Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Sandra Smith 20181010

Family safe. Do not take chances. So lets all be safe, stay alert to weather updates, watch this storm closely, listen to local officials. Sandra we have Fox Team Coverage. Senior meteorologist janice dean is live from the Fox Extreme Weather Center in new york and mike tobin on the ground in pensacola where an Evacuation Order is in effect. Are people ready where you . They were ready but they took a relaxed approach to the storm. Even what we heard from Emergency Services. A lot of optimism the worst of the storm will hit further east on the panhandle. You have a lot of people here at the chico marina who decided to ride out the storm in boats. Theyll stay on the boats and they live in their boats. They are just under the impression that they would rather be there, maintain the problems as the storm was rolling in than come and deal with them later particularly because this is where they live. There is a science to maintaining the lines with the boats or more of an art. You want to make sure there is enough slack in the lines so as the water comes up you dont pull the boat away from the dock itself but you want to have the lines tight enough that you dont thrash around and bang into the other boats and the kind of thing the people want to maintain out here. That being said, a lot of people think that again the worst of the storm is going to be further to the east. Theyre fairly optimistic. People did wake up to the news this morning it had upgraded to a category 4 storm. We saw things like people in the area boarding up this morning. Better late than never. So to answer your question were people ready . They think theyre as ready as they need to be. A lot of optimism this far west and people hoping they can ride out the storm and hope the worst hits further to the east of them, sandra. Sandra one of those things where were watching this along with our audience and you just wonder if folks around you are taking a pretty casual approach to looks like an enormous storm headed that way, mike. Are you seeing storm surge there yet . Predictions now up to 13 feet. Thats going to be the really dangerous factor to this storm. I can show you the storm surge right now. Keep in mind were at a mean tide right now. The water should be pretty low. The edge of this boat should be parallel with the dock. This isnt one of those floating docks, it other fixed. The water level should be low and the boat parallel with the top of the dock. You have a lot of water that has already come in in the advance of the storm. And you still have to anticipate that the tide will go up from here, sandra. Sandra thank you for the update. Well see more of you later. Thank you. Jon the worst of the storm is going to be that Northwest Quadrant from noon to 3 00. Thats where the fiercest winds will be. Northeast quadrant. I will tell you this is one of the most intense hurricanes i have ever covered. Category 4, 145 mileanhour sustained winds. If you look at the satellite presentation of this storm in the last few frames you can see that welldefined eye and that tells me this is a strengthening storm as it makes landfall. It is being influenced by land. The west side is really holding well together. Were hours from landfall. Look at that eye. You rarely see that welldefined, clear eye in the middle of a storm. Its incredible. Unfortunately it is going to cause incredible amounts of damage. Catastrophic for parts of the big bend of florida. They have never seen a category 4 of this magnitude in this part of florida and this actually could go down in history as the strongest cat 4 for october. Here is the tornado threat. Well see the risk for tornadoes throughout the day today until 5 00 p. M. When we have the watch. They are usually quick and weak tornadoes but they could cause structural damage and if you have power out you have no way of knowing if you have a tornado on your doorstep. Here is the latest advisory. Were getting updates every couple hours. The new advisory coming out at 11 00 a. M. We expect landfall between 1 00 and 2 00 p. M. Right now. But the results of this are going to be widespread. Especially especially the surge. We could see upwards as youve heard 13 to 14 foot storm surge which will put little towns and homes under water, no question here. And then the core of the strongest winds will be 165 mileperhour gusts. It will be a duration of several hours. Here is where im concerned as we look at the storm surge, the big mound of water that is pushed onshore from the counter clockwise winds. Look at the scope where we could see 12 inches plus storm surge. That is going to be life threatening, catastrophic. If you had evacuations you needed to do so. It will continue into places like alabama. But the worst of it will be as it makes landfall and the east where we see the worst of the storm surge and the core of the strongest winds and tornado threat. This goes down as one of the worst hurricanes weve ever covered. Jon i know youll keep an eye on it throughout the morning. Get back to us with late breaking developments sandra lets bring in matt caldwell, candidate for state agriculture commissioner. Thank you for your time this morning. Weather forecasters are trying to get their message out. What are government officials trying to do right now . It is focused on evacuations yesterday. Now as youve heard Governor Scott has put out if you did not evacuate you need to shelter in place. Be prepared as you heard the prior commentator talk about, a 12foot storm surge will topple houses on the coast along panama city. The foregotten coast. Apalachicola, small fishing towns. They will absolutely be devastated by a storm surge like that and got to be prepared to respond for it. It enormous damage. Ive seen it myself growing up in florida. I dealt with hurricane andrew, hurricane charley, last year hurricane irma, charlie was a cat 4. It cut an island in half off the coast of fort myers and threw mobile homes around. It is nothing to joke about and people need to be prepared for a very difficult sledding for the next few days after we get ready to recover from this. Sandra due to the expected storm surge the area you described is vulnerable. Why . Well, its right along the coast. You have some of the oldest communities in florida. North florida settled first 150, 160 years ago. You are talking about frame structures from some precivil war right at the tide line. Again all focused on shrimping, fishing and oystering. Youll have to deal with clearing roads, clearing debris. The big difference between a cat 4 and cat 1, both you lose power. With a category 4 it knocks over the cell towers. It knocks over the transformers and the transfer stations. And so it is not just getting a lineman back out to hook up a line. It takes days and sometimes weeks to rebuild the physical infrastructure. You are disconnected and unable to communicate with folks and why its particularly so important you evacuate in advance of these storms and certainly now find shelter that will let you ride through it. Sandra governors in three states have declared states of emergency, what more do you see as needed as far as resources, particularly looking at your state at florida . Where do you think you are lacking now . What more are you asking for . Unfortunately we have gotten pretty good at this. Florida we deal with this on almost a yearly basis somewhere in the state. Its an enormous state. Im here in southwest a sixhour drive from panama city. To give you a scope of the storm were dealing with the outside bands all the way here in southwest just a light Tropical Storm intensity here. But were prepared. The governor is organized. It is coordinated with county and federal officials and the office im running for oversees the florida forest service. We have hundreds of foresters and firefighters standing by at the ready. They are experts and clearing debris, cutting trees and vegetation blocking roads. Once that phase is done getting to work with help with the response. Passing out water and food and coordinating with relief agencies. We went through it in fort myers last year and ultimately very well coordinated and i think were ready to address it head on. Sandra the time for evacuating along the coast has come and gone according to your governor. First responders wont be able to come out in the middle of the storm. If you choose to stay in an evacuation zone you must seek refuge immediately. Certainly a sense of urgency coming out of your state right now. Matt caldwell, thank you for your time this morning. Jon as weve been mentioning were awaiting an update from fema headquarters as the Florida Panhandle brailtions for Hurricane Michael. The onset of the high just hours away. Plus this. We have to be selfless enough to know when to step aside and let someone else do the job. Sandra shock waves through washington yesterday as nikki haley announced her resignation at u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. One of the ambassadors biggest supporters, marco rubio, is here to react. Jon why President Trump says the kavanaugh battle is energizing republican voters, darrell issa joins us next. President trump but in just four weeks youll have the chance to render your verdict on the democrats outrageous conduct. On november 6th, and you can do early voting in iowa, go, just vote, get it over with. 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Were awaiting a briefing on Hurricane Michael, the category 4 storm getting stronger as it approaches landfall expected a few hours from now. Well bring you the latest update from officials as soon as it gets underway. A lot of people will want to say there are a lot of reasons why im leaving. The truth is i want to make sure that this administration and the president has the strongest person to fight. It was a blessing to go into the u. N. With body armor every day and defend america. And ill always do that. Jon a big surprise to all of us yesterday as Ambassador Nikki Haley announced her resignation as ambassador to the u. N. With reaction california congressman darrell issa sits on the House Foreign Affairs committee. Im guessing you were as surprised as anyone she decided to walk away from that job. Surprised is a common word were using. Two years of hard charging, go in there as she said body armor. Let our friends know were back to being with them and our foes know were looking at monitoring and hold them accountable is something she has done and is announcing that after the election at the president s timetable she is looking for a successor. Two years is a long time to work at the level she has been working at. We really owe her a debt of gratitude for making that turn around in our policy. Jon are you putting forward any names you would like to see thaik her place . I think there are a great many good choices. The important thing is they have to share the president s vision and share nikkis tenacity. That combination is essential. Jon so in terms of her contributions to u. S. , american presence on the world stage, what do you think the major accomplishments are . Certainly bringing north korea back to the table in a way that they havent been ever. Letting iran know that the mistakes of the Obama Administration were being reversed or undone as best possible. And then looking at some tough decisions about the u. N. Itself. We spent a lot of money on the u. N. It is an essential organization but also one that costs too much and performs too little and spends an awful lot of time trashing our allies. Jon the president im sorry, were going to be talking a fema update. I apologize, congressman. We need to say goodbye. Sandra brock long from fema, lets listen. Major hurricanes cause large losses of life and the most amount of destruction that hurricanes can bring forward. So unfortunately the window to evacuate is coming to a close. If it hasnt already done so for many of the citizens that are in florida. If you failed to heed a warning for any reason, your goal should be to elevate as high as you can and get into a facility that you think can withstand the winds at this point. And hope for the best. You know, you always have the option of calling 911 but there is no guarantee that responders can get to you at this point. As the system continues to push through. What i mean by the storm being the type the worst type, not only are we going to see devastating storm surge push through florida that causes the most amount of destruction to facilities along the coast but the high winds as well. Florida Building Code of 2001 went up to cat 3 standards. Anything built after 2001 is designed to handle cat 3 and not much more after that. So were going to see a lot of wind damage. Particularly the buildings that were built before 2001 youll see a lot of wind damage as this storm brings 145 mileanhour winds inland. The other thing is that the citizens in georgia need to wake up and pay attention. Bottom line is this will be the worst storm the southwest and Central Georgia have seen in many, many decades if not the worst storm the state has seen and it will pass through and impact numerous counties. High winds are going to impact the vegetation thats there, bringing down trees and power lines with them. They need to be prepared not only florida but also georgia need to be prepared to see the power off for multiple weeks as this system pushes through. Another unfortunate aspect is the rainfall that will be associated with this storm as it pushes through south and North Carolina, hopefully the forward speed of the storm will reduce the amount of rain fall that South Carolina and North Carolina