. hey, good morning, everyone, it's monday, september 11th, this morning hurricane irma continues to bring flooding, high rain, winds, storm surges as it move north over florida. irma hits the florida keys early sunday morning before macing a second landfall or marco island yesterday afternoon, right now, nearly 5 million people are without electricity. in miami-dade county alone more than 860,000 people are in the dark. downtown miami swamped, even though the storm passed well west of the city. >> on florida's west coast, drone footage showing some of

the damage if naples, where a wind gust of 142 miles per hour was reported. in the miami area, the winds were so strong, leaving tampa bay on display for a time being. this morning, hurricane irma will continue to move over the western peninsula before moving into southeastern dade and overnight, miami-dade police said 28 arrests have been made so far because of the burglary and looting there. >> let's cross over to florida. john thomas is joining us live from tam pam i know t-- tampa. give us an idea of what tampa sustained. >> reporter: it's been a big beating t. local paper has the headline slammed in all big plaque letters about what took place here. irma will go down in history as up with of the worst storms to

batter southwest florida specifically as far south to marco island and to us in tampa and st. petersburg. one thing that has been a big issue is the rain and wind bursts t. gusts of wind in sarasota up to 135 miles per hour. we seen damage, that is a worry during a storm like this. especially when if wind gusts can get to fast. one of the biggest worries have been for those that stayed home. we just saw a police car with its lights open over this bridge. in polk county just to our east, it's between us and orlando. there was a difference between a sheriffs official and a polk county medic escorting a person to the community center when a utility pole came down, two of the emergency person fell got

stuck for a little while. but that's the main ran why they said we won't be accepting out emergency personnel. we can't risk our own people, now things are calminger, we can see those picking up. >> with daylight. you get a better sense of the destruction. thank you. we want to get the latest with where the track is. steve, what do you got? >> all right. the storm is now moving to the north. so the threat for central and southern florida is coming to an end. that's today news, still gusty winds, some tree branchesp and pa palm frauns. we have heavy rain through daytona beach. it's this band that is producing these strong wind gusts,

70-mile-per-hour wind gusts in mayport. 60 miles per hour wind gust in jacksonville, it's still there. that's what we will be concerned about here as we head into around the noon hour a. three-to-five-foot storm surge from the space coat up north. four-to-six feet. >> that combined with the heavy rain that will be in the area here for today going to lead to some tough travel conditions and also some inundation of water and the normally vulnerable spots. we will be looking out for that again, not seeing the catastrophic storm sturgeon it was a originally cast for western florida. that will not happen now. wind gusts as we go through today. that will be moving up through the north. 40-to-50 miles per hour wind bands, calm areas up through

charlestop and down through jacksonville during the day, central and southern florida, will you see conditions. last but fought least, we have another system out there, believe it or fought. this is hurricane jose t. good news is it will meander out in the atlantic. can you see it does a loop-de-loop. we will buy some time before it would ever come close to the united states. again, we will watch this. there are some scenarios that push it out to sea. that's something we want to see as we dealt with two category 4 hurricanes striking the u.s. >> an indication jose could take that turn or are you confident it will meander out there? >> we're confident on the meandering for the sort term. there after, we will determine where it goes. >> we saw it out in the

atlantic. >> we were talking to thomas roberts obviously in tampa there. you can see some of the rain band still hovering over the tampa area when we are looking at that weather wall. >> if look at trek up there. the worst for thomas is it will get hit with rain band from the north and west. it's that real core there, that paul that's moving up to north. that's the center. that's pushing towards jacksonville and savannah. >> maybe it wasn't as quebec, are you surprised by the sort of downgrading of the storm? initially when it was forecast, they said it could easily still have been a category 2 heading into the georgia area. it looks like obviously it's a category 1 pretty quickly. >> yeah, a couple things, that interaction with cuba was important. it was a category 5, it had winds of 185 miles per hour, one

of the strongest storms we've seen in the atlantic. it never fully recovered after that. the earlier landfall today, unfortunately it was very bad for marco i'll, but it was good for folks up the road, tampa areas like ft. meyers, they got less of the storm surge because it was less intense because of that landfall. warm water is the gasoline for these storms. >> that earlier landfall saved areas up the coast. all right, let's go back now to florida and to miami, we have been on the ground. we have been seeing the images as the storm moved in. give us an update of what it's like there, this morning, especially compared to what you witnessed yesterday and the day befo before.

