the poles. i was curious. some power companies have talked about potentially shutting off power when there's high wind incidents. i wonder if you think this is an appropriate response or if you think they should be working to harden the structure more than just ending power -- >> i think both. look, i can -- it's very expensive to secure these power lines. in terms of actual structure. we look out there. you see these large towers carrying multiple wires. the wires are like that thick. they're carrying a lot of energy. sometimes those entire towers come down. i am not expert enough to know when it is appropriate to shut down that line. that's one of the reasons why i think having the technology to have these meters on each of these facilities tells you where the danger is. so i can picture -- i'm getting out of my expertise here. >> you're talking about huge numbers of americans suddenly not having power because the company makes a determination that -- >> the -- we also know how many huge number of americans have died, how many huge number -- for example, more forest has been burned to the ground since i've become -- in the time i've been doing this than the entire square miles of the state of maryland. imagine the entire state of maryland burning to the ground. that's how much has already burned to the ground. so i think as we try to harden the capacity to transmit energy, it's not irrational to make a judgment that you may have to under certain circumstances shut off the power. i don't know enough to know the detail how to do that. i mean, where that decision is made. that's why we're starting off -- i was talking with sherwin randle that handles this for me about the need to put these meters along so we know where the power is going down. may be able to shut off parts. i don't know enough to know that. >> mr. president, are you concerned about the potential of a government shut down? what is your reaction to republicans say that their investigation into the federal response in maui? >> i welcome a federal response in maui. i think that if you go and talk to every elected official from the mayors governors, the congress persons, i welcome them. once they see it, i'm sure they'll provide the money. thank you very much. by the way, i just heard literally coming out mitch is a friend, as you know, not a joke. people don't believe that is the case. we have disagreements politically. he's a good friend. i'm going to try to get in touch with him later this afternoon. i don't know enough to know. thank you. >> are you concerned with the election? >> are you running? okay. thank you. >> all right. that was president biden at the white house talking about his administration's response to hurricane idalia which made landfall this morning. he gave a brief update about his administration's response to the maui wild fires, which he has been widely criticized. he said all states across the u.s. will receive help and assistance from the federal government to the maximum capacity available. we're about to get another update from government ron desantis of florida with hurricane idalia now on the move after slamming in to florida as a dangerous category three storm. that is how things looked in keaton beach where idalia made landfall before 8:00 a.m. today in the big bend on florida's west coast. the national hurricane center called it an unprecedented event for that area. people that stayed behind in cedar key say it got gnarly with propane tanks exploding. i'm gillian turner in for martha maccallum. let's be give with steve harrigan in tarpon springs, florida. hi, steve. >> gillian, this morning the water was about to here, about 3 feet. now you can see a fire truck is on the move. those fire trucks couldn't get through the water and now they can. electrical trucks, power workers, rescue workers can all move around now because that water is simply leaving. that water is leaving behind a major mess. many business owners, homeowners have had two feet of water in their businesses. that water gone now but leaving behind wreckage. business owners have told us that they have lost a lot of equipment. it stinks in a lot of businesses now. there's mold. it's going to be a real problem and a real challenge to get this sorted out. the mess is widespread. not just the businesses, not just the buildings, bridges down. key pieces of infrastructure and even around major cities down. can't get in or out. schools shut down and right now, electricity. 