where you can pay for data by the gig, and share it across all of your lines. no one else lets you do that. see how much you can save when you pay by the gig. xfinity mobile. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. we have important new information about hurricane irma, but the headline remains the same. the storm is coming. now about 40 nautical miles off of key west. why isn't it here? good question. the storm has slowed down. that is not good news. it is only delaying the inevitable. it means something to scientists. we'll bring you the latest scientific information, we'll bring you the latest change in the track, the storm, the story of it has been one of change.

the path has changed again but, again, the reality is the same. at latest count at least 300,000 without power in florida. many of them in the miami-dade area. that's what you're looking at right now. that's west palm beach and, remember, just in terms of geography you have palm beach, a barrier island, then west palm beach right up hard against the shore. mandatory evacuation center, and that's the reality. remember, we are still many, many hours away from the worst of it. what we know about this storm now, the reason we're following the eye is that 70 miles in circumference around that, the diameter out around that storm, 140 miles across, that's hurricane force winds, so it's not just about the eye. it's about that whole range. we're already getting hit with it. we're up in naples on the west coast. this has become a new source of concern with this storm, what will happen to the west coast up into tampa, tampa bay uniquely vulnerable to storm. we're going to tell you why

throughout this morning. so, again, i want to repeat this for people in florida. the timetable has shifted. things will happen later. we were supposed to get hit this afternoon here in naples. it will now be this evening. but what we expect has stayed the same. it's going to be bad and, in fact, it's bad already. it's going to get worse. bill weir is in key largo. the keys will get first. he has been story telling the rugged individualism of the culture and how they stay behind, and now you can see what he's dealing with with his team. bill, what's the situation? >> reporter: you're right. this string of little coral islands, home to so many d.r.e.a.m.ers and drifters and anglers down here, it's a special breed drawn down to the most tropical neighborhood in the united states but this is the price of admission, this

kind of weather. there are 29,000 customers of the keys energy services, the power public utility here and 29,000 customers without power this morning. they have about 190 line workers from around the country who have come in ready to mobilize once the storm has passed, but it looks like the extension cord that plugs into the mainland and powers the florida keys went out last night some time around 11:00 p.m. they tried to re-energize it remotely but no go. so we're lighting up this shot off a car battery. we're really starting to see these feeder bands light up. we're on the bay side of key largo, the northern most biggest of the florida keys. i can only imagine what the gusts are like over on the

atlantic oceanside. that's where we met some of those who refuse to leave. they're riding it out in a stone structure. a boating club on a marina there adjusting the line, the anchor lines, the tie lines on their boats. maybe not the smartest decision to stay but it's part of the reason many people did stay is fear that if they left one of the bridges that connects the 43 inhabitable islands of the keys would wash out and they wouldn't be able to get back here for months if ever. fingers crossed the infrastructure holds, that it's not too devastating. a lot of these islands the mountain top is maybe the second story of your house. one of the highest points down there so any storm surge

watching the live shot at the southern most point. that's an easy way to get swept out to sea. so as first light comes up and the curiosity is there to run out, bad idea. with these winds, a small piece of palm frond turns into a missile. stay in even if you're in a structure with a lot of windows, you might want to create a board of mattresses and couch cushions, any kind of prudent steps you can take to protect yourself. you have water pressure, fill up bathtub, put bleach in there and use it for everything but drinking water. keep your shoes on or right next to you if for whatever reason

you have to move. but here it comes, chris. irma is here. chris, are you still with me? >> so let's take a look. we're here in the weather center, take a look at the most recent update we have. we're getting hourly updates on the hour. so this is what we know. the forward movement, the direction in which the storm is going, has slightly increased not by much. we've seen the eye wall replacement cycle take place and a wobble there where you see it bounce back and forth. this is not good news, not what you wanted to do before it's about to make landfall.

we are a few hours shy of when it's expected to completely go over the florida keys. likely we'll expect that center of circulation to cross over some time in the 7:00 hour eastern time this morning. then impacting the west coast of florida. then pushing up into the panhandle. it will encounter incredibly warm water. we talked about storm surge but you need to understand the timing of this storm surgery. that's where the storm is pulling in the water from but as the storm pushes north, that's when the worst storm surge will take place on the west coast side. it's important for people on the west coast to know just because they see it happening on the east coast doesn't mean people on the west coast can put their guard down. the timings are different for each coast. the point is, chris, they will both get very dangerous storm surge.

