captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: tonight, we're here in florida, where hurricane ian made landfall as one of the most powerful storms to hit the u.s. in american history. there are reports tonight of people trapped in their homes. roofs torn off homes, cars submerged underwater, and dangerous winds knock down power lines, as an enormous hurricane ian engulfs florida. cbs' manuel bojorquez is in hard-hit fort myers. >> reporter: the pool area of this hotel is now part of the gulf of mexico. >> o'donnell: catastrophic storm surge, floodwaters could reach as high as 18 feet. the weather channel's jim cantore battles dangerous winds in punta gorda. he joins us. >> i'm just going to come in here for a second. >> o'donnell: the latest storm

track. where dangerous hurricane ian is heading next. classrooms turned into bedrooms. we visit shelters and speak to families riding out the storm together. >> my main focus was getting them to safety. >> o'donnell: and remembering legendary cbs newsman, bill plante, who covered more than half a century of history. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting tonight from tampa, florida. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us. as we come on the air tonight, the state of florida is being pummeled by hurricane ian. the massive category 4 storm storm made landfall this afternoon with winds at 150 miles per hour. but at this hour, ian is

still a dangerous category 3 hurricane. ian ian slammed ashore north of fort myers, with dangerous winds and catastrophic storm surge. tonight hurricane ian is dumping tremendous amounts of rain along the i-4 corridor. ian has already dropped 18 inches of rain. to get a better understanding of just and to get a better understanding of just how big ian is, this is what the storm looks like from space, the powerful hurricane covering almost the entire state of florida. and the strength of the storm is astonishing. a hurricane hunter from the national weather service, whose job it is to fly into the eye of hurricanes, described the flight into ian as the roughest of his career. ian has knocked out power to nearly two million people throughout the state. and omar villafranca is going to start us off from hard-hit bradenton. we are starting to hear reports that people are trapped. what can you tell us.

>> reporter: good evening, the county sheriff in naples are telling us they are flooded with calls of people trapped in their homes by water. and th deputies are going out to rescue them. that is as the massive storm continues to pound florida's gulf coast. this was this was fort myers as hurricane ian made landfall this afternoon. what was beachfront property, now underwater, with fears of more catastrophic flooding to come. in 24 hours, these before and after photos showed the worsening conditions. >> so this is going to be a nasty, >> so this is going to be a nasty, nasty day, two days. probably we think now it will be exiting the peninsula some time on thursday. >> reporter: sanibel island was among the first to feel ian's wrath as it k5 residents here were among the 2.5 million people told to evacuate. some chose to stay. kyle sweet decided to ride out

the storm with his family. >> we're 15 feet off the ground, so the bottom floor is i believe, 12. but we're going to be safe. >> reporter: as ian came onshore, it overtook homes and submerged cars. in naples, fallen trees and downed power lines sparked fires and made roads impassable. several counties in the path of the storm issued emergency curfews starting tonight. as the water began rising at this house, one man raced to save a cat on a >> look at michael saving the kitty. >> reporter: first responders were inundated, too. an emergency trailer breaking loose and floating down the street. several feet of water flooded this fire station. >> please, people, we encourage you all to please stay off the roads. >> reporter: president biden says fema is ready to help as soon as the storm is over. >> the federal government is going to be there to help you recover. we'll be there to help you clean up and rebuild, to help you-- florida get moving again.

>> o'donnell: and omar is back with us. i understand the conditions there are getting worse? >> reporter: they are. here in bradenton, we're expecting the storm surge of seven to 10 feet. what we are noticing is the wind is picking up. it is a consistent 50 miles per hour, but we're getting gusts easily 80 miles per hour. amazing enough, the power is on here, but a few seconds ago, we saw a power flash over there. i'm sure that is going to affect some of the power around here. another big concern: the rain. 10 to 12 inches here. we'll have to wait and see. but people are inside and hunkering down. norah? >> o'donnell: omar villafranca, thank you. we saw the power go out behind us just a short time ago. and although tampa missed a direct hit from hurricane ian, this city is not out of the worst. we're experiencing wind gusts of 60 miles per

hour, and cbs's david begnaud is here with us. good evening, david. >> reporter: good evening, norah. we thought it was lightning, but we realized it was the power flickering in and around the tampa area. the mayor said the worst was to begin around 8:00 p.m., and so that would be now. the majority will be salt salt -- as a result of rain, not the surge. but as the storm tracked eastward, towards naples are fort myers, that ended up taking the direct hit from the eye wall, and now it will be as as a result of the rain that is falling. over the last 12 hours, we're watching something in is quite the phenomenal. in tampa bay, the water has been pushed into the gulf of mexico. imagine the power of this storm to literally suck the water out of tampa bay. i'm talking about five to six feet. it is still sitting in the gulf, so to speak.

