storm. idalia was packing 125 mile per hour winds as florida s vulnerable big bend coast took a direct hit, we are now seeing catastrophic storm surge and flooding, conditions have been called apocalyptic and are life-threatening. major bridges in tampa are closing as they get lashed with waves. and this, this is what winds of 125 miles per hour look like. you can see the gusts driving the rain and at one point sending debris flying across this parking lot. this is happening in perry, florida. water still rising with storm surges up to 16 feet possible in some areas. just about one hour ago white caps were starting to hit the front yard of this orange home in steinhatchee, water nearing the roofline. the images are simply unprecedented. this is historic because idalia is now the strongest storm to make landfall in the big bend region in 125 years. we want to take you to the region now. cnn news central anchors john berman and sara sidner are kicking off our live team co
Reports of serious tree damage in perry. one big giant oak after another just falling down. i would not be at all surprised if the people you were speaking with have lost power in the process of losing internet. because of all the tree damage and some of the freshwater flooding, they are undoubtedly going to get there. here in tallahassee, this is where the state storm response is being coordinated where it s being coordinated from is being hit right now with tropical storm force winds. the gusts feel like they ve been 40 to 50 miles per hour. tallahassee has never been hit by hurricane-force winds. it doesn t seem like they ll get them this time, not from what i felt. as the storm passes a little bit to the south and east of here as it heads up into georgia, it doesn t seem as if it s going to get the worst of it in terms of
yeah, right now the report that i got this morning is somewhere over 130,000 people without power, but we expect that number to go up as the storm, again, continues to move inland. i have to tell you that the amount of mutual aid that the state of florida brought in to support power restoration is significant. what we saw during hurricane ian is that they were able to restore the power rather quickly. i expect the same thing to happen here, as soon as the storm passes and it s safe to restore the power. people need to be prepared for it to be out for 24, 36, maybe even 72 hours in some areas. making sure they have what they need to protect themselves, have their medicines, to stay cool and whatever else they need to make sure they can support themselves until the power is restored. you talked about what s next. georgia, the carolinas, what can they expect?
We will check back with you in the next few hours as this storm surge continues to rise. appreciate you, sir. thank you. all right. let me toss it back now to boris, the pride of hialeah, and ms. rahel. thank you, sara. share ration thank you for being there in crystal river, bringing us these pictures. our thanks to sara, john berman. we have reporters up and down the western coast of florida who we will be checking with throughout the show. hurricane idalia now weakening slightly to a category 2. 100,000 people in florida still without power, still flash flooding warning, that sort of thing. and the storm surge continues and it is going to get worse because as sara noted a moment ago, high tide is coming in a few hours, already on top of a 12 to 16-foot storm surge in some areas. there is going to be quite an effort at cleanup and obviously as this is ongoing a focus on emergency rescue and other
Incredible. impressive display of mother nature house power. we want to take you live back to crystal river where sara sidner has been reporting. sara, i see you ve recently moved in part because the water keeps getting further and further in. yeah, i m not a fan of standing in high tide. we are not there yet, but it looks like it. we are probably we re actually more i m going to get out of the way so adolfo can give you a look at the scene. we are more than a football field away from where we were standing literally 30 minutes ago, that s how far the water has come. what you are seeing here is the driveway and the parking lot of a hotel where some of us are staying on the second floor, of course. it was drier than a duck s back about 30 minutes ago, now it is underneath 3 feet or so of water. so the storm surge hasn t even begun. the worst of it isn t even