00:00 Dangerous weather is expected to slam parts of the U.S. this week.
00:04 National forecasters say Tropical Storm Idalia is on track to become a major hurricane.
00:10 Anybody on this Gulf Coast, certainly from Tampa all the way up to places like Bay County,
00:15 you should absolutely be very vigilant right now.
00:18 You should be following the track of the storm.
00:22 Life-threatening storm surge and high winds are increasingly likely for portions of Florida.
00:27 Emergency officials are warning residents to prepare for power outages
00:31 and to fill up their gas tanks in case they need to evacuate.
00:34 The news that Idalia is going to reach major hurricane status changed everything for the people in Florida.
00:40 In Tampa, they are already filling the sandbags. That is a low-lying city.
00:44 They could get several inches of rain and could see a storm surge of three to five feet.
00:49 The governor encouraging everyone to get out and get their supplies.
00:52 Today's the last full day to do that.
00:54 People going to the stores getting generators, batteries, flashlights, non-perishable food, and of course that water.
01:00 The governor also telling people the electricity is going to go out.
01:04 He's encouraging seniors to move to shelters throughout the state.
01:07 He's also deploying the National Guard with high-water rescues.
01:11 It's been a little less than a year since Hurricane Ian rolled ashore in Fort Myers Beach,
01:16 causing widespread destruction there, killing more than 150 people, most of them from that storm surge.
01:22 Fortunately, we're not going to see that level of storm surge from this,
01:25 but up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida, we will see storm surges of up to five feet or more.
01:32 Now, where does it head? It is going to move through Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico,
01:36 and by Wednesday, early Wednesday morning, that's when it's going to get that M for major hurricane, category three or above.
01:43 And by Wednesday afternoon, it moves inland and comes close to Savannah.
01:47 It will be a land hurricane moving towards the city from behind, coming from the land instead of the water.
01:53 I'm Scripps News meteorologist Scott Withers in Panama City Beach, Florida.
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