moves up. remember, it's a counterclockwise motion as the eye moves up, the wind begins to turn, and when the wind turns and starts coming as opposed to this direction, which i got to tell you, that really hurts to ta stand there and do that. i've got protective goggles on here, so just bassically ically is exposed. feels like sand. when the wind turns and we start -- wow. okay. hang on. yeah. is bill telling me by looking at the radar we're getting right to that eyewall? because this is the strongest stuff right now. >> kerry, you are smack in the middle of it. this is the worst. this is the worst, kerry. you are smack in the middle. >> definitely, definitely. >> you are six miles away from the eye. >> you can see the strength of it right now against me, i guess what we're going to see is the wind push the water in, and ideally because of our position, ideally we'll be able to look

over here and then see by looking over here the wall of water, or the storm surge coming in. ye yeah, wow. guys, i have to say, this is the strongest. i'm going to take a knee for a second, kind of like exhausting to stand there. >> the tree's falling behind you. >> gabe, remember, it takes nothing for rotation to start in these storms, so be on the lookout if the wind starts really swirling in a circle. >> yeah, that's exactly right, brian. directly above me i am covered. this is the rain that's -- >> wow. >> -- hitting me. >> wow. okay, gabe, why don't you get under the overhang there, buddy. >> it's a good thing i was covered, brian. right above me, i'm covered, we're going to get -- wow. >> maybe get a little more covered. >> we are right here.

we are. we're going inside right now. and this tree, we had been seeing several of the trees nearby that were swaying a bit. the winds picked up in just a few seconds. obviously, this one fell right behind me. luckily, i had been covered. otherwise that would not have worked out so well. this is the worst that we've seen, obviously, brian, as you were telling kerry and bill karins was saying, this is the height of it. not seeing -- we plan to see over the next couple of hours the fear right here is the storm surge, but right now the wind is doing its worst damage. downtown naples is just being hammered right now. yeah, we can see that. look at these waves. >> incredible to see more tree branches are falling and, you know, we're, again, we're covered and surrounded by concrete walls right here in the lobby of our hotel.

my cameraman is shooting basically right next to the lobby. we had an overhang right above me, which is what prevented that tree from falling on me. but as you can see, it's very dangerous to be outside on the street. thankfully, i wasn't there, or else i would not have worked out. >> that last one looked almost like a -- >> we do this to show you the power of these storms, brian, and it is just -- this is why people say you need to evacuate. the people that are hunkering down right now, we were speaking with a family earlier, and they were surprised by how bad it was getting, but again, the folks here, they really are most worried about what we're going to see in the next few hours once these winds -- once the worst of the winds pass and you start to see that two to 15 feet of storm surge that could

potentially gut this entire area. right now we're getting another massive wind gust. you can see the whiteout conditions as i'm here covered and we're just watching this all unfold right in front of us, brian. >> wow. a lot of these, bill, as we're going to go over to kerry sanders, as well, look like they've taken on the personality of down drafts as much as flat wind. >> that's how strong the wind are. remember, this is a category 3 hurricane, 115 mile per hour winds that you're watching. we know the category 5 hit the coast of cuba, barbuda, turks and caicos, british virgin islands and that was when it was 155 to 185. imagine what that was like. this looks horrible enough. >> yeah. kerry sanders is back. >> yeah, we got to get some b roll for nightly. this is the best time. >> they are doing work while they are giving us updates. >> i understand that.

jacob soboroff is on his balcony. i've been watching you pick off various features of what you see behind you. >> if i could kind of step out of the way, dana, if you could push in, first of all, there's some palm trees about 50 yards from us, every single frond has been ripped off the top. the reason you're not seeing me get blown around as much as gabe and kerry are, there's a giant concrete structure directly in front of me here. like i said, 50 yards out that way, the wind is blowing absolutely ferociously. i don't know if you got a good shot of the palm trees, but they are basically completely horizontal. they move out up like this. we're looking at palm trees tipped directly to the left. it's a hard thing to fathom seeing. you realize that you have seen them before swaying in the breeze. i'm from l.a., we've seen that a lot. out here, these are tipped over, basically leaning just like this and this has been the unrelenting portion that kerry

and gabe have been talking about. these winds are coming and they have not stopped in the last five, six, seven minutes. it does not look like, brian, there's any sign of them letting up. the danger, of course, is things like this, the tiles of the roof that are right next to me, things being picked up and swirled around from off the ground. we saw that earlier and now with all the debris down on the ground, i think we're probably up too high, but it is just filthy littered with debris on the ground and this is part of the reason why when we were over in miami a couple days ago they make an effort to get anything out there before the storm up and off the street because we're talking about, as we've said, projectiles. kerry likes to call them missiles. even the coconuts from the palm trees can be deadly. that's why, again, i don't know if we can show, but we're right here with this big concrete wall in order to be protected from the elements that are out here right now. >> all right, jacob, thank you for that. we have on the left hand side of