273,000 people without electricity. help is on the way. the death toll from this storm stands at two. both of those vehicles deaths. gillian, back to you. >> thanks, steve. on the ground in tarpon springs florida. let's check in with fox weather correspondent robert ray. he's been tracking the storm from clearwater, florida all afternoon. what can you tell us? >> gillian, good afternoon to you. a similar scenario around clearwater beach. steve harrigan described the waters, the surge receding. take a look down this road as the camera lens trains all the way down to this neighborhood. i'm not exaggerating when i say this. less than 30 minutes ago, this was about a foot of water. now vehicles can go through. that's how quickly the recession of the surge has happened. we have seen that all up and down clearwater beach throughout the date. if we can, take a look at this video from before dawn. myself and team were live on "fox and friends." that's when the outer bands were raging in to clearwater beach as the wind was spinning up and the water just kicking up on the surge. you can see some of that water was knee deep, even higher than that. when the rain kicked in and the winds blew up the water, you can taste the saltwater in the gulf of mexico. right on my lips i could taste it. this area was on mandatory evacuation. according to police, most people heeded the warning and got out. no reported injuries on clearwater beach. no significant structural damage. just like steve harrigan reported, some businesses and some homes taking some of the surge in and they're going to have insurance claims certainly to file in the coming days. now, here's the other situation that we're dealing with. tampa and tampa bay and pinellas county, which is what we're standing in right now, they're assessing the surge. they're still monitoring as they are. police are on the ground here putting up the stop sign blockades. they don't want people in these areas until they get the debris off of the roads that is surge pushed in. a very fluid situation still. power outages, 250,000 in florida. 150,000 in georgia. idalia continues to trek going towards savannah and charleston, south carolina. back to you. >> robert ray in clearwater for us. let's go to florida governor ron desantis who is giving an update from perry, florida. let's listen in. >> so we've got florida national guard, fish and wildlife, all of our key people as well as the local law enforcement down there. i talked with the sheriff about some of the challenges. they did get a lot of water down there. there's no question. they have not received any call regarding a fatality as a result of that storm surge. that's up to this point. so we'll see what happens as people go down there. there's a lot that has to be done. they have a lot of water. there's reports of people trying to loot down in steenhatchee. i've said you protect people's property and we won't tolerate looting in the after math of a natural disaster. i mean, it's ridiculous that you'd try to do something like that on the heels of an almost category four hurricane hitting this community. i'd remind potential looters that people -- you never know what you're walking in to. people have a right to defend their property. this part of florida, you have a lot of advocates and proponents of the second amendment. i've seen signs and different people's yards in the past after these disasters and i'd say probably here, you loot, they shoot. you never know what is behind that door when you break in to somebody's house and trying to loot. these are people that can defend themselves and their families. i'd not do it. we'll hold you accountable from law enforcement perspective at a minimum. it could be worse than that depending on what is behind that door. let's all band together and lift people up, not try to take advantage of a difficult situation. we're going to have a report on some of the roads with fdot. now by and large, the roads are, i'd say, probably better than what i would have thought given the severity of the storm. you can see there's a lot here for sure. we were able to get from tallahassee down here without much of a problem. i know jared and his team will be clear ago lot of roads. there's more that needs to be done. we can't state how important that is. same thing with the power restoration. those efforts are ongoing. as soon as the storm passed where it was safe to go, these guys are now working. in a place like taylor county, some of this stuff, you can see, you have to reconnect it. probably wouldn't be as difficult. there's other parts in taylor coupty where the poles have been knocked down. some snapped in half that will require more extensive effort to be able to get that up and running. so all of that is going to be tackled and all of that will be down. they want people hooked up and online as quick as possible. i want to thank everybody to what they've done to work, to help respond. there's going to be more that is done just in the emergency response with our first responders all through today and all through the night. they're going to keep going as long as they're needed. if we're getting everybody back on their feet with clearing this debris, that will be a huge effort as well as the power restoration in the areas where you had serious interruption to the overall power lines and power poles. thanks, everybody, for doing that. i appreciate the linemen for what they've been able to do, all the folks here locally that worked really hard. this is -- we haven't had a storm take this path at this level since the 1890s to hit this part of florida. this is something that is a really big deal. not that you ever want to do, but there's parts of florida that have had these things happen. they have built up