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 through it, show us the

composition of the storm, what that northern wall means, and what it will be on the ground for those people in palm west and parts north. right. so the biggest thing is for those folks between key west and marathon. this is where the heaviest rain band is coming in. right now it's just 15 miles, the center of circulation is a mere 15 miles from the main point of the keys. again, that's not very far and the northern eye wall already starting to cross over. you can see the dark reds and yellows beginning to push over. that is torrential rainfall that is coming down so, again, it's probably going to be blinding for the few people, and we hope there aren't any but for anyone there, likely your visibility is zero when you have heavy rainfall like that. we did have some lightning but that has all gone away. i would like to point out oftentimes when you have the lightning really pull in around the eye wall that's actually a sign of weakening. we hope it stays that way although the lightning has now

gone away so it may have just been temporary. as the heavy rain comes in, those winds are going to increase to their max output already getting sustained wind reports around the keys of 130 miles per hour, sustained means consistent. this does not count the gusts which are even higher than that. now here is a look at where it's going to go forward. it will continue up the west coast. again, taking those reds, yellows and oranges on the radar, taking that incredibly heavy rain with it. we've already started to see those rain bands from ft. lauderdale push over to ft. myers as we speak. it's starting now and it's going to continue as that storm progresses off to the north. so, again, even places like tampa, orlando, you're going to start to see some of those incredibly heavy rain bands in just the next couple of hours. the winds have stayed the same. we are still at a category 4 storm right now of 130 miles per hour. the forward movement has picked up ever so slightly at about 8 miles per hour.

this will adjust some of those arrival times, not by a whole lot but by some, so keep that in mind for a lot of folks there. we've seen the expansion of tropical storm warnings and hurricane warnings from florida into portions of georgia, alabama, and south carolina. again, the track overall has seen a shift to the west by about 14 miles. that may not seem like that much to you. it takes it out of downtown tampa just to the west, over by st. pete. that may sound like a good thing for folks in tampa but actually what it does, chris, it pushes more of that storm surge into the tampa bay area so actually technically taking the track a little bit further west away from tampa makes it worse for tampa bay. >> all right, so two things you've taught us to remind people of at home. one, if it's not a direct hit, it can still be a bad hit. we're looking about 70 miles outside in diameter around this

eye itself. even if you're 70 miles away you can get hit with the worst of it. in terms of the time schedule of when it's coming, the speed at which the storm is moving, take us here in naples as an example of that. we are nowhere near the worst of it. these bands, these outer bands are softening, softening the ground and reducing the amount of what can be taken, what can be withstood. before the show i went down to the marina. the water there was already at the banks. so when the storm surge does come it's about duration as well as intensity. intensity matters, too. the northern wall is starting to touch down in the keys. we have people everywhere the storm is going. the bad news is bill weir is right in the path of irma and she's coming hard right now. bill, can you hear us? >> reporter: i can hear you,

chris, absolutely. she's getting nastier as first light breaks here over key largo. we're at the northern most biggest key about 95 miles or so from key west. my heart goes out to those folks who decided to stick it down there in paradise. it is anything but. we're start to go see as the light comes up all the downed trees, the boats in this harbor here bouncing up and down. it's interesting that force of wind quadruples as wind speeds doubles. so people who have lived through maybe tropical storm force, 60-mile-an-hour winds, maybe disrupted their lives for months or years afterwards, think of doubling that in some cases down here. there's the storm surge to worry about. we're not seeing any high water. we picked this spot because it is on the bay side. it is on relatively highland and it's all relative in the keys.

