Hi there, everyone. Its 4 00 in New York. At this hour, millions of people along Floridas Gulf Coast are bracing for one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in The Atlantic basin. The outer bands of Hurricane Milton are already hitting parts of the state. It is forecast to make landfall some time tonight between 10 00 p. M. Eastern and 2 00 a. M. And is expected to double in size before making landfall. This is the scene right now in ft. Myers, florida, being battered by high winds and rain. The top concern for officials at this moment is making sure that residents get to safety. The window for evacuating is now rapidly closing. Even as the storm is already complicating those efforts. This video shows a tornado touching down near i75 in south florida, thats hundreds of miles from Hurricane Miltons core. Just a few hours ago, president Joe Biden called Hurricane Milton, quote, the storm of the century. And made a plea to people in the Storms Path to please evacuate. First, many communities in Hurricane Miltons path do not have a moment to catch their breath between helene and milton. Two historic storms in two weeks. I want to thank everyone who has followed local guidance to evacuate ahead of the landfall. I know its really tough leaving behind your home, your belongings, everything you own. But i urge everyone in Hurricane Miltons path to follow all Safety Instructions as we head into the next 24 hours. Its a matter of literally a matter of Life And Death. Now President Biden and Vice PresidentKamala Harris led a briefing earlier today where officials flagged the risk of Storm Surge that they are describing as unsurvivable, Up To is a feet and incredibly high affect a large portion of the state. Hospitals and clinics have been preparing for the worst. The regions only level 1 Trauma Center, Thats Tampa general hospital, is located in one of the lowestlying areas in tampa. It is put in place a Flood Barricade called an Aqua Fence to fend off the Storm Surge. The rest of tampa, floridas third largest city, now a ghost town. The citys mayor, jane caster, warning those that stayed behind may not be able to get help once the storm hits. Wherever that Storm Surge comes, if its 10 to 15 feet and people are trying to ride this out in singlestory structures, theres no place to go. And once the winds get Up To hurricane speed, theres nobody to come and get you. Thats where we start today with my friend and colleague, Today Show Cohost, Al Roker. Al, when we get to see you by virtue of your presence heerks we know its a storm thats really important, that we communicate with our best experts about. So tell us whats coming. Well, here is the latest on the storm. Again, i try to tell people, dont Pay Attention to the category. I mean, its one way we catalog these, but the effects of it, whether its a 3 or a weak 4, its going to be devastating. Right now its just 100 Miles Southwest of tampa. Its winds at 125 miles per hour. And its got a fairly decent forward speed 17 miles per hour, which means it wont linger, but what it will do is cause a lot more problems as far as that Storm Surge is concerned by the very notion of its forehand motion. Now, weve got tornado watches from Daytona Beach to key west until 9. A good news a number of the Tornado Warnings have subsided, but we cant rule them not firing back up again. We had an official tornado outbreak, at least ten visual sightings of tornadoes. So in this area from melbourne to engelwood, ft. Myers, sarasota, this area, this hatched area, could still see ef2 or stronger tornadoes. In fact, this year we already had two tornadoes with ef3s. Thats never happened before. We expect landfall sometime between 10 00 p. M. And 2 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning as category 3 storm. And then continues across and out into The Atlantic by thursday evening. But make no mistake, its still going to have an impact. First of all, Storm Surge. Thats one of the things that we are most worried about. You heard all the officials talk about it. So right now, from Boca Grand to sarasota, were talking about 9 to 13 feet of Storm Surge, right around High Tide, which is at 6 15 or 6 51 in the morning. However, the High Tide is rising before that. So, even though it may not occur simultaneously with the peak High Tide, its still the High Tide is going to have an issue. Peak surge expected between midnight and 5 00 a. M. And as it exits, the return will be bring a 3 to 5 foot Storm Surge to the eastern shore. Now what is the Storm Surge . Its this initial rush of water. Three feet of water, could be life threatening. And then as you start to move Up To about 6 feet, you cannot drive. Roads are washed out. The weight of the Water Breaks through doors and on into windows. Now, if youre in a onestory home and gets to 10 feet, you have to basically youre stuck. Theres nothing you can do. 10 feet, maybe you can get to your second floor, but if it continues to rise you have to move into your attic and thats just a place where you do not want to be. Homes can get swept off their foundations. Entire neighborhoods could be destroyed. We saw that in helene. This Storm Surge could be worse than helene. As far as the impacts, major wind damage. Winds blowing out, highrise windows, cranes that are in tampa, those could come down with Wind Gusts of anywhere from 55 to 100 miles per hour. And with those Wind Gusts, Power Lines and trees coming down, widespread power outages, ft. Myers and orlando and some of these outages could last for weeks. Infrastructure will be a major, major issue. And the risk of flooding with Up To 18 inches of rain, we are talking about a high risk, a high risk of flooding, Flash Flooding stretching from the eastern end of florida All The Way to sarasota. Catastrophic Flash Flooding. Places generally about 7 to 12 inches of rain, but as i said, nicole, we could see even higher amounts before this is all over. And what would you say to people watching and trying to make decisions for their family or viewers who may have family in the region. What is your best case, your best argument, your best advice . Well, if the window has not closed for them to get out, its almost done. And so, now youre going to have to shelter in place. And the problem is once power goes out, once roads are washed out, theres nobody going to be able to come get you. And thats the danger. So if there is the slightest chance you can get out and get some place safe, i would do that. If not, youre going to have to hunker down and hope for the best. These are long days for you. Thank you for taking some time to talk to us. You bet. After a briefing or at a briefing today, president Joe Biden blamed Donald Trump for the disinformation that is swirling and coming from the right in the wake of Hurricane Helene and millions are in the path of this hurricane, Hurricane Milton. Watch. The last few weeks theres been a reckless irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people. Its undermining confidence in incredible Rescue And Recovery work thats already been taken and will continue to be taken. Its harmful to those who need help the most. Theres simply no place for this to happen. Former President Trump has led the onslaught of lies. Now the claims are getting even more