the screen the downtown portion of naples. cal perry has imagery of the eye, which we're about to see happen at all of these locations. cal, what do you have? hang on so we can open your mike, one more second. go ahead, cal. >> from 17 minutes ago, you can see how calm it is compared to what we've been seeing. just give it a second here. >> okay, this is marco island, this is just south, our voices come down, this is just south of -- >> looks like a nice, normal sunday afternoon. >> yeah, kind of light breezes, enough to move the palm trees, but that in the upper right is what is destined for -- look what kerry found in the wind on the lower right, but that's what is destined for naples. can kerry hear us now? >> sample of what the wind is picking up and blowing.

this came off one of the palm tre trees to the east of me. i'm not going to let go of it, because it could just fly around. probably weighs about 25, 30 pounds. it snapped off. there you go, you can see the wind, it's really hard. this is the kind of projectile that can be a real danger in a hurricane. so rather than let it fly across here, when i saw it i went and picked it up and held it. i'm going to go dump it in a place where the wind isn't, but this is the danger in a hurricane, the things flying around. a coconut in this sort of wind, coconut like that will hit you and it will hurt, if it won't kill you. it is dangerous. >> kerry sanders in one area of naples, gabe gutierrez remains downtown under the protection of a hotel lobby in downtown naples. gabe, any let up, any change? >> no, it's gotten worse, brian, in the last few minutes. you saw that tree that had fallen just behind me a few minutes ago.

we've seen more trees snap here. i'm standing at the lobby of my hotel covered and there's an overhang above me, but the rain is coming in sideways at this point. the power of this thick is just incredible. we just spoke to a manager here and he seemed quite worried about how this intensified so quickly. wow, brian, it's incredible to see this, downtown naples, this is just the wind event, and we are just being pummelled right now. i don't even know what happens in the next few hours once this storm surge goes through and if any of this floods, but just look at this. just have to sit here and watch and just see the power of irma right now. again, we're in downtown naples. on the inn on 5th if you're familiar with the area. a few minutes ago, as you saw, i was a few feet out into the sidewalk, still covered, but it

got dangerous real quick. me and my cameraman are now positioned here in the lobby trying to bring you these live images. the palm trees are whipping in the wind. the rain is just -- not quite sure what the wind speed is now, but i know a short time ago the weather service said 130 mile an hour gusts on marco island. bill, might want to step in and tell me what type of winds we're seeing here, but this is definitely the strongest i've felt in the last few hours, and this looks to be the worst of it, brian, and potentially some of the worst winds i've seen in covering a bunch of storms. this is pretty intense right now in downtown naples. this is going to be substantial damage here. most of the businesses here are boarded up, closed down, just very few hotels are actually operating right now. a lot of the people in this area heed the warnings to evacuate. not all of them did, though.

a bunch of them are riding this one out in their homes. but again, the big fear right now is what happens after the wind dies down in a few hours and all that -- wow. >> gabe gutierrez -- >> it's intensifying, brian, i got to tell you, i'm surrounded by concrete walls right now, but if you can see this picture, as my cameraman pans to the side, wow. it is just incredible to see. >> we can hear it howling, just columns of rainfall in naples, florida. and also the kerry sanders location from four flights up on the parking garage, the skies have gone dark and the winds are howling. we're going to keep these pictures on the air while we bring a guest back who joined us earlier in our coverage this morning. bill barnett, the mayor of

naples, florida, and mr. mayor, our camera location's down on the inn on 5th, and i don't know if you've been able to see any of the live pictures, but this will be the worst of it for your town. >> yeah, brian, i haven't been able to, because we have no power where we are, and we are north, north of where they are. and it is -- they have described it very adequately, but it is absolutely unbelievable. the wind is just -- i don't ever remember seeing it like this. it is really scary. that's the only thing i can say, and thankfully we're safe and i hope everybody else is. i cannot begin to believe what we're going to see when this slows down and we look at the damage. >> yeah, well, we're worried

about wind. the wind does not appear to be the kind that will cause widespread catastrophic building failure, as you know. the danger comes after the canals, the lagoons, all the tributaries that have been oddly drained of water. and look at these waves. we're watching the rain come in bands in front of the inn on 5th, watching trees, branches, debris. the danger will be when all those tributaries and the bay just fills up with this storm surge. that's going to be eerie for everybody there. >> yeah, it really is, because we were getting pictures earlier and the bay was basically, the naples bay, was basically dry. and it was a very frightening thought to think about what's going to happen, as you said all

day, that storm surge and what it's going to do. but, listen, we don't -- we've done the preparation. now the next phase is going to be the massive clean up and the massive appraisal of what needs to be rebuilt or fixed. and we'll do it. >> you're going to wait till the all-clear, i hope, and your first responders have got to wait for the all-clear before they can be allowed on the streets. at least there's going to be an interim when the winds die down, perhaps, before the water rises. >> i have heard through our city manager and staff that it's not going to be till some time tomorrow, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 in the morning before anybody's going to go out on these streets. no two ways about it.