>> reporter: so here on miami beach on star highland where i am now, this is a smaller island connected to the beach. we're starting to the destruction from this hurricane. it's very early. this is sort of a scene that residents will be waking up to, in this island, specifically, you have latino superstarks like marine rubio and julio eglesias. this is some of the image. we saw that storm surge pushing that sand on to ocean drive and even on to adjacent streets. i talk to the commissioner late last night. he says most of the beach, you can see from these images this morning, most of the beach he said stayed for 20 blocks, had no power as of last fight. there the also occur few in place here for now until 7:00 in the morning. >> that curfew may be extended. as we made our way over to the beach this morning, there was a

heavy police presence on the bridge coming to the beach. the police tweeting about potential looting. warning people to stay home for now and warning looters to not take advantage that we are seeing. i spoke to the cops, they said, the looting was quote an issue at the time. again, guys, we are just making or way into the beach right now. there is no way to survey what kind of damage this area may have suffered being a barrier island, just what we witnessed yesterday from the experience being this when we left, it looked like a lot of damage and destruction and as the hours sort of continue today and as the sun rises, we will be able survey the area and tell you guys just how bad it is. back to you. >> marianna, talk to us as you have been driving around, how water logged the city is. when we talked about saturday

morning, we talked about the bridges that you are talking about that correheck connect ou mainland. are people surveying those to may sure they're safe so people that will there can make it over? talk to us about that. >> reporter: so from now, we have been able drive around relatively well in terms of the big bridges him don't forgive the bridges around miami, they're pretty high up. the beach had a lot of risk of flooding because i've lived on the beach before. i know that heavy rainfall will flood many of the areas in the beach. it doesn't appear to be a tremendous problem from what we've heard from authorities and seen on social media, we are coming to to survey the damage. but the year that did suffer a lot of flooding. we show thad in our reporting yesterday or in the early afternoon yesterday was downtown

miami t. area that connects the beach to brickle, to the until part of miami. i already had water up to my ankle. it was rising quickly. that was around 1:00 p.m. today. ki imagine those areas are probably flooding this morning. as i said, we will try to make our way around miami beach, the downtown area, to show you what the scope of the damage is and what residents will be waking up to this morning. >> all right. live in miami franchise miami, we want to if to what is sometimes called the gateway to the keys. that's where we find nbc reporter julia bag. i know you are on the state's southern-most tip. an area severely affected by hurricane andrew getting once again bomb barlded by hurricane irma, how is it looking there this morning? >> reporter:ee aymon, it's a rough morning.

there so some flooding here. it's a total blackout, though, virtually. we found just some small pocks that have some lights around town so far this morning. but power out for most residents here, going on some 24 hours. let me show you some of the damage, this is what was an awning here at this nightclub and actually we were watching this yesterday as winds were just whipping through right here. it looked more like a kite flying off the side of this pulleding. you could see some of the damage here, some power cables hanging. i also want to show you where some cables are kind of dangling. what used to be there, ceiling fants that are now count here came crashing down all along here, so a big mess and they don't have power with it to show you more of the damage over here. these are actually pieces, decorative pieces.