at some poi point with the tide, that water is going to come back in, and with damaging effects. as of right now, i would say the wind is mild. it has been far gustier earlier in the day. some people in the tampa area would say we have dodged a bullet. the mayor is saying we're not out of the woods just yet. norah? >> o'donnell: david begnaud, thank you. alex wilson from our partners at the weather channel is in orlando tracking where the hurricane is headed next. good evening, alex. >> good evening, norah. the worst yet to come for the city of orlando, not just flooding rainfall, but hurricane-force wind gusts, likely into tomorrow morning. the storm itself will continue to move slowly off to the north and east. it weakens as it does so. but, again, still likely to see hurricane-force wind gusts here in central florida, but the big story will be the rain moving forward. we have a flashflood-watch

in place. we have seen 20 50e20-inch ofrainfall. here in orlando, we can see 12 to 14 inches of rainfall. and the southeastern states, flooding rain and damaging wind gusts likely. a lot still yet to go. norah? >> o'donnell: and then into the carolinas and virginia. thank you so much. ian's hurricane-force winds and record storm surge is dangerous for the millions of residents across florida's west coast, and for those covering this monster storm. jim cantore from our partners at the weather channel learned this first hand this afternoon in punta gorda as ian's powerful winds battered the state. >> underneath the roofing, maybe in the roof. just came flying by. all right, you know what? i think i'm just going to come in here for a second.

just give me a second. >> jim, you all right? >> i'm all right. i'm fine. i'm fine. i just-- you can't stand up. all right. i'm just going -- i'm going to let you guys look at the pictures. i'm going to stand behind this wall because i'm just getting blown over. >> it just got calm. it just got really calm here. it is still gusty, so it is not clean, but this is a big difference. >> maybe i spoke too soon. >> o'donnell: well, we're happy to report tonight that jim is okay. more than two million floridans are under a mandatory evacuation tonight. ahead of the storm, officials urged resident to going to higher ground.

for some, that means going to a shelter. we visited to schools sheltering people. vevacuating was evacuating was an easy decision for anita glover. she's taking shelter at this high school with her son, jafin, who turned two months old today. were you worried about him? >> i really was. that's why i really came to a shelter. that was my main focus was getting him to safety. >> o'donnell: it would be very difficult for you with a two- month-old and no electricity. >> yes, very difficult. they need electricity. you got to bathe them, you got it feed them. so i did the right thing coming to the shelter. i came yesterday. >> o'donnell: hundreds of people are riding out the storm here. were you scared? >> yeah. >> o'donnell: among them, this family of 15. why did you decide to come here? >> around the house, we have lots of trees. it's low in there. so if any flood happened, so we can be safe. >> o'donnell: the river's near there. trees, flooding. also, the electricity may go out. >> yes. >> o'donnell: this is actually an elementary school, which is also serving as a shelter.

we're going to go in and talk to some officials here. juan lopez's day job is in sales and marketing. today, with all hands on deck, he's a shelter supervisor. what services are you providing people? >> we're providing all guests with space, a place for them to rest and be outside of the elements, as well as three meals a day. and we're also here just to help provide support, keep everyone calm. >> o'donnell: so people are using classrooms as bedrooms? >> correct. >> o'donnell: wow. with air mattresses or... >> each guest brought their own air mattress, sleeping bags. worried about all of those people there but glad they are safe. tonight as the massive storm rumbled across the florida peninsula, things are getting worse as far as the low-lying city of saint augustine, and cbs's meg oliver is there. i understand people are feeling it there as well?

