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good morning. welcome to your "new day." we are following breaking news here in miami. unfortunately hurricane irma is heading right for us at this hour. the storm is scarring every place she touches in the caribbean. so far we've seen each chain of islands get hurt. cuba is next in the storm's path. we have the best proof and predictions for you this morning about what is most likely. south florida right now is under a hurricane warning. it looks like it's going to be a category 4. that's 155 miles an hour of winds that you can get. they can be sustained. you can get gusts that are even greater. the models are calling for a hit somewhere in south florida sometime sunday.

you've got to be vague because things change. as it gets closer, changes less. this could be the last beautiful and tranquil morning you see from south florida. now to every man and woman, every official and first responder all have the same message. if you have been told to evacuate, do it now. those who aren't going to evacuate, those who must shelter in place have a plan. what does that a mean? supplies for 72 hours. anticipate that you could have no power for three days. that's how long it may take to get it restored, to get help to you. take a look at the map. you can see where evacuations are under way in florida. just because your county may not have an evacuation order in place right now, that doesn't mean it's going to stay that way. so please check, keep watching cnn, go do this site, go to your local news site and take a look at the map and do what you need to do. lots of people. >> reporter: getting out of dodge. we'll show you pictures of the roadways.

it's kay yotic, it's difficult, but it may be the difference in being safe and not being safe. obviously they're all heading north. florida's governor shutting down offices, schools, colleges, even some hospitals have been closed. miami is a storm-savvy place. much of the construction is newer and built to storm specs, but 150-mile-an-hour winds are no joke. 20 feet or more of storm surge is no joke. it can easily overwhelm the best defenses, alisyn. that is the message. if you can get out, do it. >> chris, ten people have already been killed by hurricane irma. that number is expected to rise as it hits more populated areas. the storm is hammering turks and caicos. here is video taken overnight. the wind you can see, the torrential rain has caused widespread destruction. now the bahamas and cuba are bracing for the worst. they are next in line to be hit by irma. the red cross says the storm has already battered 1.2 million people, but 26 million more are

in its path. as if that is not bad enough, there's another hurricane on irma's heels. we're now keeping a close watch on hurricane jose. cnn is using our global resources. we begin with cnn meteorologist chad myers. give us the latest projections at this hour? >> it's going to hit the florida keys first and then goes up into the everglades. that's where it hits the united states. right now it's still in very warm water, 155 miles per hour, i know it says cat 4 behind me. cat 5 is 157. this is a dangerous storm. this is not a cat 1. this is cat 4. this serious. this is a 20-foot storm surge and wished gusts along the keys still at about 145 miles per hour as it makes landfall and moves up into the everglades and right through the spine of florida. right through central florida, and by the time it gets to orlando, it may still have winds of around 105.

there's your landfall through the keys. miami going to get an onshore flow, going to fill up biscayne bay with a storm surge, a big storm surge. let me go to the european model because we talked about european and american all day yesterday. the european has been outperforming on this particular storm. the american did great on the 2015 snowstorm. so you still have to give it some props. the european model, saturday at 6:00 a.m., we'll focus on miami, by saturday 3:00, wind gusts of 50. by 8:00 you're already to the hurricane. here comes the eye of the hurricane through the keys. hurricane gusts in miami, 75 miles per hour or more. some story for naples and ft. mye myers. now we run the storm to 2:00 p.m. maim maim 100 miechgs or more. so are the everglades, no one lives there. the keys getting out of it. you saw a wind gust to 145 somewhere around key colony

beach, maybe robby's marina, worldwide sportsman. i go there every year. there's the wind through the central part of lake okeechobee. watch the flooding possible here. we talked about the governor lowering the level of that lake. with the wind gusts over 100, who knows what's going to go on. monday a little after midnight, the entire state covered by hurricane-force gust. not one person will not see probably a hurricane gust across parts of florida. then it gets into georgia and south carolina. significant onshore flow, flooding in charleston, savannah, jacksonville, just like we saw with matthew. back to you. >> chad, i eel tell you, i have so much respect for what you do. but i've never wanted you to be more wrong than i do right now. i know the models are telling you what they're telling you. you make a good point that we heard from the first responders yesterday. there piece so much water down here and it can get weapon

niezed. even if your lower the level of the lake, the winds can scoop it up and create surge in places that aren't near the beach front. hurricane irma, as you saw, the path is coming, heading to florida and bearing down right now on cuba. it's going right for that island. cnn is there. patrick oppmann live in cuba with the latest. it is good to hear that your family will be safe, but there's so many there who will be exposed. we know you'll be out there to tell their stories. how is it now, my friend? >> reporter: chris, as an avid fris fisherman, look at this. look at these entrepreneurial young men. we saw them go out about an hour ago. i said isn't it too rough? they said that's what we're afraid of. we live here, fish here, live off what we catch. it will be quite some time until we can catch anything.