there are alsoty ki huts in this lot. we saw pieces of thety ki hut going flying across the parking lot. there is occur few next right now across miami-dade county, that's what's keeping those people off the streets the roads are blocked in some places as well while police are keeping their patrols on throughout the morning. >> i'm looking at the map of florida. this is sort of to get an idea of exactly where you are. florida city for people that don't know keilar go, isle of mirada, finally key west, which was mum elled by irma. are you seeing authorities driving in that direction now to sort of assess out what's been going on and survey all the damage to look for people stranded in their homes and looking for help? >> reporter: yes what we are seeing now, actually to the south of us, you sant vp can't see it's so dark, there is a brock cade, nobody is allowed to

go south on the overseas highway. what they're dock right now, florida fish and wild life competition officers are checking bridges. keep in mind, there are 42 bridges between here the mainland all the way to key west. so they got to make sure those bridges are skur so they can continue to bring people in to restore power and start recovery at first throughout the keys. >>. >> all right. julia bagg, thank you. . still ahead, we continue to follow the latest on hurricane irma as it moves north over florida into georgia. >> as the sun rises, we are getting our first look at the damage across the entire state. we are keeping an eye on u.s. hurricane irma drives the forecast coast. we'll be right back.

. hurricane irma has been downgraded. in ft. pierce 65 miles north of west palm, this was the scene, big waves coming up on shore with that storm surge very much a threat, despite downgrading to a hurricane one. >> joining us now from orlando, justin michael, good morning to you. let's get an update on what you are seeing in orlando and how this is blahing out on the

ground. >> reporter: well, i can tell you what, in the last two hours or so, the wind has really picked up. in fact, listen here for one second. i mean it has picked up in earnest. the rain has stopped here, at least in orlando. of course, there could be rain later today. but right now it is a windy, windy situation. in fact, within the last half hour a gust was recorded at orlando airport at 69 miles an hour. about a half hour before that, there was a gust at 70. over the last hour-and-a-half, there were a couple at 60. we're talking intense winds, especially the gusts whipping in and around the orlando area on the back side of hurricane irma. so that will be a real problem t. good thing is here in orlando, the food thing is there is occur few until 6:00 tonight. >> justin, were you surprised by the way orlando was in the path of this hurricane. a lot didn't predict it will be

lit severely as it was? >> reporter: yeah, it's quite interesting. if you think back over the last couple days leading into this, we saw the spaghetti models coming over the state of florida. some to the east. some to the west. it tracked more like that euro model going to the west. then it came back a little east again, in fact, earlier tonight, we were dealing with remnants of the eyewall here right in the orlando area. >> wow. >> reporter: so it did track a little more east than they were expecting earlier today, yeah, definitely, a very surprising storm for a whole host of different reasons, none the least that it did waffle as it was coming up florida, right? it didn't go in a straight path. there is a lot of cleanup. the winds are no where dying down. its going to be a long day, people need to keep if mind the curfew. >> i think what was so incredible about this storm was sort of the path of it, that it

engulfed the entire state. a lot of people evacuated to orlando and orlando getting hit as bad as some parts of southeast florida. justin michael, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. from orlando let's go to the west coast to find nbc correspondent kristen dolgren for us in ft. meyers. it's good to have you with us. after the city yesterday got slammed, it appears the storm has passed. what's the scene on the ground there and the concerns for residents, official there is as daylight begins to break. >> people can walk down there. >> reporter: we're at the local station. these guys are coming back, how did it look out there, guys? >> terrible. >> can you come on over real quick? thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> hello. >> reporter: you guys made it through. you came back, you were doing a damage assessment. how did it look out there? >> there were trees, branches.

there were entire roads blocked. we couldn't get through. >> several times, we were heading towards a prominent community in north ft. meyers, three-quarters of the road was covered by a large branch. the other portion was covered by water, that's a real concern for us, few look further, anyone trying to drive around into that water could really sink in, so the whole road going to a major community is cut off. >> reporter: wow, how about a lot of other cars out there or know? >> we saw just a few. the majority of the cars, we did see one car pulled over because they're not supposed to be out there right now. there's occur few. yeah, a lot of officers right now, not a lot of people. >> reporter: how about lights on in the area? >> barely anyt. traffic lights were dangerous, the ones that were on, they were either blinking, you could sell they were off for hours. part of the road, we had to use the high beams, we couldn't see.

