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this hour, and on the ground frenzy in the state. millions under mandatory evacuation orders. the entire state faces flash flooding. and then record-shattering storm surge, water officials say as high as 18 feet. enough to swallow two suvs stacked one on the other. one official warning if you are caught in that surge, you simply will not survive. let's get straight to our correspondents on the ground binning with -- beginning with bill weir. what are you seeing and what are you told to expect? >> reporter: this whole community is really bracing for the worse. the new numbers this morning sunk the pit of the stomach everyone here, trying to think about a 17 foot storm surge. and we're on the back side of the storm and this is sort of the reverse storm surge. locals never see this exposed seabed here. we're looking at crab traps and oyster beds blowing around in the wind with the rest of us here. but of course the water as the storm comes ashore will fill in fast. and we're next to hurricane charlie sushi bar named after the storm that came up the peace river here, much tighter eyewall there, but basically ripped the roof off of new emergency operations center here in in pu gorda. and this is the first county to establish an evacuation plan. an update a couple years ago. they are buying up vulnerable properties and converting them into public spaces. they moved that center to higher ground. building codes were tightened up as well. so this is a real test now of adaptation on a warmer planet when we get these bigger faster wetter storms. >> and, bill, you mentioned charlie. obviously a memory there and something that forced that smart adaptation by the town. the storm surge in charlie back in 2004, it was a cat 4, 6 or 7 feet was the maximum storm surge then. when officials now talk about maybe double that, the sense of the preparation and the fear. >> it is palpable. gist ta just talking to a few folks who have been here a long time, were here for charlie, and you could tell the seriousness this their tone very much in contrast to people in st. petersburg who were planning for a hurricane party. this will be the strongest natural force to hit this part of the country in recorded will history. so we don't know what that means yet. nobody knows what a 15, 17-foot storm surge looks like because there has never been anything close to it here. we're right under -- my photojournalist is taking shelter under u.s. 41 which is the oversea highway. you can follow it down to key west. and so we're trying to use that as a gauge of how high does that water come up. to the bottom of the roadway there? it is just too hard to fathom right now. we actually talked about this morning should we try to get east of i-75, try on to get to e ground higher ground. but you have to hunker down which is what we're prepare dodd. our hotel is just a minute dash away when things get rough here. and this is just coming attractions. hard to believe that these wind gusts that which are maybe 40, 50 miles per hour will triple. intensification is the watch word of the new warmer planet where these storms get out in the warm water and just stomp on the gas. you can see behind me, we just had a palm tree come down a few minutes ago. and beyond me in charleston harbor, sailboats that are bottomed out because of all the reverse surge. the forces of nature, john, so humbling to see up close. >> it is humbling. and i'll get to chad myers in a minute and he will walk through the signs. but the reverse that you notice there, somebody who doesn't understand how these storm work, they might think that you are starting from a low point. but walk through again what you are seeing, essentially the storm is taking the water away for now, but it will be returned and then some quite soon. >> reporter: exactly. if you think about this storm that we've been staring at that circle on the screen for so long like a giant circular saw in the sky, we are on the side that is pushing all of the water away from this part of the harbor here. but then depending on where it makes landfall, and that is the key, the difference between 10 or 20 miles where it makes landfall could be all the difference for thinking in terms of the flood that follows. as that other side of the big buzz saw comes around and brings all of that gulf of mexico water on shore, up into the rivers and canals, so many of these folks have these cream homes right on the water. take is why you come and live in these places. about half of this time are retirees, a town of about a 15,000, over half are seniors, active seniors. a lot know their way around a hurricane. but, again, it is hard to fathom what we're up against. and your heart breaks because you realize when you cover these storms when the wind dies down and the sun comes out, the nightmare is not near over. it is just beginning when it comes to flooding and hold damage and insurance fights and all of the lost productivity that comes with businesses being shut down. it will be really tough. we're keeping an eye on a couple big building cranes for a huge resort going up over there, whether those can survive 155-mile-per-hour sustained winds. we'll see. >> stay safe, we'll check back in in the hours ahead. i'll get to chad myers in a second, but this is the tampa department of transportation camera, tampa considerably to the north of where bill wear is in punta gorda, tampa expected not to get the brunt of the storms, but still 80 miles across and you can see the winds and water moving already in tampa. the eyewall has come ashore, the storm itself will come ashore soon. and let's get to chad myers. start with where bill just was and what you are seeing on the path at the moment and then we'll walk through what to expect in the hours ahead. >> the storm obviously spinning like this, in this direction, and so bill is still on this part of the storm. it is still going to be blowing offshore, taking that water and pushing it away. if the storm was just to go all the way due straight and it is not, but bill would always be on that offshore side. this storm is going to be moving on up toward the northeast and so bill will get on the onshore side and that is what is going to be most damaging. that is when the water will be coming this. we already know the water is in naples and moving into ft. myers. here is the onshore part. not quite up on to port charlotte yet because you are on the north side. here is what naples pier looks like. a couple hours ago you could see the sand, now you can hardly see the bottom of the pier. it has been crashing over the pier for quite some time. at least the people were gone. but the 12 to 18 foot surge, that will be the problem because many of these homes in these areas, they are only 3 feet above sea level. you put an 18 foot storm surge on top of the ground, all of a sudden the water is up to your gutters or more. napeleles 5.7 # ssurge and is t one third and it is not even onshore. one third of what we thought already. and tapmpa, it looks a an awful lot like what bill was just showing you, the water is flowing away. it is going out of tampa bay. and the good news is they won't get much of this back side, so it is not going to come in a lot like, you know, like this down here will be. this is going to be a 9, 10 foot surge in places that are already above ground. if you get all the way down toward the sea surface, down toward sea level, that is where that significant number, 18 feet, hard to imagine. 48-mile-per-hour in venice, 60-mile-per-hour gusts there as the storm comes on shore. this is a disturbing map, john, this purple area right here is 110-mile-per-hour wind gusts and more before this thing finally begins to die out. this entire area will see category 2 winds and then hear you are back into category 1 and then farther away from that, you are into just tropical storm winds. but that is a very large area. that will lose so many trees, we'll lose so much power. power may be out for weeks or months. i wrote about this in charlie. you know, you get anxious about the storm, you get worried about the storm, and then it is sad. and as a reporter, i got to sad quite early seeing all the people that i was visiting in punta gorda covering their stories. they are retired. they didn't have anything else in their life except their home and a small little boat on the canal and they lost it. and i'm afraid we're going to have more stories like that coming up here. hurricane warnings now in effect for the eastern part of the state of florida because the winds will be coming on shore here in hurricane force. so now we're kind of covering the whole state. not a lot of time, not a lot of room for this storm to die. >> we'll check back this throughout the hour, chad. it is depressing and frightening when you look at those maps. let's get to somebody who is on the ground right in that purple area chad was talking about. al inadbert henderson is emerge management. and we're grateful for your time. you heard chad and bill lay it out. what are you being told where you are what to expect in the hours ahead, how bad? >> this will be one of the worst hurricanes that we've seen by all indications currently. the 30 mile diameter of that's wall is starting to pick land h make landfall. for us here in the city of cape coral, we're expecting to see that the next 30 to 35 minutes. we'll see the 100 miles per hour plus winds move ashore to us as the eyewall comes across. we'll have a brief period of potentially sunshine, and that is an area of concern that we have to make sure that our community understands the fact that this has a very well defined eyewall that after the initial surge we'll have nice clear weather, but then on the back side of that eyewall, we'll see very rough weather coming back through the city and then having that strong storm surge push behind it. so that is the outlook that we're looking at currently. obviously we're planning for the worst case scenario. but hoping for the best scenario to come out of this for our community. >> quewe share that hope for th best but you've had to suspend emergency services city wide because it is not safe out there, and they will resume normal operations when winds get below 45 miles per hour. what is the best estimate on when that will be, and for somebody out there in the community who may not have evacuated who needs some help, is there anything available to them or they must hunker down and wait? >> at this point if they have not evacuated, they will have to hunker down and wait. it is not safe for us at this point to put any type of first responders out on to those roadways. it would be a catastrophic response for them. so in the best interests of our first responders, they are all hunkered down in their respective fire and police stations throughout the city. and we're anticipating that the 45-mile-per-hour sustained winds will subside sometime tomorrow morning early between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. where we could then quickly return to our field operations and start doing what we call our first push of trying to clear out the major roadway arteries within the city, start getting a quick impact survey and start to see the impact that hurricane ian has on our city. >> you're a community of about 200,000 people. 330,000 people without power across the state right now. any idea what the latest numbers are right now in your community? >> not at the present time. as you can imagine, we have power that is going off, sometimes coming back on. there are sessions of the city already now without power. it is just going to progress to obviously a major power outage affecting the infrastructure, if you will, as the hurricane makes its way across our city. >> what is your sense of the community in the context of if you listen to chad and bill wear, thiswe weir, people say i made it through charlie so i'm okay and i'll stay put. this one of course twice, maybe three terms the storm surge. are people listening or do some people say i'm okay is this. >> we always worry about complacency, but also we've enjoyed a large increase in our population as well. so we have a lot of our community here that they are experiencing this type of a hurricane for the first time and not really knowing what to expect. what we've been asking and what we've been seeing occur is our neighbors helping neighbors throughout our city. the people that have been here and seen those effects and the damage that can occur during those hurricanes, helping out new residents, understanding when to put up the shelters and what do to appropriately prepare yourself and also understanding the importance of heeding those evacuation orders when they are issued by the county. >> mr. henderson, sir, appreciate your time today. we wish you the best in the hours ahead. if there is anything that we can do including getting the word out in any way necessary, please pick up the phone and find us, we'll be here in the hours and days ahead. appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you very much. and we continue obviously to track hurricane ian. sobering statement this morning from the governor, people across the state, buckle up. >> this is going to be a nasty, nanasty day, two days. probably we think now itit wille exiting the peninsula sometime on thursday. so this is going to be a rough stretch. we're here to respond to the areas that are affected once the storm has passed. it gets in between teeth to destroy 5x more plaque above the gumlinthan floss. for a cleaner, healthier mouth. listerine. feel the whoa! here goes nothing. hey greg. um...hello? it's me, your heart! really? yes! recording an ekg in 30 seconds. tada! wow that was fast! good news, pal. i'm not detecting any of the six most common arrhythmias. what next? let's get some fresh air. been cooped up for too long. yeah... ♪ get kardia mobile card at kardia.com or amazon. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way with aveeno® daily moisture. formulated with nourishing, prebiotic oat. it's clinically proven to moisturize dry skin for 24 hours. aveeno® the very latest now on a quickly developing catastrophe. the eyewall now swirling over florida particularly the southwest part of the state. and john berman is live for us in tampa. john, where you are in tampa, you are beginning to see intensifying over the past hour. >> reporter: yeah, the winds are picking up, but it is the rain here, john, that has been pouring and pouring more all morning long. and this could last another 24 hours or so. they are expecting anywhere between 12 inches of rain and 2 feet of rain here in tampa. i was speaking to the mayor of sarasota which is not far from here, and he said 10 inches of rain is enough to float a car. imagine twice that. and that is the fresh water flooding that they are concerned about and there are warnings of dire flooding over much of the florida peninsula, tampa, orlando, all the way to jacksonville. so you can see three separate threats that they are dealing with. yes, these 155-mile-per-hour winds that could make landfall soon south of here, storm surge as well that could be devastating, but then the fresh water flooding that could last for a day, maybe two days. obviously tampa along with every other city that we're hearing about, all the mayors and emergency officials you are talking to now say if you haven't left, stay in place. you have to ride it out. the emergency crews, they can't get to you now. this could be a tough day ahead. >> tough day ahead indeed. let's move to the south now to ft. myers, ft. myers fire chief, tracy mcmillian, is with us. grateful for your time. i know you're very busy. you are at least at this moment in the path of this storm. what is the very latest you are hearing and do you have any concerns that people in the community maybe might not be listening to the evacuation, is it too late for them to move? what do they need to do now? >> yeah, we're in the thick of things. now is the time to stay inside. one of the messages we're putting out there is to stay in and check in, talk to your family, talk to your relatives, let them know where you are. and in addition, we're asking folks to stay away from windows, from openings and get to a central place in your home that is built up by walls fairly narrow, so that you can hunker in and ride it out. we're in the thick of it. there is not time now to get to the roadways. they are not safe. emergency responders have begun to hunker in ourselves. we're not responding to calls. so this puts us into one of the hardest points of what we call response and recovery when we have to stand back and wait so we can get back out there to actually render aid and help to our community. >> and chief, i know when our team was in touch with you earlier, you were concerned that people had not heeded the evacuation orders. do you have any idea of how many people, a community of about 92,000, how many people are in their homes now and have to wait this out at home? >> we don't have a great stream of data for that. one of the things that we do know from our county partners who actually maintain our shelters for us, that there is about 4,000 people in the shelters that were provided in the county and there is plenty of room. but some of the factors that give us information is how many people actually left the area completely, maybe went to a hotel versus a shelter. so there is really no way really to determine how many folks at this point in time are still in their homes. but that is something that we're going to be aggressive with when the time and opportunity gets available for us to get back on the road and start doing emergency response with our first responders, law enforcement, you know, fire and also ems, just making sure our community is safe as quickly and aggressively as we can. >> all right, chief, i just want to show you a shot from the south, this is an earth cam in naples, florida, and you see there the violence starting to pick up in the water there from this. chief, i'm showing naples to your south and you are starting to see obviously heavier -- looks like the tide, but it is the storm moving that water right there. what are you being told as this is to your south in naples, what are you being told about when to expect the worse and how has that changed, are you being told that things will be better or worse than a day ago go 1234. >> things are different and i think that everybody is on the same page. ian is not cooperating at a all.a all.our standard is expecting the worst. we were expecting it to hit tampa and then it was sarasota and now a little more south than that. so we're still on the dirty side of the storm. we have a better chance of getting hit with more eye type of situation. but storm surge has increased a lot more. good thing our planners and folks that work diligently with coming up the plans and they did a worst case scenario plan and we're prepared to deal with the storm surge and that is why we always try to plan if the worst and hope for the best. >> and when you say you're prepared to deal with that storm surge, you say yourself hunkering down, if you get the storm surge as great as it could be there, a, how high, and b, what will it being look like when you can go outside? >> that is unknown. we're not sure what it will look like. and this is one of the things when its to storms and especially big storms like this one, we don't know the cards or the hand that we'll be dealt from ian. but we're ready to actually play the deck and do the best we can to make sure our community is safe as we go out with recovery efforts. >> chief, sir, again, if there is anything that we can did or get people's attention if need so over the next day or so, please reach out. appreciate your time, sir. >> have a good one. this morning the president of the united states joe biden said that he has called the state's governor ron desantis and several florida mayors, the president promising to move heaven and earth if necessary to help telling people in the storm's path please take the warnings of local officials seriously. >> this storm is incredibly dangerous to state the obvious. it is life-threatening. you should obey all warnings a d direrections from emergency officialals. don't take in i gog anything fo granted. evacuate when ordered. be prepared. with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. ♪ hit it!♪ ♪it takes two to make a thing go right♪ ♪it takes two to make it outta sight♪ ♪one, two, get loosnow! it takes two to make a-♪ t double rewards points this fall. book now at bestwestern.com. ♪ my relationship with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. between the high interest, the fees... i felt trapped. debt, debt, debt. so i 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mayor announcing that they are pulling back emergency responders because it is no longer safe to be outside operating. let's get to punta gorda where randi kaye is live for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: john, we're seeing definitely heavier rains coming through here and some pretty big gusts of winds. i just checked with our weather team and it was about 67-mile-per-hour last hour at the punta gorda airport which is not too far from here. we're thisin downtown up in a parking garage for our own safety, but we're expecting according to our weather folks the worst of it, believe it or not, some not tthis is not the it, we're expecting the worst to come through starting by 2:30 p.m. and then we'll be in the thick of it until about 6:00 p.m. or so. that is upwards of 100-mile-per-hour winds. so we'll see what it brings. but for now, we know that the evacuations that did take place, officials here are saying no more. stay home, hunker down, find an interior room, do not get on the road, it is too late. if you just look around here, this is the area of downtown p punta gorda. and in the distance there, charlotte harbor, that is where the storm surge 12 to 18 feet is where it will be coming from. that is where hurricane charlie raced across that harbor back in 2004, a much smaller storm than hurricane ian. so this will be a very different story. this is a lot of wind, but a lot more of a storm surge and a lot more rain being dumped on this area. >> and so help our viewers understand the context. charlie came through, it was 6 or 7 feet was the surge then. they are talking 12 to possibly as high as 18 feet now. just as you look around, with your own eyes, describe the difference that could be in terms of a surge that high given all the low lying property you are seeing around you. >> reporter: yeah, charlie was a cat 4 and that was in 2004. and it did come through very fast as i said and the storm surge actually in some of the areas was even as low as 3 or 4 feet. so if we're talking 12 to 18, just imagine how much more that is. and if you look out just even in the distance, you can see how flat it is. that is actually our hotel in the distance there, if you can see that building. we moved our cars because that is at sea level. our cars, we're told they are expecting about 9 feet of water in that parking lot possibly at our hotel in the distance, so we moved up here to much higher ground because our cars would be floating away. so that should give you an idea. but if you look at even just some of the street signs, the light pole, you can see just how high maybe 9, 10, 12, 15 feet, maybe even 18 feet of storm surge, what will happen to this community. with hurricane charlie, it was flattened because of the wind. but like i said, it was a wind event. they didn't have the rain and the storm surge coming into town here. so there is a lot of people who were sandbagging oand boarding p their businesses here, but i don't know if that will be enough. >> just don't know, it is the uncertainty that think has over everyone. please be extra careful as it unfolds in the hours ahead. and let's go to the south n now, this tells you about the breadth, dep the, the wideness of this storm. lee county sheriff is with us. lee county also in the direct path. mr. sheriff, grateful for your time on a day i know you are busy. what are you being told about the worst case scenario as we wait for the storm to make 4 landfall in the next hour to 90 minutes? >> i'm at the command post communicating at every step of the way. and we don't know exactly what is going on outside until we're outside evaluating and going through that process. and so we don't know exactly what we're faced with. we just want the storm to go by and again the safety and security of the great residents is number one. >> you live in a remarkable county in the sense that you have ft. myers, so a larger community, cape coral a smaller city, but you also have some quite fragile areas, bonita springs, sanibel, that are more exposed right out there -- even more exposed i guess is the best way to put it. we have an earth cam shot that is to your south. and from the naples area, see the storm starting for pick up and it tells you the scope and strength of this storm. when you talk about the coastal areas, number one, did you get everybody out and, number two, what are you expecting? >> i'll tell you this, my sheriff office family member, we were out in full force to the last possible second to ensure the safety of these great residents. lee county is a huge county. and the barrier sisland, all th front waterways are very critical and we were very strong with our message which was to please listen, listen to law enforcement, listen to the officials and don't stay. we want people to evacuate and literally just be safe. and you can force and force and force, but some people just don't want to leave. >> you talk about the size and scope and diversity of the terrain if you will in your county. you are in the command center now. when you have the experts telling you maybe 12 feet, maybe even 15 feet, maybe 18 feet of a storm surge, knowing your community like you do, where are you most worried about and what will that look like? >> you talk about an 18 foot storm surge, that is life-changing and i'm worried about everybody in my county. those coastlines, those low laying coastline, cape coral is a huge city, over 200,000 residents, all the barrier islands. you worry about everything as sheriff. again, being responsible for everyone's safety and security. our great governor ron desantis has been in continuous contact with me offering any and all resources which is comforting as well as all my florida sheriffs. there is 57 constitutionals in florida and i've been continuously communicating. they have teams ready to deploy as we speak, so we're in full force and we'll ensure the safety of our residents. it is a waiting game and you want to get out there as soon as possible. >> and we were talking a bit earlier the fire chief in ft. myers who says ian is not cooperating meaning things are changing and shifting as the hours unfold. as you sit there, what is different this hour than if we were having this conversation say early this morning for better and/or for worse? >> what changed for me, this storm is not cooperating. it changes by the second. i spoke to my brother florida sheriff in hillsborough and i said this is projected to come to you, so i'm here for you whatever you need, we'll deploy resources. well, i got the call from him saying guess what, we've changed and we got resources coming your way. so all of us come together, but it is ever changing by the second, minute and hour. and so sometimes of course you have to adjust and we're ready for everything that comes our way. we always go worst case scenario and we move forward. >> sheriff, grateful for your time. and if there is anything that we can do to get the word out, need to rattle anybody in the days ahead, please pick up the phone. we'll try to help. >> appreciate you. thank you, sir.. and again, ian the e eyewal has made l landfall. the storm itself wilill make landfall this afternoon. we'll continue our c coverage i just a moment. to make sure it fits your life. because at carvana, we take joy in making every customer well happy. carvana will drive you happy. the first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... dinosaur? we just got an order from a dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, porful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. godaddy. tools and support for every small businessirst. when cold symptoms keep you up, y vicks nyquil severe. just one dose starts to relieve 9 of your worst cold and flu symptoms, to help take you from 9 to none. for max strength nighttime relief, nyquil severe: ♪ announcer: type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® 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(soft music) back to the breaking news now as you see right there, watching path of the storm, florida bracing for a big hit. hurricane ian's eyewall now menacing over southwest florida. already some areas quickly disappearing under he water. storm surge is the giant concern across the state of florida this hour. officials predict water levels as high as 18 feet in some places. and this time of tension is also a time of high emotion. an official in manatee county, florida hoping every resident got out of the storm's path in time. >> hopefully you evacuated to a friend's house or another safe location in florida or in manatee county because we are about to feel the brunt of a near category 5 hurricane. in our area. >> we're live in st. petersburg now and brian todd is on the ground for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, john, we're getting another burst of real energy from the storm here by the wbayfront here. the storm surge is getting more intense and it will only get worse in the next few hours as we get to the real eyewall hitting and moves up toward this area, the storm surge could get to be 4 to 7 feet. and we'll talk to a gentleman here who decided not to evacuate. chris hurd has been in the st. pe petersburg area for five year, he is from vermont originally. why did you decide not to evacuate when they have had the mandatory orders to evacuate in. >> so i was here five years ago with hurricane irma. and so, you know, i understood the metrics that happened here during that category 3 storm. and with everything that was being reported by news and by weather, i looked at all the different metrics relative to storm surge, wind, and rainfall and determined that my location in st. pete would be safe enough for me to stay here. my location at street level is 50 feet above sea level and then i'm up on the second floor on add another 10, 12 feet on that. >> so you are not used to this kind of rain. >> yeah, the main issue i think for us at this location is the intense amount of rainfall, i mean, we're expecting potentially 10 to 15 inches of rain today. one day. and so with that in mind, streets here in st. pete will pond and will show signs of flooding when there is, you know, a 1 or 2 inch storm during the summer. and so when you have that much rain coming into the system, the question is where where does that rain go. and so when you have this much stuff blowing in, and stuff trying to get out as we get deeper into this storm, that is a big question i don't have an answer to. and so flooding could be an issue anywhere but in terms of just location, that is why i stayed. >> chris, good luck ck riding i out. appreciate youyou talking us. one added danger that people don't necessarily think of, you have this highrise building behind me under construction. i've covered a lot of these storms and they have a crane and city officials will tell you that the construction crews leave tools, 2 by 4s, other things on the site when they leave. a lot of that stuff could fly off that building and that is one of the dangers that people are facing, they are telling people don't come out of this stuff starting now because first responders starting about thousand will be pulled off the streets. we've been following a couple of first responders, fire trucks in the city as they track down power lines and other things. they are starting to pull these people off the streets as well, so they won't be able to get to people, john, who are stranded or otherwise under a lot of stress in the coming hours. >> brian todd for us live on the ground in st. petersburg. hoip hope your guest is right about his safety. and thank you, brian. sanibel islands the pictures on the right, that is 100 miles south of where brian is. and other important security news out of arkansas, law enforcement officials there saying active shooting situation unfolding at a hospital just north h of the capital of littl rorock. information right now is quite scarce, but 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already rising past record levels in in some communities in florida. napain a pa nece pa nell less c fears those who stayed. and let's go to the chief of charlotte county fire and atefu. what is the very latest right now? >> we're feeling the brunt of the highest winds we've had so far, so basically in lockdown and waiting for the storm to pass. but at this point, yes, we're feeling the peak impacts so far. >> every community along the coast is a little different. you have the charlotte harbor and then the peace river that runs up through the community. in terms of storm surge, what are they telling you in terms of how high it might be and what is your greatest worry? >> last numbers we got had the potential of being up around 16 feet was the last update we got. we have a national weather service breaking at 1:00 and we'll get up ddates at that poi. good majority of the population is in that category "a" or "b" flood zone and being right on that harbor, of course that stipds extends for the potential of storm surge. once you add to that to the rainfall we've had the last several days or week, we have a major concern in those areas with that impact and so we elevated to the orange level as far as evacuations. >> and grateful for your time right now. please reach out if anythingng that we can come to get t the wd out. thank you for your time today.y. our coverage of hurricane ian after a quick break. vicks vapostick. strong soothing... vapors. help comfort your loved ones. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess. just soothing comfort. try vicks vapostick. becoming a morning person starts the night before with new neuriva relax and sleep. it has l-theanine to help me relax from daily stress. plus, shoden ashwagandha for quality sleep. so i can wake up refreshed. neuriva think bigger. ♪ ♪ this is the moment. for a treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema. cibinqo — fda approved. 100% steroid free. not an injection, cibinqo is a once-daily pill for adults 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reporter: yeah, don't let guard down. but stay in place. and this is the most powerful storm ever to hit the west coast of florida. that storm surge at 18 feet is simply terrifying. here in tampa rain could be the biggest problem. it has been pouring all morning long. they could get between 12 to 24 inches of rain. and when you think about the storm surge, when you think about the force of the wind and then the fresh water flooding as well, impact of this storm will be enormous over this state for the next few days. the eyewall is beginning to make landfall. let's go to bill weir in punta gorda. give me a sense of what you are seeing. >> reporter: it is coming. ian is here. we just felt a marked increase in wind speeds within the last ten minutes or so. we were right at about 40, 50 miles per hour, hard to fathom that speed tripling in the next several hours. we're right at the point where u.s. 43 heads across the peace are i have here and i'm just in front of the memorial for hurricane charlie which in 2004 devastated the town and sent a wake-up call to the community about the threats of living along the coast in a rapidly warming planet. as a result of that storm, they were the first community in florida to put in a climate adaptation plan, a sea level coastal resiliency plan that they had been working on for years now. and this will be the test. it is hard to build power lines or building codes for 17-foot storm surge though. that is the crazy variable here. no one has ever seen that. but that is what climate scientists have been warning about for a long time and now we get to see it up close. >> bill weir. and right now to ron desantis, governor of florida. >> don't forget ian will produce hurricane strength winds and massive floodings not just where it makes the initial landfall but throughout the state of florida, so central and northeast florida will also feel impacts. while most people in the evacuations did leave, there were some that chose to stay. i was speaking with the sheriff down in charlotte county and while most people left, they had a small number of people who wanted to hunker down and that is a decision they made knowing that they had the ability to evacuate and knowing the stakes. nevertheless, safety, life safety operations will commence as soon as it is safe to be able to identify people who may be in harms way and who are in need of assistance. and kevin will say more about that. and we'll also here from fwc about their efforts this they have staged and ready to go. if you are still in southwest florida, just please stay inside until the storm passes. it may appear to be calm at some point, you may just be in the eye of the storm and back side of that will get very, very nasty. the storm is expected to move across central florida and exit daytona beach sometime on thursday. we've already seen around the state tornado warnings issued far from where the hurricane is entering in southwest florida, and those warnings are likely to continue until this finally leaves our state. so even if you are not in the direct path of the storm, you need to take all tornado warnings seriously and you need to take appropriate precautions if that is happening in your area. the florida department of transportation has just announced that forth dfort drum and canoe creek, those services are closed. we have 200,000 power outages reported throughout the state. but outside of southwest florida, crews are working to quickly restore power. of course 200,000 is a drop in the bucket for what will happen over the next 24 to 48 hours. there will be widespread power outages particularly in southwest florida. we have over 100 portable cell towers ready to be deployed into the area once it is safe to enter. once the storm has passed ands it is safe to go outside, you still need to be cautious. avoid downed power lines, standing water, stay clear downed trees and don't drive in standing water and please if you are going to use a generator for your home, do not allow that to be inside, exhaust needs to be outdoor. stay out of the way of emergency crews out of florida waters and away from all downed power lines. stay off the roads. there is no need to rush back. you will have a massive surge of people that will be going into provide of course life safety assistance for those who may have stayed in some of the more hazardous areas. you will also have power workers going in. we were in lake city and we had all these power, line workers from all these different states. i saw them from texas, louisiana, all he's different places staged. we have a massive, massive mobilization. their job is to get in there and help to restore services. you are also going to have folks bringing in things like food and water. so no need to rush back in. there will be a lot going on. and if you are on the roads, you are limiting the ability of crews to restore power and clean debris. we don't know how much debris there will be, but there will be debris and it will make it difficult to navigate some of the roads. fdot's immediate mission is to clear roadways. in 2019, we were projected to be hit by hurricane dorian and fortunately at the last minute to missed the coast. but we did have a really massive mobilization. this mobilization exceeded that. this is a really significant effort,i county and federal and state level. impressive to see. director guthrie has asked for additional vehicles from d.o.d. in coordination with fema. secretary of defense has approved national guard forces to provide additional forces. which we very much appreciate. we will also be submitting momentarily a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties. we'll request that the federal government reimburse 100% of the upfront costs for the first 60 days to ensure that we can quickly recover and move forward into the response and recovery part. and if you think about this storm, have we had storms as strong as this hit florida? michael, hurricane andrew, labor day hurricane many decadesin ag? yes. have we had big storms that left a lot of water and flooding? we hadder eder irma recently. you will have massive amount of power hitting that coastline with really, really strong winds. that will do a lot of wind damage. but you also have the storm is so massive, and people are kind of comparing this to the track that charlie took in 2004, because charlie was expected to hit tampa bay, turned, hitting southwest florida. ch charlie was strong, but a fraction of the size of what we're dealing with here with hurricane ian. so the effects of this will be broad. and we appreciate the biden administration's consideration for the people of florida during this time of need. when i was in lake city, you had massive numbers of linemen, but you have those staged all over the state. there is now over 42,000 linemen and other personnel ready to restore power in 30 different areas across the state. and those linemen and other associated personnel hail from of course many from florida, but from 27 different states. of course our department of transportation does have 1200 personnel on standby to perform cut and toss operations understanding how important it is to get those roadways clear as soon as possible. supplies will be brought in by plane, boat and high water vehicle. airports in southwest florida to have teams behind and they are going to work to clear those run ways as soon as the storm has passed. we appreciate the florida national guard's really impressive mobilization of over 5,000 folks as well as 2,000 additional guardsmen from other states. they have nine chinook helicopters ready to go and in addition 22 helicopters will be coming in after landfall that will be here within the next 24 hours. kevin will talk a little bit more about this, but we have the five urban search and rescue teams. you will hear from fwc about what they are doing. high water vehicles from florida highway patrol and of course our coast guard partners, there is going to be a massive evident as soon as it passes southwest florida to get out, recon the area and identify areas where there may be a need of rescue services. some of these counties obviously know where residents decided to hunker down in, so they will look there first. but this is really important to be able to get i think in hurricane michael, i mean it took a few days to be able to know where the response efforts need to go. so in total, we have nearly 250 aircraft, more than 1600 high water vehicles, and more than 300 boats of all drafts and sizes, including 250 already in the major impacted areas and nearly 50 that are staged and ready to come in as needed. they include smaller rescue oriented boat, air boats and larger boats that will be delivering 134r5i supplies by w need about. and i want to thank the 26 s states that sent us support. alabama is supporting sending some black hawk helicopters down to help. governor bill lee in tennessee, fast tracked the request that he. louisiana says we have a lot of experience and these guys are good, we want to send more. and so we really appreciate that consideration. and if we need that, we certainly will do that. we also understand that people that will be displaced will need help. and so we will help floridians in need of short term support like utilities, hotel bills and transportation if they have been displaced by the storm. please continue to monitor local results, weather reports. be very cautious about going out into hazardous conditions and once the storm passes your area, just make sure that you are very careful because there will be a lot of hazards that will be down on the ground. a lot of people have offered thoughts and prayers and that means a lot to us. there is also people that want to be able to do their part and so i've directed volunteer florida to activate the florida disaster fund where people can donate. much better to donate sfanksly rather than sending items. we have everything that we need in terms of the immediate response needs but there will be thousands of floridians who will need help rebuilding and to contribute to the disaster fund, you can visit florida disaster fund.org or text disaster to 20222. and there is a portal at volunteer florida.org. and you can look to see of the volunteer opportunities. this will be a rough patch here for the rest of today. and into tomorrow. but we understand how significant this storm is. yes, there will be an immediate response, yes, there will be things that happen with recovery. eventually there won't be much media attention on this as the weeks and months go on. but we understand a storm of this magnitude is going to require an effort over an extended period of time. this is not something that we want to deal with or ask for, but we'll step up and be there for folks and we'll make sure that folks get on their feet and southwest florida comes back better than ever. okay, kevin guthrie. >> thank you, governor. as the governor said, hurricane ian is approaching landfall as a category 4 storm. winds of 155 miles per hour in lee and charlotte counties. at this time the division has received nearly 1,000 resource requests from our impacted local partners and 864 of those are either in process or completed. we're working as quickly as we can. i've talked with each and every local emergency manager in the direct path of the storm. >> we'll continue to monitor the press conference. we gave you the remarks from the governor who went through a whole bunch of resources and plans to respond to hurricane ian. once it passes through florida. but really right now the most important thing that you can do he says is stay inside until this storm passes. if you are in florida, do not go outside right now. he did emphasize that while it is entering the state in the southwest portion of florida, it will have impacts this central and east florida as it makes its way out of state and may not be out offof the state until somet late tomorrow. and also there is a tornado impacts people. the hurricane is winds of 155 miles per hour. he mentioned charlie which a lot of people are thinking about because it was in the same zone where charlie entered in 2004. best but he said charlie may have been as strong but it is a fraction of the size of ian. so let's go out to randi kaye. what are you seeing and feeling? >> reporter: we are certainly feeling the wind. it has certainly kicked up. we checked with the weather team recently and we were told that it was a 67-mile-per-hour wind at the airport in punta gorda, definitely feels much stronger than it was last hour. the gusts, they come and go as you saw there. and also quite a bit of rain coming down as well. we were told that we'll be in sort of -- the eye will be passing over here. we may get caught in the eyewall, but we also may feel a clearing sometimes after say 2:00 p.m. which means that the eye is right over us. but if you look out in the distance, you can't see it, but that is the heart of the storm. the harbor won't be able to contain it all and that water may be a part of the storm surge that we'll see here in downtown punta gorda where i am, we could see anywhere from between 12 to 18 foot storm surge. much of the downtown is shut down, people puttingters and th sandbags. but there is a lot of concern about trying to reach people after the storm surge. there were evacuation orders in place about 200,000 people were ordered to evacuate here in charlotte county. the question is how many of them actually did it because they have no way of tracking. nobody has to report in when they evacuate, so it is certainly quite confusing to the