infrastructure and responded to it. this part of the state has seen a storm like this in some time. it presents challenges. i appreciate people steps up and appreciate the resiliency that i'm seeing throughout these counties particularly in the big best region of florida. we'll hear from secretary purdue and then from sheriff wayne pageant. >> thank you, governor desantis, for you continued leadership throughout this event. fdot is continuing to push inward through the major arteries impacted by the storm. we have over 70 crew members and a lot of heavy equipment headed this way. you'll begin working. some of our priorities are to make sure bridges are safe and passable. we've inspected most bridges, a few areas that are not accessible. the governor mentioned one and state route 24 going in to cedar key. you'll see our cut and toss crews coming this way. they're pushing in right now. one of our main objectives is to get roads clear so life safety mission can continue. also to support power restoration. there's a lot of vegetation on power lines. we want to help get it restored as quick as possible. one thing that we noticed, traffic signals are out of power in this area. we have generators in route. we'll be getting generators set up to get the signals powered. that's a priority so the residents can move around freely and safely. as we continue to work through this event, road closure information is going to change and adjust as we get things cleared. i would encourage you to use florida 511.com. that's the most timely information for traffic and detours. remember, if roads are flooded, you never know what's going on underneath the water. stay safe and get where you're going. again, governor desantis, thanks for your leadership. >> yes. i want to thank the governor for helping us. he sent us the national guard. always great to have a great leader. we took a lick of a category four hurricane. feels good to know that you can count on your people when you need to. taylor county, we're going to make it. hang in there. if you don't have to go somewhere, don't go. stay home. we have trees down, power lines down. just stay put. don't be out sightseeing and just causing a problem getting in the way of our law enforcement and our cleanup crews. thank you. stay home. we'll get through this. be strong. thank you. >> we're going to continue to respond as local communities have more needs for support. division of emergency management, the state of florida is ready to fulfill those requests. we appreciate everybody's hard work and we're going to continue to work through this over these next days, weeks and a hurricane of this magnitude, you're talking about months that are going to go to rebuilding and even beyond that. we understand that. we're in it for the long haul. any questions? >> governor, two questions here. what is your message to floridians trapped or stranded right now? >> well, if you are in distress, you can call 911. there will be rescue efforts that will commence. the storm has passed. the first responders are active. we have everybody from local law enforcement, local fire rescue. we have national guard, fish and wildlife that can make water borne rescues and urban search and rescue teams. that's all there. if you're in harm's way, in peril, you call emergency. there will be a response. >> governor, president biden just spoke at the white house. he said he had a chance to speak with you. even though you don't agree politically, you can put politics aside. is the feeling mutual? >> yes. we have to deal with supporting the needs of the people who are in harm's way or have difficulties. that has to be first over political calculation or any type of positioning. this is the real deal. you have people's lives that have been at risk. we don't necessarily have any confirmed fatalities yet, but that may change. people's livelihoods have been turned upside-down. they need support. we're going to work from local, state, federal regardless of party to be able to deliver results for the people in their time of need. >> governor, florida is such a diverse state. this is different than what we experienced with ian. how is this operation going to be different in what sort of unique challenges does this operation pose? >> the difference is -- one difference between in and ian is ian was -- hit category five going in to fort myers. it went all the way up the interior of the state all the way out to the atlantic ocean around daytona beach. the sheer number of people without power and suffered severe damage was probably as much as ever happened in a hurricane in the history of the state of florida. this storm, the bands, there's obviously i'll pacts far and wide and we've seen tornadoes and things hundreds of miles away. the bulk of the storm going through north central florida, what you'll see with all the wooded areas, you'll see a lot more trees, you'll see a lot more debris. there was debris, of course, for hurricane ian. but it was more diverse array of debris. it wasn't all just trees. different pieces of structures and boats. in some cases, that was a big challenge. i think