getting out, assessing the damage and using the lights on our phones to see the area. >> reporter: guys, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> reporter: we are just beginning to get out to see what's going on out there. and they said it is still really bad out there. and really dangerous on the roads and there is still this curfew in effect here. so people who may have evacuated really destanee spra to the get in and see what their homes look like, imagine that, seeing the winds and the rain and the surge that came through yesterday, you want to see what's left, what made it through, what you have to deal w. and it's still too dangerous and in many cases blocked off to get there. >> yeah, i remember officials saying this could be a few days for it to calm down. still ahead, much more on the trail of instruction left by hurricane irma. we are getting live reports from florida's east and west coast

throughout the morning. we'll be right back with more for you. stay with us.

welcome back, everyone. we are up through the night tracking hurricane irma for you as this storm comes inland in florida t. latest the storm has weakened to a category 1 storm. still massive winds and the threat of storm surge exists. now, in the coming days, places in central and north georgia are

preparing for heavy winds t. transit system if atlanta have cancelled rail and bus service, believe it or fought. some schools are technically closed today. some are closed tomorrow. >> let's go back to florida, ft. lauderdale, philip manna is standing bit. ft. lauderdale did not take a direct hit. as we are approaching sunrise, what kind of assessment or damage are you seeing around that area? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, ft. lauderdale and miami the whole miami metro area. they were bracing for the worst. you see here, there were homes that were shuttered up, metal shutters. we got plywood here. we see driveway flooding. >> that thankfully was the worst of it. we'll show you what was the worst of it. down the street, we pay have missed the eye of the storm by a couple hundred miles, they did not lose the destruction. look at this mess, really, all of these trees. it looks like a swamp at this point. this is going to be the biggest challenge. much like kristen was talking

about in ft. meyers, it's clearing up all of this debris from these streets. there is one road and one neighborhood in miami. ki tell you driving around the neighborhood itself, this was a similar scene in streets and neighborhoods all around this area. thankfully, we did not get the brunt of it. however, you can see there is still problems that lie ahead. p public works will come out here at 7:00 a.m. t. curfew will be lifted. people will want to assess that and check it out. police have been enforcing the curfew to make sure they have precious little time to get these roads cleared before people start coming in. you can imagine what will happen if people come over here and run into this mess in every single street all over this town, that can present a problem. there is a lot of hazards on the road, downed power lines, these

trees, right now eighth process that needs the play out that will take some time. >> very important point make there as the sun rises, authorities there trying to sort of assess the images, they are going down one road to get them from point a to point b and blocked by downed tree, downed power lines, causing more difficulty, getting around that city and assessing where everybody is at. we appreciate up joining us. tanks, philip. >> still ahead, we follow the latest on hurricane irma. >> we will get a check on the forecast coming up next, everybody.

>> welcome back. everybody. it is the bottom of the hour as we continue our coverage of hurricane irma. this morning, hurricane irma continues to bring flooding rain, high winds and a storm

surge as it moves north over the state of florida. it's weakened to a category 1 hurricane, winds there are topping 85 miles per hour. irma hit the florida keys early sunday morning before making a second landfall on marco island yesterday afternoon. right now nearly 5 million people are without electricity. in miami-dade county alone, 860,000 customers are in the dark right now. >> on florida's west coast, drone footage shows some of the damage in napements where a wind gust of 142 miles per hour are reported. absolutely incredible. in tampa, this was the scene outside of a hotel as winds came ripping through. some rooves were whipped from building. flying around, still an issue of concern, even far inland in orlando, far away from the center of this storm, shingles being ripped from the roof as driving rain comes down. this morning, hurricane irma will continue to move over florida's western peninsula

before moving into southeastern states like georgia. joining us now from tampa, nbc news' thomas roberts, give us if you can a quick assessment as the storm moved over tampa, what it has left in its wake in that city. >> reporter: still remains a lot unknown about this, we have noticed in the last several minutes, the return of heavy winds and a little light rain. we have this period of calm for sustained 15, 20 minutes of peace and quiet. we have rauched the return of the hills borough river. the water is taken out of tampa bay and this river, using it in its system. we know the effects of this storm will be historic. we don't know the true scope of it yet. in looking over the eoc in pinellas county in clearwater,

