potentially deadly wind and rain pounds florida as hurricane irma closes in on tampa. >> the record breaking storm is downgraded to a category two. it is closing in on the tampa and st. petersburg area. >> tonight, live team coverage from the across the sunshine state. let's start with adam fox who is tracking this massive

storm. >> still a category two hurricane. were waiting for to drop-down. it has been overland for a little while. the longer you spin over land and your cut off from moisture you can slow down a little bit. there's also some friction. there is your center of circulation. we are actually to the east of tampa, lifting to the north but for now to the east as well as this continues to left. a lot of these areas are packing a lot of wind and heavy rain. we've seen some tornadoes spinning up as well. there's under storms in orlando and tampa. we still have an opportunity of seeing tornadoes pop up. i know we have often on throughout the entire day. most of that activity has been happening along the east coast of florida and in line with orlando. we've seen some stretch over toward brevard county. currently nothing but i wouldn't be surprised if they

spin up again as we track the storm to the north. for now a category two storm. there will be dropping to a category one storm as it passes the tampa bay area and heads to the north. it's running as far north as atlanta getting winds up to 50 and 60 miles per hour. the wind will continue to be an issue tonight. everything you're looking at here in this red circle, that is hurricane force winds including orlando. it will run up to the north near jacksonville before eventually winding down a bit. even everything in the yellow is still tropical force winds and they will run into north georgia and atlanta. you will see some high tides. it's likely rising in fort myer myers. as soon as the system passes through the tampa area , that

will be a position where the tide will rise. looking at the storm surge of 5 - 10 feet and that's a base level. any waves crashing will be happening on top of that. >> we had a viewer asked on social media, what about hurricane josé. florida has its hands full with hurricane irma but what about the next storm. >> nothing right now is telling us that josé will be the next storm but i did want to bring this up, there is josé spinning out right now. this looks like a hodgepodge. this is a whole bunch of models. what they are doing is taking this category three, doing a loop and then this is the u.s. coast. bringing it back this direction. the fact is that we are ten days out heading back that direction, there's a lot of people taking notice of this and we will watch it really closely for the next ten days or so. >> wow. thank you for that. >> fingers crossed. >> the city of naples florida has been hit really hard by

irma. >> steve has been there through it all and he joins us. what is it like. >> the rain has stopped after dropping 12 inches in the naples area and the wind has calm down considerably. naples fire rescue vehicles are out. their main goal was to clear the road. those hundred 30 mile-per-hour winds this afternoon and created some serious damage. they are trying to clear the way and clear the way to hospitals. as far as the possible storm surge that could have occurred, there was catastrophic predictions of 10 - 15 feet. the storm moved a little bit to the east. they are still evaluating the possible storm surge. one thing officials are saying is while the winds have calmed

in the rain has stopped, there is still rising water in the naples area. there's still a danger in flooding and moving about under these conditions. they're saying to those 20000 people, stay in those shelters and do not return to your property. it is still too dangerous. back to. >> thank you so much for that. irma is creeping closer to tampa as they prepare for their first direct hit in nearly a century. >> mike tobin is live and joins us now. what's the latest. >> we can deftly tell the rain and the wind has been increasing with intensity over the past hour. every now and then we get a band of wind come through, a big gust that will come through and start to feel like that hurricane force intensity. that's when you start getting the rain flying sideways in the whole 9 yards. you look down seventh avenue

here, you can see some of the debris, a newspaper box that in october, but you can also notice that the lights are still on. we see a lot of rain, a lot of water standing on the road. you can see a whole lot more debris on the street behind me but i think your city officials in tampa would tell you, if this is as bad as it gets, they will be pretty happy with the outcom outcome, falling dramatically short of the predictions of this hurricane. couple of things keep in mind, what i can see is just what's in front of me. as they say, the wind, the rain, the water and they're waiting to see what happens tomorrow with the storm surge. i've said it before, i have to say it again, they are urging people who have gone to the shelter or gone to a friend's house to stay there and wait

this thing out. of course everybody who's watching right now wants to know how their home has spared. the authorities are asking people to stay away for a while, but the secondary event happen and let the officials get into those neighborhoods to determine if there are live powerlines in the neighborhood or other sorts of dangers in these areas and put the word out through the media, through social media, over the radio, what have you to let people know that it's safe to come back into the neighborhood. beyond that were just watching for the storm to increase in intensity. every now and then we get the big gust that come through, it's kind of picking up right now. you get the angry feel to the wind and it feels like a hurricane. for the most part we have a lot of rain. back to you pgh thank you so much. >> broward county in south florida took a big hit from irma. >> joining us on the phone is the mayor of hollywood

florida. just north of miami, what can you tell us about how your town has fared. >> hello everyone. >> so we had a full day here since the early morning and of course yesterday evening, a really strong tropical force winds together with hurricane force winds. we've had widespread damage, thousands of trees down. damages to businesses, some more rustic type of construction. we've had severe title flooding from the ocean and across the waterways and the streets. we have a big cleanup effort to start tomorrow. >> to have mostly aboveground power or are your powerlines below street level.