they've got some fish. they didn't do badly. they've got a tub full of fish here. that's a lot of fish for only a little bit. people are very worried. they've gone into the low lying areas right where we are and told people you need to leave. people are preparing however they will, whether it's catching fish, going to shelters, getting their furniture off the ground, up into the top of their homes. they're getting ready here. cubans know hurricanes so well, know how to prepare. but this is a hurricane that few people have ever seen. it is so powerful. it is so big. it's going to have an impact here and in florida. >> patrick, that's the difference between fishing for sport and fishing for survival there is a theory that even when fish know something is coming, they eat more. hopefully they're getting bounty to hold them through the tough spell that's to come. be safe, moye brother. >> all of south florida and the florida keys have to be ready.

they're under a hurricane warning, mandatory evacuations issued. a mass exodus still going on. it's creating a nightmare. major roadways, gridlock. that's what it takes to get out. cnn is there. bill we're live in key largo. the closest key to the mainland, and i know it's like a world away down there. they have their own mind and their own feeling about how to deal with this. this may be something the likes of which they've never seen. >> exactly, chris. if you live in l.a. you learn to deal with traffic. if you live in the keys you know about water and sky and hurricanes, hits and misses. we're hearing both sides of the extreme. 84-year-old former assistant police chief from key west, lived here his whole life. hard conk as they're called. never evacuated. he said irma is the one where he's leaving. i hung out last night with boat captains in key largo who not only are going to leave, but are

going to try to ride it out on their boats which defies all logic. that gets into the psychology of the people who come down here for the rum punches and jimmy buffet songs and have problem with authority here and there. the last greyhound bus leaves from key west at 8:30 this morning. if you're watching this and looking for a way to get out, they'll run the 301 line that service workers are used to taking from the keys back up to dade county, those buses will be running as long as the roads are passable. we will be chasing these stories all day of should i stay or should i go in one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in america, chris. >> your job is to be there. their job is to get out if they can. we'll check back soon my friend. joining us on the phone now is jeb bush. he was the governor of florida from '99 to 2007. he had a tenure rife with disasters and he had to handle them as the leader of the state.

governor, thank you for joining us. >> you bet, chris. >> what do you make? you're as storm savvy as any leader in the business. when you see what the predictions are for irma and you live through the realities of matthew and obviously 1992 with andrew here, how does it size up to you? >> it's a devastating storm. i think a lot of people, while we're preparing, we focus on the line that you show, the track of the storm. i think that's really not relevant. the fact is we'll have hurricane-force winds all across the state. i am proud of how the local and state officials have prepared for this. we've always learned from the lessons of the past and we've had a lot of hurricanes and i think governor scott, mayor jimenez, the local municipal mayors have done a really good job keeping people informed and are preparing for what is going to be a devastating storm. >> the first responders we were

with yesterday, they are an impressive bunch. they go all over the country to help with disasters. even they were saying, the reality is once she comes, there's nothing that can be done for those who remain behind. what are some of the realities that the leadership here is going to have to face on the ground? >> well, there's a lot -- there will be the isolated examples of people trying to win the darwin award, acting really stupid and making bad choices and decisions. but i think the great majority of people know exactly what they need to do. after the storm passes, there's a tendency to want to get out and check and see your property and see what's going on. most deaths occur actually after the storm rather than during the storm, so again, people need to heed the advice of local officials, not go out before the waters have receded and make sure today they're fortifying their homes, and if they're not going to evacuate, that they shelter in place, in a place that's safe. >> now, what have you seen as

the challenges for leadership in the aftermath of something like this? you have the benefit of perspective which is a blessing and a curse, because you had to live through horrible situations to get it. what are those challenges? >> there are so many things that you don't think about. for example, are all the generators in place for maintaining the water systems of every municipality that's going to be hit by this? can we get chlorine to make sure the water supply is safe when there's no power? how do you deal with all of these issues -- how quickly can you get the ports open to get gasoline barged into the state since we don't have any refining capacity? how do you make sure people don't hoard after the storm when there's going to be real shortages of lots of things. all these things we've learned through trial and error. i know governor scott understands this. he's got a really good team

