enforcement, personnel and other first responders in irma's path. godspeed to all of them and all of the residents in the danger zone tonight. we live in the greatest country on earth and we see all of the preparation that is being done. harris buckler takes over for live coverage of hurricane burma continues, right now. >> you need to listen to local evacuation orders. i am a dad and grandfather. i love my family more than anything and i cannot imagine life without them. do not put your life for your family life at risk. right now is the right time to do the right thing for your family. >> hearing from paul muller governor urging the state to stay safe is working irma nears landfall now. this is it. the time for making sandbags is over and driving miles and miles out of the hurricanes reach is over.

florida's top leadership is saying if you are in an evacuation zone you need to get to a shelter now. this begins those late-night hours that irma will likely do her worst. forecasters are making it pretty clear, as we look at the size of our members is the size of the state of florida. no matter which side takes it most, east or west coast, barring a miracle moved by this beast of a storm you are pretty much would have to move the state of florida to grab it from irma. from box, america's news headquarters, i'm harris. on its present course, it will move up in the warm everglades feeling up and expecting to burst into a bigger storm and, of course, the shift we watched happened today so the west coast taking a direct hit potentially. immediately put extreme burden on citizens to suddenly evacuate and places that they hadn't planned to like naples and the huge metro of tampa in saint pete. hard facts are these and this has just come in. florida keys, we are almost at just a couple of miles away from

hurricane strength. here comes irma. kirby is now in effect for miami and all of broward county including the fort lauderdale. the number of power outages are growing by the minute. irma is just kissing the east side of florida and more than a hundred 19 homes and businesses are without electricity in florida so far. the winds are just getting started. more than 6 million people have been ordered to evacuate statewide. most major airports are closed. we have box coverage for you. let's begin with mike in tampa. one of those places that wasn't expecting to evacuate. mike, the governor said the last time a major hurricane hit tampa had about 10000 people in it and now there are 3 million. reporter: right.

that was 1921. it was a long club time ago and authorities are warning that you haven't seen something like the force of the storm that will descend and probably make a direct hit on this people. if you look behind me, there are a lot of still people hanging out at the bars. you've got a few stragglers. by and large a lot of people and most people are respecting the force of the storm and we saw a woman there lockhart elementary school, and she was absolutely frazzled by the time she arrived at that shelter and she was running out of gas and she couldn't find the location and at the end of it all she may not have a home. the shelters are filling up and that's what the authorities want and they want to get out and people in the low-lying areas get out and there's a lot of water coming in the share of pinellas county is stretching and there's going to come a point where if you don't take the advantage to get out you will be on your own. >> under the law, once the evacuation order is issued they have to do it. it creates a crime for someone not to follow the evacuation

order but we are not going to door-to-door interesting people and we won't pull people off the streets. if they don't evacuate they are doing it at their own risk and their own safety is in jeopardy and at their own peril. reporter: the mandatory evacuations are in place for what they call zones anb. essentially that amounts to everything 15 feet above sea level and below. people in those areas have to get out. also, the mobile homes. you have to get out. that is because after the wind event and we expect that to start at 2:00 tomorrow and go for nine hours. on monday starting at about 2:0l move into this area pulling all that water with it. it will last through high tide till about 10:00 p.m.

it will be expected to bring the water as high as 15 feet. anything below that level will be underwater was that storm surge frozen and that is why the mandatory evacuations are in place. you're also looking at the potential of bridge closures. we have a lot of reports that the skyway bridge over tampa bay is close. that means the people in dallas county now have a harder time getting out. when the winds go past 40 miles an hour the sunshine state bridge will close in the rest of the bridge will be up to the judgment of the florida highway patrol. harris. harris: that's a lot. i just grabbed a list of the high tides. you're making me more sensitive now, mike, about the reality of when this hits and where we will be at high tide. this looks to me just what i'm going to double check with our radiologist when he comes on board in a couple of minutes but it looks to me like what you are describing is that storm surge will coincide with some of the higher side of the tide they are in the tampa area. reporter: right. we should expect a high tide to head a little bit after 6:00 o'clock on monday. a little while after that. yet the water at its highest point in storm surge on top of that. again, there are stressing that