>> thank you for bailing me out there. the water always wins. mike got wet, shorted out, and that is the least of our concerns but thank you very much. the changes in the path very relevant to many people on the ground here in florida. we'll check back in a bit. we saw bill weir in the keys, the first to get hit. 300,000 people at least without power. here in naples we're not supposed to see the worst of it for 12 hours from now and already things are going bad here. where are they worse? miami beach. that's where we have derrick van damme monitoring the situation. he is getting punished right now. good thing he has the goggles on. what is it like? >> reporter: chris, this wind is punishing. it's picking up tiny grains of sand from the beach that's about 100 feet to my left. and it's also starting to pick up debris which is not good.

but it's important we show people this information because we don't want people to become complacent like you were talking about just a moment ago because it is not safe to return to miami beach just because of the track. standing in this type of a wind, 60, 75 miles per hour, this will become a missile. also, coconuts everywhere. tree branches coming down and the wind continues to get stronger. let me bring you over here. we've had electricity going in and out through the day. the hotel that we're bunkering down at has just lost power. we are in a safe position. look at the trees behind me. we're on ocean drive right now

at 6:00 a.m. on sunday morning people would be taking a leisurely stroll with their dogs or a morning walk or run. not today. people heeded the evacuation orders. they got out of here and good thing they did because this storm is serious. irma has arrived. chris? >> all right. i am not going to leave you out there like a crash test dummy, but i do want to get a sense about the storm surge. do you see the water starting to make any kind of move yet because the threshold very low where you are for saturation. >> reporter: chris, they're forecasting 3 to 5 feet inundation here where i'm standing. we're about 100 feet away from the ocean. we don't want to get too close to this because the wind now that it's come up so much is pushing the waters from the atlantic and obviously that's when storm surge becomes the most dangerous so any second that we see water coming over

this area we're going to get out of here and get to a higher elevation. by the way, chris, i want to talk about you know that i'm about 160 pounds, right, this is jolting me around, 65, 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts. if you can imagine what this is going to do along the west coast at 130 miles an hour. >> it's true. we ain't seen nothing yet. you are sturdy and your reporting is strong. please, get inside, get your cameraman and crew safe. we'll check back with you in a bit. an important update from miami beach. a lot of people there who didn't want to leave and when they saw the storm path shifted they decided they were going to stay or they wanted to come back and the mayor very clear in miami beach, don't come back. and now you're seeing why the warning was so stiff. let's take a break. when we come back we'll check in with other parts down there in miami. cnn has people everywhere irma is going to be. and make no mistake, she's here already, here in naples. we're many hours away from the

worst of it. already we're feeling the impacts. we'll take you through it. if you're in florida please, my friends, stay safe and stay with cnn. ♪ fitting into my skinny jeans again? that's cool. feeling good in slim fit? that's cool. looking fabulous in my little black dress? that's cool. getting the body you want without surgery, needles, or downtime? that's coolsculpting. coolsculpting is the only fda-cleared non-invasive treatment that targets and freezes away stubborn fat cells. visit coolsculpting.com today and register for a chance to win a free treatment.