around him. the local folks are doing really well as well. there's literally hundreds of things that have to be dealt with post storm. then you've got the long-term recovery issues where we rely on washington more. president trump has done a good job showing his concern for the victims of harvey, and i'm sure he'll do the same. the key, though, is to make sure washington is here for the long haul, for the long-term recovery of our state. >> understood. we'll stay on that, no question about it. i'm glad you brought up the national level of this. what is your quick take on what seems like a shift in strategy from the white house, specific lip the president himself, working with democrats trying to get things done. do you think it's a good sign? >> if it's based on trying to create a better bipartisan kind of culture in washington, all power to him. if it's a short-term thing just

to kind of have a win, i'm not sure that's going to be a long-term positive benefit. the key right now is to make sure that the fiscal solvency of the country remains in place and there's money available for these -- the recovery for these devastating storms that have hit texas and florida. >> i hear your suspicion. we'll take it for what it is right now and we'll test it as it goes forward. governor, thank you for being with us. god willing, you'll be safe and make it through and we'll rely on you on the other side to get perspective on the recovery effort which hopefully will be quick and effective. be safe. >> stay safe, chris. >> you as well. alisyn? >> our next guest has seen irma's power from inside the storm. paul flaherty is one of the hurricane hunters from noaa. this is video of one of the flights earlier this week when paul and his crew were near the

eye. paul flaherty joins us now. paul, man, i understand we are catching you at 45,000 feet above irma. what are the conditions? >> good morning. i'm up here about 45,000 feet just south of cuba, right around guantanamo bay. we just finished going around the outside of the storm. i'm on the jet today, so i'm on the high flying plane collecting data for the steering currents to go into the model so we can narrow down this forecast. we have a plane in the storm and one just outside. what we're seeing is this is a very healthy, very strong storm. i think we all expected to see that today. we're always hoping we'll see some weakening. it's slightly weaker. we were hoping for a little more. it looks like this is going to continue to be the monster that we've been fearing for the last few days. >> that's really, really good information directly from the source. you are up there looking at it.

you're on the gulf stream jet that i understand you call the gonzo because of what you have to do of flying into the storm. for those of us who are sometimes nervous flyers, it's unthinkable, frankly, what you do. can you explain to us what the conditions are like inside the cockpit when you fly around or into the hurricane? >> it would not be good for someone who is not a good flier. it's pretty choppy. we do take some big bumps, especially on the p-3, the g-4 where here on gonzo we were flying right on the edge of the storm, 45,000 feet, we're in constant chop. it's kind of like taking a beating. it wears you down. anybody who flies knows an eight-hour flight will make you tired on the other end. if you're getting bounced around during that time, it can wear

you down quite a bit. >> the purpose of this, paul, you get all the raw information and then feed that to noaa. they help feed that to the models that we see tracking the direction of irma, it's because of the information, the raw data you've gotten that then our own chad myers and meteorologists and forecasters like that rely on to tell people where to go, how to evacuate, when to get out. in other words, millions of people are relying on the raw data that you're getting right now. how do you with any sort of accuracy, how are you able to predict what the storm is going to do? >> part of that is why we pick ourselves up every day and head on back out here. if you can imagine, we should be, but almost everyone is preparing for the storm.

we don't really get that opportunity. we're flying sometimes from other places, st. croix and barbados. when we get home, we need to sleep so we can get back up and fly again. what we're able to do is what keeps us going. hurricanes happen to form in an area where we don't have the ability to collect a lot of the data different models that run things differently, if they ran the same way, they would all be the same. they don't always agree with what is actually happening over the oceans. and without us coming out here and flying and actually making all these different models agree with at least the initial data that we're collecting, once they can agree with it and we can do that over a couple of model runs, that's when we really see the model track start to come together, and then we see these small adjustments like we saw today where we had a little nudge to the west and that was very likely due to our flight last night. >> paul, god bless you for the

work that you do that allow, again, millions of people to know what to do on the ground. best of luck out there. hang on and obviously we'll be watching all the data that you collect. thanks so much for taking time to join us. >> thank you for having me on. appreciate it. >> chris, what a job these guys have. bouncing around the sky so the rest of us can know where this hurricane is headed. >> and so calm. they are a rare breed, alisyn. no question about it. in fact, this whole place down here in south florida is a culture unto itself. they are storm savvy and they are tough. that can work two different ways. right now you have hundreds of thousands of people that are going to have to get out of florida before irma hits. basically have a 24-hour window now. there are major challenges for those who are told to leave their home. fema is expected to tell us about the state of play and preparation for irma in just minutes. we'll bring you that news conference. the information they have is