officials to know who is where. they have search and rescue teams on standby as well. but certainly a lot of concern here as it is starting to pick up. >> all right. stay safe there. and you can see on our map here, hurricane ian is moving in it to the state, the eyewall is when it officially makes landfall, when it -- it hasn't hit just yet. let's go to jennifer gray in the weather center to get a better sense of the timing of when the eyewall will arrive. >> sanibel island is in the eye right here. and you can see in the eye, right around this -- the eyewall, that is where we'll see the worst conditions. that is when we'll see the heaviest rain, strongest winds as of right now, we've also already had wind gusts 6 of ove 100 miles per hour on sanibel as well as in naples. and we'll also get incredible amount of storm surge that will push in bonita springs, naples park, they should be getting a tremendous amount of storm surge. we've seen 6 or 7 feet and so we're looking at just incredible, incredible damage for these areas. on the radar you can see the bright orange and red colors. and 45-mile-per-hour ft. myers, 67 gusts. but this is reaching far and wide. this storm is the rain shield in this stretches 100 state. and it will cross the state into tomorrow and maintain the hurricane strength within that, so we will continue to get very gusty winds and just torrential rain. we're talking about more than 2 feet of rain for some locations. you can see these areas shaded in pink, that is 10 to 20 inches of rain and i'd expect some areas to top two feet of rain. and so not only will you have the storm surge issues of up to 12, 17 feet in some locations, you are also going to have the flooding also. and so that will create horrible conditions across the state. potentially catastrophic in some cities. so here is the flooding rain threat. high risks in that hot pink area including tampa, orlando, it will last into wednesday and thursday. so here is the storm surge threat. you can see the circle right there, that is indicating where the center of the storm is, and you can see biggest storm surge will be that 12 to 18 feet right there are that's comes on in just a little bit to the south. >> and we'll continue to check back with you. i want to go live right now to ft. myers, florida, which is just getting inundated with water right now. you heard jennifer mention how naples was already seeing a record storm surge, that is south of ft. myers. frank lonnie is joining us and who is an architect from california who happens to be in ft. myers working and he took some video. thanks for jumping on the line with us. can you tell us more about what you are seeing? >> absolutely. the storm surge is very significant. we're seeing cars and boats float down the street. we're seeing trees nearly bent in half. there is quite a bit of chaos on the streets. and winds, seems like we've had gusts that are well over 100 miles per hour. and i'm sorry if i'm speaking very loud because it is very hard to hear due to all the noise of the disaster outside. >> hard to see these images. you talk about cars and other things huge just floating in the street. and so disturbing. >> yeah, would he seeing a storm surge of about 5 feet high above ground level. and it is taking garbage dumpsters and other items -- >> and we're hearing some places 18 feet. so three time what is you are seeing there in ft. myers right now. what do you mean by chaos on the streets? in ther >> there are quite a few unfortunately homeless people seeking shelter and almost appears that they are trying to find their way into billions that could afford them shelter. i'm personally in a steel reinforced concrete building. and so we are safe. and you are seeing the footage taken here from the balcony looking towards the east side of ft. myers beach. you are seeing in that footage the bay. waves are the gulf side are incredibly high and something i've never seen before. >> and do you feel like people understood just how bad this was going to get? >> we are here for the after math of hurricane charlie. we had evacuate during that storm. and what we're seeing here right now appears to be much worse damage than what charlie did to this island. we had to evacuate that last hurricane and this one appears to be much greater strength. >> what is your plan as far as riding out the storm and then what? >> well, we know that emergency services are shut down to the island, so we did stock up on supplies. we have water, unperishable food. and our plan is to just stay in this building as long as the storm and winds are this extreme, and once things calm down, we'll head outside and see if there is anyone that needs help. and we won't go do that until it appears to be safe to go outside. at this moment if i stepped outside, i'd have a difficult time standing up without holding on to a railing or wall. you can't stand up without being tossed or blown away. but we'll ride it out until things calm down and we'll go -- i'm here with some family members and friends and we'll see if anyone needs help once it passes over. >> i'm so grateful that you can help us understand what you are enduring and you and your family and friends are safe. but it does sound like an extremely dangerous situation in ft. myers. frank, i understand that you have limited battery left on your cellphone, so i won't take much more time. but are you concerned at all about the communications aspect of all of this? >> yes, unfortunately we lost power in this building about an hour ago and they shut off the water as well because i believe that the public water has been contaminated from the storm. so, yes, we have limited power and limited battery. we are prepared with some means of charging our phones, you ab -- but everyone has to share that resource and generally we'll be safe and ride it out without any issues. >> all right, frank, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. we'll check back. and that was in n ft. myers. want to continue to take you around the state thahat is currently being impacted by this category 4 hurricane. hurricane e ian is making its w inland. stay with us. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have 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health and be proactive, i think it's worth it. see the benefits of fresh food at betterforthem.com we're tracking husrricane ian. this footage gives us a different look at what is happening here. you can hear the wind blowing fersly and all that water flooding the streets. he estimated it was about if a 5 feet. and the storm surge is expected to be up to 18 feet ian could become the worst storm to ever hit the region. and we're getting recordings of above 100 miles per hour already and again this storm is really starting to strike. it could make official landfall already but we're already seeing so much devastation. let's go to derek van dam in bradenton a bit north of ft. myers. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: you make a valid point because ft. myers is to my south and their wind direction is completely different than what we're experiencing here in bradenton. and that is important because the manatee river and the harboroff my left shoulder has seen a complete reduction of the water within the river area. so the normally water covered area is dry river bed as we speak. so the winds have driven out some of the water from the manatee river. so that gives you an indication of how powerful this storm actually is. an the city tweeted out that the waste water has the potential of overflowing, so they are asking residents to conserve water. what are we experiencing? hard to believe as hurricane ian edges closer and closer to our election, that winds here could nearly trip le if we get into te eyewall which is looking more likely. winds extend out 80 miles from the center of the storm. and that has the potential to push up so many water into the canals. every couple moments get some of most intense gusts of wind and would see the trees bend and the difficult sensation to be able to stand up in these conditions. we know that it will be a very difficult next six hours but it is the slow forward movement of this hurricane that will make this so daunting for people in the hours ahead. testimony literally creep its way inland, slow down takes does so and just add to the misery for so many more hours compared to a fast moving storm. >> derek van dam, thank you. stay safe. and i want to mention naples has issued an emergency curfew effective immediately for all the folks there experiencing again storm surge that is already reaching record levels in that part of the state. you've heard life ththreatening storm surge,e, but what dodoes look like for the people about to face? we're on it. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪things are getting clearer♪ ♪i feel free to bare my skin♪ ♪yeah, that's all me♪ ♪nothing and me go hand in hand♪ ♪nothing on my skin♪ ♪that's my new plan♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 4 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter 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high has eye has to get hal over before it gets better. and bill weir, i know that you are bracing for it as well. as you say ian is here. >> reporter: yeah, it is recall howling. we're in this parking garage and the winds are circling around. and i'll have to ask them to turn up the camera mic. and you can hear the train hum that people talk about after they have ridden out a storm of this magnitude. you can see the power. there palm tree is the memorial for hurricane ch thatterly who charlie, took 15 lives and destroyed 11,000 homes. and as a result, there will another be another hurricane named charlie. they retired had name. and i will bet you a dollar that they will never be another hurricane named ian. i'm so worried for the people who either couldn't leave or wouldn't leave because, yeah, the wind makes for dramatic pictures, but it is the blowing water that will make the most difference to the people's lives for the next foreseeable future. when this wind dies, subject comes out, the nightmare is just beginning for a lot of these folk. then comes the flooding water and the mold problems and the lost days of work. this storm will hurt, john. all you can to is just hope for minimum, minimum blood, sweat and tears. i'll having trouble standing up. i can't tell whether you are talking to me or not. >> if you can hear me, is the water already a problem? i don't know if you have a sense of what is going on? all right. bill weir oig, you can get a sense of the power. the wind and strength and it is really just the front edge of ian as it begins to make landfall. wind gusts upwards of 100-mile-per-hour or more and it could get worse than that. to bill and his team, please stay safe. joining me now is the vice mayor of venice, florida. not terribly far from where bill is. if you can hear me, what are you seeing? >> basically we're seeing pretty strong gusts right now. a lot of up rooted trees. we lost power here on the northeast side of town. we've been trying to get everybody to shelters and we're pretty much at that point thousand where everyone is sheltering in place and we're just kind of hunkered down ready to go for the storm. we've got a great, great public safety team, our public works department is ready to go as soon as the storm passes we'll be out en masse to clear the roads and get our city back up and running. we do have tactical teams ready to go. and so we've done everything that we can to prepare for it and now just time to sit and pray and hope that we all come out of it in good shape. >> we're getting word are naples of storm surge already around 7 feet. how much of that are you seeing at this point? >> we're definitely seeing some in- inland flooding. kind of seeing a lot of the reverse where the water has been pulling back so i imagine at some point we'll start seeing the surge. we have all of the crews locked down because the wind gusts. so i'm sure that we'll be seeing some more here in a little bit once we get crews out in the field. >> and your message for the people of venice right now? >> most importantly, just be safe. don't take any chances with your lives. if you are sheltering, stay sheltered in place. hunker down, don't go out into the storm prp . it can make great pictures but pictures aren't worth your life. so please make safety easier by staying where you are. and if the eyewall gets to us, you will feel the ability to see what is going on. but stay inside because it is not over. >> it won't be over for some time. listen to local officials. vice mayor, thank you so much for being with us. to you and your team, please stay safe as well. >> thank you. and you can get a sense of how all of this is going to be. bill weir feeling the power of hurricane ian as it begins to make landfall. cnn's special live coverage continues right after this. bath fitter doesn't just fit your bath. we fit your life. when you're tired of looking at your tired old bath, we fit your style, with hundreds of design 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>> i would say the safety for not only ourselves, our team, but everybody o n the ground an everybody we may be rescuing. >> we talk about the historic nature of this storm. this could be the strongest on record to ever hit florida's west coast. given that, gifven the increase danger, are you doing anything different in your own preparations and response? >> we have a team staged in brandon right now. we are behind cover in a central location so we are safe and we're here to be here for the evacuations that need to occur. >> what do you anticipate being the biggest challenge? >> communications because the cell phone towers are going to go down. so just staying in communication with our volunteers on the ground and storm chasers in the area. >> what type of equipment does that require and how are you coordinating with local state officials in terms of response to make sure everybody is working in a coordinated way in order to make sure you get to the most people who need help? >> so we have a few apps we're using. zello is the walkie app, but we're in communication in other ways. we have people in other states that have more equipment for us and the locations of everybody in our organization. so we do have location and we're just trying to use all the apps that we can to further assist everybody. >> why do you do this? i know it's worth it as a volunteer for you and you put yourself in harm's way. why? >> i'm a people person. i love helping people. it's in my heart. i wear my heart on my sleeve and what am i doing here is to help the people in need and that's what i'm doing. >> we wish you, your safety, and best of luck as you embark on those efforts. i know there are going to be lot of people who need your help. thank you so much for joining us. that does it for me today. stay with cnn for all the breaking news on this dangerous hurricane hitting florida right now. our coverage continues right after a quick break. did you know, some ordinary cold medicines can raise your blood pressure? try new vicks nyquil high blood pressure for fast, powerful cold relief without ingredients that may raise your blood pressure. try vicks nyquil high blolood pressure. the coughing, acaching, fever, cold and flu, for people with high blood pressusure, medicine. okay season 6! aw... this'll take forev—or not. do i just focus on when things don't work, and not preciate when they do? 