everything 15 feet and below, above sea level, could end up underwater. harris: just to get a sense, i've seen emergency vehicles behind you and police officers and you say that there are people filtering in and out of the bars. this seemed to take a much more dire tone today as we watch the storm shift to the west side of the state but if you look at the size of irma, mike, none of this has ever meant that florida wouldn't get hit because that storm is so big. i'm just curious when you talk to people who say hundreds day, what do they say? reporter: a lot of people say we are on higher ground. where i stand right now we are 27 feet above sea level and this is in a mandatory evacuation zone. i talk with a few people who say they live further inland and north and they think they will be fine. they all think they have a place to go and are ready to tough it out. they have been through storms before but the one thing that you hear the authorities stressing is you haven't seen a

storm like this yet. harris: mike, thank you very much. he is in a place that they hadn't anticipated to have to evacuate in such a massive weight today, as we work our way forward into our coverage tonight there are some areas that look a whole lot worse than where he is standing. we anticipated some of that but let's talk now with the coast guard admiral peter brown. he had a coast guard operation for florida, south carolina, georgia, puerto rico, the us virgin islands and, if you're with us, i have a lot to ask you. i will jump right in. >> thank you, harris, for the opportunity. we appreciate your time. we know you're busy. i want to get an idea of what kind of assets you have in place and where you are right now and how long after the storm is out that you anticipate that you can get in to help people. >> that is a great question. as you correctly described earlier, the storm is so big and it goes across the entire state for her claim force winds we've actually had to take most of our assets out of florida so our patrol votes in the caribbean

sea are far away from the wind and waves associated with the hurricane and even our aircraft that we normally based in miami and clearwater -- we have had to take them out of state to georgia and alabama for shelter and safety. we will plan on returning those aircraft to board as quickly as we can after the hurricane and tropical storm force winds died down, bringing those aircraft back into florida and back to the base and back into life saving search and rescue operations in the florida keys and southwest. florida. that will be our top priority. harris: you know, we have been telling people to get out and now what the governor is saying is that it is too late to try to drive very far so shelter is your number one thing. you do have those people who stay along the coast. i have to imagine that as we are seen near hurricane force winds

and just a couple miles an hour short of that, sir, in the keys that the need for rescue -- your men and women may have to deploy early -- i don't know, are you already seen a situation where it is dicey? >> you are right. we anticipate that there will be a need for search and rescue and if you think back to hurricane harvey, coast guard, aircraft in both rescued well over 10000 people. we hope that number will be that large in the florida keys and the gulf coast of florida but we will attempt to get search and rescue helicopters, especially vessels back into the area as soon as we can. harris: i want to ask you about something that has been reported for the last day or so. this situation is going to and i will quote, it presents a much greater logistics challenge for the us coast guard than harvey or katrina. what kind of challenge are you talking about? >> normally, we would base our

aircraft in miami or clearwater and if the storm spread to one side of florida or the other we could shift aircraft from one side of the state to the other from the storm. here we potentially have to evacuate our assets from the entire state and then to get them back into the state we will have to fly themselves from georgia and alabama and that will be into the peak of the storm. we either have to go with some of our aircraft go far away from the heavy winds of the storm or we will simply have to wait for those winds to die down so we won't be able to respond as quickly as we normally would work as quickly as we would like and we will also have to confirm that airbases in miami, homestead and potential at the naval air station in the florida keys that they are ready to support helicopter operations and they may be significantly damaged and disrupted in this unprecedented hurricane. harris: yeah, when you talk about the miami international airport i know you're talking about military assets in terms

of helping out for air support, landing strips and so forth. as far as the major airports, orlando international in miami international have both sent out tweets in the last 12 hours or so saint they are completely done with commercial ops and they are in the emergency ops mode only. maybe you would be able to work with those airfields, we don't know until after the storm passes is what i'm hearing you say. i want to concentrate on another area where people may not be aware where our united states coast guard, emma brown, is a huge part of life saving and that is where we had americans and the us virgin islands and puerto rico. what is really concerning tonight is that josé is coming in right behind irma in those areas and i was reading upwards of 500 americans on one island -- i believe that was puerto rico but correct me if i'm wrong, it needed some sort of rescue in terms of airless off the island. what are you hearing about and what are you dealing with in those areas.