st. pete, that's to our west. they're saying they're still getting wind gusts in the 40. we know that in sarasota, some of the higher wind gusts they got, that below us to our southwest, 105 miles per hour, naples airport clocking a gust of wind at 140 miles per hour, very significant wind bursts. storm surge is the big issue now as people know that these coastal communities are prone to flooding. they aren't certain what they will see from irma. as the sun comes up, we will get a much better idea that people will hurricane horeturn home. back to you. >> i thought it was interesting. i hope you can explain this once again, when you were standing next to that water where you are right now, when you first arrived, scouting out that location, it had completely receded at one point, now

filling up as it normally would, now looking sort of more normal, what people are used to in tampa. when you arrived at that yeah, scout out that location, there was no water preparing for that storm surge that we have been talking about. >> reporter: yes, there are two different major locations in the st. petersburg-tampa area. so here at the tampa river wall. this is the hillsborough river. this was lowered significantly than what we see right now. this is pretty normal. this is what folks here told us up to this sea wall is normal. also the really stunning images have been coming out of tampa bay around the bay shore the alcove there, the water came out and folks were walking their dogs and actually going out to take pictures because they never see the bottom there, because the water is always up against the sea wall. so this area as we were speaking to people working in this area, they were seeing rocks, pipes and things that are here that

they've never seen before because of its depth. this is also controlled by a dam, too, so there were some structural engineers trying to take care of surge by reducing some of the water from the river. they knew a lot of the water energy was used by irma. it's been fascinating to watch it fill up. we were here yesterday at noon time scouting things out. that's when we got the stunning images of how low it was, compared to now, it's a big difference. >> we saw that split screen of those images out of tampa bay the water recede and people were walking out to see the pictures. an incredible sight to see. thank you. let's take a quick hop over to where jacob rascone is standing by. give us the latest on you have been seeing. >> reporter: this place was bracing for the worst hit senatorio. a hurricane hasn't hit in a century, a lot of people will be

waking up thankful there was no worst case scenario. they can hand him the wind, they can hand him the rage. they could not hand him the storm surge. that's what they were really bracing for and worried about that on high tide, which has yet to come up, they would get a giant storm surge of 8 feet or so which would cover a lot of the coastal areas, a lot of the islands. you have 3 million people or so who live in the tampa bay area now. you have thousands of buildings in homes that packed 700 miles of coastline and these islands. that's what they were really worried about and it appears, they're not going to get that. so a lot of people will be waking up thankful. they believe they were ready. you had thousands of people who went to these shelters that were overflowing. you had first responders that were patrolling the evacuation soeps non-stop. you had federal, state, local partners all working toke. we went to some of these shelters.

they're very impressive. they believe they were ready, even though they weren't hit by anything major many so many decades, again, translator wake up thankful they will not get that storm surge. you will see, there's debris in the streets everywhere, just tree fran branches. we seen some large trees toppled in the street, but on that, we haven't seen anything worse. we're in st. petersburg the tip of the peninsula here in the tampa bay area. we haven't seen much worse dam anywhere in the region and so there's a lot to be thankful for this morning. >> there certainly s. i imagine you have a cat 5 driving towards your city, it's always safe tan sorry in a situation like that. a lot of people took safety overall measures. jacob rascone, thanks so much. so one of the biggest stories of the storms, particularly in naples. at one point forecast to get 10 to 15 feet storm surge after irma went through.

>> that number has been down five-to-six feet, a dramatic difference there, already, you can see there is widespread flooding there as first responders surveyed the damage. also in naplesp up with of the iconic images has been jermaine -- germain arena. the lights flickered off. it's a terrifying time to be in. as the storm passed over, the roof began to leak, water drizzling through, but no reports of anybody being hurt. this is video, nbc news' gabe gutierrez, you can see trash can't throughout the place. drone area shows a city very much in disrepair. you see it right there. debris just strewn absolutely everywhere. >> you have a sense of where it is on the ground. let's talk about the hurricane, where it is and where it is