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fema headquarters there. you can see they are getting reld difficult in just minutes, the agency's administrator brock long and health secretary tom price will talk about how florida should be preparing for hurricane irma. they'll give us updates on everything they're seeing in terms of the track of the storm, where it's headed, how strong it is and what they want floridians and everyone in the surrounding area to be doing. we'll bring you to that briefing, chris, as soon as it happens. >> information and action, information and action. that's the coordinated spirit we need down here right now. we have someone who is in a position of leadership. congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen joins me, republican from florida. >> you're in my district. it's evacuated but it's in my area and we're as ready as we can be. >> people are storm savvy. they say i've been here before. we've heard the media say it's going to be bad and then it misses us, i can't get back into

my home, i want to be near my home and my family. what do you say? >> i say the time is now. this is more more, hey, it could miss us, hey, it could turn east, could turn west. either way it's so huge, so enormous that the impact of this mother of a storm is going to impact everybody. and that's why the roads are so clogged up. people are heading out. i understand people don't want to leave their homes. i had the opportunity to visit shelters yesterday. miami-dade is as ready as we can be. >> you're confident of that? >> we've got everything working right. >> what you've seen -- we'll wait on the fema presser and see what they're saying about the state of preparedness. from the state level, the municipalities, the shelter -- there's talk, i can't get gas. the fares are too high, i can't get the flights. there have been criticisms and complaints, but how do you feel about the level of readiness? >> way plor confident than i was in hurricane andrew 25 years ago.

we went through that. i'm still living in the same house. that was devastating, not only in the impact, but it was devastating in the slow response of our state and federal officials. they said where is the cavalry, bring them. now that's not happening anymore. it's a seamless process. whether we're going to all be great after a storm of this magnitude, of course we can't predict that. but how much can you plan? we have done it. we've got everything functioning and people are talking to one another. the first responders are ready. it's a shame what's happening in the keys, in an area i used to represent. all the first responders have said we are not going to be there to save if people did not leave. >> god love them. they have a willingness that is almost unnatural or supernatural, their desire to go out and help. they say they can't go during the storm. it's too dangerous. what do we know about how many

didn't go? >> a lot did not go. here in miami beach, it's also mandatory evacuation. we see everything boarded up. that's very good. but there's a reluctance. people don't want to leave their homes, and i understand that. but if you can, it is not too late. the shelters are open. four more -- eight more are opening today. i went to a pet friendly one yesterday. even if you have a dog or a cat, whatever you have, a parakeet, they'll take them. so miemd is as ready as you can be, but this is a monster of a hurricane. >> we will see, the most loaded words that we have in these kind of situations. let's go to what we already know. what we're seeing on the federal level. they're going to vote on the money for harvey. do you think that's going to get done? >> it is going to get done. there's bipartisan support. i was there for the first tranche of it. but then the senate added debt limit hike and other measures.

it's going to pass in the house. i wrote an e-mail to all my colleagues in the republican caucus because some are getting skittish. >> what about the fiscal hawks saying you need more fiscal restraint, you're tieing it to things that they don't think should be tied to it. >> if you want to be a purist, then you have no place in congress. you've got to be able to negotiate. you've got to be able to make compromises. it's not a perfect bill. but it's a great hurricane relief effort. >> why attach anything to it? >> because that's the way the business of government works. >> is that an excuse or explanation? >> both. it is the reason of how things get done. in order to get people on board, you start to do that, you start to negotiate. i don't think it's a pretty process, but it is what it is. as long as hurricane funding for fema, for sba, for hud gets

reinstated, that will be great. i hope our gop comes through and then we'll be banging on their door because hurricane irma is going to not just wallop florida, it's going to follow up that eastern seaboard. we're going to need a lot of help. >> it's going to be substantial no matter where it comes ashore. the president said he'll be there, the federal government will be there. we know daca and immigration matters to you. i'll come back on those issues when they manifest themselves in actual policy and test where you are on it. >> you can test where the president is every day on daca. let me know. >> that's what we do every day. turning to washington now, donald trump jr. speaking to investigators on the senate judiciary committee for hours yesterday about the on going russia investigation. so what questions does congress still have? joining us is republican congressman will hurd. as you can see, with very a