this, we know where the debris is. we know there's a lot of debris. so we'll be working with the local communities. you know, some of these communities in this part of the state have never necessarily been hit with a major hurricane before. i know there's some in like north central florida. they may not have a debris removal contract in place whereas a county like lee down in south florida, they'll have that. they know that is something that they have to deal with. some of this stuff they'll probably need to lean on the state to help. they're underresourced counties. we stand by ready to help them be able to get that done. >> governor, along those lines, already this morning we've seen a number of predatory rescue remove value crews roaming the streets and telling people that they need money to clear the roads. >> there's going to be times like these, there's always people that want to come up and try to scam you. just be very weary of what people are telling you right now. there are going to be crews to clear the roads, the public roads will be done. private debris removal, that's trickier in terms of what is reimbursed, this and that. certainly on the right of ways, that is going to be taken care of. if it's a public right of way, that's the core mission for debris remove value. >> no fatalities reported yet. was there anything on the planning and preparation side, local evacuation orders that might have contributed to what sounds like an encouraging statistic? >> we'll see as the day and tomorrow goes on in terms of what we are looking at in terms of fatalities. i can tell you with hurricane ian, as soon as that storm hit, within an hour after hitting, there were frantic phone calls to 911 locally there of people that were literally drowning in their house. it was something that you just -- when i was talking to the sheriff, i remember talking to the sheriff of lee county, the feeling of dread from the phone calls. you knew there was going to be a lot of problems. we have not seen that on this storm. i think part of it is that when you see a storm surge like we saw during ian, people heeded the warnings that their local officials issued because, you know, you can't hide from the storm surge in your house. if it comes and it's 10, 12 feet, you are going to be in a world of hurt. it's not worth the risk. a lot of people understood that. you have to get away from that water, get out of the area, get to higher ground. you hunker down in a safe structure. that can mean saving your life. people understood that. a lot of them did that. we obviously had significant storm surge in cedar key and steamhatchee. the storm surge was enough to be life threatening if people didn't take proper precautions. i think most of the people did, and i think they protected themselves and their families. >> governor, florida state guard. we saw some uniform personnel. can you give us any insight as to what the new florida state guard services, they provided or anything? >> the guys behind me, they came in and assisting with damage assessment. that's important information to get back to the state so that we know what we need to do from a transportation perspective, from fish and wildlife perspective, anything in terms of what needs to be done. they've done a good job. we have many hundred of national guards here in taylor county. this is the ground zero deployment for them. if there's more that is needed, we'll -- we've activated 5,500 of the florida national guard. we also have some members of the state guard. we have eight urban search and rescue teams. we're able to respond to whatever comes down the pike today and in to tomorrow. we hochul we don't have to use all of those resources to affect rescue operations. we rather it be safe than sorry. see you soon. thank you. >> all right. we've been listening to governor desantis there speaking in perry with the rest of florida's leadership. he says they have three priorities at this hour. the first is taking care of force that are stranded and offering them relieve. the second is clearing dangerous debris out of the way so folks can get back outside their homes. the third is restoring power to as many people as they can. a warning from the governor that said a lot of folks that have been hit hardest are prepared to defend their homes in the wake of looting, which has been underway across the hardest hit regions already this hour. he said a lot of folks, he has seen with his own eyes put posters outside their houses that so i you loot, we shoot. people should abide by that. i'm jilgillian turner in washinn for martha maccallum tracking the storm. let's bring in robert maccallum. sheriff, thanks for taking time with us right now. i understand you have about 40,000 folks in your jurisdiction. how are you holding up? >> we're doing very well. we expected the worst. fortunately we didn't get the hurricane force winds as the people in the north the last two or three hours. we ended up on the right side and east side of the storm, which normally is even -- we've had a significant storm such in the cedar key and yankeetown areas. i think over 6.8 feet