battering south florida. the powerful storm has shifted and is now set to sweep up the state's west coast. irma knifed through the caribbean leaving death and destruction. many of the islands reduced to rubble. hurricane hunters scening us brand-new video of the eye of the storm from high in the air. >> announcer: news 4 begins now with storm team 4. >> i want to show you a live look at south florida this evening. this is usually sunny isles beach. you can see the conditions are worsening as irma moves closer to the area. good evening, i'm erika gonzalez. we have two live reporters following irma's path in

culver. we want to start with a closer look at irma's shift. a new track has come out as of 5:00, samara, is there any further shift in that or what are you seeing now with this? >> reporter: no major changes. however, i will say it's just shifted a few to the west meaning this could be more of a direct hit for areas like tampa and st. petersburg. show you where the storm is located. folks, the eyewall of this system where you see the most catastrophic winds is less than a mile from florida keys. can you see just how large irma is and you can see the extent the rain bands have impacted not only southern florida but central florida. it's not just heavy rain in those rain bands but we're talking tropical storm force winds southern florida will be experiencing. let's get a look at the track. here is a look at the track. category 3 is expected to strengthen over thet

as it continues to push up, it's expected to be a category 4 hurricane at landfall. now how it sweeps up the coast impacting tampa at category 4 status holding it's strength until it crosses georgia border. at the georgia border it could be a cat 1 storm. stick around, we'll be talking about the impacts on the florida-georgia line. hurricane irma slamming cuba as it came ashore as a monday strouse category 5. made it to show took down trees and power lines. damage but no reports of deaths. irma pounded bahamas. the capital missed some of the worst damage but still a sign of the presence today as the storm barreled across the northern coast of cuba. now, our team coverage dins tonight with news 4's david

david is in hollywood peach flar florida. i see you, hear the conditions around you but set the scene of what you're experiencing right now. >> reporter: yeah, erika, the winds are pretty calm kpird to the gusts we've had really in the past five minutes or so. right now checking the gauges at 30 miles an hour, could be three times this at 90 miles per hour. a lot of folks have been hearing about concern on the west coast but no doubt here they still need to be very much prepared. where we are in broward county, a curfew zone. a couple of hours, the curfew got under way. that's why folks are gone from here. we see police every 15 minutes or so patrolling up and down the sidewalk. you can see, this is a good telling sign, the palm trees. you look at the palm trees. right now they are just blowing at a rather calm to strong pace. they are not bending like you see in some of those really strong images out of the

through but they are expected to intensify and you can kind of hear it even against my jacket, some of that pelting rain that's starting to come through here. for the most part folks are heeding the warnings and staying off the streets. we did see a couple when we were pulling up in the past hour and a half. they were desperate trying to get some sand into a bag and trying to get some elements together so they could protect their belongings back at home. send it back to you, erika. >> hey, david, i can hear it. thanks, i appreciate you wiping off the camera lens there. thank you guys for being out there. i'm glad to see there's nobody else out there. i want you to stay safe. let me ask you this as far as authorities concerned and with this thing shifting to the west coast of florida, do you think you're hearing from emergency officials the same type of severity and urgency for people to hunker down, if not evacuate. hopefully they have already evacuated. are you hearing that same type of urgency from officials?

interesting you ask that. because we're seeing the shift to the west, folks here, authorities are saying, please don't become complacent, lax, because you're seeing the shift, along eastern portions, very strong winds, storm surge. the kerp is still oconcern is s they are urning people in the to rush back to their homes and not feel they are out of danger just because of the current track. >> david culver live, stay safe out there. our team coverage continues on irl that shift in the forecast raising new and dire warnings for people in florida. we want to get out to nbc's sarah rosario live in ft. lauderdale where they are already starting to feel the effects of irma moving in. sarah. >> reporter: erika, here in ft. lauderdale, we're already starting to feel the early effects of hurricane irma. we are

and off rain, strong wind gusts. things are expected to worsen as the night continues and into early morning so much so that governor rick scott is warning people who are deciding to stay, if you're going to be staying, there will be no help for you. >> the onslaught has begun. >> what you're saying there is outer bands of irma. >> heavy rain and winds already lashing the miami area. even with the brunt of the hurricane a full day away in the florida keys, water lapping up on the only way in or out. >> the storm is here. hurricane irma is now impacting our state. >> the massive storm scraping the northern coast of cuba today, expected to turn northward overnight. >> it looks like southwest florida, then up into the tampa area later on sunday and into monday. >> that jog westward putting a lot of people who thought they would be spared irma's worst right in the cross-hairs and suddenly preparing for catastrophe. more than 6 million ordered t

>> hundreds of thousands of seeking shelter tonight along the florida golf course. some waiting in lines for hours for a safe place. >> they are telling us we have a chance of having 6 to 12 feet of storm surge, which i've been here since 1986. we've never seen that. >> seen here in astonishing video from hurricane hunters, imis also expected to dump up to a foot of rain and bring wind of more than 120 miles per hour. >> our state has never seen anything like it. >> as hurricane irma inches closer. >> here along the intro coastal waterway in ft. lauderdale, this bridge behind me is now closed leaving no more access to ft. lauderdale beach. there's also a mandatory curfew in place right now and any residents on this beach when the storm hits will be on their own if they try to ask for help tomorrow. reporting live in ft. lauderdale, sarah rosario.