splat screen because we're weighting to get a fema briefing on the direction and path and strength of irma. so you'll forgive me if i have to break away from our interview. >> no problem. that's really important. being from texas and realizing what harvey did, this is important for the folks on the eastern seaboard to know and know what's going on. >> so you get it completely. thank you for that. while we have time, let's talk about the latest in the on going russia investigation. as you know yesterday, donald trump junior went to congress and met with investigators there. he talked to the judiciary committee. we're still going to stand by because i don't see brock long yet. in any event, he talked to the judiciary committee and it appeared to raise questions of some of the folks including senator richard blumenthal who sat in on that. here is a piece of the don junior prepared statement. he said, to the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or

qualifications of a presidential candidate, i believed i should at least hear them out. he, of course, is talking about why he took the meeting with the russians in trump tower. give us a second, congressman. there's brock long. stand by. >> -- partners to achieve their response and recovery goals. starting with the islands, the goal right now is to stabilize the virgin islands and puerto rico, to make sure we are addressing all life safety and life sustaining issues and we're in good position to help them do that. there's great communication with both governors in the island communities, and the objectives are very clear. emergency power and restoring power, life sustaining commodities, emergency kmoourn casetion and security. those are the goals we are currently supporting. this is a massive effort because of the logistical nature of being able to access islands, we are very proud to have our

partners with the department of defense. they provided over six different navy ships in the area that will be operating today to help our island partners accomplish their goals. moving on, obviously hurricane irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the united states in either florida or some of the southeastern states. this is a complex forecast. anybody from alabama to north carolina should be watching this storm very closely. the forecast and the direct impacts of this storm have yet to be determined because, one, it's a very powerful storm. but the nature of the curve in that forecast after 72 hours is going to be the key to see who gets the worst impacts here. it's not a question of the florida is going to be impacted, it's a question of how bad florida is going to be impacted and where the storm ends up over the next four to five days as it passes inland. i think it's very important to point out, any time the center

of circulation of this storm travels in that forecast, whether on the left-hand side or right-hand side, it's a good forecast. then you have to add into that the maximum radius winds, how far out hurricane winds extend from that center of circulation. that's why i'm saying, anybody right now from alabama to basically north carolina needs to be monitoring and taking preparations. obviously there's a lot of evacuation activity taking place in florida over the last 24 to 48 hours. heed all local warnings. the goal is get out of the storm surge vulnerable area, that is wind-driven, coastal, storm surge flooding waters coming onshore. that's the most devastating hazard associated with hurricanes. get out of the storm surge area and get into a facility that can withstand the winds. that doesn't mean you have to travel hundreds of miles to do so, but get out of the storm surge area into a facility that can withstand the winds. later today, i know other states

are also considering evacuation movement, and the jurisdiction to call for mandatory evacuations may be directed by the governor or your local officials. make sure you understand who issues the warning, why you're being moved and take precautions. obviously governor scott has been leaning very far forward. we have been in support of governor scott. we're helping him to address the fuel issues. yesterday the president proactively waived the jones act to be able to supply more fuel, to help the governor get more fuel into his state. the president has been very quick to also issue disaster decorations in support of the response movements going forward. we will continue to work with our partners. with me today is secretary price from hhs. obviously emergency management, as i've been saying, is a partnership. it's not only a partnership across the federal government. it's a partnership through all

levels of government all the way down to the citizens that we saw proactively step forward in harvey. we're going to need that same whole community approach with irma. i'll turn it over to secretary price about health and emergency issues. >> any time in an energy you want to make sure you have the best people coordinating. i'm telling you the american people couldn't be more proud of the folks at fema and the leadership that brock long and his team are giving. i want to share a few words about harvey and then turn to irma. in terms of harvey, we remain in the response and recovery efforts that continue. the lifesaving activities are transferring to life sustaining activities. still have about 16,000 people in shelter. from a health standpoint, there are four hospitals that remain closed. this comes down from a high of about 30 closed during the peak. about 13 dialysis centers are

closed, but there's capacity to accommodate patients in the southeastern texas area. 26 nursing homes remain closed, but the capacity has been aable to handle patients moved from the nursing homes. hhs has had over 5,000 patient encounters since the beginning of the storm there, and the vast majority of those unrelated to the storm itself, but needing to have attention and mostly minor health activities. cdc is working with the state to work on a mitigation plan for mosquitos and the vector. that is on going and will continue for days and weeks. turning to irma, in terms of the virgin islands, st. thomas hospital, the main hospital on st. thomas is closing. the critical patients have been evacuated already and the remainder of those patients will be evacuated today, either to st. croix or to puerto rico. in terms of florida, as brock said, this remains a remarkably

dangerous storm, and the window to get yourself in the right spot for weathering the storm, either evacuating or weathering the storm is closing rapidly. health and human services and others along with fema's direction have pre deployed a number of individuals either in atlanta or southern georgia as well as in dallas, preparation for moving into florida as the need arises and as the local individuals in the state request. we have extended waivers so that medications can be provided for a longer period of time through pharmacies. i would encourage individuals to take advantage of that. one of the things that hhs does is to identify those folks that are electricity-dependent for their health needs. whether it's folks on oxygen concentrators or dialysis patients or individuals who have electric wheelchairs that they use in order to be mobile, we share that data and provide that

data to the states and have done so to florida so they can then contact those individuals directly and there are about 5,400 dialysis patients provided to the state, over 20,000 electricity-dependent and about 6,700 patients electricity-dependent on oxygen concentrators. i want to reiterate what brock said about governors leaning in. governor scott has been a remarkable partner, along with the governors in georgia and south carolina, they've been very aggressive in making certain they're getting the word out to their population. we'll have a number of rough days. whatever befalls us because of the storm, i can assure the american people your federal government is working as diligently as we can to make sure to address the needs as they arise. >> we're listening to the fema presser.

that was the secretary of health and human service, tom price. one aspect of this is how do you deal with the sick and the needity who are power-dependent in a storm that may knock out power. that shows the granular level. let's bring in dave halstead, former director of state emergency management here in florida. do you like what you're hearing in terms of coordination and management top down? >> i do, but i like it the other way. you talked to the congresswoman. it starts at the local level. you hear the message, you hear the message consistently, you hear it across party lines. then you go to the state level, governor scott leaning way forward. next it will be up to brock long and the fema team to back up anything we can't provide here in the state of florida. what i see is a term certainly right now looking like they're very unified. >> here is the problem or the challenge or the reality, however you want to put it. you can only prepare for so much. if this is what it is expected to be -- and again, never in the

journalism business do you want to be wrong the way you want to be wrong in a situation like this. i hope the models are wrong. i hope it blows farther west. it's going to be someone's problem wherever it goes. but if it's accurate, you can only prepare for so much. so for all the pressers and all the detail, once it hits, there are going to be problems that are unforeseen and can't be managed. >> the way i looked at it when i ran emergency management, you've got a power curve. you'll be hee hind the power curve when the storm hits. the question is how long does it take you to catch up? how long does it take you to get ahead of that power curve? are you always trying to catch up or can you get ahead? here in florida, i know our history has been we can get ahead pretty quickly. andrews was our lesson. it spanked us and taught us we weren't prepared, weren't ready. since then we've done everything we can in the local level and state level to be prepared. you see now brock long, a former alabama state director is the head of fema. he's not some political appointee. he is a man who has done this. >> he knows the job.

>> he knows the job. >> 1992 was andrew, the last category 5. only three to hit the country since the 1800s. people will say irma ain't andrew, it's only going to be a 4. it's not a 5 so it won't be as bad. your perspective? >> i think you heard your meteorologist say two miles an hour is what separates a 4 and a 5. a 4 is a major catastrophic hurricane any way you slice it. catastrophic major hurricane. >> the bad news is, we're going to see trouble. the good news is we'll have tons of preparation and have you here with people like me to guide us through. appreciate the perspective. >> thank you, sir. >> alisyn, to you. >> chris, thank you very much. we want to get back to the very patient congressman will hurd, he has been standing by listening to all of this. we have all sorts of news of the day. congressman, thanks for your patience. >> absolutely. i want to implore your

listeners, your viewers on the eastern seaboard, listen to your local officials, listen to fema. i think one of the things that we saw in harvey is that federal, state and local officials are working incredibly well together along with non-profit organizations in the private sector. it really is amazing. i know chris said that you can't prepare for everything, but having -- the level of preparation we've been seeing, being led by fema and the local emergency managers is pretty impressive. that's why you're going to see loss of life be held to a minimum and making sure we get the recovery operations. i think this is a success story from andrew, from all the -- from katrina, about how to make sure the federal, state and local government starts working together, and i think the american people should feel good about the type of coordination and the lessons learned since

those major natural disasters. >> that is really heartening, the lessons that have been applied. and we have seen people at every level working so hard and collaborating together which, as you say, has been encouraging. let's quickly talk about a couple of other important news stories of the day. when we were interrupted, we were talking about the latest thread from the russia investigation. as you know, donald trump jr. met with the senate judiciary committee staffers yesterday, investigators trying to figure out what he knew before this meeting that he took with russians at trump tower. he admitted and there were e-mails indicating he was promised dirt on hillary clinton and that's why he agreed to the meeting. yesterday in his prepared statement, this is a portion of it, he explains a little further his motivation. to the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of aptal candidate, i believed i should

at least hear them out. congressman, is there anything you heard yesterday in his statements and what has come out as a result that raised new questions for you? >> well, i'm not in the senate and not on the judiciary committee. >> you're on intel, right? >> i am on intel. look, as you know, i spent 9 1/2 years as an undercover officer in the cia. if russian officials come bearing gifts, it's probably not a positive thing. i would not have taken the meeting even if you think it's an opportunity to help you in a political campaign. there's still a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered. i think coming in yesterday was the first step. you're going to have to dissect the comments that were made based with the evidence that may have. i think the american people wish

this investigation was concluding at a quicker pace. but we've got to do this in a bipartisan thorough manner and go wherever the leads may take us. there's this issue about these facebook ads that could be connected to a russian internet troll. was there any involvement by americans in helping with targeting of those ads? there's a lot of questions that still have to be answered, and we're going to go through this in a methodical way. >> okay. let's talk about daca, that, of course, the program that protects the so-called dreamers, the young people who were brought here as children through no choice of their own. you have many dreamers, obviously, in your district. so how do you feel about the plan that president trump proposed which was basically, it's up to congress. the clock is now ticking. congress has six months to figure out what to do with these folks. >> i've been saying for a long

time, it is congress's responsibility to take care of this group of folks. we should be able to solve this problem for these children that the only country they've ever known is the united states. there should be a long-term fix and solution. the fact that we have six months to get this done, i think we can. one of the things that i've learned in my 2 1/2 years in congress is that congress usually does better when there's a timeline. now that we have a timeline in order to deal with this, and i think this is -- this daca fix, if you will, is probably going to be part of a broader border security conversation that's going to unfold over the next couple of months. >> you're optimistic, and that is good to hear. president trump also tweeted yesterday that he believes that they have nothing to worry about. that's quite different thanks you know, the way they felt when they first heard it. they felt, uh-oh, in the next

six months we're out of here. he clarified yesterday, at the behest of nancy pelosi, we're fold, for all the daca concerned about your status during six-month period, you have nothing to worry about. congressman, you think no dreamers will ever be deported, you think congress will figure this out in the next six months? >> i believe we can, and i believe we must. the united states has benefited from the brain drain of every other country and let's continue that, and let's benefit from the hard working drain as well. many of these folks have only attended american schools. they've gone to universities, they're participating in businesses. i've met some that are entrepreneurs. we should be able to get this right, and i believe that congress will act in the right manner to ensure that these groups of folks are able to have the legal status to continue staying in the united states.

>> congressman will hurd, thank you very much for standing by with us, thank you for taking the time for "new day." >> thank you. we're following hurricane irma, of course, as the storm closes in on south florida. thousands of people are evacuating and leaving. some deciding to hunker down. we'll talk to one person who is going to attempt to ride out the storm next. the internet loves what you're doing... ...so build a better website in under an hour with... ...gocentral from godaddy. type in your idea. select from designs tailored just for you and publish your site with just a few clicks-even from your... ...mobile phone. the internet is waiting start for free today at godaddy.

