in the pitch black, he began calling out -- >> it's 10:00 a.m. eastern time, 7:00 a.m. on the west coast. some of you are just joining us, so we're listening to president trump speaking at the pentagon this morning. >> his remarks are coming at a cemetery on the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. let's go back and listen to the president. >> -- carried people out of the burning rubble. he kept going back into the smoldering darkness, calling out to anyone who could hear, anyone who was alive. he saved as many as 20 people who had followed his voice. he carried eight himself. for nearly 36 hours, isaac kept on saving lives, serving our nation and protecting our safety

in our hour of need. and today, isaac continues to do exactly that. isaac still works at the pentagon, now as a sergeant. he's on duty right now, and he's joined us here today for the ceremony. and this morning, all of us and all of america thank isaac for his service. where is isaac? [ applause ] thank you. thank you, isaac. thank you. to isaac and to every first responder and survivor of the

attack, you carry on the legacy of the friends you lost, you keep alive the memory of those who perished, and you make america proud, very, very proud. to the family members with us today, i know that it's with a pained and heavy heart that you come back to this place, but by doing so, by choosing to persevere through the grief, the sorrow, you honor your heroes, you renew our courage, and you strengthen all of us. you really do. you strengthen all of us. here on the west side of the pentagon, terrorists tried to break our resolve. it's not going to happen. but where they left a mark with fire and rubble, americans defiantly raised the stars and

stripes, our beautiful flag that for more than two centuries has graced our ships, flown in our skies, and led our brave heroes to victory after victory in battle. the flag that binds us all together as americans who cherish our values and protect our way of life, the flag that reminds us today of who we are, what we stand for, and why we fight. woven into that beautiful flag is the story of our resolve. we have overcome every challenge, every single challenge, every one of them. we've triumphed over every evil and remained united as one nation under god. america does not bend. we do not waver. and we will never, ever yield.

so here at this memorial, with hearts both sad and determined, we honor every hero who keeps us safe and free, and we pledge to work together, to fight together, and to overcome together every enemy and obstacle that's ever in our path. our values will endure. our people will thrive. our nation will prevail, and the memory of our loved ones will never, ever die. thank you. may god bless you. may god forever bless the great united states of america. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. >> you've been watching and listening to the president of the united states speaking at the pentagon, marking this occasion, the 16th anniversary

of the attacks of 9/11. some of you are going to be sticking around for more of "today" just ahead. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. >> this has been an nbc news special report. good day. we are back now on this monday morning. it's just after 10:00 a.m. on the west coast -- i'm sorry, 7:00 a.m. on the west coast, 10:00 here on the east coast. it's been a very busy morning already. it's a special edition of "today" on this monday morning. >> it is, and we want to get you up to date on where things stand with hurricane irma, which is now a tropical storm. the heaviest rains have pushed north. they're into georgia and south carolina at this hour. >> a combination of rain and storm surge leading to major flooding in the city of jacksonville, florida, right now. the st. john's river already at historic levels, and officials fear that river could rise another 4 to 6 feet before this

is all done. >> more than 6 million people are without power across florida. that is a record for that state. >> and president trump has now approved a disaster declaration for florida that frees up federal aid for the victims of this storm. we have complete coverage for you across the storm zone. let's start with nbc's dylan dreyer. she is making her way to jacksonville right now. dylan, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, guys. we are leaving gainesville and heading to jacksonville, obviously, because of the flooding and the concern up that way. here's what we're running into trying to get out of gainesville, though. you can see there are all these little waterways, and this now has gone right over the road. so there are so many roads closed in this area because of the heavy rain we saw here. we picked up nearly a foot of rain here, but this lake or reservoir, whatever this is, is now coming across the road, so it's very hard to get around here. but eventually, we'll get to the highway and we will head over to jacksonville, where that storm surge flooding has been really

intense. it's the combination of all the rain that has fallen in towns just to the south of jacksonville, and that's getting pushed northward. take a look at the radar, and you can see this counterclockwise rotation that we have been seeing in this area for the last several hours with this storm system. you can see it's been just pushing the water from the atlantic on shore into the jacksonville area. so you have that combined with about 10 inches of rain in that area, plus the water that's getting pushed up the rivers right into downtown jacksonville, into the st. john's river. the storm surge flooding works like this. you have a push of water. basically, if you stuck a fan out over the ocean and just blew it on shore, all of that water makes its way on shore. so we could see a 4 to 6-feet storm surge still because of the southeasterly component to the wind that we've been dealing with, so that's why we've been seeing just crazy amounts of flooding in jacksonville, even though they have been so far from the center of this storm. so that's why we are going to

head up that way. we'll kind of see if we can get out of gainesville and get on to the main highway and then get over there. it's about an hour and a half from where we are now. >> good luck. drive safely, dylan. thanks very much for that report. >> and the threat from hurricane irma led officials in cities across the state to impose a curfew overnight. let's go to nbc's joe fryer. he's in tampa this morning and has more on the damage left behind. joe, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. still no shortage of wind here, even though irma is moving north. police deputies have been out for a few hours now assessing the damage. they're finding lots of downed power lines, downed trees, a lot of debris in the roads and traffic lights are out. about a million people in the tampa bay area lost power, the result of a storm that is hitting every part of this state. overnight, hurricane irma unleashed its wrath on florida, the eye wall moving inland, dumping torrential rain and heavy winds on orlando and the tampa bay area, this coming after irma's powerful winds drained water from tampa's

beaches, sucking the water out to sea. the hurricane spending all of sunday punishing the sunshine state, making its first landfall in the florida keys, sending water rushing into the streets. after making its second landfall on marco island, irma pounded nearby naples with wind gusts as high as 142 miles an hour -- nearly knocking weather channel meteorologist mike bettis off his feet and pelting him with rain just moments before the eye of the hurricane moved overhead. >> i'm getting beaten and bruised and battered. there's the eye. >> reporter: but just feet behind him, a tornado swoops by, pushing him down the street. now marching north, irma is leaving behind a path of destruction, uprooting trees, blocking roads and ripping apart houses. and though the eye is staying

west, florida's east coast is also facing the hurricane's force. in miami, parts of downtown are completely submerged. nearly 100-mile-an-hour winds knocking down construction cranes on top of high-rises, and tearing the roof off of this building as rivers overflow. at camp david, president trump and members of his cabinet received a briefing from fema's administrator. the president is now pledging to visit florida soon. >> i think the hard part is now beginning. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: powerful winds have already left millions without power and forced thousands into shelters. >> i left my home. my husband. these people have left their homes, their families. and so, we don't know what, you know, the next few days is going to bring. >> reporter: even though irma has moved north, they're expecting more rain today and more wind. in fact, those winds will start coming from the west. that could create some level of storm surge here, maybe not the high level of storm surge they

were fearing about 24 hours ago, but still, this is an area that is prone to flooding, so they're urging everyone around here to remain cautious. savannah and matt? >> yeah, don't race back out to your home, although you've got to understand the instinct as you just said. joe, thank you. >> let's go to al now. when the storm was coming ashore, it was moving around 8 or 9 miles an hour. now that's picked up speed substantially, hasn't it? >> reporter: it really has, and that usually -- if that's not unusual when a tropical entity gets on land and then starts to deteriorate, it does pick up forward speed. and right now, irma is, as we said, a tropical storm. it's 30 miles north-northeast of cedar key, florida. 70-mile-per-hour winds, and it's moving north-northwest at 18 miles per hour. now, as we track this, again, the problems with jacksonville, we could see that storm surge of 3 to 5 feet, maybe even a little bit more, and so much rain out of that. winds 50 to 75 miles per hour.

charleston and savannah also going to see 40 to 60-mile-per-hour winds, 4 to 6-foot storm surge possible, and another 4 to 7 inches of rain. atlanta, big, big problems at the airport because of all the wind and rain. another 4 to 6 inches. tropical storm warnings still in effect. so, we continue to track that. and the storm surge, again, still a factor as we get those return flows of wind, as the system pulls away. we will be still seeing some possibility, nothing major, but low-level to moderate storm surge that may cause some problems, guys. so, again, even though irma may be just about gone, it's certainly not forgotten. >> absolutely not. still going in some cases. al, thank you. the east coast of florida did not see that direct hit from irma, but there's widespread damage all across the region. and nbc's jo ling kent is in ft. lauderdale.

that's just north of miami, of course. hi, jo. good morning again. >> reporter: hey, savannah, good morning. what we're seeing right behind me here is business owners coming in and unlocking their businesses along the ft. lauderdale beach for the first time. and what we see is basically the beaches come up overnight from hurricane irma. the sand -- the road is completely sanded out here. and you see pretty big issues here from storm surge, a lot of kelp and a lot of sea ocean debris here. this is a store right here, the sunwear store is about 40 years old. it's been in ft. lauderdale for a long time. the owner came by earlier and told me she's very concerned about any possible flooding. but the good news, is if you take a look at the sandbags and the debris, it looks like that actually helped prevent some of the major flooding that they were expecting, but major wind gusts here took down trees, and we're also looking at possible property damage here. i want to show you this car that's being towed right here, and what you see is it's being towed, but actually, the keys are still inside the car. in the back seat, there is a child seat and there were some

evacuation materials. and what we noticed when we looked inside the window is that this car was actually abandoned overnight and there was water inside the car. there is a bit of sand on the back, here you can see the sand, came up to about the back of that back windshield there. and so, they are taking this car off of the road as the police start to assess the damage. you can see water dripping out here. it's either showing you the water coming out from the bottom of the car. but this is just the beginning of some of the damage that we're seeing in ft. lauderdale, even though, as you say, we were not in the eye of the storm. those outer bands really lashing this area. a lot of hotel owners also showing up to assess what their hotels may look like, and they're concerned because they've seen some pretty serious damage here in terms of the wind whipping property and roofs going flying. so, the damage is likely to be expensive. one estimate about $40 to $50 billion in insurance claims are likely to hit this area of ft. lauderdale and throughout the state of florida. savannah? >> all right, jo, thank you. and some parts of the state are looking at the damage while

other parts of the state are still going through it. in fact, we've been telling you about major flooding being reported this hour in jacksonville. mayor charlie latham is the mayor of jacksonville beach. mr. mayor, good morning. it's good to talk to you. could you give us an update on the flooding that you're experiencing? >> yes, ma'am. good morning. we have some massive flooding in the jacksonville beach area. we received about 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. we've lost about 90% of our electrical services to our customers. and this is flooding that, i've lived here for 50 years, i've never seen anything like it before. >> how much of this is rain, how much of this is tidal, mr. mayor? >> good question, matt. we actually had, under matthew, we had lost a significant amount of dunes during the storm. fortunately, this time, the new dunes that we recently installed held for the most part. we had a couple of small broaches, created some water along first street in jacksonville beach, but the vast

majority of the water's coming from the massive amounts of rain that we've received. >> a lot of rain, but then we also talked about the storm surge. have you been able to observe or get reports that are reliable about how many feet up we might be talking here? >> well, i've heard local estimates, but jacksonville umc will have more information than i have right now. >> mr. mayor, earlier in the morning, we were talking about a story. we were hearing that first responders were using bets to go into a community near where you are, i believe, to try to get people out who were caught by surprise by this. do you have any update on that situation? >> matt, i don't have any specific information about specific events. we've had several incidents where fell trees have blocked our way into neighborhoods that are flooded. we're telling our citizens, please stay indoors, give the weather an opportunity to subside completely and get our rescue crews and survey crews out on the street.

