back here in 30 minutes with more news. see you then! captioning sponsor ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> mason: paradise lost. fema says hurricane irma destroyed one out of every four homes in the florida keys. >> for 15 years, i've lived here, and one moment it's gone. it's hard to figure out where you're going to start over. >> mason: also tonight, nearly three weeks after harvey, a growing health risk in houston homes. >> reporter: is it going to get worse? >> yes, i think so. >> mason: anger among the millions of victims of the equifax breach. >> they were making money off of our information, and they lost it and sold it. i hope the government sues them for all they're worth. >> mason: and... >> the revolutionary mobile phone. >> mason: the revolution turns 10, and apple celebrates with a new iphone. >> this is iphone x.

this is the "cbs evening news." >> mason: and this is our western edition. good evening. i'm anthony mason. the destruction in the florida keys, population 75,000, is staggering. fema reported today that hurricane irma destroyed a quarter of the houses. nearly two-thirds of the rest have major damage. president trump will go to florida thursday to see for himself what irma did to the state. the storm is blamed for least six deaths in florida, three in georgia, and four in south carolina. we begin tonight with elaine quijano in ramrod key, just east of where irma made her initial u.s. landfall sunday morning. >> reporter: it is miles of destruction, house after house, block after block, roofs torn off, boats on the road, and r.v.s mangled in trees. irma's path of destruction cut

through the florida keys. residents in islamorada, who didn't evacuate, came out to look at the damage. >> this was a big part of my life. for 15 years i've lived here. and it's just-- you know, in one moment it's gone. you know, it's hard to figure out where you're going to start over. >> reporter: the florida keys are 112 miles long, but citing safety concerns, officials are only allowing residents who evacuated to return just 33 miles in. >> i.d., please. >> reporter: those who did evacuate are trying to get in. at a checkpoint near the upper keys, residents slept in their cars and waited for hours to just to see if they still have a home. >> this is bull! >> reporter: but as anxious residents lost patience, tempers rose. >> i have water, i have food, i have dogs and i can't get to my house. >> this should have been thought out-- >> 20 miles away. >> reporter: sam nuccio drove down to check on his house in big pine key but was told to turn around. >> we can't get in the way of

emergency vehicles and cleanup crews and everything like that. i believe that's what's going on. >> reporter: this is what you're feeding the e.o.c.? >> barbecue ribs and chicken tonight. >> reporter: in marathon, this restaurant owner stayed behind >> reporter: in marathon, restaurant owner simone mullis stayed behind to feed first responders and others who didn't leave. she let boat owner carl spavold stay in her condo, which he said saved his life. >> everybody will take their shirt off their back to help you. if you hang around long enough, you'll see that. >> reporter: they saw each other for the first time since irma. here in the lower keys, it is not clear when residents who evacuated will be allowed to return to their homes. and with one look at this neighborhood here in ramrod key, it is easy to understand why. residents here reported multiple tornado warnings when hurricane irma's eye passed overhead, leading to the destruction of homes throughout this area. anthony. >> mason: elaine quijano in the devastated florida keys. to get a wider picture of the damage in the keys, mark

strassmann took to the skies. >> reporter: this is big pine key, just below marathon. the monster storm's category 4 winds, churning 130 miles per hour, shredded this neighborhood. it turned this trailer park upside down, stacked these r.v.s as though a child had thrown his toys across the room, and turned this boat yard into a jumble of insurance claims. fema estimates irma destroyed 25% of homes here. another 65% have major damage. there's almost no power, no water. by any measure, especially in the lower keys, this is a housing and humanitarian crisis that will go on for weeks. the keys, which largely emptied out ahead of the storm, will remain desolate until that water and power is restored. >> all right, guys. >> reporter: eric silagy's job is to turn the lights back on. he's the c.e.o. of florida power and light. f.p.l., florida's largest

utility, has to restore power to 1.5 million homes and businesses in south florida's three major counties. >> this is the first time in our company's history that we've had all 35 counties, 27,000 square miles of our service territory, hit. >> reporter: this is one of 14 f.p.l. staging areas in south florida, and it's a massive one. linemen here are working 16-hour shifts to fix the outages. anthony, a utility spokesman told us all the power should be restored on the state's east coast by sunday night, and on the west coast in about 10 days. >> mason: mark strassmann, thank you, mark. irma stranded american tourists on a number of caribbean islands, including, st. maarten, shared by france and the netherlands. tony dokoupil has been following their ordeal. >> reporter: a flight from st. maarten to puerto rico takes less than an hour, but for some families stranded by hurricane irma, the trip took nearly a week. we've just touched down in st.

