live aerials out of their coming up within the next hour. though storm continues to turn to the north end has georgia on its mind. it's 2:00 in south florida and across georgia, i'm shepard smith in new york and this is fox news channel continuing coverage of the devastation of hurricane irma. alive look, this is alive look coming to us from jacksonville. that's a fox news camera that's just watching the waters rise? it's high tide at the bay bridge there. we are waiting to find out what that brings. it we can to tell you the storm is continuing its northward path and working its way over to the state of georgia right now, it's

a tropical storm and for the most part down in florida we are waiting for a damage assessment. let's listen to peter who is live in jacksonville where the wind is still howling. >> you would think this is the kind of place where somebody might go to lunch of boat but this is street, we are still two blocks in. you can see how deep it is, about 500 feet where the banks should be right now. what we are told is high tide. you look over to the right here, there's a hyatt regency that is completely closed, there is nobody staying there. you can see why from this angle a little bit better than where we were before. there are a couple of feet of water blocking any way that you would get into that hotel basically. we just saw the utility company go into this building, they've

been checking things out all up and down this block. high tide is here, this is about as high as it's going to go. with the wind still coming in, jacksonville, nobody really talks about as being one of the places the storm was going to hit as hard as it did. you get a sense of how fast the wind came through earlier today, late last night. trees were uprooted like this in the lanes of i10 east as we had to hear from alabama this morning, a lot of that. obviously a lot of water and we wait to see how high it is and the rest of the >> and we wait to see how long it will take to clean up trees like this one, shep. >> shepard: peter doocy, we are look at brand-new pictures that come in from there. there are some pretty extreme of flooding where interstate ten meets interstate 75 which is

significantly west of jacksonville, and all throughout duvall county, we have been watching. this is sky action news sky cam, above and it is looking at orlando. let us listen live. >> live luck and you can see the damage -- a car seems to be almost into the door of the home. they try to park it in the driveway. i don't know if the wind moved in there or they parked it to skip some shelter from the wind, but the damage from orlando. we expect to see more images like this from across the state and the aftermath of irma. >> shepard: that was the fact station, box 30 in jacksonville. sharing some of their images with us, to have them coming in on so made different monitors. the upper keys in south florida coming from wsvn, and we have been wondering exactly how severe this was going to be. we do not know which of the upper keys this is, because a helicopter is flying over and

not sending us that information, but let us listen at south florida's new station tells us about this. >> so the vehicles can get through to bring in the fuel -- >> shepard: seven news south florida. >> it is also a day when officials are trying to get a grip on what they are dealing with. they are surveilling, canvassing to get an idea where there is structural damage, roads and bridges may have issues. they have to have a baseline and understanding of where they are, so they can begin to tackle that right away. while they are doing that, they cannot have people -- all of us try to get into our homes. you want to see how things made out and so on, but while they're getting at baseline, so they can figure out a starting point for which they begin to help us recover, they want and need us out of our way -- is not just munro county. we've seen in other places where neighborhoods are still subject

to curfew. if you live there, but you have to wait a long time. the crew to show your idea -- >> shepard: it look what's happening live in jacksonville from fox at 30 and this is in middleburg near jacksonville. a black creek rescue. people being rescued from the high water. let us listen now. >> literally get out of the fly water. reporting live in black creek. >> shepard: romney smith from fox 30 injectable, talking to a local cruise. we are listening to different stations all over the state, because something has happened the last few minutes that choppers have been able to get up and reporters are out. we're learning for the first time about some of them. kevin clark from fox 30 and jacksonville is out and after the storm coverage, he is in duval county near jacksonville, south of jacksonville. let us listen. >> a crew that was hauling a boat, we know more rescue is

going on. our issue right now is the water gets deeper from here. i am standing in knee-deep water, but it gets waste-deep, and perhaps even if you can pan down the street, you may be able to see someone kayaking. do note that will is someone kayaking? he says it is a kayak, not a rescue boat we seen some included some video i want to show you from a little while ago of a family being taken by cruz, jeff has been coming around knocking on doors to make sure everyone is okay, because this is waste deep water. expected to get bigger waste deep or at worst. again, you're looking at video taking people end, ten, 15-foot boat, helping them out, and taking them down the road. it will take them a couple of blocks away, i am told. that is an area where trying to get to come and some of them may go to shelters, but that family we spoke to a little while ago,