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>> we're downtown and we are feeling certainly feels like hurricane force winds, about 75 miles per hour. certainly the wind has picked up. we are expecting that the eye or at least the eye wall will pass through very quickly. we're told that between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m. eastern time will be the worst for us. feels like we're in the thick of it. if you look out that way, that is where charlotte harbor is in the distance and that is where hurricane charlie passed through in 2004 and then came here and pretty much flattened downtown punta gorda. that was a wind event. this right now feels like a wind event, but this is going to be a huge storm surge. at least that's what they're predicting. anything up to 18 feet. so we are certain ly concerned. that's why we moved from the river to some higher ground. but the wind s are kicking up. they have search and rescue teams standing by. there are evacuations underway. maybe as many as 200,000 people evacuated. it's unclear because there's no way of checking, but that was a mandatory order for the communities and the barrier islands. >> and we would all hope that most people listened to that, heeded that order. stay with us. we are getting an update on ian's path. jennifer, where is ian now? what is that latest update? >> well, ian hasn't made landfall yet, but the storm is getting closer. half of the eye has to cross over land for it to be landfall. the national hurricane center will call it as it does. this is sanibel island right here. it's crossing over sanibel island, captiva. this is pine island. this is where we have seen the worst of the storm. now, if you look at the wind direction going in this direction, fort myers right here is pretty much in the worst location you can be as far as storm surge is concerned because all of that water is just pushing onshore. now, as this storm moves inland just a little bit, they are still going to get pounded with storm surge so it is not over yet. the water will still rise. the water will still come. around this eye wall here where you're seeing the yellows, the reds, that's where the most intense wind is going to be. the most intense rain is going to be. so once this eye crosses over, makes landfall, we still have the backside of this storm to go. so we're only halfway there. the storm is moving slowly so it is going to rain for hours. it is going to be very windy for hours. we've had wind gusts topping 120 miles per hour around captiva. topping 100 miles per hour for fort myers. we are in the brunt of this storm. the eye wall is making landfall right now. the storm hasn't quite made landfall yet, but it will soon. so you can see the current wind gusts there. already seeing very strong wind gusts even well away from the center of the storm. as it crosses the state, it will weaken a little bit. tear up a little bit, but erica, we have a lot of rain with this storm. we're talking about more than 2 feet of rain potentially could fall across the center portion of the state. so not only do you have the potential for 8 to 10 feet of storm surge, you have the potential for 2 feet of flood water, so we are going to talk about a lot of water across florida, a lot of rain, a lot of flooding from rain and storm surge. >> there's a lot to keep track of and as you point out, this is going to last for a very long time. stick with us. i want to bring bill and randi back in. i know they have questions for you. bill, based on what you're seeing and you've talked so much about the comparisons people are trying to make with charlie and perhaps why those are not accurate when it comes to ian, anybody you want to ask jennifer now based on this latest update? >> reporter: couple of things. i saw on e-mail traffic they were starting to see 7 foot water levels in naples which would shatter the old record of 4 feet. i don't know if that's accurate. but help us understand what a storm surge looks like. there's a lot of new floridians. is it like a tsunami? is it one big wave? do the waves get steadily higher? >> so basically storm surge is this push of water that's going to come in. not like a tsunami. this is more gradual. this area in red is where we're forecasting that 9 to 10 foot storm surge. normal sea level, you're going to have that storm surge on top of that. so 4 feet, you're definitely going to flood a home along the coast and where we're talking about in florida several pblock in. once you add 9 to 12 feet of storm surge, that's enough to push a house off a foundation. we're talking about catastrophic damage for those areas that receive 10 feet of storm surge. it's incredibly dangerous. more than half of the hurricane deaths are related to storm surge and you can add another 25% or so with flooding and so most of the deaths within a hurricane happen because of the water. it's not the wind. so the storm surge is going to push all of that water in and once the storm passes by and the winds change direction, the water is going to slowly push out. so you can imagine it being a steady rise then a steady fall as the hurricane moves waway. >> that really does give you a sense. i think we still have randi with us. is there anything specific you want to ask jen based on what you're seeing there? >> reporter: i wanted to ask about the eye wall, jennifer. when the eye itself comes across, we can experience a clearing, but how wide -- >> not sure if you can hear randi, but i think she's asking about how whide this eye is. we were talking this morning about how the eye had sort of shrunk a little bit. where do we stand at this point? >> the eye is about 35 miles across. that's a significant span. once the eye crosses, this one you can see some of it is filling in a little bit so we may not have quite the clearing that you would imagine with an eye. i'm sure parts of it we could see some clearing. sometimes you report sunny skies within the eye of a storm. you can, you hear reports of silence, you know, after the winds are so loud and everything, once the eye crosses, it's almost an eerie quiet. what's super wild, the most devastating and scariest part of the storm is right around the eye. within that eye wall that we've been talking about. and then you have this calm inside the eye then randi and bill will both be dealing with the backside of this eye once that eye wall comes towards them as well. so looking at the trajectory where they are, you can see they're right here where that arrow is point. if this continues on a path say north and east, they could very well be in the eye of the storm within the next couple of hours. it will be interesting to sea w see what you experience during that time. >> thank you. stay safe. jennifer, we'll keep checking in with you in the weather center. i want to go to the tampa bay area. storm surge of 4 to 6 feet. brian todd is in st. petersburg. what are you experiencing? >> reporter: well, we've gone through periods of intense rain pounding us from all sides, even sideways. right now, this is an intense wind event. as you can see and feel right around you. we just got slam med with a burt of wind coming in this direction toward the camera. we talked about the storm surge. in other areas, it's going to be higher than it is here. this could get to 4 to 7 feet, which is not as bad as some areas, but still very bad. now, what we've experienced in the last hour or so, we're going to show you just to your right. this is -- really getting hit with a band of wind here. this is negative storm surge. you can see these water levels are lower than normal but that's deceptive. these water levels are going to come back and the storm surge does threaten to push this water into the these parks and into the inland areas of st. petersburg. these barriers are going to be put to the test. they were put there to protect the marinas, the inland areas and the coastline. we've still got that. it will be very vulnerable. even though you don't see flooding, you could in the next several hours. you've got debris flying off the buildings because right now, this is a wind event for the moment, but again, this could get 15 inches or more of rainfall here. so people here very, very concerned about this flooding because these areas of the waterfront around st. petersburg are basically right by the water and there's really not much elevation at all. we've been tracking, following first responders around st. petersburg as they've had reports of downed powerlines. we've been told by officials here that they've had uprooted trees bu trees because the water was already saturated. several people have been losing power in this area. that will likely continue on into the evening until this storm passes. the period of danger is right now. they've got to pull first responders off the street. right now, as of maybe about a half hour ago, officials telling us they've got to pull the first responders off the streets. it's just too dangerous for them to respond to anything right now. >> need them to stay safe. they will be needed of course in the hours and days after the storm. brian todd, appreciate it. you stay safe as well, my friend. we want to show you some of the images as we're getting more. these pictures out of naples, florida. you can see the extent of the flooding there. you get a sense of the wind just by looking at the palm trees holding on. but look at all the water there in the streets. new footage shows, too, the naples pier getting hit by the storm surge. earlier today. just gives you a sense of the force of that water. city officials telling residents who did not evacuate they need to shelter in place. there's also an emergency curfew in effect. more than 470,000 customers are without power, naples and marco island. one of the hardest hit areas so far. the county commissioner joining me now on the phone. can you give us a sense, set the scene for us at this moment what you're seeing right now in terms of the impact of ian? >> your previous caller, records have been broken. clearing out the window now in my house. almost everybody else on marco and about 3 inches of water. once it comes over the step, i'll have water in my house in about 30 minutes. my friend's street is several feet deep and it's about a foot away from us, flooding my garage. sort of stuck here on an island in the past, but there's you know, there's quite a few others here. i'm a retired air force colonel and county commissioner. i'm not going to jump in a car and drive to orlando and sit in a hotel while the people here are suffering. i've ridden out these things before. i rode out irma here. it was a wind event. this is a water event. quite a bit different. i think a lot of people got an education on the storm. just two miles one way or the other or land in a certain way. it does affect damage when it comes to storm surge and wind. we did get some, but not as much as irma. the water that we got that came over our sea walls and flooded marco, it receded fairly quickly. it was a water event, but this is catastrophic. marco island and naples, which are a big -- these are the lowest areas in southwest florida but the tradeoff is you get to enjoy some beautiful sun. but once every few years, we run the risk of something like this. we did a great job of preparing, but you can't stop the water and wind. we have a lot of people out of town. we have an incredible emergency center. i'm going to get wet here in my house, but it's not a -- situation and i'm still able to direct traffic from here. it's definitely a catastrophic event for marco island, naples, and the entire surrounding community. >> just to be clear for people watching, the reason you're still there and that you're in your home is of course because you're a county official. you need to be there. is it your sense most of your neighbors did though heed that order, that warning to leave? >> you know, it's a mixed bag. as a retired air force, served in some pretty horrific places. i'm very connected to the first responders here on the island. they know me. i have a walkie talkie connection with key first responders. so i'm in a little bit of a different position. i've been through some of these things before. a base commander that had hurricanes hit base, so i wouldn't recommend it to every elected official, but the importance, too, is once this storm subsides then we're not, then we have to go into quick repair mode and so you know, i want to be here for that. i felt like that was very advantageous and instrumental for me when i was here with irma. my house didn't get flooded. it came close, but then the waters receded quickly and we got to work cleaning up the island and putting people back together. but it was mostly a wind incident. lots of trees that were downed. this one, i can tell you, i'm looking at every single neighbor. i don't see one stream on the ground other than just you know palm fronds and things like that, but not actual trees. what i see is a level of water that i don't believe marco island has seen before. it's just inches from coming over my top step on the front and back of my house and i think it's not unlike a lot of other people who evacuated and are going to find they have several feet of water in their house. it's going to be a horrific situation and quite a bit different than what marco's gone through and naples in previous hurricanes. >> and this is just beginning. on so many levels. this is a slow-moving storm. we're just about out of time, but quickly, tell me you have a place that's higher up in your home that you can go? >> it's called my dining room table. we have some options. you know, the big thing here is we have high tide that's coming in about an hour and so that's the thing that has me most concerned. the water's at the highest level. during irma when it got to the highest level, it got there before low tide then the water slowly, you know, held their position and receded. from what i hear is once high tide kicks in in about an hour t water as i'm seeing now could be as much as 3 feet higher due to the hide tide surge. it's obviously going to be something serious. but i have plans or i wouldn't have stayed here. for the folks that are here and to get our plan ready to circle the wagons after the storm passes. >> we appreciate that experience you definitely have and i know you're calling on that, but we are thinking of you. stay safe. keep us posted because we know how powerful and forceful these waters can be. and we're going to continue our live korcoverage of hurricane i. the storm now slamming into southwest florida.a. this video now, this is flooding video from fort myers beach. much more on the other side of this break. stay with us. discover mor e in the subaru forester wilderness. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. subaru is the national park foundation's largest corporate donor. are you feeling sluggish or weighed down? 