>> this is a special edition of abc 7 news, tracking irma. >> the bad news is that this is a big monster, but i think we are very well coordinated. that big monster, a little bit of a smaller monster at this hour. president trump keeping a close eye on irma as a category two storm. exacerbateove the glacier income overwriting federal aid to assist with recovery efforts. landfall ons second marco island, where police are warning people who did not use to get to higher ground right away. irma hit the u.s. as a cat three

storm in the florida keys. residents riding out this storm shared this video with us as the winds whipped in the water surged. and then, irma left downtown miami under more than four feet of water in some places. white caps on some city streets. and flying debris. then, irma's eye moved out of naples. that area getting thrashed with high winds and high water. reporters and plum trees getting pushed all around. the storm surge is a big concern along the gulf coast. irma sucked water out of tampa bay, and people know this. forecasters are warning folks. irma is meant to send it rushing back. i am kimberly suiters. more than 2 million people without power tonight. it could be a long time before they get it back. we have team coverage of hurricane irma. we begin with meteorologist steve rudin

tracking the storm. are we talking about less historic proportions? i want to give you the latest update. updates come in every hour from the national hurricane center. 100 10. wind gusts at 130 miles per hour, moving to the north at 14 miles per hour. it made landfall on marco island earlier this afternoon, now drifting towards ft. myers and eventually up toward tampa, where they are expecting significant storm surge over the next four to eight hours. let us show you the tractor that storm as it moves towards the north. it is a category 2, and the winds are going to lessen a bit. by 2:00 in the morning, just aroundmpa, with winds at 85 miles per hour. do not focus so much on the winds, but rather the storm surge, and then this will eventually lift off to the north, being heavier rain to parts of georgia,

alabama, tennessee, and kentucky. love going on in florida. meteorologist josh knight has been in florida for the last few days and joins us right now. it looking behind you, josh, looks windy, but you are standing in it, not holding on to anything tightly. josh: i am going to give you a little demonstration here. we are hiding right behind this wall. it the winds are really gusting, so it looks like it is getting a bit of alittle break before i wd out here. i literally had to hold on to this fire hydrant. you can see how different it is. we are downtown in tampa. the wind is getting funneled. we easily had just close to the -- gusts close to the hurricane force. part of the sustained winds. you can see the rain coming down in sheets across the area. i am trying not to lose my hat. we are looking at the storm quite a bit

continue to head this way, bring us the winds. talking about the cancer to weaken. it is important to keep in mind that a category 2 and category 1 can cause plenty of damage. we are going to get back into safety because we are just about at the point where you can have entriesthe palm fronds come down. brad, you are over closer to the river. hopefully, the wind is a little less strong for you. what do you have going on there? >> we got the same win, but we are in a sheltered area because we have got to be doing the broadcasts all might long. we have to protect the camera little bit. that is a plus for us. the wind is really picking up. we are starting to see the effects, the trees blowing around, the landmark bridge here in the middle of town. the thing that i wanted to talk about is the water. you heard kimberly make a mention of it. if you look across the river, you can see below the signs left by rowing teams

bottom is exposed because the wind has been blowing the water away from town. away from tampa bay. and we have seen places where the water appears to be down by as much as 10 feet or so. top, you heard kimberly make mention of the fact that the storm could bring it back. we have been talking about the wind direction here. right now, it is going like this. you have cranes you can look at and you can see the direction of the wind. they have been freespending. wondering how they are going to hold up in the storm, but the wind is going to change direction out the storm approaches and then passes, and what could happen is on the water being held away, it could come rushing back, and with the force of the storm, we are in a flood zone. the water could easily come up and over. really one of the reasons why this town, for the most part, has been evua

