direction and kristen is on the topside of it. have i lost kristen, is she still there? we are trying to get down to kristen, i hear her voice. >> sorry, ali, we are having some trouble with our camera obviously. it is been getting rained on, are we good, brad? >> lets head back out and we can show you here what's going on. it has not slowed at all. we are still, i am just always checking. >> yeah, you watch and be careful. you know, you can see how this is whipping here and if you look back that way, we are seeing more and more branches coming do down, this eye wall is coming through fort myers here and we are just still getting the rain and the wind through all of this, so no sign of letting up at all. we were looking forward to maybe a break, as the eye came here

but it looks like it is falling apie cha apart and we are not seeing too much clearing. we'll keep you posted on how conditions are. we do are getting some type of relief here, it is been like a roar for the past, you know, hours, two hours here. the wind is absolutely like a train coming through and there is no relief at all. think of what it does to the trees and building and the roof. it is remarkable seeing the puddles blowing booipd you. it is important for people to understand in fort myers. the eye came over and it is beautiful and calm in some places, they can actually see sunlig sunlight. you are getting a different experience there. i don't know if the eye is

deteriorating and you are still at the eye wall and you are not seeing the eye yet. right now you are getting probably the most severe bands on the northern side of the storm now. >> reporter: i apologize, sometimes it is hard to talk because we have so much water coming add on and it is not giving us a break. a little way here you can see, brad, if you go this way, i know it is ugh will i with the dishes but the size of some of these trees that have come down here in the rain, someone zridescrib it like a loose tooth, this is pretty rough. look at what we are walking here and all the water that's collecting here so . so if these cars are -- if i were to try to drive out of here, it is a few inches but it is expected to be a lot deeper as we go and then this is not storm surge. we still got that coming and

even though we are in land, what kerry was talking about was the river, it is coming up there and along the river and in land are going to be seen this flooding and that's what could be -- >> it is getting loud. kristen, take some cover for a minute, i want to go over and talk bill right now sort of discuss what's happening with kristen because it is too many trees around. >> we did not see that in naples. we saw heavy winds. did the eye not reach kristen yet? >> so obviously, here is fort myers from here. you can see it here and the center of the storm is located right here now. the center is actually going to the east of where it is located here in fort myers. she did not get to come. they kind of went to the northern portions and now they're at this band here.

the rain will stop here. this is fully clear. the south side of the storm is not strong. the northern portion of the storm is olt stronger and a lot more problems. let me show you. a wider view of the storm. you can see the yellow means heavy rain. when you get to the red, that's intense rain and if now have not lost power yet. >> we still have the reports here. the heavy stuff is starting to reach up the orlando area. the tornado warning shifted off the coast here. a band from miami, fort pearce to indian river, we have not talked about these areas. because the eyes and the winds are dying off there. coming off the atlantic, almost

just as strong. so there is the fort pearce area. the area of cocoa beach and palm bay and palm bay by the tornado was confirmed today. it was ef zero and destroying six mobile homes. we still have that threat on the east coast portion of the storm, too. >> so kristen is in this for another 15 minutes or so, it is going to be that rough. >> yeah, let me give her a little timing on this. she's in fort myers now. the worst is shifting to north fort myers here and the northern portion there on 75. she has about 15 0 or 15 minute and it will spread north ward. we have been playing who's the next game. >> i want to go up to doctor jacob in st. petersburg. talk to me about what it is looking like. we were thinking earlier, this thing is going more due north than expected.

>> it is located here and the forecast from this morning of the hurricane center have located about 20 miles per hour to the west. that made a big difference here into the st. petersburg area. we'll get into tampa and saraso sarasota. here is st. peters are located here. these are pretty good bands and these are significant gusts from tampa. >> wai think i would lower it dn to 80 or 100 miles per hour. it is similar to what miami got. the fear of all those areas continue to be the storm surge, that's what i am still focusing on and still watching. the baackside below the storm,

the layest report that we have -- what was the latest, steve? >> okay, you can see it here. we have this -- >> okay, we have it here. >> so this is where the water ordinarily would be right now. >> heading towards low tide and the water is now about four feet above normal. the storm surge is about 5 feet. we are tracking if the tides are going out. this is at naples. the storm surge is around 4'4" to 5 feet. the key is once that starts going down, we know we hit the peak storm surge and that'll help us better numbers to other areas in the coast. >> lets go to st. pete right now. jacob rascon is in st. petersburg right now for us, you are not getting the worst of it