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super-cool notebooks, done. that's mom taking care of business. and with the "25 cent event", office depot officemax takes care of mom! now, all this just 25 cents each! ♪ taking care of business . there are major concerns for the enerindustry. what are the concerns? >> two my clear rooe actors are shutting down. turkey point is located just south of miami? homestead ant the st. lucie nuclear plant up the coast. both are are in the predicted path the storm. the site the are among the strongest in the u.s., designed

to with stand heavy wind and storm surge. tricky points nuclear survived a direct hit in 1992. also a number of gas stations in the area are shutting down because they have run out of feel. at least 42% of the gas stations are without fuel. panic buying is causing long lines. florida's governor trying to ease the shortages by directing state police to escort fuel delivery trucks. urging gas stations to stay open as long as possible before the storm. all right. thank you very much, christine. important information. hundreds of housthousands of of people undermarch da toer evacuation orders. some are mandatory, some voluntary, some just about common sense and discretion but not everybody can make the house

to lea choice to leave. emergency workers. irma is going to come ashore and sop people are simply too vul internal. joining us now is hattie willis. executive -- also linda black shire. >> thank you for being with us. good luck and be safe. so, first, you. you need to be here because you want to help the seniors. and what is the word you have for those who feel that they just either don't have it in them, or physically can't get out because of their age and infirmity. >> i want them to stay safe, make sure the things we have displayed, that they have them. >> batter are i operated fan, flash light with extra batteri s

batteries. bleach? >> keep the water purer. >> obviously not for drinking but for water you're going to use. >> you can't drink it but let it sit for three or four days. >> even if you put bleach? is not a lot. >> we're not hearing this. let me take this off. move it past my ample gut. hold on a second. can you hear her now? all good? >> hello. >> good. all right. so let's do this en go. because it the maars. for the elderly, these are the things you say they need. >> they need to have a battery operated fan. they should have a seven day supplied of water and food, first aid kit, bleach. we will keep the water pure. also get your medications. walgreens right now will give them a month's free medication if they go right now today. make sure that you write down your medication, the doctor, your number, next of kin and

someone if you're not leaving so they will be able to be in contact and most important, red cross has this on their website and this is for seniors. >> two things. one, walgreens will give free medication. if they go and they do not get the free medication, contact communities united, let her know who isn't staying true to the pledge. she will tell under the circumstances and we'll come after them. second, you said you can put bleach in water and it would be okay to drink. that scares me. i didn't know. how is that true. >> it will bur fi the water if it's on tam mated. you only put a half of a cap in two gallons and let it sit. in a couple days it will be drinkable. >> good to know. also flash light, extra batteries. >> one more. everybody should have off. >> right? >> people are going to say who

cares? what railroare the bugs like. >> we already have bugs killing people. >> we're seeing that in harvey which is where the mosquitos are going to carry infection and illness. >> now it's you, linda. you're not leaving. why? >> the reason that i'm not leaving is because that i'm not an evacuation zone and i have someone so live with me. but there are elderlies that live in my residence that doesn't have anyone, so they really need help. if it comes to evacuation. >> so you're not in it a mandatory zone but are you in a voluntary evacuation zone. >> yes. >> now, even though i just met you there's going to be an obvious concern about why you didn't leaf. >> first of all i feel safe.

i have someone living with me which is my grandson, but if i needed some place to go i have somewhere to leaf and go out of town. >> so you've taken time to do what the -- they call a plan. >> yes. >> do you str supplies? >> i have all supplies. all these essentials. >> did you know the thing about the bleach and water? >> yes. of course. i volunteer with her whenever see's doing hurricane sem mars to educate the seniors that really don't know and need to know. so all of the splees she has displayed here i have them. >> so you are staying, but, you have somebody with you? >> yes. >> you've taken time to have a plan and you have the supplies, god forbid you need to stay holed up and shelter in place for even 72 hours. >> right. my nut shutters are up. >> god willing you will be safe and i look forward to talking to you after the storm. thank you for getting the word out. i did not know that about the bleach. in fact i'm not sure i believe

it yet. he' going to google it. irma is taking its way to south florida. it is hitting cuba and devastated the british virgin islands. we have all the best proof and pictures. let's get after it. good morning. welcome to your "new day." it is friday, september 8. it's 8:00 here in miami. cnn is on scene bracing for hurricane irma. just a few minutes ago hearing the fema straiter saying the question isn't it florida's going to be hit anymore. but how badly. that's the reality. what are they thinking right now? a category 4 storm this. is a monster. it's the size of texas. it's hurt and scarred every place it's hit in the caribbean. it is a deadly storm. the central bahamas, north coast of cuba. they're next. and then comes where we