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>> reporter: erica, yeah. that happened moments ago. just directly behind us. the transformers blew out, knocking out communication to some of my team. some of the lights flashing and also some of the familiar sounds of a hurricane. we've done this so many times. the alarms inside of the buildings surrounding this particular area. we are on the verge of a historic landfall here in the western coastline of the florida peninsula and we are currently in an ongoing disaster. the winds here are gusting hurricane force and it is, we know where the storm is going. i want to talk about what's happening at the manatee river, just over my left shoulder. it's too dangerous for us to go to that location. brian todd is about 40 miles to my north in tampa bay. he saw a negative surge. the water pushing out from the strong, powerful, northeasterly winds. that same thing happened here on the manatee river just over my shoulder because of that incredible force of the wind. but just to the south of the eye of the storm, it is a completely different scenario playing out. that is why these type of storms are a game of miles. it really matters where that eye wall makes landfall because as that push of surge of water comes in up into tnaples, venic, those areas getting hit the hardest. we've seen the visuals of the inundation of those populated areas. water seeks its own level. there is nowhere to hide from an impending push of storm surge and we have seen proof of that today. this is a historic storm that is going to go down in the record books and what we're experiencing here in bradenton is nothing short of frightening. from the transformers blowing behind me to the potential of storm surge coming up these city streets, we are preparing for the worst as the eye wall approaches this area. >> all right, we know you'll continue to keep us updated. you and your team stay safe. thank you. first responder services experiencing in some areas, including punta gorda. where are these pictures from? these are live pictures from port charlotte. harder to see in these here, but that gives you a sense, too, of the power of the storm. you can see in the lower left of the screen, those appear to me to be palm trees and that's always a good indication of what the conditions are like. you look at the way they are just being pushed with the wind and you can see that water moving across your screen. you can see it pushing through that area. that gives you a sense of the power of this storm. again, this is a storm that is going to last for some time. bill is with us on the phone. the commissioner of charlotte county. can you give us a sense of what you're seeing and experiencing in terms of the storm where you are right now? >> significant wind beyond really understanding, i think. i'm in the western part of the county. and i believe where i am is going to be on the western wall. so i don't know that there will be reprieve where i am, but i can tell you here we're seeing downed tree limbs and oak trees, debris flying everywhere. i happen to have hurricane windows and shutters and i have some open so i can see what's going on. but this is a magnitude in this part of the county, we did not see with charlie and certainly did not see with irma. >> you talk about we've talked so much and heard so much from folks on the ground about charlie and irma. i know a lot of changes were made after charlie. you learn something from every storm. but this is so big it is moving so slowly. are you confident that some of the changes in the preparations that those will hold given the size? >> from a structural perspective, i think the builds will hold up to the wind. 2006, governor bush signed in the requirements to have window coverings or impact resistance windows. that was a certain step forward, but there have been many other steps made and additional tie down requirements and things like that. it's that rising water, the storm surge, that is so concerning. your other people who have been on including the commissioner, basically said a lot of things about that. but the problem is i think we're at 12 plus what we could be looking at here in charlotte county and i'm here at the intercoastal water way at the bay and we're going to see significant push of water coming up over the next few hours through several hours, i believe. it is that that scares me because we did have people, i think we had 43 residents on the island that did not evacuate. we have some i believe on don pedro island that did not evacuate even though the water district did cut water supply to them. there are people i think in the low lying areas of charlotte company, that did not leave. so this tidal surge, this storm surge could really create a negative effect overall. i'm very concerned about our citizenry here in charlotte county and surrounding areas that are facing this. >> understandably. as we know, first responders have been grounded essentially for their own safety for the moment. it could be sometime before it's safe to answer any calls. when you talk about the numbers that you know of, was there an effort to get a list of those folks who were refusing to evacuate so you could once the storm clears, go back and check on them? >> i don't have the full details, but my understanding at my last update is that they know there are 22 residents on the island. they've probably had significant information as to which residents those are because they have all of those final lists or not, i am not certain. i will tell you that the thing we want to caution our public about as this storm passes is there's going to be the need for more, for us to engage in insurance companies and things. please be cautious of that because we're going through a disaster now. don't add to that disaster by making some bad decisions. make certain you do the right thing in contacting your insurance carriers so you can move forward quickly. because there's going to be a significant recovery that's going to take place all along this coast. >> it certainly is. it is a long road ahead and we are not just talking about the storm. bill, really appreciate you taking the time to join us. stay safe and keep us poststed. as cities in southwest florida bear the brunt of hurricane ian, others in central flflorida including orlandndo are also in the storm's path. they are now bracing for impact as well. with new chapter multi-vitamin gummies, you get so much more than just... mmm. ... more nutrients. more research and more organic ingredients. you also get less sugar and that means less candy posing as vitamins. new chapter. that's wellness, well done. good checkup? 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[ inaudible ] >> we're having a tough time hearing you, mr. vice mayor. i think we're going to try to work on that connection, see if we can get more out of that microphone. just to give you a sense, so we were talking to the vice mayor there just a short time ago if you were with us before the break, our meteorologist was in bradenton. they are close to each other. mr. vice mayor, it's era hill in new york. can you hear me? >> how you doing? >> that's much better. just give us a sense what are you experiencing? we can see some of the wind and the rain behind you. but sometimes in these cases, pictures don't do it justice. we need those details from the ground. how are things holding up at this hour? >> the pictures don't do it justice. winds are extremely, extremely heavy. picked up around 1:00 or so and it's very, relatively light for the most part, but around 2:00, just waves just got completely, completely missed. you can see the trees behind me. they're just moving in directions. the storm is extremely strong and i suggest you don't want to take it lightly. completely aware of what's going on. >> as we reported yesterday, water to the bridges from barrier islands there were actually shut down yesterday. do you know how many people if any decided to stay and ride it out there and if so, are you concerned they may be cut off for some time? >> no, we don't have that number. to be honest with you, an approximate number. i know we have about 3800 people in our shelters. 22,000 without electricity. but you know, florida power and light is working on that as we speak and trying to get power back up as best they can. but you know, barrier islands separates inland sarasota. just hope that the people out there aren't stranded and stay in their home. a lot of people check their priorities a little different than others and you know, their property and their homes is the place they feel safe and comfortable. they make a decision to stay in. but you know, stressing the situation not to do that because you could be in a situation or something arises where you have to be rescued or what have you. the emergency arises then not only are you in danger, but you're also putting the -- responders -- >> it's such an important point and one that we need to continue to stress. vice mayor there in sarasota, thank you. stay safe. hurricane ian is expected to remain more in tact as it crosses the state of florida. that's why there's more attention being paidd approach t 2 feet. ryan, city officials were initially prepping for folks leaving on the western shore because of evacuations. now they're preparing for this storm to come their way. >> absolutely. people are watching this forecast and they cannot believe now it's shifting across the state. as we drove down i-4, there were so many people coming from the tampa area here to avoid the storm. we arrived at a couple of hotels here, we've talked to families who say they were trying to get out of evacuation areas only to arrive in places where the storm may come. there are power loss situations throughout this area. in the next few hours or so, if the wind gets above 39 miles per hour, they'll shout dut down th areas. that has caught some by surprise. now they understand there's a risk. they've started to try to get home to get out of the way of the storm. in fact, we arrived at this p publix and were talking to people but they shut down to give their employees a chance to get home and have preparation time. obviously they didn't expect this to be headed in this direction. you can understand people are concerned about the next few hours. >> yeah, they y are. ryan, we'll continue to chcheckn with you. thank you. just ahead, we'll take you back to punta gorda. one of the areas being hit the hardest. stay with us. no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving h money into his investment account ineal time and that's... w you collect coins. your money never stops worng for you with merrill, a bank of america company. announcer: type 2 diabetes? 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is the infrastructure holding up? how high is the water? where do things stand at the moment? >> right now, i'm actually quite surprised. we still have power here. i see a stoplight just down the road. the power is standing up. but i do expect we haven't gotten to the worst of it yet. the worst is still to come, the inner eye wall right before we hit the eye of the storm. when we get into that inner eye wall. right now, we don't have any surge here yet. i think most of the surge, the worst, is going to stay to the south. fort myers, cape coral and the bottom right quadrant of the hurricane. i saw some photos online. they're getting bad surge there. right here is going to be mostly >> so you're waiting for those winds in the next half hour even if you're not going to get that massive storm surge you're talking about, maybe in other areas close to you, there still is a significant amount of water here, and we know how damaging that can be. what are you seeing in terms of water levels rising? >> this storm could produce, it's forecast to produce 12, 15, 18 feet of surge here, and we are just getting hammered, pummelled by wind now. it is getting worse now. i think that inner eye wall is getting closer right now here at punta gorda. >> so as you're looking at that, i think a lot of people wonder about this with a storm chaser, when is the moment, right? we know how dangerous this is. when is the moment where you yourself would say i need to seek shelter, i need to get somewhere else? this is not safe. >> i mean, i'm monitoring it by the minute. i do have fall back places. there's a parking garage just down the street that i can retreat to. t i can withstand a lot of wind, unless a lot of debris starts flying. i'm trying to make sure i get into the center of that storm trying to capture the pressure of the storm, see what that storm brings. this could be a significantly historic storm here coming across in western florida, maybe the strongest storm to ever make landfall here in western florida. >> some of that information important as everyone is trying to figure out if this is in many ways going to become what we see more often, these stronger, larger storms. aaron j. jack, stay safe, glad to know you have a place that you can retreat to if it gets to that. meantime, the hurricane as we're following this, as you're seeing, as you'r're hearing fro the folks s on the ground, the high wind, t the heavy rains an this dangerous storm surge, that is a major f focus at this hour. the director of the national hurricane center is with us just ahead. stick around. out of pocket cos for drugs will be capped for seniors, insulin will be . families will save $2,400 health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help? 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[laughs] if you're new to medicare, call 1-888-65-aetna. we'll walk you through all your coverage and benefit options to help find the right plan for you. immat want to take you back punta gorda where we have snen's randi kaye. i know you and your team, randi, have moved to a safe area. it looks like you may have moved since we spoke with you at the top of the hour. give us a sense, how have things changed in the last 45 or 50 minutes for you? >> they've gotten a lot worse. we've actually moved to the other side of the parking garage where we feel it's a little safer for our team. let me show you what's going on outside our window on this side of the parking garage. we've been watching these palm trees blowing like crazy. it feels like we are certainly in the eye wall of this hurricane. it certainly feels like hurricane force winds upwards of 75 miles per hour here, but you can see there's some broken trees down. the palms are moving pretty swiftly with this type of wind. we've been watching this now for a while. i know you were talking to that storm chaser as well. we heard huge collapse of thunder and a fair amount of lightning here as well. there's a gas station over there, not much activity on a day like today. this is what's happening in downtown punta gorda. we've been waiting, of course, for this storm surge. they're august about 12 to 18 feet, which is going to come as predicted at least with this storm here, and we haven't seen much water. there's a little bit of water in the streets but so far not too much here. so things are -- have certainly deteriorated quite a bit, but we are on safe ground, and we will continue to watch it. erica. >> we'll continue to check in with you, stay safe, my friend. i know you will. thank you, a and so let's get y a sense of what isis happening. we're going to keep updated you with the latest invovolving hurricane ian. we're going to take e a quick break here. our special coverage continues. stay with us. and only 24-hour 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go with golo. it will release your fat and it will release you. thanks for being with us at the top of the hour. this is cnn's live coverage of hurricane ian set to officially make landfall at any moment. when it does, it is expected to be the strongest recorded system to ever hit the west coast of florida. john berman is in tampa, florida. john, i know you've been experiencing the wind, the rain, and the flooding throughout the day picking up. a little break for you now. that's not going to last, i would imagine. >> reporter: yeah, no, it won't. it's been raining on and off hard all day, a drenching, pouring rain. it's nothing like what they are experiencing about 150 miles south of here, and we are watching that i would say with trepidation and a little bit of dread. this storm is moving ever closer to the coastline bringing strong winds, 155 miles per hour and this storm surge we are already seeing inundating coastal communities including nepals, fort myers beach, up and down the coast with storm surges in some places expected to reach 18 feet. that is simply a devastating level. a life-threatening level and an historic level as you said. i want to go right to the national hurricane center to get a sense of where things stand at this point. i'm joined by michael brennan there. if you can hear me, when do we expect this storm to make landfall officially? >> landfall is probably going to occur in the next few minutes. we can see the center of the eye near sanibel, the latest update puts the center 20 miles west of fort myers and moving northeast at 9 miles per hour. we should expect landfall to happen here in the next few minutes. >> reporter: now, we've seen pictures from naples where the storm surge has inundated that city, fort myers beach, just devastating. for how long could they be experiencing it? >> well, we're expecting to see storm surge inundation as much as 18 feet aboveground level, especially up in these harbors and canals, charlotte harbor, and you know, even after ian's center moves inland, the onshore flow is going to keep water levels elevated in portions of southwest florida well into the day and through the day tomorrow and because we're going to be having very heavy rainfall that's also going to be trying to run off into those same canals and creeks and into the gulf of mexico, there's going to be water there for quite some time. >> reporter: yeah, we're experiencing some of that heavy rainfall up here in tam ppa, ani know we'll continue throughout the night. give us a sense of the path of the storm. where will it go once it makes the official landfall in the next few minutes? >> yeah, kpooer expecting a northeastward track of the center of ian, sort of diagonally across the florida peninsula. it's going to cross the i-4 corridor around orlando and move offshore between cape canaveral and jacksonville. that's going to take all the way through tomorrow. we have the center of the storm right near the east florida coast tomorrow evening, and then it's going to turn northward and approach the coast of georgia and south carolina. we have tropical storm warnings, hurricane watches up there. we're going to see very heavy rainfall, storm surge along the east coast of the united states as well as the system moves inland over the weekend. >> how long do you expect it to remain a hurricane? >> well, right now we're expecting it to eventually weaken below hurricane strength sometime overnight tonight or early thursday morning. it's going to take some time for that circulation to spin down, but you know, it is very powerful with max winds of 155 miles per hour. generally, within about 24 hours of landfall, systems begin to weaken pretty quickly, but it will still be a strong tropical storm when it reaches the east coast of florida. >> all right, michael brennan of the national hurricane center, thank you very much. as i was j u.s.ust saying, the is pouring expecting 12 to 24 inches here in the next day. still, that is nothing compared to the devastation they are seeing south of here. as you heard from michael brennan, the official landfall probably not for a few minutes. that's academic. at this point, ian has already arrived in some places including punta gorda where our bill weir has been in the middle of it all. if you can hear me, what are you seeing? >> i can hear you, john, yeah. we just begged the hotel to open the front door a crack just to let us out which they're hesitant toot because they just recorded 106 miles an hour wind speed at the airport here in punta gorda. it's really howling now. i see some of these smaller palms going horizontal, these palm trees and just across the street a big travel trailer has been flipped over. we can't get out there to actually get a shot of it right now, but this is the wind part of this as we've been saying again and again, that is sort of the supporting actor of this whole disaster mu ovie. it's the storm surge we're worried about. this area we're in is projected to have 9 feet of storm level, storm surge. we don't even know how to think about that in those terms. that would lift these cars up. it would fill the lobby of the hotel. we're hopeful that those numbers are excessive. right now you can just get a little taste, and this brings back, john, so many memories of katrina and irma and michael up in mexico beach, and just the sheer power of nature. again and again, i've been trying to mention that this is the result of a warmer planet. scientists have warned us for a long time that storms won't get necessarily more hurricanes out of a climate change but the ones we do get will be bigger and faster and wetter and here is your exhibit a. hurricane ian. sorry. it takes your breath away every now and then. but this place is well-prepared, as well-prepared as anyplace really in florida because after hurricane charlie, they all signed in, the local officials here bought into a climate change coastal adaptation mitigation plan, but we'll see how god that plan holds up to these unprecedented events here as well. and then of course after the physical storm, there's the financial storm, and there was a study done this year just in 2022 over 3 million work days will be lost to flooding. and meanwhile, the big reinsurance company, munich reed says its wind driven rain was the number one cause of insurance claims in 2022. storm surge may impact that, but those 3 million lost work days are purely from flooding as we're seeing more sunny day floods, king tides in miami and places like that, but all of these low lying areas are so vulnerable to this new reality. past unfortunately is not prologue when we think about these storms. these are not your grandpa's hurricanes anymore. no only are they stronger and wetter and faster but there's so many more people and so much more wealth in the path of these storms now. the population of florida goes up 900 a day or something like that. a lot of people this will be their first storm, and so the best we can do is hope for the best. hope that as many people as possible evacuate and are safe right now, but you can't help but hear the howl and think about kids who are going through this for the first time. punta gorda about half the population are retirees, more than half. so many vulnerable folks in this situation. the power is out here. we're lucky enough to have a generator at this hotel, but you got to imagine that the average high tension line can't survive this sort of thing, so we don't know what comes next, but we're here for you and we'll keep you posted as best we can. >> al bill, it's great to have you there. we're lucky to have you there. to you and your team, do whatever you need to do to stay safe. you say punta gorda is well prepared, but there's no way to prepare for a 9 to 10 foot storm surge. a sandbag can't do anything against that. get to where you need to go to stay safe. thank you for explaining what you're seeing and feeling there. that's just one of the cities and towns experiencing this devastating historic hurricane as it begins very soon any minute to make official landfall on the southwest coast. the impact being felt all the way from where bill is 150 miles or so from where i am to the tampa, st. pete area. i want to go to brian todd across tampa bay in st. petersburg. brian, here it's just been pouring drenching rain for a long, long time now. i know you're feeling the wind too. >> reporter: that's right, john. you know, don't tell people this hasn't officially made landfall yet. we're getting slammed with another band of rain kind of hitting us from the side. you're talking to bill what it feels like out here. you know this as well as i do, you've been doing this a long time, when the rain starts to mitt you horizontally, you know you're getting an intense band of rain. the storm surge and the power and the energy of the water is at once powerful and also a little bit deceptive. look at the storm surge here and the power of these waves slamming up against the seawall here kind of hitting us with some of the remnants here. as we just observed over the last couple of minutes, visibility is really dropping now. i'm getting just slammed here by another really intense band of rain. now a photo journalist mike glove is going to pan to your left. what's deceptive here, john, is that we talked about negative storm surge. negative storm surge is pulling some of the tides and the water levels are dropping hear. if you see that, again, visibility is kind of compromised here, but you can see that point of land that i'm pointing at right there. it's a large sand bar. that was completely under water less than an hour ago. we were out here earlier. these water levels, we've talked to people out here, they've never seen them this low, but again, that water's all coming back. it just depends on when and how intense it comes back and we'll see how the water levels are. we're going to see about flooding. this kind of rainfall is going to flood some areas in this town. that's what they're really concerned about. we just talked to some people over here in this area. as you see the rain, you get a wide shot of downtown st. petersburg here. some of it you can see moving sideways. that is, again, the mark of intensifying hurricane winds here. we talked to some people who were frantically trying to clear a drain over there. a drain that was coming from this hotel over here into the water because the water levels have never been this low, and they were -- they had the opportunity to clear a drain of some shells and other things that were blocking it. again, these were the kinds of efforts that you sea when you've got possibly intense flooding that's going to be going on in these buildings heare very low lying. local authorities telling people try to conserve water now while the storm is at its height because they've had sewage problems here. they're telling people don't use your washing machines, don't use your dish washers right now. try to limit your flushing and showering right now while this is at its height because at least in st. petersburg problems with the sewage system have been a huge issue in the last six or so years. they've tried to renovate it. they've started a project to renovate it late last year. this is a big test to see if that renovation is going to work, john. >> all right, brian todd in st. petersburg, thank you very much. please stand by. we to have breaking news. hurricane ian has now officially made landfall. 3:05 p.m. as a category 4 storm. i believe around the area of sanibel island. what that means is that the center of the eye has crossed onto land, although they've been feeling the major impact from ian for some time in that area as it moves into the southwestern part of the state. as a category 4 storm, we had heard winds of 155 miles per hour, one of, if not the most powerful storm ever to make landfall on the western coast of florida. truly a historic and potentially catastrophic day for much of this state. 650,000 customers i'm told at this point now without power in florida, 650,000 customers. that number will rise. it will go up by a lot over the the next several hours. all kinds of crews working as quickly as they can to get customers back online, but that will take some time. i want to go now if we can to ryan lam, who's the fire chief and emergency management director in cape coral, florida, which i know is where the brunt of this storm could be very soon, if not already. sir, if you can hear me, what are you seeing? >> hi john, yes, we are right now very much experiencing the height of the impact of this storm in our area. we've had pressure drops. we've felt it in our ears locally as we see part of that eye #mmove in our area. we've now seen the winds turn in our direction and flow. we are getting reports of significant structural damage across our city as well as significant rain. the next part that we're cautiously watching is now as those winds shift, if we're going to start seeing any of that storm surge as that flow now pushes towards our inland. >> yeah, we see devastating pictures from naples, fort myers beach. as of now, you haven't witnessed or experienced the storm surge? >> we've seen some of it as it pushed the opposite direction to a limited degree. now we're kind of bracing as it potentially pushes towards a lot of our population mass, as that pushes up on our rivers and canal system here in our city. our significant calls right now have been syrindividuals in the home that have experienced roof failure or window or door failure that are still in those structures. out of a population of 210,000 people in the city, we called for the evacuation of about 165,000 people, the uptick into our shelters were pretty low. we have an expectation that there's going to be a large number of people still in their properties. >> a large number of people restoring their property if they're left with any property after this. what report are you getting of structural damage? >> roofs, doors, witnndows. our concern is that a lot of those people we asked to evacuate is a lot of them did not. there's a fear there's a number of people staying in those damage structures which is going to be a high priority for us. as soon as these winds drop below 45 miles an hour sustained, we'll be going out is and clearing the roadways so the fire trucks, ambulance, and police vehicles can get out to anybody that we've had a 911 call we've not been able to respond to during the durr rati duration of this storm. >> your message to the people right now? >> at this point the storm is here. do your best to stay safe, stay informed, be calm, and as soon as the storm's out, take caution, and if you've called for emergency services, we are coming. >> all right, ryan lamb, cape coral, thank you so much for being with us. stay safe, please let us know if there's anything that we can do. hurricane ian is here. you heard him say it officially making landfall at 3:05 p.m. as a category 4 storm. really just beginning, erica, as you look up and down the southwest coast of florida right now impact, devastatiiiing impa could be felt for hours to come. >> when we're able to put up on the screen john, we put up that radar and see just how large it is. it gives you a sense of why folks are so concerned about how long this will lost. it officially made landfall as a category 4 at 3:05 p.m. bubut folks there on the ground including all of our teams have been feeling it for quite some time. we'll bring you the very latest. stay with us. unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! he's natural. only pay f what you need. ♪liberty.iberty. liberty. liberty.♪ announcer: type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some 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which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®. ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. announcer: you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infection, some serious and a lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reaction may occur. best move i've ever made. ask your dermatologist about cosentyx®. i'm john berman live in tampa, florida. it is pouring here, expecting 12 to 24 inches of rain. we do have live pictures to show you in punta gorda, florida, right now. hurricane ian has made landfall officially at 3:05 p.m., at near 150 miles per hour. and that is a category 4 storm. again, you're looking at live pictures from punta gorda, florida. our randi kaye is there. randi, can you hear me? >> i hear you, john. we are about 22 miles from where hurricane ian made landfall so here in downtown punta gorda. let me just show you what's happening here. we've been on this side of the parking garage for safety. if you look outside here, you can see, whoa, just how strong these winds are. you can understand why we are staying inside. that water is just whipping around on the streets. last time we were on air, which wasn't that long ago, there was not any water on the street, and now it's already starting to gather, and if you look on this side, there's the gas station there, which obviously isn't doing any business today, but that's the area, that's the direction, i should say of charlotte harbor, which is where it likely is going to overflow from the storm surge where they were expecting 12 to 18 foot storm surge here in punta gorda. you can see, it's remarkable when you look at the trees there, you can see some of those trees have already broken over. yet the screens, somehow miraculously are still on that house there. we've also been watching very closely there are these transformers around the bend there. those poles have been shaking, certainly a lot of concern about that because of the pouwer outages that people are expecting not only in this area but up and down the west coast of florida and elsewhere. they do have power crews on standby and high water crews on standby and sergearch and rescu crews on standby. i'm inside somewhat and i'm getting blown around, so you can imagine people who have never been through a hurricane before, have never experienced anything like what we're seeing and feeling here, those first time floridians who maybe just moved here recently, maybe after the pandemic they are probably really a bit surprised by what they're experiencing, john. >> yeah, randi, to be fair, few people have ever experienced anything like this before because that is one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in the united states, the most powerful to make landfall on the west coast of florida where you