yet. we are giving you information once we see what happens in fort myers and once we see what happens with that storm surge, it looks relatively calm where you are, jacob. >> reporter: right, it is been raining and the wind gusts have been on and off. a big problem here and you have been talking about is the tampa bay area, there are 3 million plus people who live here. there are thousands of buildings and a hospital and homes all along the coast and eye loislan. they have given the curfew up and a lot of areas, first responders and even though the sustained winds are not very high. they have been sheltering in place and we have video shots earlier. we are riding along earlier in downtown and tampa, we were talking them of what they expect the storm surge will be. a lot of the neighborhoods and one of the islands, all of this is going to be under water. how many feet of water? of course, everything is to see. let me walk over to show you because you have been talking

about how the storm has been sucking the water out and it is been doing that a lot here. i don't know if you can see that beach area over there, you don't usually see that back there. it is usually 10 or 15 feet higher. it is been on and off and sucking the water out. lets see if we can see the waves. >>. >> we ayou are at the moment, y are in st. petersburg? >> reporter: saint bet. petersb. this is tampa bay, all of this area and this is evacuation zone. this is one of those that's been evacuated. the reason we are here because we don't expect the storm to surge another hour or not until midnight or 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. we have an area in the hotel where it will be when that happens. some of the boats, the water is so low, they're sit ting on the mud over there. we know what it means?

it will come back around high tides as you know and i don't know if the storm surge, that's high, it is going cover a lot of the coastal area and island areas. >> just walking over here of the storm surge and this is what we are talking about where kerry sanders is down here. what we measure in naples is about five feet at the moment. clear water and st. petes area. that's the calculation right now. the important thing to point out is behind you that the water is at a lower level that typically it would be right now because it is been blown by those winds coming off of the east, it is been blown out. you are going to have the opposite effect. you are not going to have the normal amount of water. both sitting on the mud and won't be in the mud in a few hours. >> right, exactly.

>> reporter: it is been amazing to watch, some of the locals coming out, there are grassy areas and looked like islands out there that they never seen before. i remember when the boat is stuck way out there. now we realize it is a big grassy area, we have never seen it. they never seen the water so low. the water is higher than they have seen coming over night >> jacob, standby, it is going to be a busy night for you because it is going to get active of where you are in st. petersburg. jacob rascon for us in st. petersburg. gulf coast to kerry sanders, one of the questions that a lot of people had, the storm came on board in marco island, what's the news there? >> reporter: okay, the fire chief informed us they are out attempted to do some rescues in the area. not on collier avenue but on the south side for anybody that

knows the island where the water is three or four feet deep, it is over the mailboxes and there are some people in the homes there. the fire department is in the middle of the backside of hurricane attempting to do some rescues to people as this storm surge is rising. so, what is happening to the south of us is likely happening up here and a little bit of naples, the storm surge is happening ton south side and the fire department despite telling people to not go out and rescuing them, they are heroically out there risking their lives because they decided not to leave. that could be lost of life in the process as it is getting dark and the wind is blowing. >> i was a little surprised given we got these new accurate measures of the potential storm. you have to see the horrible graphic that bill and kerry is

using here. yes, people don't want to believe it. do you have any sense of the percentage of the population that hung around naples? >> reporter: it was an uncounted population, we did not do that. they did not know, they went around and trying to urge people and they did everything they could. some people just got inside their homes and closed the shutter and locked the door and they don't know they're there until somebody dialing 911 and say help. >> we were just talking to jacob soboroff who was further in land than where you are. you got the gulf of mexico, and those building behind you. >> reporter: all i know i am a couple blocks here in naples, i keep on looking back to see the storm surge here. it is not like we throw a switch and it happens. when it happens, it happens quickly. it is the build up of all that water with the wind and so --

