this is what forecasters are warning about as hurricane ian, a dangerous category 3 storm, maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. it s strengthening, with florida right in its sights. take a look at this. there s the radar. if you are in florida right now, or you know someone there, the next few hours could really be crucial. millions of people, millions are under warnings and watches as this massive storm takes aim at that state. the numbers are staggering. 15 million people under hurricane warnings in southwestern florida. the national hurricane center says they need to rush to finish preparations to protect their lives and their properties. more than 7 million are under a tornado watch in central and southern florida. and that includes miami, and that through 5 am. and that could change. we re going to get updated forecast about the hours here. over two and a half million people are under evacuation orders right now. one and three quarter million of them under mand
Cafeteria workers are now stepping up to cook food for folks. i also want to show you what s behind me. because obviously at night it s so hard to see preparations for the storm. behind in the hospital here, this is tampa general hospital. and you can see that wall. that s a wall. that s been created to keep the water out. even in heavy rains here, they deal with a lot of water. and they want to keep this trauma center open. but you can understand with the amount of rain that is expected here, that storm surge is such an important word that could be dealing with so many folks that so many folks have to deal with. they want to make sure the barrier is up so the water does not get in there. the mayor was trying to talk today about how it s important to drive through water. because we obviously see that from storm to storm. and today at a news conference, she made it very clear that she wants people to heed the warnings as it gets closer and closer to the storm hours. it s going to
Hey, thanks for. watching don lemon tonight starts right now. hey, don lemon. hello, laura coates. we ve got a big storm bearing down, down in florida. it s really. bad it s unbelievable. you think about the storm surge, you think about the area that is affecting. it s the first in what, 100 years, don? it s scary. yeah, it s growing and growing and growing. and i m supposed to go down. so hopefully i can go down, get on a plane. if so, i will see you tomorrow night. please stay safe. thank you very much, laura. stay safe, i will see you soon. this is don lemon tonight. and what laura and i were just talking about is a life-threatening impact. this is something you really need to pay attention to, especially if you re in the path, the of love once or relatives there. just the country as a whole, this is a normal.
Not be taking a direct hit, or experienced the storm surg e can see how big that wind field is relative to traditional hurricanes. and as that moves up and over the florida peninsula, up into the southeast united states, you can see this big area, blue area of tropical storm warnings. so, it s really going to be a big event for not just florida but also for georgia and south carolina. listen, florida s coastline, as we discuss every time, there is, you know, one of these huge storms, florida s coastline has been massively developed. as this impending storm a warning about that, given the strength of the storms that we are now seeing, as