they are okay pure and most of the people we have spoken to are in good spirit and he has echoed that. we asked him if everyone owes s okay, and that is the most important thing, but that family was saying they were trying to get some of their belongings to higher ground as that is the next question in this area in san marco. people are okay, what about their homes? their belongings? we will continue to check in on that, meanwhile, you can see how murky the water is. i've seen people walking around barefoot here, and you want to absolutely be careful. a lot of concerns about that, because this is awfully murky. we are part of a parking lot, and you do not know what is under here. we are walking slow, and we will keep bringing you updates on what is going on here with rescues for now. we are live in san marco. >> shepard: let's go to the orlando where fox 30 is throwing out -- showing us some coverage. >> we are not sure if we are

making another run at this time, first responders taking over. they have the priority. they are the experts. people helping neighbors, try to do their best to supplement that help right now, and as you can see, they'll be loaded onto this white band, them and their pets to seek safety. it is a very scary situation to say the least by the st. john river. that water is rushing in at those homes easily, forefeet, 5 feet high. you can see some of the water creeping back. this is the riverside area of jacksonville. that one it may not look deep right now, but when you get to the middle of it it is solid three, four feet deep. getting people out of the harder hit areas. riverside and some of the areas around. >> shepard: that is devol county near jacksonville. pictures coming in from florida city, down near -- in

south florida, florida city is not far from homestead, an area leveled by hurricane andrew. let us listen. >> now they are realizing that a crowd, and if this road is not going to open up for at least today, possibly longer, they do not want people camped out outside at the homestead speedway, when they have shelters open. when there is a curfew tonight. there is another curfew in miami dade county. they have a predicament, because they have people there were trying to camping out at the speedway, and there's going to be a curfew. all that has now changed. the bottom line is, if you are a keys resident, and you do not work at mariners hospital, there is no chance you're going to get into the keys for the next day. there is no point in coming down here to florida city. there's a lot of confusion here. there are people getting angry and frustrated. you heard them in the press conference. the best idea is to stay put for at least today, follow us, follow the monroe county social media.

you'll get the message when the time comes. for at least a day... >> shepard: some good advice for the local down there in florida city. those pictures from wsb and 7 and florida city. down in the florida keys, they are working to determine what is safe and what isn't for people to return. what roads and bridges may have problems in southwest florida in naples, fort myers and that whole area. they're looking at flooding and some others. i want to go to north jacksonville now, where the water is rising fast and the homes right now. these pictures coming from us from cbs 47 in fact 30 in the area, and look at that. >> the water is surrounding the dozens of homes. a woman over here to the right, she is leaving now, because the water by the minute is rising and getting deeper and deeper.

interest to our home. let's catch her before she she is right now. barbara, you are heading out, right? >> do you need anything else? >> it is getting deeper. >> it is getting bad, and i don't want to chance it. anything happening to my daughter or myself. i smelled gas. i don't know if you smell it, but i smell gas. that is why i am going to go leave. i called 911, and they told me that it was coming from the express way from the runoff. i do not want to chance it. >> you have somewhere to go? >> i do. i am -- because lost my dad

godmother and i just had surgery as well. i have a lot going on right now. i just want to go ahead and leave. i'd rather have my life that material things, because i can get those back, but i can ache in my life back. >> once i left the neighborhood i went up on 95, and i saw how bad it was but all you could see where the house and everything else was already washed away. all the docs are gone, decks are gone, the only thing is left are boats in my truck. >> families are trying to keep their spirits up. they will rebuild if they have to. >> shepard: this is in north jacksonville. amber cry amber working for fox 30. it's hard to imagine it's happening live. the beach and naples, where fox 4 has a reporter and it is still churning. this is the gulf of mexico.

>> even on the radio as well, reporting and call your county. >> shepard: talking to the locals and southwest florida. our local fox station. we are hearing from emergency managers that st. pete is an area of particular concern. remember in st. petersburg, they have a lot of low-lying areas that are susceptible to flooding on a good day, and our man, matt finn is down there this afternoon to give us a look. hello, matt. >> shepard, as you can imagine, tens of thousands of people are tired and want to get back into their homes. we are along the bell weight which connects the st. petersburg metro to st. pete beach, and as you can see, people who are trying to get into their homes are being stopped by police and turned away because unfortunately, a cruise, a small yacht crashed into the bridge. the owner of the boat says the county is still checking for some live wires along the

bridge, so no one is allowed to cross that bridge. people are stopping in traffic to my right there are families who are camped out here with their children, and their dogs saying, we went through a lot, what is a couple of more hours sitting on the side of the road? we talk to the energy company, duke energy said, 450,000 people in the tampa bay area without power. tampa electric saying they have 330,000 without power, and they are warning that you could be without power for days. >> shepard: matt, what is the details on how people will get in and out of there? >> authorities tell us it could open as early as 4:00. we arrived at the scene this morning, and they got was rubbing up against the bridge in the boat owner arrived and said, they're doing everything they can to assess the damage and try to get that boat out as soon as possible. please tell us they need to make sure that there is no active power touching that boat and that bridge, because i could be deadly. spoon met for an end st. petersburg.

