Thank you so much for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. Were grateful. Please stay safe. The beat with Ari Melber starts right now. Hi, ari. Hi nicolle. Welcome to The Beat. Warning against maga disinformation. Both candidates have been speaking out. We have more on the intersection of this humanitarian damager and the campaigns later this hour. While the latest reports indicate this volatile category 3 will double in size and make landfall in florida within hours. Experts caution it could end up being the worst such Weather Event in possibly a generation. I can give you a couple of factoids before we bring in our experts. Sustained Wind Speeds up to 130 miles per hour, projected 15foot Storm Surges in the worse spots, a foot and a half of rain in the densely populated Tampa Area is expected. And you can see fort myers, sarasota, tampa, all in the path, as it will barrel across the West Coast. You see that on your screen with the map of florida. Authorities have urged people to follow evacuation orders, which impacted over A Million people. And you can see folks making their way by car in traffic trying to respond to what the authorities and experts say is best for their and their families safety. Milton is moving closer to the West Coast of florida, thousands leaving in search of safety. Some resources have become harder to find. The national Weather Service has stated if you are watching this right now, 6 01 P. M. On the east coast, that the time to evacuate is now over. I repeat, the time for evacuating, for moving, is now over if youre in that affected areas. People who did not leave, if you are within the sound of my voice or any of the experts talking tonight, are being told to shelter in place. Now, crucial supplies have already started running low. Fuel shortages already reported by Gas Stations. Plus those tornado reports today. Theres one in broward county. And that, what youre seeing there, is still hundreds of miles away from what they call the core of milton. Its 9 00 a. M. Here in tampa and [ bleep ] is looking dicey to start. [ sirens ] this is the sheriffs office. You are in a mandatory evacuation zone. Please leave now. That is scary. Why is it bigger than florida . It looks horrible outside. Thats a tornado. Oh, my god. Two weeks since i evacuated for Hurricane Helene and we got the Orders Today for Hurricane Milton. Tide is rising very quickly. Very quick. Its not free to evacuate. Gas already high. The only Gas Station in town has gas. The worst of it will obviously be at, like, 2 00 a. M. Or so. You can see there people sharing their own experience, information online. There are more videos than ever. Theres also a very important need to be cautious about the information you get and what is increasingly a problem of disinformation and politicized material. We have more on that coming up. Right now i also want to show you President Biden speaking out about this storm. It is still expected to be one of the most and worst destructive hurricanes to hit florida in over a century. You know, both the heads of the national Hurricane Center and the national Weather Service made it very clear in conversations ive had with them earlier today, milton carries incredible destructiveness, can wipe out communities, can cause loss of life. Storm surge is still expected to be up to 13 feet. So, i urge everyone in Hurricane Miltons path to listen to local officials and follow all Safety Instructions they give. The president echoing and reinforcing what weve heard about following the experts and local authorities and being thoughtful about where you get information. Now we go to tampa, where Nbcs Marissa Parra is reporting. What is happening there . Reporter hey, ari. You can tell conditions here are getting pretty ugly here in tampa. Keep an eye on those trees behind me, which really allows you to see those wind gusts, which have been upwards of 50 miles an hour. We only expect that to increase as the night wears on. Everybody has been keeping a close eye on where exactly thats going to be, wondering how bad the Storm Surge will be, the threat upwards of 13 feet in some places. And remember this is an area that was already less vulnerable from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. We have all of that debris that we have been talking about, repeatedly, the efforts to remove all the Debris Left over. Were talking about peoples belongings, their prized positions now turned into projectiles, whether it is by wind or Storm Surge or flooding. You dont want that floating or somehow going into the air, into a window, causing even more damage. So, a lot of questions on what that can do. And when we talk about those around the Clock Efforts, we know that they were working 24 7. They were able to remove 50 of the debris from those Barrier Islands. But that 50 still remains. So, a lot of questions on that. We also have concerns about trains. Construction crews have these massive cranes that normally take