Family safe. Do not take chances. So lets all be safe, stay alert to weather updates, watch this storm closely, listen to local officials. Sandra we have Fox Team Coverage. Senior meteorologist janice dean is live from the Fox Extreme Weather Center in new york and mike tobin on the ground in pensacola where an Evacuation Order is in effect. Are people ready where you . They were ready but they took a relaxed approach to the storm. Even what we heard from Emergency Services. A lot of optimism the worst of the storm will hit further east on the panhandle. You have a lot of people here at the chico marina who decided to ride out the storm in boats. Theyll stay on the boats and they live in their boats. They are just under the impression that they would rather be there, maintain the problems as the storm was rolling in than come and deal with them later particularly because this is where they live. There is a science to maintaining the lines with the boats or more of an art. You want to make sure there is enough slack in the lines so as the water comes up you dont pull the boat away from the dock itself but you want to have the lines tight enough that you dont thrash around and bang into the other boats and the kind of thing the people want to maintain out here. That being said, a lot of people think that again the worst of the storm is going to be further to the east. Theyre fairly optimistic. People did wake up to the news this morning it had upgraded to a category 4 storm. We saw things like people in the area boarding up this morning. Better late than never. So to answer your question were people ready . They think theyre as ready as they need to be. A lot of optimism this far west and people hoping they can ride out the storm and hope the worst hits further to the east of them, sandra. Sandra one of those things where were watching this along with our audience and you just wonder if folks around you are taking a pretty casual approach to looks like an enormous storm headed that way, mike. Are you seeing storm surge there yet . Predictions now up to 13 feet. Thats going to be the really dangerous factor to this storm. I can show you the storm surge right now. Keep in mind were at a mean tide right now. The water should be pretty low. The edge of this boat should be parallel with the dock. This isnt one of those floating docks, it other fixed. The water level should be low and the boat parallel with the top of the dock. You have a lot of water that has already come in in the advance of the storm. And you still have to anticipate that the tide will go up from here, sandra. Sandra thank you for the update. Well see more of you later. Thank you. Jon the worst of the storm is going to be that Northwest Quadrant from noon to 3 00. Thats where the fiercest winds will be. Northeast quadrant. I will tell you this is one of the most intense hurricanes i have ever covered. Category 4, 145 mileanhour sustained winds. If you look at the satellite presentation of this storm in the last few frames you can see that welldefined eye and that tells me this is a strengthening storm as it makes landfall. It is being influenced by land. The west side is really holding well together. Were hours from landfall. Look at that eye. You rarely see that welldefined, clear eye in the middle of a storm. Its incredible. Unfortunately it is going to cause incredible amounts of damage. Catastrophic for parts of the big bend of florida. They have never seen a category 4 of this magnitude in this part of florida and this actually could go down in history as the strongest cat 4 for october. Here is the tornado threat. Well see the risk for tornadoes throughout the day today until 5 00 p. M. When we have the watch. They are usually quick and weak tornadoes but they could cause structural damage and if you have power out you have no way of knowing if you have a tornado on your doorstep. Here is the latest advisory. Were getting updates every couple hours. The new advisory coming out at 11 00 a. M. We expect landfall between 1 00 and 2 00 p. M. Right now. But the results of this are going to be widespread. Especially especially the surge. We could see upwards as youve heard 13 to 14 foot storm surge which will put little towns and homes under water, no question here. And then the core of the strongest winds will be 165 mileperhour gusts. It will be a duration of several hours. Here is where im concerned as we look at the storm surge, the big mound of water that is pushed onshore from the counter clockwise winds. Look at the scope where we could see 12 inches plus storm surge. That is going to be life threatening, catastrophic. If you had evacuations you needed to do so. It will continue into places like alabama. But the worst of it will be as it makes landfall and the east where we see the worst of the storm surge and the core of the strongest winds and tornado threat. This goes down as one of the worst hurricanes weve ever covered. Jon i know youll keep an eye on it throughout the morning. Get back to us with late breaking developments sandra lets bring in matt caldwell, candidate for state agriculture commissioner. Thank you for your time this morning. Weather forecasters are trying to get their message out. What