maarten with the puerto rico national guard where they expect 300 to 400 americans to be waiting for rescue right here at this gate. since friday, u.s. embassy officer lee hilgartner has been vetting passengers at this makeshift security gate. >> what we're doing is trying to process the american citizens that are here on st. maarten. we have been getting the medical, like, emergencies out but there are still people who have been staying in relatives' houses or other people's homes. >> reporter: irma smashed into st. maarten and left a massive trail of destruction, but the misery didn't end there. susan coquin says she has nothing left. >> went through the storm, got looted and robbed, my place blew up. 40 years of my life was here. >> reporter: in neighboring st. john, thousands of americans are still waiting to be evacuated. 80% of buildings are thought to be damaged, roads are impassable, and some residents had to walk miles for food and water. back in st. maarten, there's finally a glimmer of hope for

coquin. she just learned she's getting off the island, along with dozens of others. smiling through their fatigue-- ( applause ) ...and greeted with applause, back on american soil. >> mason: tony dokoupil is back in san juan tonight. tony, describe the conditions you saw on the island. >> reporter: anthony, hurricane irma hit st. john with such force that the land looks burned. what was green is now brown. there are no leaves. there is no shade. at cruise bay, which should be hopping with tourists, all the tourist bars are closed. some have sailboats pushed through their front doors. a ferry is also jumped out on the curb and a customs office there has caved in and closed. but there is good news. the u.s. navy is there in the air and on the ground. perhaps now the looting, which has been reported there, will stop. but no matter how you measure it, anthony, this is a recovery that will be years in the

making. >> mason: and people look pretty shaken, tony. >> reporter: indeed. but, there is also grit there. there is hope. everybody has been evacuated off the island, with the exception of die-hards and old timers. they tell us they are going to rebuild, even if it means rebuilding from the jungle floor up. >> mason: tony dokoupil, thanks. all the major airports in florida have reopened, but most are operating at about half the normal capacity, and there is still a huge backlog of travelers. more than 17,000 flights in the u.s. and the caribbean were canceled because of irma. the miami-dade police department shared this video of sister margaret anne helping in the cleanup after irma. the meek shall inherit the earth, but not until the bold clear the brush. residents of florida, georgia, and south carolina are going through what the texas gulf coast has lived with since hurricane harvey. omar villafranca now reports from houston.

>> reporter: nearly three weeks after harvey drowned the city, people, like mike gregg, are still digging through the debris and realizing just how much they lost. two feet of water soaked everything, including the family piano. >> it was... my wife's-- something that was very valuable to my wife. >> reporter: life remains difficult for many. 5,000 are still sleeping in red cross shelters. more than 130,000 properties are damaged. overall, some 223,000 people have applied for federal harvey assistance, with $305 million already approved. but what lies beneath the floodwaters is becoming a growing concern. along with exposure to mold, toxins are floating around, too. tests of floodwaters conducted by baylor college of medicine and rice university show some neighborhoods are contaminated with lead and arsenic, as well as bacteria like e. coli, found

in one area at levels 135 times what's considered safe. baylor college of medicine's winifred hamilton helped lead the research. >> what we're seeing are bacteria levels that are roughly 20 times, sometimes 30 times higher than what we're seeing right outside the same place. >> reporter: is it going to get worse? >> yes, i think so. >> reporter: there are also 43 toxic superfund sites, and the e.p.a. says two need further evaluation, including the one half a mile from greg moss' home. he's worried about any runoff. and what would that do to your property? >> it's going to poison it some more. >> reporter: another concern are the mosquitoes that breed in stagnant pools like this one and also carry west nile and zika. now, ground spraying has started in certain neighborhoods where's the water has receded, but in other neighborhoods, they're going to have to spray by the air. anthony. >> mason: omar villafranca with the long road back in houston. thanks. cbs and the other major television networks will