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all right. you are looking at one of the main corridors here. this is i-95 going up north. it is now empty, okay. we're getting this from the help of one of our friends, wsvn. a little drive cam shot to show you nobody is on the roads. your last clear chance to act because irma is now here. we're seeing the least of it. the storm changed overnight. what is the new information? it has slowed down to about 9 nautical miles an hour it's moving, the path has shifted a

little bit more west but the reality stays the same. irma is going to hit us and she's going to hit us hard in florida. at the latest rough count at least 300,000 are without power already in florida and, again, we have not seen the worst of it yet. it is not just intensity with a hurricane, it's duration, especially dealing with a low flood plain, a vulnerable area, which all of south and west florida is. that's just the truth. here in naples we're going to see some really tough stuff later on. but just the duration of the rain that we've had from about late yesterday afternoon and overnight everything here has changed. we heard bill weir in key largo talk about how simple things can become projectiles, i was walking around before the show. a palm frond well.

not a big deal. i kept walking. there was a gust of wind, it came flying over my head and took out a canopy. i was never in any kind of danger. that's not what it's about. it's not about hype. it's things on the ground that you wouldn't expect to be a problem quickly can become one and that's one of the reasons the officials in charge are so worried about the outcome here. this is the story of the future, we are in the future zone of concern, the present zone of concern are the keys, miami. john berman is situated right in the middle of the area of concern in downtown miami. he's been watching the water rise. he's been dealing with the wind. he's been making fun of me for not wearing a hat but now he's paying the price. >> reporter: the ghost of christmas present here in miami right now. you talked about the reality of hurricane irma. it is a wet and windy reality and you talk about the duration

of it. it has been like this since yesterday. we were here last night until 11:00. the rain was falling. it's still like that this morning. we have hours ahead of us, the duration of this will be something that is very difficult to bear for so much of southern florida right now. i'm in miami. to the south of us the florida keys in the direct path of hurricane irma. key west could feel the eye within the next few hours. to the emergency management department, joining me from key largo, cammi, if you can hear me -- i know it might be hard because it's blowing and raining a lot where i am. i can only imagine what it's like where you are. give me a sense of the situation right now in the keys. >> well, i can only tell you what it's like right now in key largo looking at my window and it's the strongest storm i've ever seen in my life. i'm just super terrified for

everybody in the lower keys. we're probably about 110 miles from where they are, and this storm is just beyond what i even imagined. we've been spending the last six days begging people to get out and now we're just hopeful that people can survive this. >> reporter: the strongest storm you've ever seen in your life and this is your job to see storms like this, cammy so that puts it in perspective. have you been getting calls? what are you hearing from people? >> yes, i can't even describe seeing palm trees bent over in half and we are not even 100 miles from the storm and we haven't even gotten the worst of the storm yet. so what we've been doing the

past week besides begging everybody to leave the keys, what we've been preparing for our recovery and as soon as the storm passes we'll try to get them open and we've had damage and problems. we also planned on having air supplies flown in once we can clear the airport so clearing the airports will be a priority both at key west and marathon and also the naval air station. >> reporter: the people who against your advice decided to stay. >> right now it's too late to tell them to go anywhere safe. we had people on boats who refused to get off of their boats. i don't even know what it's going to be like for them but we had four shelters of last refuge throughout the keys.

mainly high schools built for cat 5 and i'm hopeful anybody in there will be fine. obviously we're concerned about the storm surge. we are low lying. i'm a bicycle enthusiast and it's boring for mo because it's so flat to ride around here. it's low riding. we get floods at high tide. >> reporter: cammy clarke monroe county emergency. move away from the window. resist the urge to look outside if you can. thank you so much for the work you're doing. chris, back to you in naples. it's pretty remarkable when you have somebody whose job it is to prepare and watch hurricanes like this, something she has

never seen before and the worst is yet to come. >> her scale of concern this far out. we're hours and hours away from the worst of the stuff and it's already affecting the area here. and now they're starting to pool up. it's going to get bad much before we see the worst stuff and that's the concern. try and stay dry. we'll take a break here and when we come back we'll start talking more about what we now understand about the risk factors with this new path of the storm. where is she going to go that we didn't expect? well, really nowhere, but it's about where she's going to hit hardest and longest. we have new information for you.

