and i get back to business. ♪ . arthel: pray for everyone in florida. the words of the state's governor, rick scott, as hurricane irma roaring up florida's gulf coast bringing life-threating storm surges, flooding and dangerously high winds to cities in its path. and the full damage not yet known. the storm knocking out power to two million floridians. more expected as it slams the western edge of the state as we've been watching this afternoon. hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news headquarters" i'm arthel neville. eric: and hello, everyone. i'm eric shawn. witnessing the dramatic power and wrath of mother nature all day. started when hurricane irma first made landfall in the florida keys and southwest

florida, ripped through marco island, sana bell, naples and heading north towards cape coral the target later tonight, the city of tampa and st. pete. ordering mandatory curfews for residents at this hour as the storm spawned several possible tornadoes throughout the state and many waiting for the dreaded storm surge, the killer water slamming in from the backside in the gulf. janice dean has been following this all day. what's the latest status that the hour? >> i will get you the latest but want to show you five days ago how well the national hurricane center predicted this storm. this was their kohn five days ago. look at the center of where the storm went, over cuba and into southwest florida. now there was a shift in the cone days out, but this is remarkably amazing forecasting. so, of course, hats off to the national hurricane center who do an amazing job tirelessly

day in and day out to try to save folks, that's exactly what they're doing. good work for them. looking at the radar, so we had two landfalls around the keys area, and marco island, we're expecting the potential for another landfall depending where the center of the storm moves. if it moves offshore, we're going to get another landfall. we'll have to see if it follows the trajectory, if it's more inland, it won't go over water, we won't have another landfall. have to see where it goes. right now, we're seeing the worst of the storm right here. see the oranges and the reds here, that's the eye wall where we have the strongest core of winds, 110 miles per hour at least. we're seeing wind gusts in excess of 140 miles per hour. that's impressive. tornadoes, you mentioned that, that's going to be a threat especially for the east coast. we've got the outer bands scraping. this storm is massive. tropical storm-force winds. 220 miles from the center of this storm. so it's covering the whole state of florida and the

tornado warnings. we've had at least a dozen tornado warned storms, since this morning, and can you see right now a lot of them lined up all along the coast here. daytona beach, merritt island, down towards, all along the coast here is where we're seeing the potential for tornado-warned storms along the east coast. 24 hours, over six or seven confirmed reports, hoyer totals of actual reports throughout the day today and the tornado threat will remain high as we go through the overnight hours into tomorrow. so the latest forecast as of 5:00 p.m., category 2 storm, 110-mile-per-hour sustained winds moving north at 14 miles per hour. as you've heard me throughout the day today, the storm surge is the main story here because we've got very vulnerable areas. low-lying homes along the coast. the west coast of florida, and we're seeing the storm surge rise in and around the naples

area. five feet within minutes and that's the big concern. in some cases 10 to 15-foot storm surge is going to put water into homes, above homes, that's why this is the dangerous story that it is. hurricane warnings for 18 million people extending into northern georgia. for the first time ever, tropical storm warning for the atlanta, georgia area as we're expecting this area of low pressure to move into georgia and eventually the tennessee river valley as we get into tuesday. but here's the future radar again, this is the tampa area, and again, the worst of the storm, north of that region around 1:00 a.m. overnight tonight, and tampa very vulnerable to storm surge. so eric, arthel, we're going to be tracking this into overnight hours, the big story will remain the storm surge, when have you predictions of 10 to 15 feet, that's when things get dangerous, perhaps deadly and the focus is so much on the storm surge. eric: one government report said hundreds of thousands buildings could be damaged in

tampa. that will be a rough night in tampa tonight. janice, thank you so much. >> of course. arthel: hurricane irma has her eye set on tampa after making a second landfall, and the city's mayor is declaring an indefinite curfew which took effect minutes ago. the greatest affect expected overnight as tampa bay is especially vulnerable to this type of storm. mike tobin live in tampa now. how's it looking there. reporter: well, the wind, arthel still isn't that bad. but we've got this remarkable effect as we look into hillsborough bay, you can see the exposed bottom of the hillsborough bay. it was much drier earlier. word went out of the harbinger of the storm surge and people walked into the center of the bay. police came out with loud

speakers, told them they were doing the wrong thing. i spoke to people out, there they wanted to satisfy their curiosity. all had a plan to retreat as the storm gets worse. i talked about this and janice talked about how much of the problems, the water is expected to come rolling back into tampa bay and the connected bodies of water and doesn't have anywhere to go but to push into the low-lying areas, push into the tributaries. that is why the local authorities have been concerned. that's why they've been bang the drum about the mandatory evacuations here in tampa for zone a, across the bay in pinellas county, zones a and b and essentially amounts to 15 feet above sea level and everything below. now given the fact they have been banging the drum, telling people to get out. that was then, this is now. the storm is on its way. the window to make a break for it is now closed. if you're one of the people who made the decision you wanted to

