i'm alex witt in new york at w. we're approaching 8:00 a.m. in . you're watching special coverag florida. storm a category 4 butl considered extremely this is a florida to islands flattened inf storm. let's get you the very latest with the final preparations under way across virtually the entire state of florida right now. landfall is expected in less 2 shifted the storm to the west. that's putting the florida keys directly in its crosshairs. wesg

winds. governor of florida sayi. nearly 6 million people are thn orders. overnight irma did come ashore n hour. already more than a dozen people across the caribbean have been killed by this monster a storm. have reporters across th state of florida well as the caribbean, covering all the angles of the story, from the evacuations the damage already done. begin with mariani beach. what's the latest? >> reporter: you just saw hopefully a patrol car behind morning long in every corner trying to tell people to evacuate. we've also seen people that are

barrier island, this coastal i evacuation order for its 100,000 residents. been here since 6:00e morning. weather took a turn fo worse in the last half hour. is avenue, a street that usually would be bustling with tourists, people walking their dogs, headed to the beach. a ghost do. we've seen those people who have decided to evacuate. tell us th home. said i have booze at homel time. that's what officers around her. that's they're urging residents to do. want to show ye boarded up businesses along collins avenue. is a place with

hotels, expensive businesses. k could be catastrophic for many . alex. mariana, i've got to tel. they're talking about friends, family who have stayed behind likely because of things like pets. didn't know how to evacua. do you have any idea, are authorities telling you anythin who have chosen to stay for whatever reason? >> reporter: just spoke to a police officer here in miami beach, alex. doesn't know how m spoken to three of them who, because their pets, because it was hard to evacuate, that shortage of gas, they say it was, quote, too much of hassle .

we've been driving around miami. myself had to evacuate m. obviously not something easy to you'll find your home in when . again, if you just look at the first responders, every mayor w message the same, leave now while you can. small window of closing in for those people who decided ride out the storm here, still an opportunity to available for residents here ing people to shelters, but that's couple more hours. police officers telling me that pulled off the streets and not e people to safety here.

>> definitely entering that now-or-never cone. mariana, thank you so much. joining me in studio, msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider. let's get a sense of where the >> problem is the storm hasn't moved much in the past coast. looks brutal. >> it's been relentless. torrential downpours, the strong winds battering cuba over and . unfortunately it's still interacting cuba, not weakening the storm much at all, bringing a lot of torrential downpours i mentioned. storm is. let's take a look at where the . you're probably wondering what happened. hours ago we were talr irma. it was looking more likely it would be the east coast of florida that would be facing a potential landfall. well, this morning things have changed. computer models have sd further to the west. are seeing mentioned, but the track might .

right now the center of circulation and category 4 irma beach. winds are at 130 miles p hour, so it has weakened a bit,. north-northwesterly movement at. let's a closer look at the track. can see how it's looking florida. a difference a day mak, because the storm had more timef landfall. earlier we were talking saturday. it looks like sunday. there's also potential for a double landfall, meaning it ha soaked in miami beach. what's steering this big system, irma? big bermuda high made a he difference in the track we're facing now, pushed it across the atlantic and pureed it further

longer. high was strong enough . that's why we're seeing more of. eventually the storm will be picked up by the jet stream and lifted out. not going to ride t coast, alex. will eventually di >> i'm concerned about the keys tracks through the keys, if you northeast of the eye, is that o everything sort of marathon isd strength? the keys are so narroe quadrant stronger. we're talkin potential landfall of irma in this i havicinity could face th

winds. though it's weakened, it coming over the water temperatures the northern straits which are near 90 degrees. could see it strengthe again. another concern as we look towards southwest florida is the storm surge. that's up to a forecast potentially of 12 feet. have a . that's very high. concerned abo. let's go right now to nbc's rahami ma ellis in the bahamas. couple days. about the bahamian overall, are they out of it? the going to get? >> reporter: we don't know for r hurricane called jose that's on

its way to this area. fact, it' barbuda. as you know, that island had d property has been leveled in barbuda. what can jose do to la here. we've got light rain falling, overcast skies. there's talk of thunderstorms and showers today. that's what we had overnight. a hurricane warning remains in effect. tropical storm force wi during day. headline here is in here, but no more so than in r overnight with hurricane-force hurricane is expected to linger.

