this hour, and on the ground frenzy in the state. millions under mandatory evacuation orders. the entire state faces flash flooding. and then record-shattering storm surge, water officials say as high as 18 feet. enough to swallow two suvs stacked one on the other. one official warning if you are caught in that surge, you simply will not survive. let s get straight to our correspondents on the ground binning with beginning with bill weir. what are you seeing and what are you told to expect? reporter: this whole community is really bracing for the worse. the new numbers this morning sunk the pit of the stomach everyone here, trying to think about a 17 foot storm surge. and we re on the back side of the storm and this is sort of the reverse storm surge. locals never see this exposed seabed here. we re looking at crab traps and oyster beds blowing around in the wind with the rest of us here. but of course the water as the storm comes ashore will fill in fast. and we re next
it will severely impact millions of people and put the barrier island communities completely under water. joining me this hour, the acting director of the national hurricane center to update the track of the storm. i will talk to mayors up and down the coast as ian comes onshore. let s go to our meteorologist with the latest on the hurricane s path. what are you seeing from the latest updates? with each update, the conditions continue to grow dire. right now, we are seeing lots of rain and strong winds moving into ft. myers. if you look at the latest trajectory, we have this making landfall as a mjor hurricane, a strong category 4, 155 miles per hour winds. once you are in 157, you are in cat 5. they are seeing strong winds move into areas. streets are under water. i want to note that it s not until the center of the eye makes landfall that we call it a landfall. we are anticipating within the next three to four hours this will make landfall just outside of ft. myers and so
Counties you need to be sheltering in place. don t forget that ian will produce hurricane strength winds and massive flooding, not just where it makes the initial landfall, but throughout the state of florida so central and northeast florida will also feel impacts. most people in the evacuations did leave, there were some that chose to stay. i was speaking with the sheriff down in charlotte county, and while most people did leave, they had some that wanted to hunker down. and at the end of the day, a decision they made knowing they had the ability to evacuate and knowing what the stakes were. nevertheless, safety, life safety operations will commence as soon as it s safe to be able to identify people who may be in harm s way and who are in need of assistance, and kevin will say i ll say a little about that, but kevin will say more, and fwc, about their efforts
0 from the shoreline to the back bays and also to rivers inland. so, know your high tides. we are looking at the images, increasingly dire. stay inside as the storm approaches and wreaks havoc, pray for the charlotte county community and the rest of florida as we toss it over to america reports. john: any moment now we are expecting an update from florida governor ron desantis as the eyewall of hurricane ian begins to move on shore bringing with it the potential for catastrophic damage. hello, john roberts in washington. sandra, welcome back. sandra: good to be with you, sandra smith in new york. america reports, a quickly developing situation, ian expected to make landfall between 2 and 4:00 p.m. right now packing top winds of 155 miles an hour. that is just a couple miles shy of a category 5 hurricane. john: when you get that high it does not make much of a difference. forecasters warning of the storm surge could be as high as 18 feet as the eyewall comes on shore. sand
Come. the president planning to go to texas on tuesday to survey the damage as federal officials say the cleanup will go on for at least weeks. what we re here involved in is a marathon, i think there s two messages for me today. the first is we re focused on life safety operations and the second is we re not going it lose our focus as the next days and weeks unfold and people continue to need assistance. arthel: here to talk with me is betsy woodruff, political reporter for the daily beast. betsy, governor abbott giving the administration an a+, that grade given across the board? speaking broadly, seems the president hasn t gotten too much pointed criticism for his response to this hurricane, even though obviously his critiusually quite enthusiastic to dig into him when they get the chance. we re seeing former dhs