A very high level. Some are saying its one of the biggest storms ever to hit our country. It built very rapidly,ed a briefing with secretary of Homeland Security and the administrator of fema and we are watching Hurricane Michael. Its just hitting shore now. Winds are going up to close to 200 miles an hour. Category 4. You dont hear about that. Its the most powerful recorded storm to strike the Florida Panhandle ever. It will bring with it anywhere from 150 mile to almost 200 mile an hour winds. The storm surges could be up to 15 feet. Additional rainfall could also produce Flash Flooding at the highest levels. We have been in constant communications with governor rick scott of florida. With all the authorities in the various states. Were very well prepared for massive amounts of food and we have First Responders all over, the Electrical Companies are staged and ready to go in after the storm. Over a thousands trucks. We have large amounts of food and water and Everything Else that you
kerry was holding as he was trying to get back from the live shot that he did, he was holding onto a pole while there was another reporter holding onto him. this is just humans. now you think of these sustained winds hitting a structure on an ongoing basis with rain and that s the danger and what takes the power out and that can t be replaced very easily. i keep thinking about the locals. lester holt said when he went down for breakfast this morning he looked out the window and said it doesn t look like much of a storm. fast forward this is lester s crew trying to hold that window in earlier. they felt it blowing and felt it was going to blow and subsequently put a mattress there. you can see the window moving there. is allen pierce with us? we have allen pierce with us. he is riding out the storm in apalachicol apalachicola. allen, are you safe? oh yeah, we re about four blocks off the coast and we have
the bay protecting us from the gulf of mexico. the wind is blowing like a freight train. if you re outside it sounds like you re standing on the tarmac of a jet runway. the noise is just overwhelming. what s the situation in apalachicola as far as you know? are a lot of people riding out the storm there? no, i don t think a lot of people are. i had an affiliation with the county so i stayed behind to help in cases of recovery, but i think most people left. i haven t been outside the house since the storm really set in about 10:00 this morning. it s been very windy and unsafe outside. even though you re inside, tell us what it sounds like. our colleague, lester holt, when we spoke to him a few minutes ago, even with the windows closed, the wind sounded as though it was a jet engine. what s it like where you are? absolutely. apalachicola is probably 40