>> right, it is not a tsunami. it is not a tsunami, it will not come in as a title wave. those water levels are rising rapidly, we see a rise up of what appears to be a corner of my eyes of the chart. it looks to be five or six feet right now. we'll keep an eye on that. we want to go to chris hayes who's in naples as well. what's the wind situation around what you are looking like. >> it picked up quite a bit as the eye moved through. it is shifted and it is worth saying to people that are watching these shots at home and watching folks out and wondering whether it is safe out there. where you are with respect to where the winds are matters a lot. even if you are in real hurricane forced winds so the winds is coming against the

structure, you are okay standing there for a little bit of time. the wind is whipping around now and coming back towards us and back east, that's the same action pushing the water up into naples and creating the storm surge. it is like blowing on the ocean from the west and the east and pushing the water out and like a squeeze that's going to push out in the parts of naples that we'll see the storm surge, at 5 feet an hour or 6 feet or possibly going up to 15 but hopefully not that high. >> chris, we are just getting storm update from the national hurricane center. the storm of the eye wall now, wind gusts of 88 miles per hour reported at southwest florida, international airport and cape coral measured wind gusts of 100

miles per hour and a tide gauge where you are in naples is measuring the water levels of 3.9 feet above the mean of high level level. at the moment these water levels are at the low end of the estimates. that can be a good thing. all the data that we are gathering where you are and is helpful to understand what happens in fort myers and tampa and st. pete and clear water where there is a major option there. they're anxious to find out how serious the storm surge is going to be. >> reporter: one more thing is important to know here is you are thinking of the effects of this and the magnitude of it. we have been running the track of uncertainty and right now if luke at t you look at the storm, it is mcad moving to the west.

it tracks further in land which you guys are talking about and weakening it. tampa in some ways scope issue, tampa is the biggest thing to worry about in terms of population and people and exposure to that storm surge. what we really want to storm to do is moving north and not northwest and going in land and not pushing all that water coming from the west towards the east and into the tampa bay, that's the real, the biggest worry i think at this point in terms of the scale of all migho big of a disaster when this is all done. >> i spoke to the governor of tampa bay, he does seem to feel done the right thing by getting people out of the low line area. i got to say, i am happy for the

continent and sometimes it worries me. stay with me, chris. mayor chris and i are here, chris is in naples where you are. what are your concerns now mayor? >> you just said, it is great coming in, i am very concerned and i don't think we could deal very well with that 12 or 15 storm surge and i am getting reports over that we cannot be out. the area are really going to be in trouble. >> what kind of -- you have a situation where there is a storm under way so you cannot sent emergency team. in marco island and fire rescues are sending people out because there is reports of people refused to leave and getting tracking. >> we are not, our plan is to,

we are not going to send anybody out until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning even if it stops because we don't twoowant to take the r. we'll wait until dawn then send our responders out along with the operation to assess how bad the situation is. >> are you hearing anything and do you have anybody out there who are telling you of the reports of flooding. do you know your situation of power lines and things like that? >> i know that no one in the city of naples have power. i have not heard any down power lines. nobody has reported in. and the reports that i have gotten from different neighborhoods, a lot of trees down and it is been wicked

winds. i don't have good estimates or any at all of how bad it is. i am here in naples as well. do you have a sense of head count in the zone that it is going to take the storm surge and how many people are still there as the surge is coming in, do you have any sort of way of knowing the rough proximation of the number of people that's in the sort of front line? >> well, i can tell you that people evacuated early this week and i am hoping and i don't think it is a lot that are in that. those have -- and low line area that's affected. i don't think there is a lot that's still there. a lot of them went to shelters

and a lot of them went elsewhere. >> mayor, what's the power situation in and around naples? >> zero. >> zero? >> no, we don't have any power. >> what about shelters, do you have reports on shelters? >> we understand shelters are full. we have not had any e-mails or calls from people that could not get in and really needed help and 27 shelters of collier county. >> that's one of the counties that the president had signed a disaster relief for, what does that do for you right now, do you know? >> you know, chris, i don't know but it is not bad. i mean whatever we are going to be getting, we are going to need and get is good. we heard from a lot of state agencies and federal government reached out and before this thing started. hey, it is going to be bad. we'll be there for you and

trying to help you to rebuild if that's what's necessary. >> how far in london are you expected to take water if you see 10 or 15 feet of surge. >> i honestly cannot even guess. when naples have been hit with hurricane like this, that was 57 years ago today. i just don't know and i have never seen anything like this and with wilma, i have lived here 44 years so i really don't know. >> to the point of the reference of -- we heard from our reporters on the gulf coast, what changed since andrew and donna, is most of naples hurricane safe in terms of the kinds of windows and the types

of codes and buildings that's been done? >> i will tell you that, since donna a long time ago and andrew, wilma got us that the coast is getting tougher and strict stricter, which is good every year. it is a tough code. that part of it has been good. as far as the low line area and as far as the flood protection, who knows because of that surge. >> mayor barnette, we are thinking of you and we got the folks of naples. may you have the safest of tonight. of course, you will get a sense of what the damage is by morning. we'll stick with you the whole time. >> thank you so much. >> all right, mayor. and chris, at this point, it

does sound like the mayor is not going to do what they are doing. it is mostly dangerous to send crews out to fix things until they are getting to the other end of the storm. the mayor of naples is saying the power outages are totaled. there are places where hospitals and hotels and fire stations that have auxillary. that's a concern for the rest of the night. our coverage of irma continues here on msnbc, we'll take a quick break and we'll be back on the other side.