let us go to jacksonville. we got a first look at the pier, and jacksonville peer is standing and doing well. here's the reporter talking. >> about 10 feet of dunes which is the equivalent of 10% of the dunes. it is not what he hoped for. he was hoping for a lot less damage, but it is what it is. 10% of these dunes are now gone. they did do their job. however, there are two sections of the dunes on jackson beach that were breached. again, how do you define breach? they had water going over them last night when i was out here, and i was breaching to a degree. jack's beach defines it as the dune is gone. it is vanished, and there to section of dune on jackson beach, where they are no longer there, and after i am here, we're going to check out those two sites and have it for you later on. we will get a look inside have a feel of what that damages and the two different parts where the dunes are no longer existing. that is what is happening here,

it will ha 40 coming up. ben becker. >> shepard: in south florida and florida city, where we are still looking at new video coming in of the boat damage that has happened. florida city and southwest miami day. homestead were kirk and hedrick came to short 25 years ago, and other looking at new damage the reporter in florida city. let us listen. >> if you find yourself into a situation where you are stuck there or trapped there and are in some need is brian is telling us, authorities are swamped. it will be that way for a day or two. >> brian, let me ask you this we are out here listening to you, but there are other people talking to us, and we are trying to get more information while you are speaking, but we are getting a lot of phone calls and emails.

>> shepard: michael, who is covering after the storm for fox and jacksonville where it is still very windy. michael rashida is reporting in riverside in duval county. >> you can see -- it is basically the st. johns river at this point. a lot of water rushing in. you can see the wake of the waves of the water as it is coming in and we go up, you can see the statue in the distance, and when we were down at ground level, with people coming up if the seawall had been partially destroyed. now that we are up from above, it appears that right behind that statue, part of the seawall may be missing. you can see how intense those waves are and are continuing to crash into the seawall. really, it eclipses the seawall. a lot of water rushing in. water in the park, and if we pan to the left, we will give you a sense of the vehicles. the vehicles in this area are being overrun by the water.

you see a white flag there in the distance. if you look past, yes, you can see the flashing light of the vehicle that has been overcome by the waters there. water started we first got out here, it was maybe made it we'll level, a little bit above. you cannot even see the wheels anymore. another example of how much water is continuing to come into this area, and i want to have a pan down. this is a site we are seen and hopefully people will start to avoid these roads. we are seeing more and more water. they are avoiding what is in front of them, and that is a good idea will have tim step back, and we will walk to the other side it will show you how much water we have here in e area. we are going to walk this way. as we are, i spoke earlier today with a gentle man who has lived here for more than 30 years. he said he has never seen it like this. he said he has been through

several hurricanes, matthew laster, did not come close. take a look right here this is what -- this car may have stopped, that's a good idea. you can see how much water is in this intersection. this is margaret and riverside avenue. to the left a little bit, you can see a lot of water over there in the st. john's rushing through, and up through margaret. and then if we pan to the right, we will look down to the right area, you will see a publics in the distance, and really a river at this point. only down to st. vincent going down there, dez with flooding issue. there is a lot of water here. we will keep minor tenet monitoring it, because ash water as it is, we are still waiting for high tide. they'll be more water that is making to the riverside area and other parts of jacksonville

people here, they are hoping that it's not going to be a lot, but we will see. we will be out here and give you the very latest on it. >> shepard: michael rashida, thank you very much. trying to give you look all over the state. jacksonville area is the one getting the brunt of the storm at the moment. we are looking at new video coming in in the upper keys from wsvn, and they'll talk about local matters. we can still look at these pictures together. they had to wait a while for what they got 7 sky force, the helicopter for a local station, wsvn seven, which is like a network more than a local station, because they cover south florida like nobody can, and we cannot thank them enough for all their help over the last couple days. think of this. wsvn 7 it is on a small island in the middle of biscayne bay. between miami beach and the city of miami, 2 feet above sea level. there station is, and they

broadcast through this with the corrugated metal flapping on top of the building throughout the day and night last night. they have been going 24/7 four days. this finally stopped at midnight last night and started up again this morning. with what they call "today in florida," the local news. end of the helicopter, because they can take it. surveying the damage all over the south florida region. in jacksonville, a little earlier today, a reporter took a camera out on a boat and did a live shot via phone. this is from a little while ago, but it gives you an idea how things are in the community of riverside in duval county in jacksonville. let's watch. >> this is a little behind the