sees. Florence passed through and the river baseins have yet to recede back to normal river levels. Any amount of ranfall through the south and North Carolina is not welcomed. But unfortunately it will be a reality and cause problems as it pushes through as well. So right now fema has nearly 3,000 people in the field. That doesnt include our federal partners there. We are doing everything we can to preposition not only Incident Management Teams and disaster medical teams but also rotary aircraft ready to go to support search and rescue missions. Search and rescue teams staged to be able to move into florida and the areas in florida and georgia as well. In regards to commodities, the state of florida has strong capability that were working hand in hand with right now. They have staging and distribution capability in orlando. We have staged commodities in alabama and atlanta. Ready to move in as soon as we can do so. Push through. You know, the great communication just got off the phone with Governor Scott. The governor is leaning forward doing everything we can to position the state to be able to help his citizens. Last night they made a very good move by using wireless Emergency Alert system to let people know this storm is getting stronger and stronger and you need to leave. This is the final call for anybody that needs to get out. Try to do so. Those who stick around to experience storm surge dont typically live to tell about it unfortunately. And with that, again i want to reiterate its a whole community effort. Not only response but recovery will take neighbor helping neighbor, citizens getting involved that havent been impacted donating time and money to help citizens recover all the way up to the federal government. We ask you always to download the fema app, go to disaster assistance. Gov if you receive impacts from the storm and then also go to nvoad. Org if you are looking to volunteer and help those in need. Ill pass it to our friends at the noaa, ken, come on. Thank you very much, everyone. Michael did strengthen overnight to a category 4, 145 mileanhour winds. It is important to not focus just on the core of the storm. This is a huge storm. Were looking at a 200 mile wind spread from the center so Tropical Storm force winds will be pulling out into portions of alabama, even into portions of central florida. This is going to be a devastating storm. Possibly historical. Were looking at storm surge flooding of 9 to 14 feet and thats going to impact the areas. Fortunately high tide will be occurring late tonight but water at that level will push a lot of inundation into the coastal communities in florida and then once the storm passes to the north were looking at hurricaneforce winds getting up into portions of georgia. Its likely going to be widespread Power Outages, downed trees, structural damage and tornadoes along the track of michael. Thursday and friday the heavy rain threat pushes into the carolinas. Were looking at nine rivers specifically that were impacted from florence. Theyre likely to see additional flooding. This is not expected to stall. It will be moving quickly offshore. Any flooding that does occur should be short lived and michael will be pulling out to sea by this weekend. Thank you very much. Thank you, ken. Next we have captain kaley benson, our partners at the u. S. Coast guard. Good morning. We urge everyone in the path of Hurricane Michael to stay off the water. Stay off the beaches and heed all safety messages and Evacuation Orders from state and local authorities. Coast guard is working in close coordination with our federal, state and local partners to prepare for the arrival of the hurricane. Rest assured captains of the port throughout all the expected impacted areas and their teams have been working in close coordination with their respective maritime sectors in order to safely manage Maritime Operations and control the flow of cargo and supplies into each of the affected states in advance of the storm. Were closing ports as is necessary and based on the storms movement. So as of this moment panama city, pen is a cola and cedar key are closed to commercial vessel traffic. Thank you. Next Ray Alexander with the army corps of engineers. Thank you and good morning. The corps is integrated with the response and federal partners and state and local stakeholders as well. In support of three Mission Assignments valued at over 1. 4 million and another over 140,000 dollars of our own Flood Control authorities. The commanding general for our South Atlantic Division will be at fema region 4 today. Our headquarters in wimgton, jacksonville, mobile have activated and the commanders are out and about prestorm. We have key leaders and Liaison Officers and technical subject matter offices located at key local and critical places throughout the area. Were assessing potential impacts to the 29 flood risk projects. Sandra youre listening to an update from fema headquarters as Hurricane Michael expected to make landfall a couple hours from now. You heard brock long the fema director call it the hurricane of the worst kind unfortunately. He said this is final call for anyone who still needs to get out. Were doing everything we can but all we can do is hope for the best. The window to evacuate has come to a close. Jon scott joining me right now. Noaa gave an update. Category 4 storm. 145 mileanhour winds. He said dont just focus on the core of this storm. 200 mile wind spread. Its a wakeup call to georgia citizens. This could be the worst storm, he said, that that state has ever seen. Jon a lot of people inland tend to think hurricanes are coastal events but they arent. This will be a category 4 storm, immensely powerful hurricane. Ive been in one cat 5 and a couple of cat 4s and echo what brock long said. Those who stick around to experience storm surge dont live to tell about it typically. 14 feet of water suddenly piling up not only on the beaches but well inland is what theyll be experiencing in the destin area of flashings the panhandle but beyond that area as well. Rainfall and wind into the corner of alabama and into georgia will be absolutely fierce, power lines will be falling, trees will be coming down. It will be a terrifying time for people who have not evacuated. Sandra joining us now by phone brenda holt, the commissioner of a county where mandatory evacuations are in effect and three states of emergency, florida, alabama and georgia. What are you seeing there and, of course, that county is located in the panhandle . We have three Evacuation Centers and were trying to get people in there now. Gusty winds outside, it is raining and trees are beginning to sway in the wind. Were trying to get people to evacuate as soon as possible or move to thshelters away from mobile homes. Sandra are you getting the sense that people, the residents of your county are heeding these warnings . Some of them are. One gentleman i he was out in his yard, an elderly gentleman, and i passed him and went back to get him to get him to get inside. He looked like the home looked pretty sturdy and it was not there were not any trees around. He was out and wanted to see what the weather looked like. I was able to get him back into the house and tried to get him to go to a shelter but he refused to go. So i just urged him to stay inside and we moved two families probably about an hour ago and got them set up. I had just bought a generator for myself and i donated it is until this is over. Jon people in your part of florida have never seen a hurricane like this, have they . No, we have not. Hurricane kate was about the roughest hurricane weve seen back in the 80s. But now what were seeing right now is seems to be a devastating storm coming towards us. Were really worried about flooding and tornadoes and getting people to high ground. Sandra brenda holt, the commissioner from florida. Our prayers are with your residents and you, brenda, be safe. I can barely hear you, but i did not hear your statement. Sandra we wish you the best. Thank you so much and please call back and check on us. We have gotten great assistance from the state so far. We have additional 500 people that are going to assist with the electric company. We have 10 additional ambulances, fire trucks, 50 Police Officers in addition to what we already have so were asking everyone if they are going to shelters, get in the shelters or evacuate now. Well need them off the street pretty soon. Jon brenda, thank you. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your community, thanks. Thank you so much. You take care. Jon her residents are among the thousands ordered to evacuate the gulf coast as this monster cat 4 hurricane approaches. 145 mileanhour winds on their way and up to 13 feet of storm surge. Senator marco rubio of florida joins us next. There is nothing our state cannot recover from because there is no state that cares, loves, our comes together like florida. Hurricane michael cannot beat us. If you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. 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Yeah, bermuda. A hospital in bermuda. A hospital in bermuda. What . What happened . I got a little overconfident on a moped. Even with insurance, we had to dip into our 401 k so it set us back a little bit. Sometimes you dont have a choice. But it doesnt mean you cant get back on track. Great. Yeah, great. Id like to go back to bermuda. I hear its nice. Yeah, id like to see it. No judgment. Just guidance. Td ameritrade. Sandra Hurricane Michael closing in on the Florida Panhandle. An area that has never seen such a powerful storm. Officials say the cat 4 is getting stronger by the minute with sustained winds topping 145 Miles Per Hour. I spoke to the florida senator marco rubio earlier. Joining me now is senator marco rubio, good morning. I know youve been in touch with authorities on this hurricane, the National Hurricane center and speaking to the director. What do you want the people of your state to hear and know right now as we await this storm . It almost becomes cliche but taking it seriously. Every storm is different. This storm is a monstrosity at 145 Miles Per Hour and wont weaken as it comes in. The wind is one thing. The water is what were really concerned about and the water kills the most people. It is not survivable at 6 to 9 feet. Im deeply concerned a lot of people have not evacuated that were ordered to and some of them couldnt afford to. They didnt have cars or ways to get out. Im very concerned about loss of life right now. Sandra what is being done about that . You are talking about the storm surge estimated could reach as high as 13 feet in some areas. As far as evacuation shelters, what about the response that is being planned right now . Well, i talked to numerous local officials across several counties, panama city, Panama City Beach and others doing the best they could. They cant force people to leave their homes and go away but all you can do is continue to alert people to this reality. Ultimately people make these choices. It is probably too late right now. I would say if you have a chance to get out, youve been told to get out and do it safely at this point you should do it. As far as the response is concerned the one thing ill keep a close eye on is i10. It is the main artery that feeds that area from the east and west. There will be downed trees, signs on the road. The most important thing we need to do after the storm is clear the roads. They will be vital to getting assistance in and aid moving forward. Sandra meanwhile senator rubio it was about this time yesterday we were learning someone close tou, nikki haley, had offered her resignation as u. N. Ambassador. It seemed to take all of d. C. By surprise, even the most inside of insiders. What was your reaction to that news . Well, i was surprised it was yesterday it was announced. Not surprised she is doing it. Most people that serve at the post there 2 1 4 years. That has always been her plan. And she served two years in that role or will have served two years. I think the way she did it is she kind of kept it close until the end and told the president first because the way this town works if you tell three people you told the Washington Post and new york times. She wanted to make that announcement on her own terms. Not part of a broader speculation and allows her to finish her job through the end of the year. Well miss her. She did an incredible job there. Im sure she has great nintion ahead of her in her future and other opportunities to serve our country in the administration or some other capacity. There is nothing unusual after two years moving on. It has been pretty average in terms of what others have done and i think about 10 of them have served less time than she did. Sandra there has been a lot of speculation in the wake of her departure about the timing of her departure and sort of the sudden nature of it. You felt compelled to write a tweet based on that speculation and you said even by todays low standards the baseless speculation from some your i put out some tweets. Twitter allows us to put whats on your mind for the public and were all guilty of that from time to time. When it comes to a journalist, there is no sourcing necessary. She Just Announced it yesterday. Not like she is leaving immediately. Shell leave at the end of the year. The way she dit was professional. Gives the white house 2 1 2 months to think about the process of a replacement, line it up. We wouldnt be able to move on the confirmation until after the election anyway. Sandra you have been an integral part of her process and post and attended her swearing in ceremony and you are keenly take keen interest in Foreign