sandbags, school closures and a race to get out of its way. hurricane idalia proms millions to prepare for a life-the threatening storm surge that s hours from the florida coast. plus, doing his job or aiding and abetting a scheme. mark meadows spends three hours on stand trying to show his actions were just normal chief of staff things and not part of a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. and a campaign claush over foreign policy turns ugly. vivek ramaswamy calls nikki haley a liar. some see it as a dog whistle. i m dana bash. let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. up first, florida eyes a monster. a major hurricane is swirling off the shoreses. forecasters warn that hurricane idalia could be a once in a lifetime storm that will gain strength as it barrels towards the panhandle. already officials have ordered evacuates across much of the gulf coast. they told residents to expect widespread power outages for days and they warn storm surges as tall as
news in what could be a once in a lifetime weather event for parts of florida and the united states. right now, hurricane hurricane idalia is barrelling toward florida s gulf coast and is expected to make land fall as a category 3 storm or stronger overnight. the storm is rapidly intensifying as it travels through a warmer than normal gulf of mexico. the majority of florida s counties are now under a state of emergency. schools are closed, aurpts have been shuttered and hospitals are moving patients that they can move to safer locations. cities around the eye of the hurricane are predicted to possibly see more than 12 feet of storm surge with winds more than 100 miles per hour. we are just getting in some new video. this is out of key west, where residents are already starting to feel the storm s effects. moments ago, this dire warning from the mayor of cedar key, near where the storm is expected to make landfall. the mayor estimating around 100 people remain in his town. he
alerts ahead of the hurricane idalia arrival. some areas are looking at 12 feet of storm surge. now, florida residents are bracing for yet another impact, and people rushing to pack their cars with sandbags and supplies ahead of idalia s arrival. idalia flooded out neighborhoods in cuba, and now we are live at cedar key, florida. where is it like where you are now in about 24 hours before the storm is expected to hit florida? reporter: exactly, josé. folks are working to get all the preps done. this business has put up caution tape, and the doors are open in the front and back. i think that is hopefully so when the 115-mile-per-hour winds come through, they will be able to go through the structure and may cause less damage, and some of the structural damage we might see in some of these situations, and that s the concern for a lot of these businesses up along the waterfront. a lot of them have boarded up their windows to prevent that. some are trying to move everything out
about this hurricane that as you can see is just barrelling towards the west coast of florida. one of the things that was really interesting there that the governor is warning about is the potential for as this storm is heading there up into kind of that big bend area, that catcher s mitt we ve heard it referred to, there is a potential for this storm to make a little bit of a left turn and head more towards tallahassee. his point there is that don t think that if you are there in the panhandle, you are there in northern florida that you are out of trouble. he s saying everyone should be prepared in case this storm does make a turn. and he s telling people, look, you should be prepared to lose power. you need to get out of the way of storm surge. you don t have to go far, but far enough away to get out of the storm surge. 10 to 15 feet in some areas. we re talking about a lot of water and that water can be deadly. we have our cnn team tracking every angle of the storm. i want
worst in decades as local officials warn people that the time to leave is now. the hurricane could make landfall as a strong category 3 storm. of course we re tracking all the latest. and a funeral today for the man who led a failed revolt against vladimir putin. mercenary chief yevgeny prigozhin buried in a st. petersburg cemetery. but this won t lay to rest the questions surrounding his death. and stronger than fentanyl. a potent new opioid potentially even more deadly. we re following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central . florida s west coast is now bracing for impact. right now hurricane idalia is quickly gaining strength over the gulf of mexico. expected to rapidly intensify into an extremely dangerous category 3 storm before hitting florida s big bend region early tomorrow morning. you can see here the first signs of impact in the u.s. on the coast. taking pictures. idalia s gusty winds whipping up waves at th