Damaging winds, and up to 13 feet of lifethreatening Storm Surge. President biden warning, it looks like The Storm of the century. Officials fearing the impact could reshape floridas coastline. Millions urged or ordered to evacuate. The highways jammed. Many Gas Stations running out. The national Weather Service Warning now is the time to shelter in place. Our full Team Coverage here in florida and Al Roker with a new track as we come on the air. Also tonight, The Storm impacting the race for the white house. Fema racing to reassure those in Miltons Path on the heels of the devastation from Hurricane Helene. Kamala harris slamming Donald Trump over the misinformation hes spreading about The Storm response. Plus, going out with a bang. One of the oldest hotel casinos on the Vegas Strip brought tumbling down as the city makes way for a big, new gamble. Announcer this is nbc Nightly News reporting tonight from floridas gulf coast. Here is lester holt. Good evening from tampa. Hurricane milton is here. While the eye of the strom has yet to make its official landfall along floridas west coast, milton is already making its mark heralding its arrival earlier with a terrifying outbreak of possible tornadoes. Some of it captured on video. Most of the state right now under tornado watches. Where i am, were already seeing what appear to be tropical Storm Wind gusts along with pouring rains. The storm has dropped down to a category 3 in strength with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour expected to hit the Florida Peninsula still as a major hurricane generating a lifethreatening Storm Surge of up to 13 feet in places. Sail drone video shared by noaa showed waves in excess of 28 feet and Wind Gusts over 75 miles per hour. 40 nautical miles from The Storm center. 12 Million floridians are under flood Watches Tonight as we head into the evening. My team and i were out today as the race to save lives entered its final hours. With Hurricane Milton on a Collision Course with floridas gulf coast, its already unleashing dangerous impacts. Thats crazy. Reporter including an outbreak of at least a dozen reported tornadoes. That is a tornado. There it is. Wow. Reporter this one jumping the interstate and this video showing the likely twister ripping through a Front Yard in fort myers. About ten minutes ago, a tornado came ripping through here. This is a devastating tornado. It took out that 10,000squarefoot red iron building. Reporter while a possible tornado in stuart tears homes apart. Tonight, Drenching Rain and powerful winds are already bearing down with conditions only expected to deteriorate in the coming hours. Its around 10 45 in the morning. Were already seeing the first signs of flooding along treasure island, Sunset Beach specifically but what i really wanted to show you is this image. If you squint your eyes, you think youre looking at a new england blizzard. Its not snow, of course. Its sand. This sand was driven off the beach during Hurricane Helene, literally burying cars and parts of houses. This is why folks are so concerned about the power of Storm Surge, that it can do that, lift all that sand and dump it here in the street. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor hopes her city will be spared the worst, but Storm Surge remains her biggest fear. As youve seen, the area is saturated completely. We just cant take that Storm Surge, because it comes into Tampa Bay. Theres nowhere for it to go. Then power will be a big deal. Power will be a huge deal. Reporter today with the Clock Ticking down towards landfall, Crews Race to clear more debris from helene, and hospitals made lastminute preparations. Its looking like The Storm of the century. Reporter as officials made final pleas for people to put safety first. Im begging you, especially if you are in an a zone, you need to get out, and you need to get out now. Reporter the states shelters have room for nearly 200,000 people, but many are staying with loved ones. At a Gas Station in orlando, Nbcs Priscilla Thompson met Terry Burke clutching her rosary, her home in st. Pete was ripped apart by helene. We lost everything. In her home. Her home was devastated. Its awful. Reporter now shes had to evacuate two hours away to stay with family. I think its just cumulative, you know. Its just you start to get pretty overwhelmed. Reporter as we drove through tampa today, we found only a few people remaining stocking up on essentials. Youre sticking around . No, im going to higher ground, a nice stable house that has a generator already installed. Reporter the mayor of nearby treasure island, tyler payne, says hes relieved so many in his community also heeded the warnings. Properties can be replaced. We