scenes look that cbs -- that they are giving the local viewers there. as he watched, the upper keys in the damage from sky for 7 and the fox helicopter that is up in the sky. we were expecting for some damage after the storm yesterday. were not expecting homes to be destroyed, and that sort of thing. they're supposed be taken out out of the boats with something the local officials were expecting. lots of storm surge damage. sure enough, this is from the florida keys. the upper keys, not far from key largo, i am told, and you can see a lot of storm surge coming off. that looks like the base i to m me. certainly would not be the gulf side. the bay side, and there has been some damage, but not terrible. the chopper pilot and the photographer gone, not knowing what they will see. i remember in the 25 years ago with hurricane andrew, they

finally got helicopter up, and it was for sure, miami, fort lauderdale was missed, but when they got to homestead and florida city, everglades city, they realized andrew has been a tightly wound storm, and it roared across the lower part of south florida. let's go to clay county in middleburg, which is not part of the jacksonville market. without showing some of the flooding there. you can see in a particular place. subject to flash flooding and in this area which we saw in that one storm, area, that was halfway under these areas coming to us from south florida. let's go to larry, who is working in the jacksonville area and covering the flooding that is happening their life. this is clay county. >> see flooding there in the

parking lot. take another look if you can se see. the parking lot right there, that is a car submerged in water. we are not sure if somebody is inside that car or if they were able to get out. we are praying there able to get out. we were driving to another area, and we ran into this flooding area. we see a lot of people standing around. we decided to stop, and that is when we were pointed towards that car over there. there are several people out here in this area sightseeing. there's one lady, she lives over here and tells me -- ma'am, have you seen this area this bad? >> with the one tropical storm there he had flooded, not like this. this is a lot. >> what is the body of water that is causing all of this flooding? >> there is a stream that goes in the back here and comes up around, and then there also is

done by the retention pond. it must've been -- >> you pointed out the car submerged over there. do know if anybody is inside or not? >> no. it has just been sitting there, so i am not sure at all. >> wow, you have never seen anything like this before? >> no, not like this. not here. >> thank you so much. people are shocked and amazed at what all this flooding has done. when i get done here, i will call the clay county sheriff office and get some help for that car once again we are praying that nobody is inside, but will call the sheriff office to get people. cbs 47. >> shepard: just south of jacksonville and the county. it is on the west bank of the st. john river, south of

jacksonville, and orange park itself is just south of interstate 295, not far south of jacksonville itself. a look around the region and you realize that homes are not flattened. it's no south mississippi after katrina. it's no north carolina after hugo. it's no south florida after andrew, because thankfully, this hurricane slowed in wind speed and accelerated and forward speed. the barometric pressure came up, and all the good things that needed to happen to spare lives and property happened at the very last minute. remember, the storm came ashore as a hurricane coming category , they made its way north. came ashore in marco island in florida, southwest florida coast, and made its way over naples. over the peninsula of florida, and giving fits to people in the jacksonville area. is it well for the better part

of the next couple of hours. it is moving generally, we have a better weather loop, to show the general direction the storm at this moment, and here it is. heading, generally speaking, towards birmingham to the east of tallahassee. making its way up in the general direction of birmingham and the general direction of memphis, tennessee. jackson, tennessee. east maybe, maybe not nashville. you see the general direction is a low pressure center. around 35 miles per hour winds. it's not the wins they are concerned, there will be rain. some tornadoes as the storms often do. nothing like what we saw down in south florida. the upper keys damage is becoming clearer as wsvn seven chopper, a short time ago, both on the dryland. clearly, all this was flooded, heavy storm surge came in there, both came free, and some damage

done as well. depending on where they are flying, it is indiscriminate about what gets destroyed and what doesn't. different homes built at different times under different building codes, but this particularly one is lost. where adam housley was earlier in the key largo area, there was a lot of houseboats. people for the most part year-round in houseboats. seven or eight in the location where he was had been destroyed as well. i want to get to east naples. i should say south naples where we have a drone video. we showed you some of this earlier. this drone video from an area that is just south of the city of naples peer member, naples is an area where the eye came over. with the backside of the wall appeared to collapse just a little bit. the storm surge did not come in like a code of, and a result,