>> mostar above ground. our city was found 90 years ago and developed in the 60s and 70s. we have around 150,000 residents, 75% are without power right now. >> wow. the loss of life, making sure everyone is safe, that's for spread the next thing, having been in places where there is a power outage, you get very antsy for the power to come back on. what you tell people. are there crews ready to go? >> short red power and light, our biggest utility has been joining the county and its public outreach since the beginning of the preparation of the storm, assuring thus they have something to the tune of 13000 personnel and trucks on standby, ready for the school system local.

30,000 are restored. if there are residents of hollywood, we want to stress that because we want the alleyway to be cleared for crews to come in, all school debris should be placed at the front of the house, not in the alley area where residents are used to setting up their garbage for pickup. >> my guess is your leadership in that city has been riding an emotional roller coaster over the past few days, worried about getting a direct hit, you did take a sideswipe

but talk about the emotions you've been going through over the past 24 - 48 hours wondering if you were about to be flattened or not. >> your right. at one point the city of hollywood was the lamb falsity when the storm was forecasted to make landfall on the east coast of south florida. of course, there was a lot of concern. at home depot and at the hardware stores, the night before the expected landfall, there was tension. everybody was struggling to find the right hardware to fix their shutters for their home. was definitely a lot of scrubs. >> we are glad you are doing reasonably well tonight. we wish you a speedy recovery to your community. >> thank you. >> he talked to the power company had a time, knew how many trucks were available

what was going to happen. we have to help those communities get back on their feet. >> absolutely. our coverage continues from the southern part of florida in a moment. >> we have much more ahead. our live coverage continues in a moment. don't go away eeth or... ...one that's good for my teeth? now i don't have to choose! from crest 3d white comes new whitening therapy. it's our best whitening technology. plus, it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. [notification tone] ♪ i love your vest. your crocheted purses have wonderful eyes.

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fox news continuing coverage, richard corcoran is speaker of the house before the house of representatives. >> he is with us on the phone. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having us. >> what you expect so far of the damage and what is your impression? >> it's hitting us hard now so the really damaging part will be between tonight and 4:00 a.m. will probably see hurricane gus and winds of 70 plus miles per hour. you've got huge trees all around and you can't see. it will be a tough evening. >> one of the main differences between the storm and some that we've seen in the past is that you have a lot of warning

and it seems like a lot of communities were able to move resources into place to deal with the aftermath. is that true of where you are as well? >> the governor and all the emergency management teams have done a phenomenal job. never in the history of the country has a state been more prepared for what were facing but this is a massive hurricane that will hit every inch of our state. we have 28 other states, the district of columbia, all these national guardsmen from other states, all these powerline operators, insurance adjusters all queued up waiting to come in as soon as they can to start the restoration. >> obviously your street state is no stranger to hurricanes, but when you look at this storm covering virtually every inch of the florida map, this must be something that state officials probably didn't have an opportunity to drill for. >> it's also more stressful. when it started and you look at the projections, you're

telling southeast florida to get out and evacuate. they're coming across the state or to the panhandle and now, because of this volatility with the storm, you have all the stress that everyone having gone fro to orlando and now orlando's getting hit, it's just causing a tremendous amount of stress for citizens, but we been through this more than any other state and we will recover and rebound and were absolutely the most prepared state in the history of this country for what we have to do next in terms of rebuilding. >> obviously safety and the loss of life and making sure that has limited as could possibly be comes first, but from your seat, your state senator, what you think in terms of the money that it will take to recover, where that will come from. i would think you're already thinking about those issues. >> another great thing is our

state, we were just ranked number one in the nation paired we have $4 billion in reserves. our citizens insurance and our catastrophic insurance fund, the governor has done a great job and they've already designated a major disaster declaration so that means immediately, for seven days we get one 100% restoration. that will be the bulk of our state. we'll get together right away and figure out and convene a special session and deregulate nurses and insurance regulators, whatever we need to do to get people back into their homes. >> it's not republicans or democrat, you are all floridians. is that correct. >> that's correct. were all in this together you

are seeing the great side of human nature. >> sir, thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> hurricane irma is still a very strong storm and it's inching closer to tampa. >> it has already left a trail of damage and in some case destruction across parts of florida including miami. >> that is where we find fox news reporter. what is the latest where you are. >> i am standing at the place inundated with water. the last time we spoke, at one point the water was estimated about 3 feet. this neighborhood is a very residential part of miami.

