rescue there. you can see these people absolutely devastated and so fearful that they weren t going to survive this. so grateful to the people that are helping them. you have a baby there wrapped in a blanket. a family that is just trying to get to some dry land. winds and flooding. they ripped up asphalt. look at this highway. look at that. that is sanibel, florida. lee county is devastated in a way that we have not seen in a very, very long time. the sheriff there fears he said this earlier today and it got a lot of attention and we hope the numbers don t come to true whigs. he fears there could be hundreds that lost their lives here. the house burst into flame in sanibel isle area. and now we have georgia and south carolina. what they re preparing to get ready where they are. we have fox team coverage across this devastating situation. first to steve harrigan who joins us. we watched him get blown hard around there in placada, florida. good afternoon to you one day lat
todd: hurricane ian plowing through western cuba yesterday knocking out power to the entire country and devastating the most important tobacco farms in the country used to produce cuba s iconic cigars. you are watching fox and friends first, i m todd piro. carley: i m carley shimkus, our reporters are live across florida this morning, we begin with senior meteorologist, janice dean who is tracking it from our studio. janice: they just upped the winds, that is a strong category four storm, the pressure has dropped by 10 millibars. it is strengthen as it approaches the coast, we r expecting landfall this afternoon. heightened awareness to the storm surge and for hours it will batter the coast and interior sections of florida. rain and wind and storm surge will impact coast of florida and inland will flood two-story homes at the coast. you don t have time, you can hide from the wind, you have to run from the storm surge. wind gusts in excess of 100 mile per hour for dura
air we are looking at key west. this is a live look you the entire state is bracing for potentially catastrophic the say s response 90 minutes from now. pete: we have live fox team coverage janice dean standing by with the latest storm track. nicole valdez live in florida. we start with multi media journalist robert ray live in fort myers. robert? good morning to you here in fort myers beach. a key inlet to the gulf of mexico and, guys, the storm is starting to come in. we are seeing the deterioration of this island. take a look. if rick can look up here into the palm trees and you see they are starting to sway. we get these heavy rain bands that come in from time to time. i have to say the big issue here is the storm surge. where i m standing right now here later this morning, expected potentially 8 to 12 feet of storm surge. we need to get out of here at some point. and we are monitoring that. the gulf of mexico just a football field away. we re monitoring those waves c
rising causing residents to track towards higher ground. absolutely nuts. brian: more than 70,000 floridians are without power this morning. governor ron desantis urging residents to get out. time to evacuate is come to an end. you need to evacuate now. the governor will give another update in just about 30 minutes. we will bring that to you live. first, we have live fox team coverage janice dean tracking the storm s latest path. fox news weather we start with robert ray in fort myers. robert? good morning. you know, as light is about to come up here and these rain bands and window really intensify, conditions are deteriorating here in fort myers beach. the gulf of mexico, just a football field over there. churning up. i was just over there. when it gets light, we will show you that. you can see right now, these heavy bands as hurricane ian is right out there. the eye center is about 70 miles from where i m standing it s 30 miles wide and the window fell well over 300
evening. like 3:00 to 7:00 i think is going to be the worst as the eye wall comes over. look at the size of the eye north port down to cape coral. significant breath. we are witching you and everyone else in florida the very best. thank you very much for joining us this morning. fox & friends starts right now. brian: all right. here we go. fox weather is tracking hurricane ian. the powerful now category 4 storm, set to make landfall, florida s west coast just hours from now. your time to evacuate is coming to an end. you need to evacuate now. overnight the first impact of ian being felt in key west extreme flooding. the water rising. no end in sight. ainsley: down in south florida, tornadoes spinning. they are spinning all around. they are tossing even these small planes as we come on the