and you know, we're positioned to recover well. we just need to work together to get through it. >> jacksonville beach mayor, charlie latham, we appreciate you spending time with us this morning. we know you have quite a bit ahead of you today and in the weeks to come, so we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thanks, mr. mayor. >> thank you. >> president trump was quick to declare a major disaster in florida, a move that makes it easier for people there to receive some federal funding. nbc national correspondent peter alexander wants to talk about that side of the story, joining us now from the white house. hi, peter. >> reporter: hey, matt. good morning to you. we just heard from the president this morning as he commemorates the 9/11 anniversary, talking about on this day that so many americans are recovering in the wake of hurricane irma, about how the storm has brought us together, the bonds that it's demonstrated between americans on this day. after returning to the white house from camp david where he spent the weekend monitoring the storm, the president said he will be going to florida very soon. this morning he's going to get another briefing on irma and the damage that it caused. he said, we may have been a little bit lucky, the fact that this storm veered off its

original course, supposed to head to the east coast of florida, then went to the west and that the damage wasn't as severe perhaps as it could have been. still, he called it some big monster, as he described this storm. he has been speaking routinely to the governors throughout that region, the florida governor as well as governors in the neighboring states of georgia, alabama, south carolina as well. matt and savannah, back to you. >> peter, thank you very much. >> let's go back to al in tampa with the rest of the forecast. hey, al. >> reporter: hey, guys. thanks so much. and as you take a look, you can see plenty of sunshine out west with temperatures a little on the warm side. in fact, there's high fire danger in the pacific northwest and the northern plains. plenty of sunshine to the southwest with temperatures, phoenix today seeing a high about 106 degrees. we're going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man)

butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek. good morning, i'm meteorologist kari hall. we are still tracking strong storms south of monterey and soledad and the storms produced gusty winds. as you head out, you may notice tree limbs down. things will start to calm down and it will be a hot day with higher humidity, a high of 92 in san jose, 93 in concord, upper 80s to low 90s in north bay. another chance of storms later tonight. >> reporter: and that is your latest weather. guys? >> all right, al. thank you so much. and coming up, we're going to

have a lot more on the devastation and the flooding being caused by this storm. also ahead, we're going to talk to florida's governor about the difficult road ahead that his state is obviously facing. but first, this is "today" on nbc. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, mr. stevens.

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coming up, just when we thought it was safe to stop talking about irma in terms of florida, more problems in the northern part of that state, and now some troubles in georgia as well. >> that's right, and we're going to show you what it was like for to show you what it was like for people who decided ♪ ♪

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vo the big headline this morning: a very good monday morning to you. it is 7:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. big headline this morning, storms moving through the region, bringing powerful wind storm overnight. winds lodged this tree in saratoga. it snapped and fell on to a power line. pg&e crews are there to de-energize the line, then they have to remove the tree. 12,000 people lost power overnight. there are more than 1,000 customers still without power. those winds have moved out of the bay area this morning. >> yes, they have, for the most part. the storms well to the south of us and lasting for about two hours and now we are starting to see those winds calming down. you can see the storms around

monterey and toward the south and east as we are going to be tracking that activity as we go through the day. we will feel an increase in humidity and it's still going to be a hot day with with temperatures in palo alto up to 87 degrees and 92 in san jose and mid-90s in livermore. we will see more storms firing up tonight. make sure you keep checking in on the latest for that. let's head to mike for a look at the roadways. >> concerned about the crash. a typical pattern here. things are starting to improve south 880. a motorcycle crash does not result in major injuries. they just cleared that road. we see improvement toward the san mateo bridge. use the san mateo bridge instead of dumbarton. looks like 92 actually is just as good as getting across the bridge. northbound 85, in the south is jammed up from 87 over to the crash earlier.

the back up forced folks to shift over and use north, 85. >> we'll have another local news update in a half hour. what our nbc bay area crew is seeing on the ground while assessing the damage in florida. laura/2shot plus: traffic apps are annoying one east bay city. only on today in the bay: the reason one person tells us - they feel like a )hostage ) in their own home. marcus/gfxfull tomorrow morning starting at 4:30.

good morning, everyone. we're back at 10:30 eastern, 7:30 on the west coast, and this is the scene in jacksonville, florida, right now. the impacts of irma leaving historic flooding there. emergency crews forced to rescue dozens of people from flooded homes. >> we spoke to the mayor of jacksonville beach not long ago. we'll get an update on that situation in just a couple of minutes. but first, some other headlines tied to the storm overnight. millions without power across florida this morning as irma becomes a tropical storm, leaving devastation and flooded neighborhoods in its wake. >> the angle of approach makes all the difference, and a storm that's more paralyzing -- uh!

>> cranes crippled, dangling on high-rises above downtown miami, roofs sheared off buildings. >> it's not just the hammering rain that's doing damage, but this powerful wind! >> i have never seen -- whoa! i just got part of a wave. >> a tremendous amount of wind. it feels like a sandblaster here. >> hundreds of thousands remain in shelters this morning. >> trying to survive, helping one another whatever way we can. >> as irma moves north, threatening millions more across the southeast. >> it's still packing a heck of a punch. >> still affecting charleston and savannah today with 40 to 60-mile-per-hour winds. we've got tropical force winds at least. every now and then we get something that will just about knock us off our feet. >> did i say there's no advantage to being tall? >> today, monday, september 11th, 2017. to which al responded, it's no picnic down here, either. >> yeah, not having the greatest time there either. we mentioned flooding in jacksonville, which is really the story unfolding this hour. nbc's kerry sanders is on marco island. he's got more on what's

happening in jacksonville and also the damage he's seeing right where he is. kerry, good morning. >> reporter: well, you know, the storm, savannah, left here and has left a mess. you can see the storm surge that came in here and knocked over these concrete benches, just to give you the power. here it was about 4 feet. right now as we look in jacksonville, winds at around 60 miles an hour. predicted storm surge there of up to 5 feet. and so, the people in jacksonville are having to deal with what a lot of people have throughout the state, different wind speeds, but bottom line, power outages, some trees down, some traffic lights swinging because they're coming down, and the real question is how much this is going to end up costing not just communities, but the entire state. this has been one heck of a wallop. where i am here in marco island, they will be without electricity for days. they're hoping the folks that are in their homes here and now coming out, they're hoping that at least they have enough water and food to take care of themselves, because it's going to take some time before things

are returned to normal here. the highest wind speed here, 130 miles an hour. and as we go up in naples, where i was during the hurricane, highest wind speed there 142 miles an hour. so whether it was a category 3, first, second landfall made here in marco, first one down in the keys, or whether it's 60-mile-per-hour winds up in jacksonville, it's just a miserable day and a miserable experience for everybody who's had to put up with irma. >> definitely. kerry -- >> reporter: savannah? >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> let's get more on where the storm is now, where it's going, what its strength is, from al, who is in tampa at his post along the river. al, what's going on? >> reporter: well, this situation right now with the remnants, or i should say tropical storm irma, the rainfall is really coming down at incredible rates. and as you can see right now, there's a lot of intense rainfall happening, and the radar estimates of what's fallen

already, i mean, there have been some reports of up to 2 feet of rain in the last 24 hours, especially in and around the jacksonville area. and as a result of that, we're now seeing 23 rivers, especially in the northeastern section of florida and parts of southern georgia all now at major flood stage. and you know, they're probably still a day away from cresting. so we're going to be watching that very, very closely, guys. in the meantime, irma continues to pull away, and we still have some parts of the region that are under a tornado watch as well. back to you. >> add insult to injury on that one, al. thank you very much. obviously, emergency crews are trying to get to florida with the help and the much-needed recovery items. florida governor rick scott joined us a little bit earlier. we asked him when he expected those supplies, things like power trucks, to reach his state. >> well, first off, i hope everybody continues to pray for

us. we need everybody's prayers. we have prepositioned all over the state, so -- [ inaudible ] in the southern part of the states already going out with our utilities. i've talked to the head of florida power and light. he is sending those crews out. i talked to the president three times yesterday. we have 28 states sending us resources. now as you know, you just heard from al, the storm's still in our state. we're sending rescue teams heading over towards the jacksonville area and south just to make sure if we need any assets. we are working to get food and water all around our state. we have shelters over. i'll be going with the coast guard this morning down to assess the damage in the keys. so, everybody's working.