simulcast a telethon to help victims of harvey and irma. gayle king and norah o'donnell will be among the hosts for "hand in hand," a benefit for hurricane relief, tonight at 8:00, 7:00 central. congressional leaders are demanding a detailed explanation from equifax about the hack that exposed sensitive information of 143 million customers, including social security numbers, birthdays, and driver's licenses-- pure gold to thieves. anna werner spoke with a victim. >> reporter: business professor david andersen fell victim to two other major hacks, and now equifax, as he showed us-- so they still think that you're impacted. >> i'm equifax's product. they're taking my information about me and selling it and then they released that out to who knows who. >> reporter: eva velasquez of the nonprofit identity theft resource center says they're getting an earful. >> we're hearing from folks who are complaining that they don't understand what this means and

that they don't understand how they are supposed to react. >> reporter: the best step to take-- a credit freeze. that's where you instruct the credit reporting agencies to stop anyone from accessing your credit information, for instance as they would to offer you a new credit card. >> the credit freeze will lock the criminals out of opening financial accounts in your name. but there are other types of identity theft, and that includes medical, criminal, and governmental. >> reporter: at first, equifax was charged hack victims a fee for freezing their accounts, but after so many complaints, it's now free. but it's still not a solution for andersen. he has to keep his credit information accessible, as he's in the process of selling his house. do you feel like you're a little more vulnerable because of that? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. it's definitely, definitely concerning. but even then, freezing it is still no guarantee. >> reporter: but velasquez says at this point, it's still the best option consumers have. >> it really is worth that little bit of inconvenience in

order to basically lock it down and keep the thieves out. >> reporter: equifax declined to do an interview but says it acted immediately to stop the intrusion. an investigation is also under way. but, anthony, some members of congress have sent a letter to the company asking for answers to a lot of questions that they have about how this happened. >> mason: there are a lot of questions out there. anna werner, thanks. coming up next on the "cbs evening news," the dream team of prosecutors in the russia investigation. ugh. heartburn.

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happened. here's juliana goldman. >> mr. president, do you have any response to steve bannon's interview on "60 minutes"? >> reporter: president trump did not respond today, even though his press secretary said he watched parts of his former chief strategist's interview. >> i don't think there's any doubt that if james comey had not been fired, we would not have a special counsel, yes. >> reporter: bannon called that decision the worst mistake in modern political history. >> you would not have the mueller investigation. >> would not have the mueller investigation, would not have the mueller investigation in the breadth that clearly mr. mueller is going. >> reporter: special counsel robert mueller's team of all- star prosecutors speaks to that. 16 in all, they bring experience in long-term investigations, going after organized crime, money laundering, cyber- terrorism, and foreign bribery. some even speak russian. >> this is a group of people who have a deep, deep level of experience with complex federal cases. >> reporter: former federal prosecutor sam buell: >> there really isn't anything that this team is going to come

across that they're not going to be equipped to deal with. >> reporter: andrew weissman headed up the fraud section at the justice department. in the '90s, he worked on a case linked to the mafia and russian organized crime that involved felix sater, a trump business parter who is now of interest to mueller's investigation. andrew goldstein moved to washington this summer. he's with the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, where he was overseeing an investigation into former campaign chairman paul manaford, which mueller has taken over. and one of the more experienced members of the team is james quarles, a former law partner of mueller's who cut his legal teeth in the '70s when he served on the watergate special prosecution task force. >> this is a highly elite team and, you know, if there aren't cases here at the end of the day, it's going to be because there aren't cases there. it won't be because the prosecutors didn't make them. >> reporter: today, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders repeated that the president was right to fire james comey. mueller and his team are also investigating whether that was

obstruction of justice. anthony. >> mason: juliana goldman at the white house, thanks. and still ahead, a family shows evidence of a brutal attack and says the police are not taking it seriously. it seriously. boost. it's about moving forward, not back. it's looking up, not down. it's being in motion. in body, in spirit, in the now. boost® high protein it's intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein

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you should not take medicines that cause constipation. the most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d with viberzi. >> mason: new hampshire governor chris sununu sent a team of state prosecutors today to help police investigate an alleged attack on a young boy by teenagers. the boy's family calls it a hate crime. michelle miller is following this. >> reporter: images of an eight- year-old with rope burns and neck bruising have gone viral. his mother posted them, claiming her son was hung after being pushed off a picnic table by two 14-year-old boys in claremont, new hampshire, two weeks ago. >> i almost lost my grandson. >> reporter: lorrie slattery is the child's grandmother. >> i almost lost him. how he survived that, without any internal injuries, is amazing to me. i think he had a guardian angel out there. >> reporter: after the alleged