ride out the storm in your home, you should hunker down and get ready for a long couple of days. the wind event is on its way later tonight. following that, you have the storm surge event. i'm going to take a look around as we look at the trees, a gust coming through right now and the trees are getting blown around. we've seen a little debris on the road. nothing substantial because we haven't seen the worst of the storm yet. watching the barometer that i keep with me. we've been watching the barometer drop precipitously. last look, 993 millibars, if it gets down to 980, you're into cat 1 hurricane status. you mentioned the curfew is in effect. once we're here, the authorities want people to stay in their homes through the wind event. through the water event and until they can get people out into the neighborhoods, out to the residences and make the determination that it's safe to go back. arthel? arthel: when the water is not at the beach, it's not time to go to the beach.

you should stay at home and hopefully everybody will heed the warning this indefinite curfew now, mike toben. nobody out there as far as i can see in the shot right now. reporter: we've seen a little bit of the looky-loos still. despite the curfew, very small amount. i think there's been so much in the way of taking this storm seriously, and i talked with insistence with the mayor of tampa who said harvey had a dramatic effect in getting people to respect this particular hurricane. you generally have a lot more people out satisfying their curiosity. playing in the water when it starts churning up. usually with storms. this time, they seem by and large to be respecting the warnings and this stage of the game, most of the people are respecting curfew. arthel? arthel: good to hear, the danger is not over just yet. mike tobin, thank you very much, eric? eric: how odd that is for the hurricane to suck out the sea water from the bay before the storm surge will roll in.

that, as officials said, can be deadly. that is what occurred in madera beach, that's where jeff flock is, near st. petersburg. what are you seeing now? reporter: right on the gulf, eric, maybe you see the same scene that mike's seeing. this is john's pass, a pass cut out to the gulf on an earlier hurricane. look at that. nobody has ever seen water like that, and mike's talking about people and curfews and all that sort of thing. i got a bunch of people who don't give a hoot about a dog gone curfew. these folks are staying, you're sticking it out here. >> yes, sir. reporter: what possesses you? >> this is one of the safest structures in town. reporter: you told me about the parking garage, what's the deal? >> built in 2012, and right at 175 miles an hour. reporter: this is a place of refuge, a parking garage, and i tell you -- >> i'm calling the motley crue

out here. reporter: i don't see anybody disagreeing. that's your dog by the way. >> that is his dog. reporter: who's dog? >> that's tesla. reporter: what possesses you guys to stay here? >> well, for starters, there wasn't really many safe places to go. we could have gone to tampa but they're going to get hit just as hard with the wind, and we want to help people, honestly. reporter: there you go. >> we got to take care of our stuff on the beach. reporter: lot of people left a lot of stuff, maybe you see, arthel, i don't know if we can see, and eric, we can't see the boat. guys staying on a boat out there. >> a lot of the guys are staying on boats, lot of the sailboats and everything are out there on the hook because it's safer there than moored up against the dock. reporter: when the water comes in, we're talking about this. bob, when you see out to the gulf. when the back end of the storm comes around, the water coming

back the same way. >> every action has opposite and equal reaction. reporter: might be unequal. >> i haven't seen this in four years, why, the way it's happening. 40 years, i've never seen as much land showing right around here. reporter: sucked the water completely out of it. >> it's crazy. i've never seen anything like it. reporter: that is crazy, nobody expecting. that and arthel and eric, i leave you with a picture of the gulf because of the counterclockwise rotation, we're getting wind into the gulf knocking the waves down, but we're going to get it the different way very shortly. i don't know what it's going to look like, but we'll see. eric: jeff, when you say short leashing the worst is on its way. did they and have you someplace to go, to be safe, basically in the high level, in the building that you're at? reporter: yeah, i think, a lot of people -- surviving a hurricane in a building like this is not a problem, that's

not going to be a problem, but i tell you, you may wish you didn't survive it when you do survive, it after the water goes down, i suspect we don't have power, we won't have power, won't have much of anything and maybe not the ability to get back to dry land at some point. it could be miserable out here. you know how things are after a hurricane. hot, no air conditioning, pretty unpleasant. see how that goes. eric: that's an understatement, especially what could happen over the next few days and weeks. jeff flock, stay safe and catch up with you later on. reporter: deal. arthel: deal, he says, as the storm surge floods streets of miami. irma's powerful winds are causing another big concern, there are two dozen cranes perched high atop construction sites in miami. and the storm collapsed two of them already today, so far no word on injuries. that's good news. earlier this week when hurricane irma hit puerto rico, this footage showing you how these cranes are meant to spin