. a curfew started at 6:00 p.m. the next couple of hours will be really telling here, kim. brad reporting for us in florida. officials are ready to help residents once the winds died down. they have stored 3.2 million liters of water. they have 67 trailers filled with meals. they have collected 24,000 tarps to read officials reached out to the federal government to kick in more food and water. they also asked for nearly 700 cases of baby supplies. stay with abc seven for complete coverage of hurricane irma. get the latest videos of the storm and a look at the damage wjla.com. you can track hurricane irma by downloading our stormwatch 7 weather app. we have some breaking news to tell you about out of bethesda tonight. one man died after getting stuck in the b

fire. the second manned is being treate -- man is being treated for smoke inhalation. there wereals say signs of hoarding. coming up next on abc seven news at 6:30, as irma's path of destruction growth, how are former president -- our former presidents are stepping in to help. >> i am very happy. i'm very happy with my life. kimberly: he has been through and survived so many fights. now, facing possibly the toughest battle of his life. john mccain talks about his cancer treatment and his mortality. >> i am robert burton. a bumpy start for the redskins. fourth quarter. just under two minutes ago, 22-17. it is rolled a fumble. they lose

30-17. we

>> hurricanes and flooding have upended lives and livelihoods. kimberly: fascinating storm relief project launched by all five living former presidents have expanded to include help for those impacted by hurricane irma. one america appeal was originally started to help hurricane harvey recovery in texas. a live look at the capital, where hurricane related absences prompted the house to postpone vote scheduled for tomorrow. a beautiful sunset. florida has 27 congressional districts. most members are at home riding out the storm, as are both of florida's two senators. >> we have to understand that the climate may be changing, and we can take commonsense me

mccain and his first interview since being diagnosed with brain cancer in july. mccain said at this point, his premises is "pretty good." fact is, i am facing a challenge, but i faced other challenges, and i am confident about getting through this as well. kimberly: he sounds good. mccain underwent his first round of treatment last month and said he will undergo an mri tomorrow. saysda's power and light it will be weeks, not days, before electricity is fully restored. coming up, how local crews we caught up with our heading south to help. treke are tracking irma's right up the western florida coast. steve rudin lets us know who needs to be on alert as the sun goes down.

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kimberly: parts of florida feeling the purity, and -- the fury. the storm lost power before making a second landfall in marco island this afternoon. ft. myers getting -- sarasota and tampa are next. the storm pushes up the west coast. life-threatening storm surge remains the biggest threat. irma's winds caused two cranes to collapse in miami. both were sitting on top of high rise buildings under construction downtown. fortunately, no one hurt. a miami city manager says two dozen cranes remain upright. there was not enough time to lower the cranes, they said. secured to the building with the tops allowed to move like weathervanes. more than 2 million customers

north to help after hurricane sandy, and now, as ryan hughes shows us, agility companies are returning the favor. backing up,is loading cases of water and andrade, tightening chains getting its fleet of trucks to deploy as hurricane irma wallops the west coast of florida. >> you really can't prepare because we do not know the extent of the damage. 250 pepco than employees and contractors are heading south. other utility companies. their mission, helping florida power and light restore power to customers during what is expected to be one of the country's largest power restoration efforts ever. the crews are driving to north carolina. they will ride out the storm and wait for irma to pass and then driving to florida, and start assessing the damage. >> what we expect to see is a lot of downed wire, a l

lines, and pulls down. katrina, we had crews down. this is the largest we have responded to. command vehicle will be the base of operations. phones will help dispatch crews to different areas. as the monster storm spatters florida, this line of trucks will be a welcome sight once it arrives. collaborating to get service on as quickly as possible for the residents that will be impacted in those areas. preparing to work around the clock for weeks. in force still, ranges, abc 7 news. kimberly: more than 200 employees and contractors are on their way to florida to get the lights back on. they are going to join 1800 other personnel who will head south once the worst of the weather passes. we are

dominion energy. i was asked if i had family in florida. cousins, aunts, uncles, and lots relatives. he boarded up his windows. some neighbors have chosen not to. so -- >> amazing stuff. the pictures we have seen -- i mean, we knew this would be bad. to see tampa bay, the water i mean, aut of it -- lot of folks are saying it is really cool, but they do not realize that mine feet of water nine on in and moves -- feet of water comes in and moves quickly. couple came to shore a of hours ago. the storm is finally beginning to weaken in terms of its wind speed. good news, but still, we have a long way to go. 12 to 18 hours before the system finally moves out. ft. myers looking at heavier rain. you can see the rain bands continue to spin in. for charlotte looking