there's no such thing as high ground down here but so far looks like we're getting -- we're staying out of accumulated water while the wind is picking up. over on the atlantic side, though, even yesterday when things were relatively calm compared to this a place called the pilothouse, a popular restaurant here, they had a foot of water up to the door stop so i'm sure it's much worse even just a short distance from here over on the nastier side of the winds right now. all the power is out in the florida keys so unless you're watching us on generated power you won't hear the admonitions to stay away from windows at this time, build yourself a little mattress fort or shield when you think about flying projectiles at this point but as first light comes up this is one of those dangerous times because human nature makes you curious, makes you want to go out, to see what's happening, check your

property, maybe go charge your phone in your car. but that is when the bad stuff happens. everybody, all first responders, everybody in authority is saying shelter in place. it's just -- the worst is just beginning and who knows how long it will last, chris. >> understood. we're talking hours and hours. different here on the mainland but there is an asset in play. you can't call 911 once the winds get 40 miles an hour. the first responders won't go out. their safety matters. they are the best of us but they have to be there for the rest of us and it just doesn't rhyme, it's real. you do have each other. you get nervous, wem getting a little freaked, reach out to those around you, combine, cooperate, and wait out this storm. bill, we know that you are being safe and you're trying to get to a high point to see what's happening. you said you haven't seen anything in terms of water yet but what is the concern where

you are with storm surge and what it could do? >> reporter: well, there are so many different -- all right, here it comes. irma, here we go. yeah, the concern here is that everything is so vulnerable especially the salt water. we're in the northern part of the end of the everglades, that fresh/salt water mix which makes it a great place for biodiversity but that salt water gets up into car engines, into the wiring. five to ten foot storm surge would mean most of the florida keys would be over topped. back in wilma about 75% of key west was inundated and it happened in two separate waves. one in the morning and one at midnight. people thought it passed. it came back. so water is the fact of life when you live in this part of

the world. you come down here for the water because you want to boat, dive, or search for sunken treasure. a 10 foot storm surge just by perspective, you know, that's a one-story home. and we drove around yesterday thinking i wonder if there's any two-story parking garages where we can really secure our vehicle in case things get hairy. they don't exist on key largo. there is a dive shop which is our point of last refuge if the water gets too high, close to us here. it's three stories stone building. but that's a rarity. that's a skyscraper in the florida keys. so we're keeping an eye not just -- whoa! not just on these gusts as they start to crank but also on creeping salt water, chris. >> all right, brother, do me a favor, get to safety. the reporting is important, your safety is essential. so we'll check back with you in a little bit. let us know what we need to know

in the interim, all right? bill weir down there in key largo with his team showing you the reality, the romanticism of being a conch and the rugged individualism of being in the keys is giving way to a very wet, windy, and dangerous reality right now. elsewhere in miami, miami beach has been getting pounded and, again, we're just starting to see irma in earnest. so let's get to derek van dam down there around ocean drive, a famous place now infamous because of wind and water. how are you holding up? >> reporter: it's actually becoming increasingly more difficult to stand. we're in a sheltered area now, chris, but winds have really picked up. i daresay this has to be very close to hurricane force and the reason i say that is because we're checking some of the apps we monitor, the weather wind gusts. rosen steel school a couple miles up the road from where we

are, 63-mile-per-hour winds sustained. definitely gusting over 74 miles an hour. the threshold for hurricane force. the national weather service from broward county said that hurricane force winds should be expected this morning and into this afternoon. i'm in miami-dade county on south beach and it certainly feels hurricane force here. classic hurricane conditions behind us, trees, palm trees, there are signs that have been completely knocked over. we're protecting ourselves here because these signs, the coconuts and the tree limbs can easily become projectiles and we've said it before, we'll say it again, we don't want to become another statistic but it's important to show you what is happening here because there are people who did not evacuate this area. if they are watching this morning it's time to bunker down. go into the middle of your house, get away from the windows. use whatever protection you can to keep yourself safe that

includes pillows, your mattress, get under it because this will start doing structural damage. we've already seen it on the building that we're staying in right now, some minor structural damage to the awnings being ripped off. we've lost electricity and i'm going to turn around but i want my cameraman to be very careful as we do this. look down ocean drive. pretty much washed out by the horizontal rain. this is serious. i'm going to stay protected, chris. >> yeah. no, no, absolutely stay protected. you can see things without being in them that's just as important for us. the wind is going to frighten people and make them want to leave. the water will keep them from being able to leave. how is the flooding? >> reporter: okay, let's talk about what's happening here. you can see some of the buildup of the water. i'm going to say had is from the heavy rain squall that we're dealing with right now.

there's no doubt in my mind, chris, that with winds like this there's the long fetch or stretch of wind that's traveling across the atlantic ocean pushing up the water and we'll start to see that surge, the 3 to 5 feet can become a reality. we are forecasting it to come. we're going to watch out for that. i'm going to stay over here. >> stay out of the wind, my friend. we will check back with you. that is derek van dam showing you the early reality of irma as it is impacting south florida. let's take a break here. stay with cnn. when we come back there are a lot of people who didn't leave. some of them couldn't. some of them didn't want to. key west has the northern wall of the eye of irma impacting it now. we have someone there who decided to stay. we'll check in.

