much smaller than 15 feet. are those homeings going to get wiped out with the storm surge? >> if there is a home on the big bend north of here where it goes into the panhandle, no doubt. a home that is single story and take 15 feet of storm surge, that water will rip it apart, tear the inside out like a hand grabbing furniture and even a human if they are there. that is why we did not make our way to the big bend to report live and give coverage, not safe fchl there is a vehicle, goodbye, as well. cell service likely going away. no coms. could be major issue if people did stay thachl is why the governor desantis and others have warned people to get out. mandatory evacuations, we hope that did happen. >> ashley: i'm trying to get a timestamp as far as how quickly things are escalating as far as the storm surge. it looks like the storm surge has come up higher, gaging at least you are knee deep. how long did it take to get to that point since you have been there? >> this all began about 1:00 a.m., we started to see water come in and now 5:30 eastern time now. since we've been out here setting up our live report in the past hour, we've seen it come up good half a foot to a foot and depends where you are at. you have the roads that are deeper. in the distance, look at this hotel, sunrise resort. that vehicle is on a parking ridge. if water comes up, that car will be potentially washed away. some of the high water police vehicles are making sure there is no one out here walking around and no vehicles driving. this is the kind of water, try to put a vehicle through here and it could easily start floating and get washed away. the other side of this hotel is the gulf of mexico. we will make our way around there. i did walk over there and you can see the water pushing in from the gulf over large beaches into the roads. two blocks away is a marina with boats tied up, we watched people shore them up and hopefully they are good and will not be taken off their docks and pushed around. so many elements and things could go wrong thchl storm continues to swirl as cat 4 expected to make landfall in several hours in big bend northeast of tallahassee. the wind gustses, you got to be careful. s >> ashley: thank you for that live look and deep explanation of what you are seeing. >> todd: the water did get higher urg did the course of his live shot, that is scary. >> ashley: shows how quickly things can change. we will bring in janice dean. >> janice: new update in 20 minutes, every hour we are getting coordinates. now category 4 storm. this will start to weaken as it interacts with land. this is historic, big bend tro tropical storm landfall, had many of them, half formed in western caribbean, which is what happened with this one and made landfall across big bend. a lot of infamous storms, easy, we had tampa bay, hermine, we've been talking about that storm thchl is different, no category 4 has made landfall in this area thchl is historic talking about a 15-foot storm surge for big bend, that never occurred and this is most vulnerable coast line in the u.s. we will be dealing with a hurricane for south georgia and carolinas. this morning and afternoon, your time is running out, if you're preparing for a hurricane for parts of georgia and carolina. this storm will make landfall in next couple hours, lowest pressure point. effect of this storm widespread, heavy rain upward of a foot. 15-foot storm surge, which will be catastrophic. we have potential for weak tornados, we already have rostation and tornado reports last night. no reports right now, but still possible. impact being felt now, landfall possibly between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. georgia and carolinas into thursday and it moves offshore to the atlantic and sits. we'll track the storm for the holiday weekend. some forecast models bring it back to the coast, this is ongoing, we'll forecast, peak storm surge is worst part of the storm. hide from the wind, run from the water. upward of 15 feet, which will be catastrophic and it will over top homes and people that did not evacuates, pray for them right now. we have hurricane warnings for parts of florida to big bend. north florida and to georgia and south carolina. hurricane warnings in effect. heavy rainfall, flash flooding upward of 5 to 8, maybe a foot of rain. worst damage will be the historic storm surge, comparable to what we saw during ian last year for fort myers, which devastated that region. >> todd: thank you very much. let us bring in tampa resident pam bondi, who is riding out the storm in her city. what is it like right now? >> right now it is horrible in tampa bay. i was flot in a flood zone, my family is not in a flood zone issue but they have lost power. the weather is so bad, bayshore boulevard is flooded out in tampa. all four lanes. what is scary for folks and when i was attorney general, we dealt with hurricanes and hurricane michael wiped out panhandle, mexico beach and so much of the panhandle. remember, don't go out in this water, like robert, your reporter was doing, he had a crew with him. there are dumpsters floating down the road, there could be power lines down temperature is dangerous for people to be outside. people have curiosity, don't do it, it is not safe. stay inside, keep your kids and pets inside with you, as well. >> todd: a lot of people evacuated, in tampa, did most of your neighbors stay? >> we did, we were not in an evacuation zone. we are fine. our families are fine and cars are fine, but people are losing power. levels are so different. bayshore boulevard is flooded out, under water and bit further south where robert is in clearwater, the beach area is under water. last night, no one is telling you, people are warning, could be 6 to 9 feet and up to 12 feet. people in evacuation zones that did not listen to