the eye was not as complete as it had been. there's little bit of rain when our steve harrigan was there. the wind has gone down to nothing. a little drizzle in the middle of the eye, and when it went past, the storm surge that we expect on the backside of a hurricane did not come in, and a lot of people in naples today are saying how thankful they are it did not appear south of naples. this is in a manufacture home community, largely retirement community. you see a lot of high water up, and some damage done to the manufactured homes, but our understanding is that most people who were there has been evacuated, and if there had been any bad injuries in this particular community or any loss of life, we have not heard of it yet. we have no reason to believe that that is the case. a lot of news coming up this afternoon. were going to come back in about 30 minutes, look all the way across the state up into alabama and georgia come and see what they have planned for the state

of tennessee as well. right now, we're waiting for the start for a white house briefing that will begin in washington. for that, we will hand over to sandra smith, who will have continuing coverage for america's choice of news and information on cable. >> sandra: fox news alert, we are waiting for two very important briefings for any moment, the white house press briefing is expected to begin were waiting for an update from florida governor, scott rick. hello everyone, i am sandra smith. we have coverages afternoon. near tampa, chief meteorologist is here tracking that. we begin with peter doocy on the record-setting floods in jacksonville, florida. peter, what are you seen? >> sandra, we are seeing the water 30 minutes after the high tide on the st. johns river and downtown jacksonville begin to recede. it was much deeper about an hour ago, hour and a half ago.

unfortunately now, that has gone down you can see the businesses here, a broker, restaurant, a marketing agency. it looks like they got a little bit of water damage. not anything compared to the horrible 10-foot harvey damage in texas, at least not what we can see here, but the water is starting to recede. leaving behind a lot of debris come the lights are out in this entire area. including the traffic lights, which is part of the reason why officials want everybody to stay home unless they absolutely have to leave and just because the water is going down, does not mean that businesses can pop right back open, because it is down here, two blocks and on bank street, you look down, there's a hyatt regency that was crossing one story above this road, and it is completely inaccessible. i spoke to somebody there earlier, and if we wanted to have a room, we should call back on friday. four days from right now.

it does look like the st. johns river which was already above historic flood states before irma got there, it started to recede, but leaving a complete mess as a heads back out into its banks. >> sandra: peter doocy, jacksonville. will check back in and with you soon as things change. let's go to fox business network, near tampa, and the storm surge there. jeff, it is coming in right now. >> exactly, sandra. what peter is experiencing injectable could be here. this is storm surge. the storm is way away from us, but this is the back end of a storm driving water into what they call john's pass. this bridge connects treasure island to the beach where i am. we have waves in the river essentially, and the water that got soaked out yesterday when you saw those pictures of they e water being sucked away, now, it is being driven back in.

it is headed for the lake seminole. if they get enough water in the wind stays up high and drives it and, you potentially have flooding back in there. indication of the enormity of the storm. anywhere from jacksonville to hear come across the state, still feeling the effects of the storm even though the circulation is long gone. a big storm doing big trouble. >> sandra: jeff locke, things are going to quickly change. will check back in with you. we want to ask this question. where is irma heading next? we have rick reichmuth tracking its path. >> 20 more hours of rain and wind before it will weaken and dissipate, which of the good news. we have time to go through. more flooding concerns, obviously the rain is primarily over in florida, but georgia and south carolina, getting in towards parts of the ohio valley. they will see spots with an additional 3, 6- inches.

here's a much rain we have seen. in southeast georgia in northeast florida, a lot of that area has seen from a trend in 1. that is a lot of rain that needs to go out such a prolonged period of surge of water being pushed into those creeks and rivers that that water level is higher than the water needs to drain on its own. because of that, that is why you are seen all these records. we have broken the record here in jacksonville. goes towards the north around brunswick, all these areas near savanna, predicting a storm surge. it won't get to its record, but maybe just about half a foot or so. that will cause a lot of flooding, and charleston river, their next high tide isn't until tonight. take a look at this. not its record, but a certainly close. you hear a lot of people talk

about working jose. there's another hurricane out there. it is going to -- let me go back. it will loop around there for at least a couple of days. at this point, we do not want to worry in the u.s., but we'll have a better idea. it could be dangerously close. >> sandra: rick reichmuth, thank you for the update. tropical storm irma, with a flash flooding warning and charleston county. the county is now setting all ems operations. during meno by phone, sergeant bob highway operation officer, and commander of the department of operations. hello, trooper bob. are you with us? >> we have christman desantis

congressman desantis. while we have you on, we'll figure out what was going on with our communications. i'll stick with you, because i do not have trooper bob. what can you tell us currently about the situation, sir? >> right now, authorities are going and trying to figure out the damage, try to see if anyone needs help. this is a strong that impacted a wide part of the state. you go down to the keys, southwest florida, you mentioned west central florida, missouri beach, and then the northeast florida with jacksonville. there's a lot of moving parts. i think the issue is to find people who need help and get in there and get people back into their homes. get the power back on. it will not happen overnight, but it will happen and people will come out of the strong. >> sandra: was the message to the people of florida that the worst has passed, what is the message to the people of the state?