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all right, my friends, you are looking at the least of the worst. this is hurricane irma making its effects and its presence known in southern florida. we just heard that the wall of the northern part of the eye of the storm is actually affecting the keys. so this is the beginning of the real deal, the process that we're going to mark over the next 10 to 12 hours as irma starts on this path into and toward the florida mainland. the wind effect is obvious. the flood surge, though, storm surge, flooding, that has not kicked in yet. that is the major concern. the wind is the spectacle. it is the storm surge that kills. the number one cause of death in hurricanes is drowning.

that's why the officials were so concerned about that. so what happens to the people on the ground? that is the major concern. that is what drove the fear for evacuations. at last count over 380,000 people are without power. the authorities expect there to be millions without power, not just for hours but days or weeks. so the stakes are very high. that's why they wanted people to get out. not everybody heeded the call. when we talk about the keys that's the most vulnerable place. we have people everywhere the storm is going to be. you've been seeing bill weir and his team suffer through these first waves of what's coming to key largo. that's the biggest key. the closest key to florida. key west is the farthest one away. people wanted to stay there, too. we have jim hines on the phone. he wanted to stay. he is there now. what is the gentleman's name, is

it john hines? okay. can you hear me now, sir? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> all right. what is your current situation? >> i'm in a concrete building with storm shutters closed. it's quite the ruckus out there. quite the noise. >> all right. all right. all right, good, john. i know that a lot of people are giving you a hard time about staying behind. that is not why i'm talking to you, brother. i want you to survive. i want you to be safe. what do you know about the situation around you and how people are doing? are you in contact with anyone else? >> not right now. everybody is hunkered down. we're in a concrete building on the fourth floor. we have storm shutters closed. we're safe. we're above any kind of flood surge. the hurricane is not going to knock down a concrete building. a lot of my friends, first responders, are nearby in a concrete hotel. we're just hunkered down.

we're safe here. we have plenty of supplies, plenty of water, food, hootch, and we're good to go. >> did you just say plenty of hootch? >> yes, sir. [ laughter ] >> if can you keep your sense of humor that will help. it seems all the best wisdom in hurricanes always seems to rhyme. they say if you can face the drive, you can stay alive. and they say it is tough to beat concrete so you are in the right kind of structure. the concern for you, god willing you make it through the worst of irma and then it's about enduring the aftermath. do you have what you need to sustain yourself down there for one, two, even three days before they can start to get infrastructure back in place, power back and stuff you need for every day life? >> yes, sir. i have enough for a month, plenty of food, water. a lot of people were saying you have to get out. i don't want to leave. i have an emotional attachment

to key west. all my family's ashes are out in the atlantic. if a bridge goes out, everybody was talking about that, the bridge goes out and we're without supplies for a few weeks or a month, i'd much rather be home and on this side of the bridge closing than the other side where everybody is scrambling to find a place to live and find gas and 10 million people trying to get back home. i would rather be here. >> i hear you. the challenges are anywhere you look at it. check in with me and let me know everything is straight down there. as you start reaching out to others, just let us know how things are doing. again, i'm not -- i don't want to give you a hard time. i just hope your time there is not that hard, okay? >> yes, sir. thank you. >> all right. be safe. god bless. i'll check with you in a bit. john berman is at the tip of the peninsula of florida. he is in downtown miami. he has been getting buffeted by wind there as we start to see