rain. dicee going to slice and the hurricane. many layers to the storm. here is one layer here. another here. this is what spins and spins. that is overland, things are beginning to settle down. we do not have the warm water to feed off of to keep the storm strong. we will head to the back end of it. the edge of it is moving towards tampa. this is now the strongest layers of the storm of the oranges, yellows, and the reds. you can see where the eye once was. right over here. this is lifting to the north and moving at 15 miles per hour. here is the latest for you. at 14out of the north miles per hour. maximum winds than 110 degrees. at 110 milesnds per hour. as it moves into georgia and alabama and settles

low-pressure pressure bringing moderate range of parts of illinois and indiana. that is not until wednesday and thursday of next week. let us bring things home to the dmv. it is gorgeous. upper 60's to 70 degrees. nighttime lows tonight, another chilly night. 58 degrees. early this morning, the coolest morning we had in about 115 days, so it has been a long time since it felt like that around here. looking at the business tomorrow, quite wasn't. a little bit below average for this time of year. lots of sunshine adding clouds later in the day. looking at around 80 degrees. the chances for showers into tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. this is courtesy of irma, and a lot depends on her exact track. by next weekend, looking better, with highs around 80 degrees. kimberly: i also hear that he'd is going to be a problem for south florida after the storm. anchor: it is going to be hot and no ac,

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>> and now, the toyota sports desk, brought to you by your local toyota dealers. robert: so far, and also good for the redskins. the five-game win streak snapped today. a game that has skins fans saying " oh, snap." kirk cousins over the middle to chris thompson. check out the effort. he goes in for a 29 yard touchdown. the eagles lead 16-14 at the break. under two minutes ago, 22-17. it is ruled a fumble. picked u

he is in for the exclamation point. they lose 30-17. moore, from fedex. erin: the redskins have lost five straight season openers. four, under jay gruden. the defense really kept this team in the game, but the offense looked sloppy. the turnovers were costly, and this certainly was not kirk best performance. they will have to correct these mistakes quickly if they want to avoid an 0-2 start. >> it is frustrating. we are better. we all had our hand in it. offensively, it was not good enough, obviously. >> right away, i looked back at the ref and it looks like this. but they have time to look at it , youet it right, and so know, i am not going to lose sleep over that.

defense, they made them, they stopped them. the ball punted, and that is what i think about it right now, so i will get over it. erin: to hear more from the players after this season-opening loss to the eagles, be sure to watch abc seven sunday at 11:35. scott abraham will also have a piece on ryan kerrigan as a defense. back to you. robert: and it should be a good piece. automate, trea turner launches one deep to left. that ball is gone. the best is yet to come. the marlins lost today, so the nats clinch their fourth title in six years. the going to uncork champagne. it is celebration time. congrats to the nats. the nats would play the cubs in bs. mlb kimberly:

that matchup. robert: as far as the redskins, it is the beginning of the end. let us give it some time. kimberly: keep hope alive. with that, another check on irma as the storm rides up the west florida ralph northam: i'm ralph northam, candidate for governor and i sponsored this ad narrator: ed gillespie says dr. ralph northam doesn't show up? dr. ralph northam was an army doctor and a volunteer medical director at a children's hospice. he passed the virginia law requiring concussion standards for school sports. the smoking ban in restaurants. and dr. northam is working to connect veterans to good paying jobs in virginia. ed gillespie is a washington dc corporate lobbyist. he shows up for whoever pays him.

kimberly: some of the video from a irma does not look that bad right now. people were saying hurricane harvey looked much worse. anchor: it is bad out there. once we get the storm surge, that comes in and goes out, and that will be the big problem. winds are at 110 miles per hour. wind gusts at 130 miles per hour. moving to the north and 15. that destination will be tampa, where our josh knight is right now with a live report for us tonight at 11:

along with brad bell. this is not over with by a longshot. kimberly: that is where my cousins are. they sent me a video of their preparations. i will put it on my facebook page. thank you for watchin

tonight, hurricane irma, monst monster storm. a special edition of "20/20." we're live inside the danger zone. >> whoa! >> incredible video just coming in. as irma slams into naples. my "20/20" co-anchor david muir taking a direct hit. >> the sheets of rain. >> our abc news team, tethered down, reporting from every point along the way. storm chasers risking everything. but racing in through a solid wall of water and wind.