at this hour. florida's governor left at a loss for words after surveying the damage today. >> my heart goes out to the people and the keys. there is devastation. i hope everybody, you know, survived. it's horrible what we saw. jonathan: while the damage in the keys is substantial, the governor says that he was encouraged that the damage on the gulf coast was not as bad as expected. michelle: not to say it won't take months or years to rebuild from the damage. two-third of the state is without power. our brad bell is in punta gorda not far from where irma made the second landfall on the u.s. what kind of damage are you seeing out there? brad: well, you know what? what we are seeing is a lot of trees down. right now this is something that i want to show you. when we did the first appearance with you at 4:00 today th

dry. virtually a puddle. but now we are getting a second storm surge. not coming in as a wave of water but a really high tide coming up through the storm drains and into this community. we have also seen branches down all over the place and in punta gorda there is some structural damage. we talked to the people who live in the houses and some of them actually stayed behind. some arrived here today. they have different stories. those just arriving today. stunned to see water. relieved it wasn't worse. those two spent the night describe a terrible night. >> it was noisy and it was wet. as fast as you would mop up water it would come down from the ceiling or in from the sliders. >> could not see a road or sidewalk. it looked like part of the river. >> those two people describing two different impacts from the st

water from the ceiling. the roof was blown off. another describing this phenomenon. storm surge through the community and left her house as an island. talk about the power outages. we drove down here today from tampa. we intended to go to naples but we couldn't get gas. we had to cut short the trip. good thing we did. we came to the community and we heard from the people here had to endure. so many power outages. one gas station in this town is och. one grocery store. one chinese restaurant. that is it. in punta gorda, brad bell abc7 news. jonathan: all right. thanks. throughout the storm we did see images like this. you saw a big blue flash. that is a transformer going off. a lot throughout the evening blowing up. the trees were ripped down. taking the power lines with them. often times we saw the poles coming down as well. at the height of the storm 9 million homes and businesses. no power. in the dark. now armies of power crews are heading to the aftermath to begin repairing or rebuilding the

often times that is what it will take. crews from our area are arriving as we speak. they are told they need to plan to stay in florida for two weeks. michelle: as the southern part of florida takes the first steps to the clean-up and recovery further north a growing problem is flooding from irma. a problem that is extending well into the carolinas. stormwatch7 chief meteorologist doug hill tracking irma tonight. doug: at this hour, a flash flood emergency has been declared in the charleston, south carolina, downtown area. that continues until 8:15. the reason surge is part of it. it's consistent winds. more importantly, the consistent bands of the tropical downpours off the atlantic ocean, one after the other repeating. hume water problems. still water rescues in progress in charleston as we speak. the flood warnings in effect. they are widespread downtown and up to the north and west a little bit. gradually late tonight and tomorrow. that will improve. look at the rainfall totals at the marine corp air

five and a half inches of rain. charleston, dockside, four and a half today. mount pleasant south carolina south of charleston 2.83 inches of rain. it's indeed a mess. the winds are still kicking up. even though the storm center is near albany, georgia. 40-mile-per-hour gusts. 37 miles per hour gusts in jacksonville and atlanta gusts now way away from the center at 44. later this week, maybe showers of the pop-up thunderstorms as the remnants creep our way. we talk about that and the weekend coming up. jonathan: thank you. as irma turns deeper inland it's causing problems with if air travel. this is thenessry map. all this red -- this is the misery map. all this red is either canceled or delayed. that is understandable when you consider that is the storm that continues the march up through the southeast. shutting down one of the big hubs. florida, forget about it. all the airports remain closed at this hour. more than 100 delays and cancellations reported. that

storm trying to get home any way they can. and richard reeve is at reagan airport. i understand they will try to get miami and tampa back open as quickly as possible. >> hoping to get them back as soon as possible. but that may be a day or so. take a look at this. see the incoming flights here. look at these right now. they have some of these canceled. some change as we speak. some are on time. some are simply delayed. this is a big mess for travelers. planes are flying from the reagan national. only a few to points south. >> we are inland but trying to make the best of it. >> monica and her daughter erin flew up from orlando to go to d.c. last thursday to avoid irma. now they are stuck. >> we don't know what time we are getting back. we had a flight today to atlanta. but the connection flight to orlando got canceled. >> they aren't alone. irma forced 10,000 flight cancellations nationwide. in a