are government officials trying to do right now . It is focused on evacuations yesterday. Now as youve heard Governor Scott has put out if you did not evacuate you need to shelter in place. Be prepared as you heard the prior commentator talk about, a 12foot storm surge will topple houses on the coast along panama city. The foregotten coast. Apalachicola, small fishing towns. They will absolutely be devastated by a storm surge like that and got to be prepared to respond for it. It enormous damage. Ive seen it myself growing up in florida. I dealt with hurricane andrew, hurricane charley, last year hurricane irma, charlie was a cat 4. It cut an island in half off the coast of fort myers and threw mobile homes around. It is nothing to joke about and people need to be prepared for a very difficult sledding for the next few days after we get ready to recover from this. Sandra due to the expected storm surge the area you described is vulnerable. Why . Well, its right along the coast. You have some of the oldest communities in florida. North florida settled first 150, 160 years ago. You are talking about frame structures from some precivil war right at the tide line. Again all focused on shrimping, fishing and oystering. Youll have to deal with clearing roads, clearing debris. The big difference between a cat 4 and cat 1, both you lose power. With a category 4 it knocks over the cell towers. It knocks over the transformers and the transfer stations. And so it is not just getting a lineman back out to hook up a line. It takes days and sometimes weeks to rebuild the physical infrastructure. You are disconnected and unable to communicate with folks and why its particularly so important you evacuate in advance of these storms and certainly now find shelter that will let you ride through it. Sandra governors in three states have declared states of emergency, what more do you see as needed as far as resources, particularly looking at your state at florida . Where do you think you are lacking now . What more are you asking for . Unfortunately we have gotten pretty good at this. Florida we deal with this on almost a yearly basis somewhere in the state. Its an enormous state. Im here in southwest a sixhour drive from panama city. To give you a scope of the storm were dealing with the outside bands all the way here in southwest just a light Tropical Storm intensity here. But were prepared. The governor is organized. It is coordinated with county and federal officials and the office im running for oversees the florida forest service. We have hundreds of foresters and firefighters standing by at the ready. They are experts and clearing debris, cutting trees and vegetation blocking roads. Once that phase is done getting to work with help with the response. Passing out water and food and coordinating with relief agencies. We went through it in fort myers last year and ultimately very well coordinated and i think were ready to address it head on. Sandra the time for evacuating along the coast has come and gone according to your governor. First responders wont be able to come out in the middle of the storm. If you choose to stay in an evacuation zone you must seek refuge immediately. Certainly a sense of urgency coming out of your state right now. Matt caldwell, thank you for your time this morning. Jon as weve been mentioning were awaiting an update from fema headquarters as the Florida Panhandle brailtions for Hurricane Michael. The onset of the high just hours away. Plus this. We have to be selfless enough to know when to step aside and let someone else do the job. Sandra shock waves through washington yesterday as nikki haley announced her resignation at u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. One of the ambassadors biggest supporters, marco rubio, is here to react. Jon why President Trump says the kavanaugh battle is energizing republican voters, darrell issa joins us next. President trump but in just four weeks youll have the chance to render your verdict on the democrats outrageous conduct. On november 6th, and you can do early voting in iowa, go, just vote, get it over with. 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Were awaiting a briefing on Hurricane Michael, the category 4 storm getting stronger as it approaches landfall expected a few hours from now. Well bring you the latest update from officials as soon as it gets underway. A lot of people will want to say there are a lot of reasons why im leaving. The truth is i want to make sure that this administration and the president has the strongest person to fight. It was a blessing to go into the u. N. With body armor every day and defend america. And ill always do that. Jon a big surprise to all of us yesterday as Ambassador Nikki Haley announced her resignation as ambassador to the u. N. With reaction california congressman darrell issa sits on the House Foreign Affairs committee. Im guessing you were as surprised as anyone she decided to walk away from that job. Surprised is a common word were using. Two years of hard charging, go in there as she said body armor. Let our friends know were back to being with them and our foes know were looking at monitoring and hold them accountable is something she has