those waters were rushing in and getting into some of these buildings. the assessment of the damage is continuing. we also have photos of a balcony that was shattered. they flew off the tallest building which is a construction site, they flew off the building and flew into the man's balcony across the street. just a dangerous situation. you can see behind me. you can stop in a puddle that has a downed power line, this is dangerous. as the water receives were seeing more and more debris

left over. that's why there is a curfew se set. the officials are assessing the damage. it's not safe out there. people can't return until tuesday at noon. obviously we have those 600,000 plus people who are itching to get back to their communities, and right now they just have to wait and see. it is also pitch black. some 4 million people without power. utilities are out making sure it's a safe situation and looters aren't taking advantage of the situation as well.

>> thank you. we have an update on this path right now. >> we will be back in a moment, stay with us. depend real fit briefs feature breathable, cotton-like fabric. in situations like this, there's no time for distractions. it's not enough to think i'm ready. i need to know i'm ready.

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on select adjustable sets. tempur-pedic sleep is power. ♪i'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'♪ ♪one day maybe next week, ♪i'm gonna meet ya' ♪i'm gonna meet ya', i'll meet ya'♪ >> welcome back to our live continuing coverage of hurricanes. dangerous conditions in miami florida. >> the miami-dade police department is with us. thanks for calling in. what are conditions like right now. >> we are shifting into recovery mode. i've seen extensive tree damage blocking roadways, light poles are down and over

850,000 people without a power. we are replenishing our crews with new officers and responding to emergency calls and doing preliminary damage assessments. >> there are so many dangers out there from debris on the road and everywhere. there's concerned of downed power lines with water puddles and people looting. what's your biggest concern and how are you managing it. >> the biggest concern is the safety and security of the residence. number two, looting will not

be tolerated. route they're trying to enforce the law. please don't go out my curiosity got the best of you. there is a lot of hidden dangers. there could be a branch that's hanging on. let us do our work and we will let everyone know when it's safe to come out. >> i understand there hasn't been a full assessment of damage but is there a sense of relief that perhaps were not ground zero, you can take the direct blast. >> is a very powerful storm with very high winds, unlike anything i've seen in quite a while. when we get the full extent of the damage it will be extensive damage that we need to work on. the rest of the state is in our prayer. we are hoping everyone is okay

we can provide help to anyone else who needs it. >> he told us there was a ship that had rolled over and have been working double time. so many people risking their lives for the safety of others. tell us how many people you have out how long they've been there what they've done. >> our entire department mobilized. we go to two shifts. the alpha shift is daytime and the bravo shift is nighttime. half will be working in the day and they were able to get out in time when conditions started to get the worse but the night shift had to stay through their shift and almost an entire other shaft. were trying to relieve folks now and hopefully we can go out and make assessments and provide assistance, give our guys some rest and be back at it again. we won't stop until the community is back on its feet.

>> first responders are out there. we reported out there about first responders were killed in the line of duty today. talk a little bit about the risk involved with patrolling and keeping your community safe, protecting and serving during a major weather crisis like the. >> the first i hear, definitely our thoughts and prayers go out to that officer in any other first responder who is injured. this is what we do, this is what we sign up for and we take an oath. were happy to do it for our community, we are part of the community, we live here and we rise to the occasion and that's what we'll do now and anytime something like this threatens our community. >> thank you so much. we appreciate your time and everything you're doing for your community. >> thank you. >> hurricane irma is slamming parts of florida. >> live team coverage continues right tonight. right now, for the latest on

irma's track butts check-in with adam. >> currently irma is spinning north of fort myers. that is our center of circulation. the big story is this has now moved inland. it will track up the west side of the state but likely won't run back over water which is weakening the storm system. wins are currently at 100 miles per hour so just barely at that threshold, hanging onto a category two storm. it won't hang on a whole lot longer. there's tampa. were actually little to the east of tampa as we lift up. that's good news for the folks in the short term. it's not going to affect the storm surge a lot but it will affect these initial wins because all this wind has to run over land, slow down a little bit before it runs into any homes. that's good news for them. i know they're still getting it pretty good at this hour. here's the setup were looking