mike, if you can hear me, we are gets gusts at 135. the rain is so sideways and so strong that i can barely see the trees over there. i am watching pieces of trees picked up off the ground. i am going to go inside now. >> that sounds like a good idea. it is wide open. this is legit wind. >> that was some of the shots this very serious storm that is still over florida. here is where we are right now. the worst of the storm is north of naples and getting into fort myers, we are going to get an

update fairly soon. it is weakening a little bit because it is over land. our sam champion is in miami. i had a conversation with the mayor yesterday who himself have not evacuated and he was okay in that texan way we were hearing from harvey of people not evacuated from the area. marco island is ignoring its own rules of not sending emergency workers out while there are high winds and going to rescue people who stuck around. sam, on one hand, i want to hug all these guys because they are american heroes, this is what we do. we put people at risk who don't have to be at risk, it is 2018 and we have the science and technology to relatively accurately to figure out what's going to happen. >> reporter: yeah, ali, i can take both sides on this where i totally agree with you. the one thing is the storm

changed so many direction, we had people evacuating from the east coast. i am willing to give 20% and 10% leeway about thinking, well, i don't mean to -- evacuate in the west coast because we don't know. when it made its way to the west coast, we knew. i had to evacuate my home. i intended to ride my ride it out in my home and miami beach and knowing it is safe. not so sure if it is going to be a four there. i know how difficult it is to ask people to leave their homes and everything they have in their lives and i get it. when you live in an area where storm surges is going to swamp in your home. you will be in a situation where you know those risks and you are asking these first responders to risk their lives because you

decided to make a calculated gamble. here is the deal. if we are going to have people and allow people to stay in their homes and okay, we told you to evacuate, if you choose to stay in your home, i think we have to hold the lines with first responders, our police and fire, they're not going to come to your home. we are not going to put these people lives in danger for you. it seems to be a calm in the storm and we can get out there and help them out. this is heroism in america. i will ask you this though, one of the things in florida and we got a lot of people off the age of 65 and we are tired of the community and assisted living and a lot of hospitals. that becomes really hard when you are not only relocating people but we know people that have relocated at the atlantic coast of florida, they went to the gulf coast of florida because they know they needed

the medical attention and they can keep going, things like dialysis. and now they're there and we are in a place where there is gas outages. this is a uniquely difficult evacuation process. it is hard to get people. you can get out of your house and go some where else. for a lot of people, it is hard. >> yeah. >> and i think ali, it will be important after the storm to do the deep dive on how well florida handled this storm and how well we can evacuate florida, period. >> right. >> reporter: that's an important conversation of. we never had to evacuate the entire state of florida from what's going to move from south to north. now knowing that it was to have two interstate that is we never opened the contra way as they do in texas. opening all lanes going out. you know florida never did that. why did florida never do that.

it is that enough? because for a long time, i forecasted for new york and about 18 years in new york city. we all knew that you cannot evacuate long island. that's just a thing, you cannot evacuate it. anyone who said you cannot, you can. is that what we are going to say about florida now? i am not okay with that. >> right. i am not okay with saying that. we know the storm is possible. it is an important deep dive to go through all of these as well as shelters and housing and patients and the aging population and number of people and first responders in harms way, we got to have really good conversations about how well we did. >> i will say one thing that we have done very well. i thought the reporting from the governor, the coordination of the press conferences and the updates and the unified message

from the governor to most of the mayors and those people evacuating and taking it serieslserie seriously, they did a better job than texas. there were mixed messages. >> reporter: right, i think you are right about that. a lot of it had to do of the responsibility oies of the connection. florida had to evacuate a lot and texans, they don't have to evacuate. you have just a few people who'll say hell knno, i won't g and in texas, it is a state motto. my parents lived there for a long time. i think there is a different mentality when it comes to storms. i think you are right, ali. both states should be critical