in the powerful winds like weather vanes, to spin around and go with the flow. structural engineer mark duckett is a special inspector and construction safety expert. mr. duckett, thanks for being with us, one of the cranes that collapsed in miami happening at 300 biscayne boulevard at northeast third street, they are built to withstand high winds up to 140 miles an hour. what happened? >> right now, this is too early to tell. there's a lot of possibilities. but right now it's a little too early to tell. arthel: what could some of the possibilities be, in your expertise? >> sure, as one goes higher up in elevation, the wind speeds increase, so the cranes are obviously at the top of very tall buildings. that's one possible explanation. another explanation is the miami area was on the dirty side of the hurricane, and that's subject to tornadic

events, so it could be a microburst or a tornado. there's adverse interaction with other buildings with the wind, it could cause higher than expected wind speeds through funneling and it could have been an error in construction, you never know at this point. arthel: you've got about two dozen cranes perched on on construction sites in the miami area and you just laid out many variables that could come into play. the question is why couldn't the cranes be moved before the storm? >> good question, a lot of people ask that. these things take up to a week, each one to take down, and they take specialty contractors and there's not a lot of them. so it's basically unfeasible to get them all down in time. arthel: so mr. duckett, this is the first time the new building codes and construction requirements have been put to this kind of test. what kind of review will take place after irma? >> well, certainly in these

kinds of events, we were lucky, first of all, we dent get hit with a category5. a lot of times collapses and damages prompt the code officials, the authors of standards to go back and relook at things and possibly change them and that certainly may happen this time. arthel: for the people who live in a building next to the crane, first of all, what do you tell them to do? what are they to do? >> well, at this point, the bulk of the stopper has passed miami. so that's a moot point for those cranes in that area. arthel: still high winds on the way, though. there are. but very unlikely they'll see the high winds they've already seen. arthel: you're saying the folks who live next to the cranes, buildings next to the crane, they shouldn't worry about any, but should the winds pick up, it's my understanding they should go into the interior of the building away from windows, go in the stairwell. is that correct? >> absolutely one of the safest

places in the large building, you're right, absolutely. arthel: so do you have any sort of concerns playing in your mind right now? a lot of people are going to be looking at this once the storm is over and once the recovery efforts start? going to be lots of questions regarding this, and i'm not blaming you, sir, you're here answering my questions, but you know, lots of questions will be asked. >> they'll be, you're right. and sometimes rightly so. in this case, do we need to go back and relook at what the standards are for these construction cranes? that's a very likely possibility. we have to go back and talk to those people that write those standards in the code and sit down and have a long talk. arthel: okay, we will definitely follow up on this, mr. mark duckett, structural engineer, special inspector and construction safety expert. thank you very much, sir, and be safe. >> thank you. eric: officials say the damage is substantial. we don't have full and complete

accounting of the full damage from irma. bryan llenas is in downtown miami where bryan, the worst appears over but it's not over? reporter: it is not, we're in a precarious situation in brickell, downtown miami. this is the panorama, meant to be the largest building in miami when it's done being constructed. this is a residential building, and there have been glass panels falling off of the building since we got here. seen three or four of the blue giant panels. we saw this one come crashing down as people are starting to come out of their apartments and look up into the sky. this is why people say after the storm, it's usually a lot worse in terms of the chances of getting injured because you find yourself coming out, surveying the damage and having six foot glass panels come crashing down to the ground.

if you look at the damage on brickell, this is a downed tree here, and we've got actual flooding down here. i'll try fwroing you guys as quickly as i can. i'm still looking at the building, but this is brickell avenue and this is what it looks like. downed trees and down the road, you will see bigtime flooding there. i would say probably four or five inches of flooding. right down the road over there. the j.w. marriott. it's nothing but water there. so we've got glass panels from here, people coming out of their apartments and you've got about six inches of water here for about six or seven blocks at least. this is the storm surge they were talking about and we're starting to see here. brickell is a very popular neighborhood in downtown miami. lots of condos, lots of restaurants, mary brickell village to my right. the dominican consulate is right here. a place where a lot of people

want to live, and you are starting to see right now the type of flooding that is caused by the storm surge in miami. this is as bad as we've seen it personally so far, and take a look, we've got downed things here, and this is some of the debris we've seen come down from that building, and this is the water that we're seeing. the j.w. marriott here in brickell. this is the hotel. the water has come down a little bit from right after the storm, based on previous reports but it goes all the way out there on brickell and about twelfth street, brickell avenue. this goes all the way south past coconut grove so it appears to be going down a little bit but not a good situation to be. in i know that the storm, at least the bulk of it has gone past miami, we're getting heavy gusts, the rain is coming down

