i was on the police department for 25 years, saw a lot of storms here. this is by far the worst storm i have ever witnessed. i promise you, i m never going to sit through another storm ever again here. i am one of the lucky ones. just some of the survivors of hurricane ian after the storm decimated wide sections of florida, and now the storm is on track to make a second u.s. landfall threatening the carolinas and georgia. good morning, and welcome to morning joe, it is friday, september 30th. joe is off this morning, but we ll get right to the latest with ian. intensing into a hurricane again, heading to south carolina after leaving a trail of devastation in florida. it is expected to make landfall near charleston around noon today as a category 1 storm. the national hurricane center is warning it could unleash life threatening storm surge, floods and strong winds. a state of emergency is in place for the carolinas, georgia and virginia. the damage from hurricane ian is
hurricane ian? absolutely, although it s been downgraded to a tropical storm ida it was one of the most powerful to hit florida ranked it s not finished with its damage. there is still rain to fall in florida and as you can see it s very extensive, the rain heading into northern florida and into georgia and the carolinas so again a lot of storm surge potentially here, five or six feet, nearly two metres and several hundred millimetres of rain forecast for other states in the usa in the south east in the next couple of days. close to our shores nothing quite as stormy but we do have our first autumnal gale is coming quite widely tomorrow with some wet weather as well, so quiet today in contrast, we ve got few wish i was around, more sunshine. the wind, that chilly northerly wind, starting to ease a bit so in the sunshine away from the showers, 16 17 feels quite pleasant, we are still in september after all but it is all change. not tonight necessarily in the south and east, te
12 feet higher, devastating communities like for the myers, naples and some 2 million homes and businesses are without power in florida, that is 20% of the entire state and 96% of fort myers is in the dark. one official saying it could take weeks for the power to come back on in some areas. floodwater inundating areas like naples and port charlotte. these are pictures of that area leaving some people who decided to ride out the storm trapped in their homes, others rescued from their cars, berman. the danger also continues, we should note. reporter: it absolutely does continue. the storm not done yet. brianna, i m sorry for communication problems earlier. the fema administrator told me they are prepared for thousands of displaced people, thousands perhaps of long-term displaced people. so that is what people are up against here in florida right now. cnn s got live team coverage of ian still very much a powerful force. first i want to go to the national hurricane center. mike
i m kate bolduan. we want to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. we re following the devastating impact of hurricane ian right now and some of the first pictures of the devastation and destruction left behind, here s a look in fort myers of the destruction there. new aerials just in here of the catastrophic damage across southwest florida, which took a direct hit from this storm. the storm surge and relentless rain really causing widespread damage that officials are already acknowledging will take a very long time to recover from. and it seems obvious when you see this kind of damage, bridges, roadways wiped out. the bridges, the only vehicle access to sanibel island and pine island are now impassable says the governor. entire sections of these bridges have been washed away essentially cutting off those barrier islands. in port charlotte, the monster winds blew the roof off the intensive care unit at a hospital and also flooded the er, just really scary
is up. we see contrast from before and after pictures. for example, fort myers, where the hurricane first hit last. 2.5 million people are without power. i can tell you specifically for florida power and light, we have just over 1.1 million customers across the state at the moment, that said, we ve been out and about throughout the storm, it s been safe to do so restoring power to our customers and we ve already restored power to 500,000 customers, but majority of lines are still above the ground and that will take time to assess. we ll use drones to figure out where biggest damage is and that will allow us to get power back on as quickly as possible. ainsley: ian is hitting central florida and we expect to hear from governor ron desantis 8:45 and will bring as it happens, meanwhile, live across the state. senior meteorologist janice dean is standing by and brandy campbell is back in orlando and fox weather correspondent robert ray is live. we are learning the sheriff in