the mayor of delray beach. it's great to have you with us this morning. the question we've been asking officials throughout the course of the morning is at any given point, your concerns as of this moment, as this hurricane both intensifies after leaving the coast of florida and make its way towards florida -- cuba, i should say, and makes its way towards florida and it has shifted slightly to the we have the coast of florida than the east coast. >> good morning. yes, the shifts -- the shift was a bit of a surprise. but given the windshield wiper like models we have seen throughout the week, we'll we're still prepared for category 4 impacts and if it happens to be less than that, we're okay with that. but our curfew went into effect at 2:00 a.m. the time for preparation has passed. >> quickly, if we were to look at this preparation in stages, right now you're still in stage one in that preparing stage in that evacuation area. is there any take aways from this part of the stage of of this hurricane that you can have so far that you can learn from going for

we do want to look again at the weather and back to robin in delray beach, florida.ut irma's storm surge but another hurricane as you mentioned. hurricane jose on the move this morning. >> we're having problems with rob's audio, which we will get back to him briefly but we do want to say as david has been mentioning that the storm with the new track takes it along the southwestern part of florida, many cities there directly in the bull's-eye. one of them is the city of naples where they're expecting a storm surge of up that's where we find abc's victor oquendo. victor, good morning to you. >> reporter: that's one of many concerns. people in mind a lot of people came this way to try to get away from hurricane irma and all watching the latest models and unfortunately for everybody here this hurricane is now heading right this way. mandatory evacuations have been ordered for people living in coastal communities like where we are right now but in speaking with the chief of the naples fire department he says at this point it is too late to try to drive out of the state. l

tonight, this is atlantic avenue in delray beach. it is normally packed on a friday night. there is parlor still open. they are closing. the pizza place is bringing out storm shutters and they will turn their restaurant into one that looks more like this, like all of the businesses in town. they are covered with storm shutters and they are putting down sandbanks to try to protect against the storm surge that they fear so much. preparations for irma have been in effect for days now. go through a residential neighborhood and you will see homes with storm shutters in place. in delray beach, you will also see plenty of people at home, where they plan to stay for the duration. >> five-story summit bunker, hurricane glass windows. i think will be ok. brad: this town has seen its share of hurricanes and near misses for many feel they will be fine with precautions, so they are continuing to board up businesses and sidewalk cafÉs taking down awnings. there are sandbags in ple. >> the water comes, it comes. i have a nice roll down shutter that i will put down to protect the property.

thank you, victor, for your reporting and, rob, back in delray beach.er. how much concern about this hurricane? >> well, let me tell you, the same folks that got devastated by irma, this is a horrible situation, paula. and it's just mind bhogling that we have another major hurricane. this one a strong category 4 that is approaching these islands, so barbuda, st. martin, st. barts. my goodness, you're under a hurricane warning right now, but if you see that track you'll be on the weaker side and the core should miss those islands but they'll still get heavy winds and debris and just the living situation there is horrifying so just not a good situation for them over the next 48 hours and for us over the next day and a half to two days this is our situation on the west coat, 9 to 1 feet of storm surge, probably as much as that in some spots to tampa. even though it's drifting west storm surge will be intense. even all the way up here and a chance for tornadoes over the next two days along the entire florida peninsula as you see. >>> good saturday morning.

we'll start with senior meteorologist rob marciano who is in delray beach with where irma is right now and what we can expect. good morning to you. >> hey, paula, good morning. here we go. it is on approach to florida watching it for days and even though we have seen a western shift in the track, it's not a good situation for anybody because this storm is just so large and damaging winds extend so far out from the center. currently a strong category 4 storm with winds of 155 miles an hour. look at this beast on the satellite. you see the cloud canopy expanding now into florida -- into florida. it's been raking the coastline of northern cuba all night long and now it's about to make that northerly turn get nothing key westment let's go through the track now. you see that distinct eye, about 30 miles wide, and as it approaches key west, it will likely be a strong category 4 or 5 and hit really warm water and then just west of naples, ft. myers, sarasota, tampa, late tomorrow night, that will be scary in the middle of the night a major storm and getting into georgia as a tropical storm. h

from delray beach, florida, please welcome sean shah. >> whoo! yes! >> what's up, brother?easure to meet you. >> bring it in.