and complementary of it. okay, here is what we did right and wrong. only that way can we save more lives. >> a lot of people got stuck in those floods because of the l v levee broke and reservoir. >> the possibility prediction was 10 to 15 feet of storm surge from areas south ward down through marco island there. first gauge leonys tis in the n area. we are told of two or three hours after land fall is when we hit the high water mark. it is shot up in a hurry. that's the red line right in here. i want to show you right here. this line, pete, i don't know if it is just a false image we are waiting for here. this is four feet of storm

surge. we'll wait and see. >> this is naples. >> we don't know if the gauge have fell. >> we have lost some gauges today. >> it is still reporting and about 10 minutes ago, it was a little higher. >> if that's true that's excellent news. >> i would be the happiest guy in the world and telling everyone that the storm is 10 or 15 feet did not happen because so many people's properties could be saved. >> we'll keep a close eye on this. >> i will watch this and if this continues to go down, that could be an excellent sign for people further up the coast and people further in the property. again, it is too early. i don't want to jump too far ahead. i don't want to see this trend continuing to go down. >> after this hurricane is over, we'll redesign a new segment for you, it is going to be called

most important news with the abo absolutely worst graphic. anyway, speaking to sam, have the rain stopped for? >> reporter: it has, to me, i feel good of the direction and of everything that's going, winds are still strong here. ali, i forgot to tell you this, i was going say it early on. happily, we have seen our first responders out in the area in miami. i feel good of the conditions and get to the point where they can do that. we saw two fire trucks and handed over to one of those crane collapses and they were just doing it right after 7:00. i just wanted to mention that to everybody and i feel pretty good of the conditions here and where we are of the forecast here and first responders. >> very good on that. keep us posted thoon that. >> if you are seeing first responders, that means we may get winds below 40 miles per

hour an hour there. key west, you saw the storm surges here, the storm came onto land around here and key west is west of that. it did not get nearly the same winds. we know it got some heavy winds. dave gonzalez is there, he's the curator of the homes and museum in key west, he's there now with us, tell us what's happening in key west? >> thank you very much for having me on your program, ali, we lost lost power at 9:00 last night and the winds came in strong around 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. we were sheltered inside the museum which is a unique situation which is why we chose to go ahead and shelter right here. we are not in a flood shomari stone -- flood zone. building is constructed of 18 blocks of limestone and have

been here of 1851 as a result of hurricanes. >> why was it built like that? >> a gentleman was a ship captain and knowing key west and back in 1851, there were no hurricane forecast, he built this thing like a fortress so it would stand of anything. >> we got two stories, the base of the first story, that's above sea levels? >> the ground of that first story is 16 about sea level. the port sits about three feet about that. it had 15 foot ceiling on the foot floor. if we had to go up to the second floor, we would be 30 feet above level. >> gdid you get some sense of

what that surge would be like? >> we have been out and driving around and people are washinglk their dogs down and two blocks of flooding and duval street goes from the atlantic ocean to the gulf of mexico, i have seen both sides of it today. >> dave, i have not been on with you before. i know you talked to other ange anchors. one of my ears told me something of a lot of cat in ts in the building. >> yes, we have about 64, we took them inside the fortress with us and we had ten employees stayed here on-site. with the ten employees of racial of 5:1 and cats are accustoms in our voices and care. we love them, they love us, we all hung out last night. >> did the cats, often we think

of wildlife understanding these storms and these changes, did they act differently? >> i am glad you brought it up. the cats seemed to be more aware of the storm coming in. when we take them inside, some of them ran inside knowing it is time to take shelters. sometimes i think they are smarter than the human beings. >> dave, what's the situation for you beyond this. i guess you guys stocked up so it does not matter. >> in my position right now is this. we have no electricity and no water and we have no internet service either by cable or telephone lines but we have three powered generators going on at the same time. we plugged in our refrigerator

to preserve our food supplies. we are going back to the museum again tonight. it is very a safe building and it is cool in there. the 18 blocks of limestone retains the air-condition and it runs 24/7, it is a great comfortable for our cats and employees and we'll spend one more night and hopefully things will get back to normal and key west will enjoy our life in paradise. >> let me ask you in one question. >> it is light and 15 or 20 miles per hour. when you are on the ground, it is a nice, tropical breeze, light to no rainfall at this time. there is people out walking their dogs in duval street >> you are about the weirdly and most optimistic guy i have talked to. >> well, you know, we made the decision to go ahead and take shelters in the fortress of the