don't want to send anybody out when it's dark anyway, even if it did let up. so it will be early in the morning, and then we can -- we'll start seeing what there is to see. and, no, certainly no first responders are going out. >> mayor bill barnett, naples, florida. thank you, sir, for taking the time to join us, where we again hope for the very best when naples comes through the other end of this and emerges stronger for the experience. thank you very much for joining us. bill karins, our meteorologist -- >> things are calming down a little bit. looking at the radar, looking at naples, they are very close to getting in the eye in the next five to ten minutes. what we see down on marco island now. >> look at these precip bands. looks like someone has an enormous bucket. >> yeah, sitting there spinning over the top. so naples is now about to clear out of the northern eye, so it's

important, obviously, we have all our reporters there, we have fascinating, you know, pictures to show you, but it's important to tell you who's next. bonita springs, the northern eyewall is going to be on top of you, if not already, very shortly. from there, up the coast and about two hours from now it will be in the fort myers area and fort myers beach area. we have someone there with us now? >> i don't know. >> okay, looks like we did for a little bit. so this scene that we watched, first in marco island and with all our reporters over the last half hour was just the northern eyewall. they'll still watch the winds change direction and have strong gusts, possibly 100 miles per hour on the backside of the eye, too. so we're about to witness something that not a lot of people ever experience or see, and we still amazingly have our cell phone receptions in the area, so we can bring you these pictures. so in the naples area, you're looking at the pictures of the

northern eyewall that is now beginning to push north of the area. it's still rainy and gusty, not half as bad as ten minutes ago, then it's going to go calm, we'll be able to talk to our reporters, they are through the worst of it, then they'll be out there to take a look around a little bit, then we will see the winds completely change directions, so in the big screen on the left, winds going right to left, when we check back in 15 minutes the winds will be going from left to right and that is when the storm surge comes in. the area you're looking at in naples right now is under a flash flood emergency. flash flood emergencies mean that we know life threatening flash flooding is occurring or about to occur wooefrmt abo. we're about to get the storm surge into the naples area. it is most likely already rushing into areas marco island southwards down towards, you know, alligator alley comes across there. so, we're just kind of witnessing this. i'm sure there are a lot of people up the coast, brian, focusing again so far to the

south, because that's where the worst of it is. i know people in sarasota, people in tampa that are watching this. you should know, a version of this is heading your way tonight and a lot of it will happen after dark and currently the max winds are 115. we know we had a gust to 130. landfall in marco island. we had a gust to 115 at the naples airport. we expect winds to possibly still gust over 100 miles per hour right through the evening, into the overnight hours, even as the storm bypasses and weakens near tampa. this, unfortunately, is only 20% of the story. we are waiting to see what the storm surge is going to do. 4:07 was high tide in naples. happy to say at least high tide has passed before the storm surge has begun, so the storm surge will be moving in as the water levels are slowly lowering just on the tide. the tide's only changed, brian, into naples. some areas have huge tidal

changes. about two to three feet. so it will help, but, you know, ten to 15 feet, you know, maybe if we're in the middle of the high and low tide, it will only still be ten to 15 instead of adding to it with the high tide. >> people have not heard this wording before, but you can live your whole life and most people do in the united states and never heard the phrase flash flood emergency. as bill indicated, that means not only are conditions imminent, we know they are coming in a big way. and this is life threatening flooding that's coming for a lot of people. look at that spires of these palm trees. >> in the shot with kerry is going to be so fascinating, because he told us they are at six foot of elevation. if we in about two hours from now, right before it gets dark, it will still be windy, but he should be able to show us. >> that's kerry's location right now, looks like a blizzard. that's unbelievable. >> it's intense rain, which is

why it's so dark, and the winds are probably gusting 80 to 100 miles per hour, you know, at the worst of it. >> everyone remembers what angle, what side to side we're watching this, to your point, we'll see it reverse after the calm of what is left of the eye. looking at radar, the eye is getting a little ill defined. >> it will. we may not, especially if you're watching later as they are up the coast in fort myers, kerry and gabe and the crews are in naples have a much better chance of being in a calm eye. maybe -- it's doubtful they may see blue skies, but at least they may get calm. further north the eye may start to fall apart, but they won't be able to see the lightning that we're going to see, not the lightning as a thunderstorm, but the lightening because of the sun and the clouds that move north. this is a cat 3 major hurricane that is right over the top now of marco island and it's