>> that is a great question. thanks for pointing out that in puerto rico and the virgin islands irma has already struck and it's been destructive and deadly force. the coast guard has been now in our third day of response operations in puerto rico and the virgin islands and in the virgin islands, particularly ste me, st. thomas and st. john, there was loss of life and significant damage in the coast guard in addition to forming search and rescue missions has also been working very hard to get the ports of puerto rico and the virgin islands open again for critical commodities such as fuel and food but also for the ferry system there that can move first responders and immediate supplies from one place to another. as for the evacuation question, there were a number of americans numbering over 1000 on the island of saint maarten which is a dutch territory and the department of state together with the dutch government and the department of defense has begun the process of evacuating people from their.

my colleagues in the department of defense have worked closely and have reported that already evacuating over a thousand americans from saint maarten to puerto rico and there may be more evacuations to follow tomorrow. harris: i know puerto rico didn't take the eye of the storm but they still had well over 900,000 people, businesses and homes that were without electricity. they are dealing with their own situation, plus flooding there. what you are saying is the martin was so bad that you're going to take them to another island before you can possibly bring them to the mainland and that would be the goal. i don't know. can't do it now because you have poured in the crosshairs. admiral brown, before i let you go, what does it look like in terms of your night tonight? what are you specifically doing with your people to. >> what we are doing right now is as i said, we've repositioned our assets and we've also repositioned our control

elements with her miami, from key west and even from st. petersburg to harden facilities out of those locations and, in one case, we completely out of the state so that we can maintain medications and command and control so that we are ready to respond with those assets back into play. also, i'm working with my higher headquarters in virginia and washington dc to make sure that the entire operational might of the coast guard is ready to be brought to bear to perform life-saving search and rescue operations which is our first priority in our second is to restore the free flow of fuel into florida particularly to the port of fort lauderdale which is really the lifeline of fuel for aviation operations and motor

needs in south florida in particular. that will be the next thing we are in fact already working on. harris: that is so important right there. i made that note because fuel and gasoline so for aviation in cars is such a huge component of our coverage because you have so many people you're trying to move around. admiral brown, i know you're busy and we appreciate everything you're doing to keep people safe. god bless you and your team as you go forward with the united states coast guard tonight. thank you. >> thank you, harris, for the opportunity to explain. harris: this is just into the national hurricane center. wind gusts in the florida keys are nearing hurricane strength in the florida keys. adam housley is. [inaudible] adam, this latest information you are starting to feel it. adam: we been feeling it for a number of hours on the other side of the islands. were in key largo about a mile wide and at its widest where we are and we are over there and right before nightfall the winds were consistent order to our wind meter, 40 and 60 and sometimes 70.

that was about two and a half, three hours ago. on the side of the bayside the wind has been picking up in the rain has been coming down and as you can tell work back in the area that is protected from the elements as it gets continually worst of the night and into tomorrow. you can hear and see in the background that it's moving and it's we saw four bullets destroyed and their anchors do not hold, they dragged and eventually let loose and went into the rock jetties. that was before nightfall and the winds have only gotten worse. we saw the winds picking up the water up on over into the docs going under and you're starting to see the storm surge calm and again, will get rain here. harris, depending on which estimate you look at you saw forecast with the pressure but you're talking about potentially as much as 20 inches of rain. were on the bad side of the storm and there's a good news to

it look like the i will be more halfway between us and key west. it is still close enough to this part of the keys to do some significant damage. harris: all right. this is just crossing on the associate press wires. national weather service now says officially the first hurricane windows have been recorded in the florida keys. irma is inching closer. adam, not only are you describing what they are describing but now it is official. a hurricane is in the keys. adam: harris, it started about 10:00 o'clock this morning and we been out of power here for about 12 hours. you can still see pockets of power in certain parts of the northern key islands. as the date grew on you can see that gradual building and this is my tenth hurricane so we have some history of doing these things but you can see a build and you can hear the sound. the only way to describe someone who hasn't been in a hurricane it sounds like there is a jet

