all right. hurricane irma still battering the state of florida. 75-mile-per-hour sustained winds. gusts much higher. storm surge affecting the entire state. at latest count, 5.7 million people without power. as the storm moves north, the numbers only grow. 150,000 are still in shelters. with good reason. in jacksonville, a place that was not supposed to see any major action, they already set a storm surge record. they broke a 1964 mark from hurricane dora. that is the kind of history you don't want to make. alison is new york, anderson in tampa, john in miami. and we are here in naples.

it's good to have everybody here to talk about what happened. what is happening is matters just as much. sara seidner is in daytona beach. they are getting hit with winds right now. that was another place that wasn't supposed to see irma in new serious way. you are getting smacked right now. >> reporter: it wasn't supposed to be like this. it wasn't forecast to be like this. irma had been an ornery storm. hitting the entire state. finally it's daylight. we have been up all night. and the winds have been ferocious. they have been punishing. they have been strong enough to knock us over. i have my producer holding a light, my cameraman bracing the camera. but now we have daylight. now the storm is starting to go away, except for you have blue skies and we aren't anywhere

near those blue skies just yet. what you are seeing right there -- look at those waves. these are not typical waves on daytona beach. this is where people love to fun and sun. college kids loved coming out here. what you are seeing is an angry sea. you can see whitecaps on very large waves coming in. what is the good news is we are not seeing the same kind of flooding that we saw during hurricane matthew, which was just a year ago. the boardwalk covered in water. the owners told us they took a truckload of sapped out of their

businesses for hurricane matthew. what kind of damage did the sustained winds that no one was expecting to show up do? that remains to be seen. first responders here risked their own lives to try to save 20 to 25 people that were here, that decided to stay. they didn't think it was going to get this bad. tropical storm force winds. not 225 miles from the eye for example when it was hitting tampa. they thought we're fine. then here they are dealing with you hurricane force winds. when they say shelter in place, even if you think the storm is gone, you have to listen to authorities. chris? >> reporter: sara, it is anderson in tampa. i want to talk to police chief

craig capri in daytona beach to get a sense of what he and his officers have been doing as dawn begins to break. chief, appreciate you joining us. >> no problem. >> you're still probably assessing the situation in daytona beach. i'm wondering what you have seen so far out there. what kind of things have you been respond to go? >> we had a calm from people in a low lying area apartment complex calling for help. we rescued about 25 people with the high water trucks and got them out of there. we got everybody out and no one was really injured. >> sara was talking about how the storm was not expected to hit daytona beach in the way that it did, to affect them the way that it did. you have seen flooding before. how does it compare this time to

the last time? >> a lot better. >> from midnight to 4:00 in the morning, the water rose fast. goes to show how quickly it will turn on you. nobody is hurt. a lot of the streets look good. a lot of debris in the roadways are clear. last year we cleared most of that stuff out. we're just not seeing it right now. >> what's the task ahead? >> we're going to go out and see if anybody needs help and try to get them help. the winds have died down tremendously. probably 35, 40 right now. we will go out and see if we can help some people. that's what we do. >> and we're very thankful that

you do that. appreciate your time. wish you the best, all your officers have been working around the clock the last couple of days. chris, the situation in tampa, certainly the big concern here was the potential for storm surge, hurricane force winds. we have been watching the water come back in. sit higher on the hillsboro river than it was this time of the morning yesterday. as you know, we watched all the water being sucked out. it has all returned plus. tampa has areas that floods. we have seen police going on. they are basically assessing any kind of damage. we will bring you any reports as

they come in. >> reporter: all right, anderson. obviously the job just beginning for those first responders. for a lot of them, they are not able to get going because the storm is still coming. the story in tampa, in naples. let's get to chad myers. again, people are waking up this morning and saying what is she doing. what do you see now? >> the center of circulation north of tampa, in fact, 70 miles west of sara seider in daytona. 80, 90-mile-per-hour gusts. the center of circle aueugsz as we push water on shore. the center right about there. the storm surge across the northeast coast of florida, into georgia, about eight feet.