>> some dire warnings. sarah, let me ask you, because of this new track do you feel like the people you run into are still as concerned as they were? do you feel like they are breatheing a sigh of relief here? >> i think many people are breathing a a sigh of relief. they were worried at one point miami was going to be a direct hit. now that it's moving westward, they are breatheing a sigh of relief. officials are warning, this storm is huge, bigger than florida. we could see hurricane force winds coast-to-coast. officials are saying, don't do this. prepare for the worst because you still are going to get a lot of impacts from this storm. >> even though you're not a direct hit. >> all right. nbc sarah rosario in ft. lauderdale, florida. thank you. you guys stay safe out there. our team coverage on hurricane irma continues. show you live pictures from hollywood beach. somara theodore standing by with the storm's track. here at home a local community. here tht

share why they can't wait to get her ba into the classroom. ck

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developing tonight laura wallen's students spent the day searching for their teacher. her family hasn't heard from her or seen her since they recei

earlier this week. laura spepser has more on the desperate search. >> current and former students from wilde lake high school in columbia spent their saturday posting flyers and spreading the word that a teacher they loved has vanished. laura wallen has been missing for nearly a week and she's four months pregnant. >> i'm very worried about her. she cares about all her students individually. she's one to always be there for us. it hurts a lot she's gone. >> police confirm they found her ford escape in a parking lot not far from the school. the discovery has raised more concern. where is she, and is she okay? >> this concerning. i really hope she's safe more than anything. i know her family is going through a lot. i hope they are safe. my thoughts and prayers are with them. >> the students know there's an active police investigation going on but they tell me they felt they needed to do something to bring awareness that their teacher is missing.

first day of school tuesday. wallen county police have been searching her home in olney. her disappearance remains a mystery. in columbia, darcy spencer, news 4. the district doing its part to support florida as we brace for hurricane irma. in moments top leaders break down their plans. what's in a name? quite a bit when the name is that of confederate general and it's applied to a local high school. the future of

it's a controversial confederate general's name that many at one fairfax high school want renamed. as news 4's derrick ward reports, a meeting today allowed people's input for other possible names. >> reporter: the school was almost named munson hill after the nearby fort commanded by the man chosen in the first place. >> not civil war era but stifle movement. >> made by fairfax county school board. >> these next couple of weeks aimed at, hey, let's hear from you. what are suggestions? >> one that wanted to keep it as it is. >> those that want to

political objectives will never be satisfied. >> the one here is the name must change. i'm advocating barbara rose johns high school. she was a young student from northern virginia whose protest over the conditions in her school became part of brown v. board of education, the case that desegregated public schools. another name also sugd. >> justice authorithorough good marshall lived. >> ronald reagan. >> the only thing sure is that eventually the name j.e.b. stuart will be removed from the high school. in falls church, derrick ward, news 4. >> back to coverage of irma, d.c. stands ready to help states that may need it once hurricane irma hits. a team of emergency it management experts leaving florida. they left southeast as a 13-person team that will work in the emergency operations center in tallahassee. the group from homeland security and emergency management, fire management ser

water as well. they plan to be in florida for the next couple of weeks. all right. somara theodore joining us now with this new track. our focus was miami before. now we're looking at naples, st. petersburg. what does this mean for folks that live on the west coast of florida. >> that means a possibility of catastrophic events occurring here. we're going to see many impacts from this. not only flooding conditions but storm surge, one of the deadliest components of a hurricane. let's go ahead and get straight to the satellite imagery. the atlantic is active. last time we had three named storms 2010, katia, if you don't know by now, is actually remnants and the biggest storm barreling down on florida, irma. zooming in here the eye of the storm is just tuned 100 miles away from the florida keys. the newest track came out at 5:00 p.m. from the national hurricane center. it takes a little bit to load, it's a lot. here we go. category 3 is what it's at now. here is the thing, the temperature down near the