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i'm originally from miami and i wanted to see the beach. i was here through andrew. i experienced andrew and feel a little more comfortable. it's definitely coming now. >> going from crappy to worse. >> all the interior doors are rattling, sounds like someone is knocking on the front door. it's all fun and games until a coconut comes flying by your melon at 100 miles an hour. i came back inside. two major reasons officials are so concerned about hurricane

irma -- one, what she's done already. did you see those pictures from the caribbean, from puerto rico, from cuba right where she touches she destroys. there is devastation, there is death. that's one reason they're concerned. the second one is what she's doing right now. we've been getting hours of these outer, outer bands of this storm, one of its unique properties is how big it is. the storm is the size of a state. it is strengthened to a category 4. it has slowed down. its path has shifted somewhat more to the west but the headline is the same. she's coming and will hit us. here in naples one of the newer areas of concern. the governor has been saying the place can't take storm surge. he's right. why? it's low lying and it's spongy. we've seen in the hours of mild conditions we've had by hurricane standards so far the streets have had about all they can take. things are starting to break off. things are starting to blow

around. down at the marina on the water we're already seeing they're at flood capacity so surge on top of it will make a big difference very quickly. so that's where we are. we are the story of storm future. storm present is where you're looking on your screen right now. that's miami, the keys. let's go to rosa flores -- no, let's go to bill weir in key largo and he's seeing intensifying winds and more conditions. that's rosa flores. bill weir. let's get his attention. you were getting hit hard before. a little bit of a change? >> reporter: it's starting to bluster. sustained 50-mile-an-hour winds on biscayne bay which is the safe side of key largo where we are right now. we are just having a lot of people expressed concern. we are tucked inside after solid

concrete carport here. around the corner of the wind. it's turning the corner and saying good, irma is, right now. i was just looking at the tide charts. it looks like low tide is about 11. . 38. that's important when you consider the 5 to 10 foot storm surge everyone has been talking about. this is the main motivation for the evacuation order. flying palm fronds is one thing. some of the lower residences in the country, a few inches makes all the difference so people bracing for that. and also thinking about power. 29,000 customers down here, all of them without power, something like over 350,000 across southern florida. and so the temptation is to maybe run out to the car and

charge the phone, those sorts of things. folks here with no power tell me not to do that. for the rest of you watching around the state bracing for that, something to keep in mind. get everything charged up now while you can. as far as those who have stayed behind there were several shelters of last resort. schools up and down this chain of island. i saw some reports in key west sadly of homeless folks who refused to take shelter. you can only imagine what they're going through right now. we are at the top of the keys. key largo is at the top of the inhabitable islands and 49 miles from here so the brunt of it, we're not even tasting what they're tasting down in key west, chris. >> well, that's right. everything is relative. stay with me, bill.

let's bring in allison chinchar in the hurricane center. she gave us the latest information about a shift in the track of this storm to the west. allison, what do we know right now? what is headed bill's way? >> bill is about to be in the worst of it here within about 30 minutes. you can see from the radar that very clear, intense band of rains just to the south of key west. we're starting to see a lot of lightning pop with this so he can likely see a lot of lightning off in the distance as it begins to impact many of the keys. here is that band, the red colors. torrential downpours. in addition to the fact it's along the eye wall so he will be getting torrential downpours along with the most intense winds at the same time. now that heavy rain band will extend from key west over towards marathon. that's where the heaviest is going to be. but even to the east of that around key largo you're still going to get some pretty intense, heavy rain, so that's

what he unfortunately has in his future in the next 30 minutes. we also want to point out we have seen an expansion of the watches and warnings in the last hour or so namely for places like alabama and georgia. we now see tropical storm warnings going from a watch to a warning for many of these places including the city of atlanta going from a watch to a warning. we expect those winds to be about 40 to even 45 miles per hour. here's the latest on the storm. winds right now 130 miles an hour so this is still a very powerful major hurricane at a category 4 strength. we've noticed the eye wall starting to close up. it's likely going into another eye wall replacement cycle. the question is can it intensify before it ultimately makes landfall? those eye wall replacement cycles aren't immediate. they take time and we don't have much time left before this makes landfall, so the question is how much more can this storm intensify before it finally makes that true landfall?