home, we were blessed the hurricane passed the way it did. our concern and our prayers going with the people that are still in its path and still experiencing of the storm at this time. i got a sun who's name is drake at gainsville, it may hit him at category two and we have been prepping him and what supplies we need to go ahead and prepare for the storm. >> i know the university have been telling students how to deal with that. >> thank you for talking to us of what's going on. >> thank you for talking with us. maya pena, she's on the phone with us, mayor, good to talk to you again. >> good to talk to you. >> have you got any reports on what the situation is on biscayne? >> i have, i got an early preliminary assessment, it was just kind of -- it is kind of

food on the ground and there is no assessment than the visual. the cause waves, they were under ground, they were under ground and we did sustain storm surge, we are concerned of the bear cut bridge and its integrity. the island itself sustained a storm surge of three to five each and we are looking to see what flooding is, we also, the winds -- the wind i am in miami, the wind continues to blow. and we had on key biscayn biscaynbiscayne -- [ inaudible ] >> i was talking to sam champion who's in miami. while the winds are blowing, they got some fire crews he just saw going out there, are you below the threshold when your emergency responders can go out?

>> well, i will tell you, we evacuated all of our first responders, we have been evacuating our residents, our elderly and medical -- [ inaudible ] >> we may have lost her. >> the message was very clear that you needed to leave. over 90 something of our residents evacuated. we have no emergencies on the ground. it is not the right thing to do. just for our viewers, we are showing various other pictures. that's not key biscayne. this is key largo we are looking at. key biscayne is a bare island.

>> absolutely. [ inaudible ] >> all right, we got a tough line with mayor lyndsey. i know that's the danger there and it is connected to miami through with one of the bridges , and they want to make sure it does not suffer -- we are checking in with all of these mayors who we have been talking to on the other end of the storm. we are going to take a quick break and come back and our coverage of hurricane irma which is still hitting places on the gulf coast of florida continues right after this. ♪

good evening. you're watching msnbc. these are hurricane gusts. these are the possibility of getting hurricane strength gusts all the way from miami. just leaving miami right now. this is why sam champion said starting to see fire trucks. the gulf coast of florida is still in it. those gusts are possible as high

as tampa which is where we find thomas roberts in tampa where they are bracing for a rise in the waters. they have evacuated those areas that are closest to the water. thomas, tell me what the situation is with the lights down now in tampa. >> reporter: as you know tampa st. petersburg area is a beautiful one that is surrounded by all these different coastal water ways on the southwest florida side. we have seen this storm move in much more ferociously as the sun has gone down. the light of the day has gone down and biggest worry is the river. this is one of the main drinking reservoirs for the city and they have a dam in which they can control and release some water but there was an issue of concern with what we saw with tampa bay receding and giving energy to irma. as you see down there one of the cross ways you can tell how deep

it is. typically it goes to about 12 feet if it is full. a lot of beaches that are exposed out here to the sea wall along tampa river walk are exposed. they never really see that here. we were talking to a lot of people that have never seen as much beach exposed. this is going to be a big issue when the water returns. as we know with irma making its way here and the bands of rain starting to come in with the system the way it is moving and the east side of the eye wall moving past fort myers it is churning up this way so the storm surge is going to come back in. the biggest worry is about a five to eight foot storm surge. a lot of people have been warned about the potential for that. this is an area that is used to flooding throughout some of the neighborhoods. there are areas in this city that typically don't deal with any type of flooding issues. south tampa is an area that typically deals with flooding. they are anticipating that.

ibor don't typically get flooding also along bay shore drive because of people out posting pictures of what it was like to walk on the receded waters of tampa bay on just beach. they are now fearful of how bay shore is going to fill back in and homes that will be exposed to water damage there. a lot of people have heeded evacuation orders. here the curfew started at 6:00 p.m. and the wind gusts we have experienced some to our south in sarasota about 105 miles per hour. here in the city itself they have gotten as high as 71. this is just the beginning of what they expect to be a really long night here for the tampa st. petersburg area. >> i noticed the lights behind you, the municipal lights seem to be on. the power has not been lost at least where you are. >> there haven't been much power