done and is announcing that after the election at the president s timetable she is looking for a successor. Two years is a long time to work at the level she has been working at. We really owe her a debt of gratitude for making that turn around in our policy. Jon are you putting forward any names you would like to see thaik her place . I think there are a great many good choices. The important thing is they have to share the president s vision and share nikkis tenacity. That combination is essential. Jon so in terms of her contributions to u. S. , american presence on the world stage, what do you think the major accomplishments are . Certainly bringing north korea back to the table in a way that they havent been ever. Letting iran know that the mistakes of the Obama Administration were being reversed or undone as best possible. And then looking at some tough decisions about the u. N. Itself. We spent a lot of money on the u. N. It is an essential organization but also one that costs too much and performs too little and spends an awful lot of time trashing our allies. Jon the president im sorry, were going to be talking a fema update. I apologize, congressman. We need to say goodbye. Sandra brock long from fema, lets listen. Major hurricanes cause large losses of life and the most amount of destruction that hurricanes can bring forward. So unfortunately the window to evacuate is coming to a close. If it hasnt already done so for many of the citizens that are in florida. If you failed to heed a warning for any reason, your goal should be to elevate as high as you can and get into a facility that you think can withstand the winds at this point. And hope for the best. You know, you always have the option of calling 911 but there is no guarantee that responders can get to you at this point. As the system continues to push through. What i mean by the storm being the type the worst type, not only are we going to see devastating storm surge push through florida that causes the most amount of destruction to facilities along the coast but the high winds as well. Florida Building Code of 2001 went up to cat 3 standards. Anything built after 2001 is designed to handle cat 3 and not much more after that. So were going to see a lot of wind damage. Particularly the buildings that were built before 2001 youll see a lot of wind damage as this storm brings 145 mileanhour winds inland. The other thing is that the citizens in georgia need to wake up and pay attention. Bottom line is this will be the worst storm the southwest and Central Georgia have seen in many, many decades if not the worst storm the state has seen and it will pass through and impact numerous counties. High winds are going to impact the vegetation thats there, bringing down trees and power lines with them. They need to be prepared not only florida but also georgia need to be prepared to see the power off for multiple weeks as this system pushes through. Another unfortunate aspect is the rainfall that will be associated with this storm as it pushes through south and North Carolina, hopefully the forward speed of the storm will reduce the amount of rain fall that South Carolina and North Carolina sees. Florence passed through and the river baseins have yet to recede back to normal river levels. Any amount of ranfall through the south and North Carolina is not welcomed. But unfortunately it will be a reality and cause problems as it pushes through as well. So right now fema has nearly 3,000 people in the field. That doesnt include our federal partners there. We are doing everything we can to preposition not only Incident Management Teams and disaster medical teams but also rotary aircraft ready to go to support search and rescue missions. Search and rescue teams staged to be able to move into florida and the areas in florida and georgia as well. In regards to commodities, the state of florida has strong capability that were working hand in hand with right now. They have staging and distribution capability in orlando. We have staged commodities in alabama and atlanta. Ready to move in as soon as we can do so. Push through. You know, the great communication just got off the phone with Governor Scott. The governor is leaning forward doing everything we can to position the state to be able to help his citizens. Last night they made a very good move by using wireless Emergency Alert system to let people know this storm is getting stronger and stronger and you need to leave. This is the final call for anybody that needs to get out. Try to do so. Those who stick around to experience storm surge dont typically live to tell about it unfortunately. And with that, again i want to reiterate its a whole community effort. Not only response but recovery will take neighbor helping neighbor, citizens getting involved that havent been impacted donating time and money to help citizens recover all the way up to the federal government. We ask you always to download the fema app, go to disaster assistance. Gov if you receive impacts from the storm and then also go to nvoad. Org if you are looking to volunteer and help those in need. Ill pass it to our friends at the noaa, ken, come on. Thank you very much, everyone. Michael did strengthen overnight to