and not advised for people to be coming out because of downed power lines and what we showed you from the panorama building. there are construction sites all over miami where things could potentially come down on you. so it's a dangerous situation post storm and we're not fully out of it yet. eric: bryan, that was the danger and the worry over hurricane andrew that it would have a direct hit on downtown any. indication of injuries, some people in the apartments may have sheltered in place, there was the evacuation order but folks went into the stairways? >> we got one man who lives in the building across from the panorama on the 42nd floor. one of the panels came crashing into his balcony completely tearing it off. we'll have photos later. that was the situation these folks were dealing with when they were in their own condos. you know this area, this area was under a mandatory evacuation and for good reason, because they fully expected a

storm surge here, and the bottom line is when you've got water, rescue crews can't get to you. the last thing you want to do, let me get this for guy here. the last thing you want to do is find yourself in a situation where you need help and people can't get to you. from what we understand people have lost power, starting to come out. you have seen a half a dozen people. eric: are those alarms that we hear? reporter: yes, those alarms, looks like they're coming from that way, i'm not entirely sure what it is. you see the parking garage beeping. eric, 20 feet down, about 200 feet down the road, saw a parking garage completely flooded, inundated. that is the j.w. marriott, we have the colonnades plaza and i don't know how far this goes, we had reports of 19th, 19th street. this is seven blocks brickell

avenue. arthel: bryan, this is art, you are from miami. how does it feeling there walking on the street with ankle high water and just wa you're seeing around you? reporter: it's interesting because i just came back from houston, and i didn't ride out storm, there i was there after the recovery. just began to recover. it was amazing to see houston had that flooding. i hadn't seen that flooding here, but this reminds me of it. and having been down here, i haven't seen this flooding, even with hurricane wilma. remember, we haven't been hit in a very long time. i was here in 2005, hit by katrina and wilma. many of us in south florida had not experienced a bigtime storm until now. i think in terms of the flooding, i don't remember it ever being this way after that storm. so, you know, and i was in boca raton, an hour north of here. it may not have been the 10

foot storm surge but definitely enough that got on the first floor, on the basement levels of the buildings here. it's pretty incredible to see, this guys. arthel: yes. all right, bryan llenas in miami, thank you very much, and and phil keating is also live on the ground in miami, and he's been braving the punishing elements all day. phil, irma was pretty much punching you earlier. what's it like now? reporter: yeah, arthel, it's after a long 30-hour onslaught of battering and punishing winds and rains. the storm's just about out of southeast florida. just a few of the backside outer bands remain, and clearly hurricane irma is not going out with one more slap of the face. it's been raining and windy here suddenly. we thought the last outer band was with us for the past 15 minutes. this is 79th street causeway,

the major cause way between the beach and the city of miami on the other side, and this is a street that where we saw two cars stalled out because the storm surge came in at about 12:30, just in time for high tide, the street was very much flooded but it is definitely starting to drain out, so the effects of the storm surge here in miami-dade county are quick to subside. if we went out to brickell downtown where bryan llenas was, you can see heavy flooding also there earlier this afternoon. more stalled cars stuck in the median. and pelican harbor marina where we began the morning, it was very raucous, boats were rocking and the rain was coming down. palm trees were swaying. we heard, we saw that the waters were rising and we didn't want to get stuck so we came over here and the storm surge on 79th industry. take a look at this video we shot earlier. it was blinding, the wind, the

rain, pellets bouncing off your body if not rocks, it was very, very much a beatdown day. nobody was outside for the most part. after all, who would choose to do such a thing. as for the city and county, curfew tonight, 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. simply because there is so much debris on all the roads, so many traffic signals have no power so they're not operable and the roads are impassable because of downed power lines and debris and branches in the roadway. and the division of emergency and management just now announcing 25% of all florida houses and businesses currently have no power at this point. with two per household and business on average, that means 10 million floridians are spending tonight with either battery powered fans, a generator if they're lucky or no electricity at all or perhaps two, three days or

longer. utility crews 17,000 strong for fpl alone, they're not going to get started on replacing the transponders lighting up and lighting the sky up electric blue as well as the downed power lines. could be a long march ahead to get everybody back online and then the recovery effort and the getting back to normalcy effort after a hurricane, one of the first things you want is for electricity to work so can you get back home, and it's very hot in september in florida it. makes things more miserable, especially if you have a lot of damage and insurance issues to deal with at your house. arthel: definitely. definitely, for sure. hey, phil, how far are you from bryan llenas? because you have the high winds there, you've got lots of rain, and it was seems like drizzling in bryan's shot, how far aware you? reporter: we're on 79th street. he's downtown towards the 0, 8,

