Storm Inching News Today

Coastal florida. lets talk about georgias impact, 20this is just for the coastal area. same thing for you. the biggest concern is right along the backwater ways and along the coast, the possibility of that 4 to 7-foot storm surge. up into south carolina, you do notice the potential here the storm surge at least moderate. well have to see how bad. it depends on the track further to the north. with the more rainfall we get, the more prone areas of flooding in north carolina and south carolina. tha...

Thank you so much for that. lets go to katie beck in savannah, georgia, where the governor issued a mandatory evacuation order. katie, whats the latest in savannah? >> reporter: well, were just starting to see some landfall here as well, chris, and people are heeding those evacuation orders. you can see behind me this area is deserted. we are in historic downtown savannah right along the river. this is a very popular tourist area. lots of bars. lots of restaurants. right now every hotel is close...

I can put my finger right there when it started and there is the end of the six-hour loop. i mean, what the people in freeport and on grand bahama island have been through in the last 24 hours is what no one really in -- i cant think of anyone else on the planet thats been through anything like this. a category 5 hurricane stalling right over the top the of you. so there is hopes tonight. they dont have power. theyre going to be in the dark, but hopefully the winds will begin to come down a litt...

Family as dorian turned deadly. >> our son -- my grandson dead. thats so sad. >> reporter: the grandmother in tears after she said her grandson drowned seeking shelter. today conditions remain so bad the u.s. coast guard couldnt move in until late this afternoon. rescuing dozens but leaving many fearing the worst. >> whats your biggest fear right now as a dad? >> my biggest fear right now is my sons safety. >> reporter: robert monroes son, part of the bahamian military stationed in abaco. his la...

Horrific accident. weve got our other big story today that were following. the devastating storm currently pummeling the bahamas. nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez is in jensen beach, florida for us. gabe, whats happening where you are? >> reporter: hi there, chris. well, right behind me you can see the choppy surf that weve been seeing here throughout the day. and every few minutes, every hour or so we get one of these rain bands, the outer edges of hurricane dorian that are just starting...

Exceeding 150 miles per hour. the category 4 hurricane is extremely dangerous. mandatory evacuations have been ordered across multiple counties in the state. and while florida may avoid a direct hit, residents there are preparing for whatever dorian may bring. from florida the storm is expected to creep north along the coast of georgia, south carolina and north carolina. meanwhile, dorian has been pummeling the northern bahamas where the storm has hovered at a virtual standstill for the last 20 ...

Dealt with in the bahamas. >> so, ive seen this graphic i dont know how many times over the years. i dont know when ive ever seen the movement stay stationary. >> 24 hours. >> it was pretty wild to see you pointing at the center of the storm. >> that was six hours. >> six hours? >> i set this one at 24 hours. thats where it is now. this is where it was 24 hours ago. >> so whats going to get it to its a trough off the east coast. what that is is, you know, it rained a little bit in some areas of ...

Offshore. areas up through south carolina and north carolina including the outer banks. the outer banks of north carolina stickut like a sore thumb on the east coast. its far out there in atlantic. ea even though its taken that northeast turn, they could still get clipped. that would still have an impact in that area. with those said, ive kind of done a graphic here just to kind of show you what do i expect to happen? if i did this impact graphic for the bahamas, it would have been historic stor...

Stresses hes never seen such a powerful storm. >> its just saddening. its as if were fighting a war with the enemy having all of the weapons at its disposal and we have absolutely nothing. were hopeless. the only thing we have to us is god. so we can pray to god and ask god to bring us through. >> that was nbcs morgan chesky reporting from nassau. joining me by phone now is nico gibson in the pbahamas. he works for an air ambulance company that is waiting for the winds to die down so they can st...

So the florida is waiting for this storm as it barrels across the bahamas. of course, earlier this afternoon the bahamian prime minister confirmed that at least five people have been killed in the bahamas has at category 5 storm rolled through. now its a category 4 and were waiting to see what the impacts will be here on the florida coast, chris. >> thank you, gabe gutierrez, in cocoa beach, florida for us. now we turn to msnbc meteorologist bill karins who has the latest on the path of the hurr...