Cnn breaking News Amar codes alongside John Berman. With cnns continuing coverage of Hurricane Helene, the Monster Category four storm set to make landfall just south of tallahassee, florida. And at any moment, nearly 1 Million people are already without power across florida and also georgia and the impacts they are far reaching this is new Video Tonight of rescues that are taking place in fort Myers Beach in southwest florida. Youve got local deputies using boats to rescue people who call for help. Streets. Theyre turning into rivers the warnings are dire. This is a patent strophic storm, packing can winds around 140 miles per hour and the Storm Surge Forecast or say, will be unsurvivable 20 feet in some parts. Helene is one of the biggest storms to ever hit the gulf coast. Its about 400 miles wide absolutely massive and making matters even worse all of this is happening in the dead of night. Florida governor Ron Desantis is set to hold a Press Conference a few moments from right now,
Extremely dangerous four. It s more than 400 miles across, pushing a storm surge that officials are calling unsurvivable is now hitting florida s gulf coast as much as 20 feet of water what are forecast along the shore south of tallahassee, which itself is expected to take a direct blow. Some coastal areas already flooding. Take a look live pictures right now from gulfport in tampa on the right interstate to 70 prison biden this evening, urge anyone in the storm s path that take it extremely seriously. A lot of water there is certainly there graham gulfport, especially emergency managers and florida s taylor county are telling people choosing to stay and there are people choosing to stay to write her name and date of birth on a leg to help identify their bodies. Storm warnings are now in effect as far north as charlotte, north carolina. We ve got cnn correspondents all along the places now harm s way in chad myers in the cnn weather center, let s start with cnn meteorologist derek van
Now i ll see you tomorrow evening. I m kaitlan collins. This is the source hurricane helene is about to slam into florida and i expected to make landfall and just a couple of hours from now, it s now an extremely dangerous category four storm and winds are now up to 140 miles per hour. If it stays this strong, it ll be the strongest storm to ever make landfall in florida s big bend region. That s the area that we re keeping a close eye on. This hour, more than half 1 million people there have already lost power. And forecasters are predicting tonight that the storm surge in some areas could be unsurvivable reaching as high as 20 feet surges and high winds were already the reason for the closures of several major bridges in the tampa area that we saw tonight? officials, there are telling residents to shelter in place, that it is going to get worse and don t go outside. Emergency managers and one florida county are being so blunt with their warnings for those who are in low lying areas a
Cnn breaking news good evening. I m abby phillip in new york. Our special coverage continues tonight of hurricane helene, a monster category four storm that is now moments away from making landfall in florida. At this moment, it was too late now for folks along the coast too evacuate. Officials warned that the winds and the storm surge will be be catastrophic in some areas, the word that they are using is unsurvivable helene could be the strongest storm on record for the big bend region. And we are already starting to see a major surge in these cities. So we have our anchors and our correspondents. They re fanned out as the storm is now hitting and we have chad myers as well with the latest forecast in the cnn weather center. Let s go first to john berman. He s out in tallahassee in the socalled dead on a hit zone, john, what s happening where you are right now? yeah the winds have really started to pick up abby over the last half an hour. The rain really coming down here, you can see
Breaking news and good evening. I m erin burnett outfront tonight. The breaking news unsurvivable. That is the exact word officials are using right now, as hurricane helene has now grown to an extremely dangerous category four hurricane, bringing with it potentially really historic storm surge levels right now expected at 20 feet. Let s just look at the scene right now is a live camera that we have in met lots of florida trees right there right now, you ve got up to 130 an hour gusts coming through that area on that bridge. We have seen cars coming and going really even in these past few moments, which is pretty stunning. Many bridges have already been closed. This is the skyway bridge, as you re looking here, which is now completely submerged. Imagine being in one of those cars. And right now, darkness is descending on the area more than 200,000 people in the dark without power right now, there is a sheriff asking people who do not evacuate to write their name and date of birth on the