we expect it to maintain category 4 strength as it begins its way up the west coast of florida. then it will likely drop down to a category 3 somewhere around the tampa bay area and then quickly decrease as it makes its way north barely a category 1 hurricane by the time it pushes into portions of georgia. the reason for that this purple color. this is wind shear. this will rip that storm apart very quickly as it makes its way from florida in to georgia. good news for folks in georgia. floridians probably wish it could do that quicker. in terms of storm surge, numbers in south florida, south of miami along key west you're talking about 5 to 10 feet. the southwestern region including naples, 10 to 15 feet. but even a place like tampa, you're talking 5 to 8 feet, the difference is that track. as that track began to shift further out to the west, this will actually allow even more of that storm surge, chris, to push

back into portions of tampa bay and that is certainly not what those folks want to hear. >> all right. and the latest numbers, 36 million people they say will be affected by this storm. 52 of the 67 counties have hurricane warnings here in florida. 52 of 67 counties. raw count at least 300,000 without power across the state. acute concerns with the power outages and duration get worse as you get more south in the state for now. that takes us back to where bill weir is. i know could you hear what allison was saying. not good for you and the folks down there, the conchs as you say, my friend. >> reporter: they know storms but they don't know this kind of storm. this is the biggest since donna in 1960. that's 57 years ago so it takes some old souls to remember when

sustained winds were this strong. we talked to so many folks whose mood shifted when they began to realize the enormity of this thing. a lot of people who were sort of throwing those hurricane parties and making fun of people who had evacuated, their tone had completely changed by friday going into saturday. that's when they started moving them. they had parked on high ground near the bridges but, unfortunately, there's an untold number who stayed behind at least 10,000, 20,000. at least 70,000 call them home estimating that two-thirds of them evacuated. the tourists got out of here. some people will never leave and will never leave their boat.

on the atlantic side of the keys, chris. >> no, not a good situation and that's to put it as mildly as possible. you have two components, you have survival of the storm and the conditions that you're about to see coming your way and then you have enduring the aftermath of the storm services, infrastructure, ability to live life. what do you think on that level, bill, are they ready down there? >> reporter: we can only hope so, right? they live in sort of mortal worry about being cut off from the mainland, the tide line, the extension cord of power that connects miami-dade down to the rest of the keys, monroe county. that went out last night so nobody has electricity down here. we're running off the car battery right now. and then there's water, fresh water, a line that comes along

the overseas highway. they do have a plant, hopefully people stocked up and filled the tub and did what they had to do to prepare for that and then think about the sewage issues in low-lying areas, how that gets managed once the pumps go down. they do have a power generation plant in key west on stock island as well where they have use during peak days. normally - it's the tropics. we've been reporting 90-degree balmy days and air conditioning is going to be a distant luxury for a while. all of those little creature comforts in addition to when you think about the extreme needs. all the hospitals are closed in the keys right now. a lot of elderly folks who couldn't leave, had nothing to do with rugged individualism. they were too frail, too elderly to go out.

those people have sheltered in place. there are volunteers down there taking care of them. hopefully they're doing okay but life is about to get considerably harder for all the folks down here used to paradise. >> going to be paradise lost for some time to come. bill, stay safe. stay out of it while you can. we'll check back in a bit. give us a heads up if the weather starts coming in and i'll come to you right away. we'll take a break here at cnn. we have people positioned everywhere irma is going to be. you see they're expecting millions to be without power and not just for hours, many will be for days, even weeks surviving the storm, enduring the aftermath, equally important components. when we come back, we're going to take to you miami beach. let's show you what's been going on down there as we go to break. derrick van damme is sitting in some really tough stuff so you can see the reality of irma. this is how he was just a few moments ago.