venturing and drifting north at 12 miles per hour up the entire west coast of florida during the day. it will likely drop down to a category 2. we'll get the new update and path from the hurricane center. we haven't forgotten about all our friends in georgia that are still wondering what the storm's going to do there and also our friends from tallahassee, gainesville, pinellas county, into tampa, because this storm is still going to be a big blow to you, just going to occur later. >> tampa especially, a lot of folks watching these pictures very nervously and they are going to be curious to see how much circulation it still has, how much precip it still brings. >> because we're watching the wind damage of the storm, and, you know, as we've learned with harvey, harvey, the wind damage really didn't do much at all of damage in the houston area. of course, that was a disaster because of the flooding, because of the heavy rain and stalled out storm. this is not a stalled out hurricane. this is progressing about 12 miles per hour to the north.

we'd like it to be faster, but that's what we have to deal with. this is a wind event and surge event that is beginning now. that's why we have the flash flood emergency for the marco island area. >> control room, show us the weather channel for a second. there our meteorologist is at ground level in naples. 88 mile an hour sustained gusts to 131. >> now starting to see things slide, right? starting to see tree debris. you can barely see anything down u.s. 41. s with intensity of the wind and the rain right now. this is a category 3. this is what a category 3 is.

this is what we track for. this is what we forecast for. and these are the winds we won't get, but we know at some point in time hurricanes are inevitable and this is what we have to live with. this is an amazing planet that we live on and the things that it can do will just floor you sometimes. that was happening right now with this category 3 that's coming through naples right now. >> mike, i'm looking at the latest scan here, and it looks like -- >> this is a great luxury we have. our thanks to our friends at the weather channel. we are able to switch simultaneously between our own meteorologists and correspondents to in this case mike bettes. mike bettes has survived everything nature has thrown at him. he has been airborne in a

tornado before, and mike bettes, believe it or not, would not be anywhere else in the world right now if it were up to mike bettes. >> i don't know any meteorologist in the country, except storm chasers, that travels more to go in more bad weather across our country, negative 35 in minneapolis, he's there, blizzards on cape cod, he's there, and he's in the eye of just about every hurricane possible. >> that's because all of you guys have a screw loose. >> he's happily married, which is even crazier. >> mike bettes is saying what we're witnessing here is the eyewall. let's listen to him again. >> beautiful beaches they have, so many people have homes there. obviously, you know the deal. but i look around, again, i'm always watching for flying debris. i've seen very little, you know, just bits and pieces here and there. the trees are doing -- the trees

are doing pretty well. wish i could say the same for myself. ultimately, we're going to get out of this. it's just -- this is only going to last for a few hours. we're going to be out of this, and we're going to have an opportunity to take a breather. but right now it's full force hurricane, no question about it, and the beating that marco island, naples, everglades city, fort myers are going to take is going to be something you're not ever going to forget. and then when you've got the story that you tell your children, your grandchildren, yes, i did live through a category 3 hurricane. this is what that is. this gives you a really good idea of category of hurricanes, right? we're 120 mile an hour hurricane with gusts that are a little bit higher than that. so we're mid grade category 3,

okay, and you can even make the argument that this hurricane may be weakening. even on the low grade category 3. that is what you're seeing right now on your screen, and i'm sure for so many of you at home you're watching this going, i'm scared, i'm scared about what my town is going to look like. i evacuated, i'm scared about what i'm going to come back and see. rightfully so. i think i probably would be, too, if, you know, i had loved ones here and i probably would be scared to death for them. that's for sure. so shelter in place. that's what we're doing right now. everyone, just shelter in place right now in a safe location, sturdy building. what's good to know, many of the buildings here are at code. a lot of this construction out of concrete, and so that can

take an immense amount of wind. wow. yeah, yeah, i believe it. out of the airport. yeah, totally believe that. this is as nasty as it gets. but for a category 3 of this intensity, think about it, if this were a cat 4 or a cat 5, look at what you're seeing right now. this is a mid grade hurricane, okay. this is not a category 5. this is a lower end, you could argue, category 3. just imagine, you know, irma at its height.