weeks to set down and get them to a lower level. But of course that requires scheduling in advance. They were not able to do that. A lot of questions for what that means for residents who thought they were safe further inland, nowhere near the Storm Surge or the Flood Zone risks. But st. Petersburg put out a Notice Yesterday to the residents near those cranes saying, do not stay near your windows in case those cranes topple over. In so many ways, this monster of a storm, a threat from so many different directions for so many people because, ari, we were just talking about the evacuation efforts, how difficult it was for so many people to get the gas that they needed. They opened up an extra road, extra lane on the shoulder. The Gas Stations were running low on fuel. They went around the Clock Efforts to get them what they needed. But on top of all of that, the people who did evacuate, ari, are now telling me theyre facing tornado risks. So, the threat coming from all over all across the state. Really scary night for people across florida, ari. Absolutely. Marissa parra, Thank You. We hope you and your team stay safe. Jesse kirsch is live in sarasota. Jesse . Reporter hey, ari. So, i just want to start off with something that caught our attention, there is a car just driving up toward a hotel behind us here. And just echoing what you were talking about, at this point the time to evacuate is over. Largely we have not seen cars out on the roads, which is good news. But i did just a short time ago see a vehicle heading off of one of the Barrier Islands here in sarasota. I also want to note that area, which has been Shut Down access had been Shut Down. Throughout the day we had seen a Police Car with lights flashing to prevent people from going onto the island. That Police Car is now gone. And im seeing a vehicle without any Kind Of lights indicating that its a first Responder Vehicle driving toward the barrier island, which to me is unfathomable at this point because weve got the estimated landfall timing moving up. We are in what is effectively the Bulls Eye right now. And just beyond those buildings behind me, that is sarasota bay. We are talking about more than ten feet of Storm Surge possible in this area. To echo what marissa was talking about with the debris piles, they had to stop collecting debris yesterday. The dump Shut Down ahead of the storm. Ive seen mattresses, pieces of wood, shattered glass, picture flames, envelopes, peoples lives on their lawns, and that trash has not fully been cleaned up. And all of that, i think, is the biggest variable beyond tracking where landfall and the worst surge will be. A big variable is what is going to be the impact of all the added debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. I want to have david pull out a little bit for a moment to give you an idea of what were doing differently for this storm. You can see were in a Parking Garage and were right up against a wall. This is a largely insulated parking ga rack. This is how we are going to be riding out the storm because of our own elevated concerns for debris in a way that we are not typically. Were always conscious and looking out for it and taking precautions, but were being that much more cautious because of our own Security Preparations around this landfall, which is sticking out for our team, as compared to others. Were still hours away, ari. But definitely a sense that were getting deteriorating conditions here right now. Appreciate that context. Glad to hear that the roads are mostly empty and you have the precautions for the whole team of colleagues there. Jesse kirsch monitoring this for everyone. Thank you. We turn to angie glassman, who can show us on the big board, on the map, what we see coming in tonight. A category 3, ari. Thats what were going to hold steady with. At this point it doesnt change the impacts a whole lot when it comes to Storm Surge, rainfall, the flooding concern. All of that is baked into the system here, as we landfall happening 9 00 to 11 00. Thats sped up a little bit because its moving at a pretty good clip. Still northeast at 15 miles per hour with winds at 120 miles per hour. With that latest track, update from the national Hurricane Center, We Saw a little bit of a nudge to the north. That means probably talking landfall somewhere around sarasota. Venice to st. Pete is, Kind Of, the eye we have of where we can exactly see that. This is going to make a big difference whether it comes in at the southern point of the Tampa Bay Mouth or right over st. Pete. That means the Storm Surge to the South Side of that system is where it will be the worst, and that is what were most concerned about. Make a note though, it also maintains Hurricane Status as it crosses the state. Wind damage is going to be immense across the state as well. Notice the models coming in, tightly packed. Were still going to see this general range as a category 3 hurricane as we get through the next couple of hours. When we talk