the water has been piling up so long. the surge in the tampa bay expected somewhere around three feet. the eye is so far gone. we didn't get the surge like we had in marco or naples, which went up eight and a half feet in 15 minutes, which is pretty significant. jacksonville, st. augustine to bankruptcy wick. i had five more minutes worth of stuff to say about this forecast, but anderson, i'm tossing it to you. >> reporter: three feet of storm surge. that is much less than expected. they were anticipating 5 to 8 feet. fearful of 5 to 8. the river is a couple feet higher than it should be in a normal day.

jim grass over in orlando where the winds have been strong. brynn, that are you seeing? >> reporter: we are getting some strong ones. in fact, the sign above our hotel, if you imagine a coffee table size sign, that got blown off and practically into our live shot. our producer is hunkered behind a pillar. and my photographer behind a stat statue. i'm like a parachute to the wind. that's how strong these gusts are. i have to have some sort of strength. we just had a big awning, if you heard that crash, a huge awning from or hotel just shattered down as we're talking right now. it is not over here. that's the point. i've got to mention that right now there are rescue efforts going on right now with the

national guard and orange county fire and rescue west of where we are. there were 24 hours that got flooded very fearly. everyone in there had to be rescued. can you imagine emergency personnel trying to get everyone out safely as these winds are so strong. john? >> reporter: i'll take it, brynn. be careful out there. j.b., sorry about that, buddy. i stepped on you. you know brynn's reality as well or better than anyone. for you down there, you know, miami was supposed to be spared. not only that, but the duration. 6th time i look at the coverage, you were dealing with in terminable waves of rain and wind. >> it was hours upon hours.

100-mile-per-hour gusts. we had the two crane collapses. this is brickell neighborhood. i can't even describe how weird it is this morning. flat-out weird. we are starting to see a few cars go by. normally at this time this place would be packed. this is the financial district of miami right now. brickell avenue. yesterday it may as well have been brickell river. the storm surge higher than five feet. biscayne bain is over there. it pushed up over the seawalls and came gushing to where i'm standing now. as far as back as you can see, water flowing down the street. we have car alarms going off. no one going back to work.

a few people checking out the damage, seeing if they can get home. officials say just wait. let them clean up what they can. but miami, i think they feel like they missed the brunt of the storm. just getting a sense of a million people still without power. hurricane irma nowhere near done. kaylee? >> reporter: john, be we have been standing by for the 6:00, 7:00 hour here in gainesville where the worst of i some was expected. the last hour was supposed to be the worst. you have to feel like gainesville was spared. this storm is starting to break

up. in the next hour there could be a little bit of activity. 75-mile-per-hour winds were feared here. they have been enough to topple trees all over town. half the city's traffic lights are out. 80% in alachua county are without power. they say they are not out of the woods yet in gainesville. >> kaylee, you've got to stand by. the ba the backside of the storm can bring a lot of nastiness. stand by let us know if the situation develops. lieutenant eric harper of lakeland police. can you hear me, sir? >> yes, sir, i can. >> thank you for joining us. thank you for everything your

men and women have done during the storm. we are all waiting for some relief so you can get out and do your job. that did you have to deal with yesterday and tomorrow? >> a lot of trees down, power lines down. one interesting call is we responded to a motorist that called our 911 center that they were trapped inside their vehicle with another adult and two infants. we rolled out our military surplus vehicle, rescue vehicle, and we pulled up in three or four feet of water, pulled up alongside of them and evacuated the twoen fans from the back seat. the water was rushing in and the adults couldn't get out. we took them to safety. we're happy that we were able to save lives last night. >> thank god for you guys.

storm surge. what do people need to know? even today, people will get into standing water getting back to their homes. the wind get the headlines but the storm surge is the big thing. what has your experience taught but what happens when people mess with this water? >> people can't tell how deep the water is. they think it is just a shallow puddle. in this case it was four feet. i caution people to stay off the road. once they are in effect, stay home. don't go anywhere. a person was traveling to awe friend's house at midnight when the eye passed through. it could have been fatal if it would have turned out any different. we're just glad we were able to

get them to safety. >> any information we can get out to people, let us know. thank you, lieutenant. be well. stay safe. look, the situation is far from over. not only is hurricane irma still smacking people around. but as people wake up, so many don't have power. they are going to see an ugly and life changing reality. >> millions of people. i don't have to tell you if florida will look different today and for a long time. we have to talk about first responders. they of course are braving these harrowing conditions to try to save people. how they handle it, next. you know who likes to be in control? this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy!