in the cedar key and those areas, which was close if not i believe -- that is slightly above our historic level. but not near what we expected. we were so thankful we didn't get the hurricane winds preceding the storm surges. we're actually now in search and rescue modes and starting to increase our security operations, which we will do for tonight and the next few days until we can get back to some semblance of normal. we were really spared and blessed. we had a very wonderful team in cedar key with the fire chief, police chief and mayor and all as well as our yankee town areas. we work close to them and support them. my deputies and 911 dispatchers have been, you know, inundated with calls. calls for service. we have about 60% -- two hours ago, we were 60% of a power outage in our county. i'm sure that's improved significantly the last two hours. we've had no reports of any fatalities or any as search and rescue efforts continue. don't believe we'll have a fatality. i have had a report of a couple of folks that we rescued both one in yankeetown and one that was rescued in cedar key that had some very minor injuries. they had remained in their homes. we had to go in and get them out. so again, we're blessed and thankful. we are thankful for all the support that we have from our state partners and the governor. the governor was here the day before yesterday preceding the expectation of the storm. thankful for him and his efforts. now our thoughts and prayers are with my fellow sheriffs and taylor county and other parts of the state. we still have resources coming to us to help with security and some of the debris from some of my fellow sheriffs. we're in good shape. a lot better than we expected to be. >> sheriff, we're delighted to hear that. we don't want to keep you. we know you have important work to do. thank you for taking time to update us. please stay in touch. we'd like to know how you do the next 12, 24, 48 hours. thank you, sheriff. >> thank you. >> let's bring in now fox business correspondent grady trimble from steinhatchee florida. >> yeah, this storm surge was really powerful. now a lot of the flood waters have subsided. this paints somewhat of a picture. this is from what i've told a rental, a mobile home that people could rent out here in steinhatchee. i'm told it was somewhere along the water or close to it, several blocks from the water where we are here. that gives you a sense of power of the surge, that it was -- the water lifted up this trailer, the dumpster, the refrigerator that you see there and carried it several blocks away. you can see in the distance here that not all of the flood water has subsided. a truck that is deciding through the flood water now. i saw a couple of other trucks drive through there. it's about 1 to 2 feet deep. at times we're told from people that have visited their homes and businesses that the water was up to their waist or even higher. one person said the water was up to six feet. other people said the water went into their garages, not the living quarters. they were spared the worst of the damage. as we drive around this community, we can see trees down, power lines down illustrating just how strong this wind was as well as the water that lifted so many difference pieces of debris and items throughout this area and put them where frankly they should not be. we heard the governor speaking about search and rescue crews. we've seen them here. as of now, there's no confirmed people missing or killed in this storm. but the crews are here and they are looking for people just in case they might be out there. we saw florida fish and wildlife, fwc, state law enforcement in high water vehicles as well as boats driving up and down the steinhatchee river looking to see if anybody was in distress. we also saute legislator county sheriff's high water vehicles patrolling streets. on top of that, we've seen helicopters and planes flying about. i'll end on one final note. that is the road ahead for these people here. obviously, there's a lot underway in this area and on top of that, the majority of this county, 80% of taylor county where we are, is without power. so even if their homes were spared, gillian, they're living through an extremely uncomfortable situation as it gets hotter and more humid, which is, of course, characteristic for florida this time of year. they're going to be bearing that with no a.c. gillian? >> certainly the hardest times are now behind. it's not an easy road ahead in steinhatchee. thanks, grady. let's bring in captain crystal cassette. she joins me from steinhatchee, florida with her husband. she's talked about the storm as far as devastating with flood waters there, reaching up to the second floor of many people's homes. crystal, talk about what you've been through the last 12 hours. how are you holding up? >> i can barely hear you, but i believe you said talking about the aftermath here in steinhatchee. i'm standing at a local restaurant right now. this is roy's restaurant. some staples here in town. behind it, you'll see the floating docks. that's where i keep my boat. you can see how they're