Page 6 - Zone A News Today

Able to give better picture or understanding of the potential flooding in st. pete beach. this is zone a of evacuation, mandatory evacuation area because it is prone to flooding. >> early afternoon hours onshore flow. see what kind of shape the beaches are in, we are a few days out from the holiday weekend. that is matt finn. were coming up, going to check in from fox weather a nicole valdes in the hillsboro side of tampa bay. that is cedar key, the exclusive storm tracker mark suduth. you have ...

Historically hit by storms this strength had to wonder about sandbags. had to wonder about boarding up windows and had to weigh like so many other floridians whether or not it was time to evacuate. thankfully it seems like weve gotten through the worst of the wind gusts and its going to be up to the emergency crews and emergency response coordinators to start assessing any damage that might exist. jose. >> thank you so very much. julio, as we come on the air right now, were getting our news, con...

Majority of places in zone a are seeing the flooding. we have seen exactly why those places have been evacuated. that goes not just for here and tampa, were talking also about the peninsula. now, i want to point out behind me over in that direction tampa general hospital. this is tampa bays only level one trauma center. that is where people with the most serious of injuries go to. it is supposed to be operational during the hurricane. it is only accessible by those bridges. it is on an island. i...

>> so this line has literally taken me two hours. ive been waiting for two hours. its been hot, as you know so not very fun. >> yeah, i had to go to three gas stations to get this gas, and fortunately, though, i am not a homeowner where i need to sandbag the house and so forth. >> reporter: hillsboro county is ordering a mandatory evacuation for anyone in zone a here or in mobile homes and homes in low-lying areas. you can see the sheriffs office here making that announcement driving through nei...

Storms. someone could get up to a foot of rain, especially in north florida, but even through the carolinas, four to eight inches is possible. as you expect, a major hurricane, youll have all sorts of issues, well have to wait and see how this plays out to see if we get any last minute shifts. it looks like this one will head toward the big bend of florida. >> bill karins, thank you for that. guad venegas is live from crystal river, florida, where evacuation orders are in effect. i want to let...

Hurricane ian last year, which really devastating just south of tampa. the fort myers, sanibel area. that strengthened at the last minute and it really caught residents in the area off guard. there were people i spoke to yesterday that said they normally wouldnt evacuate and they chose to because of what they saw happen. today, totally different story. what i also saw was a lot of people walking outside. taking their boats and jet-skis on the water. i saw people biking, walking their dogs. and i...

Thank you for that. marisa, give us a sense of what youre seeing on the ground in terms of preparations and evacuations. that area may not be in zone a but nonetheless, its very low lying. >> exactly. hi from tampa. yes. let me set the scene here. ive been here for about 24 hours. and its interesting to compare the differences between the feeling in the air between yesterday and today. yesterday, there was a lot more seemed like a frantic rush from people trying to get those last minute prep. lo...

I spoke to some of the people in this area to see what they can expect. so you can see some of the water behind me. this is water going up because of the tide. they told me what we have to keep in mind, if they see more than 6 or 7 feet of a surge here, then the water will be going into some of these houses into a hotel thats right next to us and theyve already said we could see maybe 12 feet of a surge in florida. so if thats the case in this area here in citrus county, we would be getting the ...

Be worse. the arrival coincides with a king tide that brings some of the highest ocean water levels of the year. officials at tampa general hospital have constructed an aqua fence in an attempt to protect against what may come there. joining me now from crystal river, florida, guad and from tampa, nbc news correspondent, marisa. shell be joining me by phone. guad, whats happening where you are? how are preparations going? >> reporter: alex, this is one of the evacuation zones. . zone a. florida ...

That more than 20 florida counties are under those mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders. lets talk about pinellas county. schools have been turned into makeshift shelters for families told to leave mobile homes and low lying areas and officials say now is the time to renew essential prescriptions or buy ice to preserve food. with me, david conner, public information manager for the county. thank you for being with us. give us a read of the situation on the ground and maybe start with those e...