at. otherwise still the entire northern half of the state under a tornado watch. it's been fairly consistent throughout the entire afternoon into the overnight hours where we have been seeing very strong bands. there's one right now. these have been spawning into tornadoes. currently we don't have anything listed here. a typical tornado you see is not very long-lasting but it still can do damage and we very got a report of a home destroyed but no one wasn't it. but they are powerful while they're there. either way these are big powerful winds pounding the eastern side of the state and still dropping a decent amount of rain. this is additional rainfall i will show you. now what we've seen so far, but added to it. you see fairly widespread anywhere from 6 - 8 inches of rain, that will stretch into the area of south georgia and

as far as atlanta. they will see three, four, 5 inches of rain. while it hasn't been the main threat, it is something people continue to pay attention to and it could cause brief flooding. here's the path of the system. we go through the category two dropping to a category one. it continues to spin just over land, expecting it to move to the east of the tampa area, shortly after midnight, maybe 1:00 a.m. continuing to work its way, eventually out of the state then to a tropical storm through portions of georgia and alabama but still, all of these areas actually looking at tropical storm warnings and watches. the system, even though we been focusing so much on florida, it's got a ways to go. >> your hour by hour forecast, were almost to midnight. there is your rotation of the storm spinning, but the outer bands continue to push further to the north. that's where there's heavier rain and tornadoes are setting up so far.

the heaviest rain is stretching across to the florida gulf coast lifting into alabama and georgi georgia, areas that will see some very intense storms and intense winds. everything in the red area is a hurricane force wind. stretching up towards gainesville, even if you're not in that area, if you're in the orange or yellow area, they are still very strong wins. you see how long that holds on going up toward atlanta. here's some of our forecast throughout the rest of the evening. perhaps getting up to 80, 85 miles per hour in the tampa area, so still very strong winds. orlando up to 60 miles per hour with some of these wind gusts. this will only move up the coast. if this moves through the area, think of mid- 50s and some cases 60 or 70

mile-per-hour winds. you get all that, no space here worst thing hurricane watches and warnings. this is something they just updated. everything you're looking at in the red is a hurricane warning. to the south, that was a hurricane warning, that's dropped back down to watch. we are on the backside of this right now to even though there might be some flooding and some storm surge for some of these areas, we are beginning to back off where the brunt of the storm. perhaps by tomorrow some of these communities that initially saw this will start to get out in the sunshine and do some picking up as it appears run the backside of it. even though there's still some storm surge concern. >> we've heard you in our field correspondence talking about storm surge. we saw marco island get a direct hit later this afternoon. any word on the storm surge there?

>> we've done some updated forecast. i don't have particulars about how high it's gotten but the updated forecast from that initial area we were looking at 10 - 15 feet and some of the areas are closer to 9 feet. that's 9 feet above sea level. that's enough to do a lot of damage. >> when all is said and done, who got hit the hardest. where will we see the most damage and who needs the most help. >> it's likely going to be where landfall was made. marco island across the keys where we got the initial landfall this morning, that's where the winds were the highest and we pushed a lot of water. by the time we get this all cleaned up those will be areas where people are really focused. >> thank you very much. great job. >> rick is up next, he is live in daytona beach. >> live coverage continues as we approach the midnight hour in florida. stay with us. hey!

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welcome back to the ongoing coverage of hurricane irma. >> rick leventhal is live in daytona beach florida. what's it like out there. >> i had to upgrade my i where to swimming goggles. it's backed up a little bit, the ocean avenue sign is shaking in the wind. it's sort of a wind tunnel effect. the beach is right over there. this is atlantic avenue and it is whipping off there now.

we were going to try to walk to the beach but that's not happening. i promise you i'm not over dramatizing the strength of the wind. can you can over and show how hard, they told us to expect 75 mile-per-hour winds sometime overnight. i can't hold the wind meter right now but it certainly feels like were getting close to that if not overnight. this is pretty intense. >> i give you another look down atlantic avenue which is deserted right now there's very little to show you accept some water, good news for daytona they're not getting a lot of damage that we know of, although as i reported before,

we did get word from the sheriff that a house was destroyed. they believe a tornado touchdown and took out a vacant home. we honestly can't get over there to check on it or bring you pictures of it, but tomorrow, maybe by noon when this thing blows over we can take a look. the town is pretty empty. people are heeding the curfew. there was an evacuation order for the beach in low-lying areas. now we have tonight is wind and heavy rain. >> he made us nervous there for a second. we were afraid we lost you glad you're back. can you describe, what does that feel like. >> to be honest, it's pretty exhilarating. i've been in a lot of hurricanes and there's something about thi this. i get it. you don't want to be in a

