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

hurricane force winds well over 100 miles from the eye will see tropical storm force winds. we are in naples, florida, on the west coast, an area of particular vulnerability. especially to storm surge. and we have been getting wet and hit hour after hour. it all hits and soaks and the duration can make damage that much worse. here is the good news. cnn is everywhere the storm is going to be. we will show you what happens in real time. allison chinchar has been taking us through it all morning long. we've seen a shift in the path. now we're seeing a real deal in the keys. lay it out for us. >> top of the 8:00 hour, we are starting to see that center of circulation. it's about to make landfall over

the florida keys. the biggest change in that latest advisory is seeing westward movement and taking on more of a true and north forward movement. even slight changes like that, going from a little bit west to more north-northwest, that can ultimately change your landfall times for some of these places. here is the look, northern i/wall into the keys. that's crossing over. we're about to get into that central circulation of the eyewall, meaning many of these keys from key west to marathon are now getting hit with some of their strongest winds that they are going to see. in addition to likely the heaviest rainfall that they've been experiencing. impacting places like tampa,

toward the panhandle of florida and into other southern states such as georgia, south carolina, alabama when we push into monday. storm surge has been one of the biggest stories we've talk about in addition to the winds. you'll notice these numbers have lowered. it's because we've started to see that storm surge. these areas where you see one to two, three to five, they've already had storm surge push in so the additional amount will be smaller. the water is retreating along the west coast. as the storm moves north it will pull all that water back in, fast and furious. you do not -- not that you would want to be on the beach now anyway with lightning and heavy rain and potential for tornadoes but you certainly don't want to be there when that water comes

back n 135 for the maximum wind gust expected around key west. 147 for ft. myers. even as far north as tallahassee, we're nearing 100 potenti potential miles per hour for that maximum wind gust. we've seen the expansion, chris, of the watches and warnings across the southeastern states. we've taken the hurricane warnings all the way to the georgia state line. but even the city of atlanta, chris, now under a tropical storm warning. 52 of 67 counties, hurricane warning. the governor has made it plain for days and now the reality is here. we have bill weir in key largo. let's check in right now.

what's the situation? >> reporter: i can hear you, chris. it's really cranking up here as irma huffs and puffs and tries to blow us all down. i've become increasingly thankful for building codes in south florida, many of them stiffened after hurricane andrew. we are hunkered down in a concrete -- whoa, condominium complex. i just saw a huge branch come snapping off this tree right around the corner. we don't want to move our camera out to the spot to show you but take my word for it, irma is trimming all the trees in this neighborhood. right now, it's blinding sheets of rain and we are on the biscayn ebay side. it's even rougher on the atlantic side of key largo. uh-oh, there goes my -- hang with me. hang with me. it is even rougher over on the atlantic side where several people are riding out the storm

near their boats but even worse in key west. chad myers, allison chinchar called us, so precise, said it would hit you at 8:15, 8:30. boy, were they right. sea wall in key west, the streets that we've seen and some of the live cam pictures where we were doing live shots from in front of sloppy joe's on duvall street the water is coming up there. it's the wind and the water. you hide from the wind. you run from the water. the urgency has only gotten stiffer here, chris. >> any sense of a storm surge yet? >> not yet. we're looking at the live cams

to try to gauge that but we won't be able to get out and explore for several more hours. we don't want to kaucatch a str sign in the side of the vehicle or in ourselves, obviously. >> i can't, in good conscience, leave you out there to get battered. get inside. john berman is in downtown miami, feeling much more of the real hurricane-type impact there. he's on the water. he has been seeing it change in real time. john, how is it now? >> reporter: it is really windy, chris. we had to move our shot. not me, i'm going to get wet and blown around wherever i stand but the camera, the wind was blowing the rain straight into

the lens. we saw a piece of wood fly off this building. right into a car window parked nearby. actually tweeted out a picture of that. you have to be very, very careful in conditions like this. we're getting wind gusts that are 80 miles an hour, hurricane force. not sustained. they were over 40 miles an hour. i know that. miami beach, which is behind me, the first responders have now said they're done for a while. they will not come out in & respond to calls because they can't. when the winds are blowing more than 40 miles an hour, it is simply not safe for them to be out and moving about. that message came out from miami beach a few minutes ago. tornado warnings for southern florida. everyone's phones went off en mass, telling people to be on alert, on the lookout. the winds are picking up and swirling. we felt them swirling. we're getting it now from every