8 1/2 miles due north of him. arthel: not that far. reporter: that's the way the bands are. arthel: wow, phil keating, thank you very much, and talk to you later. >> the difference is quite vivid between both of them. from miami beach to the west coast, that was really hit by irma this afternoon. we really saw the impact in naples. the city's mayor joins us now, mayor bill barnett is on the telephone. thank you for joining us this evening on the busy night. how is the damage in the city? how did you come through? >> well, from what i can tell, eric, it is not good, and you know the eye wall went through us now. we had that calm and then the winds started again, and it has now switched but it is blowing hard, it's still raining and the storm surge is starting. our main business fifth avenue south is flooded, and this is just the start of it.

so streets are flooding. we won't be able to get out until probably sunrise tomorrow morning to assess the damage. the pictures that have come in, trees down, you power lines, it's about as bad as you can imagine without seeing it. eric: you have a double whammy, high tide late this afternoon and as you said the storm surge. killer surge, up to 15 feet. you have seen that yet? and do you think most of the people who were told to evacuate did get out? >> okay, i'll answer the last question first about the evacuation. i think everybody that was supposed to get out got out and if they didn't, they got in a shelter. i only had a few messages and they weren't, there the people, that's mailed me were not in distress but they were relatives of people that were staying here from out of state,

so we will get there as soon as we can get a responder out. so, and then the first oo repeat the first part, please? eric: basically in terms of the storm surge, there was a report it went up to four feet and then the device broke. >> yeah, i tell you what, from this afternoon with everything being bone dry, naples say the last text they got said the water is just amazing, it is going up super fast. so i'm afraid that prediction might come true, and we'll definitely have to wait and see until people get out and we can be what it is. but it's not good. eric: i'm so sad and so sorry to hear. that are you confident that the first responders are ready. prestaged, as you get out when there is first light in the morning, it's going to take that long? >> absolutely.

we don't want to send everybody even if it stops raining and the wind stops, we don't want to send anybody out in the middle of the night or 2:00 or 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and we've got a curfew on in the entire state and the county, until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, so we just -- we don't want to put anybody else, we don't want to put anybody on first responders lives in danger going out in the middle of the night. we're going to wait until daylight and then get them out and we'll assess first and then report in. eric: and the cursfu really to protect people's own lives from comeouth and seeing the damage, especially at night because the sun is going to set in about an hour? >> exactly. i wish it was done. yes, yes, yeah, you're right, you're right. that's our game plan. eric: what is it like for and you what has it been like for you and the officials of the city to deal with this and what

is ahead the next few days and weeks? >> well, you know, for myself as mayor, as i've said before, i am the eternal optimist and there will be a bright side to this. it's been a hellacious couple of days, even when we had an inkling that the storm might hit florida, might hit us. naples is relatively difficult to hit naples with a hurricane, and looking at the magnitude of what could be out there, well, you know, we're going to do what anybody else would do and do it with pride and we've got a wonderful staff, good people, a very, very good city council. we'll do whatever is necessary to bring naples back to her beauty. eric: mayor bill barnett of naples. thank you, our thoughts and prayers are with you and the

people of florida tonight. thank you so much. >> thank you. arthel: firsthand account from the mayor of naples. hurricane irma pounding florida with heavy rains, dangerous winds and more to come. we're back after a short break.

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we have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. let's plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. prudential. bring your challenges. . eric: hurricane irma this morning hit the florida keys. there is a report of one death from natural causes in one of the emergency shelters. full assessment of the damage or any other deaths not yet in because of the treacherous conditions on the narrow island chain. irma barrels up florida's west coast, have slammed cities along the gulf. the eye of the storm passing over naples just about an hour ago, we talked to the mayor of that city, heading up cape coral and will hit tampa later on tonight. this shows you how high winds shredded an american flag, this in miami-dade county. janice dean, senior

meteorologist with the latest. janice, next major stop, tampa, overnight. that's the dark of hours, and it will be tough for the folks there. janice: yeah, certainly, it is going to be overnight tonight as it moves up towards north florida, the panhandle and georgia could potentially see hurricane-force wind as well. 142 miles per hour at naples just a few hours ago, 130-mile-per-hour winds in marco island and even miami, miami close to 100 miles per hour for them. we had two landfalls, cudjoe key at 9:00 in the morning and another landfall at marco island, the wind speeds were 115 miles per hour sustained at 3:35 p.m. tornado threat is ongoing. so, of course, we're talking about the winds and the rain and the storm surge, but on the east coast, we have seen many tornado reports and reports of damage along these heavily populated regions, a lot of people escaped to the east