85 mile an hour winds, imagine what that would look like now. because you just said, okay, this right now, 91 miles per hour, double that. you're watching weather channel meteorologist mike bettes in the teeth of these storms. these storms want to expel the wind from your lungs, they want to ruin everything you've built up in life. they want to strip the vegetation from the earth, and as he keeps saying, remember this is a mid level category 3, but this is what a week's worth of coverage all the warnings are about. the folks in naples, florida, right now are feeling it. the folks who stayed in naples, florida, are wondering about the

structural integrity of their homes, their roof, they are hearing sounds, noises they haven't heard before. the reason meteorologists like mike bettes stand out in this is so that we can see what this does to the human body and to our natural world. let's listen in. >> yeah, it's amazing to think about the numbers that hurricane irma might produce. it's already had a record amount of time at high end category 5. now coming in and making

landfall in florida as a category 3 on marco island. you think about all the folks that are now up the street from this, you know, from marco island, naples, up to fort myers. fort myers, you're next. from there to sarasota, from sarasota to st. pete, tampa, clearwater, and then straight up hitting florida, so there will be very few areas along the west coast of florida that are spared from this. in fact, i don't think there will be any area along the west coast of florida that will be spared from this. as intense as it gets, we could get into these eyewalls. so when you look at the whole structure of a hurricane, we all know what the eye is, right? sits right in the center. basically, the diameter, the circumference of that eye is the eyewall. that's the intense part of the hurricane. then you get the bands around

that and it gradually weakens as you go out. the only maybe saving grace for west coast florida is that we did not end up getting a hurricane hit landfall necessarily -- the angle of approach makes all the difference. and a storm that's more parallel -- oh! that hurt. i'll admit, that hurt. >> mike bettes admitting temporary defeat to the forces of mother nature, has gone back

into their crew vehicle. smartly, this is now the -- look at the vortex of all the forces that was hitting him from the back. as we said, these storms want to squeeze the air out of your lungs. >> and it's still going. we're watching monitoring here with kerry sanders, we're waiting painfully -- >> now we've lost their feed. >> there's kerry. kerry has been in this eye for almost 15 minutes now trying to get through this northern eyewall. the center is almost like slowed down a little bit. it looks like the center is actually going to go slightly east of naples. that's why it's taken longer for them to get out of that eye. >> kerry, can you hear us again? kerry is getting all the storm can dish out. let's go back, the street scene from mike bettes' camera is back. sadly for mike bettes, he is -- he has ventured back out for

slightly more punishment. >> but it looks like things might be lightening up fairly soon. >> while we're waiting there for -- >> bill, you're finding it might be slipping to the east of them. >> might be slipping to the east. that's why naples is now on the western eyewall. they went through the north, as the storm passes just to the east, they have to go through the eyewall in the west and haven't gotten to the south part of the storm, so that's why we haven't really seen it clear up in the naples area. we've got to keep paying attention to what's next, too. we have an extreme wind warning for the bonita springs area right now. so areas around bonita springs, you are next. let's listen in with kerry sanders. >> i can barely see the camera there. we're going to have this eye continue north. winds are going to start coming in from the gulf of mexico and that is when we're going to

begin to see this kind of wind coming from the other direction. and when it starts coming from the other direction that's when we're going to see the water come in as the storm surge. we are in a position here on the fourth floor of a parking garage, a stable structure high up where we should be able to see that storm surge, but i've got to tell you, if the wind is blowing like this, we're not going to be able to see much, because the rain is so sideways and so strong, that i can barely see the trees over there. which are snapped and down in certain parts of the streets blocking and we know from earlier even before the storm surge was coming, there were streets that were flooding. so that's the situation now. >> i want to go over to jacob soboroff. i just witnessed you witnessing a piece of the roof coming off. >> toss me those goggles, dana. as a matter of fact, i got a little piece of debris, leaf or

something in my eye, but i'm just absolutely in awe right now of the wrath and the fury that mother nature has brought upon naples, florida, and it makes me terrified, brian, for the people in cape coral that i was with yesterday, just about 20 minutes drive north of here. virtually most, if not all -- >> excuse me, control room, take the weather channel shot full for a second, too. this is now full fury at the bettes location while jacob is experiencing the same thing. go ahead, jacob. >> yeah, yes, brian, you know, i just keep thinking about people 20 miles to the north in cape coral, they all live at or below sea level. canals dot the entire landscape. look at the trees right now, brian, they are basically like an inverted umbrella. whoa, those are tiles flying off the roof next to me, brian, as i'm talking to you. the wind seems to consistently change direction.

now you're looking at the trees being uprooted as if it were an umbrella, we've all had that experience, but to see a palm tree treated like that by mother nature is an extraordinary thing to see. i'm just watching pieces of trees picked up off the ground and fly around into the air. brian, i'm going to go inside, we have tiles flying everywhere off the roof here. >> that's a really good idea. >> you got it. jacob sb jac jac jacob soboroff, who's been forced inside because of portions of the roof coming off. on the left of your screen is the weather channel remote where we saw mike bettes. mike bettes is inside the vehicle, i believe. they are really in the teeth of this now. bill karins has settled upon exactly why we're seeing this violence at a time when we thought we were going to get a respite. >> and there's a lot of different -- i'd love to do the split screen of mike bettes'