position, the truth is it's pretty stupid to be in that wind. >> what you get back inside. we don't want you to get hurt. >> i'm not get hurt, i hope, but the point is, i want you to see this damage because this is what daytona and volusia county are getting right now. this is their piece of irma and it's pretty powerful. they are likely going to see some damages, certainly for some flooding and power outages, but obviously nowhere near as bad on the west coast. >> with those kind of wins its unclear how long the lights will stay on. >> we had some transformers blow while we were on the

air. they deftly have lost power in some areas, and obviously they've lost a lot of power across the state. like i mentioned before, the guys who are gonna fix a lot of power, some of them are staying in the hotel down the block, they came from 30 states to help out down here and he doesn't know where or when he's going. they're just on stamp standby. when they get their orders they get the truck and had that way. >> that's what's amazing. they are ready for the cleanup "after words" because they did have a lot of warning. we talked about the guys in the hotel's who will go out and work on the power, what else? >> what i thought was interesting was it's not just the line workers but also the tree guys. they've got equipment to chop the trees and remove the trees

and get a model away because most of the time when these lines come down it's because they got taken out by a branch or a tree. these guys have to go in to a dangerous environment and remove the trees to clear the way so the line guys can do their work to get their power back up. they work in teams and we've seen them rolling outta here. they work together to fix the lines when they get broke. >> take us behind the scenes. will you get a few minutes of rest at some point and then what's your strategy for tomorrow? where you going? if these guys are out and about tomorrow, the situation

here is far better than they thought it would be. they will have issues though, they already do. some of the guys who are here won't stay here. there, had to other areas and will probably wind up doing the same. >> are you really wearing swimming goggles and did you pack those and bring them with you? >> we've done a lot of shopping since we left. just tell finance they will have a big expense report from me. [laughter] >> i didn't have the best eyewear with me so we got these had a sporting goods store and they seem to work pretty well. >> you look good. your rock in it. >> i'm completely soaked.

once one thing gets wet, that's it. >> you know what to pack for next time. there you go. rick, we love you. stay safe. >> he's done a lot of shopping while he's down there. note to finance but we will pass that along. we will be back live in miami in just a moment. >> more amazing images from the impact zone. live continuing coverage coming back. don't go away.

>> tragic news out of florida related to hurricane irma. >> to law enforcement officers in an evacuation zone have lost their life. both on duty when the storm moved in. julie bridges and joseph osman were killed in a head-on crash this morning in southeast tampa. >> debbie bridges was heading to pick up supplies to deliver to an irma evacuation center at the time of the crash. the other was on his way to work to begin his shift. both were required to stay in the county on duty despite the mandatory evacuation orders for civilian residents. our condolences are with their

families tonight. >> we are back with wall-to-wall coverage of her came irma. >> joe is in battered downtown miami. what is it like at this hour. >> good evening. just as you were recapping that horrendous story, many police officers down the street assessing the damage. you cannot overstate how important these first responders are. they always step up when needed. they been out here, we saw. we are in the middle of brickle avenue, the soul called wall street of the south.

we may not get that final gust of wind and rain, which we would be fine with and i'm sure the leaders here in miami-dade county would be as well. schools have been closed for the foreseeable future because. the superintendent. in addition to that we have the airport shut down. we've seen a lot of people coming out to take photos and that is not advisable. there was a distressing tweet from senator marco rubio, essentially saying about an hour or so ago that the hospital was basically running out of diesel fuel to run

their generator and desperately trying to get diesel fuel. there are all these peripheral issues and problems as a result of hurricane irma. we should probably fear what the day will bring tomorrow. there will be a lot of devastation on the ground. >> thank you for your reporting tonight. we appreciate it. we are minutes away from midnight on the east coast as the eye of hurricane irma moves dangerously close to tampa florida. >> that's it for a spread our continuing live coverage continues in a moment right here on the fox news channel with kelly wright and lower angle. don't go away. my checkups go well, but i want awesome! so my dentist told me about this...

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reporter: the state of florida understood unrelenting attack by hurricane irma. it many leaving behind a deluge and death and destruction. don't come out of your house until the sun is up and you can clearly see. reporter: for days floridans have been hearing the ominous warnings. today they are feeling and witnessing the violence.