engine. that jet engine sound is getting louder and louder. that means the storm is coming closer and closer. you can see the wind and see the waves blow in a certain direction. it could reverse and blow in the other direction once it passes over but we expect this to be a rough next 12 or as long as 24 hours here in the keys. all we can hope is that the storm will knock it down enough to not to do significant damage as expected. harris: yes, i talked with the police chief in key west yesterday and he told me that his team was staying there and i am hoping -- they are the professionals. they will keep themselves safety conscious. i'm hoping those people who decided to write it out and get to shelter or have taken every precaution that is necessary because this thing is here. adam: that is one of the questions we have here. it is funny that you mention it. we talked to the sergeant last night munro county and the sheriff sergeant for this area and he said they were happy to see as many as people leave

because so many people had stayed but he saw those pictures coming out of the caribbean from the storm earlier this week and that changed people's minds. it wasn't hearty with the flooding and is a horrible situation but it was the storm coming their way and they saw the damage being done in the caribbean islands a lot of people did get out and they're hoping the ones who stayed on high ground. harris: adam, will come back as the situation warrants. thank you very much. a lot more to come. our coverage of hurricane irma, right after this. stay close. the united states postal service. priority: you

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harris: we are keeping our eyes on florida. many areas in georgia could be affected by irma greatly, including fort stewart which it just south of savanna. the evacuation there began friday. colonel sean is the senior commander and he joins us by phone. colonel, you are with us. >> yes, harris, good evening. thank you for having me. harris: i have to tell you that desperate first of all, i was born on a military base in the state of georgia and in all of my years there have been very few times i remember a situation where you had evacuation for military personnel.

tell me what is happening at fort stewart and what led you to make the decisions you are doing now. >> as you mentioned, i'm senior commander for separate two installations. fort stewart which is adjacent to hinesville, 40 miles southwest of savanna. hunter army airfield which sits in the heart of savanna. on thursday evening, based on the weather forecast, we've all been watching and in close coordination with the management professionals i did, in fact, in fact evacuation order effective 5:00 p.m. yesterday evening. ordering all the residents of fort stewart in hunter army airfield to evacuate within 500 miles radius. harris: have you had to do this before? >> last year, in response to hurricane matthew we did a partial evacuation. we do have an experience with this. again, last year was not a complete evacuation as it is at this point. harris: tell me -- i know that

you evacuate those two bases that you are commander of but you also have to continue to do what you do. how do you balance that question. >> that is absolutely the case. we have maintained a stay behind element of the soldiers at both fort stewart and hunter and to secure the installation and protect the key infrastructure and to provide an indication and to facilitate the return of military soldiers. we are developing options for the proper storm response. we have already supported some requests that were shuttling equipment and were in close with the combat team of the georgia national guard and they are also staging personnel agreement for rapid response to the affected areas. we are prepared to support local emergency management professionals with several standing and we are leaning

forward, ready to help in the poster storm environment. of course, we will continue to plan for bringing our soldiers and their families back safely. continuing the other missions that we are charged to do on any given day. harris: i'm trying to keep up and keep notes on all the different areas. we just had a commander with the us coast guard talking with us about how they had to move those assets and now i'm understanding from you that maybe some of the places they had to move them include the areas that you are watching over now. that is a lot that you had to do in just the last 24 hours. tell me what it is like to go through that process because for the wider public -- you think of the military they come in and they help out but what you're saying is that on the front end of this there was a tremendous amount of load on you. >> we been watching hurricane irma since last week and, in fact, we assembled our experts

on labor day to really start doing some hard planning and taking action and anticipation that we might have to take some of these actions. we have a great team here in a great military professionals that went through much of this last year with hurricane matthew and we have great relationships with the local communities and their emergency management professionals and with that team we have been working very hard throughout the week and we are looking forward to storm past it. that teamwork has been essential to where we are now. another big part of that is across the army. we had great cooperation with fort benning in georgia, fort bragg, north carolina and they are helping us to safeguard some of our people and equipment, as well. as i mentioned already, the partnership with the national guard and part of our total army