the -- wow, look at that rain coming down on john berman as he struggles to stay put. a lesser man would have been blown away long ago. how are you doing, john? i'm trying to draw it out so i can have you there silent for as long as possible. >> shorter questions, chris. shorter questions. i can tell you it's raining. it's raining very, very hard here. the wind blowing as strong as it has now. clearly these bands now becoming closer not just to bands anymore but to the bulk of this storm. as you said the northern eye over key west right now which means that a more substantial part of the storm is moving over miami. we've been feeling it here since yesterday afternoon for some time. the winds just pounding us here. you saw derek van dam out of miami beach. i used to be able to see miami beach. now the rain falling so hard and the soup out there just so thick

kicking up that it is no longer even visible. i can see some debris, by the way, falling off the buildings over here, blowing in the other direction now coming our way. now we're start to go see the first sign of things really flying around here, chris, as the wind picks up. i've been giving you power updates throughout the morning, 250,000 people still without power -- i say still, that number will go up before it goes down. obviously the winds here knocking things out just left, right and center. again, when we could see miami beach out there all morning long, we've been seeing the mini bursts of green light as the transformers have been exploding and i haven't seen lights go on there. i think it's safe to say most of the power is out on miami beach where we are hard to tell but 250,000 people without power and as i've been saying to put that in perspective hurricane harvey in the height of the floods there were 300,000 people without power. so about equal right now and

really the worst of it now just beginning, chris. >> all right. so we know the estimates are getting close to 400,000 across the state without power. they expect it could be in the millions. the wind is what always gets the headline. as you know it is the water that winds up doing the most destruction, storm surge is a big concern. you showed us earlier that those boats, they tie the lines to the docks and often the docks give way. you saw one give way. any sign of increase in water level yet that's not just the tide but the storm? >> reporter: we've been watching that very, very closely for our own personal selfish reasons here. if we see it starting to rise we're going to get out of here and get out of here fast. the answer, chris, is not really. mostly right now it appears to be tidal. these docks you see behind me right now, these little docks that line the bay right here, the water goes up to them and maybe even over tops them occasionally just because of

tide and normal waves. so right now it still has some room to go for when the storm surge comes. again, with the winds like this pushing up the florida peninsula, the storm surge itself, the worst of it might not come for some time. they had been predicting 3 to 6 feet here in miami, the miami-dade area, and if that does happen then it would creep up over those docks completely, maybe even to where we're standing right now but not yet. not yet, chris. >> all right. thank you for that. we'll check back with you, john, as a friend of yours for many years the way your legs are whipping around in the wind speaks to a fundamental structural instability. you should probably tie yourself to something more resilient, maybe a small dog if you can find one, just to anchor you in place for when we come back to you. it's a good thing you didn't wear a hat. we're going to check back with john berman.

you take moments of levity when you can find them. this is just the beginning of hurricane irma. we are literally seeing the least of the worst. one of the assets we have at cnn we have a camera -- we have a system of cameras but we're going to be giving you shots of impact throughout the morning and the day and into the evening. let's show some of the pictures that we have so you'll see what the impact of the storm, what it's taking down when trees go down. when we start to see power outage, when we start to see structural problems, we'll start to show you the evidence of that on the ground. we'll have roving cameras they're able to show you. what are we seeing here? you see the palms go down and, remember, palms are built to bend. it's not a joke. it seems all the best wisdom about hurricanes seems to rhyme and that's what they tell but palms. they're built to bend. they also break and we're seeing that. the roads are going to get cluttered. the lights will come down. dave halsted says it's a one-two

punch, sustained winds weaken and then the gusts that are often much stronger come in and break things off, signs become projectiles. and they can hurt people, they can damage people and worse. and, remember, for first responders, this is a challenge. if the roads aren't clear, they can't get places that takes time. it extends rescue time. it makes a bigger window, flooding adds to that and, again, we cannot say it enough. the wind is the spectacle. we see it. it amazes but it is the water that kills. storm surge is the biggest component of danger when it comes to a hurricane. florida is uniquely vulnerable to storm surge. it doesn't take a lot to do a lot of damage here. we're going to take a break. when we come back we will give you the latest on the path of this storm, hurricane irma is making us wait but she's coming and when she comes here she's going to pack a punch.