keys, 90 degrees. that is like premium gas for these storms. it's trucking west northwest at 9 miles per hour. it's expected to strengthen as a result of that. then it will head towards landfall. again, it's going to be impacting areas like cape coral. we've got areas like naples. then making almost the newest track really has it making a direct hit on the tampa st. petersburg area as a category 4 storm. that is a major hurricane. that's going to be around 2:00 a.m. monday morning. late ostomy night into monday morning is when we're going to be expecting to see those major impacts in the tampa st. petersburg area. one thing you'll notice is this storm really holds onto its strength, remaining category 1 possibly as it moves into southern georgia after which appoint as we move to the week the remnants will be northern alabama and tennessee. that's about wednesday at 1:00. again, subject to change, especially this far out, but it seems as though the track is becoming more and more defi

western coast of florida. so here is a look. the miami radar right now picking up heavy rain bands. remember the eye where we see strongest winds further south. look how far reaching the rain bands are. they are experiencing tropical storm force winds pretty soon in southern florida even before the eye makes landfall. another impact, the rainfall, folks. we see the greens, the oranges, the yellows. this looking more like a rainbow. when we get into the blues, purples and whites, 11 inches to 14 inches of rain expected across the state of florida. remember, it's a big storm traveling from the south up towards the northern peninsula in florida. one of the deadliest, as i explained earlier, components of a hurricane is storm surge. i want to break that down. i have a lot of questions on facebook. sm sm somara, what exactly is storm surge. the wind from a hurricane is so powerful it drives the water inland. when we're looking at 10 feet of water, we're now inundating the first level of a home. in

see in some areas like naples 15 feet of storm surge. this definitely a dire situation for folks in southern florida. here at home tonight, manna stark contrast. temperatures dropping to mid-50s. cold night ahead. we're expecting pleasant conditions for sunday. if you're headed to redskins, eagles game, temperatures in the 70s, lots of sunshine. i'll have the ten-day forecast coming up. >> all right. somara, thank you. we've got you covered on air and in our nbc washington app. there you'll find plenty of stories including what florida is trying to do to protect animals as the storm comes closer to the state. switching gears. maryland coming off a huge win over texas as much as i hate to admit did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's up to 16 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to faster downloads with internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second.

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you get our fastest... internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com chris miles, maryland lit up in the season opener saturday putting up 51 points against 23rd ranked team in the country. on the road turks kept their foot on the gas this afternoon. their home opener. back in 2016 maryland scored 93

somehow their offense has gotten out to a better start this year. terps drive down the field on their first and more on the second. d.j. moore 34 yard catch and run. second touchdown connection between those two. ty johnson led the sequestration with over 9 yards to carry last year. first play of the next drive he has a block and has two words, i'm gone. 124 yards to touchdown, just five touches for the junior. 21-0 maryland there. 63-17. terps scored 114 points in their first two games. >> we're going in the right direction. i feel like we have the same goal and playing with at loaf energy, a lot of excitement. guys with more experience, step up and contribute. starting to come to fruition on the field. >> always says best thing about being 2-0 is the chance to be 3-0. we want to come in and

opponent. make sure we're ready to play. >> okay. so indians visiting orioles. cleveland on a 16-game winning streak, opponents by 84 runs during that span. in the 5th carlos santana. indians jump ahead 3-1. top of the 6th, orioles looking for a response. they call up tim, solo shot 23rd of the year. 7th inning francisco linder, final run. 17 straight games, 12th streak of that many since 1900. redskins kick off their season against eagles tomorrow at 1:00. they are getting some love from other pros here in d.c. nats who most phillies excited. max scherzer and his wife

barbecue in d.c. fans participated in live draft, nationals and other local athletes. proceeds all benefiting the nationals youth academy. redskin players in their drafts, including going with kirk cousins. >> a good year. last couple of year has been great. playing for a contract. contract year. so hopefully he'll keep doing what he's done the last couple of years. >> mine is loaded. receivers and running backs. i expect a big year. >> i thought i had a steal in the 6th round. got to get some hometown boys so i can root for the guys back here. >> a good value there. hopefully healthy and ready to go. he can catch a lot of passes in the league. kirk cousins got to throw to somebody. he's going to be a big pass

catcher. sloane stephens defeated madison keys, became the first non-williams to win a major since 1998. i'll have a full update of the games tonight at 11:00, erika. >> chris miles. we'll see you then. all right, somara, one final check of the weather for us? >> as we head through the next several days we're expecting changes monday, tuesday, could be tracking remnants here in the d.c. area. >> somara, thank you. want to remind you special edition of "nightly news" with lest holter

could be the most catastrophic storm in florida's history. the desperate escape from hurricane irma with 7 million urged to get out of harm's way, while there's still time. with irma now targeting florida's west coast, the governor warns of a huge storm surge, telling residents it could cover your house. tonight we're on both coasts of florida with those taking shelter, some waiting in long lines, and with those who choose not to leave, as the hurricane that has killed dozens moves toward its violent next act. "nightly news" from florida begins right now. >> announcer: hurricane irma, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight from