it is 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i m jose diaz-balart. we begin this hour with deadly storms now making their way northeast after leaving behind a trail of destruction across texas, oklahoma, arkansas and kentucky. at least 19 people are dead and dozens more injured. take a look at this. valley view, texas, gas station. officials say as many as 125 people were sheltering when a powerful tornado struck. overnight kentucky governor andy beshear declared a state of emergency as the severe weather threat continues into today for millions of americans. it leaves hundreds of,sands across the region without power. joining us from valley view, texas, is nbc s priscilla thompson. priscilla, good morning. where do things stand now? reporter: jose, good morning. right now in the hardest-hit areas there s devastation everywhere. we re here and you can see there s a car with its windows completely blown out. that car was actually in that gas station parking lot when this tor
in speed and strength and it s heading north and right now it s off the florida s coast to the east. good news for floridians because we re not going to see the worst of it. what we re going to see is heavy rains and winds picking up because of outer bands hitting us. it s going to be rainy, windy, breezy and gusty. the major concern for floridians are beach erosions and rip current. in particular in vo lieu shah county they performed 21 beach rescues. they are supposed to last like this through the holiday weekend. they are going to have 80 operating towers out here, portable towers. if you come to the beach and you re in florida, if you intend on going into the water, keep an eye out for red flags, keep an eye out for life guards and stay with them. they re concerned you may get caught up in waves and rip current and there is
up to 40 miles an hour from overnight. those winds should calm down throughout the day. we will see some rain bands coming through here. right now, most of the heavy rain is off shore and again to the north of here but that red flag is flying as well. you look down here in the waves, it s all churned up and you have 3 to 4 foot waves right there. once we get to high tide later this afternoon, this storm could wash out most of the beach activity this memorial day weekend up and down the east coast here of florida and they re going to close this beach off. too dangerous to get in the water. a lot of rip currents out there. they made 150 beach rescues over the weekend in daytona beach, just to the south of here. they re telling not to get in the water and by high tide this afternoon, most of the sand will be covered. good thing, though, on the southern end here, this is the good side of the storm where the wind is blowing from the south and blowing on shore to off shore unlike the folks u