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all right. we are seeing the least of the worst with hurricane irma. this is the impact of the storm on miami beach. she is here in earnest. it is not until 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. tonight that the eye will actually make landfall, but that is largely a term of art. that is largely the science of it. the reality of it is it's going on right now, even where we are further up west on the west coast in naples of florida, a place of particular vulnerability according to the governor. we're seeing it here. we've been getting hit for hours and hours and all of it makes the situation that much worse but the biggest update is that the northern part of the eye wall is impacting the florida keys. so this is really the beginning of what we want to monitor most

closely. we have assets everywhere that this storm is going to be. bill weir is on key largo with his team. he has been living the reality down there, and the bands have been coming one after the next, one stronger than the next. how is it now? >> reporter: it's the battle of the bands. each one trying to outdo the one before. it's really getting violent right now, chris. the treetops snapping, swaying, the boats bobbing up here. i don't know if you can see the one over my shoulder it's not moving because it's a rare one up on a lift. the rest of them we'll show you once we can find a safe window to show you. we're on the bay side. over on the atlantic side of key largo there are about five families hunkered down. i want to show you video to give you a sense of the personality of the people who stay behind in weather like this. if you see that woman in a

kayak, her name is carol. she has a sailboat called the hithey hither to yon. she says it's the only boat that survived andrew. some say that's a sign to move to the desert. we watched her put a steak knife in her teeth, paddle out to cinch up the boat next to her all laughing the entire time. we checked in with the folks over there doing well. they say there's some plywood that's been blowing around, some damage from across the street. miraculously somehow they have power, which is contrary to what we're hearing from the power company in the keys that says everybody is out of power. we wish we had power. we're running this live shot off a running car battery here right now. all up and down this archipeligo people like carol worries about

gas lines, what happens if a bridge goes out they won't be able to come back and infrastructure is the main concern but it's a laundry list of concerns, chris, from storm surges to sewage backing up. you have in florida a couple dozen super fun sites that have toxic chemicals that could be blown around by irma, nuclear power plants. the port of st. lucie, a litany of things to worry about. >> a long menu of potential suck in key west, the beginning of the key system, they're seeing gusts in the 90s right now. and what they're worried about where you are is, of course, the storm surge because the place floods easily normally. so how big a difference are they

expecting to see here with irma? >> reporter: big difference. that's why the calls for evacuation were so urgent. because wind you can hunker in, surround yourself with cushions. the people who live in the straw and the stick houses are usually banging on the doors of people who live in stone structures like this. when a storm surge is 5 to 10 feet with waves on top of that, that is devastation for a place like this. and key west saw a lot of that during wilma in 2005. it was a double wave, a double whammy and it took them time to get back on their feet. we're hearing from longtime conchs who are expressing just utter devastation emotionally over what will happen to their precious island. i mean, that's the thing so contrary as a gust takes my

breath away. this is so contrary to what the keys are about 350 days a year. it's paradise. a little hot but, you know, the blue skies, those pastel sun sets, the rum drinks, the jimmy buffett songs. that's why it's so romantic. this is the cost of living down here. >> the romanticism that, by the way, you have story told and chronicled really well. it wasn't what we were planning to do down here but you've had the time and the opportunity to give people a window into a culture that really is different than what most of us have experienced before, the price tag, though, as you say, that romanticism is giving way to a really ugly reality right now. let's hope it doesn't get too bad, keep the team safe, bill. i'll check back with you in a little bit. cameraman drying off the lens always a good thing.