Policy. This will change the way our Foreign Policy is looked at. Who would you like to see in her position . Well, im not going to get into naming names. Thats the president decision to make. Im confident there are good candidates. A number of people could do a good job there. The president needs to pick that person. He won that election, the president of the united states, thats his proper role. Our job is to provide advice and consent in that regard. There are three or four names theyre considering that would do a good job. Just whether theyre at a point in their life to do that. It is difficult to replace someone like haley but i think the white house will find someone good to be a voice on the global stage. Sandra were hoping and praying for the people of your state and the States Affected and in the path of this monstrous hurricane. Thank you for the update and coming on this morning. You remember that image of him there when nikki haley was sworn in close to her. Nice to get his reaction to that. Obviously his concern over the speculation as to why and when she left. Jon im struck by he and donald trump as candidates fought tooth and nail for that republican nomination but donald trump won and he is the president and senator rubio says he is the president , he makes the decisions. Sandra on the hurricane we wish the best for his state. You heard him. Its almost cliche, the biggest point he could make is take it seriously. Its a big storm. Thank you for him coming on this morning. Jon were continuing to follow Hurricane Michael barreling toward the Florida Panhandle. The eye is not quite there yet. The mayor of apalachicola, a town in michaels direct path joins us next to tell us how that city is preparing. We earned a lot of va benefits with our service. But the va home loan benefit is a big one. If you want to use it to get cash, call newday usa. Va loans are all they do. And dont let less than perfect credit hold you back. Even if youve been turned down for a va loan by your bank, call newday usa. Theyve been given automatic authority by the va. 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Apalachicola, florida mayor van johnson senior joins us over the phone. His city is in michaels path. You must be more than a little worried this morning. Yes, i am, to say the least. Im very concerned. We are experiencing flooding. We have road closures, we have some downed trees. At this point in time the lights are flickering off and on. The good thing is we do not have any structure damage to date. But im concerned about the people who decided to stay there and ride it out. Those are in my thoughts and prayers at this moment. Jon you are on a barrier island. People had to get over the bridge to get off, right . They did. They would have and if they had gone as early as they could have. Now the bridge is closed. Jon if they have not left apalachicola now, they have to hunker down. It is hard to find a safe way to do that on a lowlying barrier island, isnt it . Exactly. Thats why we stressed the point over and over, take this storm seriously. It has lifethreatening impact, evacuate. A lot of people are complacent because the past storms that where we issued Evacuation Orders and nothing happened. They decided this would be another one of those occasions and it turns out its not. Thats concerning because those people are still there. And i imagine theyre going through pretty rough times right now. Jon can you give us a rough average elevation of your town . It cant be more than a dozen feet above sea level. Its not. Were in a low lying area. If you dig in the ground a couple of feet you hit water. Jon ive been to apalachicola. I know you have great oysters there. Thank you. Jon but even that, the seafaring folks who live and work in your town, the oyster beds will likely get ripped up by this hurricane, right . Thats normally what happens. In the past the wave action stir up the silt in the bottom of the bay and it covers the oysters and smothers them. Weve lost a whole crop of oysters for a year or two because of that. Jon this storm will have longlasting effects. What do you tell your fire rescue personnel and police . Theyll want to answer the 911 calls that come in but it just isnt safe to do so, is it . Exactly. They are out there now. Chief of police ive been in constant communication with him since i evacuated myself. They are in the middle of this. Hats off to all our rescue people, fire, police, all those people that putting themselves in harms way for our protection. I just tell them to be safe. Jon any idea how many people took the warning seriously and evacuated . Is there a way to know . My conversation with the chief yesterday prior to evacuating myself, he said about 60 of the people decided to stay. But since then as the storm started intensifying to a category 4, a lot of people chose to leave. But then you still have that small number that are still there. Jon yeah. Well, as others have said, you can rebuild a house, you can buy a new car but you cant rebuild a life. Thats the danger here with 12 to 14 feet of sea water coming on that storm surge, along with winds of 145 miles an hour plus. That is true. That is so true. Jon van w. Johnson, sr. , the mayor of apalachicola, florida. Its a beautiful spot. We hope we can get down there soon and watch the recovery. Well be thinking about and praying for your folks there. Thank you. Sandra well, another big story were watching this morning, a saudi journalist goes missing after visiting his consulate in istanbul. His fiance is asking President Trump to get answers. Well call for a thorough and transparent investigation. Im not going to get ahead or assume that anything happened. Were calling for a thorough and transparent investigation. Now your insurance wont replace it outright because of depreciation. If your insurance wont replace your car, what good is it . Youd be better off just taking your money and throwing it right into the harbor. Im gonna regret that. 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That means sustained winds of over 145 Miles Per Hour and gusts that will be going up to 160 to 165 miles an hour. There will be entire buildings leveled as a result of this storm. Then there is the storm surge. 12 to 14 feet of water that hurricane will be pushing up the beaches and rivers and on inland. You can see the surf that is starting to kick up there in bradenton beach. These things come ashore when they do come ashore, it intensifies very quickly. Im sorry to say there will be a lot of people who decided to ride this one out who wish they had not. These things can be terrifying. A storm like this. And lets just hope that there is no loss of life as a result. Sandra the panhandle is bracing for the cat 4 Hurricane Michael. Brock long, the fema director, just sending out a stern warning to the citizens of georgia said wake up. This could be the worst storm that state has ever seen. So actually the breadth of the storm, 200 mile wind spread according to noaa. Wideranging, farreaching. Theyre calling it a monster. Jon florida has seen its share of hurricanes, this particular corner of florida hasnt seen a bad one like this in quite some time. This is going to be a historymaking storm and lets just hope that the people who are in its path have taken the warnings seriously. Sandra hoping for the best. Meanwhile fears are growing over the fate of a missing prominent saudi journalist. Jamal khashoggi was last seen entering the saudi consulate in is stan bull last week. There was a 14member assassination squad turkish officials believe was sent to murder him. Good morning, sandra, a number of new images related to the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi but still few answers regarding what happened to this Washington Post columnist. Newly released cctv footage shows the journalist entering the saudi consulate in istanbul last tuesday. His fiance waited for hours outside and called the police to report him missing when he never returned. Turkish Officials Say they believe khashoggi was murdered by a group of 15 saudi agents that arrived in istanbul the day of his disappearance on two private planes. They headed to a hotel near the consulate. As more questions arise there is an International Effort underway to find out exactly what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. Sandra what role is the Trump Administration playing in finding out what exactly happened . Well today we saw Jamal Khashoggis fiance pen an oped in the Washington Post. The president himself said he would be willing to call the saudis to ask the questions and the secretary of state mike pompeo did release a statement calling on saudi arabia to participate in a thorough investigation. One point of note here though, sandra, having to do with the resignation of nikki haley at the end of the year, that news breaking yesterday, certainly something to look at because haley was one Trump Administration official who was often critical of the kingdom of saudi arabia when it comes to human rights violations. Unclear whether or not secretary of state mike pompeo or the president himself will be willing to step up to the plate and demand answers from the kingdom there in saudi arabia. Sandra. Sandra thank you. Jon the eye of Hurricane Michael churning closer and closer to the Florida Panhandle. Fema official joins us next hour with the latest information on the storms path. With safelites exclusive resin, you get a strong repair that you can trust. Plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. Customer really . singers safelite repair, safelite replace. I can do more to lower my a1c. Because my body can still make its own insulin. 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These can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. To help lower my a1c i choose trulicity to activate my within. Ask your doctor about onceweekly trulicity. Sandra a monster storm takes aim at the Florida Panhandle. Governor rick scott predict pg the powerful winds and storm surge will cause unimaginable devastation. Welcome to a brandnew hour of americas newsroom, im sand are m sandra smith. This could be the worst storm to hit florida in a century. Gusts up to 165 mileperhour. Federal officials urging everyone in michaels path to wake up and pay attention. Unfortunately Hurricane Michael is a hurricane of the worst kind. Unfortunately the window to evacuate is coming to a close. If it hasnt already done so for many of the citizens that are in florida. If you failed to heed a warning for any reason, your goal should be to elevate as high as you can and get into a facility you think can withstand the winds at this point and hope for the best. Jon Fox Team Coverage now. Griff jenkins in Alligator Point, florida and we begin with jonathan serry live in Panama City Beach. As you can see the rain is coming down. It is getting heavier and heavier and the wind gusts are starting to pick up. Bay county emergency Officials Say some gusts are life threatening and now with the exception of Fire Services within the city of panama city, they are unable to make emergency fire and rescue calls within bay county. This is something that they had been warning about as conditions began to deteriorate. In addition to the winds picking up and the heavy winds, another concern is storm surge. Those heavy winds from the hurricane washing massive amounts of water ashore in some parts of the panhandle the storm surge could exceed 13 feet. Most people have heeded the mandatory evacuations in lowlying areas, for those who decided to hunker down and wait and see what was going on, their window of opportunity of leaving is rapidly closing. Here is what Governor Scott had to say about that this morning. If you are an inland county you may have one last chance to seek shelter. But only do so if local Officials Say its safe. Again, if you made the choice not to evacuate, please find a place to shelter, seek a place of refuge. But if it is not safe to leave your home, dont leave. The worst thing you can do now is leave and put yourself and your family in danger. That window of opportunity rapidly closing. We still have power where we are. We expect to lose it as the conditions worsen. More than 17,000 utility workers are at various staging areas to quickly respond once the hurricane conditions pass to restore power as quickly as possible, jon, back to you. Jon jonathan, thank you. Sandra lets check out conditions in Alligator Point. Griff jenkins is there. Winds seem to be picking up there. Yeah, sandra. Well be on the dirty side of this east of where serrie. Were due east of apalachicola. It is called the big bend from apalachicola to cedar key and it is the most threatened by the storm surge. Let me show you, weve retreated over the main apalachicola bridge because it has become too dangerous. Look at this storm surge coming up. What you are looking at now is low tide. Almost dead low tide. With the wind pushing this water high tide will coincide, on this side will be nothing short of devastating for many, many homes and pretty much all of this structure. Another thing you have to keep in mind. What makes this so very different is that in this part of the gulf it is very shallow for miles. 