can rebuild, but saving peoples lives is, of course, the most important thing. Reporter tonight, his is among the communities bracing for the worst. These are kind of anxious minutes and hours right now. Whats going through your mind . Yeah, i dont know. My mind is fried from just going through a huge storm and preparing for it is really surreal to be staring this down just feeling for our residents that have already gone through so much loss and now having to prepare for it again is just unfathomable. And we should really tell you that this is a wide impact zone. Just to the south, sarasota may be right in miltons bullseye. Thats where Tom Llamas is tonight. Tom, were really starting to feel the effects of The Storm. Im sure you are there as well. Reporter thats right, lester. Over the last hour the conditions have started to worsen here in sarasota. The Police Department here just announced they are suspending emergency services, because the winds are just too strong. There are sheets of rain right now, Hurricaneforce Wind gusts that weve been experiencing over the last five, ten minutes, but thats not even the big danger. The big danger, over there, the bay, that Storm Surge, a wall of water, its like something they think theyve never seen before, and its already tonight hitting naples. As Hurricane Milton rips towards florida, water is already flooding the streets of sarasota. The city bracing for a potential direct hit. We have winds that might be in excess of 120 to 130 or more miles per hour. This is going to be an intense disaster for sarasota county. Reporter Storm Surge warnings are in place for nearly all of floridas western coast, and sarasota could be hit with 9 to 13 feet of water. Everybody is so tired already and already has storm fatigue. Reporter The Rain is already nonstop in sarasota, saturating the ground, and thats even before the Storm Surge moves in. Theres going to be so much water in this area, thats why officials say in some cases its unsurvivable. Storm surge is the deadliest threat. It occurs when winds push water on shore. The initial rush of water and waves can rise suddenly. Three feet of surge is considered lifethreatening. At six feet, driving to safety will be impossible. The weight of the water can break through doors and windows. More than ten feet of surge will inundate the first floor of homes and buildings. The water can sweep them off their foundations, and entire neighborhoods may be destroyed. Lines of ambulances packed roads early today as some hospitals and Nursing Homes work to get people out. Schools in sarasota transforming into Evacuation Centers as Emergency Workers prepare for the potentially catastrophic storm. We will respond, but know that there might be a time when we have to delay our response because of The Storm conditions. Reporter many taking no chances. With a 10 to 15foot Storm Surge, i didnt want to be anywhere near that. Reporter and the big Concern Tonight was the Barrier Islands near sarasota. They were evacuated, but police went as far as making a blockade so people wouldnt get in and cut off the water there. They want to make it clear if the landfall is over sarasota, that Storm Surge is unsurvivable, and those people on the Barrier Islands needed to get out. Lester. All right, tom, thanks. Al, milton is moving faster than expected. Thats right, lester. In fact, the system pushing to the north. Storm surge, something were concerned about, 120mileperhour winds moving northeast at 15. We do have tornado watches still in effect until 9 00 this evening. It makes landfall sometime, we think, between 8 00 p. M. And 11 00 p. M. With tropical force winds. Right now these Wind Gusts, 39 in tampa, 48 in west palm, gainesville, 30, and some places could see Wind Gusts of up to 127 miles per hour in sarasota. The Storm Surge again going to be a big issue. Were going to watch that very closely, and then as we also watch to see what happens as far as The Rainfall is concerned, we are talking about upwards of 18 inches of rain. Weve got a Flood Risk thats going to be stretching from orlando to the East Coast and back down to sarasota, lester. Still a very volatile situation. This is something else. Al, thank you. They are bracing for a major Storm Surge in ft. Myers to our south. Sam brock is there. Sam, its already been a dangerous day there. Reporter thats right. Tornadic activity. At least one reported by the Weather Service here in ft. Myers leaving behind a trail of destruction. But right now all eyes are on the water specifically and the river behind me basically at street level. There are some 800,000 people that live here in lee county. Half of them are under mandatory evacuations and, lester, that extends