so right now we're going to go to bill in key west. okay, national weather service, bill, sorry about the confusion there. i was looking at a woman on the screen there. that doesn't look like a bill to me. so it is good to have you. there you go. now that's a bill. i appreciate it. what do we know from the national weather service about what we're seeing right now. we heard about gusts in key west of 90 miles an hour plus. what are you experiencing there? what are you expecting there? >> well, it sounds really loud outside, i can tell you that. we're all locked in looking at the current radar it looks like the brunt of this eye wall is affecting bill coppitt key to big pine key. we can -- anybody within this

eye wall from key west to big pine key can look at basically damaging winds of 115 to 135 miles an hour. we're expecting this eye wall to be over the lower keys until about 9:15 a.m. so we're just going to sit tight and just monitor it and hope people went to their safest rooms if they're still here. >> all right, bill, please stay safe. the information matters. you matter even more. check in and let us know what we need to know, okay? >> okay, i will. >> all right. i appreciate it. derek van dam is one of our team. he is down there on ocean drive. now we keep going back to him because the place is really living the reality of what irma will do and do even more of and more intensely but look at what he's doing dealing with right now. derek, if it's safe for you to

take us through the situation, please do so. >> reporter: chris, i feel like i'm feeling the back wash of a jet engine. it just stings every time these gusts come through. it's picking up sand from south beach which is 150 feet to my left. look at what is happening to these trees behind me. you can see how they're getting bent over. we have some of them that have completely snapped. there's flooding in front of me from the heavy rain bands and i don't need to state the obvious here but we are officially in hurricane conditions. we have fisher island just to our south, a mile to our south reporting 79-mile-per-hour sustained winds, gusts have to be higher than that, 80, 85. i'm going to pan this way with my cameraman. you have to see down ocean drive. that is dangerous and we're protected here, just so you know. that street sign is wobbling out of control and there's another pedestrian sign behind it that

was a particularly strong gust, sorry, guys. there's another sign behind it that is completely toppled over. we've had some structural damage at the hotel we're staying, just minor but some of the awnings that are on the roof of the hotel, and it's just getting more and more intense here, chris, as the hours go on and we feel like the worst of the storm is still yet to come. anyone who didn't heed the evacuation orders here in miami beach, it's time to bunker down. it is time to take the storm seriously. do not come back to the evacuation zones. it has just begun and it's going to get worse. chris? >> well, 911 is no longer a practical reality until those conditions abate, and that could be many hours from now. we were just hearing from our meteorologist that you are not expected to see the intense impact of the eye wall until

somewhere between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. imagine that based on what you're seeing now and obviously we up here in the west are, well, i guess, looking forward to what you're seeing right now and worse. what about water and flooding, early signs of storm surge, what about that, derek? >> reporter: well, it's not safe for us to go anywhere near the coast to the water. i will show you the flooding behind me and this is without a doubt flooding from the heavy rain that we've had. ocean drive is susceptible to flooding, but as the water gets pushed ashore by the strong winds, hurricane force now, you can imagine that surge is going to be not too far from -- not too far behind. so 3 to 5 is the predicted storm surge that's inundation. where i'm standing right now potentially seeing water to my waist or higher, local variables and terrain playing a role there. if that happens, we are to our

fourth floor of our hotel room as quick as possible and, chris, we have to put this into perspective -- there's a tree flying down the road, the branch down ocean drive just coming down, i have to put this in perspective for you quickly because the winds for tropical force extend about 200 miles from the center of this storm, hurricane force winds about 100 miles and i weigh 160 pounds. if it's jolting me back and forth like this and we're only at 75, 80 miles an hour can you imagine what 130 miles an hour along the coast, sarasota, naples, ft. myers, tampa, what's that going to mean for you? >> well, we'll see, my friend. stay safe. keep the team safe. we will check back in a little bit. let's take a break. cnn is everywhere that hurricane irma is going to be. we now know that the northern part of the eye wall is impacting the florida keys.

we will take you through the latest, and we'll take you to the areas that are getting hit hard in florida. over 300,000, close to 400,000 people without power already. and, again, this is the least of the worst. if you're in florida, please stay safe and stay with cnn. ♪ we are not here to sit idly by. we are here...to leave a mark. experience a shift in the natural order. experience amazing. to to me he's, well, dad.son pro golfer. so when his joint pain from psoriatic arthritis got really bad, it scared me. and what could that pain mean? joint pain could mean joint damage. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop further damage