the governor saying, get out. everyone was telling them, emergency operation center and they did not, they have to ride out the storm. people in georgia and south carolina, listen to local officials, if your local officials tell you to leave, you need to leave. that is most important thing, heed what local officials are telling you, it is not safe. there are shelters for special needs people, elderly people, people with pets and kids. take your families and get out if officials are telling you to leave because it is not safe and it is unpredictable. no one thought this could be a category 4 and look at it making landfall now. it should weaken by the time it gets to georgia, but we don't know. i have lived them when i was attorney general, the military had to bring us in, because no one could get into the panhandle and mexico beach, it was wiped out because people didn't listen and chose to stay. >> todd: pam bondi, this is unprecedented, stay safe. best of luck. we'll check back with you. >> ashley: fox weather correspondent nicole valdes is in tampa. pam bondi was not in an evacuation zone. what has changed in the last 30 minutes since we spoke? >> we are feeling strong wind gusts and it is creating that storm surge threat that we have been warning people tampa bay about since last night employs this is the evacuation zone and not hard to see why. bayshore boulevard, this is a road local officials tell me continuously flood whachl we're seeing now is something that police officers who worked in this city for 20 years say they have never seen, monstrous amount of water pushed from the bay to the road is completely covered, part of bayshore is under water and getting on to the median and not just slow rising water, it is moving at a scary fast rate. waves are crashing into the roadway, it looks like a beach and it is incredible, the imagery and how quickly this much water filled the road. three feet of storm surge, probably close to four feet at this point and we are still hours from landfall and high tide here in tampa bay. florida highway patrol recognized the danger with wind and shut down two major bridges in and out of the tampa bay area to make sure people who may have waited to evacuate don't drive over them at this point. this is incredibly dangerous situation, just a few inches of water can sweep someone off their feet, can pick up a car. the water covered the road. notice how far inland that water is pushing, only matter of time as water continues to rise. there is potential and not hard to imagine this water moving further inland and threatening many homes and businesses along this major roadway. >> ashley: nicole, people are saying they were not expecting a cat 4. you are saying it is hours from landfall. we were talking to pam in tampa, she was not in the evacuation zone and did not evacuate. we know what can happen with storm surge and flooding whachl about people not in evacuation zones? they are losing power already. anything else they can expect with a storm of this strength? >> nicole: absolutely, loss of power is first thing, that can affect those who are not in an evacuation zone depending what area is impacted. talking about winds that strong, you have trees that go down, there could be damage from tree falling on anything, including your home and car. also falling on power lines and can create a domino effect of problems for those who may still be technically safe from maybe the storm surge threat, that is where the evacuations tend to focus. evacuation zone, threat of the storm surge is catalyst for the evacuation orders. power outages can affect the state, it is hard to know who may or may not see those impacts. she was mentioning, she did not evacuates, likely not near the coast like clearwater beach or st. pete. that does not mean you are safe from the impact of this major hurricane. >> todd: glad you mentioned that, seems like time when you know things have gotten next level serious is when you see the power go out and the blue flash on the transformer. looks like you had light in the area, have you seen transformer pops during your coverage? >> no, not from our vantage point, not to say that hasn't happened from where we are. we are along bayshore boulevard across the way from two islands under mandatory evacuation, harbor island and davis island. some areas have more elevation and that may be helpful if transformer boxes are on higher ground away from rising water and potentially not getting flooded by rain we had in overnight hours. it is just situational thing it seems where the impacts are and where transformer boxes may be in terms of seeing power go out or not. >> ashley: nicole valdes, thank you, stay safe. we are waiting update from governor desantis. cat four storm, hurricane idalia, 60's,000 people are without power right now. anna dukes joins us now. this area supposed to get hit is concerning, it has never seen something like this. have you had to adjust your plan how you will respond to this once it is over? >> every time we have a storm, we bring thousands of trucks and crews from across the country. they are here and waiting for the storm to pass. we have trucks near the villages at ocala and tropicana field. >> ashley: as far as inventor and he supplies, do you have everything you need? are you looking for more? >> we have supplies throughout our service territory, we keep them as far away as possible, we don't want the storm to blow through the materials, we bring materials as close as we can, far enough away so they are not in the way of the storm. as soon as the storm passes, they will be deployed to power outages. we cover that pinellas county area and we have about twenty,000 customers in this pinellas county area, customers without power in the state of florida. >> ashley: how long can outages last? >> right now, the