and jim, he has been able to communicate with several friends basically doing the same thing and riding out the storm on their boats. he says they ve been recording some staggering wind gusts in the last few hours, jim. i m sure, ed. i hate to say it but i wish he wouldn t be riding out the storm on a shrimp boat but you and i both know, having traveled those parts, you re not going to talk some of those captains out of abandoning ship no matter how big the storm is. we hope they stay safe and you as well, ed. ed lavandera there for us in baton rouge. great report there. our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. you re live in the cnn newsroom. mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don t know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break em in a little bit.
of the south and southeast. you could still pile up water in some of these areas. some people saw the storm surge early. some people have yet to see it. it s a powerful and dangerous storm. thanks so much. our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. you re looking at live pictures of the big easy, new orleans, louisiana. it s a nasty night ahead for new orleans. people there need to hunker down as conditions deteriorate over the coming hours. you re now looking at mobile bay. these are some more pictures coming in from mobile bay, alabama. the outer bands of this hurricane are just vicious right now and they re getting some very significant rainfall as that storm hits other parts of the gulf coast. stay with us. our special hurricane coverage continues right after this. you re live in the cnn newsroom.
prepared to do that. those individuals will reach out to us directly through our social platforms and ask us for rescue and we have our dispatch teams that work from their homes and worked every one of these storms including hurricane laura last year to provide those dispatch and rescue services. so, it works a lot like police and fire and search and rescue where, you know, police officers don t drive around looking for a crime. they re dispatched. we do the same thing. so our teams on the ground are dispatched and we re prepared to do that. we are ramping up to assist the greater community with regaining a sense of control over their life. because that s what happens in this. you really lose a sense of control over your life. i m sure there are so many who are grateful to you, rob gaudet. i m grateful for your time, as well. i know you have a busy couple days ahead of you. thank you so much and best of luck. stay with us, everybody. and for all of you, do stay with us we have more
no, nobody right now. one and only. it s dangerous as well. i told him, you focus on trying to get out right now. we ll go back for them. we will go back for them, and i guarantee you this, we will go back for them. i hope you see him very soon and have him in your arms. zora, thank you. thank you so much. good luck. okay, that s it from me this hour. i ll be back at noon eastern and i will be much more pulled together. it s tough. we ve got hurricane coverage coming your way as well. ali velshi will be back, a steely ali velshi at 8:00 a.m. he s landing in new orleans gearing up for hurricane coverage. i apologize to my colleague jonathan capehart who is taking over right now, about 20 seconds late. hurricane ida a monster category 4 storm is bearing down on louisiana.
hurricane katrina when 1,800 people died across the gulf region. such a horrible storm. i spoke with the army corps of engineers and they tell me they re confident this is going to work this time around. two barriers. a primary and a second barrier. we have an up-close look at a canal lock that will block some of the water from lake pawn starting at 8:00 a.m. eastern alex witt picks up hurricane coverage and sharon weston broome will join 16 years