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we have roving cameras everywhere because there's going to be all different types of impact from this. we know that there are about 400,000 who have lost power already, millions are expected to lose power but debris but debris on the roads, what does that mean? time at a minimum, time to clear those roads so first responders can get out and get to people. the normalcy to life, the amount of time it will take to return to that. as the damage becomes manifest by this storm, we'll be showing it to you. now, one of the things that we've been seeing -- and you'll see these pictures online. we're starting to see this element of this dynamic in and around florida. what happens to the water? we keep telling you about storm surge. let's bring in allison chinchar, meteorologist. everybody is expecting elevations in water, increase in volume, what we call storm

surge. there can be a phenomenon at play that is equally arresting to see. i've been getting these images sent to me from the caribbean where docks were sitting in mud and the water seemed to be way out. why would that happen during a hurricane? >> right. we're starting to see that already now. that storm surge is pushing inland on the east side of the on west side it's doing the opposite. inland here is crossing over the keys. those outer bands push up the water. as the storm remains south wo, f you've got that water pushing in. that comes in on the east side. that's happening now. when the storm moves north, it will come back in on the west side. before it comes back in, it has to go somewhere. on the east side when you get that push inland for the east coast, it's taking the water back out on the west coast.

hopefully, no one is standing on the beach right now but if they were, you would see water where the sand used to be. it doesn't come back in gradually. it comes back in rapidly. that can be deadly. very fast. not that you should be out on the beach anyways. but if you are or planning to, do not. get back n as those winds begin to shift it will come back full force and, yes, it will go from a few inches to several feet very quickly. and that can be incredibly dangerous. not just along the beach but even a couple of blocks inland. we're expecting storm surge to push as much as 10 miles inland in some of these locations.

you have to contend with the storm surge but the winds that are 115, 110 miles an hour. >> bands and bands of soaking rain. not that intense. not intolerable by any means. not hurricane force by any means. over time it softens up this spongy ground and creates very little tolerance for much more. that's where the storm surge becomes dangerous, where structures and all this different debris and trees start to snap and start to fail. duration matters as well. thanks to allison. we'll check back in with her in a little bit. is a tsunami coming, people were asking? that is somewhat similar. you see the water coming in and the energy redistributes. that's not what's coming with this hurricane. don't worry about that. we have plenty of other things to be concerned about.

you look at the southeastern part of florida, okay, you have palm beach. then you have west palm beach which is, of course, adjacent to it. that is that near coastline in florida. mandatory evacuations in place. a lot of people didn't want to leave. brian todd is there. he had been going around west palm beach and watching police go door to door. they're hoping that those efforts paid off. what's it like there right now? this is our first look at you this morning. >> reporter: chris, can you hear me? something cut out. if you can hear me, chris. we're in a very dangerous, very dangerous wind burst here in west palm beach. it's a very violent situation now. we're susceptible to tornadic activity all day long. our cnn weather team told us pop-up tornadoes are going to be coming all day long here. we feel like we're just about on one right now. this is flagler drive. palm fronds over here can be

projectiles. they've been coming down all morning. we're really getting tossed around. we're in the northeastern quadrant of this storm which means it will be a very intense burst of energy of this storm all day long and that means pop-up tornadoes. we've been under tornado warnings last night till today. one local resident called us. he's worried about those modern art sculptures there. we did see sand bags around them but those things could be starting to fly later on. we've got a couple of construction sites near here with flying debris and cranes we'll keep on here. as winds keep up, another thing to keep our eye on here are telephone and power lines. got to keep our distance from them as well. storm surge to worry about here as well, chris. we are very low to the water here in west palm beach. i'll have our fophoto journalis pan over here. intercoastal waterway. very low to the water. storm surge will be an issue. that's coming later.

the wind bursts that are really pelting us around right now. really presenting the most danger right now. technically this may not be hurricane force winds. it certainly feels like t tornadic activity, chris, will be especially dangerous in this part of south florida. >> all right. brian, thank you very much, for getting us up-to-date. you do have a lot more to come. let's take a break right now. when we come back, new information. it's not good. there is a tornado warning in effect for parts of southern miami and miami beach area for at least the next ten or 15 minutes. things happen quickly and they can be very dangerous. we'll check in. stay safe if you're in florida and, please, stay with cnn. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way

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it is the size of a state, 70 miles in any direction away from that eye will