All The Way west to the Barrier Islands that will sound familiar, ft. Myers beach, pine island. Youre talking about folks who just went through something with ian where boats were hoisted above power lines, and for blocks and blocks and blocks homes just obliterated. Now, many folks just trying to build those homes back as Hurricane Milton is hanging in the balance. Back to you. Yes, sam, folks going through a lot here. The Coastal Parts of florida are not the only ones that will be hit hard by The Storm. Farther inland, orlando could face more than a foot of rain and major flooding. Priscilla thompson is there for us. Priscilla, good evening. Reporter yeah, lester, here in orlando, The Rain has been coming down like this for the past several hours. You can see here the water already starting to pool near this drain, and this isnt even the worst of it. Across the city, businesses have closed including major Theme Parks like universal and disney, and you may remember during hurricane ian, orlando saw devastating flooding, and milton is expected to be far worse with up to 14 inches of rain, which could lead to catastrophic flash floods. Officials in this county say they distributed more than 200,000 sandbags and have also prepositioned pumps to help get that water out. Tonight many residents here telling us theyre prepared but still worried. Lester. All right, priscilla thompson, thanks. We turn now to a political storm over Disaster Relief and the federal Governments Response to these hurricanes with Vice President harris criticizing former President Trump again. Heres gabe gutierrez. Reporter with Hurricane Milton churning in the Gulf Tonight President biden is ramping up his criticism of misinformation ahead of The Storm. Its unamerican. Its not who the hell we are. Reporter meanwhile trump in Battleground Pennsylvania attacking harris. Shes just led the worst Rescue Operation in history in North Carolina. Reporter and intensifying political storm as both Campaigns Battle over federal Disaster Relief. They had no money. You know where they gave the money, to illegal immigrants coming in. Reporter thats false. Fema says that more than A Billion Dollars distributed to shelter migrants is from a different government program, not Disaster Relief. Harris on a late Night Show slamming trump for pushing misinformation. And its crude. Have you no empathy, man . No, for the suffering of other people. Reporter the former president also falsely says fema will only give Storm Survivors 750. Trumps claims drawing pushback from other republicans. Those rumors are totally unsubstantiated. Reporter still North CarolinaCongressman Chuck edwards says there are legitimate questions about femas response. It was more than three days before we ever saw the first folks in here from fema. Reporter though several governors now say the feds have provided the aid they need, some survivors are still desperate for femas help. Why arent they here . Why arent they helping the people that need it . Reporter ahead of Hurricane Milton, a federal watchdog says Fema Staffing is running on a razors edge. For example, of the more than 1,200 workers who specialize in Disaster Recovery assistance, just 3 are listed as available. But the Fema Administrator insists the agency can handle multiple disasters saying it has a layered staffing approach. Lester. Gabe gutierrez at the white house, thank you. Now to new developments over that reporting in bob woodwards upcoming book involving former President Trump and russian President Putin and the claims trump secretly sent Putin Covid Testing machines. Garrett haake is covering the Trump Campaign in pennsylvania. Garrett, the kremlin is now weighing in. Reporter thats right, lester. A Kremlin Spokesman telling reuters that russia did accept shipments of Covid Testing equipment from the u. S. In the early part of the pandemic in exchange for russian respiration devices. Tonight a former senior Trump Administration Official tells Nbc News this was part of a broader effort to support other foreign governments with supplies and that trump liked to personally call leaders to go over the supplies being sent. Woodward reported that trump sent the tests for putins personal use, and that the two have spoken as many as seven times since trump left office, both of which trump says are false. Today the kremlin denied putin has spoken to trump at all since he left office. Lester. All right, garrett haake, thank you. In 60 seconds its not just the physical damage people are so worried about here in florida, well look at the financial pain so many now face as insurance rates go through the Roof Storm after storm. Stay with us. 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