coast florida when they heard it was taking a west coast brunt. we're dealing with a tornado threat and tornado watches. storm surge threat, by the way, up towards the coastal carolinas. low-lying areas here and potentially could see storm surge, the real danger is yet ahead. 10-15 feet, which could be devastating for them. rainfall over a foot of rain already for parts of florida. melbourne, 14", and we could see additional 6 to 8 maybe a foot more of rainfall. this won't be like harvey but we will still see the potential for flooding in these areas. here is the latest track as of 5:00 p.m., a new advisory in the next hour or so, but category 2 storm, and because it's over land it is going to weaken. that's the good news.

however the storm surge story is not going to change regardless whether we're dealing with a category 2 or category 1, the mound of water from the ocean is going to move in because of the counterclockwise winds and the storm is very large with tropical storm-force winds extending 200 miles from the center of the storm, and we're going to feel a tropical storm tomorrow in parts of georgia and alabama. there's the wind field, the hurricane-force winds, all up towards the northwest coast of florida, and then we're going to be dealing with the tropical storm-force winds for parts of the southeast, including atlanta, georgia by the way, which is for the first time ever under a tropical storm warning, the power outages, i know it's ongoing here, for much of the state of florida, anywhere from high to severe. we've had a report of close to two million people without power. 18 million people currently under a hurricane warning. eric, arthel, back to you. eric: and likely see major flooding by daylight.

janice: yes. arthel: irma is not done with florida just yet. packing high winds and causing storm surges that threaten the entire state. bill hemmer is live in orlando home to disney world, irma is the big attraction there. how's it looking? reporter: good evening to you and eric in new york city. coverage will continue at the top of the hour, two hours of "fox report" and see what we get central florida. we just were given a hurricane warning alert. sandra smith, co-anchor with me as the fox coverage continues. hurricane warning issued for the area of orlando, that is something we have to keep an eye on as we go -- excuse me, tornado warning issued for orlando. that's the second time locally we have given that warning so far today. as the bands continue to swirl, that's the big concern is it moves up the center part of the state on the right side of that

storm as it continues to throw those bands our way. that's what we're watching here as the sun starts to set. 7:30 tonight, it will get darks in about 20 minutes a curfew is issued all over orlando. in effect 23 hours and see how much we can keep the peace here. frankly the streets have been clear and clean and there has been very little traffic, and the warnings have been heeded, so we expect and we hope to have a relatively, relatively speaking quiet night here in orlando. still a category 2, but the storm is moving much faster than earlier even at noontime today. now 14 miles an hour, as it starts to pick up more steam as it moves toward the north. take you live to tampa. go up to tallahassee, check in jacksonville and look into georgia and alabama and see what they get there next. we'll talk to the mayor in tampa. he was with us last night on

"fox report" in tampa, getting ready to hunker down, see how they made it through so far today and what they're getting through right now as the storm moves toward them. the fire chief in orlando will be our guest. we talked to a number of people here at a local hotel. they all got out of miami several days ago, waiting to see what comes from the aftermath and make a decision how to get back to their lives and see what's left of the homes as they go back there. the anxiety levels are still high. the storm is still strong, now a category 2, as we approach night fall in orlando, see what we get together, guys, back to you in new york, and see you in about 18 minutes with sandra and me live at 7:00 eastern time. arthel: we'll be watching for that, for sure, bill, you've been in orlando for hours all day. how has it been in terms of the weather changes and have there been looky-loos out? reporter: we've seen a few, but i think you always get a few

but not many, frankly, and a little bit of traffic, but it really has been kept to a minimum. arthel, i want to really express this point, when governor rick scott a week ago started -- there is a car behind me now. when governor rick scott went out a week ago and told everybody to start moving and ordered the evacuation of six million people. i'm not saying all six million he'ded warnings. that evacuation order went out and a good number of people listened to it. they saw the storm out in the caribbean and they saw at least 20 dead and saw st. maarten and st. bart's and barbuda torn apart, that sent a strong signal in people in florida to take heed and listen to the warnings. it appears the greater majority have and certainly find out mores at storm proceeds through the night here. arthel: that's good news, the caribbean took a beating and we'll see you in about, what, 17 minutes, you, bill hemmer