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tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. for tech advice. dell small business advisor with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. ♪ all right. now well over 300,000 are without power and we haven't seen nothing yet. hurricane irma has slowed but she is coming. now evacuations have been ongoing. this may be the last clear chance for some at least to get somewhere nearby. a note we shouldn't have to say but it has become part of the reality here. if you leave and you have pets, check the shelters. many of them you can bring your pet and if you can't bring your pet i get that they are family. we love our pets. but think about that and don't

leave them tied up outside. i know that sounds ridiculous. it's happening. they keep finding pets tied to trees outside. don't do that. think of a better plan. i know that this is a horrible thing to do to leave a pet behind, don't do that if he don't need to. put your safety first, of course, but think about what you're doing when you leave the pets behind. miami beach has been getting hit. these are the early outer, outer bands of irma still some 35 plus nautical miles away from key west but that doesn't mean that she's not hitting us already. derrick van damme is running around down there on ocean drive. he has been getting beaten up by the early stuff, and he joins us now. you told us your hotel lost power. does it have a generator? was it able to get it back? just as an example of the

confidence people have of the structures down there. >> reporter: we lost power and some of the guests staying there, i'm not sure if they were other media but they came down into the lobby because water was coming into their rooms setting off the alarms as well. there's a generator here fortunately giving power to the atrium in the center part of the hotel we're staying at but all the rooms have lost power and we'll see where it goes. i can imagine we're not the only ones near ocean drive because weather conditions have deteriorated. irma has arrived. check this out. i want you to see this sign behind me and how violently it's shaking. this is one of many road signs that can become projectiles and i will not step out of the shot but a few signs knocked over just behind us and with winds easily gusting 65 to 70 miles an hour near hurricane force those will be picked up quickly and

can cause serious harm. turn around so you can see where we are. we are on ocean drive. i want my camera man to step out of the way. thank you. we are in ocean drive. this is normally a busy time of the day. it's early morning and people want to take their dogs for a walk, go for a run, but not this morning. people have heeded the evacuations and got out of here. for the people who decided to stick around, well, unfortunately, that is not good news. the winds are too strong, they are pulling personnel off the streets here in miami beach. that was the directive when we talked to the mayor yesterday and i'm sure winds are now well over tropical storm force. that means it's time to bunker down and wait this out. chris? >> how about storm surge? the wind always gets the headlines but it's the water

that kills people, drowning the number one cause of death in a hurricane. it floods here routinely in parts of where you are. what do you see in addition of storm surge during irma? >> reporter: okay, this is definitely not ocean related but i just want to show you the water that is starting to pile up on the sides of the roads. we haven't had any storm surge as of yet but i can't see the ocean from where i'm standing. we have to remain protected here. it's about 150 feet to my left. and you can imagine with winds like this and all the fetch, the long distance this wind has traveled ahead of irma, it is pushing the atlantic ocean closer and closer to this southern peninsula of florida, and that is going to bring storm surge, three to five feet is the projected crest. you're right, chris, the most deadly part of any tropical system, that and flash flooding because of the heavy rain bands. >> all right.

so you're starting to see the flooding there. you had to deal with a little power outage. you had a generator there, though. this is the good news. the bad news is you really haven't seen the main parts of the hurricane yet you have about another eight to ten hours of this. what is your sense of how the situation -- how it's going to fare down there based on what you've seen so far? >> reporter: chris, you'll have to excuse me. i have to keep paying attention this way because i want to make sure there's no debris that's going to hit me. we do have another eight hours of at least this type of weather especially in the miami-dade coastline and it stings. it hurts. it's actually picking up some of the sand from the beach just down the road so extremely dangerous. i have to put this in perspective for people, do not be complacent in this storm. do not come back to miami-dade and the evacuation areas if you have evacuated because it's not safe. this storm is serious.

