life-threatening storm surge and plenty of tornado warnings on this wednesday morning. right now our greatest area of concern is that big bend area where we had landfall, 947 pressure with 130 mile per hour wind is a dangerous cat 3 hurricane. brian: climbing to 138s,000. senior meteorologist janice dean is in the studio tracking the storm, we have matt finn and steve harrigan. robert ray is in clearwater. when we tossed to you last water was up to your calf and now it looks like it is up to your knees. yeah, close to it. it changes as the surge comes in, it can be calf or knee. up and down the street, i m looking as far as my eye can see, it appears to be a river from the gulf of mexico surge coming in. same that way. you see that hotel, sunrise resort, there is a gentleman standing on high ground. he is smart. that vehicle probably should move thchl is what we ve been experiencing all morning. the outure bands are creating surge and pushing across the beach in clearwa
and don t take anything for granted here. we have already had 11 tornado warnings, and there are more tornadoes possible. even and especially in the very outer bands of the storm. steve and it s just getting started. even the governor s command center lost power twice during the press conference, but they have got generators. listen, we have got live fox team coverage all morning long. senior meteorologist janice dean is here in the studio m. tracking the storm. steve harrigan is in participaten springs. brandy campbell live in tallahassee. start in clearwater where robert ray is standing by and in coronado street, right, robert? cared in a dough drive to be exact. off the gulf of mexico, clearwater beach. what we are seeing and experiencing as a team myself and two photographers, fox news photographers is a very heavy band that has just come in. one of our meteorologist at fox weather in new york alerted me that this was coming and, boy, was he right. because this is comin
suffering a fall. what his family is saying tonight. the disturbing incident during march madness, racial slurs allegedly hurled at the utah women s team. now, the fbi prepared to join the investigation. our team inside the chaos in haiti. the orphanage where women and children seek refuge, and our nbc news exclusive reporting. will the u.s. allow more haitian immigrants fleeing the violence into the states? what we ve learned. and the game-changing bar where it s all women s sports all the time. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening, and welcome, everyone. tonight officials in baltimore are sizing up the enormous and urgent tasks ahead following yesterday s cargo ship accident and deadly collapse of the francis scott key bridge. tonight, the nearly 1,000-foot-long container ship remains lodged where it came to a sickening rest early yesterday after losing power and slamming into a bridge pylon. the ship s crew still on board tonight u
trump and the other 17 co-defendants. in washington, d.c. the judge there set a trial date of march 4th, 2024 for the special counsel s investigation into the alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election nationwide. that trial date is one day before super tuesday, the height of the 2024 presidential campaign theoretically. our reporters and legal experts are here to break down every single detail of today s developments. we ll start with more breaking news. just moments ago we got an update on idalia, the tropical storm currently building in the gulf of mexico and barreling towards florida. evacuation orders have already been issued along florida s west coast. idalia is on track to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall. let s get right to cnn s meteorologist chad myers. chad, what is in the latest forecast? a top speed of 130 miles per hour now, up from 125 at the 11:00 a.m. advisory. more time in the water, very, very warm water and an awful lot of watches and warnings
court. will trump follow suit? and just in, police releasing new surveillance video showing the jacksonville killer moments before he opened fire, targeting black shoppers. this as we re learning more about why he was forced to abandon what may have been an original plan. and prepare for evacuate. warnings now up for florida s gulf coast as tropical storm idalia rapidly intensifies. it is expected to be a major hurricane by the time it makes landfall. let s go outfront. good evening. i m erica hill in for erin burnett. outfront tonight, trump on trial. a federal judge announcing his 2020 election interference case will begin in march of next year. that is two years sooner than trump s team had requested. they wanted it pushed out to april of 2026. judge tanya chutkan saying it will actually begin in six months on march 4th, to be exact. that s one day before super tuesday. and while we re keeping track here, it also comes just two months before the start of his classi