outages in pinellas county, damage may not be as great, we cover up through mexico beach area. some territory is going to get hit with a cat 4 storm, that damage will be more serious, wires and poles down and that will take longer to repair. >> ashley: anna gibbs, thank you for your time. >> todd: with that, bring in michael waltz, joins us now, and congressman from florida. your district is not necessarily in the cross hairs, you will get hit, this is florida wide storm. what trouble spots are you worried about for your district? >> good news here, the big bend, where the peninsulaoccurs to the big bend is most sparsely populated parts of florida. for those who did not evacuate, it will be difficult for first responders and national guard to get to them. in the northeast coast, we'll get hit with a right hook and what we saw with ian is immense amount of rainfall and flooding and areas where you have major rivers like saint johns, swamps, low lands can become dangerous quickly. inter-coastal waterways, when you get internal flooding that catches people by surprise and quickly they can get in trouble. >> ashley: glad you brought up hurricane ian, cat 5 when it hit. idalia is cat four. 13.8 feet, $113 billion was the damage. this morning we heard storm surge of 12 to 15 feet, that would put if it got up to 15 foot, higher than cat 5 of hurricane ian. i know the state has considered this, is this area prepared to deal with damage that is done and to pay for this? this could be >> you are right. that part of the gulf of mexico is very shallow and one of the reasons you get such a big storm surge. but, look, we know how to handle this in florida. governor desantis is on top of it and his team. our florida national guard i just retired from the national guard. unfortunately we go through this drill every year but it is a battle drill and i am confident they will be on it and in terms of paying for it, our state budget is well-run. and i'm sure the florida delegation will be fighting for the federal resources needed. but right here, right now, let's get everybody to be safe. we could rebuild homes but we can't rebuild lives. and my heart always goes out to the first responders and out national guardsmen and women they have family and homes, too. they are not back protecting their property or getting their families out. they're out helping everybody else. and so i just can't say enough about them. the wonderful job that they do. >> todd: you are a congressman. obviously that invokes the federal part of all of this like you mentioned. you did say look, after the fact, federal government resources will helpfully be there. i want to focus after the fact. fema resources go in coordination with the state resources to shake sure that lives are saved immediately following and like i said during the storm if it's safe enough to go in there and save people? >> well, that's why the declaration of emergency is so important. that unlocks those resources to be prepositioned, close to the impact zone. that's where you get 1200 national guard men and women. the coast guard coming in and prepositioning all of those resources. look, because we go through, this things like our electrical power grid we have spent a lot of money in hardening that so that the power lines don't get easily knocked over. a lot of them are built with concrete poles rather than say the typically wood poles. the same with cell towers and other infrastructure. florida has been hardening. we spend a lot of money and resources on this over time. and in terms of immediate response, a lot of that is prepositioned. that's why this early declaration of emergency are so important. >> ashley: when you talk about immediate response you can talk about the shelters. as far as the shelters that have been opened, is there any idea what capacity they can hold or if there is anybody who has gone to a shelter that you know of? do you have numbers just yet? >> i don't have numbers just yet but, again, as part of the preemption process, let's just pray that the storm most quickly that's one of the reasons ian was so devastating. yes, it's the storm surge but how slowly that storm moved and it's just dumping water in all of those waterways and it has nowhere to go, except into people's homes, you know, into businesses. down, you know, into main street towns. let's hope it moves quickly and gets the heck out of there so that we can begin the recovery process. >> congressman, something ashley and i have been focused on all morning long look we have had you on here how people have flocked to florida over the course of the last couple of years. are you worried about more of those who may have not been or the grizzled old florida veteran who says i can handle anything? 20 seconds to you, congressman. >> yeah. actually, i'm worried about both. but i am worried about a little bit more. [broken audio] a lot of times cry of wolf. and ignore things that we shouldn't. so i worry about the veterans who don't take it as seriously as they should because we have seen this a lot. you need to take every one of these storms very seriously. >> todd: congressman michael waltz, please stay safe and we're praying for you and the residents of your districts. >> ashley: one thing janice dean said it is quickly moving hopefully it does move through quick. >> todd: "fox & friends" picks up the coverage from here. have a good day, everybody. >> steve: good morning. it is wednesday, august 30th, 2023. and a fox news weather alert. hurricane idalia intensifying. it is reclassified. it's now a cat 4 storm. it is expected to make landfall during this program this morning sometime between now and 9:00 eastern time. >> ainsley: dangerous winds and flooding are pummeling the coast right now. shutting down bridges. already a few bridges have closed. cutting power to