partnership. harris: you know, the department of defense we learned this from the us coast guard just moments ago is helping out to get some of our people, more than 1000 of them out of saint maarten and safely to other areas including puerto rico. i know that having those things that are stationed with you, that equipment, that they will deploy immediately after the storm passes will be so needed in other parts of the caribbean. thank you for the work you're doing it for filling us in on the military component in all of this. when i read about it, military bases, evacuating it seems to be a huge task and now you have described just how much you are doing. commander, thank you very much. we appreciate her time. >> thank you for having me. harris: absolutely. okay. things are changing in tampa florida. we have checked in before it looks like not a lot was happening there and this thing is moving in and we know in the keys it is getting tough. we had our first recorded hurricane force wind gusts in just the last couple of minutes. now things are changing across the state as this beast tends to

stay west of the state and hit that west coast which includes tampa. we will check in on them, next. stay with us. i love to do. i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424.

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monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. go to lendingtree.com right now. harris: in just the last little while we know that the first hurricane wind gusts at that official force was reported. details on that. the smith short-lived station which is out in the florida keys, 74 miles an hour gusting at 119 when gus just a little time ago. let's bring in meteorologist adam from the fox extreme weather center. adam, how do they know that this is one wind gust? adam: when it meets the criteria. we have those stations all across the united states. the ones out there, honestly, cut catching the winds off the water. you get those wins and that is just what it is.

i'm not surprised this is happening. let's take a look at what has been happening in the last little bit. were tracking this and it's been along the coast of cuba but now were taking a look at the eye wall. in the last little bit were finally seeing that turn and you're making that north turned which means everything will get closer to south florida and as that happens, yes, the winds will ramp up and we have seen it here. this is some of the model data that we've it is getting close to 70 miles an hour, miami up to 40 miles an hour in the west coast there into the 30s. again, as this continues to lifting the overnight hours and gets closer and closer those wins are only going to intensify, as the storm itself will. category three running back over the water and we saw it leave the cuban coast and it will run over some warm water and pick up fuel which means wins will be strengthening here overnight.

by the time were talking landfall, tomorrow morning, perhaps across the island, 8:00 a.m. but that will continue to push his way up the coast. were not looking at tampa, a category three storm as you interact with land until the afternoon and evening hours and then were talking about georgia by tomorrow night running through monday. that will be the setup for that. here is your hour by hour forecast. what is moved up toward the coast. here you are tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m., beginning to see the eye wall moving across the key west area before continuing to track of the coast. yeah, those wins, harris, will only intensify throughout the overnight hours. harris: all right, i want to double check on something. i have a list of every single curfew that is put in for the state. broward county started at 4:00 p.m. today until further notice. they want people inside. the same thing for fort lauderdale but i'm seeing other areas that only run, city of miami beach only until seven and did what you are saying stop will be happening at 7:00 a.m. and maybe these curfews will change, i don't know. adam: they will have a chance to

change the curfews. you see the center of circulation with the storm and you get on the east side of the state and there is a little less going on because of this more westerly track. you will see these curfews be more strict on the west side of the state as compared to the state of the state. harris: everyone is talking storm surge. when we bring you later in the hour two things will happen. we will get a top of the hour, adam, i know that first bowl and several hours update on where this thing is going and i think you'll better tell us about the storm surge to. adam: yes, i've been working on storm surge things. i will have it. harris: thank you very much. you are hearing that tampa has not yet taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in nearly one century. tonight they are bracing for the worst. i busy, some of the worst has been done by irma as she starts to move in and kiss that east coast and move over to the west coast of the state. tampa mayor is with us.

mayor buckhorn, how prepared are you? >> we are prepared, harris. we trained for this all year long. we been training for decades. we knew our number would come up at some point. you are absolutely right. we haven't been hit with a direct hit in over 90 years but that doesn't stop us from acknowledging that we live in a fragile place and one of these days, one of the storms will hit us and it looks like tomorrow will be that hit. i never thought i would quote mike tyson in saying everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face. were about to be punched in the face tomorrow so we'll see how this plan hold up. i feel good about it. we have great people on the ground. we deployed all the assets, tampa police, tampa fire, all of our debris clearing folks are all planned and ready to go. now, we just have to put it in god's hands, harris, and hope for the best. harris: absolutely. i was watching as you are rolling open shelters. we saw the governor close schools and certain parts of the