possible direction. did check again with the power company. 340,000 people now without power in miami-dade county alone. that number has doubled, chris, since 5:00 when we first came on tv this morning. the power outages continue to go up as it storm continues to grow in intensity. anything we get here isn't as bad as what you're going to see on the west coast as this remarkable day continues. chris? >> intensity and duration. intensity and duration. we're going to get it worse and how long, because everything gets more vulnerable with water, wind and time. control room, if you can get better numbers, let me know. online i was seeing a raw estimate of half a million people without power. and the word from the government here is that it's not going to

be just hours. it will be days and weeks. john, get yourself, get yourself some cover with what's going on right now. we'll try to get a sense of storm surge down there also as john has been telling us, he has watched the water change on that shore line. he watched a dock break away that people tie their boats to. the storm surge hasn't come in yet. once it does, that's what we really need to start to watch. why? because the wind catches your eye. it's the spectacle. it always gets the headlines with the miles per hour. but the number one cause of death in a hurricane is drowning. that's about storm surge. we'll take a break. when we come back we'll check in with all the areas that irma is hitting right now. just as important, where she's headed next and when. stay safe if you're in florida, please. if you're watching, stick with cnn. [king] as king midas, i expect things to last a looong time.

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all right. we are here in naples, florida, on the west coast of the state. this is an area of particular vulnerability. it can't take a lot of storm surge. it is going to get a lot of storm surge by the latest projections and we've been getting hit with band after band of rain. we haven't seen anything like what is going to come this way. it is futile to try to stay dry. i'm wearing a hat. i don't even know why. everything is wet. it's just the reality here. it is the least of concerns. let me show you a picture of what irma has done so far. some roaming sense of the reality here. i'll give you the numbers of the latest headline as well. solid category 4, reenergized. it is the size of a state. irma is uniquely large. hurricane force winds will

extend 70 to 75 miles in every direction from the eye. tropical force winds are going to stem over 100 miles an hour in all directions from the eye. we have seen a raw estimate of about 500,000, half a million people without power. authorities say to expect 3 to 4 million to lose power. they say 36 million people are exposed to this hurricane. 52 of the 67 counties in florida have been issued hurricane warnings. so this literally now statewide. they're going to be dealing with two things. intensity and duration. what you're looking at right now doesn't look great. let me tell you something, that was good news. the storm surge hasn't happened yet. that picture of the beach is nothing like what you're going to see. storm surge is going to be the story here. the wind gets the headlines, the miles per hour. but the number one cause of death in a hurricane is

drowning. i keep saying that for people because we need them to be careful about storm surge. flooding, drowning, that is the concern where people are involved. all right. so, those are the numbers. right now, the northern part of the eyewall is impacting the florida keys. key west specifically. so, we are now at the beginning. but we are still seeing the least of the worst. we'll start checking in with people now. where do you want me to start, adam? who should we start with? cnn has assets everywhere. okay. down in miami proper, around miami beach, we had eric van damme. his shot went down. they're dealing with it. one of the realities of dealing with storm surge. wplg showing you miami in real time but let's show you derek

van damme's last hit so you can see what they're dealing with in the famous ocean drive area. this is the least of the worst. >> reporter: chris, i feel like i'm feeling the backwash of a jet engine. it just stings every time these gusts come through. it's picking up sand from south beach, about 150 feet to my left. look what is happening to these trees behind me. you can see how they're getting bent over. some of them have xloelt 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, they're reporting 79-mile-per-hour sustained winds. gusts 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.

we're protected here, just so you know. that street sign is wobbling out of control. there's another pedestrian sign behind it that -- that was a particularly strong gust. sorry, guys. there's another sign behind it that has completely toppled over. structural damage at the hotel we're staying. minor but some of the awnings 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 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, nobody is going anywhere in those conditions. we'll check in with derek, make sure he's okay once they get their shot back up. all this technical stuff goes

with being in a hurricane. everything gets affected adversely. we'll give you another point of view now. up the east coast north from where derek was to ft. pierce. there, courtesy of wptv, we have alyssa hyman who sent in this report of the reality on the ground there right now. let's take a look. >> literal. we are just getting pelted here in ft. pierce. you can see the winds and rain just pelting us. here in ft. pierce, the intersection of virginia avenue and andrew avenue. you can see the standing water that's here in this intersection. if you look over here, this is what we're dealing with. cars are just stuck in the water. and i do believe that the water has gotten higher since we've been out here. obviously this car not going anywhere. we've seen tow trucks out here trying to help. at this point it doesn't look like these cars are moving. first responders coming out here. two cars over here are stranded.