there's a lot of reason for concern because hurricane irma deadly. people have lost their here in the caribbean as a result of that storm. it proves. while things may seem calm here, officials are telling people t. another hurricane is on the way danger zone just yet. alex. rehema, there's a little wind. you noticed downed trees, water, albeit choppy behind you coming up to flood stage, five, that? >> reporter: we haven't seen that demonstrated right here n.

they're expected in the southern portion that they might see that. certainly saw it in southern bahamas, one of the islands there. don't think peop. rehema ellis, thank you so much. we'll see you again. let's go t miami beach. lester, good morning to you. ha cakes the last few days. are coe minute, alex. we're getting more frequent wind bands. hould all night. we've had recorded gusts in the per hour. that's an interesting point because here in miami beach, a barrier island, a decision had t responders off the street when . yesterday they were making

arrangements relocate some of their fire apparatus from three island into the city of miami tn force of two engines, two rescue vehicles and the associated firefighters here. bad, they t respond to 911 that's why the call for mandatory evacuation was so urgent. we heard about the westward of everything was okay. officials keep stressing the o florida and that no one is out . while the west may get hit harder, it's going to be a difficult next 48 hours here as well. can see these winds picki these aren't even hurricane-forceyet, but will g. there's been lightning. waves a.

obviously the huge fear, you've surge. i've seen it in hurricanes. har everything with it. happens ver underestimate power of a surge. there's no one out as you might suspect. conditions are at a po wind. obviously the beach itself is closed. had relocated the lifegd towers here the best they can. right here in town, people have. there is going to be flooding e hurricane, alex. >> lester, you weren't kidding you've been speaking, we've

noticed the winds have picked behind you there from the vegetation. bird got up maybe 1 taking cover. not able to move channel and the like in the past. get all these sand faciale mainly wind is hitting my back. so yes, we were doing "nightly news" last night from an elevated area about 150 yards h determineabrasions because the everything. that's the least of our fears this. lester will be anchoring from florida all weekend form

"nightly news." three words people are wonderin south florida city about how prepared his citizens are and . we'll be right back hey you've gotta see this. c'mon.

no. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish!

see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. it is 18 past the hour. we're giving you a live look at ft. lauderdale, florida. keep in mind where ft. lauderdale is. that's north of miami beach, on the east coast of florida. this thing is projected to hit even more strongly on the west coast. it could still take a turn. we know irma is hugging the northern coast of cuba right now. all forecasts have it taking a dramatic right turn and moving up through the florida keys

around marathon, slightly to the south of marathon and then heading up the western side of florida. look at the winds, though, already at 8:18 in the morning. we have 24 hours to go until this may make landfall on the peninsula of florida. the keys are going to get hit before then. it will be dark in the overnight hours when the florida keys get hit by this hurricane. again, ft. lauderdale, florida -- there are still people standing out there. whether or not they have plans to evacuate we will see. as we look at key west, palm fronds certainly bending. that is very deceiving. key west is right in the path of this storm. so again you see the gray skies. it's going to get horrific by comparison to what we're seeing now. we have another 12 hours for this to pick up steam and intensity as we give you a look at hollywood, florida. surf has increased certainly.

nothing but gray skies out there. they're going to get darker and a lot more wind there in hollywood, florida. giving you a live look wheel we have the cameras still up. you're seeing people on the beach. it is extraordinary. also in that area is nbc's fill lynn mena. let's talk about what you're seeing and where you are. >> reporter: good morning. we are on the beach where the waves are a little higher, crashing a little bit harder. we see the winds have started to pick up. there's some people on the beach here. the peach is technically closed just because this entire county, this area is under mandatory evacuation. they're using the authorities to try to protect the residences that have been abandoned temporarily to make sure there's no looting or burglaries involved. they're not going around and rounding everyone up and making sure they're gone. you do have a few people out here who are just enjoying the beach, so they say. i talked to a few of these down