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remember, hurricane irma is very much still in full effect. category 1 storm. 75-mile-per-hour winds in places. gusts that can be much higher than that. jacksonville has already reported more storm surge than it has ever seen before. it is water that kills you during a hurricane. the previous record was from 1964. hurricane dora. so this is a very big deal. hold on a second. i don't know if you can hear that. it's coming from this phone. and now it's gone. flooding. if you anticipate it, it is still completely debilitating. what you were dealing with in miami, you were supposed to be spared. next thing you knew there was water everywhere. >> look, the only way to deal with storm surge is to get out before it happened. brickell avenue, this was in the mandatory evacuation zone. miami-dade officials told people to get out in the days before the storm because they worried what ended up happening would

happen. a storm surge of five feet came from over there, flooded the streets. you can see where the water went in. parking tpwrapblgarages still h the of water in some places. there is nothing you can do other than get out, chris. i'm sure anderson was the same thing. they were anticipating 10 to 15 storm surge on 700 miles of coastline, really low lying. >> yeah, that's right. even when it was downgraded, they believed there was a three foot storm surge. in tampa, where you have so many homes built so close to the ground, three feet can do a lot of damage. so there's a lot to assess this morning. we know 650,000 homes and businesses lost power in the tampa bay area.

clearwat clearwater, st. petersburg. on the hillsboro river, we have been watching the river go down. it has not topped the wall at all but it is definitely up several is feet more than it normally would be. we're going to continue to watch that. but i want to go back to john. >> you know, it's interesting, anderson, 5.8 million people in florida. interesting to see some people out walking around. they haven't been able to watch tv. they don't know what's going on. they want to find out how long it will take to recover. former director of emergency management for the state of florida. i was literally leaning on you so i wouldn't blow away. i want to talk about an area we haven't talked about too much. we don't have enough information yet.

that's the florida keys, the string of islands that got the direct hit from the eye of irma whut was still a category 4 storm. you were very concerned. >> very concerned. unfortunately no news is not good news. we want to get down as quickly as we can. responders are hard at work. the state is not waiting. the state will be moving resources out of the orlando area, out of west palm area where they prestage some of the resources typically. they will move those down south until we hear from key west we don't need help. my guess is they will need a lot of help. >> and checking the bridges to see how much they can drive of to get where we need to go. bill is moving around trying to get a signal. hopefully we can check with him in a little bit. power outages one of the big

issues that so many are dealing with. how long do you think people will have to wait? >> weeks. we have 5 million plus without power now. the normal will probably go up as the storm hits the northern part of the state. typically it takes weeks. all the power companies are in staging areas and ready to move to where they need to fix the infrastructure. it will be critical to how long this disaster prolongs. >> there are thousands sheltering. unfortunately, florida's air-conditioning is more of a need than a luxury. >> schools can't open. electricity is the key hub of how quickly the recovery happens. quicker we get electricity, the

quicker people can move back into homes that are habitable. we haven't seen too many shots. there will be more homes critical damaged and people can move back in. we will have to find shelter and resources, apartments, other homes for them to stay in. electricity, that's the key. >> you made one point. we are just getting a sense of how much damage was done as the sun comes up. miami beach off the coast here, they don't want people going back at all. sit is closed until tomorrow at least. there will be a curfew again don't to get a sense of the situation. >> we don't have power. people want to check on their homes very quickly. once they get here, they will demand resources. i'm home and i don't have food and water, so i need someone to help me. that doesn't help the situation at all. stay at home. wait until you can come back. realize what you're coming back