canceled. jetblue canceling 900 flights. >> it's a mess for everybody involved. nothing you can do about it. >> at the dale city rest stop members of the atlanta car racing team hoped to fly home. instead they are driving. >> a lot of people trying to get back southeast but the flights have been canceled. >> retired army veteran williams adams, badly injured in the leg and back, he fled florida thursday with his dog trina, staying with family. >> a lot of flooding. typical hurricane. >> now he is going back to his home in cape coral near fort myers. windows gone. >> hard to keep the tears back because my friends are there and see destruction. a foundation is all you need to start over. >> even as we are standing here we are seeing more cancellations from jackson, mississippi, and miami. this is a

effect. if the planes can't get up in the air tonight or tomorrow morning it's likely there will be more delays. a lot of folks keeping the fingers crossed. reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: thanks. before irma hit the u.s. mainland the hurricane killed at least 36 people in the caribbean. don't lose sight of that. cuban officials say ten people died when the storm pushed water into a havana neighborhood. the eck tent of the damage varies depending on the island. but across the caribbean there are shortages of food, water and medicine. u.s., french and british military are recovering in the operation. jonathan: we will continue to monitor irma's impact on florida and the southern united states. find our continuing coverage online and wjla.com. there you will find a list of the charities already on the ground. if you would like to contribute helping the coats. michelle: now this. shocking video. metro bus driver reading a newspaper while he is supposed to be watching

jonathan: a house explodes, shattering windows a block away. but one thing has the investigators

ralpand i sponsoredralph northam, canthis adfor governor 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.

jonathan: look at the tv screen. see debris littering woods? that is all that is left of a 1na 200 square foot house in

indiana. they want to know how it exploded. the explosion did shattered windows up and down the block at least nobody was hurt. michelle: heartbreak at a home day care in charles county. police say a 2-year-old boy drowned in a pool in waldorf. i appears that he wondered outside and fell in the water. the daycare was licensed and the woman in charge was making breakfast when they realized the boy was missing. jonathan: the family of a missing pregnant teacher is offering $25,000 for her safe return. no one has seen or heard from her in a week. >> i want to let her know we are looking for her and we are not giving up on her. her s.u.v. pound at an apartment complex near the

michelle: coming up, racing to help two manatees trapped by hurricane irma and how good samaritans saved their life. jonathan: what metro is saying after a bus driver caught reading the newspaper instead of watching the road. michelle: this week we are saying farewell to the chief. jonathan: doug hill is leaving us. veronica johnson has parting word for doug hill and the impending retirement. veronica: doug, i am going to miss you. you will forever be remembered with me as a remarkable spot on baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online.

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michelle: today, the nation paused to remember thousands of lives lost and millions changed. this is the ceremony outside the site of the trade center to commemorate the 9/11 terror attacks that changed nation 16 years ago. jonathan: in shanksville, vice president mike pence laying a wreath to the memorial of united flight 93. visitor center now preserves the story of those who gave their lives to stop

hijacked plane from reaching washington. michelle: in arlington, a chilling moment as a flag was unfurled on the pentagon marking the slot where united airlines 77 hit the military headquarters. jonathan: today, president trump and mrs. trump were among those paying respects there. northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg talked to those who rushed to the scene that day. jeff: for the first responders in arlington who rushed to the pentagon on 9/11 memory of that moment -- >> crystal clear. jeff: dash has not faded with time. arlington fire chief james got on scene and began providing aid for the injured. 16 years later he is moved by the effort of the firefighters and police officers with so many others. >> it was pentagon, civilian, military, everybody coming together for a common cause to help one another. >> i remember it very, very well. >> senator tim kaine, then a candidate for

the morning of 9/11. he says while intelligence officials believe a repeat of an attack on the scale of september 11 is unlikely, they remain concerned about smaller scale attacks. like those in barcelona, nice and berlin. >> we need to get better to share intelligence with the allies. the only way to stop oneoff attacks is by shared intelligence. jeff: each year the ceremony brings back the pain of that day. but for the men and the women who rushed to, it brings back a feeling of great pride. we were unified. we completed our mission. >> the extensive training that has taken place since 9/11 undoubtedly prepared them to respond well to any potential threat in the future. in arlington, jeff goldberg, abc7 news. michelle: new details on a security scare outside the white house.