up on the pilings. the debris is everywhere. the flood waters came well over six feet here. >> crystal, what about your boats, your business? how are you planning to cope the coming days and weeks? >> right. this coming weekend, of course, for everyone, it's labor day weekend. so it's one of our busiest times of the year. and with this hurricane now yo -- we have a lot of chargers lined up, reservations at air b&bs and hotels. we have to cancel that. we can't go scalloping or fishing. there's a lot of debris in the water right now. it's a boating hazard. so if you're out in the water, we have picnic tables floating out there. we have propane tanks. you couldn't fish anyway >> gillian: thanks, crystal. we wish you nothing but godspeed moving forward the coming days. stay in touch with us. >> i appreciate that. here's what i found floating around in the sidewalk. in god we trust, right? continue to pray. >> gillian: yep. we absolutely there. thank you,crystal. >> thank you. >> gillian: let's bring in michael presley babbott. a playwright who say he stayed put in cedar keying to help folks. he said it looked apocalyptic this morning. he saw the storm surge swallow entire boat ramps. he joins us now. how you doing? >> we're okay. just weary. it's been a long 12 hours. having seen so much destruction in a place that you live has been hard on the morale. it's also been good to see our community functioning as a community and coming out to help one another. cedar key is a resilient place and we'll rebuild and get back as good as we were before. the storm surge was just really striking to see. our boat ramp was devoured. seems like the surge was coming from three different sides. coming from the bayou, from the bay. it was just a really difficult evening. >> gillian: what is the greatest immediate need there right now that folks have? >> so we still -- we're not going to have electricity for a long while. i heard it's going to be at least a week here. people on the island are a resilient type of people. they have largely prepared for this storm. we have generateders, food and water. governor desantis, if you're listening, send some of those trucks like you did from pine island. we have competent leadership here. our mayor is a world class public servant. it's going to be a long haul. >> gillian: have you talked to a lot of folks today that decided to evacuate and stayed put? how are they doing in particular? >> yes. like you heard from the governor, no real injuries. i think a good number of the folks that decided to stay probably would tell you they wouldn't do it again. but overall, pretty good. i'd say more than 100 people stayed on the island. it was a wild night. if you walked outside my door right now, you'd see people picking up debris and already getting on with the business of living. >> gillian: i heard that. we saw reports the last couple hours that immediately once the eye had passed, folks were coming out of their homes, out of their businesses to start this process that will obviously continue for a long time. does it feel dangerous out there? is debris moving around? what does it look like? >> what is dangerous in cedar key and other places are a different things. we're a hardy group of folks. i walked a mile in waste deep water to get from my house to a house boat that was worried hat broken its moaring. i walked that while in waste deep water to make sure that boat wasn't bouncing around other people's houses and docks. you see a lot of people like that here, just doing whatever it takes to get it done. >> gillian: one of the most dangerous things we understand from the fema administrator when she briefed at the white house a little while ago is the -- in the debris itself. you just talked about a boat ramp getting carried by the water. people are seeing roofs of buildings, trucks, boats carried along the water stream there. have you seen stuff like that? >> oh, yeah. pickups submerged, golf carts where you see the top of the carts sticking out. whole portions of docks, portions of boats. i had to step around a boat trailer floating towards me. the water carries everything that it can take with it. it's that dangerous situation. >> gillian: we wish you the best. we hope that you stay safe the coming hours and days and stay in touch with us. thanks for taking the time. >> thank you. have a good day. >> gillian: you too. let's bring in dale kineberg. he's seen a lot of hurricanes up and close. he's described idalia as a violent storm certainly when it made landfall this morning. he joins me now. dale, how does this storm match up to everything else? >> it was incredible. it was incredible. the wind speeds were just the strongest that i've encountered and even causing damage to one of my chase vehicles. i loss one of my windows. >> gillian: wow. spectacular footage there that you provided. thank you. it's helpful to see this stuff first hand. so we're learning no perry county, the last hurricane that impacted taylor was hurricane hermine in 2016 and tropical storm elsa in 2021. did those experiences prepare you gays for what you saw this morning? >> no. the