>> this is something that could have been much worse. it did do some significant damage and parts of the state, but there was a fear that this could wipe key west off the map. it could obliterate naples with 15 feet of storm surge. it could be the worst nightmare for the tampa bay area, and none of those things really happened, so there is damage, but i think the damage we will be able to overcome. we have not gotten all the reports about fatalities. we had not got reports of widespread fatality like you had in the caribbean. i think that is a testament to governor scott and a lot of local officials who are proactive on this. >> sandra: congressman ron desantis, thank you for joining and staying on with us. thank you for the update. we do want to go check-in on the keys, the damage, staggering in the florida keys. note fuel, power, running water or cell phone service but nobody is allowed to drive into the keys except for national guard.

adam housley is there. he is live in key largo. >> we passed the dhs crew, department of homeland security, they are taking a pass south to get communications there. make the issues down there. they are on the ocean side of the keys, and also wind damage on the bay side, but the ocean side, you are destruction. this was a restaurant we stood by on friday if you came here. the shares of monroe county tele's base to come here and get fish fries. as you can see the place is completely trash into the water. you can see hvac on anything from the businesses if you keep coming across, you see how sir, we met a couple who was in that home. there were in the second story, because the first story, dated d waves inside their home, and in fact neighbors that were riding out the storm came over

with life vests, and they went to the second-story to avoid the surge that came through. look at where i am standing. imagine where i am. i'm 6'3". it came about this high, right here. this business had no chance. the home had no chance. look over this way. damage all the way down. those are the houseboats that they got knocked out pretty goo good. there is no ambulance service on the island, the hospital is closed. the sheriff department dissecting whether the roads are passable. they're not going on calls, they're going to the roads to find out if they can get down and then send in tractors. the national guard is already here with those tractors to clear the roadways. they want to get the stuff opened before they let locals back in. tons of power lines. there is no power amongst the keys. very little water to the leaves. no cell service for most of the keys, and businesses for the most part right. i would say, the tower of pizza we were at. they lived through it all. they suffered wind damage, but

they are open. the person we saw today was using a generator to make food. right now, very few people here, and we are not sure when people will be allowed back in. >> sandra: a lot of people left wondering what the condition of the home is in, and they cannot drive and appeared adam housley, thank you. from the keys for us, tropical storm irma battling south carolina. join me now by phone for real this time, sergeant bob, tropper bob. commander of the office of community relations. tropper bob, either? want to try this unbelievable video we put on your twitter page that is big and so much attention. can you describe what we are seeing? >> that is the battery on the tip of the peninsula and charleston. the water was rushing over the seawall there. we had -- i took the video

before high tide and you had that offshore flow pushing the water over. flooding the area around it. >> sandra: tropper bob, what is the message to your residence there. with this video you sent out with water coming over the seawall you said, please do not drive around. >> i am seeing a lot of traffic and we asked the people not to drive around, because there is water on the roadways. we currently had ten calls for service. that fluctuates between trees, power lines, and a traffic ligh light. schools are right. is really no reason to be out right now. we're talk about charleston, south carolina, you're describing some of the calls that you've been getting. what has been some of the worst calls that you have in your troopers have been getting so far from residence? >> trees in the roadway.

life power lines being down. traffic lights being out. and water in the roadways for it's a you saw the video down there, especially in the peninsula of charleston, allow the streets are flooded in. there's no reason to be out on those roadways. the charleston police department have been working hard to put the barricades, but people are curious and going on the barricades, and as what we want to avoid. >> sandra: that is a dangerous situation, trooper bob, and your fellow troopers are heading out in this. think so if you will think in you for your service per thank you for responding with, it is my calling. thank you so much for what you are doing and continue to do. trooper bob. >> our hearts and prayers go out to everyone in georgia and florida. >> sandra: p say. our own to bill hemmer is in the thick of it in orlando, and we will get an update from him, next. we actually filed a claim with usaa to replace that spoiled food. and we really appreciated that we're the webber family and