the owner of this car, we saw, come out here, try to get it moving. they're not getting it anywhere at this point. you can see these bands we're feeling right now. they're extremely strong. the winds, the rain and obviously just pushing this floodwater west. we're hearing from the county at least 20 streets or intersections seeing this kind of flooding. we're seeing cars drive up to this intersection, seeing what's going on, having to turn around, make a u-turn, realizing it's just not safe to pass. we've got some first responders out here. these are the only people that should be on the road. i'm going to turn to the side so it's not as strong. this is what's going on here in ft. pierce. the track of the storm is west but we are still feeling it and feeling it very strong. this is a message to everybody out there. just stay home. it is not safe out here on the roads. you don't know how deep these waters are. look at these stranded cars.

i'm going to send it back to you guys in the studio. >> all right. alyssa, thank you very much for that report. wptv, one of our affiliates. everybody is working together on this. we are all in the storm coverage together. alyssa said something there very important to hear. this is the least of the worst. that's the eastern coast of florida. it is the west coast where we are here in naples, tampa bay north of us, these are areas of particular vulnerability and now much more in the storm's path. we'll take a break here. we're not supposed to see the roughest part of this here, where we are, until tonight. how will we hold up over time? the impact, the duration of the storm is part of the story. we'll bring you more updates from areas that are getting hit right now. stay safe if you're in florida. stay together because that's the best hope you're going to have until first responders can get back out after the storm.

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all right. i want to show you a picture from ft. pierce. this is the first look at what's going to happen with the wet effect of hurricane irma. we are seeing the first real hurricane impacts now. now, in the keys, they're seeing gusts up to 90 miles an hour, near hurricane force gusts in key west. this is the northern part of the eyewall of irma, all right? the storm is so damn big that you will see hurricane-type effects hundreds of miles away. you're going to see tropical storm effects. hurricane force. this is ft. pierce. this is just rain. that's not even storm surge. remember, with the hurricane,

the danger comes in the accumulation of different effects. the wind. the water. the storm surge. the weakening of structures. it's the accumulation of these types of threats. so that was ft. pierce. that's the east coast of florida. all right? in quotes, the safe part of the state right now. the west coast, where we are in naples, up in tampa, unique vulnerabilities to storms. we will see the worst of hurricane irma here in the late afternoon to early evening. they're seeing it much sooner down south. let's get to brian todd. he is in west palm beach. mandatory evacuation zone. he was going with police, watching them go door to door, asking people to leave. many remained there. he is now seeing why they were supposed to get out firsthand. brian, how is it now? >> chris, really violent storm

surge here all morning long. debris, flying debris, is really a danger right here. right off flagler drive in west palm beach. what we're told by our cnn weather team is that we are on the so-called dirty side of the storm. violent push of energy and violent activity. pop-up tornadoes, we're told, will be occurring all day at and where we are now. it's very violent on the street right now. palm treem trooes are under severe strain here. we're keeping a close eye on them. i'm sure you note from being out there, what you have to do constantly is look up for flying debris, watch out for yourself and your team as things are flying around on the street. we're keeping a close eye on these power and telephone lines here. another danger, these massive palm fronds. this thing probably weighs 25 pounds or so. these things are getting tossed around like they're nothing. several over here on the street and we can show you another potential danger as we walk over

toward the street. there is a construction site just beyond that mural there on the wall. flying debris. there's a whole pile of asbestos there that's covered. some local residents tell us they're worried about that. anything can become a hazard here when the wind is whipping around like this and pop-up tornadoes will be the reality all day. storm surge. we are right on the water here without any barrier between us and the intercoastal waterway. this entire area could get flooded out later on, chris. >> brian todd, thank you very much. kyung lah is in miami beach. they're seeing wind and water and it's getting worse. kyung? >> reporter: hurricane force winds are now sweeping through miami beach. rescues have stopped by the fire department and police department here. we'll explain, coming up.

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all right. these are live pictures of miami right now. this is hurricane irma. we are starting to see the full effects here. this is the least of the worst. we have an update. it's not good news. there are now approximately 600,000 people without power in the state of florida. now, that is just central and southern florida, okay? and we have not seen the worst of the storm yet. this is why the government warned they expect to see 3 to 4 million without power. not just for hours. maybe days, even weeks. there's a big reason they were pushing those evacuations. let's get to the reality on the ground right now. miami beach is getting hit hard.

kyung lah is there. i don't know for how long but she's there right now. kyung? >> reporter: we're getting pounded pretty hard, chris. this is what is headed your way. it is likely to be -- whoo! i'll leave it at we're getting pounded pretty hard. take a look at some of the debris we're seeing on the ground. signs are breaking off, things are flying in the air. basically splitting in half. what we're seeing throughout here is a lot of debris on the ground, a lot of wind. and this is because we have the beach right over here to my left and an open space, when you try to walk through miami beach through the commercial district, it's much worse than this. that's why miami beach police and the fire department have had to stop rescues. what they have told us this morning is that the winds are far too dangerous.