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so now that the sun is coming up, we're getting our first look at what some of the towns look like after irma rolled lieu. this is jacksonville. record flood anything jacksonville. a car with its brake lights on is submerged up to its windows. there is a flash flood emergency in downtown jacksonville. this was taken moments ago. it's hard to know if anyone was in the car. that is the scene we are seeing in town after town after town throughout florida. this storm went from the

furthest point south up -- all the way up the state. sara seidner has been battling the elements. the forecast said it wasn't supposed to hit with the ferocity it did. what is the latest at this hour? >> just trying to wipe off the lens there for you. when these rain events happen and the squalls come through, it tends to make it very difficult for you to see. i hope you can see the picture. the rain has subsided. the wind gusts are still coming. it has calmed down significantly. we were here about 4:20. i couldn't stand up. i had to literally hold onto this or fall over. same with my photographer. same with my producer who is here holding up lights,

literally leaning over because the winds were so, so strong. this is what things look like on the water itself. look how churned up the ocean is here. this is not a big surfers's beach. there are usually not big waves. large waves are being pushed on shore by the winds. this has been going on for hours now. hours and hours. but this is the first time that you could really see it as we could see little glimpses of it. now we are seeing it. we will toss it back to you, alison. angry seas here. 20 to 25 people have been rescued because of flooding. >> gosh. okay, sara. obviously those numbers will only go up. thank you for the glimpse of daytona. millions of floridians are waking up to the widespread

damage from hurricane irma. of course it made land fall, the furthest southern part. it tore through the entire state. let's get the latest on the federal response and president trump's plans with department of homeland security acting secretary elaine duke. thank you so much for being with us. >> good morning, alison. before we start with that, i want to remind everyone that today is 9/11, the 16th anniversary of losing 3,000 americans to terrorism. allis just as they are helping with the hurricanes today, they were there then and we lost some of our beloved citizens. we will be out doing search and rescue and supporting governor

scott as he begins to assess the damages in the state of florida. >> i know that yesterday president trump said that he planned to go to florida. do you know when and hopes to do there? >> well, it's important that we first focus on search and rescue, which we will be doing today with air and land assets. we will send officials down later in the week when it is safer and the focus is off search and rescue. >> do you have a accepts how that search and rescue effort will be? do you have a accepts how many are trapped in bad situations? >> today will be our first time to get a glimpse of it. we do have flying weather. as the sun rises, we will be able too take a look at the keys especially where we have the most area of concern.

>> sew what will the federal response look like? in other words, are you sending more troops? have you already sent troops for search and rescue? give us a sense of the scope >> sure. we get our tasking from governor scott. we have prepositioned assets in terms of planes, people, boats, meals, water, tarps, whatever is needed. and additional supplies for the shelters. we have 200,000 people in shelters right now. so we are prepositioned to provide whatever support that governor scott needs. >> okay. so 200,000 people in shelters. we understand from the latest numbers that something like 5.7 million people are without power. what is your biggest concern at this hour? >> as i said, search and rescue is number one. and then restoring power. we have heard 5 million people or a little more are without power. some were planned shutdowns to

avoid damage. so we are hoping we will see power restoration quick lu. >> very quickly, because we started with 9/11 and it's hard to believe it is 16 years later. sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. sometimes it feels like just a few years ago, can you share your memories from that day and how you are feeling today? >> the memories from that day was the sadness. also out of the sad isness came the united states coming together and the sense of community and pride that is just something we should treasure. and i see with hurricane harvey and hurricane irma, we are seeing the same thing. not only the first responders but just citizens and charities and communities coming together and the love and compassion that is one of the founding principles of our country. and i think we should hold on as we continue to face terrorism and natural disasters in our country. >> you're so right. that really is the silver line

weg see during a catastrophe, the humanity that comes out. thank you very much for being with us today. >> that you know, alyson. >> john berman was weathering the storm. i thought you were going to be blown backwards. i can't believe you were able to stand your ground during the worst of the storm. >> reporter: i spent much of yesterday evening convincing the people who love me that i wasn't close to serious peril. waking up to mud and debris. how much is it and when will things get back to normal? i will speak to two area mayors next.