brad bell joining us live from delray beach. you have seen people hitting the road and other people wanting to ride it out. brad: that is right but there is a difference. we have seen the preparations farther in advance than in the past. locals telling us the same thing as well. it's still beautiful. winds picked up a little bit. there are people out enjoying want to walk across here. the sun is difficult to deal with for the camera. across the way, you can see this restaurant. they have put sand bags up, plywood. they have a low wall that will hopefully keep the water out. we have others also seen people heading to the shelter. high school in del ray beach can handle 4200 people. what we saw today with the people flocking to that place. some of them bringing pillows and some bringing blankets and some bringing cots. we saw people come in, in wheelchairs including this woman who said she could not stay in her own home. >> i don't want to take the chance of accidentally getting stuck. and then having somebody rescue me in the sto

from delray beach, florida, please welcome sean shah. >> whoo! yes! >> what's up, brother?. >> whoo! [cheers and applause] whoo

we'll take a quick break as we look at images from delray beach as this storm approaches. you just said? my livestream won't load. (blows whistle) technical foul! wrong sport. wrong network. see, you need unlimited on verizon. it's america's largest, most reliable 4g lte network. it won't let you down in places like this. even in the strike zone! it's the red zone. pretty sure it's the strike zone. here, use mine. all right. see you on the court, champ. heads up! (vo) when it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. now plans start at $40 per line for four lines. when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. maybelline's fit me foundation. fits skin tone and texture. blurs pores. controls shine. our most diverse shades ever. maybelline's fit me matte and poreless. make it happen. ♪ maybelline new york ...where each drop was formulated to be smarter.... ...even smarter than that... ...so if a color didn't go on evenly, it would balance it

. >> hi, i love florida, but our -- her parents outside of dell r-- delray beach. >> are you callingm. >> i'm calling them every day and every several melt downs about it. >> dolly and lenny, get out. >> we love florida. just watching this thing scares you, i mean, the storm itself, just a massive storm it's headed towards there fflorida. with the new path of the storm, it looks like theyan they leave and make sure they get to shelter. my brother who lived in miami who told me he was thinking about not evacuating. i made him get up here, hopefully he's on a flight today getting up here later this afternoon. but all eyes right now on irma. all of our thoughts and prayers for the people in florida. as hurricane irma draws near, please note we're with you every step of the way. we'll be tracking irma, through the weekend. we'll be sharing ways you can help victims down in florida on our nbc washington app. news 4 is working for you. >>> now at 5:00, destructive, extreme, our leaders say hurricane irma will go down as one of the most infamous in history. >>> irma set to hit land fall thi

in delray beach, florida. nancy: this is the scene at the pit stops in i-95. th plates loaded with people and supplies trying to get away from the storm. many are taking shelter in our area. they are talking to the people fleeing irma. he is live at the airport where the flights bring people here by the hundreds. rich? richard nancy, time is running out. a lot of people making hard decisions. a few flights now from south florida. the question should we stay or go. for helen and her family this apartment is home. >> we are watching and waiting and praying to god. >> she and her sister and their children. they drove up from fort lauderdale wednesday afternoon. >> she said we have to leave now. where are we going? decision. she bought this home in december making $60,000 in renovations. at nearby home depot, there are no plywood to cover the windows. >> i couldn't find anything. i just left to save my family and my life. 18-hour trip. no time for goodbyes. >> i am sad and happy because she kept me safe. i left without saying goodbye to anyone. richard at nearby r

this is video from the city of delray beach. it shows strong winds battering trees and heavy rain continues to pound that area. in the early morning hours, irma moved up the florida coast, unleashing powerful gusts and dumping rain. the storm knocked down trees and power lines, flooding left several roads impassable. more than 6 million florida residents are without power this morni morning. near jacksonville, one county official says floodwaters damaged between 400 and 500 homes, as irma's outer bands move into georgia, 800 flights have been canceled at atlanta's airport. nbc 10's christian cazarez just got access to an island to sway the zanlg. >> reporter: this is one of several areas that are struggling with a power outage and now we know why. look at some of these electrical cables, downed power lines, basically victims of the strong winds we saw here in the last 24 hours. now, this is not just the only damage that authorities have on their hands. we also have some damage here from some of the commercial properties, on the