these are hurricane forced winds. the closest monitoring station we are told is that sustained winds are 70 miles per hour. simply too dangerous for any rescues to take place. essentially they're saying if you call 911 here in miami beach you just have to -- you're on your own because this area was under a mandatory evacuation. curfew has lifted but, again, take a look at the street here. it is completely empty. you can't drive down this street. you can barely walk down the street. the fact that we can stand here -- i'm not sure how much longer we can stand out here. it is extraordinarily difficult. one other thing i want to give you a look at. you can see this palm tree over here. it's basically tipped over. one of the concerns here is flying debris.

what we haven't quite seen yet is a storm surge. that's very good news here. there's some -- you can see water on the streets, as we've tried to take a look around miami beach but there isn't any major flooding that the fire department says they've had to respond to, that the city pumps appear to be working and as far as that huge surge, the idea of a five-foot surge coming in, that simply has not happened here. that is very good news for the people here in miami beach. the fire department is aware that some people have not evacuated but so far there are no reports of any major injuries or -- sorry, major injuries or deaths. chris? >> all right, kyung, get somewhere safe. i'm not going to test the fates

with you any more. showing good dexterity there. no reason to play around too much. things get bad real fast in those kinds of conditions. let get to john berman, who has been watching the water rise and effects of early impacts of storm surge, wind and water as hurricane irma is starting to be felt for real in south florida. how are you now, my friend? >> you know, the wind is blowing here. we're starting to see the waves really kick up. just for perspective, kyung lah is out there. miami beach is out there past this little bay. so this is a protected waterway. even here, the water bouncing up and down and the boats behind me really bounce iing up and down. pretty seriously right now. those jet skis back there. i'm not so sure how long they're going to like being where they are right now. up on this building we are seeing things flap up and fly that way. we're being very careful of the debris around here. that could be very, very

dangerous. piece of wood broke off and broke a car window that was nearby here. you're talking about power outages all over the state of florida, chris. now 450,000 in miami-dade county alone. 450,000 people without power in miami-dade. and miami-dade not expected to see the worst of this storm. that will be in the west where you are. a lot of misery to come. it will take some time to get this power back up and running. you can see right now why there were mandatory evacuations in these zones next to the water here. the water has been rising. albeit slowly. this is not kind of place you would want to be right now. moreover, what officials really want people to know is if you have evacuated, don't come back. don't come back to these areas until officials tell you it's safe. like kyung lah was saying in miami beach you're on your own

for a little while with winds gusting well over 40, 50 miles an hour in places where we are right now. if irs responders aren't available. they're not going to get out there and help you because it's not safe. it's not safe for anyone to be out there right now. dockets behind me, they will get covered in waves. waves will lap up against them normally in high tide. we're watching them carefully. high tide not for a couple of hours right now. if the water starts to be above them consistently, that will be a sign that the storm surge here is coming in. we'll probably move up until that point. right now not so much. we think it is relatively safe. we'll keep our eye on it, chris. >> give us the difference of what one and six feet would mean in terms of coverage in that area and news in your situation?

how are we doing with the dope factor? is anybody out there, trying to spec at a time the storm? hopefully you're not seeing that. >> reporter: no. we saw one person out here about an hour and a half ago walk out to their boat. which i thought completely unwise. one person went out, checked the ropes and left. none of the boats have come loose but one of the docks did split off and floated away. i suspect there could be more of that in the next hour or so, chris. >> all right. john, stay safe. stay inside. monitor that situation. let us know what we need to tell everybody else. i'll check back with you as soon as you say so. we have people everywhere that irma has been, is expected to go and is right now. that takes us to the keys. bill weir, he and his team are in key largo, watching the fates

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the debris lifts up and it comes at your head. and if you're not wearing something protective -- like that. you want to make sure you're aware of what's happening around you. it becomes increasingly more difficult as the winds get worse. we're starting to see some of these -- >> kyung lah there in miami beach moments ago. sign came down. she was lucky she wasn't any closer to it. there is a strong argument to be

made that standing in a storm is not a smart thing to do. we do it so you don't have to, so we can give you the information you need to hopefully satisfy your own curiosity. it matters because people remain behind and you have to know what's going on so we know how to help them after these storms and we can chronicle the impact. it's a reminder that we are all in it together, whether you're in florida or not. this is something that should be of acute concern. kyung lah, that is why she puts herself in harm's way. we're on the west coast where the future of irma -- this area has particular vulnerabilities. kyung is in the thifg thick of it, there now, bracing herself. kyung, you got lucky, my friend. you're a pro. we have to take our chances carefully here. how is it right now? >> reporter: before we chose this spot we took a look overhead and all the coconuts are clear from the trees.