state and other office buildings so that you would have the types of structures that you would need in case all of a sudden the storm shifted. then mayor buckhorn, it shifted and it shifted toward you. what has the pressure been like in the last 24 hours? >> well, we had anticipated going to help our friends on the south side in the east coast but now we find ourselves bearing the brunt of this. honestly, it has changed drastically. we started that evacuation notice yesterday. although low-level areas have been ordered to evacuate and obviously, we didn't have the run-up into participation like the east coast and what folks are pretty responsive. we live in florida and we know the storms and deal with the storms on regular basis. we are doing all we can to get people to higher ground for the governor and the state have been great and the federal government has been great, fema has been iraq star. everyone has working seamlessly. we know our roles, we don't do drama, and we know about executing but there will be damaged tomorrow and there will be storm surge and there will be

winds of hurricane strength. when that sun comes up, we will see a different place in parts of our city and we knew before. harris: i tell you, that is right. we don't do drama. you just stay focused and we are with you, sir. before i let you go, i want to get an idea of how many people you have had to either put into shelters or move out of the area? >> there have been tens of thousands of people that have left. more so on the east coast that migrated here and some of whom have now had to leave here. harris: wow. >> it's been tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people from the west coast of florida that have chosen to either evacuate -- here, harris, you don't have to go to georgia. you can go to a higher level flood zone. my family has evacuated so you could go from a level a to a level b or c and be safe from the surge so that is not as inconvenient as you might think. we just need people to do the right thing and they have another ten hours to evacuate,

if they need to. after that, it's time to hunker down and say a few prayers. harris: absolutely. but, i can tell you it are in your offices and we appreciate you talking with us. it is hard to where so many hats and we appreciate what leadership does in these times because you do have to get to safety. we will let you do that. mayor buckhorn, i love what you said. we don't do drama but we will getne it done. thank you, sir, i will keep putting you because that's a strong one. our coverage of hurricane irma continues right after this. stay close. ly dr. scholl's has massaging gel insoles that provide all-day comfort to keep him feeling more energized. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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harris: we have continuing coverage of hurricane irma and we know that we have recorded our first hurricane wind gusts down on the florida keys. now if you go chris cross across the state across 170 miles across from tampa, naples, florida is starting to see those wind vans. let's check in with steve. reporter: harris, about four

hours of steady rain here in naples. wind speeds in the 20s and gusts up to 50 miles an hour and over the next 14 hours that will change dramatically as the storm moves closer and closer to naples. we could see seven-ten it inches of rain in the storm surge of anywhere from five-10 feet and that would mean one story shelters could be entirely underwater. the real immediate damage could come from catastrophic wind forces. naples could see winds of over 100 miles an hour for an eight hour stretch during the day on sunday. this is a ghost town right now. people know it is coming and they are afraid of what is coming and those who can get out have been getting out. a lot of people scrambling at the last minute to get into shelters. the city has opened more and more as the need has increased. right now conditions are too bad for people to move around. at least 15000 people in

shelters now and some of them waiting for hours outside of stadiums in the regions to get into the shelters. the sheriff have been going door to door with megaphones to get people out of their houses. the shares himself might be in for some difficulty tomorrow if those wind speeds go beyond the category three hurricane. they themselves might have to evacuate their emergency center here in naples. harris, back to you. harris: the single story shelters district that was interesting what you said. now i am curious to know what people are going from one shelters the next. 15 feet would be above a single-story shelter? reporter: you can imagine the situation. especially for people with children, grandparents, pets, trying to drag possessions around and trying to find an open shelter.

they been publicizing that the people have gone from one to another to try to find an open one and as many shelters at 1.18 of 20 were at capacity. it's been a tough slot for people who try to do the right thing and evacuate from the east coast. harris: steve, we will come back to you. when i saw you several hours ago and it just started to rain it is so interesting how this beast can generate so many different things depending on where you are. we will come back to you. thank you. up next, we will check in with rick leventhal who is in daytona beach. we are all over the storm as it is beginning to be all over florida. stick with us. make your body go by forcefully stimulating the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body to hydrate and soften. unblocking your system naturally. miralax.