into custody along the northern perimeter. the agency says he threw a sign and a notebook over the fence. jonathan: caught on video a prompting moment. say you are on the bus and you look up to see the driver doing that. reading the newspaper. yep. rider captured the video. the bus driver is reading the newspaper while supposed to be driving. not smart. the metro general manager called it unacceptable. >> i made it clear we are holding people accountable. jonathan: metro's union is not commenting on the video. the driver has been removed from service while they investigate. michelle: back to hurricane irma that brought out the best in many people trapped in the storm's path. in manatee county, two manatees got trapped when the storm sucked the water from the bay. group of bystaners rolled in

and then put them back in deeper water. they don't swim that fast so it makes sense with the nature of the storm they didn't have time to go back. jonathan: heavy animals. they are heavy but they dragged them back. michelle: the storm has set all kind of records. doug: 7 million people still without power. we have a live look at national harbor. look at the sky. no threat from the weather. the cloudiness is 900 miles, 800 miles at least northeast of the circulation center. it is 70 in baltimore as we speak. flu the evening is

by tomorrow most areas are in the 50's to the 60 degree mark. satellite and radar will show the area to pick out the circulation center. that will continue to move northwest. but putting the rain band and the gusty wind in the atlanta area and continuing to the charleston area. that is a big weather story right now. because of the flash flood emergency still underway in downtown charleston. the forecast, sun will shine through the clouds. comfortable day. but then some of the bands holding together could give showers through wednesday. thursday and friday and maybe early saturday morning when the actual circulation center breaks through and heads east. maybe thunderstorms thursday or friday. that will be that. we are looking ahead to the ex-new days with a warming trend. 74 tomorrow. 79 on wednesday. 78 on thursday. with that gone a chance of

thunderstorms. i want to talk about jose. hurricane with the top winds of 100 miles per hour. 360 miles north of the grand turk island. right now it will take a little move here to the southeast according to to the forecast from the national hurricane center. it will start to eject north and west. will it continue that way or turn east? will it even go on this track or get stronger or weaker? nobody knows. it is out there. a track on it from the hurricane center. they are watching it. we will pass along the reports as they are released. for the next ten days we can see the increasing chances of showers and a few thunderstorms later in the week. and as we get through the weekend it warms nicely. lower 80's. most of saturday and sunday look fine with sunshine and maybe a shower on monday. otherwise upper 70's. comfortable weather through the middle to end of next week. michelle: very nice. thank you. jonathan: this is an exciting time for the nats. they have done it before but did it the fastest they have done it.

get too excited. it's only the division. jonathan: breathing deep. robert: calm. michelle: we have been here before. robert: we have. many times before. a special guest celebrated with the nats. the redskins still hasn't found their rhythm. what jay gruden says they are missing next in sports.

robert: there were still questions about jordan reed and the toe injury affecting the play on sunday. but today he told our erin hawksworth he is fine. but the jut come of the game -- outcome of the game wasn't. loss to the eagles. there were several dropped passes, four turnovers, the eagles sealing the deal with a kirk cousins fumble. he also threw a pick. maybe first game jitters but either way they have to get in sync before the rams. coach gruden: we have to keep practicing. we have to get them on the same page and calling the plays they are comfortable with and can run. get the tight ends more involved and involved in the passing game if we have to. we will get it together without a doubt. they will have good chemistry sooner or later the nats owner celebrated with the nats. on the bottom left-hand side in the wheelchair, he recently announced he had cancer. bu

seven-year deal and that paid off. jayson werth went down memory lane covered in bubbly. >> i believed in the vision that they set out. here we are seven years later, with the division and a chance to maybe one or two more. i think it's been successful to this point. i came here to win a world series. still got that chance. we still have games to play. hopefully this is the first of many celebrations. robert: the 0's play the blue jays in toronto. jayson werth said world series, daunting. jonathan: it would be nice to see them win one. robert: very nice. great. wish them luck. fingers crossed. robert: yes. michelle: final check on weather. doug: irma is a tropical storm and will continue to get weaker we are tracking the influence of rain. maybe the effect of us. steve has it at 11:00. update on hurricane jose when he sees you then. michelle: speaking of irma we learned of a death on south carolina related to t

up next. he's our pediatrician, dr. ralph northam. born and raised in rural virginia went to vmi. trained at johns hopkins. an army doctor who treated soldiers seriously wounded in the gulf war. eighteen years as volunteer medical director of a children's hospice.

in virginia. he'll get it done as governor. ralph northam: i'm ralph northam, and we need to provide access to affordable healthcare for all virginians, not take it away.

tonight, the stunning devastation from hurricane irma. the storm still hitting the u.s. right now. irma slamming in jacksonville. a flash flood emergency. parts of that city under water. the new storm surge tonight. water rescues underway. tornado watches as we come on. parts of charleston under water. and atlanta now getting hit. also tonight, our team flying to the florida keys. amy robach on the ground there amid reports of complete devastation and despair. roads washed away. homes destroyed. the massive power outage here in florida. more than 6 million customers now without power. many without water. more than half of florida in the dark. the travel nightmare affecting flights coast to coast tonight.