and sandra smith on "fox report." thank you. eric: arthel and folks, authorities for days warning about the dreaded storm surge as a deadly threat. storm surge is an innocuous term for deadly water that could kill you, claim so many lives in katrina and superstorm sandy. irma's eye passed over naples ban hour or so ago, and major flooding is feared. the mayor of the city telling us they have not been able to make an assessment because of the hazardous conditions. steve harrigan is in naples, reporting from there this afternoon, and stood up in defiance in the middle of the storm and joins us now with some better conditions. hi, steve? reporter: eric, some gusts of wind right now probably 20 or 30 miles per hour. the rain has largely stopped. it's still too early to assess the damage from naples when the first eye wall of the hurricane hit with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. from our position here in walking distance, we have gone the a snapshot of some of the

damage as we can see several large downed trees. some damage to groups, not sustained damage to buildings or structures. also seeing some flooding, and that is the real concern. there's a concern about a possible storm surge to follow in the wake of this storm of up to 10 to 15 feet. we can't assess that now but i can tell you there is already three to four feet. how bad that gets, how deadly it could be, still uncertain. also a loss of power for people in collier county. 170,000 people out of power. what comes next? a 9:00 curfew goes into effect and first responders assessing that damage and helping people who need help in the coming hours, perhaps at first daylight tomorrow. have a tough time getting around the roads with downed power lines and trees block the roads. much of the staging for the rescue and recovery operation in orlando so we're going to see thousands of trucks, convoy of help on the way probably later tonight or in the early-morning hours tomorrow.

eric, back to you. >> that is going to be the next story dealing with the recovery and trying to deal with the cleanup. steve harrigan, thank you. arthel? >> the hurricane has cooperated some, so far, and has gone to the west some which is relieving some of the tension here. arthel: that's south carolina's governor henry mcmaster expressing optimism about hurricane irma saying the storm's path up the florida gulf coast could make things more bearable in his state. but as janice dean said moments ago, the carolinas may not be safe from irma's storm surges. joining me is the public information officer from bufford county, south carolina, sir, you can tell us how you are bracing for irma? tell us about the preparations there. >> the sheriff's office emergency management division has been activated for several days now closely monitoring

hurricane irma, in anticipation of deteriorating conditions tonight into tomorrow, the worst expected between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. we still have four to six feet ---foot storm surge we're expecting in the barrier island year, buford county and tropical storm winds. going through hurricane matthew last year, i think we're well prepared. we've been at it for several days, and we've evacuated a good majority of the people that are under mandatory evacuation from governor henry mcmaster into higher ground into the inland areas of the county. we have two red cross storm shelters set up, which are populated at this point. arthel: they are populated at this point. >> they're, they are.

arthel: regarding the shelters, do you know roughly how many there are, and if people don't know how to get to the shelters? or do the residents know where they are and welcome pets? a lot of people are staying at home because they don't want to leave their pets behind? >> glad you brought up that. the red cross shelters are not pet friendly at this point. that's something we're going to address in the upcoming months because that's a real concern for a lot of our residents and, of course, guests that visit beaufort county, so that's one thing. we have two set up within beaufort county in the higher ground areas. one in south carolina, and one in beaufort, south carolina, we hope they're going to be utilized to full capacity. arthel: yeah, and i understand, mr. brommage, captain brommage, you said that most of the residents there have been told

to evacuate. what about those who have not been told or not under mandatory evacuation orders? is it any way possible they could leave the state by driving out, or is it too late for that? >> certainly not too late at this point. the conditions right now are kind of okay. again, getting towards midnight tonight into the morning, the winds should pick up and the rain should come and it's going to be just too dangerous to travel. so, of course, people didn't evacuate, we're asking to find a safe place in the house to hunker down until the storm passes. but the storm surge is the biggest concern we have here. it's been raining a lot the last couple of months. we've had volumes of rain this summer. the ground is wet. we have weakened tree root system. in the barrier islands especially, so we're expecting tree damage, power line damage, flooding and flooding possibly as bad as hurricane matthew. arthel: captain brommage.

>> we are very concerned. arthel: we're concerned for you, good luck to and you all the residents in beaufort county, south carolina. thanks for your time, sir? >> thank you. arthel: stay safe. we'll be back after this short break. i'm karen, i'm a teacher.olfer. my psoriatic arthritis caused joint pain. just like my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and i was worried about joint damage. my doctor said joint pain from ra can be a sign of existing joint damage that could only get worse. he prescribed enbrel to help relieve pain