40, 50 miles out into the gulf. You are taking a category 4 wind on the dirty side and bringing in what is only about 40 or 50 feet for a good 40 to 60 miles out and bringing it all the way in to this big bend thats shaped like a u. The water has nowhere to go but into the shallow, lowlying marsh lands. On top of that look at the power structure right here. Thats a high pole and were already getting 60, 70 mile gusts. My own number, not official. That will be catastrophic. It might be too late to get out. Alligator point, a few people made a run for it to get out. The police have blocked the bridge just a few miles to my west. St. George, another part of Franklin County where we are, they have closed that bridge. Time has run out to flee. You have to hunker down. This one will be unprecedented and be a very long day on the panhandle. Sandra im not sure in those are vacation homes behind you or hotels but is anybody there . Did they all evacuate . Well, ill let you have another look. You can see these are homes. Some rental, some people live here. We are on the balcony of a restaurant called angelos. He is riding it out. He had a watermark 10 or 11 from hurricane dennis 13 years ago. It took the entire restaurant down. This is a new one rebuilt. He says he believes most people have left here, although police worry for folks who try to ride it out. Theyve never seen anything like this and they dont have anything to judge it by. Theyre worried about coming back because if you go 10, 15, 20 miles due north of here, it is the only road on the way to tallahassee 30 or 40 miles to the north. Thats the lowest lying marsh area. In middletown and others and they expect that will flood for days if they get this predicted 12 to 14 foot storm surge. A lot of people wanted to ride it off because they didnt want to be cut off to check on their property. A bad mixture of being stuck between a rock and hard place. But at the end of the day people here have to realize you can replace property, you cannot replace lives. This one will be life threatening, no doubt about it. Sandra real quick. We have to get to janice dean. Do you still have electricity there . Im sorry, one more time . Sandra do you have electricity still there . There is some power. The restaurant were in has power at the moment. And we are told that most of the people in Alligator Point have lost their power. On this side of the bridge there seems to be some power. When it goes it will be a bad situation. Sandra griff jenkins. Well check back with you soon. Alligator point, florida. Stay safe. Jon our satellite trucks have their own generators and how he is able to transmit a picture like that. Janice dean is joining us from the extreme Weather Center with the latest on the coordinates on the storm. The latest advisory coming up was a new track and new coordinates. I can tell you this will be the worst hurricane that this area of florida has ever experienced. This will be the strongest hurricane on record for the month of october. And it is not done yet. A few hours before landfall. You can see this is the coldest cloud tops and where you see this black shaded area, thats where we have the worst of the winds, the worst of the storm surge. We are seeing a little bit of an erosion on the east side of this storm but dont let your guard down. This is going to be one of the worst storms weve ever seen. You can see the welldefined eye. Its very rare you see such a circle, a clear circle eye and all of the core of the winds staying very compact and close together. 145 mileperhour sustained winds but were seeing gusts in excess or will see gusts in excess of 165 Miles Per Hour. It will move well inland. Well feel hurricaneforce winds toward georgia and South Carolina. Because this storm is so strong it will take a while for it to start to weaken even as it makes landfall. So were about a few hours before the center of the storm comes ashore. The worst of the core of the winds extending 45 miles from the center of the storm. We have Tropical Stormforce winds that extend almost 200 miles from the center of this storm. Expecting a landfall anywhere between 1 and 3 00 p. M. Across the panhandle of florida. Between panama city and apalachicola, and again the worst of the side will be the east side. The northeast quadrant. Were going to see the worst of the storm surge and Hurricane Force winds and the potential for tornadoes throughout the afternoon. Then it will move very quickly. This wont be a harvey situation. It will actually start to accelerate. Well still deal with a hurricane, a hurricane in georgia tomorrow. So still feeling the effects of a hurricane well inland. It is going to be a matter of hours. So think of an ef1 tornado for a matter of hours across some of these areas of the panhandle, alabama, georgia causing structural damage and well see the potential for flooding. The surge will go down as we go throughout the next 12 to 24 hours but well still with heavy rainfall. If i could, the most dangerous part of this storm, the deadliest part of the storm will be the storm surge. They have never seen storm surge like this across the big bend and the panhandle of florida in their history. Thats why we are very concerned. Sandra joining us by phone is Jeff Goldberg from the Emergency Management director for Walton County. Thank you for joining us. What can you tell us about what youre seeing there . Right now were just starting to see gusty winds and rain. We havent experienced any sustained Tropical Stormforce winds. We have weather monitoring equipment down on the south end of the county. So were expecting probably within the next hour, hour and a half well be experiencing the sustained winds and then increasing as the day continues over the next 24 hours by the time it gets out of here. Jon looks to me like you are going to likely get a pretty direct hit from the eye of this thing. Well, the eye from what were understanding well wait until the 11 00 a. M. Advisory, but the eye still looking like its coming to the east of panama city. Although we are a stones throw from panama city. So we are getting ready and expecting category 2 and 3 sustained winds. Obviously gusts up to 4 depending upon how intense the storm gets by the time it really does make landfall. Jon as this thing intensified did more of your residents decide to take the advice of emergency authorities and get out of town . Unfortunately from what were seeing a lot of our residents possibly did not evacuate. A lot of the tourists did. One of the things weve been noticing early on is a lot of out of state plates heading north on 331, which normally we dont like but in this case weve loved to see them going. So they can stay safe. Unfortunately we have two shelters open and our shelter capacity is only 500. When we touched over 30,000 phones when we start notifications we put them out through Emergency Alert system as well as our geographic notification system time over time over the past couple of days. We are concerned about people that feel that they can weather the storm on the south end of the county. Sandra we heard from fema director brock long at the top of the last hour who said that this is a hurricane of the worst kind. How are you preparing for what could be a worstcase situation for your county . Well, we have requested and units are staged for swift water rescue. Technical rescue teams and strike teams. We have all of our folks working double shifts. We do have the Florida State university in with their unmanned aerial Platform Group to do drone surveillance so we can identify life safety issues and resources on the way including a support team from other counties. So we are not sparing any time trying to get resources in. We have our resources here assisting as well with sheltering operations and assisting with Logistical Support as well. Jon have there been mandatory evacuations of trailer homes . Yes, mandatory evacuations of zones a, b and c, if you look at the evacuation zone map, a, b, and c comprise all the south wall area south of the bay and the 331 bridge. Weve been messaging over and over people need to get out. Soon well be releasing statements that you just need to shelter in place because it will be too dangerous to leave. Jon Jeff Goldberg is the Emergency Management director for Walton County there in the Florida Panhandle. You have a big job ahead. We wish you well. Thank you very much. Sandra thank you. President trump warning voters that the democrats medicare for all plan will take away benefits from seniors. How the healthcare argument is playing on the campaign trail. Jon also Ambassador Nikki Haley just about 24 hours ago we got word she was resigning. She was a very strong advocate for israel at the u. N. So what does her departure mean for diplomacy in that part of the world . Israeli ambassador danny danon will join us ahead in americas newsroom. 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Call or go online now to get your free decision guide. Call a licensed humana sales agent today. Americas newsroom ateam. Brad blackman, harry harf, and dan henninger. What are people saying this morning 24 hours since we were surprised by this announcement yesterday morning. One thing theyre saying is nikki haley resigned at the top of her game certainly. Which is something not everybody does in politics. She goes out on a very high note. The question now is who will President Trump pick to replace her . In some ways nikki haley has created a template for u. N. Spokesmen. The betting is it will probably be a woman. I have a couple of candidates myself. I think the leading one would be heather nauert, the Current State Department spokesman who has done a terrific job at state. Another is danielle pleka. Is specialist on foreign affairs. If the president wants to turn in the direction of picking another strong and intelligent woman, those two would be in great shape. I think he is spot on. Great candidates. We have to understand when you serve at this Level Service is an opportunity not a career. It is a short shelf life. You have a beginning and end. Serve at the pleasure and direction of the president. She is at the top of her game. You want to leave when youre on top as a politician. She becomes the gold standard. We need to find somebody, the president , nation has to find somebody to carry on that legacy of being a hammer and glove. We want somebody tough when needed and diplomatic. Jon did it disturb you marie at all as soon as her resignation was announced, people started saying there must be Something Else going on here, there must be some skeleton in the closet. I think its still an unknown exactly why she decided to announce it yesterday if she is not leaving until the end of the year. Im not sure there is some nefarious reason but people dont tend to leave these jobs after a year half. They tend to stay longer. I want to know the back story, i think there is one. Whether she is looking towards her next job, whether she may have a political future. I think thats a yes probably. This is certainly not the last well see of nikki haley. I do think it was a surprise to people, right . And when something happens that is surprising sandra it is not a year and a half. She will serve to the end of the year. It is a short career. Sandra he calls it baseless speculation and he is close to her. He points out that her predecessor served an average of a little over two years. Lets make something up anyway was his point. He called it ridiculous that the speculation is out there, dan. You know, her status currently among republicans and conservatives. I have been an big dinners where she has spoken to conservative voters. She love nikki haley. Going out at this point with her status at this level is going to only help her in the future. Jon she said politicians need to know when its time to leave. And she felt like this was her time to leave. She has teenagers at home. Why not get out . Im not accusing her of anything or saying there is a big plot we need to discover. I think its interesting that a fairly Young Ambassador who hasnt been in the job that long. The two we had in the Obama Administration served much longer. Why she chose now and what shell do next. I dont think its an unfair conversation to have as someone at her level. Im not accusing her of anything bad. It is interesting. A lot of democrats like her. Done the best of anyone in the administration. People want to know why now . Why yesterday . And what she will do next. Absolutely fair conversation. Sandra formal and respectful sendoff she got from the oval office and president yesterday. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton is inserting herself into politics again. Sat down with an interview to cnn and spoke about civility. Listen. You cannot be civil with a Political Party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. Thats why i believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the house and or the senate, thats when civility can start again. What did you make of those comments . Its an excuse more bad behavior. There has been a resistance to this president from the day he was elected. The Resistance Continues and if you are against something, you stand for nothing. Democrats need to stand for something again. And it is not enough to be against donald trump to win elections. You have to have policies of your own to advance. Its not enough to resist. Stand for something. Results versus resistance, i think thats what this election is about. It sounds to me like hillary is aligning herself with Donald Trumps view of the democratic party, which is to say he is going out to these rallies talking about the radical democrats. She literally is sitting there saying they should continue to be radical democrats until they take back the house and senate. And i dont think thats a Winning Strategy for the democrats at all at this point. Jon marie, you were a spokesperson for Barack Obamas state department. Not Hillary Clinton. Can you point to something that has been so uncivil that requires this kind of response . Donald trump standing on stage at a rally saying he will pay the legal fees of anyone who beats up protestors. He is not like a model of civility. Lets be clear here. Hillary clinton i dont think was calling for people to do crazy things and quite frankly i dont think what Hillary Clinton says or her view on things will determine what happens in 27 days when people go to the polls. Democrats running in the places we need to take back the house sandra sounds like you dont want her representing your party. Doesnt matter what i want. She doesnt. The people that will help us take back the house in the swing districts arent talking like Hillary Clinton. Theyre talking like candidates that match their districts. I dont think it will help us determine what happens in 27 days. Jon cory booker has said he wants people to get in the faces of members of congress. Thats not exactly civil. The incivility is there on both sides. I have received my fair share of people screaming at me in public, people sending me threats from the other side. None of it is okay. My point is that i dont think voters are watching an interview with Hillary Clinton and think should i vote in november. Theyre listening to their districts. Districts who are moderate democrats are running moderate candidates. It will tell us more about where the party is headed. Sandra the senate and the nation will not be intimidated. You heard that a lot from republicans lately in the wake of the judge kavanaugh process as well. Thank you very much to our ateam for joining us this morning. A lot of storm coverage. Jon we have breaking news out of florida. Governor rick scott moments ago tweeting michael is upon us. It is time to seek refuge. Once you are sheltered, stay put, do not try to leave until the storm has passed. Multiple state and federal resources are staged and ready to respond as soon as it is safe. A fema officials will join us next to talk about the threat and how people can stay safe. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla,75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. To err is human. To anticipate is lexus. Experience the lexus rx with advanced safety standard. Experience amazing. Jon fox news alert. The eye of Hurricane Michael hours away now from making landfall in the Florida Panhandle. The category 4 storm is eyeing that area and it is going to give it a vicious hit. Gusts near 165 miles an hour, storm surge up to 13, maybe 14 feet high. The governor says if youre not out by now you should seek as safe a place as you can find. It is too dangerous to deploy rescue crews until this storm passes. North carolinas governor roy cooper about to give an update how the storm will impact his state. Lets go to jeff flock in Panama City Beach. Jeff. Jon, i think we all need to heed that advice, those of us that choose to stay in the path of a hurricane, i think we all have to say were on our own here. Not expecting any First Responders to come see us. If we get injured thats on us. That is on all of the people that have made the choice to stay. You know, Panama City Beach now getting a fairly significant piece of the storm. Of course, the center of circulation still nowhere near us. Panama city beach has these large structures that are theoretically hurricane proof, at least hurricane resistant. Well see, i think, today in a way that they have not been tested before whether or not that is completely true. We are still, as you point out, hours away from the center of circulation and i think that will be the thing that will really tell the tale. Were not really in very strong conditions here at all. You can see maybe what were up against. It is going to get a whole lot worse before the day is out. Jon what about the storm surge . Are you seeing signs of that now, jeff . Yeah. You know, i would take you down to the beach but were too far away from where we can go. Were starting to get surge. As the storm came in the circulation were getting it this way. We were getting it this way completely earlier. Now were starting to get a little bit more in our face coming right at us. Im trying to put kyle in the middle of the thing there. But as the storm gets closer well get it right off the beach and thats when the surge will really hit. Were getting close. Were getting close. Jon i can tell from the pictures from your voice it is coming on and coming on hard. Jeff flock in Panama City Beach. Sandra he has seen his share of hurricanes and covered them. This will be a big one. Lets bring in jeff byard, associated administrator for response and recovery at fema. Bill nelson made comments on capitol hill talking about his state. Said in two hours this is hitting landfall. Ground zero, panama city. This one is a big one. What can you tell us about what you are seeing now there as we await this storm to make landfall . Yes, maam. I cant echo that enough. It is definitely going to be a big storm. The media has done a great job of reporting the storm. You are part of the team. It is now to get the message out over the past day and a half up to today. Unfortunately now its too late to evacuate. So were very wellpositioned at the federal level to support both the state and locals as michael goes through. Not just florida but georgia. Georgia still has time to prepare from their citizens standpoint. This will be an inland hurricane as it goes through major portions of georgia as well. A truly significant storm that will take power out for days and weeks. It will impact our transportation networks. But again we have plans in place to rapidly restore those Critical Infrastructure lifelines. Jon what is your number one concern as the eye of this hurricane is about to come ashore . You know, we have multiple concerns. Number one concern will always be loss of life. We want to do everything we can to support the lifesaving measures that will take place. I have to say this, our brave First Responders in some areas will not be able to get out and help you now. We do not want their lives put as risk when citizens had the opportunity to evacuate. But as soon as safety is clear, as soon as it is safe to do so well have support teams in. Our urban search and rescue network. Disaster medical assistance teams and the federal government to help those in need. Sandra brock long when he was giving an update described it as a hurricane of the worst kind. What is going into him his decision to label it as such . Well, because you have every storm is different. We always think about the last storm which in this case was hurricane florence, a devastating storm in its own right in the carolinas. Slowermoving storm, less of a category when you talk about wind and surge. But heavy inland flood threat. This is the opposite. This will have some flash flood warnings and could have some damage on that but very high surge, 13 to 14 foot storm surge, and extremely powerful winds well inland. So it has its a triple threat. High surge, heavy winds, strong winds and heavy rain and a wide area. This is a large storm when you look at it from those who are going to be affected by a surge. Those affected by wind. And it is hitting a part of the state that hasnt been hit with a storm of this magnitude in quite some time, if ever. Jon there are a lot of people who will have, you know, thought that they could ride this one out, maybe theyll stay in fairly lowlying structure and all of a sudden the roof starts getting torn off and decide to dial 911 if the cell towers are working. It has to be frustrating for First Responders who have to say no, we cant come help you in a situation like this . Well, its not in their nature. First responders, emergency managers, those who support the First Responders, our main goal is to help others and especially help those in need. Thats whats happening behind me and in many locations as we prepare for the true onslaught of Hurricane Michael. So i know its frustrating on that but again we want our First Responders safety first for them as well. And what we hope is those that did stay behind, you know, we hope they have a voice to tell others never to do that again or that they need help. Thats our number one concern at this point. Sandra jeff, were watching this storm. We know that you all are making the preparations necessary and will be there to respond as well. Thank you very much for your time and update this morning. I want to say thank you again to the media. You are very important to the team and appreciate you helping us get the word out. Thank you very much. Sandra thank you. Jon well keep monitoring Hurricane Michael. As President Trump pushes back against democrats who want to extend the Current System of medicare to people of all ages. The president making the point in usa today, the democrats want to outlaw private healthcare plans, take away freedom to choose plans while letting anyone cross our border. We must win this. David asman is cohost of after the bell on fox business. He joins us here in the studio. The president doesnt think much of democrats plans for medicare for all. Good reasons not to think much of it. They added up the price tag on this. About as much as our federal budget. We would have to get rid of everything else, including defense spending, in order to pay for socialized medicine which is what this is. I think the president is making a big mistake here. The reason is if youre in power, you talk about things that people are happy about like the job situation or the fact that salaries are finally going up. Jon record low unemployment. Or the fact your 401k is doing great. Everybody has a complaint about the medical system. Particularly now because its an because congress failed to revise and change it fundamentally from obamacare into something more free market. Now its a part of obamacare and Something Else. There are a lot of things that people are unhappy about. Frankly people will always be unhappy about specifics with medical care. So you focus you just focus on things. Otherwise you play into the hands of the democrats who are going to make medical care one of the themes of their campaign. Jon there are candidates who are saying medicare for all. Well, they start by saying are you happy the president can say exactly what Ronald Reagan said in 1984 running for reelection even though this is a midterm. Are you better off now than you were two years ago . Most americans would say yes. Sandra he writes as a candidate i promised that we would protect coverage for patients with preexisting conditions and create new Healthcare Insurance Options that would lower premium. I have kept that promise and were seeing Health Insurance premiums come down. I also made a solemn promise to our great seniors to protect medicare and why im fighting hard against the democrats plan that two eviscerate medicare. The specifics about what he is complaining about is correct. Weve seen it fail in england to a great extent. Medical care in the private sector is much better than medical care in the public sector. We saw it for our systems with veterans in the veterans care centers. It is clear thats not going to be the solution to the problem. But it is also clear that democrats are listening and hearing a lot of complaints about our current medical system again a hybrid between obamacare and Something Else. And there are a lot of legitimate complaints about healthcare right now, including about insurance that are not being addressed. You play into the democrats hands focusing on medical care. If you bring a focus on whats working. The economy in general. Job situation, stock market. Sandra the president stay focused on winning. By the way, david asman, you have a new show coming up. Im excited. Bulls and bears. We used to have a saturday morning foursome, four shows on business. Best business programming, highest rated in all of television. Were putting that together in a onehour show every day at 5 00 p. M. On fox business network. It is called bulls and bears. And it will be a lot of fun. Sandra i love hearing that. 5 00 p. M. Eastern time, david asman. Thank you, david. You can see him right here because you have you here regularly. Were tracking Hurricane Michael. Its about to make historic landfall on the Florida Panhandle. The strongest storm to ever hit the region. Well have much more coverage on this just ahead. Jon plus the potential impact of the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haleys resignation and a look at her tenure. Israeli ambassador toot u. N. Danny danon joins us next with his thoughts. I think its the chevy. Ford. Is it ford . Nope, its not ford. I think its ram. Is it ram . Not ram. Thats a chevy its chevy thats right. From the family of the most dependable, longestlasting fullsize pickups on the road. Gorgeous. Chevy hit it out of the ballpark with these. Not long ago, ronda started here. And then, more jobs began to appear. These techs in a lab. This builder in a hardhat. The welders and electricians who do all of that. The diner staffed up cause they all needed lunch. Teachers. Doctors. Jobs grew a bunch. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. Energy lives here. Every road in the world is now an information superhighway. And the car has become an accessory to the smartphone. Ride hailing, car sharing carpooling. Mobility services are proliferating. And theres a new generation who dont seem to want to own cars in the first place. It all means massive disruption to the car industry, cities, businesses and investors. Sandra new reaction to u. N. Ambassador nikki haleys surprise resignation. Her policy achievements during her twoyear tenure included supporting the moving of the embassy to jerusalem. Ambassador danny danon, thank you for coming on this morning. Get your reaction to her announced departure. Good morning, sandra. We absolutely regreet to hear the announcement. We worked with her closely in the last two years and we exposed the lies at the u. N. And played offense by condemning hamas, pulling out from the human rights council. Definitely going to miss her. She was bold and brave with presenting the mutual values of the u. S. And israel. Jon what do you say about the concrete achievements of Ambassador Haley and this administration when it comes to the middle east . First you look at the u. S. Today, two years after the standing of the u. S. Is in a different place. People respect the u. S. In the u. N. Because Ambassador Haley was not afraid to stand firmly even in the minority, even when we lose votes she was not afraid. Today you have the respect from many countries in the security council, general assembly. Thats important. If you want to be relevant you need people to respect you at the u. N. And International Community and today there is more respect for the president of the united states, to the administration and it makes america stronger today. Sandra based on the importance of her role and accomplishments she was able to carry out in that time, who would you like to see replace her . We are positive that whoever will step in will continue to support israel. We share the same interests. We share the same enemies. Just seeing the tweet of the ambassador of iran when he heard about Ambassador Haley leaving he was celebrating. He shouldnt celebrate for too long. There will be a replacement that will continue to extend the values and support israel in the security council. We will wait for President Trump who will be replacing Ambassador Haley. Sandra did you have anybody in mind . We are not in a position of recommending the president. But im sure whoever will step in will be a strong supporter of israel and i think Ambassador Haley, she had to deal with so many lies against israel. Sometimes i told her i apologize you have to spend so much time on israel and middle east issues. Instead of dealing with what is going on in syria, lebanon and libya the focus was on israel. Jon some suggested the u. S. Should move the embassy to jerusalem from tel aviv. This administration actually followed through on that. How has that changed the perception of this administration and perception of israel at the u. N. I think its strengthed by israel and the u. N. President trump promised it and he delivered. People in the middle east respect when somebody is delivering and i think today when people told us nothing happened. People were worried what would happen after this Bold Decision and we saw nothing happened. We continue to Work Together and today the u. S. Is being more respected because of these Bold Decisions and today in the u. N. People understand that the u. S. Is becoming a force in the u. N. You cant ignore the u. S. Sandra thank you, good to have you on this morning. Thank you very much. Sandra well look at the president s short list and more with former United Nations ambassador former governor Bill Richardson will join us next hour. Stay with us for that. Jon we are minutes away from the National Hurricane centers update on Hurricane Michael. Its strength and position. We will find out if it has become stronger or weaker . Well bring that to you live as we are underway. New dayquil severe with Vicks Vapocool. The daytime, coughing, stuffy head, vaporize your cold medicine. Introducing Vicks Vapocool drops, to vaporize your sore throat. Breathe freely fast with vicks sinex. Sniff my congestions gone. I can breathe again. I can breathe again. Sniff. Ohh. Vicks sinex, breathe on. Ill weather the storm. Tomorrow i have to get up and go to work. The storm will be over. The nursing home doesnt close down so i can take care of my residents. I will be at work tomorrow. Understanding this storm may be more intense than the others. I think its a good idea if people are concerned that they have an option. Come here or some of the other shelters. We can rebuild your house, we cant rebuild your life. You have your kids, grandkids, all family members, take care of them. Take this seriously and keep your family safe. Jon terrifying moments ahead and the Florida Governor pleads with residents in evacuation zones to leave before Hurricane Michael officially makes landfall. The category 4 storm getting stronger as it approaches just a few hours from now when the high will hit land. Panama city and the area around it expected to take a direct hit as forecasters say this storm could produce a surge of water as high as 13, maybe 14 feet. Perhaps a foot of rain in some places. Thousands along the gulf coast have been ordered to evacuate. Sandra were awaiting an update from the National Hurricane center at the top of the hour as a monstrous category 4 storm bears down on the florida coast. Our coverage continues top of the hour. There lots of people who are confused about which medicare plan is right for them. Hey, thats me. I barely know where to start. Well, start here with me, karen. Im a licensed humana sales agent. Well, its nice to meet you, karen. Im john smith. Hi, john. 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Now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy sandra fox news alert the time to evacuate has come and gone. Thats the word from Florida Governor rick scott as Hurricane Michael closes in on the panhandle as a monster category 4 storm. Welcome back to americas newsroom, im sandra smith. Jon im jon scott in today for bill hemmer. Were moments away from the National Hurricane centers latest update. Hurricane michael blew up to become a very powerful category 4 storm. Sustained winds of 145 miles an hour, gusts even higher than that. They have issued a mandatory evacuation at the air force base. Those folks will take a direct hit and theyve gotten out of there. Now the National Hurricane center. Welcome back to the National Hurricane center. Im ken graham laong at the nac clock. The official update for Hurricane Michael. We have new information coming out now. We just received a report a little bit again apalachicola receiving a wind gust of 72 miles an hour. So were constantly updating this forecast based on the radar, based on the observations and we have noaa and air force Hurricane Hunters out there. Were 145 miles an hour. Strong system continuing 60 miles southwest of panama city. Movement north northwest at 14 miles an hour. The center of michael getting closer and closer to the coast but if you think about it, even in these rain bands that were receiving wind gusts over 70 miles an hour. It is important not to just focus on the center. Look at these rain bands with the dangerous winds and tornado from the storm. The latest hurricaneforce winds extending 45 miles out from the center. Thats a dangerous place to be and getting close as we continue to move towards the panama city area, mexico beach, apalachicola, any one of those areas will receive the intense winds from this inner eyewall. And continuing youll have places inland as well. Tallahassee, eventually getting into georgia with some of these damaging winds. Lets look at the forecast. Think about it. Were still a hurricane really into places in georgia. So a lot of trees. Were talking incredible winds. Talking about the rainfall of the tree damage. Structural damage. Lifethreatening situation. A Tropical Storm into the georgia and carolinas and Tropical Storm warnings up for the carolina coast as the rotation around this brings onshore flow. A large system with time. Some of those impacts. Look at the rainfall 6 to 10 inches of rain and 4 to 6. Think about the winds and how far the hurricaneforce winds extend. Youll see a lot of damage. Think about the size with the latest update of the Tropical Stormforce winds 175 miles from that center. Once we look at this right along the core on the righthand side, the rain. But dont forget you can get well away from the center and get the rain bands and expect the tornado threat. Weve been watching the storm surge. The updates are continuing with some of these values. 9 to 14 is above ground and inundation not including the waves. The waves can be a few feet on top of that. Were looking at tin dal air force base the potential of 9 to 14 feet and 6 to 9 feet somewhat even along the center over towards destin and panama city. Spring hill 4 to 6 feet. As far away as tampa bay 2 to 4 feet. Dangerous situation when it comes to not only the winds but the storm surge and all the rainfall. It is not just along the coast. Weve been talking about this for the last several days. You get water inundating the barrier island. As the strong winds the water pushes well inland. Greater 9 foot of storm surge. One of the rivers you could still receive the dangers from the storm surge. Very dangerous hurricane, lifethreatening situations. Well continue to update everybody. Ken graham at the National Hurricane center. Jon the National Hurricane centers latest word on the arrival of Hurricane Michael lashing the Florida Panhandle and areas beyond already. The eye of the storm is the focus where the worst of the winds will be. He said 45 miles out on either side of the eye of the storm youll be feeling hurricaneforce winds. So it is a monster category 4 storm. It will do Severe Damage to that part of florida and on into georgia. Pensacola is bracing four Hurricane Michael set to make landfall hours from now. Governor rick scott tweeting we have a massive wave of support coming down and around the panhandle including more than 1,000 search and rescue personnel and 3500 florida guard troops. Lets check in with mike tobi is in pensacola now. It is west and Emergency Services is confident youll see Tropical Storm force winds and rain and as you see now a lot of the water coming up. I want to bring in a couple people who made the decision to ride out this storm in their boat. This is ralph jeff. Explain to people at home why youve made this decision to ride it out in the boat. Well, if you live in a floodplain your house will flood. There is nothing you can do to stop it. So if youve got a boat this is our boat. We are cruisers. So it is well equipped and this is our plan a. If i can move my lines up and down were fine. But then it wasnt until a few hours ago we had to make we just made the decision to stay because if this thing had gone a different direction we would have had to go to plan b, which is get off and go. Its a boat. Why not go with plan a and sail further west than the storm . Eventually this has sails. We only go so fast. You cant outrun it. Eventually you have to place yourself where you are going to make your stand. This marina survived ivan. If i put myself somewhere ill put myself somewhere good and stay here as long as i can if i can move my lines up and down the boat is good. And now it looks like i know it is going to panama city and were watching this thing. It is an educated decision. Your lines are pretty tight and its a fixed dock. This water is only coming up and the lines will get tighter. Right now i have this one tight so i can get off the boat. I can relax this line and all three of these lines are okay and everything. I have my spring lines. Im a sailor. This is im not a village idiot. Were out here and tied off good. We have an anchor set out here and worst case scenario, if it all went to hell in a hand basket were going that way but im off the boat. Im off here by then. Be safe. He is former coast guard. He has made an educated decision. A lot of people think the worst of the storm will hit to the west of here. Jon looks like panama city will be ground zero for the storm as it comes ashore. Mike tobin in pensacola, thank you. I was surprised as anybody. She has done a great job there. Hate to see her go. Sandra senator jeff flake of arizona one of the republican lawmakers caught offsgard by haleys resignation with many scratching their heads about the timing of her departure. President trump will name hur successor in two or three weeks. Bret, good morning. The timing of this announcement did catch a lot of folks offguard. You joined us when this was all coming down yesterday and caught you offguard. What are people saying now this morning . Well, i think theyre saying she made the decision for her. And there is all kinds of speculation about why now and why this, but to be honest, a lot of people said she was going to eventually move on from that job. Good friends like you had on earlier senator marco rubio saying eventually there was going to be a rotation out. Think about the possible exit strategies you could envision. Having an oval office sendoff with the president saying you are absolutely spectacular, and everyone saying you did a great job. And there hasnt been a cabinet member who has resigned who received this kind of rollout. So i think the consensus is that this was her exit plan and that we probably havent seen the last of nikki haley. She says she is not running for election in 2020. Sandra she made that very clear, didnt she . You referenced that chat we had with marco rubio earlier. Here is a bit of that with the senator. I think there are three or four names that i know they are considering, all of whom would do a good job. Nikki will be missed. Im confident the white house will find someone very good to be americas voice on the global stage. Sandra we keep hearing about the short list. Three or four names. Dina powell is the leading candidate now. Former Deputy National security advisor, left a few months ago. The president wanted to figure out a way that even back then to get her back in the mix. This was a job she had talked about i think publicly and privately before. When the