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harris: some competing factors at this hour because not everybody who was able to get a far distance away on the west coast of florida when this thing shifted today was able to do that, so they are deciding to stay at a shelter or say somewhere where they feel they are safe. there are certain things you ought to think about if you didn't get as far as we had hoped to. my next guest knows exactly how to stay safe and survive a hurricane. warren is a storm chaser and a survivalist. he's in miami joining us by phone. warren, you with us. we know about the part where you get water that you need and you do all of that there are certain things that you need to do.

i'm inside a structure and what am i doing? >> it depends on what structure it is and what kind of you have which i always tell people the first thing you have to do is evaluate the threat. is the wind going to rip off your roof? is there going to be a storm surge? harris: all of those things. hundred mile an hour plus wins and storm surges up to 15 feet in certain areas. >> then you need to be out of there. you need to have made plans to get out of there. there are very few things you can do and once that happened there's only a few things you can do to save your life. your options are quite limited at that point. harris: are there any? >> i have had to do this myself when you have a 15-20-foot storm surge and you literally have to crawl up the side of a building or up into a tree or find -- there is usually some structure building that is higher than the storm surge and literally your animal instinct come into play

and you do what you can to survive and try to get out of that water and get up as high as you can protect yourself from the wind. there are people that have survived doing that and i'm one of those people. but your odds are surviving the exposure and debris and exposure is somewhat low. harris: wow. okay. when you describe climbing up a tree and doing those things it is dark out for much of what is coming. people do have had to have made a better plan than having to stick it out, if you're think you're in an area that will see a 15-foot storm surge. i hear you loud and clear, were in. that is dire and we don't want to overplay it because some have made that decision. what i also remember from harvey and other storms having cover them is that if your home is going to be your option, if your home is your option and it's a multilevel dwelling, you cannot get caught in that attic. you have to be tight to get on top of the roof or burrow your way through it. what about outside of the last minute stuff that you can do --

what other suggestions you have a? >> if you can get in a car and get out, most people think of the storm surge as this tidal wave. a storm surge is not a tidal wave. storm surge is generally when you have the ocean begin to rise and it begins to rise slowly over time and, for feet, 3 feet, most have been a slow. then you have the waves build on it. in most situations you are able to escape and if you see this water begin to come into your area and you can get in a vehicle and were talking a last ditch effort and drive to higher ground that's one of the things that i was planning to do this morning. find a place where there is higher ground and it may save

your life. it has a people before. harris: that would be a last ditch effort. we know human lives are lost and people are trying to drive away from water for what you're simply saying is they need not to be there. warren, we appreciate your time tonight. thank you very much last minute preparations are still happening in daytona beach. we want to check in with rick leventhal for the latest there. rick. >> harris, wind is picking up pretty good but they don't expect tropical wind force in daytona beach until 3:00 a.m. through tomorrow night and into tomorrow. hurricane winds potentially in falluja sometime late sunday night. as you can see the boardwalk here in dayton daytona is pretty and we had a few people looking around but for the most part it's completely deserted. you see the board on the front of the storefronts here and i want to show you the ocean which is turning really good and we just talked to a state trooper who was out here pulling two

people but making them leave and they were out playing in the water under the spear and this is the joe's crab shack peer and it is closed and there is no reason to be out there. this water is not typically this high and it is near high tide but it doesn't usually come up this high according to locals. it's very, very choppy and dangerous out there. that's the one thing the police officers are hoping not to have to do is to go out and rescue people in the middle of the store. harris, there will be a curfew in effect here tomorrow night and they're closing the registrar afternoon as soon as the wind gets 39 miles an hour. harris: i have a list of those curfews and i see that that is posting in your direction. thank you for the update from daytona beach. coming up i'll talk to the fort e-lauderdale mayor and former arkansas governor mike huckabee. that is the next hour. stay with us. we are all over coverage of burma. t care what you eat or how healthy you look.

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harris: this is an important point for information now. we know that we have hit the first official force hurricane force wind gusts, just about 30 minutes ago. now, the national hurricane center is ready to give us that 11:00 p.m. eastern of her, a full update. i'm here is older and arc continuing coverage of hurricane. adam is in the extreme weather center with the very latest on this and i know you just read it so you can tell us about direction of irma. adam: i was able to take a look at that. we noticed a couple of things. one, not a l