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. eric: northeastern florida may

have been largely spared the brunt of irma after the storm pivoted to the state's west coast. the threat of wind, rain and even tornados are possible overnight in daytona beach and elsewhere as irma's eye is tracking northward. rick leventhal is live in daytona beach with the latest on the conditions there. hi, rick? reporter: hey, eric, outside the volusia county operations center where a press briefing is set to begin under ten minutes from now. there was a tornado warning in effect, it just expired a couple of minutes ago but a moderate threat of tornadoes until midnight tonight, and the wind has been picking up, not right now but getting serious squalls to the point they have started closing the bridges between the beach and the mainland. those include the dunn lautenbridge in orange where police vans are blocking the road. turnbull bay bridge closed because of water issues and the sea breeze bridge and international speedway bridge

in daytona beach shut down. a sand truck blocking the lanes there. there have been power outages, lines down, 5,000 customers affected. they restored power to about 4,000, still about 1200 customers without power. and we told you about members of the fp and l restoration workforce staged in daytona beach. there are hundreds of power trucks and tree trucks that are now parked at the speedway, they're staging with hundreds of workers on standby and some of them have been dispatched to prepare parts of the power grid affected by the winds and storm and again power lines in the area were taken down which had to be repaired but they expect the situation could be far, far worse. we were told by fp and l earlier that 2 1/2 million customers lost power due to the storm so the repair will be extensive. eric: the number expected to go

up. rick, thank you so much. arthel: rick, back to bryan llenas now, live in downtown miami, and i understand just in about five minutes, there will be a curfew from 7:00 p.m. tonight until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, bryan? reporter: that's exactly right. a curfew in the city of miami. that's to keep people safe. this is what we're seeing on the ground. glass shards everywhere. a guy popped both of his tires because of glass outside of the building. that's the panorama building right there. that's the tallest residential building in miami, tallest building in miami under construction. we would show you six foot panels continue to fall off the panel onto the ground. dangerous situation. on brickell, where a lot of residential condo buildings and are nice restaurants. you can see the storm surge came in here, we don't how far it goes back, seven or eight blocks at least. three, four inches, luckily you can tell a lot of the buildings, especially the ones we're on, are elevated, so i

don't think, let's hope none of the water got into the lobbies of the places. it's a good thing can you see the elevation on the staircases, doesn't look like the water went over and perhaps into the lobbies, that is good news. we've got fire alarms going off to our left over here, and can you take a look at this tree right here, you've got the blue debris, straight from the building all the way at the top. dangerous situation as the city of miami is bring out five crews to assess the damage tomorrow, and you know, we need to keep people off the streets which is why the curfew is in place. it is dangerous, people get injured mostly after the storm trying to assess damage and trying to take photos, they need to stay safe. arthel: bryan, look over your right shoulder, i think i see somebody behind you? reporter: yeah, that's somebody. i don't know if he's a -- yeah, people are coming in. you see that's the problem, they're take photo, thing it's fun and games, but you know,

when you're in there, yeah, you see, that's the tough thing, it's going to get dark quirkily and things falling off the building, you got to just be careful and not come out right now. not the situation to do so. people are curious. eric: someone is trying to drive. they're warning about not driving and somebody is trying to drive through the water. you have downed power lines, obstacles, shards of glass under the water. folks think it could be fun, that is actually really dangerous, especially if you have loose panes of windows from high up. shows an american city paralyzed tonight. despite the best efforts because of what they went through. arthel: bry knowa, look at the truck, he's trying to back out because he realizes the water is deeper than he thought. reporter: that's exactly right. exactly right. that's why floodwaters are very difficult. you can't -- you think you know, but then you get into it, and we're still getting gusts.

we're getting gusts of wind taking down panels off the building. so it's not a good situation right now at all. you should not be driving in this, you should not be standing in this, and this is the type of flooding we're seeing. seeing flooding in residential areas, if you keep going down the road, you're going to be seeing houses in coconut grove. we haven't been able to see firsthand what the flooding is like there because of the storm surge, one has to think if it's here, it's over in the homes, too. this is one of the most dangerous parts of the storm is the after. you have to be very, very careful. shards of glass, a woman was barefoot trying to say hi us to. please done. ure going to get yourself hurt. yeah, make sure you stay. in that is why there's a curfew in place, guys. arthel: indeed, arthel: we will be talking to you throughout the night. bryan llenas in miami. eric: that vividly shes the example of the flooding and the

potential storm surge. well, our continuing coverage will continue. coming up, there's going to be a special two-hour "fox report." arthel: that's right. sandra smith in new york, bill hemmer in orlando. sandra: america holding its breath as hurricane irma bears down on florida. the now-category two storm packing lethal and catastrophic force winds as it marches north up the gulf coast. welcome to the fox report, i'm sandra smith. bill hemmer is in orlando. bill: hey, sandra, good evening the you, and welcome as our coverage continues on the fox news channel. we are in central florida, and now we're starting to feel the bands of irma, still a strong category two storm as it works its way north up the coast. big concern for tampa at this hour, big concern for orlando, for fort myers as that storm comes onshore and moves