expected in the hours ahead. let's go to our meteorologist, steve, what can you tell us about the hurricane? >> good morning, guys. it is a weaker storm, that is certainly good news to everyone in the state of florida, still causing problems, taking a look at the 24 loop. you can see, look at that eye, it was very impressive. then it wobbled into the coast of florida, right around marco island, now is pushing up into the state of georgia t. real interesting thing here, is, though the distance, it was only 25 to 30 miles east of where the projected path was. it was about 35 miles here, if you think about it, that saved the tampa bay area from dealing with devastating storm surge. so a couple things came together in our favor. i don't think anybody will be angry or upset we den see those storm surge levels. it certainly was a possibility t.er action with cuba. also the weakening a bit before landfall certainly saved us from a historic storm in terms of the

catastrophic storm surge, still a real mess across the state of florida. you saw those images, this was a powerful hurricane, still very powerful right now. it's spread out. so if you think about taking a bucket of water and chucking it, seeing the water cascade, that's kind of what the wind field has done here. you have this huge wind field, tropical storm force winds extend 480 miles out from the center of circulation, so this is a big storm. you are waking up to seeing those clouds in southern kentucky. unbelievable. so some of the wind force gusts out there were very impressive. marco island 130 with the landfall. 94 at key biscayne, 91-mile-per-hour wind gusts in the west palm beach area. so it is kind of unbelievable. it came in like a wall, like it did. that heavy rain and wind is moving to the north.

we are wrapping things up here in central and southern florida. you get a great day. that's certainly good news, georgia and areas of north florida dealing with that storm. >> let me ask you quickly with georgia. one of the issues we were talking to in the days leading up to the weekend, was the concern of storm surge, now we have been focusing on the wind gust and debris and what that means for folks in florida. what can they expect? >> the high tide circle around mid-day, four-to-six feet of water will be coming n. it's also, they are dealing with torrential rain. so the combination of that they will see levels like what they saw last year with matthew. >> right. >> that flooding is devastating, it killed i think 20-something people there. we could be looking at that same type of situation. it's the delayed on set. so hopefully everybody took those precautions. >> it is as prepared as florida was as well. >> they have the tornado threat the heavy rain threat and also the storm surge, but today, it looks like things will start to

wrap up by tomorrow. >> quickly, how many tornado did we register yesterday? >> i have to check. there were several report of tornadoes. these are very small spin-ups. they're not your large tornado, just enough to throw debris in the air for three or four minutes and then they move on. >> i think yesterday, some tornado took a couple roove itself off from houses. >> -- rooves off from houses. >> they last five-to-ten minutes. at one point yesterday we were looking at several off the ocean. it was a scary situation. >> thank you very much. we will talk to you throughout the morning. >> nbc news' kristen dolgren is in ft. meyers, it's an area that has been hit very hard. give us an assessment of what you have seen so far. >> reporter: hi there, good morning, conditions here are getting better, but that just means that now is the time that rescue workers, officials can get out and do these damage assessments. and what we are hearing right

now is that rescue officials are working very hard to try to get on to marco island. that's where the eye came ashore. that's to our south, south of nape him itself. >> that is the area that they are this morning the most worried about, where they believe the most damage was done. they are trying to figure out. there were people who stayed out on marco island, make sure all of those people are okay and assess the damage to homes. they're also working to get into everglades city, that's farther south from marco island and that is a very, very low lying area. it is under water t. road the one road into town right now is under water and so it is going to take boats to get if there to make sure that people are okay. so down to the south, they're still working on making sure that everybody is okay. here in the ft. meyers area,

they will be checking out making sure people survived the storm. it's tree limbs and power lins s out here, we got a sense it was 850,000 people. i wonder what it is in the area are you in right now. >> reporter: right, so state wide, it's millions, the county where we are, 234,000 customers without power out of only 2 swrien,000 pow 59,000 people. the majority is without and that givers you some idea of just how much work is ahead for those power crews. >> >> do we have any timing how long they will take to reach marco island and everglades city?

