parts of the state getting hit with wind gusts up to 126 miles per hour. this report coming out of redfish pass, a sform surge up to 18 feet is threatening important charlotte and the fort myers area. we have fox team coverage with steve harrigan where ian is making the direct hit. robert ray is in fort myers on how folks are dealing with this and rick reichmuth is in the fox weather center on how long the heat could last. given the slow movement, quit awhile. welcome. i m neil cavuto. a busy day right now and a monster of a hurricane that is big and also slow. that is the problem. it hangs around awhile. steve harrigan with more. steve? neil, we had the illusion for the last 15 or 20 minutes that things might be dying down. that was the eye of the storm. part of that eye passed over us. the skies got lighter, the heavy rain which has lashed for hours stopped completely. the winds died down. now the tail end of that storm is beginning to hit us, the back side of it. we ll s
evacuating safely. neil: while i have you, too, they re talking about how big ian is. i can t wrap my arms and how big. i think the miami herald had said that hurricane charlie would fit inside ian s eye as a catastrophic category four storm, which it is. it is that big where the last big one, charlie, would literally fit in the eye. so people don t appreciate the magnitude of this thing, do they? you know what? i live in new orleans. there we talk a lot about hurricane katrina. that is the big one. i ll tell you, the consensus from state leaders here and residents is that this is definitely going to be that storm here in florida that we just talk about for a really long time. neil: i m sorry. i thought i lost connection there with you. we re also understanding right