shot and gabe's down in the downtown naples, because it looks like things have calmed down significantly in downtown naples. yeah, you can see there. this is all within naples. this is the difference between being in the eyewall still and clearing the eyewall and getting towards the calmer eye. this is the same city. these pictures are from naples. this shows you how quickly it can change. >> let's listen to mike bettes' microphone. he's live. >> the circulation set at the lowest pressure it's about to come over us. as the center of that lowest pressure is the calm, but it's the fury just outside of that that is the beast. this is something to behold, and it's been a long time since a place like naples was hit like this. yes, we had irma. it was a big quick wind maker. >> i don't know if you heard

that, but mike bettes is saying our best shot at seeing the arrival of what's left of the core of this, the eye, may be at mike bettes' location, may be at the expense of mike bettes. >> he mentioned earlier 41, that's a highway north of there. he's a little north of some of our crews. what gabe was in earlier shifted further north and that's now heading towards north naples, over bonita springs and you, fort myers, in about one hour from now. >> this is the area of florida that brian norcroft referred to as the developed corridor of southwest florida. look at mike bettes. >> the gusts -- the gusts are so

brief. but the problem is now they are coming more frequently. you could get a gust happen once a minute, now you're getting a gust that happens three, four, five times a minute. the sustained winds are now elevated, right, so now you're just -- ratcheting up -- yeah, i'm good. >> unbelievable. >> he's been in this for, like, 20 minutes. >> the best depiction i've seen of the strength of this storm, as human terms as we can put it. and that is a guy like mike standing out there -- >> you know this is a cat 3. look at those trees. they are still standing behind where bettes -- as bad as that looks and as dramatic as it is, those trees are all still standing. if this was a category 5, those

trees wouldn't be there. >> well, that's the reason why barbuda is almost unable to support human life. there is -- there is nothing left. >> if you remember, it was only 48 hours ago that the national hurricane center said we'd have a landfall right where we're looking now at 155 mile per hour winds, cat 5. that was only hours ago. you know, cuba took a lot out of this storm. and the reason we're not dealing with a category 5 or strong 4 right now is because cuba dealt with this storm for about 24 hours. >> we realize a whole lot of suffering is going on on the atlantic coast. we're not going to leave these pictures. this is -- this is it. this is the arrival of the worst of it at their location. we're going to be looking at these pictures for hints of lessening and brightening. what do you see? >> just gabe's picture, the one from downtown naples, it's still

a little breezy. >> yeah, that's upper right. >> yeah. it's, you know, compared to what he was in about 45 minutes ago, he is as close to the -- getting to as close to the center of the eye as he's going to get. kind of looks like the eye maybe jogged a little tiny bit east of naples, just by a little, but that's probably why we're not seeing complete calm in that picture. yeah, this band to the north of fort myers, where mike bettes is located, that's a long duration event and the longer it goes, the more trees that fall and the more damage that can be done. the highest wind gust we had reported was 130 at landfall, that was in marco island. we had a gust reported officially of 115 at naples at the airport, and now this wind, this strong bands, and it even looks like in bettes' shot now it's starting to at least get a little more bearable. the visibility is getting a little better, but that is now heading up towards fort myers.

you know, as we go through the next hour, obviously, we still have the dramatic pictures, we'll probably have a lull here before we get to our live crews in fort myers. >> can we take the gabe gutierrez -- his camera person just zoomed in on something that looked ominous down at the end of the street. it sure to me looked like the entrance of water. i don't know if we have comms with them, but it's now at the far left-hand portion of the screen and it sure looked to me like the waves that were the forerunners of entering water. i know we're at a hair trigger for this kind of thing -- >> that's going to be the story over the next hour and a half. at the same time we show you these same dramatic pictures in fort myers with our crews is when the water will start coming in to naples and marco island. >> sick feeling in the pit of

your stomach. >> because we don't know. storm surge flooding is, you know, it's not like saying it's going to be a high of 70 degrees tomorrow and sunny and we know it pretty much is. storm surge flooding is, you know, we have a general idea. it could be worse than expected or it could be a little better than expected. that's what we're going to have to wait and see. that's the drama that's going to play out towards sunset, how bad is the storm surge. >> we thought this was lessening. here's mike bettes again. >> yeah, a lot of times you see in a hurricane the funnels, the air, there are no buildings funneling this wind right now. it's wide open space. so this is legit wind.

oh, man. that's amazing to think that. that's amazing to think that. wait until it turns west, right? that's always the fear, how much, little bit of an unknown because of the angle this is coming in. you knew there could be maybe a little bit of a lag.