whole transition with Rex Tillerson was in the mix and how that was all going to go. I think she is the leading candidate. Dina powell. Rick grenell is not out of the picture. Even though the president said he likes him in germany, he also likes him overall. And he is the ambassador to germany now and somebody who were very familiar with on fox. Sandra this is Kellyanne Conway earlier on fox talking about perhaps her future on the campaign trail. I think we can expect to see her on the campaign trail. I thought maybe she would say she was leaving immediately to join the president and the Vice President on the campaign trail these last 30 days because she would have a positive impact out there. Sandra interesting comment from Kellyanne Conway this morning. Not to say it couldnt happen. Things are sped up and confirmations, well see. This position has to be confirmed by the senate. Thats another consideration when you are looking at people who they dont really want another major fight in the senate for confirmation. Let me say real quick about this hurricane if i could. I tell you what, this ive covered 17 of these things on the ground before my current job covering political hurricanes here in washington and this is real. We may not have had the buildup to this because it formed so quickly. But category 4 is no joke and i think youll be seeing a lot of wind damage that we didnt see with the last storm. This could be an allday, all few days of dealing with the aftermath. Sandra the National Hurricane center saying michael will produce potentially cat as catastrophic wind damage when it makes landfall. Bret, i know youll cover it on special report at 6 00 p. M. Eastern time today. Well have more on the search for haleys successor when former governor Bill Richardson joins us later this hour. Jon its our big story of the morning. A monster category 4 hurricane aiming at the Florida Panhandle. This storm, michael, could bring unprecedented storm surges and perilous winds to the area. Were live on the ground with the latest. Sandra tens of thousands in the path of the storm now under Evacuation Orders. But many others choosing to stay put even as floridas governor warns of unimaginable devastation. Well talk with one resident who has decided to ride it out next. Remember, we can rebuild your house but we cannot rebuild your life. Cause i know u have served our country honorably. One of the benefits that we as a country give you as a veteran is the eligibility for a va loan for up to 100 of your homes value. If you need cash for your family, call newday usa. With automatic authority from the va, we can say yes when banks say no. Give us a call. Call 18774235732. If youre a veteran, own a home, and need money for your family, call newday usa to use your valuable va home loan benefit. Thank you, admiral. 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Right now the Florida Panhandle and points beyond are bracing for an unprecedented strike from Hurricane Michael, the strongest storm to hit that part of the state in 100 years. Officials there urging everyone in the eye of michael to get out. Murphy block is in tallahassee. Is the weather deteriorating where you are, laura . You know, it is slowly but surely. Right now were in a lull. We just had a pretty big storm come through, lots of rain, breezy, windy. Im standing outside right now. It is light rain right now. So were just bracing and waiting. Jon we mentioned youre in a hotel. Where is home for you and why head to the hotel . First of all i want to state the reason i am riding out the storm is because we are not in a mandatory evacuation. Tallahassee is about 60 to 70 miles north of the coastal areas that are expecting the storm surge. My house is in north tallahassee, northeast tallahassee. The reason we came to the hotel it is surrounded by live oak trees and pine trees. I didnt want to take the chance with the winds coming through so we came to the hotel that has a bottom floor with no windows. Jon you have done the prudent thing. Gotten out of an area where a tree could fall on your house and snuff out your life in the middle of the afternoon. Exactly. We have small kids we need to worry about. When you have kids involved in your decision you have to do whats best. We werent able to evacuate at this time so we decided to come on down where it was safer. Jon how long have you been there . How tough was the evacuation . Was there a lot of traffic . Tell us about that experience. No, it wasnt too bad. We came in last night. We drove across town last night. It is kind of a ghost town. Not a lot of people here anymore. We took care of everything we needed to take care of at the house all day yesterday taking pictures off walls. We have skylights. We took all our fixtures down. A tip i hernd from hurricane katrina, your dishwasher is waterproof. We took baby pictures that we cant replace and stuck it in our dishwasher. Our dryer is another place to hide pictures that you cant recover. Jon pretty good ideas there. The governor said that even in tallahassee you will be feeling hurricaneforce winds even though the eye of the storm looks like it will cross over mexico beach area. Thank you for that. But you are going to be a lot of information coming in and it changes with every update. I was listening to our local guys and they told us as the day goes on well get 30 to 50 mileperhour winds but later on early evening and Late Afternoon we could see as much as 75 mileanhour winds. That is a lot less than what we thought we were going to get. I think everybody here not to say happy with 75 mileanhour winds but a lot better than 145 mileperhour winds and i heard on the local news that 2000 are without power already in tallahassee. That number will also grow. Jon it sounds like with winds of this kind they will be taking down trees and power lines through a wide swath of the Florida Panhandle. Absolutely. Jon it will be weeks before some of those people can get power back. I mentioned earlier there is no organization tougher than the u. S. Military and the air force took a look at whats coming and they flew 50 fighter jets out of the air force base along with t38 trainers, Hurlburt Field that hosts some gun ships also have flown out of town and there is a mandatory evacuation in place for Tindall Air Force base in panama city. People need to take the storm seriously and it sounds like you have. Absolutely. You dont play around with weather. If you are that close to where it is going to hit, you need to get out. Its too late now because theyre in it. I have friends west of here and they said it is really bad to the west of tallahassee. Which is where it is predicted to make landfall later this afternoon. You mentioned the trees. That is something i wanted to let you guys know. Tallahassee is known for trees. We have tree lined streets, canopy roads that are nothing but trees all the way down it. A lot of neighborhoods have buried power lines, which is what my neighborhood has. On the outside of the neighborhood there are power lines that are up that connect to those underground power lines so once those go down it doesnt matter if you are power lines are underground. I foresee tallahassee to be without power for a long time. Jon laura murphy block, thank you for joining us. Absolutely. Sandra fox news alert. Were watching the dow right now falling 400 points. This catches our attention. Its a hefty drop for the dow. Still above 26,000. Thats 1 1 2 drops. Tech stocks are leading the selloffs. There has been some selling in some of those Technology Names that have exacerbated what has already been an october selloff. The major averages have fallen pretty sharply this month. The dow and s p down 2 1 2 . Selling continues this morning and well watch it for you and be right back. Heres a trip tip when you Search Hotels on tripadvisor. Enter your destination and the dates of your stay. Tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To find the best deal on the right hotel for you. Tripadvisor. Right now an estimation of 14 feet possible along the panhandle. Governor scott earlier said it could be the worst storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle. I hate to say it there are probably people now who did not evacuate who are wishing they had. 145 mileanhour winds are absolutely terrifying, even the most Solid Structures start to shake. There are noises like you have never heard in a storm like this. There are going to be people who wish they had heeded the Evacuation Orders. Its getting to be too late to get out if youre in the eye or close to the eye of the storm right now. Lets just hope and pray that the people who did decide to stay behind can sandra you see some wind gusts were keeping track of on the righthand side of the screen. Youve said, jon, you have been to apalachicola, that is one of the areas right now that is reporting some of the strongest wind gusts up to 72 miles an hour with the latest from the National Hurricane center. It is still sitting right around 70. The center is getting closer. The Hurricane Center said to the coast. Dont focus just on the center. This is wide ranging. Jon right. It will be an area approximately 90 miles across that is going to see hurricaneforce winds. So even a category 1 storm is significant and a lot of Power Outages and trees down and the storm surge as well. The good news here the eyewall is coming ashore at a time of low tide. That will help. Up to 14 feet of water pushed ashore as a result of the winds and lower pressure. Air has weight. Has it pushes down on the ocean, in this case you get a low pressure system the ocean bubbles up as a result of that and then you get the wind speed pushing all that water on shore. St. Andrews bay where the where i keep confusing pensacola with panama city but panama city sits on st. Andrews bay and it will get an awful lot of water all over pensacola. Sandra Governor Scott saying wake up to georgia citizens as well. Well continue coverage. Jon new fallout from nikki haleys surprise resignation as u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Who is on the president s short list to replace her . Well talk to someone who has held the job, former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, up next. Eight years of intense time. Im a believer in term limits. I think you have to be selfless enough to know when you step aside and allow someone else to do the job. At humana, we believe great things are ahead of you when you start with healthy. 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Jon were tracking Hurricane Michael as it barrels toward florida and the Florida Panhandle with potentially deadly category 4 storm winds. Forecasters saying it could be the worst hurricane to hit the area in a century. Officials warning everyone in michaels path to brace for impact. This is a hurricane of the worst kind. There is nothing else that can be said about it. Were looking at 145 mileanhour sustained winds that could possibly get stronger. Major hurricane. They cause large losses of life and the most amount of destruction. Jon thats brock long, senior administrator. You can see the worry in his face. Griff jenkins is live in Alligator Point, florida where michael is expected to make landfall about two hours from now. Weve actually moved a little bit west, a little closer toward apalachicola, which is right now were on highway 98 is the main thoroughfare that runs parallel from pensacola and points west all the way to tampa bay in that direction. It is the threat you can look behind me. These are the hazards. This is a tree that has come down. The very entrance to the little town of carabelle. Police officers let us get close. This is a live hot power line right here that is down. This tree has brought it down. In the distance thats the gulf of mexico. Its not a bay. It is literally the gulf of mexico. It will be over this highway 98 in several locations. It is actually over it in several locations already. You see the difficulty in passing. But when you talk about historic storm coming and the threat of the storm surge, there is no doubt the only reason why were here is we know we have a few hours before it takes this road over. The main thoroughfare will be overthis road in about two hours and it will be impassable. People at this point as weve said all morning long, should be hunkering down and sheltering in place. They should not venture out. You dont want to see these sorts of things. Were trying to move for a better location to actually get in a safer location. But well have to turn around and go back. Movements become difficult. We saw some state troopers that were trying to get through here and they turned around to try to find a more northern route toward tallahassee. As the storm sets in the situation will get worse. In the case of this tree. You would have crews out here to quickly clean it up at make it pass able. It is the main thoroughfare. It is that water right there in the 10, 12, 14 feet plus we get of storm surge coming in. It will come in at a much more aggressive route down in apalachicola, which is just about less than an hour to my west. Obviously the same road in those places much, much worse, jon. Jon people need to picture the tree behind you completely swallowed by water. That will happen later as the storm surge comes ashore. Thats exactly right, jon. The only reason why we chose to give you this live shot is because we have a heavy density of pine trees literally next to us. As you can see here it gave us the necessary cover. But as soon as you go to a place where you dont have this tree cover on this road, it is difficult just from the wind impact even before the water gets here. When you add the total recipe of the storm surge and the wind, it is a recipe for catastrophic, lifethreatening conditions. Jon take good care of yourself, griff jenkins. Thanks for that report. President trump we have a number of people that would very much like to do it. Its a great position. Nikki realizes that. She has helped make it a much better position if you want to know the truth. Ill say well name a successor within the next two or three weeks. Maybe sooner. Sandra nikki haley surprising just about everybody in washington yesterday with her resignation at u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. One of the biggest questions now is who will replace her . Governor Bill Richardson, former u. N. Ambassador joins us now. You know what it takes to fill that position. I should say it came as a surprise to everyone. The president said she had given him a pretty significant headsup months even that this would be coming. But not a lot of people knew about it. What did you make of the actual announcement . Well, like everybody else, a big surprise. And a little bit of a setback because president was having a lot of good news on many fronts. You know, you dont want a key member of the National Security team she was a star, no question about it, leave at this time but i suspect what you want in a successor is somebody with political stature, nikki haley had that. Secondly, somebody that has access to the president. You want to have a little bit of Foreign Policy experience, but you can learn that on the job. And i think what nikki haley did do is she spoke out on a lot of issues and did a good job on the north korea sanctions when they were enacted by the u. N. But now she leaves and she leaves with actually a lot of options. She can do a bunch of things. Make a little money if she wants, or look at a potential race even for president. She is a minority woman, indian american. Executive experience at governor, Foreign Policy experience. She has a lot of options she can exercise. Sandra the president said there are a lot of people he has in mind and would want the job. He even suggested in that oval Office Announcement that she has brought glamour to the position. A short list may include u. S. Ambassador to germany rick grenell, ambassador to russia john huntsmans name is floating around. Heather nauert was mentioned on this program last hour. Who is on your short list . What are you hearing . Well, you know, i dont hear much and im not an insider. It would strike me that huntsman would be a good choice. Heather nauert has gotten a lot of Foreign Policy experience with working on the press issues at the state department. I dont know dina powell. This is a great job. Youre king of new york city, king of the u. N. 195 countries look up to you. We pay 28 of the u. N. Budget. You are a member of the cabinet without all the administration around you. So its a great job. When i left to be secretary of energy, i was a little nostalgic. I liked being in new york city, so did my wife. I think the president can pick has a number of options, but i think he will probably, like any president , pick somebody that has got political stature and is close to him. If youre not close to the president sandra his daughters name was thrown around a lot. She cleared it up quickly and talked about it being an honor to serve in the white house along so many great colleagues and she said the replacement will not be me. Here is the wall street journal editorial boards take on all this. Unlike some officials miss haley did not present herself reining in mr. Trump but she spoke her mind getting out ahead of the white house. Mr. Trump was asking why he and Vladimir Putin couldnt get along Ambassador Haley was publicly pointing out the reasons. An interesting relationship, governor. It was very interesting but you have to remember she became a star early on in the administration when the secretary of state tillerson and mcmaster were not very visible. Obviously the president did not have much confidence in them. She emerged as the main spokeswoman on Foreign Policy, on human rights, on north korea, on russia, in a way kind of pushing the president towards being a little tougher on russia, which he should be and should do a lot more. She was able to navigate very well. She has got good political instincts and leaves the job with, as i said, with a lot of options and with a good name. And that has not been the case with a lot of people that have left the administration, particularly in the Foreign Policy area. Sandra former governor Bill Richardson. Good to have you on the program. The president said he could name a successor in two or three weeks or even sooner. Thank you, great to have you on. Jon she will be missed. Hurricane michael getting closer and closer to making landfall. Florida panhandle set to take a direct hit. Michael a category 4 hurricane right now. The strongest to hit the region in 100 years. Up next well talk with the mayor of one of the towns caught in michaels path. Itis, you never know how your skin will look. And it can feel like no matter what you do, youre itching all the time. But even though you see and feel your eczema on the surface of your skin, an overly sensitive immune system deep within your skin might actually be causing your eczema. So help heal your skin from within. With dupixent. 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But this was the biggest single day drop weve seen dating back to may. Boeing, 3m, caterpillar and rising Interest Rates, extreme selfoff coincided with the yield on the 10year reaching its highs of the session. Rising Interest Rate environment leading to some nervous investors out there. Were watching it for you, dow off 368 points. Down 1. 4 . Right now Hurricane Michael is already pounding the Florida Panhandle and is only going to get worse. It is expected to make landfall just hours from now as a category 4 storm. Joining us now on the phone Fort Walton Beach mayor dick rynearson. It looks like youll take a pretty big beating from the storm. What is your major worry right now, mayor . Well, sir, everyone is where theyre supposed to be by this time. Those that decided to shelter are in the countyprovided shelters, those who decided to ride it out are hunkered down in their homes at this point. But our biggest worry will be storm surge, rising water. We think where we are situated, were on the western edge of this storm so well see a surge probably in the 7, 9, foot range. While its bad it is not nearly as bad for those down near apalachicola. Jon you have also got Santa Rosa Island to help up soak up worst of the punch of this storm. Thats true. Most of the folks on the island have moved farther inland. Those who decided to stay unfortunately they have to hunker down in place at this point. Very shortly well be closing the bridges when the wind reaches 40 miles an hour. The Florida Department of transportation makes the decision to close the bridges. And when that happens, you basically are stuck in place wherever you are is where you are. Jon what is the evacuation situation in Fort Walton Beach . Who did you tell to get out . We asked everyone south of 98, the main east west thoroughfare, everyone south of that, the lowlying land between the highway and the ocean to shelter and most of the residents have decided to do that thankfully. Those who have not have sandbaged themselves in and are going to ride it out. Jon but even the area you are right on the bay there. Your city is surrounded on three sides by water and get 7 to 8 feet of storm surge coming into the bay, a lot of the city will be swamped, isnt it . A lot of that land, as i said, south of 98 will certainly see impact from the rising water. This is a situation weve been through before. And in previous storms weve had surges even higher than what were predicted to get now only because were west of jon all right. It appears we have lost the signal from the mayor of Fort Walton Beach. Not unusual even cell towers can go down in situations like this. Electricity can be spotty. Winds are pounding that area. We wish the folks at Fort Walton Beach the best as Hurricane Michael storms ashore. Sandra were tracking the path of Hurricane Michael as it bears down on the panhandle of florida. It is packing winds of 150 miles an hour right now. Up next well take you live to Panama City Beach where folks are bracing for the worst. X1 is here to help. You can do things like change your settings, learn tips and tricks, troubleshoot, and even manage your account. Finding your Xfinity Username or wifi password, restarting your equipment, or paying your bill is easier than ever with x1. X1 help. Another reason to love x1. Say teach me more into your voice remote to get started. Sandra Hurricane Michael closing in on the Florida Panhandle. The category four storm is expected to make landfall hours from now. Jeff flock is braving the elments in Panama City Beach. Jeff, please be safe out there. You know, i didnt survive 35 years of these, sandra, without having some common sense to me. You might question that in the scene right now but i assure you, the thing is were getting most of the blow now off the water. That tends to mean there is no debris coming at you. Thats a positive thing. If i walk out we get a little more in the wind. Once we get it past us then you start to get damage on land and that coming back at you and thats when you want to take cover. Thats when you get projectiles and that sort of thing. Were still a couple hours or perhaps more away from the center of circulation. If it comes to us here, well, it will get a whole lot worse than this is all i can tell you. Maybe you see up the beach not a whole lot of activity. A lot of big buildings out here that people think theyre safe to stay in. However, none of them have ever been in a category 4 storm here along the panhandle. So we continue to watch it and let you know how it turns out. Sandra. Sandra is that police tape flying behind you, the yellow tape . Yeah, that looks like it was. I dont know what that was that may have come from somewhere else. I dont know where that came from but it is caught up in the palm trees here. I dont think it came from this location but im not 100 sure. A lot of things flying in the air at the moment. Sandra there are still people driving around in this . Yeah, i dont know if you can see there is a guy up the street here. I dont know if kyle can see him. Can you see the car up there . He cant see the other way. He is behind a post. Just so you know those of us hear from people on twitter saying youre not safe. You arent safe. Believe me, everybody is hunkered down. Were watching for debris. Were in good shape. Some of us enjoy this sort of thing. Displays of Mother Nature that are extraordinary. Jon the worst is yet to come. The eyewall isnt yet onshore and looks like it will be right on top of you when it does get there. It will be pretty close. I dont think this will do widespread damage but i do think where the eyewall comes ashore, that is the place where you are really going to see i think its fair to call it cast as trough huge damage. There is a lot you cant see that are regular homes and those necessarily will not withstand category 4 conditions. Are you hopeful there is a weakening before it gets on land. Often there is because the leading part of the circulation gets over land and starts to disrupt but this is moving fast. This is moving 12 miles an hour and so, you know, thats going to minimize that effect. I think well get quite a storm here before were done. Sandra jeff flock we always appreciate your reporting. You are going to be on the ground there in Panama City Beach, florida. We are expecting this hurricane to make landfall soon. Just be safe and thank you for your reporting. Jon thanks, kyle, for your camera work as well. Wow. All right, Hurricane Michael still a couple hours away from its predicted landfall, but as you can see, its already packing a powerful punch. More from the ground in florida up next. For a nasty cold, take new dayquil severe with Vicks Vapocool. Whoa and vaporize it with an intense rush of vicks vapors. Ahhhhh. New dayquil severe with Vicks Vapocool. The daytime, coughing, stuffy head, vaporize your cold medicine. Introducing Vicks Vapocool drops, to vaporize your sore throat. Breathe freely fast with vicks sinex. Sniff my congestions gone. I can breathe again. I can breathe again. Sniff. Ohh. Vicks sinex, breathe on. Sandra watching Hurricane Michael, expected to make landfall just a short time from now, in the next couple of hours. The latest update from the National Hurricane center says that the core of michael is nearing the coast of the Florida Panhandle, between st. Vincent island and panama city. John, is moving fast. Jon it was was a come as a category two. Instead he exploded in veracity to a category four. Its going to cause a huge amount of damage. Our hearts go out to those folks. Sandra thats it for us. Special courage continues here on the Fox News Channel with Shepard Smith. Hurricane michael, its on the way and it is expected to be historic. Im Shepard Smith on the fox news deck. Often in programming including outnumbered will not be seen today. Hurricane michael is a major category 4 storm set to make landfall somewhere around Panama City Beach, florida. It is expected to be the most powerful storm ever to hit the region. It is but an hour or two away. Lets get a live update from the National Hurricane center in miami. Back to the National Hurricane center, this is ken graham on the operant center. Its noon eastern, 11 00 central. The latest information on the Hurricane Michael. A couple of things to