here. one works for a power company and has to stay around here. there was another woman who was meditating. she said she's fully aware of the situation, they all are down there, and they are going to take cover in a few minutes. they're trying to enjoy the beach while they can really. most of this area, though, it has been boarded up and evacuated. we talked to some of the officials out here who say in some neighborhoods here, 80% of them have heeded the advice and they have evacuated. we spent the majority of the night at the only place open. there was a gas station that ran out of gas since about 12:30, but still would be open until at least noon for some supplies. they're hoping people would get what they needed while they could because come noon, there's going to be hardly anything at all that will still be open. >> which, phillip, speaks to the ability of people who have not yet evacuated and their plans to do so. i know i've been speaking with

speak in our newsroom who talked about friends and family in florida who cannot get out because they cannot get gas. you mentioned one gas station you have found there that is open for business but it doesn't have gas. have you seen other gas stations that are open or have people talked about saying, hey, we've got to stay put. there's no gas? >> reporter: right. when we initially went to that station, we used the gas buddy app. that was the only station we saw that had any gas in this area. within ten or 15 minutes of us being there, they closed the pumps because they ran out of gas as well. they were one of the last to get a shipment yesterday morning and that's why they were one of the last to stay open in terms of having gasoline with them. throughout the night, we only saw one car maybe every half hour, hour that would go by. they would stroll by and see there was no gas and would take off. i think most people that wanted to leave have already gotten out of town.

>> phillip mena, thank you. joining me now is mayor josh leavy. talk about people heeding the warnings. do you have the numbers in terms of those who have already ev evacuated? >> good morning, alex. we've had over 16,000 residents who permanently reside within the evacuation zones. the neighborhoods east of federal highway. it's been a very large mobilization. we also have large hotels in hollywood where o. we're a resort city, the resorts had their last guest check out just the day before yesterday. it's been a large exodus out of the coastal areas of hollywood. >> mr. mayor, tell me about this convention center. is that a place being used as a shelter? does it have that kind of construction to it?

>> will it's a large 1,000 room resort with lots of convention space. they had five cancellations of conventions this week, really sad economic impact on the hotels, both the small hotels and the large ones. the beachfront convention space that's part of the diplomat complex is not a shelter. the shelters are all outside -- as you can imagine, outside the evacuation zones, all of them west of u.s. 1. >> of concern would be those people who have chosen to stay behind. there are people who said i didn't know how to evacuate my pets, so i'm staying behind to stay with them. others who don't have access to gasoline. you may have heard my colleague fill lich mena. i know governor scott waived the motor import tax. but that's not going to happen in time to get people out, right? >> well, by now it's too late to

get out in terms of safety of travel outside the metro south florida area. if you haven't already evacuated outside this metro area, definitely not advised to start motoring north. the gas circumstance for us locally here was more about getting the tankers from port everglades where the petroleum tanks are and the tankers are, getting the trucks to the stations fast enough at the rate people were buying the gas. by now, three days have passed. everybody has been queueing in line, got their gas. right know if you drive through the city and all of south florida, it's almost desserted. protecting their own buildings from storm damage. right now we or in shelter mode. it's area-wide. there's no one on the street.

pure shelter mode. >> mayor levy, we wish you the very best. we'll keep a close eye on things. good luck riding this thing out. >> thank you, alex. most of florida is closed for business and that includes the most moj cal place on earth. what does it mean for those who have traveled from around the world?

good morning everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters in new york. you're watching our special coverage of hurricane irma. it's just hours away from making landfall in florida. the storm taking a slight shift to the west overnight. cities like tampa and ft. myers remain in the crosshairs. nearly 6 million people have been told to evacuate. there are watches and warnings posted from the florida keys to southern georgia. that includes about 15 million

people right now under a hurricane warning. this morning irma came ashore in cuba. the winds there topped 155 mailings an hour. at least 23 people have been killed by the storm throughout the caribbean. 16 are confirmed dead after the storm ribbed through the caribbean over the past few days, specifically to the caribbean. irma a category 4 hurricane, it is moving through the bahamas toward south florida, still on a very unpredictable track. however, the national hurricane center is warning that parts of southern florida could see catastrophic impacts, structural damage, widespread power outages. let's go to nbc's gadi schwartz in homestead, florida. good morning to you, gadi. homestead was wiped out a couple years ago and completely rebuilt. i think that was after hurricane andrew. they know what they're dealing with when it comes