>> reporter: yeah the mayor is working on it. even before the sun comes up. they are out there, trying to get to those areas. we heard that there was nobody going on or off of marco island. i don't know if that's an issue with the bridge to get out there or what exactly is going on. but they're working to try to get out there and assess the damage and check on everybody. it's still a rescue operation to make sure that nobody who was there is in need of help to get to a hospital or something like that. >> yeah, that's the tricky part of florida with so many bridges and low lying areas to get to. it will be hard to assess the area and be sure the people there are safe. >> stick with us as our coverage of hurricane irma continues. the storm is making its way north from florida into georgia. moving across that border, it continues to lose some of its power. >> we will have the latest from the storm's track and more on the ground as we ae wawait sunr

to get a look at irma's wake. we'll be right back.

welcome back, everyone, as we continue to track hurricane irma as it moves through florida this morning. last night president trump declared a federal disaster, he said he will go to florida soon. >> the coast guard has been amazing already. you have been hearing what they are doing. right in the middle of the storm. fema has been incredible. we're working very well with the governor and the other governors in surrounding states. every group hats coordinated really well t. bad news is that this is some big monster. but i think we are very well coordinated. a group that really deserves tremendous credit is the united states coast guard, what they have done, i mean, they're going

right into that and, you never know, you know, when you go if there. you don't know if you will come out. they are really, if you talk about branding, no brand has improved more than the united states coast guard. it's going to cost a lot of money. right now, we're worried about lives, not costs. >> all right. let's go to miami where we find ron standing by. i understand you are standing nearby the airport there. give us an assessment what you have been seeing so far before the sun rises there. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, we are actually here about two brock blocks away from miami airport. that's ten miles from miami beach. this is five different trees taken down in the storm yesterday. actually i will have andy our photog flew over, this is our run roadway out here.

can you see yesterday 99-mile-per-hour winds uprooted trees along the road here around the airport. you can see the roots when we swing back over here, these are significant trees the palm trees stayed up. over here on the other side are the inlets. you can see different water inlets, we saw was suddenly a lake turned into waves. ultimately, that wind pushed these trees up and over in the area. more than 85% in miami, dade county has no power. so a lot of people are using places like these hotels to evacuate. 680,000. the skies are clear right now. it feels comfortable out. so once the sun rises, we will start to see people coming out, being anxious. one man called up to have a cane saw delivered here to take action, himself. >> let me ask you quickly about the airport. i don't know if you have a sense of what officials there are now

working to try and restore a flight. so that may be a few days away. but what is the immediate concern you think in the vicinity of the airport between clearing out the roads there and restore power to the surrounding areas? >> reporter: word from the airport overnight is they plan to resume a limited schedule come tuesday. it's going to be shut down all day today. five terminals sustained significant winds and water davenlt water came in through several of the jetways and through the rooves. we are seeing initial images of flooding around those terminals. around here, there is a main road in which there were a couple cars trying to pass by this morning. we were trying to make our way down there. there is still standing water as well as trees. well, this is one road here from a hotel that is actually mainly for the airport access. there is still main right of way here that has still struggled for people even if they were to get to the airport.

>> i think it's important to notice the sun has been rising as we lead up to the morning and people figuring out and assessing the damage there. so far we seen the debris. we haven't seen people return to their homes just yet. this is why it's important that people listen to authorities and stay inside because of the debris the falling trees. they can be falling into people's windows and their homes, why people heed these warnings and stay inside until they are allowed to come out t. all clear is given. thank you. all right, we will take a quick break, but our coverage continues as the storm makes its way into northern florida the storm has been downgraded to a category 1. but it is still hammering the state with heavy rains and winds. >> we will get the latest on irma, plus, we will get live reports as people wake up and see first happened the path of destruction left behind by irma.

. good morning, everyone, it's monday, september 11th, this morning hurricane irma continues to bring flooding rains, high winds and storm surges moving north over the state of florida. it has weakened to a category 1 hurricane. but that does not mean the danger over, far from it. irma hit the florida keys early sunday morning before making a second landfall on marco island yesterday afternoon. right now, nearly 5 million