00:00 Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby here just outside of Tampa International Airport
00:04 where every flight in and out has been canceled and the airport has been shut
00:09 down ahead of Edalia's arrival. While the storm is not really expected to make
00:14 full landfall here, they are expecting anywhere from four to seven feet of
00:19 storm surge. Now for this area it's very prone to storm surge damage and a lot of
00:24 these low-lying areas especially closer to the downtown area will potentially be
00:27 flooded including some of these areas at the Tampa International Airport that are
00:31 going to be at risk for not only storm surge but flash flooding. Areas further
00:35 to the north however especially near Cedar Key is expected to see record
00:40 storm surge from this storm. Anywhere from seven to thirteen feet of storm
00:45 surge will be possible in those areas. As we saw with Hurricane Ian last year
00:49 storm surge is the most dangerous part of these hurricanes. All the water just
00:53 comes rushing in all at once and that's how you see that substantial damage to
00:57 those homes. A lot of them get knocked off of their foundations and that's
01:00 where the highest risk of the fatalities actually comes from. It's not
01:05 necessarily the wind, it's the storm surge and the flooding. We're going to be
01:08 following this up to Cedar Key and along the Florida Panhandle throughout this
01:12 evening. Stay tuned for further updates and have those hurricane preparations
01:15 ready to go.