again, we take a calculated risk because we want people to know where you are. on the western side of the state what is coming your way. and this is just one part of it. remember, miami and miami beach is not in the heart of the eye. the eye is -- it's going to be worse for you. that's important to know. that street sign that you were just showing, this is it over here. it just came down. it's a number of street signs, if you look across the street. all these trees. a lot of the coconuts that used to be there, they're all gone. they have flown away. that is one of the concerns that the fire department and police department have, all the debris on the street, that this becomes a flying projectile. wind is very dangerous. there is good news to tell you. the storm surge -- we haven't seen the major flooding, the

anticipated five to ten feet in the earlier forecasts. we simply haven't seen it. there's minor flooding on the streets. you can tell that water is shooting all down the street, that all these buildings, because they do have storm protection on their windows and doors, we've not seen glass flying through the air at least as of yet. they are very thankful they're not having storm surge. we do know there are still people in miami beach. overnight the miami fire department before this latest gust of wind came in, the miami beach fire department had to make some calls. they've been running around, trying to deal with fires, gas leak that explode d. what we're hearing from them now is that they can't make calls in this kind of wind. you can tell why.

you can't drive down the street in this type of wind. you can barely stand in it. for them to put themselves out there, to rescue people, to pull them out of elevators where they may be stuck because parts of miami beach now have no power. we woke up to no power. they can't put themselves in harm's way. the fire and police department here had told -- had tweeted out that they simply could not make rescued after sustained winds of 30 miles per hour. let me tell you, chris, we are absolutely there. they are not going to be out there. if you remain in miami beach, you are on your own. west side of florida, this is what is coming your way except it is anticipated to be worst. if you didn't believe the forecast, let me tell you, get inside. do not stand near glass. be prepared. these are very dangerous

conditions. chris? >> all right. kyung, time to take your own advice, get you and the crew to safety right now. we'll check in with bill w with eir to key largo. thanks to kyung lah for showing you the wet face of reality there. bill weir has been seeing it get worse and worse. it is different where he is right now. bill, they recorded near 100-mile-an-hour gusts in south florida. i'm sure you can match that where you are. >> reporter: i believe it. this is next level. i'm not going to use the word i would like to use. irma is getting nasty. i literally am taking cover here. this is not trying to have a flare for the dramatic. i'm underneath a stone carport here away from the wind.

leeward side of this complex where we are now. as you can see, it is like standing in the shower. rain gear is useless against this kind of deluge. the wind has been shifting. that's the thing that's a little bit scary. at a certain point you get used to the treks of the wind and you adjust for t now it's so squirrely, it's circling around us. we'll probably have to move to the next carport over to protect our vehicle and what dry cables we do have left. trees are now split, patchy when we got here, are now becoming stripped bare. signs that were up are blowing horizontally through the air. the boats in this little hurricane hole harbor, which they consider safe, are bouncing around like corks in a jacuzzi. the smart ones had the

wherewithal to lift their boas s up out of the water. high tide isn't until this evening. and that's going to make things even worse on this, on the dirty side, the biscayne bay side. folks down in the keys, i'm really kind of howling into the wind when it comes to talking to them. unless they're on generator power most of the keys are out of power. we checked moechlts a eed momen people have power, i don't know how that's possible right now. but heading towards you up the west coast, this is serious. this is really serious. this is time to get inside. it's time to fill your tub with water. put a little bleach in there. don't drink it. that's for everything but drinking. it's time to charge your cell phones. have your shoes ready, chris. it's getting real.

>> my friend, stay safe. the report something important. you are essential. i've been saying it to you all morning. it's been invaluable to have bill weir and his crew in key largo. why? they are the doorstep to the entrance of hurricane irma into florida's reality. key west is the starting point. they're seeing the northern part of the eyewall and that is the beginning of the worst of hurricane irma. we're not supposed to see it here until early evening. bill weir is the ghost of christmas present. it could be in the millions, not just for hours and days but weeks, that could be without power. we'll take a quick break. "state of the union" with jake tapper and hurricane irma coverage will continue. if you're in florida, please, stay safe. if you need information, stay with cnn.

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hi. i'm jake tapper. the eye of hurricane irma is barreling through the lower florida keys right now, major category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 miles an hour. the