bizarre. Congresswoman marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. Were controlling the weather. Its beyond ridiculous. Its got to stop. Moments like this there are no red or blue states. Theres one united states of america. Where neighbors are helping neighbors. Volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives to help their fellow americans. Joining us now is united States Secretary of transportation, pete buttigieg. Mr. Secretary, its great to see you. Good to be with you. Thank you for having me. I want to get to your personal fight with disinformation one of its biggest purveyors in a second. Can you share with our viewers what the Department Of Transportation is doing to prepare for and protect folks in the path of this Hurricane And FloridaHurricane Milton . Well, weve got folks positioned now and thats everywhere from faa to federal Highway Administration ready as soon as its possible to get into the affected area afterwards to help. Weve been engaging up until now to support things like evacuation, making sure that the Shoulder Lanes are in use on I4 And I57 to take one example. Doing anticipatory approvals for Drone Flights that wouldnt normally yet be licensed but are going to help florida utilities, for example, survey the damage that may be happening. So whether were talking about sea, air or land, were doing everything we can to help make sure that florida is well positioned to recover. Ill note, of course, this is happening at the same time as we continue to work on the response to Hurricane Helene. Between those two events weve got hundreds of d. O. T. Personnel on the ground, participated in the briefing yesterday, briefing President Biden on our work alongside several Cabinet Agencies and i was reflecting, its the only time i can think of when we had to provide updates on what we were doing to deal with the last disaster and what we were doing for an upcoming disaster in the same meeting. That just tells you how much the u. S. Is being hit all at once by this. But extraordinary people are showing extraordinary Teamwork And Resilience from the responders and the response personnel to ordinary people impacted by these storms. And thats what were really counting on that teamwork, that focus and a lot of federal resources to make sure that everybody gets through this. Mr. Secretary, the head of fema responded to what youre giving voice to, just the sheer number and the gravity of the disasters hitting our country right now. Let me show that to you. This is a high number. This is the most open disasters that i have seen with fema. This increased in the number of severe Weather Events were seeing as well as the complexity of many of these events because of the amount of damage theyre doing is increasing the number of open disasters because the recovery is more complex and it takes longer to help reimburse these communities as they rebuild from the Weather Events that they have experienced. Just talk about how vital that makes the quality of the information and Peoples Ability to trust the information theyre getting from the government and people there to help them . Well, information is a basic need when youre dealing with a disaster, just like you need clean water, you need power, you need transportation, you need information. And were working to make sure people know the good, trusted sources of information to turn to, for example, when it comes to transportation. That includes the information available through a 511 system where the state pulls together the best information about what routes are available and open and safe and what routes might be closed down or impassable. It is so important right now to turn to trusted sources of information. Whether its 511, whether its fema, whether its your local mayor and first responders. And not be listening to some guy on the internet because it can make a Life Or Death difference in the context of the disaster and in the aftermath of a disaster. People need to know what is available to them. So for example, when somebody pushes a lie that the 750 that fema makes available for immediate needs like food, water and diapers, is all youre going to get you know, somebody believes that, they might not get the resources that they actually deserve. So were going to continue working hard to make sure that good information is reaching people. And by the way, i have to say, in my conversations that ive been having with senators, governors, mayors, you would never know which of them belong to the same political party as i do and which belong to the opposite political party. Its not about politics. It shouldnt be about politics and we have to keep it that way. Well, but to your point, about some guy on the internet, theres a guy named Elon Musk who Spread Disinformation about Hurricane Helene, that entered into the political ecosystem almost immediately. And certainly had potential victims the people who were impacted by the storm. Talk about your efforts to combat the lies he was spreading about the air space. Well, i saw something go up on his feed that wasnt right. I responded directly and pretty soon after that we were talking. I will say what we determined was while it was certainly not the case that faa was causing the problem that they were being accused of causing, it was the case that people delivering Starlink Satellite Equipment were running into issues and faa was able to help resolve that. To me its a good example the difference between Human Beings talking to each other in order to solve a problem versus everybody just kind of being behind their twitter accounts saying things that arent verified. I feel like if we got rid of the things that we hide behind we would solve a whole lot of problems. Let me show you what the Vice President had to say about this phenomenon in a Phone Interview with cnn. I have spoken with local officials who have been struck, for example, by Hurricane Helene. And they are doing an extraordinary job in trying to combat the misinformation. Im talking about sheriffs. Im talking about mayors. Im talking about local officials. I dont know their party affiliation, by the way. Leaders on the ground who know it is not in the best interest of the people living in those areas to not know their rights, not to know what theyre entitled to and to be afraid of seeking help. It is dangerous. It is unconscionable, frankly, anyone who consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled. And thats why i call it dangerous. And we all know its dangerous. And the gamesmanship has to stop. At some point the politics have to end. Specially in a moment of crisis. And the crises that weve been seeing. Do you feel confident that the administration can play Whack A Mole and successfully combat all the disinformation . Or is the quantity and the ease with which its disseminated another thing thats coming up in meeting Behind Closed Doors as one of the things that needs a federal Government Response . Well, it is an enormous challenge. Speaking to the Fema Administrator yesterday, she mentioned how there have always been issues in disasters. Maui, this certainly happened where Theres Misinformation or scams. But we have never seen anything like we have at this level. And it makes it all the more important, certainly for us to g