>> oh, i think -- >> we may be losing our signal. >> so, everybody -- are you still there? everybody's working their tail off. >> oh, good. you cut out a little bit, but let's try it again. do you have a sense, governor, of just -- do you have a handle on how much damage and how bad this was in terms of its impact? >> yeah, we're just hearing reports. i'm going down with the coast guard to the keys. i've heard that there is some significant damage in the keys, right where the eye of the storm hit. so we'll find out. i'm going to do everything i can to get all around the state. >> governor scott has been working long hours, as has his staff and all the people in florida trying to get their arms around this situation. >> that was our tfersion on the phone earlier today. we want to go back to al. he's in tampa, speaking of people working day and night. let's get the rest of your forecast, al. >> reporter: all right, guys. again, winds picking up one more time here, and we've had some

showers. let's look at what's going on in the rest of the country. gorgeous day in the northeast, new england on into the ohio and mississippi river valleys. again, as you look at the map, you can see how irma dominates the southeast. we've got beautiful weather out through the southwest. however, fire danger, high fire danger in the western plains and on into the pacific northwest. i'm kari hall. we are going to have very muggy conditions today. temperatures in san francisco mid to upper 70s. also a chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms. also, for tomorrow, more muggy weather, storms firing up. that winds down on wednesday and cooler temperatures moving in for the middle of the week. it will be a hot start. temperatures for the inland valleys up to 93 degrees. watch out for more isolated storms later tonight. >> reporter: guys, when we were

with you this time yesterday, this river, the hillsboro river, all the moisture, a lot of it had gotten sucked out because of irma. well, now it has returned back to its normal level, but it was really something to see. people, locals here said they hadn't seen it this dry in 20-30 years. it was really amazing. >> all right, al, thanks very much for that. appreciate your time this morning. coming up next, irma's lingering impact on the airlines. as you can imagine, thousands of flights have been canceled today. flood damage reported at florida's largest airport. florida's largest airport. that and much more right after (nothing comes before coffee. (fighting briefly resumes) that's why we're introducing a whole new line of espresso drinks from mccafe. café-quality from beans to espresso machines. (fighting unintelligible)

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give extra. get extra. ♪ 7:42 on the west coast. we're back with more of our special edition of "today" on this monday morning, all about irma's impact on florida, and really, the southeast in general. >> but that doesn't stop right there, because as we've been mentioning, thousands of flights have been canceled across that region, and that will cause headaches for passengers nationwide. abc's tom costello's at fema headquarters in washington, d.c., but of course, he's keeping an eye on the skies as well. hi, tom. good morning. >> reporter: hi, guys. good morning to you. if you're on the west coast and you're thinking about going to the caribbean or to florida, you may need to put your plans on hold. and by the way, even charlotte, north carolina, i just got an update from american airlines. they are seeing operations impacted in charlotte because of heavy winds. here's the numbers we have at this moment. we've got 13,000, more than

13,000 flight operations canceled into florida, out of florida, and the caribbean as well. by the way, about 9,500 of those are just in florida. and we have got virtually every airport in the state right now is closed. a quick list. we've got miami down -- by the way, some of these airports have suffered significant infrastructure damage, so fuel tanks, for example, under water and also runways. so, miami, ft. lauderdale, key west, naples, also st. pete, orlando, and also orlando sanford, then tampa and melbourne and sarasota, also in miami itself, some of the airport terminals are still not open because they got serious issues on the concourses. so, it's not clear how long it's going to take to reopen miami. as for the virgin islands, they are down, puerto rico also on emergency operations only with the military flying in there and some, some commercial flights only to bring in emergency supplies and emergency personnel. so, in the virgin islands,

another problem altogether. their air traffic control system is down, so the faa is now flying in a makeshift atc system to set up there on the ground in the u.s. virgin islands. it is a mess from top to bottom. it's going to take several days to get this back up and running again. back to you. >> i would imagine complicating this as well, you go to atlanta where you've got the busiest airport in the nation, and that city, that area is under a tropical storm warning. >> reporter: yeah, and to be honest with you, i haven't even checked the latest delays in atlanta, but you are certainly going to see the biggest airport in the country, in the world, affected by this, and flight operations are affected there. it's going to really ripple across the entire country. >> absolutely. tom, thank you. we'll have a lot more with you and more of our coverage of this storm right after this. hey allergy muddlers

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ted? ♪ ♪ welcome back, 7:50 on the west coast. carson's in the orange room with irma's impact on some of florida's most popular residents. >> guys, good morning. as people move friends and family to safety, there is a lot of chatter online about finding shelter for animals. this video here flamingos down at bush gardens being ushered to safety's been making rounds online. a lot of people talking good that. near west palm beach, a non-profit organization called horses that help was forced to bring eight of their therapy horses inside their home. incredibly, all of the horses were held comfortably inside a concrete block living room. we're happy to say that since the storm has shifted a bit

west, the horses were able to make their way back outside after a full 32 hours. this is another interesting story, 400 inmates were evacuated from monroe county jail. they used those cells and opened them up as shelter for animals, as you see the alpacas and llamas here safe in their cell. next door to that cell, you see some horses being fed some hay right next door. and finally, it's a great image here of ft. lauderdale police department sharing this heart-warming photo of one of their officers with his canine taking a nap together after working nonstop to help with evacuations. guys? >> nice stuff, carson. >> thank you. >> thanks very much. we're going to have more on that a little later, when the head of zoo miami will join us for an interview. plus, the storm chaser behind this, one of the most talked-about images of irma. well, he's going to join us as well. but first on a mooyt morning, a check of your local news and weather.

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good morning, i'm meteorologist kari hall. we are coming up on 7:56 and still tracking some storms to the south of us, over monterey county. a lot of this has been producing an outflow of winds and creating high wind gusts across the south bay. as we go into the afternoon, we are looking at fairly quiet conditions, a mix of sun and clouds. you will notice an increase in humidity that could cause storms to fire up over the central valley and moving to the east bay and north bay. later on tonight, by 11:00, we could see coverage of storms moving in and tracking more of that as we head into tomorrow as well. today, the high temperatures reaching into the low 90s, feeling muggy in the south bay. 90 in santa rosa. san francisco, 78 degrees. what's happening on the roads, mike? >> a smooth flow of traffic building in a couple key spots.

87 and 101 all slow coming out of the southern parts of san jose. the rest of silicon valley holds up well. a crash by highway 101 where you see the slowing in san mateo. approaching the bay bridge, a slow brooif for 880 as we look out there, traffic is backing up toward the coliseum. there's a crash at cesar chavez. back to you. >> thank you, mike. clean up in the south bay after a powerful wind storm blew over the region, toppling trees, pushing debris on the roadways and knocking out power to 12,000 customers. it's now been restored to a majority of the people. lawmakers have a busy day. they have until friday to get bills passed. bills that don't get a vote until friday will have to wait until january with lawmakers reconvene for the second half of

the two-year session. have a good day.

it's 8:00 on today and coming up breaking news. torrential rains and heavy winds whipping the southern part of the state. trees uprooted, homes destroyed. this morning millions of people without power. thousands packed into shelters uncertain of the damage they'll return to. >> we don't know what the next few days are going to bring. >> today monday, september 11th, 2017. >> good morning. welcome back to this special edition of today on a monday

morning. 11:00 on the east coast and 8:00 on the west coast. >> we have an unfolding story in jacksonville, florida right now. historic flooding from irma storm surge it's taking a toll on that city. >> we'll get much more on that in a couple of minutes. let's begin with miguel. he is live in a helicopter above the florida keys to give us our first view of the damage there. miguel, good morning, what are you seeing? >> hey, matt, good morning. we have been flying for about 30 minutes. i want to show you what we have seen. destruction after destruction. we're along one of these beach side communities. much of it has been completely wiped out. you can see homes down there destroyed with debris all around it and also boats tossed into neighborhoods. we know many roads across this area are also under water. it looks like the water has receded in this area a bit but the damage has certainly been done. we know reaching this area is only possible now by air in many

places. even down in the water. there's so much debris in this water that they say it's not safe to get here by boat. military rescues will start later on today. we also know c-130s, the big military planes will start bringing in basic supplies. everything from food and water. as you can see these are the houseboats that have been slammed into. this dock area here. we have what looks like one home down here with the green awning and the green roof completely destroyed. other neighborhoods look just like this all across the keys. we know the devastation stretches as far as we have come over the last 45 minutes. >> i think it's such an important point to mention. a lot of people might be tempted to get there and go see the property by water. imagine the things submerged in that water or floating in that water. >> they tell us, matt it's been

incredibly choppy and not only is it choppy but we have seen debris, pieces of boats and pieces of home and a car floating in the water as we were making our way here. the coast guard is urging everyone that has a boat not to come into this area. it's simply too dangerous to get here. route one which is the main road in and out of the keys for the most part is deserted. we saw the highway patrol over one of the main bridges here. they were not allowing the pedestrians and civilians that live in this area to come in because there's too much destruction in this area. the water is still receding in some neighborhoods. some holmes have been completely obliterated. this is where irma rolled ashore. those winds topping 130 miles per hour as it came through this seaside community and the damage certainly does stretch as far as we could see. >> there was concerns about the causeways that connect the keys. any evidence of damage to those?