are. as you say, people without power there, that's the least of it. 650,000 customers without power in florida. that number will go up, is i fear the situation where you are will get even worse. to you and your team, please stay safe. i think the worst of it still to come in pun tata gorda. let's get to jennifer gray at the weather center now to get a sense of where the storm made landfall and where randi is if you can show us, jennifer. >> the storm made landfall as you mentioned about 30 minutes ago right here. it's just to the north of c captiva. here's punta gorda where randi kaye is. she has been getting more than 100 miles per hour winds for more than an hour. so she has been well within that eye wall for a very long time. if this storm can just jog a little bit more to the north and east she will finally get a break and be within the eye of the storm, which should lessen her winds just a little bit. as we talk about with all of these storms, the back side of this eye is going to come her way as well. so those winds are going to pick right back up, and she will likely get those 100 plus winds once again, john. so we have a long way to go even though this storm has just made landfall. >> a long way to go, will keep its hurricane force for some time as it moves up the peninsula. we'll come back to you in a little bit to get a better sense of where it might be headed. thank you so much. as you can see up here in tampa, too, raining hard, all of flororida will feel the impact practically ofof this storm. cnn's special live coverage continues right after this. hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of 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>> well, it's good to be with you. i wish it was under dinfferent circumstances, but i'm just getting back from puerto rico doing an assessment down there looking at the damage from hurricane fiona, and here we are in orlando. you're right, here in central florida just about every county has -- is under a hurricane warning. it's are pretty much shut down, those who have -- should evacuate, we hope that they have. as i just heard the theme parks and the airport, everything is shut down so we are hunkering down. we're already femaeling the effects of hurricane ian here with the winds. i can only imagine what they are going through in south florida or southwest florida. but look, this is a series storm. it's a major storm. i grew up in florida. i served almost 30 years as a first responder. i chaired the emergency preparedness and response recovery subcommittee through homeland security. this is a major storm, major winds up to 155 miles per hour. we've talked about the storm surge and flooding our primary concern here is flooding, and we're just trying to do everything we can to make sure we have no loss of life. >> right, and to those points, the wind speeds alone, we know that this storm officially came ashore as a category 4, but we're talking about 150 miles per hour winds, a cat 5 is 157 miles per hour to put that into perspective for people. drawing on your experience, right? those three decades of experience, we talk a lot about people who don't heed the warnings to evacuate. how they could be putting first responders at risk. first responders at this point can't get out as we know. what is your message to folks who are hunkered down, who didn't leave, who may need something right now? >> well, you know, we depend on experts in this particular area, and when they say you need to evacuate, we strongly encourage people to do just that. you're absolutely correct, we're very concerned about flooding. if persons are stranded, if thaird they're injured and they're in their homes, it puts first responders at risk who are trying to get to them. we know that every day we have people who are moving into our state that may not be so aware of hurricane season, but we just ask them to listen to the emergency management experts and others, our first responders who have experience in this area. and when, you know, we say evacuate, please do so. of course, it's really too late to do that now. we're hoping they have the supplies and resources that they need. >> looking forward as our chief climate correspondent bill weir just pointed out, these storms are getting faster, stronger, they're getting wetter. what is your concern big picture not only for florida but the country in general as we look at these storms? >> you're right. we are seeing more extreme weather, more extreme storms. the intensity is bigger as we are seeing right here with hurricane ian, and so you know, the short-term solution, let's make sure that we have the infrastructure that we need to survive, to weather the storm, but more long-term, we have got to deal with climate change ultimately, and i serve on the committee on homeland security as one of our priorities, and so we've got to come together. certainly at the local, state, and federal level, and do what we need to do to properly address the intensity that we are experiencing on the ground during hurricane season. >> yeah, because they are getting more intense, certainly a wake-up call for so many folks. congresswoman val demings, appreciate you taking the time to join us. we know it's a busy day. thank you. we have new video into cnn we want to share with you. so this is video, is this a parking garage. you hear the alarms going off in those cars. this is from a parking garage in naples, florida. jeffrey koepka, who took that video telling cnn he is safe. so that's important to point out. doesn't have any power, but just look at the way how high that water is and that gives you a sense of not only what has happened but what will be happening across the state. we can tell you at this hour just giving you saa sense of th numbers, 800,000 customers currently without power inin florida. we're going to keep followining the storm, stay with us, the storm, hurricane ian officially making land full as a category 4. 150 miles per hour winds. that happened at 3:05 p.m., the very latest on the other side of this break. 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("this little light of mine") - [narrator] in the world's poorest places, they're shunned, outcast, living in pain. you can reach out and change the life of a suffering child right now. a surgery that takes as little as 45 minutes and your act of love can change a child's life forever. please call or visit operationsmile.org now. thousands of children are waiting. you're looking at live pictures of north port, florida, right now. this is about 25 miles or so from where hurricane ian officially made landfall at 3:05 p.m. as a category 4 hurricane with 150 miles per hour winds. you can see how strong it is. you can see the breadth of this causing so much damage, wreaking so much havoc over such a large portion now of southwest florida. strong winds, strong storm surge, concerns it could reach 18 feet in some areas. we've already seen some coastal communities, naples, fort myers beach inundated with that storm surge, which seems to be working its way up the coast. i'm up here in tampa, some 100-plus miles away. it's just been pouring here. there is concern here about fresh water flooding. much more on that later. first let's go back down to punta gorda, our bill weir is there, and bill, you've been dealing with these just incredibly powerful winds. >> it's awesome to behold. in the most scary way, john t. it is just incredible. as we got a report from the airport here at pun ta gor da within the last hour, gusts up to 106 miles an hour. and you can see the effects of that. these light poles just dancing around. whoa, there's a big one, there's a big one. wow. now, patrick fuller is the emergency manager here in charlotte county, just had a briefing a few moments ago. said they haven't had any critical calls yet thankfully, but even if they did, there'd be no way for crews to come out in this to try to help people right now, so his advice is what you're getting from leaders from the governor all the way down, from the president all the way d down, which is hunker in place. get to an interior space away from windows as high as you can within that space. and hug the ones you love and brace for it. there's about 60,000 people within the red zone here in this part of the storm. he's not sure how many got out. there's no way to know, but this is a town that's very familiar with big storms, as much as they can be in an era when there's so many new floridians down here. this will be the first hurricane for lots of people and, boy, it's not a vgentle way to figur this stuff out. you can see over there across the parking lot. it's like a structure around that dumpster and those steel doors look like they're about to come off those hinges at any second now. and that's the thing, i mean, we've been talking about storm surge as the star, wind speed is the supporting actor in this disaster, but this -- that really, moments like this diminishes the sheer danger of flying debris. whoa. it's so violent, john, here right now. so violent, the wind is just heaving around. we're not sure if we'll even see the eye here. we may be stuck in the eye wall in punta gorda for the foreseeable few hours. i don't know, we'll see, but if you are one of those new floridians and haven't been through one of these, i'm sure you've heard it from the officials, don't be tempted to go outside and have your hurricane eye wall party just because you see a little bit of blue sky because the back end of that storm comes in, it can be even more nasty than this one here, john. >> yeah, no, stay where you are at this point up and down the southwestern coast of florida right now, and bill, as you say with wind speeds north of 100 miles per hour, that doesn't feel like a supporting role, very much a featured player we could say at this point. stay safe, we'll come back to you. i think we lost bill there again. we'll get back to bill weir because he really is in the middle of it all. he's our eyes and ears on the ground in some of the worst conditions of this storm. much more of cnn's special live coverage of hurricane ian right after this. being here. what are your major concerns? >> thanks for having me today. our biggest concern right now is the major flooding that's going to be caused. we know there's major power outages. we have prepared as best we can. we will assess the damage afterwards. we will urge residents to be careful of the flooding. not to go in any standing water. wait until we give them the all clear before they move about. >> that flooding could last some time. 12 to 20 inches of rain, drenching rain, freshwater flooding. the rivers and streams will flow the opposite direction from the storm surge, if there's storm surge in the area. the flooding may be delayed by a half a day or so. amber, to you across the bay in st. petersburg. the conditions have been rough all day with winds. i know it's taxing the systems where you are. >> it is. we were fortunate that we were able to avoid the worst of the surge we were looking for -- we were waiting for. with the rain -- we are saturated. and with the wind and long ride we are in for with the wind, we are getting a lot of trees down, bringing down the power lines. having a lot of hazards with live wires down and widespread power outages throughout st. pete. >> amber, quickly, 800,000 customers in florida without power. what are you expecting over the next several hours? >> again, we're in this for a long haul. it's not a fast moving storm. we are looking at -- we are not seeing the strongest winds yet. those consistent tropical storm force winds with higher gusts we are expecting throughout the night is going to exacerbate the problem. we expect to see those power outages wider. we want to encourage citizens to stay home and stay inside. shelter in place. we are starting to see folks wanting to come out and look around and witness the storm. the hazard is there. just because he would didn't get the eye wall, doesn't mean we're not seeing hazards. we want everybody to take caution and stay inside. >> bthis is just getting going. do you want people to remain inside for the duration? >> absolutely. we want people to shelter in place. it's going to be a long night. this is going to be here with us through tomorrow. our ground is quite saturated. we are very much concerned about the flooding. we want people, be safe, be careful, it's why we opened over 45 shelters for our folks. we have had over 7,000 people in our shelters. lots of pets as well. stay in place. don't move about. wait until we tell you it's okay to do so. >> sit back, stand by. it's going to be a long night. wait until you hear from officials. i know you have a long day and night ahead of both of you. erica, not even an hour since hurricane ian officially made landfall. a lot of this story yet to be written. >> i think you are right. you have been -- as you pointed out, throughout the day, because i have been watching you since i got up this morning, a lot of folks have as well, as you have seen the progression, the fact that this is just beginning, the real brunt, in addition to what we will see afterwards. that's one of the major concerns and you were hearing it from officials is all these pictures that we are seeing, water in the streets, what bill was showing us with the doors surrounding the dumpster, the light poles moving, the force of the storm, the damage that could be left behind is a major choncern. >> it's just going to creep. it's going to creep up the florida peninsula now that it made landfall. there's so much damage that could still happen. we still don't know the full extent of the storm surge. we have seen pictures, devastating pictures from naples and ft. myers beeach. some of the worst of that could be to come. >> you talk about how slow moving it is. there's the size of this. nasa released new video. hopefully we can show it to the folks at home to give you a sense of the scope of this storm. if we have that video of hurricane ian. here you go. this is ian seen from space. i know it's hard to see of the pictures right now. it's massive, the area it is covering. the first picture we are showing, it barely fits in the screen. when we look at the size of the radar map over florida, to your point, it's so slow moving, even as it's making its way northeast toward orlando, that's hours and hours away. >> yeah. that's a more peaceful view than bill weir and randi kaye have as they are in the middle of 100 plus mile an hour winds. the storm surge, the concern, the forecasts are up to 18 feet in some areas. it's hard to imagine what 18 feet of water, a wall of water like that could really do as it just covers houses, perhaps, up to the eves, higher in some houses. what that water will cover and what that water will wash away, we may not know until dawn, toll morning. >> some of the areas, one of the major concerns, it's so low lying in some areas, so many barrier islands as well, being able to get to them, what this could do to bridges and homes. to your point, this could above those roofs. 18 feet, we are talking about -- that's almost two stories. if you think about that massive wall of water and the damage that that can do, it's frightening for obvious reasons. >> yeah. i know we sound like a broken record. but there are three threats. the wind you see bill weir get rocked in. the storm surge, which we are getting a sense of. the rain, 12 to 20 inches that will go well inland and norm. that could be its own series of problems in orlando, here in tampa and as you move north and east of here, that freshwater flooding in a state that's been soaked over the last several days. this is 40% of the rainfall they normally get in a year could fall over a three-day period. that's very difficult to deal with. >> it is. i know you have a long night ahead of you. stay safe. stay dry if you can. i know you will keep us updated. stay with us. our breaking news coverage continues with "the lead" with jake tapper. that starts right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. hurricane ian has made landfall on the

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