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see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. we've seen some of the worst of hurricane irma here in naples, florida, along the western coast. but that storm is still very much in full effect further up north. it is a category 1 hurricane, 75-mile-per-hour sustained winds. that is a big deal. in jacksonville, they have reported more storm surge than they have ever had before, breaking a record setback in 1964 by hurricane dora. so the situation is still very real on the beach in jacksonville, daytona beach. places that weren't supposed to

get hit by this storm. that is a very meaningful reminder about us. we're going to take you into the places that this happened. 5.8 million people without power. john berman is in miami. john, the story has been about flooding and duration of exposure to this storm. >> reporter: that's right. and this morning people are waking up, chris, and wondering how bad was it is and when will things get back to normal. joining me now, the mayor of miami beach mary levine and josh levy of hollywood, florida. give me a damage assessment of miami beach. >> miami beach, we didn't dodge a bullet. we dodged a cannon. we have trees down. we have electrical cables that are down. we have a couple of gas leaks.

we have fire rescue, public works, crews clearing it out making it safe for all the residents to return to the barrier island. >> reporter: you don't want anyone back until tomorrow. >> we need their patience. it wouldn't be safe for their families. they wouldn't be able to drive. we need their patience until tomorrow as fast as possible. >> reporter: curfew is still in effect? >> curfew is still in effect. >> reporter: mary levy. the wind was blowing 90 miles per hour where i was, where you were. how are things this morning in hollywood? >> reporter: similar to miami beach. we are still under curfew. public works and public safety and contractors need to come in and start clearing roadways. we are say city of 150,000 people. 30 square miles. every traffic signal is out.

we're working full speed for people to get to work. we have to assess it ourselves in order to better direct the public. >> reporter: mayor, what do people need to know as they walk through this debris or maybe just look at the debris, hopefully not walk through it just yet? >> this whole storm has been an exercise some patience both leading up to the storm and sitting the storm out. for the recovery, i would like people to continue to be patient. it will be stressful for a lot of families without power, without being able to keep food cold. bear with us. we're working with power utilities to estimate when we can restore power. there is a conference call of mayors with florida power & light. we'll update you after that. >> so mayor levine, you, before this storm hit, hit a tphaoub hrar storm.

you were pleading with people to take it seriously. miami, miami approximate beach did not get hit by the eyewall. are you concerned that next time a storm hits they won't believe you. it was bad but we rode it out. >> i don't think so at all, john. we were prepared before the storm. we are prepared now after the storm. when you were there in miami beach and you see the power of those winds. we had cat 1 winds, major tropical storm. and you see the trees that are down, people understand. they saw what happened in houston. no one wants to live through that. i think people in miami beach came together prepared. they needed to leave. as i said before, we didn't dodge a bullet. we dodged a cannon. >> and to be clear, the storm surge was as high or higher than anything you have ever seen. >> absolutely. i think we were a and a half of king tide. the water was coming over the seawalls. we were spending $500 million. we raised roads, put in pumps.

we had generators that all kicked in. we were able to keep the water back. so that was a positive eventu eventuality of this disaster. we saw slight flooding. miami beach weathered this fantastically. >> reporter: people are warning about the airports. miami closed today. fort lauderdale up by where you are. any word yet on operations there? >> no. we have an 8:30 a.m. conference call for emergency management, broward county. we'll get an update at that time. same with the municipalities, the airport. we want to make sure the familiarities for the aircraft and passengers are safe. certainly not before the curfew is lifted and things get assessed back to order. real quick, about the flooding, as mayor levine medicationeded,

for us in hollywood we have not undertaken such a large project that miami beach has been for sea level rise. this hit right at high tide after 1:00 p.m. we had pretty severe tiedal surge flooding into residential areas, homes, business areas, and running over the beach. so we have a lot of cleanup to do. >> reporter: mayor josh levy, in hollywood, great to hear your voice. mayor levine, great to see you. it is nice to see you in person. >> thank you for your great coverage. >> reporter: appreciate it. chris, back to you in naples. >> reporter: all right. irma has been bad. worse in some places than others. no matter how bad it gets, we have paid it through much, much, much worse. this today obviously 9/11. at 8:46 we will stop for a moment of silence.

we are seeing the vice president getting ready to board air force 2. he's on his way to shanksville, pennsylvania. we will remember the role the brave people played on the plane over shanksville. the vice president is doing his duty of helping people remember, or as we say, never forget. we're going to take a break now. when we come back, we will take you through what hurricane irma is doing right now. it's still not over for the people of florida and beyond. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.