>> that's right, heavy rains and high winds are intensifying as hurricane ian approaches saint augustine. the worst is expected to hit tomorrow afternoon with winds topping 60 miles per hour and a storm surge of up to five feet. >> are you going to ride it o >> you going to ride it out? >> so that's the plan. >> reporter: on anastasia island, brad melvin spent the day piling sandbags and securing his home to ride out hurricane ian. why did you decide to stay? >> so, i... part of it was i had to work. i also wanted to protect my house. >> reporter: as the monster storm pummels the west coast, floridians in central and northeast sections are preparing for extreme flooding and high winds to arrive in the next 24 hours. >> this bridge, we do anticipate closing several times because of floodwaters. >> reporter: saint augustine fire chief carlos aviles. >> on thursday, it will be very windy, very rainy, and there will be a significant amount of water covering most of the roadways. >> reporter: in 2017, during hurricane irma, almost 400

gallons of sewage leaked into the water during power failures. the city has spent millions to prevent that from happening again. brad's wife jaren and two young daughters are also getting ready. how do you feel about riding out the storm? >> a little nervous. but hopefully everything will be fine. >> reporter: forecasters are predicting 15-plus inches of 15 plus inches of rain through friday. if the melvins are flooded out, they said they have sa boat they can try to use to get to higher ground. norah? >> o'donnell: meghan, you've seen peeg hunkering down, what is the situation now? >> there were a few st stagglers along the sea wall, but tonight it is dead. just a few cars. i can tell you there was a bride and groom that was supposed to get married at another venue, and it got

congotcanceled, and they were able to tie the knot safely inside our hotel. >> o'donnell: they will never forget this day. meg oliver, th thank you so much. in cuba, w in cuba, where hurricane ian made landfall as a category 3 yesterday, officials say power is slowly being restored after the entire island lost electricity. officials believe it's the first time that cuba's entire electrical grid collapsed, and the whole island lost power. at least two people were killed. the storm's 125-mile-per-hour winds damaged homes and many of the country's important tobacco farms that produce cuba's famous cigars. all right, still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," today's other big headlines, including the environmental disaster unleashed by the suspected russian sabotage of suspected russian sabotage of natural gas pipelines. dancing crew. trip for two. nail the final interview. buy or lease? masterpiece. inside joke. artichoke.

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worse than the porter ranch, californiasa you remember that. european officials european officials are now ramping up security around pipelines. vladimir putin on friday is expected to announce the annexation of four regions of ukraine. putin is likely to claim those occupied territories want to join russia following what's widely being dismissed as a sham election. north korea today fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters a day before kamala harris arrives in south korea. this comes after the north test fired another ballistic missile on sunday. u.s. and south korean navy ships are conducting missions as a show of force. police in philadelphia police in philadelphia today released video of the gunman wanted in a shooting outside a high school on tuesday that killed a 14-year-old football player and left four others wounded. police say the players were walking off the field after a scrimmage game when an s.u.v. pulled up, and as many as five gunmen fired at least 70 shots.

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>> o'donnell: tragic news tonight from the city of kathmandu, nepal, where the body of hilaree nelson arrived today in the arms of her boyfriend. nelson was swept away in an avalanche while skiing from the summit on monday, nearly 27,000 feet up. her boyfriend and fellow mountaineer found her body after searching in a helicopter. the world's most famous adventurer was 40 years old. katie couric revealed she is former "cbs evening news" anchor katie couric revealed today that she is battling breast cancer. couric, 65, says she was diagnosed in june after a mammogram that she put off for six months. she underwent a lumpectomy and just completed radiation treatments. couric lost her first husband and her sister to cancer and she is encouraging all women to get their annual mammograms.

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>> o'donnell: finally tonight, some sad news within the cbs news family. we learned this afternoon that former cbs news correspondent bill plante died at the age of 84. bill plante spent more than half a century at cbs news covering history. at age 26, he was sent to cover the war in vietnam. >> the first actual ground combat troops to enter the country. >> o'donnell: another big assignment, the civil rights movement. he interviewed martin luther king jr. as he marched from selma to montgomery. >> have all the activities of the past weeks in selma come to fruition now? >> o'donnell: and then political conventions and presidents. bill spent 35 years as our white house correspondent. >> did you make a mistake in sending arms to tehran, sir? >> no, and i'm not taking any more questions. >> bill plante? no? bill's not here? that's shocking. >> this is the "cbs sunday night news." bill plante reporting.

>> o'donnell: years in the anchor chair and traveling the world for cbs news. >> 100 years ago, the portage glacier came all the way here. this is bill plante, cbs news, proving you're never too old to do something stupid! >> o'donnell: bill loved biking, running, and wine. he also loved his family. the father of six children, he is survived by his loving wife, robin. as a white house correspondent, i traveled the world with bill. he always ordered the wine, and he always picked up the tab. he was a great colleague, and an even better friend. we will miss you, bill. thank you. that is tonight's "cbs evening and that is tonight's "cbs evening news." i am norah o'donnell in tampa, florida. we will continue to track hurricane ian as it moves across the state. good night, and stay safe. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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