Friend. sara, back to you, keeping a close eye on what s happening in florida. yep. we re waiting for this storm to arrive here in the state of florida. it is right now a category 1. but that is likely to change because it s going to go over that very hot water of the gulf of mexico. in just a bit, we ll speak with the fema administrator about the preparations that are under way and what they will be doing to make sure that people are able to be safe as this storm inches ever closer to the west coast of florida. that s ahead. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. for freeee. that s what i m talking about. order in the subway app today.
that is always really good advice. thank you for being out there for us. thank you to your crew as well. and for people that don t know, derek van dam, who is here with me tracking the storm, how heavy those tripods are, those are hefty things. if the winds can blow that over and it s not even a hurricane at the time, it s just the outer bands of a tropical storm, we are talking about some real power here, especially as it hits that warm water as you have said. we are waiting here. yes, it s beautiful. yes, it looks like somewhere that you want to be and you do, except this is going to change fairly quickly and people are being told here in pinellas county and 13 other counties to get to a safer space, mandatory evacuations under way right now. we ll keep you updated about all of this. we will be watching the storm here with derek van dam as it comes through and we will be here as it inches ever closer and as that storm grows. phil? all right, sara, derek, the
I know that fema has for many years faced some criticism for not engaging as quickly as possible. we saw in the wild fires, for example, in maui, fema showing up immediately and being on the ground. what are your plans for this hurricane at category 1 but expected to grow quite strong as the hours go on. good morning, sara. yeah. we have been engaged with florida s emergency management department for several days now. we ve also been in touch with our officials in georgia as well as north carolina and south carolina as they will also feel some impacts from this. our preparation getting ready for this has been to move our resources in. we have urban search and rescue teams that are on stand by to support the state with any life-saving needs they have. the army corps of engineers.
They talk about hurricane herman back in 2016 which was a category 1 that brought 6 feet of storm surge. this will be a category 3 upon its arrival. that will likely bring catastrophic storm surge to cedar key and those general areas as well. i m very concerned about clee water, 4 to 7 feet is the official projection here. but what makes this coastline so vulnerable, sara, is the fact that it is so shallow. you could literally walk from where we re standing now to the beach directly behind us and you ll walk into the water for several hundred yards and only get up to your waist at best. so that water literally has to go somewhere. it is going to be pushed up by this approaching storm system that is accelerating and strengthening and that is the concern. so many people focus on the winds. yes, that s a threat. but the storm surge is the number one killer during a hurricane. anyone who has jumped in the water and got tumbled by a wave, this is that kind of power, but it s coming at you
News. idalia is now a category 1 hurricane, maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour with stronger wind gusts. and it is expected to intensify to a potentially category 3 hurricane before making landfall in florida tomorrow. where millions are already under hurricane and storm surge warnings. right now, western cuba is feeling the brunt of the storm. then the track puts idalia coming on shore well north of tampa in florida s big bend. but, and this is a critical reminder particularly in this moment, a small shift in the track could put that population center more at risk. now sara arrived just a few hours ago in clearwater, florida. sar ra sara, what have you been seeing since you ve been on the ground? we ve been seeing people leaving because they have been warned this is going to get ready nasty, really quickly. we re talking about a major storm surge as well as high winds. there are now 14 counties that have been told to evacuate.