outages that we know of. also over in pi nellas we have people that are heeding the current. we know the bridges were closed for people after they got out. there have been people evacuated on that side. st. petersburg and clear water area that got into shelters. if they didn't make it there in time they are staying in their homes. we have been told there are the sheriffs for pinellas that are not going to allow people to go back into their homes. if they have been evacuated out they will stay out until they get the all clear to go back so that they know it is safe. there are a lot of people moved into hotels downtown. we started with our team in miami beginning, reporting early in the morning on friday and we left to get ahead of the storm to get over here and run into lots of people that were over in miami and they left to come over here to come to tampa and to come to st. pete because they

were trying to heed the evacuation orders to get out of miami and they came here only to find themselves in the same predicament. it has been kind of a -- the best made plans. you know how they go. for a lot of people we were out early this morning along cause ways and running into people coming out to the beach by the airport to bag their own sand because they were so concerned about storm surge because there had been issues early this morning with the water that was being sucked out with the energy for irma. it is long from over here with just the beginning of the wind bands coming in. we are going to anticipate much more of the same for hours to come here tonight. really the biggest issue is the storm surge. going to expect anticipating five to eight feet. we will keep you posted. >> we will come back to you in a little bit. i want to go to florida

congressman charlie crist. former florida governor. stand by for a second because i want to show our viewers this is the map of the tampa area and this is the level a areas. all the red stuff basically everything that touches water is low lying. this is what the mayor of tampa has asked people to leave to go at least to the level b areas which are not very far. sometimes it is a matter of a block or two to get to level b and level c and d and e. you don't have to go far in the tampa st. pete area to get away from the most dangerous parts of it. congressman crist, the measurements we are getting in naples with respect to the storm surge are for the moment optimistic. it bodes well for points north that the storm surge doesn't seem to be at the moment as high as we have been expecting it. the night is young yet, though. >> that's a good point. and we are getting the same reports here in st. petersburg. i can tell you that what thomas

was talking about and the water going out of tampa bay, i had a friend that was near what we call the old northeast in st. petersburg looking across to an area where my mother and father live although they evacuated to my condominium downtown st. pete tlmpt was a sand bar you have never seen before out into tampa bay. it's amazing. the concern that that brings is not a surge right now but what about on the back side once the eye has passed us by? what kind of water could we be dealing with then? while it is better than it sounded a few hours ago because of the easterly track of the storm we are not out of the woods yet and we have to be vigilant and mindful. >> what thomas was describing we saw images of earlier is that there were people going out in tampa and st. pete saying you saw areas normally covered by water looking like a dog park. you could walk out there. there was land that no one had

seen before. it may have created among some people a false sense of security because that was wind from the east that was pushing that water out. now the back side of the storm which you haven't gotten to the front side yet. once you get to the back side that starts pushing back in and that is the danger. the issue because you were the governor of the state is false senses of security when things don't look as bad as they were intended to be. >> that's right. that is very well put. mother nature has a mind of her own. we always have to be watchful and mindful and vigilant and that really i think those are the watch words for this evening. while it looks a little better than it would have at least as it relates to pinellas county where i am you don't know what the storm surge could bring later on in the early hours of the morning. it is important to continue to be vigilant, to watch what is happening, to get the updates

from you and others that have been great in the media about keeping the public informed. that's a great public service that you all provide. >> are you satisfied in the tampa area with the work that has been done by the authorities. are the evacuations making sense? >> it has been extraordinary. i can't tell you a time when i have seen better coordination. from the federal level going from $7 billion in coverage to 15 billion in a bipartisan way was extraordinary. at the state level i think the leadership has been wonderful. here at the local level between obviously i know tampa bay the best, that is home. pinellas pinellas has done a great job. it's been an all hands on deck approach to this thing. it really warms your heart to see everybody coming together at a time of need. it's the way it should be. it's the way it is and it makes

me very proud to be a floridian and american. >> in st. petersburg, florida. thank you for joining us. please stay safe. we wish the best to you and those in the area who are still yet to see the worst of the storm tonight. >> thank you so much. god bless you. our coverage is going to continue. we are doing this nonstop. i will stop for a little while because i see -- i am always happy to see you but sometimes more than others. >> right back at you. same sentiment. thank you for taking the last couple of hours. we will take it from here for the next couple of hours until 11:00 eastern time tonight at which our coverage just continues all night long. 8:00 here in the east. let's sum up where we have been. we have a category two storm doing what the models told us about the 36 to 48 hours ago that it would do. it is