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city dodged not a bullet but a cannon. the same could probably be said here of tampa. the storm surge, anywhere from 1 to 3 feet. officials are still trying to assess the level of flooding in parts of tampa, which has problems of flooding in heavy rains. flooding is not anything new here. the stint of it, at this point, is not known. clearly those people without power, you know, it's going to be difficult days ahead for them. a lot of parts of tampa this area, unable to have power. we see some potential spots of flooding over there where the water on the hillsborough river has been rising. i want to go to marco island, which is south of naples. robert sharp brown -- robin sharp brown road out the storm. robin, first of all, how is the neighborhood around you, how is your house? >> good morning. my daughter and i are doing fine. we actually live in a different area on the island, we're

further above sea level. but we were afraid with the winds coming in to move to my mother's condo down by the river which had been redone with new windows. we came down here. and the building -- the building has had some very bad structural damage. so the surge here wasn't as bad as it was on other parts of the island, but the winds were definitely horrific. >> there's been so much concern about marco island. i know a lot of officials was very concerned about everybody who was riding the storm out there. talk about the wind, i can't imagine what that was like for you when you're in your home. did you lose power? we had our cameras up in naples, which was north of marco island. that wind was incredible, 140 miles an hour gusts at time. >> yes.

it was awful. we went into an interior room, but we could hear glass shattering everywhere. after today going downstairs and looking around, i mean, it wasn't just glass, it was concrete moving boulders over and it was -- it's awful. it's like a war zone here. i don't know how -- my husband is a police officer on the island, so he was -- he's been bonkered up at the marriott and he's trying to get out today to find out how our home is. but, yeah, the winds were awful and they went on forever, it seemed like. we finally got into the eye of the storm and had a release and i was dreading the second wall. maybe the angle we were at on the river, we didn't get the wind as bad from the second wall. >> you know, robin, we talked so much about the first responders

and the difficult that they have, particularly, you know, in when -- when power is out at the height of the storm, whether they can make rescues or not. you know, to talk to you, we get the other side of that story, which is the families that they leave behind who are left, you know, while your husband is out there working and, you know, in position, you're there to deal with the situation. what's it like now? i assume -- are you without power now? >> yes, we're without power and water. i did speak to him this morning and he said the first thing they're trying to get on right now is the water and then they'll work on the power. i guess, they're in place to do that right now. i don't know how many people they had to rescue at all. i know there was a little couple of families. one family was in the house and they lost their roof and they

say had to get out. i think they were able to get out and get to safety during the eye of the storm. i'm sorry, i don't know about any other responses that they did. >> listen, robin, we're just glad that you're doing okay and, obviously, we're going to continue to check in with you, anything we can do, please let us know, robin, i really appreciate your time and please give our best to your husband and thank him for all that he's doing and all the first responders and your response has been extraordinary. we've been talking to law enforcement, fire officials all night long. we were up just around the clock assessing damage. we're seeing a lot of police officers in tampa now. our coverage continues of hurricane irma. hurricane irma still in full effect, still hitting parts of florida, category 1 hurricane, now. sustained winds of 75 miles an hour. gusts are higher in places.

jacksonville, orlando, daytona beach, places that were suppose to see nothing or very little, getting hit and hit hard. jacksonville reporting that it's had more storm surge than ever, historic mark since 1964, hurricane dora. that is the wrong kind of history. 5.8 million people, at least, without power in florida and we don't know for how long. over 6 million evacuated, over 150,000 still in shelters, so this story still very, very far from over. and, yet, as bad as irma gets, today, of all days, is a day to remember that we have gotten through much, much, much worse together. of course, today is 9/11, and the president is going to be stopping to have a moment of silence at 8:46, when that first plane struck one of the twin towers. so it is a day to never forget and give us some perspective on what we can get through

together. we have john burr man in miami, anderson cooper in tampa bay, and allison, of course, in new york. so, john, the story for you of the storm was that miami was one of the places that would you say to get a pass not in the least and not for the longest time. >> yeah, chris, i really can't believe the breath of this storm. it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that it effected all county. you know, we had the storm surge here, 6 feet, flooding the street, look where i'm at right now, we had 100 mile an hour winds, category 1 storm here in miami but it hit for hours and hours and hours and that's part of the story. million people without power in miami-dade today. that will be a giant story in and of itself that's only a small slice. we had the storm hitting up in jacksonville and