destruction was incredible. just trees and telephone poles snapped in two. power lines everywhere. it just -- you couldn't drive on the roads. as you said earlier, good samaritans came out. i went on the roads. they were court there with chainsaws trying to clear them out. >> gillian: wow. we have to leave it there. dale, thanks for taking time with us. wish you the best the coming days. >> sure. have a great day. >> gillian: thank you. so idalia is making its way through georgia now after battering florida. let's check in with c.b. cotton. she joins us from savannah. hi, c.b. >> hi, gillian. a little more than 100,000 people are now without power in georgia. even though it's been a story of on and off conditions all day a mix of heavy rainfall and strong winds, governor kemp is reminding everyone that dangers are out there, even as the storm weakens. here's the savannah river behind me. we've watched the water get choppy. again, the wind gusts, some of them at 90 miles per hour. as the storm crossed in to southern georgia, winds topped 100 miles per hour uprooting trees, blowing roofs off of buildings. some lines have been knocked down in the storm. we know this is causing traffic impacts here in southern georgia. just south of valdosta, officials routing northbound traffic off of i-75 near one of the exits there. i want to mention tornado watches and storm surges are in effect as the storm passes over this region. in savannah, state and city leaders, one thing they're keeping their eyes are on are the heavy rainfall as it coincides with the high tide. there's flooding risks and those will continue. people also being reminded as the flooding risks continues, there's a lot of standing water in low-lying areas. governor kemp reminding everybody to stay away from the standing water. there could be a downed power line, which is a huge risk. gillian? >> gillian: thanks, c.b. let's go to adam klotz who joins us from the fox weather center with more on where the storm is now heading this hour. high, adam. we're having some connection issues with adam. we'll bring them back shortly. the white house today faced tough questions about the federal government's response to the wild fires recently in hawaii as compared to what we have seen so far in the wake of hurricane idalia. take a listen. >> seems like a hurricane response so far is robust. did you understand that the wild fire response was not that good or is it easier for people to get help from the white house when the president is not on vacation? >> the disaster hit home for will cain. he's standing by with reaction to that after the break. veteran homeowners to combat today's rising prices. lower your monthly payments with the three c's: pay down your credit cards, pay off your car loan, consolidate your debt with a va home loan from from newday. 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. >> gillian: president biden spoke about the idalia response in florida and also gave an update in maui where wild fires decimated homes weeks ago. peter doocy has more. >> really interesting, it biden talked about these private calls that he's had with ron desantis. obviously there's a ton of 2024 intrigue when they're not responding to a storm that is hovering over the sunshine state. but president biden said that they have set aside political differences. >> i trust him to be able to suggest that he's -- this is not about politics. it's about taking care of the people of his state. >> president biden said something newsy. he said at this point it's tough to deny that there's a climate crisis. that's important because just before he came to the microphone in the roosevelt room, the fema administrator was asked if the fires and the hurricane are specifically caused by climate change. she was not ready to go there. so the. is saying this is directly because of climate change. the fema administrator not ready to say that. the press secretary karine jean-pierre also came out to preview president biden's remarks -- rather his response in this cabinet meeting happening right now about maui and florida. >> did you guys realize the initial hawaii wild fire response was not that good or is it just easier for people to get help from the white house when the president is not on vacation? >> so the premise of your question and the way you posed the question, i disagree. the governor of hawaii, the senators of hawaii, the folks on the ground, they would say that the president reacted in record time. >> and obviously they are -- they know the vacation during the maui wild fires was a sore spot with a lot of the people that were dealing with the fires in maui. they're not ready to pulled down a planned trip to rehoboth beach this weekend. that could change. >> gillian: thanks, peter. joining me now, will cane, co host of "fox and friends" weekend. you have a long and deep connection to maui that i want you to tell us about. also your response to president biden earlier in the hour. take a listen. >> we're not only building back, we're going to build back stronger and more resilient future, which means we need to be ready to withstand