i'm a little bit troubled by what you said there, already the water rise. we haven't necessarily turned the water out of the west yet, which leads me to believe that, you know, we may be realizing the higher end of our storm surge forecast. >> bill karins, we're listening to him talk about a storm surge forecast. >> two important updates. officially just a gust to 135 miles per hour at the naples municipal airport. that is the highest wind gust that we have heard since the storm has entered into the united states. 120 was the highest previous gust, so what we just witnessed our reporters go through was a category 3 sustained winds at times, 100 to 115 with gusts just reported 135. so that's the wind story. here is the story that's going to quickly take over the night. water shooting up fast in naples now. just rose a little over two feet in 12 minutes. the surge is arriving. >> okay, maybe that, indeed, is

what i saw at the corner of that picture at the gutierrez live location. if so, we'll see it shortly. again, it gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach knowing there are lives and property at stake. 135 mile an hour winds at the naples airport would make jetways into projectiles. there's a whole lot of damage that we haven't had the ability to see yet. that is true throughout florida. >> we just got another update. national weather service just saying they topped the 135 with a gust of 142. >> wow. >> 142. remember, we're isolated here. we have three or four reporters that are in relatively safe locations. they purposely put themselves where they would not be in harm's way. don't consider this a good judge of the wind damage. it could be a lot worse in areas that have more trees, are not as protected. mike bettes is standing in the

middle of an open roadway, so he knows he's in a safe spot with high winds. 142, that's pretty intense. >> put these winds to work bringing water onshore. in the gulf, where the slope of development has always been kind of gentle, the development has always been closer to the edge of the water, because it's by nature the protected gulf. we are not used to a push of water along the coastline that houses naples. >> the speed of this is what is -- with ike and with katrina, those storms were approaching from south to north into a shoreline that went east to west, so that storm surge was a gradual build up. this storm surge is coming in rapidly, almost like a flash flood. i'm a little -- i mean, these pictures are what i'd expect, and we probably see hurricanes like this in this country once every five years with reporters blowing around like this.

when we get the storm surge pictures, if you think this is impressive, just wait. >> yeah, it's going to be -- it's going to be sad and scary and highly unusual. in the meantime, while we're talking, mike bettes still getting battered. our electronic signal from his weather channel live crew is still getting battered. pieces of trees flying by. it's hard to believe how long this has been sustained that he's been out in it. >> it has to lighten up for him. he's north of naples by just a little bit. our crew in downtown naples, the pictures we've been looking at, it's as calm as can be and even some people walking around the streets. i saw a guy out with his dog walking around the street, they are trying to sample the damage. there's the picture, people from the hotel coming down from their rooms to kind of see what the damage was. those people have about 15 minutes until the winds pick up

over 100 miles per hour again, which is why the national hurricane center and national weather service says don't come out and sample your damage during the eye. >> in 1946, before we had the instantaneous news media we have today, there was a severe hurricane in florida, old-timers will tell you about it, people came down during the eye, went back down to the beaches, there were fatalities, because people got caught. they didn't have time to get back to safety, and they were lulled into a false security by the sun in the eye of the hurricane. mike bettes is lulled into no such false security, so if we are -- if he is catching wind from his right to left, south would be at his back, correct? he's taking -- he's catching wind from the east? >> assuming that the center is

going to come straight over the top of him, the winds left to right, so he still would be in that north kind of west quadrant, so, yeah, to the nort would be the southwest and those would be flipping quickly on him as it beganses and what i'm watching now is i'm watching these tide gauges. we know what these winds are going to do. people aren't going to have power for weeks. there will be trees down on homes. let be structural damage to not reinforce roofing. that will take weeks, months to repair. i'm trying to figure out in just watching all of my sources on this storm surge that is now just beginning to develop. >> and important to remember -- now naples just got the now update. four feet in 30 minutes in naples. that's how fast the water is

rising. >> yeah. the sanitary sewer system won't be able to contain that. >> the water had blown out of naples by about five feet we've now almost replaced all of that water in 30 minutes. remember we showed you the pictures in tampa earlier because the water had blown out. it's 30 minutes for four feet of that water to come back. and it's just starting. watch for a wind shift in direction where mike bettes is. it's been --? the crew in the upper right-hand portion is our crew in downtown naples. they will be the first ones as mike bettes' shot will die off, all of a sudden you will see the wind pick up on the southern edge, the southern side of the eye. it will start getting windy again. it looks like the storm is over

if you look at downtown naples. stay with us for another ten, 15 minutes and all of a sudden you will start to see intense gusts. it won't rain as hard, but it will be windy. probably 100-mile-per-hour winds on the back side. >> so it's already easing up where he is. he's been in this forever. this means we will eventually see him come out the other way. >> and catching up on this, too. 2 million people now without power, state of florida. that's going to be a huge quality of life issue. >> a big tree down now right by the parking lot here, but again, i look down 41, and i'm somewhat encouraged by what i see at least at this location.

