24th Storm News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

coast of florida. 155-mile-per-hour wind speeds. that's just two miles short of a category 5 hurricane. it's expected to make landfall about 100 miles south of here in the port charlotte area. rain 12 to 24 inches across much of the florida peninsula, challenge create freshwater flooding. the impact of this will be felt by millions in florida. already 200,000 people without power. that's before the storm even makes landfall. this will uproot people's lives. its a life-threatening storm. this is the sunshine skyway bridge that we have pictures of. you can see the winds kicking up. it ...

Can understand why the businesses have put the sandbags in place, but you can hear from the wind and the rain already getting much heavier, this could be a while and sit here on top of us. as you know, it's very slow moving. people are prepared. john? >> randi kay for us, stand by, if you will, for a moment. joining us now on the phone is the mayor of punta gorda, lynn matthew. mayor, if you can hear me, just give us a sense of your current area of concern. >> hi, john. good morning. i think the biggest concern is obviously going to be the storm surge. we have anticipated all along under yeste...

Punta gourd are are senior citizens. what precautions have been taken with that portion of your citizenry? >> well, the community we live in, you're right. it's at least 55% to 65% retires. very mobile retires, very active and very mobile. a lot of them have already moved to other areas for this period of the storm, and they will stay where they're currently after until this is over with. i don't see anybody returning home much before friday. as far as the assisted living facilities, all the of the county emergency services assisted with getting some of those facilities relocated the people to...

Landfall. we didn't have any notice. nobody could leave, nobody could move to higher ground or safer places. we rode the storm out in horrible conditions, but you're right, that storm was smaller, more compact, it went through, here and go in two hours. this one is hanging, going very slow, so it's really concerning. >> mayor lynne matthew, stay safe. >> shelter in place. >> the next several showers already dangerous. mayor, thank you very much. > all right. that was mayor lynne matthew. this is cnn's special cocoverag. stay with us. llect coins. yourur money never stops workig for you with ...

It will pass over, punta gorda with 155-mile-per-hour winds. ranti, can you hear me? >> i hear you okay, john, for now. we are here in downtown punta gorda. we were just on the outskirts of downtown near the water, but we moved to higher and safer ground. it's certainly getting windier. the storm is getting closer. out in the distance there is where we were. if you look beyond those buildings, that's where charlotte harbor is, and that's the real concern. the storm will push that ocean water into charlotte harbor, which of course will not be able to hold that water. at the overflow very likely...