any challenge coming our way and rebuilding the way that maui wants to rebuild. >> what do you think? >> you know, gillian, you asked about my deep connection to maui. i'm grateful that many of the viewers of fox have gotten to know my personal connection. i've been going there from the 70s and loved not just the place but the people of west maui, of lahaina. my connection is less than the tens of thousands now displaced. the population of lahaina was ant 13,000. i'll share with you what i have learned. i have stayed connected to this story. i have i don't know how many phone calls a day from people there in west maui. there's deep and profound frustration with the federal government regardless of what karine jean-pierre has to say about her endorsement from the governor of hawaii that they were there in record time. there's deep and profound disappointment with the way fema came in, the way it was handled in the beginning. the sense of commitment to maui going forward especially when compared to other commitments given by joe biden. and then for joe biden or anyone else, including governor of hawaii to invoke climate change when it comes -- i think many natural disaster is nothing short of irresponsible. it's in the face of human incompetence. what started this fire in maui, human incompetence and human error. mistakes were made. power lines went down, sparked in dry grass. people were directed in the wrong direction. it was a chaotic situation. much of it avoidable, much of it understandable because there was warning. it wasn't due to the religion of climate. for them to revert to that religion of climate change shows not only they are unserious about dealing with the current problem but avoiding future problems as well in places like maui. >> gillian: there's also the messaging component that the president seems to have struggled with since the earlier hours of the blaze. the first time he was asked by the press to comment about what was happening in maui. he offered no comment. that in a sense our sources have been telling us and the government have told us has made the job of federal official as lot harder. they're playing catch-up. >> it's infuriating and inexplicable. i can promise you the people in maui heard that indifference. heard that lack of empathy and that lack of commitment to rebuilding our care caring about maui. >> gillian: thanks for joining to us talk about it. it's a rather difficult subject matter. we appreciate your perspective as always. >> thank you, gillian. let's go back to adam klotz. we has more on where hurricane idalia is heading the next few hours. hi, adam. >> yeah, still a widespread storm. despite where the center of the storm is, we're currently seeing a number of radar observed tornadoes firing up. so these are tornado warnings. we've had one confirmed in the charleston, south carolina area. it's right along this line of storms that these have been spinning up. tornados will continue to be a threat here throughout the afternoon, the evening hours. this is with some of the outer bands. the center of circulation, you can continue to see spin through georgia. the heaviest rain is on the northern side. still a category one hurricane as we speak. we do expect this to continue to weaken falling down to a tropical storm. the wind gusts are still strong, particularly on the dirty side of this storm where you see the numbers climbing up to the mid 40s. we've seen them jump as high as the 60s and then hilton head island, it's knocked out that sensor entirely. so the winds are still powerful with this system. those winds wrapping around the system i was just showing you. that's what grabbed the water from the atlantic ocean. we start to shift our future in to what will be happening for storm surge on the east coast now. you're seeing thesywan from 3 t of storm surge that will be happening as the tides start to peak. 8:47 in charleston is when you'll see a peak tide, again, all of the water being shoved up here. we still could see a surge issue on the east coast, no longer on the west coast of florida. you can tell where the power outages have been following this path. power outages will continue to be a big issue as we track this. i will leave you with some rainfall totals 6-10 inches. still a lot of rain to fall across the carolina. >> gillian: all right, adam. thanks. more of "the story" right after this break. ♪ i gotta good feeling about this, yeah ♪ ♪ i'm with it ♪ ♪ i gotta good feeling about this ♪ ♪ yeah, ♪ ♪ so let's get it ♪ ♪ i'm feeling good vibes ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... ...in real time. 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"your world" starts right now. in these are incredible, incredible waves coming through here. idalia is throwing hay makers right now in clearwater beach. >> you can see the river back there. we've seen debris floating down the river, including a massive steel structure being swept away through the current of the river. >> behind every house, every business along this road and much of this town, there's at least a foot of water. >> you can see this gentlema