about Storm Surge, youve been hearing us Say Over And over, we did see those numbers come down a touch. Does it matter . Not really. We had that system working with sheer, working with a cold front that has weakened it a little bit. But were dealing with the potential for nine to 13 feet of Storm Surge on the right side of where that eye comes on shore. Sarasota, venice beach, boca raton, all those places have potential for 13 feet Storm Surge. Midnight to 5 00 a. M. Is where well see the worst of it. High tide is expected at 6 00 a. M. Tomorrow for the Tampa Bay area. This system did grow in size. It is a strong, powerful, large system pushing that water up against parts of the West Coast of florida. The Wind Speeds have already started to ramp up. Notice st. Pete, sarasota, over 60 miles per hour. Weve even got brooksville over 60 miles per hour. Tropical Storm Force winds happening now in tampa as well. And these are only going to increase. The Hurricane Force winds are centered about 35 miles from the center of that eye from this hurricane. That is where the worst of it is. Those worse winds youre going to see on the northern side of the eye, the worst rain youre going to see on the northern side as well. Notice Sarasota Peak winds, 127 miles per hour. That is destructive to structures. This is going to knock out power across a chunk of the area. We do of course also have a tornado threat. This has been something ongoing, specifically for the eastern portions of the state. We have seen just, Kind Of, a prolific Tornado Event unfolding across this region. The Tornado Watch is going to go through 9 00 p. M. Tonight. There are still Tornado Warnings happening. Weve seen damage in melbourne. Unfortunately this is something were going to have to watch with the outer bands spiraling in for the next couple of hours and on top of that the Flash Flood Risk with rainfall amounts across central possible up to 18 inches possible. Angie, Thank You. Very useful to see the overhead and the guidance. We hope everyone can use that information. Appreciate it. I want to tell viewers, this is a serious and life threatening storm. And listening to local experts nonpartisan information, Thats Part of keeping safe. We can also report tonight and were not going to wait on this, its happening now how these efforts are being harmed in real time by a Problem Weve seen in many other topics and areas in our lives here in our politics in america, and that is a higher level of misinformation, some of it politicized. At the briefing today, top fema officials said the agency is well funded, capitalized, and prepared for this storm. I want the people to hear it from me directly, fema is ready. Our agency is postured to respond to this storm and help the state of florida. Thats a little bit of the information from fema. And of course you can go online and, through credible sources, government websites or news sources, you could watch more of that. You can watch the President And Vice president today. You can hear from local officials. There are ways that it is clear you can get that direct information. Theres also a campaign going on. And while it is perfectly fair game for leaders in either party to discuss Government Incompetence or criticize the current administration, much of whats happening now, before this thing even hits landfall, before we know anything about how many people will actually be affected, whether tragedy will be unavoidable loss of life and other injuries, and how you would grade the future not yet happening government response, Donald Trump who has been caught lying more than any official in United States history, is jumping into this, turning a Real Life Natural Disaster into a chance to politic. And then from trump to the internet and back with Fox Amplifying it even more. Right now, storm ravaged residents are struggling to survive and begging for basics, like food and water. And fema is running low on funds because theyre blowing it all on illegals. You have Dhs Secretary Alejandro mayorkas saying fema is running out of money and going bankrupt. Bankrupt . This has not been a busy hurricane season. This after the fema directed more than 1 Billion to pay for Housing And Food for harrisbiden illegal immigrants . Now, if you look, this is one response that happened actually on fox. Fema is not broke, and there is not an issue, as you can see on the screen, of and this is Washington Post noting fox reported it quietly money for Storm Relief is not being drained by undocumented immigrants. Now, as with any piece of misinformation, there are the facts and then there is the public perception. And this has gotten to a Level And Youll notice this is different and happening really earlier and faster than in other natural disasters. But a sitting President And Vice president , who is, of course, running against Donald Trump, felt it was time and warranted to get ahead of this and address it in their remarks today. What just upsets me so is the idea