Page 7 - Storm Area News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Already preparing for this. we're in an area ripe for tourism. there were trump towourists wor ways to get out. the governor suspended tolls, put extra highway patrol troopers to facilitate evacuations, and airlines suspended change fees. at this point it could be dangerous for them to try and go inland. we're looking at a serious storm surge. a lot of the places above panama city beach are a little behalf sea levels. there are hotels and smaller structures, yesterday when it was a category-two storm, in the words of many, they thought they could ride it out by being a few stories above ground...

Most lethal threat from any tropical system. vegetation around here, palm trees, we have lots of pine trees, we're surrounded by a national forest. those trees will come down. they will cover roadways, and it will make it virtually impossible to travel around after the storm passes. not to mention the electricity outages that are going to be a concern for the area. back to you. >> over 2,000 people there. we hope the number is closer to zero. thank you. we'll check in in the next half hour. diane gallagher is standing by live in panama city beach, the western end of the panhandle. good morni...

The waves are pretty large. they're stretching back. by the time this comes in, we could be looking at high tide. yesterday along the beaches, they had equipment, they had volunteers, they had trucks coming and picking up any kind of thing you could find on the beach that could be a projectile. a lot of coastal homes and hotels still have people in them. they feel like they can get high enough and far enough back, soes they are staying. -- so they are staying. look, there's 2.5 million people in the area. not all are under evacuation orders. the people here in panama city beach are. a lot did ...

Year, we've got very good, competent local leaders. and if you don't have that you'll have problems. these people are experienced. they make good judgments. the governor has alerted the national guard ahead of time. get those guys mobilized, put them in a position where they are out of the storm and able to move right in quickly to assist. the department of defense, i was on television friday talking about hurricane relief like i'm doing right now and jim mattis, secretary of defense called in to me and said jack, look, i want you to know here is my guidance to the department. number one, we'r...

Surges. wind gusts up to 85 miles an hour. five deaths have been confirmed as a result of the storm including a mother and her baby when a tree fell on their home. we've seen catastrophic flooding. parts of the region could see as much as 40 inches of rain. rescue teams have been out all day. hundreds are held up in shelters across the area. in south carolina, there were more people than cots available. more than 700,000 in north carolina now without power. at least another hundred thousands in the dark in south carolina. the white house saying that president trump is expected to travel to the...