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>> sandra: a white house press briefing, sarah sanders begins. >> the horrific attack on our homeland of 2,977 of the brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives 15 years ag ago. the lives of those survivors and

families were changed forever on that day in our country had never been the same since the unimaginable evil of terrorism reach our shores. in response to the attack, we are memorializing today the department of homeland security was created and given a vital mission. securing our nation from the many threats we face from counterterrorism and border security to disaster preparedness and relief. which we know all too well in light of fema's work surrounding hurricane harvey and irma. the men and women in these storms embodied the work that dhs was established for the present recognizes the pentagon to the scene of the crash as soon as he heard the attack and saved as many as 20 people. like isaac, the first responders are running directly into danger to save lives and our nation. i hope that every american can take comfort in the fact that in the face of unbelievable tragedy, this country has always come together to heal, protect,

and save. the firefighters and police officers who rush into burning buildings on 9/11, to the first responders on the ground in florida, in the united states virgin islands and puerto rico, fema through its national regional response centers and liaison to the national hurricane center, continues to track irma and local authorities responding to the damage it already because. i would like to bring up tom, the president of homeland security and counterterrorism advisor to provide an update on issues to hurricane irma and harvey before i take questions as always, he will make an opening statement and take questions, and i'll be back up. >> come direct thank you, sarah. it's a somber day today, and i and sarah and others were happy to join the president at the

pentagon on the south lawn as well. in addition i would note that president trump continued a long tradition of presidents since 9/11 to receive a counterterrorism briefing this morning in the oval office from intelligence communities from his director of national counterterrorism and my team. the purpose is to give the president a chance of the terrorism threat that exists globally to the homeland and it assessment of what we're doing and if he is comfortable with our posture appears as i said, we do not have any current active threats against the homeland to our knowledge that is good news to report today. let me move into a quick thought. before i do, sarah noted we created the department of homeland security in the wake of 9/11. i would note that the government engaged in a massive reorganization of the structures and efforts to create a national counterterrorism center, the department of homeland security, an office of the national

intelligence, the u.s. northern command, and expert fashions for this to command in the united states. in cyber command, which you have seen recently president trump elevate. we marshaled our resources and organizing it in a way to confront the threat of terrorism, but also to organize ourselves in a way that would allow us to respond to an event from a man-made hazard to an unfortunate terrorist attack, but also to hurricane. let me see if i can today talk to what doing what we have done. hurricane harvey was the best integrated unit 5 federal, state, local respond that our country have seen in its history. i continue to stand by that. we have roughly 700,000 registered individual assistance in the greater houston and south texas area. governor abbott continues to demonstrate leadership. and president trump continues to work with him and direct his cabinet to not lose focus on the

people of texas. with respect to hurricane irma, as you know is in a tropical depression, it does not mean it is not a dangerous storm as you will see from reporting in jacksonville is suffering what has been called some of the worst flooding they have seen in 100 years. i category it might be reduced, but the effects i jacksonville when you combine storm surge and wins my note replicate that as a category 3. as that is ongoing, we have a life-saving operation is underway. we are prayerful that there are no people trapped by the floodwaters. the president spoke this morning to the governor of the u.s. virgin islands. governor expressed concern, and i joined i called. his thankfulness to our help for having a rapid response and in the ongoing response. if i could on that, i will speak to it later. the mobilization of our military

and response to the storms and puerto rico and virgin islands, it is the largest globalizationy naval and marine, and we now hae an air force carrier deployed in this effort. this is the first ever as well. we have the largest fulltilt operation in our u.s. history help the people of puerto rico, it the virgin islands, but also saint maarten and other non-u.s. islands. with respect to puerto rico, the president spoke to the governor of puerto rico this morning around 11:30 a.m. and they discussed similarly how happy they were with the federal response to their needs that the governor communicated that they have a large islandwide power outage problem that we are adjusting as soon as we can. and then florida. if i can speak to florida. i think governor scott has been demonstrating outstanding leadership and pressing forward,

continuing the message of getting people out of harm's way, which by the way it is an ongoing effort. the storm is still hitting the united states from georgia and south carolina, and up inland flooding problem in tennessee. maybe north carolina is the demonic as you see the storm progress. it looks like the north and east of the key west, the storms there took the islands -- they took the largest brunt of the storm. i will speak to that when we take questions, and then if i could come back to 9/11, i think the lesson we learned that day along with others was that not only does evil exist, but good people taking action can confront that, and i have been reassured, i shared, and reassured again in the last 24 hours that people are taking action. that has been my lesson. i'll take questions. >> in the immediate aftermath of harvey, the federal response priority was to rescue people.

trapped by the enormous flooding in the state of florida, one of the priority now? >> there's a number of priorities. now that the storm is still ongoing, our priority is life-saving, in jacksonville and the keys taking much of our attention. what you will see in florida and more broadly speaking in a comparative matter, houston and harvey was a narrow area of operation compared to what we have now. it is a large-scale area of operation paid what we want to do is marshal the resources where they are needed with a prioritization effort. we are worried about flooding, housing, debris, and power restoration. power restoration is also a function of access to fuel, refined fuel. you'll see the next days and weeks played out, we will have two cleared debris from roadway so people can gain reentry. right now, the messages not to rush reentry. they're still dangerous conditions down, electric lines, flood conditions, problems that can be compounded by your

reentry. listen to your local officials about evacuation and how it went to set your reentry. it's for reason. it's a life safety reason. a public safety reason. there is our priority set. eventually, we'll move into the issues of recovering and so forth. >> what are you doing on the fuel front? >> the federal government at this stage in the three or four days building up, we waited regulation, waived rules, waived the jones act restrictions. florida is unique state and how it receives refined fuel. it is not part of the national pipeline. it receives by ship takers. those ship tankers link to enter mobile sites, where they fill up trucks and trucks distribute. will clear those pathways, assess those three ports were those tankers dock. make sure they're not damage, will get them back up and running. florida power & light, the

nuclear power generation to make generator they will continue their professionalism and get those generators back up. >> how does the public and private sector, talking about home depot, costco, walmart, so we do not have to deplete the resistor really fun. as a national resource. >> there's a partnership and coronation with the private sector entity built in to our core needed centers. so they can talk about opening up and the safety of the workforce. secondly, it is our absolute baseline doctor nowadays that we would rather reopen those stores they continue providing food, water, temporary shelter to people if it is not and the regular operations, and we can sustain. it is healthy, better, faster for us to reopen those first.

>> does the current administration see a link between climate change and the fact that the current hurricane irma and hurricane harvey affecting future administrations when you have powerful storms affecting the country. do you think that is something this administration should look at is the president pulled out of the paris climate accord? is this storm giving the administration a pause when he gives a thought to climate change? >> as here what is prudent is that our response cap abilities are ther there. causality is not something i can during a period which continue to take seriously the climate change, not the cause of it, but the things we observe. the rising floodwaters, 1 inch every ten years for things that require what i said from the

podium the other day about president trump is committed to, is making sure the federal dollars were not used to rebuild things that will be harm's way or hardened against the future predictable floods, and that has to do with engineering, how systems change, conditions, allowing the eroding shoreline's and inland and water projects. >> to follow him, when you see three category 410 hurricanes on the same map at the same time, it does a thought occurred you, maybe there is something to this climate change thing and it's connection to powerful hurricanes? do separate the two? there's a lot of big hurricanes. >> i don't know if i offset, but the cyclical nature of these hurricane and hurricane season. the scientists on this particular one, they were dead on that this would be a stronger, more powerful hurricane season. slightly more than average, large storms making landfall. we will have to do a larger analysis on a later date. >> to follow up on the budget,

what kind of pressure with wildfires in two major hurricane strikes, what pressure on the federal government budget has these natural disasters and put and how will we react? with a beak programs cut? reassessments of what goes on in order to rebuild the infrastructure? >> i think the president -- right now, we have plenty of resources to get through this. that was the nature of the appropriation we saw and a second appropriation we will see at the end of this month, subject to the regulatory order of fiscal year. we will ask for a third maybe fourth supplemental for rebuilding. we'll do it smartly to the previous question, but in terms of pressure on the budget, this is a disaster relief fund issue. the fund is different, and i have a belief that this president will have the proposal as he started the administration with that will leave with a balanced budget. we are too far into how that works in politics is way outside

my line. >> at any point time as you are taking a look at this issue, is there any chance fema, the epa, places that were cut, will see more money going to the budget? >> i think we will put money in as they are needed. what you'll see here is the same trend that i alluded to earlier, 2004, we had a spike where he had to elevate the caps on flood insurance, and having to do that again here. you will see over longer span of time, even though flood insurance budget is red and black, red and black and based on premiums. we will analyze that in that fashion, but i don't have any productions for you. man in the middle. >> i asked you two weeks ago about housing. i wanted to know if you an update on housing with hurricane harvey and now irma. can you bouts an update on

locating >> locating housing in texas? >> for those that need housing via texas, what have you -- >> i'll answer both. so in texas, again, going back to praising the governor. he's done what we haven't seen done well in the past. he's owning the housing problem with a task force that he's initiated. he's also assigned a person to be in charge of long-term recovery. there's four or five solution problems in texas. some are short-lived. you'll have to find short-term solutions. people can stay in their home. it's been flooded when the drywall is ripped out and the repairs begin, they have to find temporary housing. we try to find hotel solutions. in some cases, fema will put a mobile home or travel trailer on your property that you can live in while your home is being repaired. those are the ideal solutions when there's