i don't know if it is this way everywhere. there are certainly places that fared better than others, that's for sure, but most of the construction here is to code. very few businesses along 41 here have big overhangs where they become big wind catchers and they have very short overhangs. >> we lost it. his signal has frozen up. >> the governor of florida, rick scott sending out some tweets and messages to the people. >> he was clear. the entire country stands with florida and we truly appreciate the support for those impacted by irma. this is from governor rick scott just a minute ago on twitter and he says he's thankful that potus quickly permitted floridians as irma continues to batter the

state. >> i had a waterlogged microphone. is this all right? all right. it is decidedly different. the signal is in and out and of course, they drive the lens at regular intervals, but watch this wind direction shift. we've been watching and it's been coming from the left-hand side of the screen to the right. eventually it will be coming from the right-hand side of your screen to the left. >> in downtown naples is in the eye of the storm. the upper right-hand corner of the screen and they are smack in the center of hurricane irma. >> our camera crew, if there are no hefty trash bags left in florida it's because we bought them all to protect our electronic equipment. our camera crew is out on the street taking stock of

everything, and to bill's point, they'll be forced back in to lobby when the winds pick up again. >> they had about ten, 15 minutes and the 142 mile per hour wind gusts reported in naples to give you equivalency. if you're familiar with how we grade tornados and less than 100 miles per hour and they're the ones that wipe towns off the map. that wind gust will be considered an ef-3 tornado. the type of damage expected from these winds especially in the naples and fort meyers area will be pretty extensive. >> as mike bettes calls it, sunday. >> yeah. the scene we're seeing here. we only have, it's over bonita springs and, you know, since it's dying down here, let's catch up here on the map because everyone that has interest further up the coast now, it's time to get ready for you, you

know? what's happening, what you just saw here is now happening in bonita springs also to the north. that's that northern eye. here's naples. that's in the clear and that's the eye right here and mike bettes is located near 41 which is in the north side here. so his shot will slowly end and the winds are dying down. bonita springs is the area north there and then we head into forth meyers. we've been trying to give everyone a head's up of when they need to seek shelter and go to their safe areas. now is the time to do that in fort meyers. from the winds we just saw that produced the 142-mile-per-hour gusts you are just four miles. captiva looks like it will be on the back side of the storm and the higher winds will be a little further inland here. north fort myers to fort myers area, that will be the highest winds. we pointed out on the radar, brian, we wanted to avoid this area here and so far in this really intense winds in the northeast eye wall has been over

relatively unpopulated areas. that ends as we go throughout the next hour or two as this will move up to the north here through areas around i-75. so if you know of anyone with property, extreme wind damage threat over the next hour or two especially right along 75 as it snakes up there northward. bonita springs, you're next. >> back up for people who are concerned about captiva and sanibel. what was your point of them being on the western edge? >> as far as the winds go and this doesn't have any effect whatsoever with the storm surge, but for interests that are out across the bridge for fort myers once you get to sanibel island and captiva. your winds will shift dramatically as the storm goes to the north. you will notice right now the winds are pretty much going out of the due east or maybe out of the northeast and their winds will shift out of the north pretty quickly here and the winds should be a little bit weaker with that once we get the northerly component. the strongest winds are on the north side. we just saw it go through the

city of naples and now the strongest winds are right in the middle of bonita springs and we'll shift this right into fort myers in about an hour from right now and we'll send it after that even further up the coast and we'll talk about port charlotte. port charlotte is famous because that's right where hurricane charley came onshore with 145-mile-per-hour winds and devastated that area. >> head back over here and see if we can open up mike bettis' mike because we've been focusing on a shot that's been blown out. the important part of the shot is what's happened to the weather. >> i look at a lot of the businesses and many of them have not -- he's getting closer to the eye. it is now moving up, and if you give it another ten minutes or 15 minutes.

our crew and downtown naples and we'll see things pick up on the back side and the wins are not as intense and they'll still be pretty strong. >> it's night and day. and it's fantastic. we're not going to end up being in the eye. there will still be some opportunities for windy conditions, breezy conditions, but i look way down the road, and i see flashing streetlights way down there that i couldn't see before, and this is really encouraging to see this coming in, but we do know there's still more of the eye wall to go. how much more do you think we'll have to go through before we can get out at least clear of the strongest of the winds? >> look at how spotty this is. it was just kind of fine. it was brightening just a second ago it had brightened and it was still a good wind, but just in the last 60 seconds.

that's how fast all of this is -- you're in the eye and imagine how fast the clouds are moving and how quickly that can kind of move out. people watching this with interest in tampa, the more highly populated and densely populated area, they're watching this and they're shaking their head saying we have to deal with this first and then the storm surge? it is a one-two punch with the first punch knocking the wind out of you and the second one knocking you out. >> since the last time florida has had a tornado up thissally, something notable has happened and that's called urban development and it has the population has exploded on the upper gulf side of the state.