>> there are some 42 bridges you need to take before you get to key west. most of the bridges we have seen seem to be in good structural shape but we have been told the further out you go the better, the higher the water and local streets have been completely washed out and even if you're able to get across the bridges the local streets here, the further out we go the more we'll see in terms of water and roadway damage. >> keep us posted. thank you very much. >> a lot of people hunkered down there. hopefully they have supplies for a few days. let's go to dylan. she spent the morning in gainsville. now she is on the road driving to jacksonville which as we understand it is getting hit hard with some flooding. >> they certainly are, savannah, we are headed that way to kind of see exactly what it looks like. we were in gainsville which was getting hit with the wind and

the rain. the trees were coming down and power was out across parts of the city and now we're going to jacksonville. there is a flash flood emergency including downtown jacksonville. >> dylan do we still have you? >> some of the challenges of trying to broadcast while driving on the road from gainsville to jacksonville. hopefully we'll get her back in a couple of minutes. let's look at the damage up and down the coast of florida. joe is in tampa and joe we talked to the mayor there not long agatha said it wasn't the punch in the face they expected but it was certainly a glancing blow. >> yeah and that's good news for tampa. nearby pinellas county. deputies and police officers have been out assessing the damage. they are finding a lot of downed trees, downed power lines, debris in the road. at one point as many as a

million people in the tampa bay area lost power. all the result of a hurricane that is effecting every part of this state. >> hurricane irma hit tampa overnight with heavy rain and dangerous winds. the tampa mayor spoke to matt and savannah earlier this morning. >> it was a long night but i think when dawn comes and the lights come on we will find that we were very very lucky last night. >> massive irma worked it's way up the gulf coast striking near naples, one of the hardest hit areas in the state. recorded wind gusts as high as 142 miles per hour and the storm surge of up to 6 feet. irma's eye wall show cased the storms full fury. the hurricane brought down trees. >> this is rain -- >> wow. >> hitting me. >> wow. >> gabe, why don't you get under the overhang there. >> and intense winds were a threat to reporters on the

ground like the weather channels mike bettis. >> that hurt. i'll admit that hurt. >> irma first struck the florida keys as a category 4 hurricane devastating parts of key largo and countless other spots along the island chain. on the atlantic coast of florida, miami was spared the eye of the hurricane but still battered by powerful winds and a dangerous storm surge. one of the cities iconic streets flooded. high above those flooded streets the massive storms powerful winds battered cranes causing two to collapse sunday as the city recovers miami dade county schools are closed until further notice. the president spoke briefly on the hurricane as he landed back in washington. >> i hope there's not too many people on the path. that's a path you don't want to be in and we tried to warn everybody. >> later approving a disaster

declaration for the state of florida. elsewhere in d.c. vice president pence visited fema workers. >> our mission here at the federal level is very simple. where ever hurricane irma goes, we'll be there first. >> even though irma has moved north of here in tampa they are expecting more rain today. they're also warning that winds are going to be coming from the west. that increases the risk of some type of storm surge here. it won't be as large as the storm surge that we were fearing about 24 hours ago but this is an area that's prone to flooding so officials are urging caution for everyone as they start to go out and about. back to you guys. >> okay. joe on the story. thanks. >> al is down in tampa as well and has his eye on what's happening in jacksonville. al you're still in the storm. >> yeah, we're still, we're on the backside of this thing and even though it is weakening guys, i mean, we get these bursts and it's raining right now and it's, the winds are

really coming up. i mean, we're getting gusts of 35 miles per hour. here's the latest on irma. again tropical storm, 65 miles per hour winds. right now it's about 70 miles east of tallahassee. but let's take a look right now, zoom in on the radar and show you what's going on not just in jacksonville but sharcharleston well now. water is coming over the sea wall in downtown charleston, there's a number of streets closed and they're warning people to stay out of downtown because there's heavy rain coming in as well. so again from irma. so just a living, breathing proof that you don't need a hurricane to have major, major problems, okay? so that's the latest guys. >> all right, al, thank you so much. we want to go back out to miguel. we talked to him a few minutes

ago he's actually above the keys. can you hear me? we wanted to see what you have been able to see from up there. >> savannah, we're still in the key largo area. we'll take you outside to a picture here. we have come across another neighborhood and we've seen people wading through water. looks like it's a foot or two deep. this neighborhood was hit with severe flooding. from the air here we can see trash cans and cars clearly pushed from their parking spaces and boats tossed into homes. we're going to look for that picture, we actually think we saw a family wading through the water here. there's a gentleman down here wading through water. looks like it's about knee deep here. these are the scenes here. not everyone in this community has been able to get help yet. people are still assessing the damage. the military is still trying to reach communities just like this one. it is literally neighborhood after neighborhood, block after block that looks just like this. the ocean is literally pouring into these neighborhoods still. the water we're told won't

recede until sometime. the military is going to make it a priority to reach communities just like this one, to be able to pull people out that may need to get to safer ground. it doesn't look like the water here reached second floors of homes but it clearly did go inside the first floor. anyone here that didn't evacuate was going to be hit with water. that's the situation here savannah as we continue to fly over key largo. >> incredible to see it. thank you very much. kerry sanders has been covering the damage for us from marco island and a little earlier this morning on the beach there a dolphin washed ashore and was in need of help we want to show you how that played out earlier. >> we're on south marco island and amid all the human drama we have a baby dolphin here that's washed ashore. mark and i have been trying to return it out into the gulf of mexico but every time that we take it out it gets hit by these waves and push bakd so we'ed ba. so we're trying to give this

little dolphin that's no doubt exhausted by the hurricane an opportunity to catch it's strength. so we have been holding it now for i want to say about 10 or 15 minutes. let's give it a shot here if we can in a wave bring this guy back out into the water and see if he -- don't pull him too hard. don't grab him like that. just give him a hand. there we go. there we go. i think he's going to make it. hang on. here we go. there, swim, let's see if he has the strength to go. other times he gets caught up. >> well, he's swimming. >> there he is. i have to say i think he's confused and beyond exhausted because when we helped him go out he seems to come back in. come on, buddy. you can do it. >> okay, all right. >> it's a struggle.

i see him trying. he really wants to make it out there. he's just really disoriented no doubt and you can hear i'm exhausted just from being in the water although that's his habitat but such a little guy there. i can't hear you because have been in the water and all of my electronics have gone caput. we're going to continue to see if we can help him get out. we have some calls into the network for some added advice -- it's really a matter of giving this guy some rest and unfortunately being this young i'm not sure howell he going to do. we'll continue to follow this and up tate you. we had that storm surge bringing in 4 to 5 feet of water and also that little guy there. >> all right, kerry. >> so that was part 1 of the

drama. there's another part. >> we'll find out what happened. that was obviously a little bit earlier and we'll tell you how it resolved itself. a lot more ahead this morning including. >> storm chasers behind one of the most unforgettable image of the storm. they're going to join us. but first these me ♪ i'm like a sponge for this stuff. i can learn it. get it. sell it. i can do this job in my sleep better than some people can do awake. i just want to make sure this brain stays in hyperdrive. hey we hear you. that's why aarp created staying sharp. it's more than brain games. it's a personalized, 360 approach to brain health. with assessments and tools that can help you keep your brain sharp. if you don't think "this is right for me" when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp." get to know us at aarp.org/possibilities. and when youod sugar is a replace one meal... choices. ...or snack a day with glucerna... ...made with carbsteady... ...to help minimize blood sugar spikes... ...you can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars.

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>> back on a monday morning before taking a little bit of a break we showed you kerry sanders helping a strand dolphin get back out to sea. >> a short time later it happened again and we checked in with kerry so take a look at that. >> i think there's going to be a happy ending here. i'm exhausted. that little guy is much more exhausted. you can see here i have been with the dolphin stranded network before and i did what i have seen them do. cradle it. hold it. let it catch it's breath and get his bearing. after a few minutes let it go. we saw it get hit by a wave. we saw it turn back and then eventually we lost sight of it and it looks like it's made it's way out into the gulf of mexico. mark was helping me. mark was the one that first

spotted it inland. it was on a sidewalk you brought it down here. just give me your sense of feeling and the moment now that you know it looks like that little guy made his way out. >> well, we picked it up and carried it across the rif raf and tried to push it out and then you showed up. >> well, great team work. the water out here is rough. for anyone that's wondering about my safety going in there. those are big waves. i live in florida and we have big waves and right now there's no undertoe so i'm back and a little tired but quite happy, savannah, that that little guy looks like he's going to be a survivor of hurricane irma. >> later there was another one. an adult dolphin and they came across it as well and got it back out to sea so it's been a busy morning for kerry and his crew. >> we'll have that in a few minutes. we call that multitasking.

>> good morning. >> good morning, matt, we're here at a hotel in fort lauderdale right off of the a 1a where the ocean washed in. it went down in the heavy winds. as you know they're still dealing with the major outer bands. what we know is still millions of people across florida do not have power including here in fort lauderdale and the reason it matters is not only do residents not have power but the street lights don't have power so the police are saying we lifted the curfew now but please stay home and stay safe do not move about because they're worried about downed power lines and worried about debris. i'll show you the front side of this hotel too. the fence on both ends on the corner here was completely blown out. this all happened yesterday afternoon and yesterday evening and you can see these down here on the ground and actually a lot of force when they fall off of the trees.

what we think are lawn chairs and other hardwood furniture to minimize the cost. they don't want to have to deal with more insurance claims than they have to. they want to get more reopened here. it's going to take weeks for all the hoe tells in the surrounding area and folks come back, business owners and residents come back to check out the damage guys. >> people try whatever they can. >> in miami hurricane forced winds caused major damage and also lead to two massive construction cranes collapsing.

>> the city is slowly getting back to normal. while miami didn't get the worst of hurricane irma it wasn't left unscathed. this morning, the worst maybe over but the damage is done. miami waking up to a nightmare. the devastating aftermath of hurricane irma. flooded streets, scattered debris and many left in the dark with nearly 5 million power outages reported across florida. miami unable to escape irma's relentless grasp. the monster storm packing violent winds clocking in at more than 100 miles per hour in some spots. mike from the weather channel braving the elements. >> i have never seen south florida look like this. >> powerful gusts causing two high-rise construction claims to

collapse in miami's downtown. the blistering winds even peeling the roof from one building. at one point dozens of tornado warnings issued in the area. several funnel clouds caught on camera and with the wind came rain between 4 and 9 inches falling in and around miami. the downpour along with irma's dangerous storm surge turning streets into rivers in the brooklyn neighborhood of the financial district. the water level rising up to 4 feet in some parts. our crew was there when the storm surge began hammering the coastline. >> the water covered the entire peer behind me which goes to show what that storm surge can do. >> also causing water damage at the miami international airport which will remain closed today.

and amid the chaos a story of bravery. police in north miami beach successfully rescuing a mother and her baby as rising flood waters quickly filled their home. recovery efforts begin. matt and savannah, those city officials behind me they're not so concerned with what is on the ground, they're concerned with what is above ground. they're trying to get the miami metro rail, that train you see above me functioning again. it is a main artery for public transportation here in miami and they told me they want to get this city back up and running and past hurricane irma as fast as possible. back to you guys. >> that would be quite a feet to do so. thank you. >> now to a dramatic image that we showed you on sunday. take a look. this is justin drake struggling to measure wind speeds as irma raged across the florida keys. he joined us earlier along with his fellow storm chaser.

we began by asking them that they knew what they were getting into. >> of course we are always prepared for any situation that we can get involved in whenever we're on a hurricane chase and i assure you when you see the video of me going out there and experiencing those very strong winds that are associated with irma and the eye wall that we took every precaution to make sure that i wasn't in any physical danger. in that particular spot we were at we made sure there wasn't going to be any objects so i could go out there and safely measure the winds and see just how strong it was in this location. >> safety is a relative term though. look at that one point where you're pushed back and you could just as easily have lost your balance and then you're the flying object after that. you said to us yesterday these are the worst winds you have ever experienced. >> that's correct.

before this particular hurricane it was definitely hurricane harvey that had the most intense winds that i have ever been in but this hurricane is definitely went a step above. both of them are rated when they made land fall. this particular hurricane i can say from my personal experience having been in both of them, irma had stronger winds at this land fall than even harvey did. >> i'm sorry we didn't get a question to you but we want you guys to be safe and thanks for your time this morning. i don't know. it looks really -- >> a >> good morning. we are going to have some very muggy conditions today. temperatures in low 90s in san jose, 87 degrees in palo alto. san francisco, expect a high of 78 degrees. and some mid-90s for the

interior valleys. we will have a chance of some thunderstorms especially later tonight and another chance tomorrow as the rain winds down. we'll have some lower humidity. for the inland area, cooler i )m ... res. vo the big headline this morning: storms are moving through our region - bringing a >> it's 8:26. the big headline this morn, storms moving through our region. the powerful wind storm in the south bay area overnight. winds toppled this large tree in toga. the tree snapped and fell into a power line. crews were out there trying to deownenergize that line to remo the tree. because of the strong wind, about 12,000 people lost power overnight. right now, hundreds are still without power. now, let's get a check in with what's going on in traffic. >> we had signals out earlier. still having power issues. so we're tracking that. but the freeways, they're doing all right for the south bay. northbound, throughout the silicon valley area.

now 101 still jams up. south 101 at willow. more slowing in toward menlow park. 80 at stevenson, that looks like it's off the shoulder. slow approaching that scene, again, off of the roadway. also off that walnut interchange, earlier crash, just before 680, looks like this that has cleared to the shoulder. all these crashes clearing to the shoulder because traffic is through. here's the approach to the bay bridge. just about 40 minutes from the highway 4 to the backup at the toll plaza. >> we'll have another local news update for you at half an hour. remember, we're always on at nbcbayarea.com. assessing the damage in florida. laura/2shot plus: traffic apps are annoying one east bay city. only on today in the bay: the reason one person tells us - they feel like a )hostage ) in their own home. marcus/gfxfull tomorrow morning starting at 4:30.

good morning, everybody. these are some of the images this morning. it's 8:30. monday morning, september 11th, 2017. this is a special edition of today. we're tracking irma through florida and now at this hour it's moving upward toward georgia. >> breaking news tide to this storm. homes are being evacuated in orange county outside of orlando. flood waters are said to be rising. we're told that rescue crews are

going door to door and using boats to take families out to safety. >> the number of power outages from the storm is rising. 6 million people in the dark in florida and georgia and it could be weeks in some of the hardest hit areas before the lights go back on. >> speaking of an estimated 200,000 people have been riding out the storm in shelters. 650 shelters opened in florida alone. >> so we have complete coverage of this storm. let's begin this half hour with morgan. morgan is in gainsville. good morning. >> the eye of the storm is just southwest of us. we're on the eastern portion. we're on the side getting hard hit. the winds are still moving quickly about 85 miles per hour but as the sun has just come up we're seeing three things. one there's been lots of local flooding. we have a second camera crew and just about a few miles of the road one of those houses is

being flooded. you can see the water already rising up to the level of bumpers but number two we have 50,000 people now all throughout the county that are still without power and 3rd and finally it's the hurricane force winds between 75 and 85 miles per hour. they have been lessening throughout the night but you can still hear and see them. they have been battering our windows and even as we were driving into the storm we could feel our car moving. these are things we are monitoring as the flood waters begin to rise. matt and savannah. >> thank you very much. >> the rude to everglade city was left completely unpassable after that storm and jacob is there with that part of the story. good morning. >> good morning, savannah. good morning, matt. behind me is the trail. this way is naples, this way is miami. we road out the storm in naples last night but the flooding is worse here now. highway 29 is the only way into

and out of everglade city. you're seeing a high profile vehicle make its way through now. we have seen people go in on an airboat. there's about 500 residents in everglades city but people are starting to line-up. and what we have been told by the residents is the devastation out in that direction is much worse than they faced in hurricane wilma and that was a complete loss for the community down that way. back to you. >> wow, the images are incredible there, thank you. >> let's head 100 miles north to st. petersburg. that's where jacob rascon is. >> hello. we have been touring the damage this morning and incredibly it's minimal but we do see things like this. a giant tree topples on to the road. crews will be out all morning. the clean up will still be massive. overnight hurricane irma pounded tampa bay with sheets of rain and powerful wind gusts

threatening 3 million people. the second largest metropolitan area in florida bracing for a potential disaster. >> the worst of the rain and the wind hit st. petersburg overnight but what the entire tampa bay area is really bracing for is the storm surge. the predictions were dire. potentially the first major hurricane to make land fall here in nearly a century. >> even though we haven't had a direct hit in 90 years what worries it seems to me the surge combined with the high tide that will take place at the same time. >> the county alone converted 42 schools into shelters. many filled to capacity. >> you're going somewhere you have never been before. >> he is among hundreds of

nursing home patients evacuated to wesley chapel high school packed into buses critical supplies loaded on to trucks. >> everybody is lying down and resting. they have gotten their meds they have gotten dinner and we're finally exhaling for a moment. >> one of the scores of dedicated caregivers leaving their families and homes in irma's path until the threat was over. this morning, millions from tampa bay waking up thankful that they have avoided the worst case scenario. >> and guys we just met karen who lives here. she came out. of course she was shocked. she said she slept with pillows over her head and we had to break the news to her what had happened around the state. when she went to bed yesterday and they lost power she still expected the storm to hit here as a category 3. she had no idea what had happened. >> that's so terrifying. a lot of people waking up this morning and seeing the damage. thank you so much. >> let's get another check of

the weather. al is in tampa this morning and it's been pretty heavy there. good morning again to you. >> hey, guys, good morning. it's monday and there's obvio obviously other weather across the country. you look at tropical storm irma right now you'll see that -- the wind -- right now it's -- this is a tropical storm. this is actually worse today than it was yesterday. anyway, tropical storm it's got 75 miles per hour winds. >> it looks like we had some trouble with al's signal. it's interesting to see. the hurricane yesterday and yet it seems worse in a lot of ways right there. luckily we have a meteorologist on stand by.

he's always ready. >> that's what stunt doubles are full. absolutely. sit to the side until needed. heavy bands of rain rolling into where al is and sections of jacksonville and the carolines as well. there's our concern. irma 30 miles to the north, northeast of cedar key florida. 70 miles per hour. keep in mind tropical storm but still strong. look at the heavy bands beginning to push through jacksonville. winds there sustained 50 to 75 miles per hour with a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet and then charleston and savannah with a storm surge up to 6 feet and 4 to 7 inches of rainfall. very serious concerns. downtown jacksonville right now seeing significant flooding. of course that is a quick look at what's happening

here's a look at what's going on right where you are. >> good morning, i'm meteorologist kari hall. we've been watching some storms over monterey county this morning. still some isolated cells but this activity is winding down and heading off shore. as we go through the day, it's going to be really muggy as we have a surge in some monsoonal moisture. and a chance of scattered showers especially for the east bay later on this afternoon. we'll tastart to see some more activity as we go into tonight. as well as some pockets of some heavy rain. that risk continues into tomorrow. >> at 8:38, that's a quick look at your weather. guys? >> watching al getting blown >> that's a quick look at the weather. >> the tropical storm is tough too. people think it's been downgraded and everything is great. >> don't get stuck on categories and titles. we have learned that over and over. >> thanks for stepping in. we appreciate it. >> glad to be here. >> thousands of animals at zoo miami were in the path of hurricane irma but the zoo had a plan to protect them it's a

lesson they learned after suffering major damage during hurricane andrew. >> we are joined by the zoo director. it's good to see your face. we have to ask you how the residents of your zoo are had morning. >> hurricane andrew, hurricane irma, hurricane katrina and hurricane wilma are doing well. >> we do have an iconic picture from back during hurricane andrew and there's the trailer that had fallen out of the sky snchts that's right. >> he's fairing very well. >> doing very well. it's incredible how nature knows how to protect itself in these

disasters. >> talk about the changes made structurally there at the zoo. >> hurricane andrew leveled this place. the north eye wall of the storm came through here and it was totally leveled so miami dade building codes are probably the highest in the country now because of the hurricane. we built several buildings we were able to use as bunkers for a lot of the animals. what an incredible hope to show nature does does so well. so well. >> we should give a little squeeze right there and all over the internet yesterday the march of the pink flamigos as they went out. obviously this is a storm with a

great human toll and great economic toll but people care about your animals and we know that you do too. we have no power here. the places were badly damaged but we were here during the storm and there was a team here on ground so everybody made sure and there's a lot of damage. >> do you know why people care so much? zoos are part of the fabric of the community. everybody remembers when you're little and you go to a class trip at a zoo to when you're older and take your own kids to a zoo. it's a part of every town and city we live in. >> absolutely. listen i work at a zoo today because i remember as a small

boy going to the bronx zoo and getting that connection with animals this is sometimes the only way children can get a connection with wildlife and it's important they understand. >> real quickly, this may be a silly question did you get the feeling that any of the animals recognized what was coming? >> right before the storm there were a lot of native birds around here because before hurricane andrew 24 hours before the storm you couldn't find one bird. the animals have an instinct. >> thanks. good to see you. >> we'll be back in a moment.

this is "today" on nbc. in a mo. this is "today" on nbc.

carson is joining the table and there were dire warnings ahead of irma for potentially catastrophic storm surge. >> it was a major concern in tampa with the 700 miles of shore lines and the winding beach lines there. jeff is in tampa with more. jeff good morning to you. >> hey, good morning guys. yeah we're on the beach right now and it's still quite windy. you can see the ocean is really picking up. you pick that up it just slides even with the winds hours after irma but the fact that we can stand here is pretty my rairacu.

the water is slamming up against the wall but it's not breaching. what they were worried about in tampa is that the roads are all at sea level or a few feet over sea level. this is an incredibly low lying area and they're worried about businesses like this, this is whiskey joes. they were worried this wouldn't even be here today. we were here yesterday and we showed you the pictures in the hours before irma, the water in the bay was being sucked out into the bay, into the gulf of mexico and they were afraid it was going to crash back in. the water has come back but it's pretty manageable. there have been people that live here that have been down here. come on down here ladies. hello. how are you. >> hello. >> tell me about your experience during this hurricane. you must have been scared out of your mind. >> it was terrifying. >> what was it like to ride

through it. >> the wind, just the wind and the storm surge. that was the biggest threat and that is what was so terrifying. we didn't know what was going to happen. >> we were in a mandatory evacuation zone but we decided to stay. >> why did you decide to stay if you were in a mandatory evacuation zone. >> our life is here. >> and they told us to evacuate friday and the track of storm get changing. we were in the clear it was going to hit orlando and then it was going to be here. >> i'm glad you guys are okay. we're all okay. tampa a beautiful city remains intact with minimal damage. back to you guys. >> yef, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> probably a lot of people made that calculation it was a last minute shift and probably people thought it's too late to evacuate. >> i am surprised a place like whiskey joes didn't sustain more damage. coming up next some of the stories from the storm that are getting attention on social

media but first this is a special edition of today right here on nbc. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, mr. stevens. your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances. did any bag of dog or buy cat food at petsmart we give a meal to a pet in need? buying your favorite bag of food at petsmart will help us reach our goal of donating more than 60 million meals to shelters and food banks. that means millions of hungry pets across the country (like this little guy) get to eat. buy any bag any size we give a meal to a pet in need. petsmart - for the love of pets.

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welcome back, everybody. welcome back. carson is with us this morning in the orange room. you're keeping an eye on the images and stories going viral from the storms. >> making its way through florida and incredible to see the impact. this is in miami the financial center. this is before the storm. let me show you what happened after irma came through. you can see that street flooded. let me go back and pay attention to the big tree here on the right side of your screen. look at what is left of that tree. it's a remarkable image there. we have seen people come

together to help other people. a few great examines of that. great photos by the united states air force show 3g 0 doctors, nurses, health care professionals flying from d.c. to orlando to help out. also the atlanta braves provided free tickets for displaced florida residents. their teams president of by saying we know how difficult it's been to pack up and leave your homes we hope we can help keep their mind off the storm for a few hours. people are also using airbnb to offer places to stay for free. they have added this portion of the map to their website. if you're looking for anyways to help you can always go to today.com, guys. >> nice to see neighbors helping each other. we'll have a lot more coverage as we go along this morning. we're back in a moment on a monday morning. this is "today" on nbc.

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== vo== the search continues this morning - for the shooter who killed a d-j outside a club in good morning. the search continues for the shooter who killed a deejay outside of a club in san francisco's tenderloin. police say the 30-year-old died after he was shot early saturday morning outside of new century club. he was transgender. his attorney calling this a hate crime. so far, police only saying the shooting is under investigation.

and happening now, bay area remembering september 11th, the attacks, 16 years later. there are events throughout the day. coming up at 10:00 this morn, bells will toll in alameda. and white doves will be released over the all wars memorial at 5:30. hurricane irma heads out of florida. as it heads out of florida. they're already in florida. they left last week, driving five days straight to get there. the team is just one of thousands across the country ready to help. and in the santa cruz mountain, say the highway 35 is closing for ten days. the highway will be closed between skyline and summit road to repair damage caused p ed by storms last winter. the closure goes into effect in five minutes. more news on nbc bay area. did you know when you buy

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good morning. breaking news. city under water. record-certing flooding in jacksonville, florida, in the wake of irma. evacuations, rescues happening right now. across the state, millions of without power as we get our first look at widespread damage in the florida keys, and its neighborhoods ravaged by the storm. "today" monday, september 11, 2017. and good morning, everyone. welcome back to a special edition of "today" on this monday morning. 9:00 out on the west coast. it's noon here in the east. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and carson daly. >> on since about 6:00 a.m.

oor morning. watching irma moving up the coast. >> and story about jacksonville. the latest, the storm weakened. now a tropical storm, again, packing a dangerous punch. >> as matt mentioned, the flash flood emergency declared for downtown jacksonville. the storm surge combining with very heavy rain there overnight created major problems. >> as you can imagine, irma knocked out power to a record number of customers in florida. more than 6 million people there. starting to see other outages in alabama, georgia and south carolina as the massive storm now moves north. >> and complete coverage beginning with nbc's miguel alabaa almaguer, in the florida keys, was in a hospital, back on the ground drives further into the keys. >> reporter: good morning. we spent about an hour in the helicopter and saw an incredible scene getting closer to what's

further out. key largo, neighborhood after neighborhood, home after home still under water. of course, where irma touched down sunday with a 135 mile-an-hour wind. we certainly did see trees uprooted, and homes obliterated by the high winds, but also saw so much flood damage. told the waves were up to 15 feet in some areas. completely surged and swamped in many neighborhoods. some homes still under two to three feet of water. others ankle deep, knee deep. that's the situation on the ground. and the c-130, the military, will be bringing in supplies to the keys because many of the area remains unaccessible. the coast guard is el itting people not to approach by boat because of so much debris. homes, cars, other debris in the ocean. it could be a hazard for anyone trying to reach the keys by boat and roads are simply a mess. many under water. some bridges may have been damaged. there's 42 bridges, or 45 bridges you take before getting to key west.

those infrastructure may be part of the long-term problem for crews getting in there and we know the military will try to start airlifting people out for those who chose not to evacuate. we saw a few individuals wading through knee-deep water in those communities. we've now seen what irma has done there. an eye-opening experience to see oh many homes obliteratoblitera. >> miguel almaguer after flying over homes earlier. thank you so much. >> and images, how devastating the storm has been and dylan dreyer sais also on the road driving to jacksonville. a flooding emergency going on there. dylan what are you seeing making your way through some of these towns? >> reporter: actually pulled over. we're going to start rolling again. we lost cell service and not a

lot of cell service. i think because the winds have been very gusty. probably knock eed out towers along the way. along our drive so far we've seen treed downed across the roads. had to slowly go around the trees. seen areas flooded we've had to go around. it hasn't been a good drive but we're close. only 20 minutes outside of jacksonville now and they are still under a flash flood warning and it's in that area where they could see continual rise of waters in downtown. as high as four to six feet. they say the floodwaters are expected to rise until about 2:00 this afternoon. there's a high tide just after 12:30 today. that's why those waters will continue to rise. they're telling people to get to the second level of your home. trying to evacuate parts of jacksonville, and we are expecting really a dangerous situation in that area until the water starts to recede. that doesn't happen until mid-afternoon. we're going to obviously not drive into the situation but get close to it, and again, about 20

minutes outside of jacksonville. we should be able to tell you much more in a little bit. >> dylan, i mean, probably doesn't come as a surprise to you because you're a meteorologist and professional, bu but when you think how the hurricane went into florida. jacksonville. the northeast part of the state experiencing the worst in terms of flooding what do you make of that? >> reporter: you know, looking back, i mean, hindsight is 20/20. makes sense. the counterclockwise rotation we see with the stroorm. it's tracking up the center of florida and obviously will bring the atlantic onshore into downtown jacksonville. water pushes up the rivers, water that fell just to the south. it's not that surprising now looking back that this could happen, but our minds were so focused on every other town hit by the storm itself. this is obviously a residual effect. >> and to a lesser degree they can expect a mini version of that in parts of georgia and south carolina as well. is that true?

>> reporter: we could see record-high flooding in charleston, south carolina, savannah, georgia. all because of that southeast wind that's dragging the ocean onshore. so we're going to see exceptionally high surge heights and also when you factor in high tide around 12:30, 1:00, up the southeast coast, that could lead to potentially more flooding and it's the way the storm is positioned. >> remember, jacksonville beach, they've gotten so much rain. the mayor said 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. that along with the storm surge, it's a mess there right now. >> a lot of water. as we said, irma downgraded to a tropical storm. threat far from over. al is in tampa with more on that. hey, al. >> reporter: as a matter of fact, as we talked over the last 24 hours, you probably remember, the northeastern quadrant of any tropical system is the strongest quadrant. so because this system is

tracking north instead of attacking to the northwest, jacksonville, charleston, savannah, all of those cities are part of that northeast quadrant as the system makes its way north. it's really not surprising as you look at radar. it's amazing that, again, got to reitera reiterate. don't need a hur tain to haricaa lot of damage. irma is now moving north-northwest at 17 miles per hour. we're looking at now flash flood watches and flood watches. flash flood warnings from atlanta, albany, georgia, down to jacksonville. charleston as well. we've got also tornado watches in effect as this all makes its way in, we are going to be looking at possible flooding and storm surge for the south carolina, georgia border.

so this thing is -- is pretty potent and it's going to continue that way. out west we're looking at temperatures, plenty of sunshine, and temperatures that will be in the 80s and 90s, even into the 100s as you get down into the southwest. guys, again, we are looking at a potent system that is going to be affecting -- in fact, atlanta, there are street closings because of the combination of wind and rain. metal panels are coming off buildings in downtown atlanta, and so they are closing off atlanta, and, in fact, they've announced they're opening up emergency shelters in the city of atlanta, because of irma. so this thing even as a tropical storm is still having wide-reaching effects. >> al, not good news. thank you very much, though. a truck farther to the north part of georgia, we mentioned, awoke to rain and steady winds. in albany, georgia, our reporter, good morning to you.

>> reporter: good morning, matt. winds here actually quieted down a little bit in the last 20 or 30 minutes, giving us a chance to get out, explore, see the power they had earlier today. look at the size of this tree. ripped out by the roots and dropped down on top of this car. absolutely smashing it. we shave seen scenes like this all over southern georgia today. up to high 50s, potentially low 60s. steady wind at about 35 miles an hour leading to a lot of power outages down here. this entire complex has been without power since about 9:00 this morning, and georgia pow hear something like 3,500 crews stationed around the state, but right now they're under orders in this area to stand down and wait until the winds die down a little bit. they just don't want these crews out on the streets. really, we're in essentially a ghost town now. the city of albany, shut down since about 5:00 yesterday. schools closed today and

tomorrow. word a short time ago they'd be closed against wednesday. this part of georgia, hunkering down essentially. matt, we're not expected to get the worst of irma until about 5:00 tonight. back to you. >> all right. covering the georgia side of the storm. garrett, thank you very much. >> just how large it is. all morning long checking in with florida senator bill nelson. last time we spoke we began asking how he was faring in all of this. >> doing fine. it's -- starting to clear up, but here in orlando, but the whole state, as you know, this is unusual. the entire state got covered up by this storm. >> yes. senator, are you aware of what's going on now in jacksonville, in that area? we understand they have a lot of flooding in the streets there. and they're getting maybe an unexpected impact from that storm. are you talking to anybody over there? >> yes. what's happened. all the rain, raining in to the

saint johns river starts actually to the east of orlando. west of melbourne and it flows north. all the way to jacksonville. all that additional rainfall, plus the wind now on counterclockwise rotation from south to north is pushing all that water through jacksonville. at the same time, the high tide of the atlantic is coming, and pushing back against the mouth of the river. so the water is rising rapidly in downtown jacksonville, and that's what you all have been showing some film of. that it's lapping over the sides of the river into downtown jacksonville. >> and we're showing images actually, just in to us, from jacksonville, which turned out to be one of the surprises of this storm, but there were a few. senator, do you have a sense as the sun's coming up which areas

of your state are contending with the worst damage? >> probably key west. the florida keys. i'm going with the u.s. coast guard, flying down to key west this afternoon. that's probably the biggest damage simply because of the 120 mile-an-hour winds as the eye came across the keys. the dreaded part of all the flooding of the storm surge on the southwest coast of florida, that was not nearly as bad, because by then the storm had lessened, and, therefore, the counterclockwise winds didn't bring as much water back in to the bays and estuaries like charlotte harbor, tampa bay. may i just say, since this is 9/11, all of us on that day will

remember. i was in the u.s. capitol building watching the twin towers and someone burst in the room and said the pentagon's been hit. we left to the windows overlooking the wall of the mall, looking west, and there's the black smoke rising, and then the next thing we heard is the capitol police shouting at the top of their lungs, get out, get out! run! run! run! get out of the building. the report of the fourth airplane inbound for washington was coming. what a day. we are proud of how america has come together in the last 16 years, and i'm proud of how floridians have come together in the last 24 hours. >> senator nelson, one last quick question. a lot of folks are without power, and sometimes, i guess, the idea is you want to venture out, check on your house. you want to get out there on the

streets. what advice do you have to people who are deciding whether or not they should venture back home? because they see the sun up and think, you know, it's clear now. i can get out. >> it's dangerous, because of live wires. that's where people get killed. a lot of trees in florida. they fall over. they fall on power lines. that's cut the power, but you never know which one of those lines are live. so it's best to stay inside until you get the okay from law enforcement. >> good advice. senator bill nelson talking about hurricane irma, but also taking time to remember the events of september 11th, 2001. 16 years ago today. senator, nice talking to you. thank you very much. >> thanks, matt. and those images are jacksonville, we continue to see all morning lon are not good. >> no good. we're watching that. >> and getting up in the air, heading south. coming up, riding out the storm

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amazing finds. always great prices. make home yours. we are back now with a special edition of "today." that late kind of western shift in irma's path a lot of people especially in the florida panhandle off guard. >> a lot of had no choice but to ride out the storm right at home. we have that part of the story. >> reporter: savannah, matt, good morning to you. we're still expecting wind and rain throughout the day, but tampa really feels like it dodged a bullet. still a sleepless night for most in this area. we spent time with one family that actually evacuated to tampa thinking they were escaping irma only to face the hurricane here. >> we're in the eye now. >> it's in -- just north of naples. >> reporter: jill and bill stephens could track hurricane

irma by watching the forecast on tv. >> the eye is actually moving east. >> no. moving north. >> reporter: or perhaps by simply looking behind them. >> well, it feels like irma is following us. >> reporter: a few days ago as irma crept closer to their home near miami, these empty nesters fled thinking their friends' house in tampa would be a safer option. then the hurricane's track shifted west. >> the entire state is under hurricane warning, it's unprecedented. >> reporter: with sandbags and plastic bags guarding doors, they're hunkering down with another family that has flown florida. one of the most vulnerable in the world when it comes to major storms. >> it's completely out of our hands. you know? there's nothing we can really do at this point. kind of curious about how the night's going to go, because it's out of our control. >> reporter: as the night wears on, the winds are growing stronger. the rains are getting heavier.

though it's not the category 3 hurricane that many here had feared, it's still causing no shortage of anxiety. >> very loud rattling. every time i hear a sound, it's terrifying. >> reporter: early this morning, we caught up with jill to see how they're holding up. >> appears to be dissipating a little but but there's still the fear of the unknown. >> reporter: and we just checked in with the stephens and are told they never lost power overnight. in fact, they did get a little bit of sleep early this morning. in the end, tampa was probably a better place for them to be. they know that their community near miami did receive some flooding, and they still don't know yet if their house actually flooded. savannah? >> we do see the sunshine behind you, joe and all been living this vicariously with the folks in tampa. did they feel they're out of the woods in terms of the storm now? >> reporter: they're certainly breathing a sigh of relief, but

officials are warning everyone to be cautious. even though irma moved north it could still wrap winds around that will come from the west. keep in mind, the type of winds that concern them because they can create some level of storm surge. it won't be as bad as the storm surge we heard about a day ago but doesn't take much to cause flooding and want people to stay out of the low-lying area and be cautious. savannah? >> joe, great work. appreciate it. >> carson's moved from here over to the area talking about how irma is doing. >> and companies doing their parts to contribute. >> tesla provided extra support during evacuation. able to somehow wirelessly increase the battery capacity of vehicles in the area. along with making a $5 million donation to hurricane relief, apple added a list of helpful apps you'll find at the top of the app store as well as providing the best way to make it easy to donate money. and much like for harvey,

anheuser-busch halted production to can water for hurricane relief efforts. six fruk loatruck loads arrived florida. and snapchat. zoom in and click on the location to see the latest pictures and videos in that very specific area. guys, found a parheartwarming sy shared online. exchanging vows in orlando before heading out for search and recovery missions. they intended to wed next week but moved that up to jacksonville just so they could volunteer together to support hurricane irma response efforts. guys? >> a nice couple. >> yeah. do the heart good. thank you, carson and congrats to them. coming up next, checking in with kerry sanders. somewhat of an unexpected morning, you might say, in the midst of his storm coverage. found himself out rescuing some found himself out rescuing some dolphins.

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welcome back to this special edition of "today." kerry sanders had a busy hurricane, so to speak. made his way to marco island overnight, and if you were with us earlier you know he had an eventful morning. >> sure did. getting ready for a live report with us and able to help a stranded dolphin get back into the ocean and then a short time later another dolphin needed his help. take a look. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. it wasn't the 15 feet people talked about with irma but four to five feet but enough to wash up among other things on the south end of marco island some dolphins. first came upon a baby dolphin earlier on the newscast, on the "today" show.

and you saw as we got that baby dolphin out into the gulf of mexico, further up we came upon another dolphin. it may have been the mother. we won't ever know that, but it was big and took a lot of people together to get that dolphin back out into the water. you can see us with -- a heavy, not easy, first of all, what did you think? >> unbelievable to think of all the animals and fishery that is disturbed right now. >> reporter: but your experience of taking this dolphin out? >> emotional experience. >> reporter: heavy, right? >> surreal. unbelievable. glad we were able to help. >> reporter: and panting, panting. among those out here, a reporter who happens to be from tulsa, oklahoma. nbc station, jimped in as well. i take it a little different than taking a cow out of the mud from tulsa? >> a lot different, but took your lead, kerry, you just said, put your arms, grab your arms, lift. told us where we needed to be and not to harm the dolphin and

we just pushed in and kept going in to the surf. probably the scarier part, but once that dolphin started to show a little life, pretty inspiring. we made an impact. >> tony's right. >> reporter: the feeling you have when you can get a dolphin back in to the water and get the -- you have to hold it a little, guys. they're exhausted. they have been beaten up by irma. then out of the water. remember, they're mammal, breathe air but need to be kept wet and in their environment. exhausted. took it out past the first wave, the second wave and eventually out there. what we're going to do is continue to walk the beach, because there's a pretty good bet there are other dolphins on the beach as well, guys. >> okay. now, in a was earlier. kerry is back with us and unexpected. you're covering your 60th hurricane. experienced, done a lot. rescuing dolphins is pretty special, i have to say. >> reporter: really amazing. especially that little one that really was so disoriented, and

just exhausted. at first we -- i actually -- the gentleman i was with, some stranger i met here, he kind of gave up. so i went in to the surface, into the surf with the little baby and i held it for a little bit, and it didn't look like it just had the strength to get out there past the waves that you see right here. in fact, also stronger earlier. even still, for the gulf of mexico, pretty strong waves. then, after releasing it, not really taking hold, i took it again and i took it much further out to water about to here and just held the little guy for a while. giving him a chance to sort of catch his breath and, you know, i've worked with the national oceanic atmospheric administration on other dolphin rescue, could be ecovered stori them, understand the exhaustion factor and disorientation a dolphin can have. after holding it maybe ten minutes or so, finally let it release and off it went.

hit a wave, went around. came down, up, off into the gulf of mexico. the larger dolphin, i got to say, savannah, a much more difficult task. first of all, had to gather people on the beach. we're on marco island. mostly deserted, but got a group of guys and a woman to jump in. everyone with the adrenaline flow seeing what we could do to lift that dolphin up. pulled the dolphin up, took it out. my hand underneath, i could feel the heartbeat. it was just pounding. just pounding. so we held the dolphin out there again, and in as deep as water as we could for as long as we could. waves crashing on us and lost a couple of the volunteers that were working together, because the wave hit them and they kind of splashed back to the beach. we held that dolphin long as we could and finally released her, calling it a her. i'll call it maybe the mother of the little one.

released her and she hit a wave, cake back a little. we were disappointed a second. finally got her bearings and off and out into the gulf of mexico. so, you know, an exhilarating feeling to jump in in a moment of crisis and help out. i have to say, glad i go back in my mind the time i spent with the atmospheric oceanic administration to know what to do and the most important thing they told me then and reiterated today when talking to them, they want everybody to do what they can to help the animals but don't risk your own life. some might wonder going into the water with waves like that. i live on the coast. no undertow today. how strong as a swimmer? sforntly today despite being exhausted we did fine. >> wow. color us impressed, absolutely, kerry.

what would we have done today? just sit here. >> watching kerry save dolphins. >> a nice story that broke out. dolphins are a symbol of strength, certainly in miami. nice to see a couple get saved. >> it was. good work, kerry. we're back with much more on a monday morning, but first, a monday morning, but first, these messages. just walk right in and pay zero dollars with most insurance.r. plus, when you get a flu shot at walgreens, you help provide a lifesaving vaccine to a child in need through the un foundation. it's that easy to get your flu shot and make a difference. so swing by your local walgreens today. walgreens. at the corner of happy & healthy. what's new from light and fit? greek nonfat yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. real fruit and 90 calories... you'll be wowed! try new light & fit with zero artificial sweeteners.

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welcome back, everyone. we've been telling you about the flooding emergency playing out right now in jacksonville, florida, this morning. nbc's morgan radford just arrived there. what are you seeing? >> reporter: matt, you can see behind me downtown jacksonville is almost completely flooded. you can see the iconic skyline, the omni hotel, wells fargo behind me. almost apocalyptic here. you can hear sirens going off in parking garages behind me.

in terms of severity of this flooding, at 9:00 a.m., a press conference. the mayor and police official says historic flooding. not since the flood records of 1863. about 2:00 p.m. we'll approach high tide. this is already at my niece and getting deeper back here. they're expecting it to come up four to six feet beginning about 2:00 p.m. there are mandatory evacuations in the low-lying areas. thousands of people without power. matt, you mentioned, we just arrived here and we spoke earlier in gainesville, florida, about 50,000 in that people were out of power and 21 shelters were in the county. the university of florida, which is here. residents, about 160,000 people, just up the road. they have already reached capacity at that shelter. kids were told to bring parents to come for safety. people we're talking to here

said it wasn't just a storm. it's the aftermath that surprised them. on our way here i stopped and literally saw a house beginning to flood, asked a woman if she was okay, enough food and water. i put on waders, made it to her front door, she said in all my years never seen anything like this. used to seeing flooding, when the hurricanes come, but to this degree, never seen it before. had a mattress, created a safe zone and started to break down in tears saying when you're responsible for the life of your children, it's a completely different responsibility and a completely different type of fear. matt, savannah? >> morgan, you say you drove from gainesville. how hard was it to get into the jacksonville area proper? >> reporter: the roads are nearly impassable, matt. i mean, the roads are down. to take a few circuitous routes to get here and mostly the only other people on the roads were the first responders. emergency vehicles and police officers who stopped just like

knee ask people in their homes if they had what they needed and able to get out. it's kind of shut down, really, the city grid. again, the people are saying, it's not only the hurricane. it's these hurricane force winds. you see the water here blowing in front of are us and behind us. so it's the loss of power, it's the wind and rising water that's damaging their homes and their property and making them nervous for their own safety. >> didn't they get a ton of rain, morgan, from the storm as well? that's part of it? >> reporter: exactly. we were expecting to see up to eight inches. not only the rain but inability to retain the water. we've seen the st. john's river crested over, spilled on to the streets. that's as we were getting here. as you get further into downtown, there are people who are stuck inside their apartment buildings as this water from the river crested over and is rushes past them, creating a dire situation for people here on the ground. as they're trying to figure how to stay safe inside their homes, because now it's beyond the

point to reach the shelters. but then how they'll get out once the floodwater begins to subside. savannah? >> morgan, thanks to you and your crew for the images. appreciate it. just ahead, cleanup and recovery taking place in other parts of florida. first, these messages.

welcome back. before the break we showed you flooding unfolding as we speak in jacksonville, florida. on the other side of the state, a potentially catastrophic storm surge also feared for tampa. >> fortunately for millions there, never really developed but plenty of damage from the wind and rain. >> reporter: good morning. watching morgan radford live in jacksonville. they thought they would have that catastrophic flooding with that storm surge here in tampa, very low-lying area. a lot of wind and rain kicking

up here but nothing like there or expected here in tampa. you have downed trees like this one here and you can see, we have some roots coming up here, but what's odd about this storm is, this tree was pulled up. more like a tornado. look down here. all of these other trees can completely fine. just a hurricane. you see business getting back as usual here in tampa. back this way to the water. don't trip. bill, you okay? have to pull out the stick mike. it's very windy here. over here at the sea, back to being normal. this is the bay. water sucked out yesterday. look how low lying this area is. where the homes are. this is where the businesses are, basically, a few feet over sea level and really thought this would crakrefrt crest and but it didn't. a couple families coming out. the cousins. we grabbed them. you were in a mandatory evacuation zone, zone a., but chose to stick it out in your

homes? >> i'm from miami. we've been through andrew. we're survivors and i really didn't think it would be that bad. we were prepared with bags, zip locks, important papers. you see, she has a life vest on. we were prepared. just we didn't think it would be that bad. >> reporter: what was it like to ride this storm out? knowing that this could have surged? we didn't know until really overnight it wasn't going to. >> it was scary. we were worried, but i just had faith that i didn't think it would be that bad a. >> reporter: are you guys okay. >> yeah. >> reporter: a story to tell. tampa, beautiful city remains intact thankfully. >> thank you. much more special edition of "today" after these messages.

welcome back, everyone. unfortunately, some people tried to take advantage of the bad

weather in florida. more than a dozen people have been arrested for looting and burglary in fort lauderdale. it's police chief maglione joins us now. chief, good morning to you. >> how are you today? >> fine. you're dealing with lawlessness. how widespread is it? >> we think we've got it under control. i believe we sent a very strong message prior to, being struck by the storm, and our efforts during and after the storm illustrated that we were serious about our message, and we have had no further incidents today. >> you said 19 arrested. i mean where does that take place? and, i mean, were people out as soon as the clouds passed? >> well, actually, when the storm hit, we had actually -- actually during some of the harshest weather one of our businesses along one of our main

corridors was broken into by a crowd of folks and it was actually witnessed by a news reporter from a local station down here. and he actually aired it live. we responded and the weather was very severe when we responded. we actually had to use our s.w.a.t. vehicling consisting of humvees to get their safely and captured nine individuals burglarizing that business, and then we also captured two individuals that burglarized six homes in an area that was ordered to be evacuated for the safety of the residents. >> chief, with conditions on the ground there, how difficult has it been for your force to actually get out and enforce the law as they usually do? >> actually, it made it very difficult. we had, all the power was out. a lot of trees were down and a lot of traffic signals down, obviously. and power lines were down. but we have vehicles that can

withstand higher winds than normal vehicles, and we have an incredible team of officers that are very good at what they do. and they were able to get these folks into custody. >> a lot of people take advantage of a vacuum, once people start to circulate around the city again, and get back to those businesses, we're hoping that you don't have continued problems, and as you said, a little earlier, sent a pretty strong message, chief. we appreciate your efforts and thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> fort lauderdale police chief rick maglione. we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. good morning. we are seeing the weather quieting down after a busy morning with storms to our south. expect another round of showers and storms to fire up as we go into tonight, especially for the east bay and parts of the north bay, where you with see the

radar filling in with pockets of heavy rain and some isolated lightning. we will also have a very muggy day with a chance of more storms in the forecast for tomorrow. temperatures reaching up to 92. with the high humidity, we'll have to deal with the heat index. in concord 93, 83 in oakland, 78 today in san francisco. over the next several days, with he will have more showers and storms moving in. the chance winds down, cooler temperatures for the inland areas after this hot and muggy start to the weekend. chances of showers and storms looks much better for thursday, friday and also into the weekend.

coming up at 1:00 on the east coast, 10:00 out west, that does it for our coverage at the moment. lester holt will have a lot more on the storm's impact tonight on "nightly news" and of course we'll have the latest tomorrow morning here on "today." >> leaving you with some of the

sights and sounds of the storm from the past 24 hours. >> irma arrives. >> whoa! >> wow. >> the most powerful atlantic hurricane ever lashing southern florida right now. >> hurricane irma has come on in game strength. >> this is how powerful and how difficult to see and difficult to move. >> let me show you exactly where we're at right now on the map. that's -- we've got a red band headed straight towards us. >> this is what we're most worried about. the gulf of mexico right there. >> this thing is so big it's going to affect the entire state. >> this is the worst-case scenario. >> seeing visible go down. >> had a major wind shift direction. almost like i thought we getting a tornado. >> showing no signs of letting up. >> it was by far the strongest wind i've ever experienced.

>> you can see the velocity of the wind there. >> 2 million homes at this hour already without power. >> and naples, marco island, lost power. >> pleasing careful driving along. >> we'll pack up here and heading to higher ground. >> that hurt. >> conditions are worsening by the minute. >> just incredible thing to see the power of this storm. >> i'm absolutely in awe right now of the wrath and the fury that mother nature has brought upon naples, florida. >> getting battered by hurricane irma and we have a long way to go. >> we're just getting into -- >> this is what we're telling people to hunker down for and get in. >> orlando, you've had a very rough night. eem in the orlando area are sleeping in their closets. >> i pray that everybody survives this. >> this system was so big, that it was going to affect the

entire state. it's lived up to what we said it could

happening now, the bay area

joining the rest of the nation remembers the september 11th attacks 16 years. right now the vallejo fire department hold ago ceremony for honor the nearly 3,000 people who were killed. plus san francisco police officers undergoing training on new use of force policy, the department of justice recommending the changes after the shooting death of mario woods in 2015.

beyonce's big return to her hometown and how she is lending a helping hand. george clooney gets permanent and opening up about his twins. what he is saying may surprise you. >> this is the best show in the world. >> from nbc news. this is today. with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> how do we do it day after day? >> hi, everybody.