incident, the boy was medevaced to dartmouth-hitchock medical center where he was treated and released. the family says the pictures were posted to bring attention to the case because they claim police were not responding fast enough. the eight-year-old is biracial. 28 years on the force. ever get a call on a hate crime? >> we have. we have investigated hate- related crimes. >> reporter: claremont police chief mark chase says he can't discuss details because everyone involved is a minor, but he says they are taking this case seriously. >> i have faith that my officers are doing anything and everything they can to further investigate this little boy's injuries. >> reporter: and the boy's grandmother told us he was also taunted with racial slurs. in fact, this community gathered tonight to denounce racism. anthony, no word yet on when this investigation will be complete. >> mason: michelle miller with a very upsetting case in new hampshire. thanks, michelle. edith windsor, a champion of gay and lesbian rights, died today in new york.

in 2009, when her longtime partner died, windsor was forced to pay an estate tax, unlike heterosexual spouses. so she sued, leading to a landmark supreme court decision that gave same-sex couples the right to marry. edith windsor was 88. a pilot got lucky at just the right time. while trying to land in plainville, connecticut, monday morning, the single-engine cessna swerved toward a parking lot, and struck a tree, which cushioned the fall. the pilot, who was 79, suffered only minor injuries. up next, reinventing the iphone. in iphone. ein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you. every year we take a girl's trip. remember nashville? kimchi bbq. kimchi bbq.

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continuing with the theme, the price tag is 10-- 10 benjamins. here's john blackstone. >> reporter: after presenting new versions of the apple watch and apple tv, c.e.o. tim cook introduced the much-awaited tenth anniversary iphone using a favorite phrase of the company's late founder, steve jobs... >> one more thing. >> reporter: the iphone x, designated with a roman numeral "x," is entirely glass, edge to edge, no button on the front. for security, rather than a thumbprint, it uses facial recognition, which in its first public demonstration... >> let's try that again. >> reporter: ...briefly failed. that didn't discourage cbs tech consultant larry magid. did apple impress enough here today? >> i think apple delivered. >> reporter: the price, including talking emojis-- >> hey, tim. >> reporter: ...$999. >> it never occurred to me in a million years people would spend $1,000 for a smartphone, but given that it's apple, i bet you a lot of people will. >> reporter: 10 years ago, the smartphone itself never occurred

to anyone, perhaps, but steve jobs. >> and we are calling it iphone. ( applause ) today, apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> reporter: though jobs died in 2011, his impact is undeniable. john lasseter built the animated film company pixar with jobs. >> every tiny detail of these new products, and steve's still here, you know. it's really special. >> reporter: and for those of us who were there at the launch a decade ago-- apple's phone may change the way we think of cell phones. ...it seems amazing what we now take for granted. in 10 years, the iphone has become thinner, smarter, and better looking. unlike me. but there's a cure for that on the phone. anthony. >> mason: ( laughs ) john blackstone. maybe i should try that. that's the "cbs evening news." i'm anthony mason in new york. thanks for watching. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs

a jarring sign of how miserable kpix5 news begins with 49er fans sweltering in the stands. the empty seats a jarring sign of how miserable it's gotten at levi stadium. now a fix may be in the works. good evening. i'm allen martin. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. it is a $1 billion state of the art venue with a major need for more shade. now the 49ers are considering changes to levi stadium after this weekend's home opener. kpix5's len ramirez looks at some of the options on the table. ng a whole l >> reporter: levi stadium is new, modern and largely empty on days when it should be full like when the 49ers play. columnist ann kill ontweeted this second half of -- killion tweeted this 2nd half of the game. >> we weren't doing too well when she took the photo. >> reporter: it was 13-0 carolina and 90 degrees on the

field according to nflweather.com. >> when things aren't going well on the field, the fans tend to find something else to do. >> reporter: fred and lisa should know, presidents of the santa clara 49ers booster club called the gold rushers and they're long time season ticket holders. >> they're either up in the club which is air conditioned and has monitors all over. >> reporter: this is football. this is football. >> i know and yeah, yes, i understand it is football and one should be with their tush in their seat at all times. >> reporter: compare that to week one of 2013, the last season at candlestick, when the temperature was a pleasant 66 at kickoff. >> there are a lot of new fans that aren't used to the temperatures that we have at this time of year in football. >> reporter: the 49ers gave water to fans in the seats and have hired architects to see if some kind of shade or awning at levi stadium is as