i weigh 160 pounds and i'm getings jolted and i'm protected by a wall behind my cameraman. you can imagine what 130 miles per hour will do up the coast -- naples, tampa, sarasota, it's going to be terrifying and destructive. chris? >> all right, brother, be safe. we don't need you to be a statistic. take some shelter. we'll check back with you in a little bit. that's derek van dam in the miami beach. the mayor there said don't come back when we found out the storm had shifted. people good renewed confidence. see, i didn't need to evacuate. i'll go back home. that would have been a mistake. now you're seeing why. derek pointed something else out, if you go out in those kinds of conditions, we want everybody to be safe.

you are asking for whatever comes your way. use your head, please, be safe. we're going to take a break. when we come back let's show you a picture of what's going on in a different area right now of florida. we're going to check in on what irma is doing in other parts of miami. look at the boats. it's a mixed message. you see that beautiful early glaze coming up from the sun but it is going to shed light on an ugly situation. stay with cnn. kevin, meet your father. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you.

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all right. we have new information for you about hurricane irma. you hear us talking about the eye. you hear us talking about walls of this storm. we are told now that the northern wall of the eye is starting to impact the florida

keys. that is the more intense hurricane type condition. so it is only a matter of time. let's go to john berman. he's in miami downtown. he is getting hit. remember, it doesn't have to be a direct hit to be a bad hit. john, take us through it. >> reporter: a significant development the northern eye wall is starting to hit key west but hurricane irma has been hitting the entire southern part of florida for some time now including right where i am in miami and the boats behind me really kick up over the last few minutes and, chris, you can't see it but these docks that go out -- and you were standing on one of these yesterday, one has broken off and is now floating off, floating off into biscayne bay behind me right now. i'm guessing we'll see a lot more of that as this morning goes on. we just checked with florida light and power, 250,000 people without power in miami-dade. we keep giving you the updated numbers to show you how quickly

this is changing. at 5:00 a.m. it was 170,000. we're up to 250,000 in miami-dade county alone. to put that in perspective we just checked with hurricane harvey when it hit houston, it made landfall on monday night. the worst flooding sunday into monday. 300,000 people without power, we're 250,000 at miami-dade alone and the worst of the storm is still to come. this is a different storm than harvey, but it shows you the damage that has been done already before it even picks up strength. chris, we're really starting to feel it now, the wind, these bands just lashing against miami-dade and it will stay like this for hours and you've heard the warnings all morning. if you have evacuated, don't come back. yes, the eye is not going to make an impact into miami, near miami, but the storm is having a huge effect. it is just not safe to go back to your home, at least not yet.

chris? >> yeah, we're watching that boat behind you as a good measure of what the wind is bringing your way as is your body as you get hit by the gusts. there's going to be the sustained winds and then the gusting winds and, john, dave was telling me that works like a one-two punch. that literally the sustained wind will hold up a structure or hold up a street sign and then the gust comes and snaps it off. >> reporter: that's exactly right. i'm 165 pounds of solid steel, chris. lean in but when the gusts come it picks you up and takes you away. you can see what it's doing to the boat. -- these things look pretty sturdy all night but clearly the consistent pounding they've been takinging is starting to wear, and i know you as a boat owner i'm sure you would hate -- the style of this big dock, this wood floating through the water.

chris? >> one of the realities is they use all those lines to tie up their boats to the docks and then the docks break off and so many boats get wrecked that way. that's part of the reality and we're worried about people not property. john berman, 165 pounds of solid steel. you heard him say it. i will confirm it. we're going to take a break right now. when we come back we're going to check in with allison chinchar in the national hurricane center, in our hurricane center, to find out what is new with this storm now that the northern wall of the eye is making contact with the florida keys. stay with cnn. can't wait for this information. let's get right to it. no need for a break. allison chinchar, what do we know about what this means about the northern wall of the eye? take us thr