to that we turn to the weather channel, stephanie abrams in delray beach. different conditions where you are right now, stephanie, than where julia was at the very tip of florida where we expect the hurricane potentially to make two landfalls. one on the key west isles, and then further north on florida's west coast. >> if this does make landfall as a category four, this would be the first time in recorded history that the yaegts has had two category four landfalls in the same season. of course, we had harvey in texas and now we do have irma. we do anticipate that happening. i am a little bit farther north, but we're going to start to see here what she's seeing with the outer bands coming in. it is much breezier today, and what's happening is we have our low pressure, which is our storm so the south. it's actually a high pressure off to our north. there's a little squeeze play of the winds in between those. that's helping giving us a little extra breeze this morning and on shore push. they're already seeing rains and storms into northern florida, and that i

when they look at irma making its way toward southwestern florida, miami, hollywood, boca, delray beach maybe won't see the strongest winds but have a higher concentration of tornadoes. now, again, as we continue to watch the anderson make its way off the coast, very interesting now to continue to watch the eye. already seeing on the infrared. the colder cloud tops so it's starting to generate energy but we may be going to one of the eyewall cycles and almost the entire state of florida under a hurricane warning and watches to the north, will change in due time as the storm progresses northward. we talked tirelessly about the storm surge getting quite great. you have to understand where you see the area of purple of 10 to 15 feet. initially, that's wetlands, that's everglades. barely any roads until you get to alligator alley and extends through the carolinas that will continue to be the case. here's the eye. that secondary is starting to occur. we start to see that with the outer band starts to form and shrinks in toward the center and gains strength. it's a little close to the shoreli

so everyone from key west, miami, hollywood, boca raton, delray beach, all the way up toward daytonahe entire peninsula most likely. they've been shifting e ining e west. we'll see what happens come 11:00 tonight. >> we're a couple minutes away from that for an update. thank withdrew veyou very much. tom sater. i want to bring in craig fugate, administrator of fema during the obama administration. thank you very much for joining us. you see the devastation irma left on the islands. how concerned are you for florida? >> we're very concerned. i'm a floridian. i grew up here. we dealt with hurricanes in '04 and '05. this is not andrew, this is not charlie. it's much worse. that's why people, again, we're urging them as the mayor of monroe county said, you need to evacuate, you're running out of time. >> miami-dade county will open 13 additional shelters tomorrow, i understand, buses are going to provide transportation to the shelters. what's your message tonight for people who don't want to leave their homes? >> again, it's your decision, but you're putting yourself and your family in a

one of those people sticking it out is marlin, a delray beach resident.understanding is you just moved to the area, the delray beach area on the east coast of florida from the new york area. is that correct? >> i moved here about a year and a half ago. my wife grew up in boca raton. kelly: great area. i love boca. but it can turn ugly when you have deadly storms like hurricane irma lashing its winds on you. what kind of impact have you had by choosing to stay there? >> you know, the power went out at 3:00 a.m. yesterday. so we just rode it out here. very, very heavy rains. you just hear the howling and you look out the big windows and you see the trees shaking, you are seeing debris flying. we had a little tree in the back that went down pretty quick. it was more about seeing the rain and hearing it. something i never experienced before. kelly: that can be harrowing and frightening. is this the first storm you lived through? your wife being from there, perhaps it's not her first. >> last year the was matthew but this is obviously a much larger magnitude t

delray is boyton beach, there was a time when they thought the storm was going in the east coast, you? >> yes, we did. hail mary, whatever it is. if you look at the trees, they are really starting to bend. it's pretty rainy and i don't have to tell you it's stressful. shepard: i'm sure it is. do you have electricity and contact with all of your family? >> yes, we do. we haven't lost power, so all relative to what's going on all is really pretty good. hep shep where she is well north of south florida. i mean, it's still part of south florida but certainly the north end. >> right. shepard: terry, good luck to you. the storm is probably about to do west of fort lauderdale now. fort lauderdale, hollywood, approaching, due west all the way across the state and it's a mess over there. listen. >> do not let up, easily 44-mile per hour winds. we have been listening to phil's forecast. we heard about the one that was just a while ago in fort lauderdale, hollywood international, it's only a few miles south of where we are now and then we've also, we've spun around on the island here to see some