juli: this is a coral reef. coral reefs take up less than 1% of the ocean. they are quite small in terms of space. but they have a disproportionate effect on marine life. it's estimated that 25% of all marine species depend on call reefs at some point in their life. coral reefs are these incredibly vibrant, abundant places rich in marine life. but coral have a problem. they are bumping up against climate change. the reason why coral are first of all animals. they are like little cn enemies that live in -- see an enemies --sea anemonies that live in colonies. about the size of a pencil eraser. you can see in their tissue, the little green dots. those are algae that photosynthesize and feed 90% of the sugar they make to the coral. that is the energy coral used to make the limestone skeletons they live inside of that creates the architecture of our reef. when temperatures rise, and we don't know exactly who starts it, but either the coral kicks out the algae or the algae abandons the coral and it takes with it its color and also its sugar. so suddenly the coral

how do coral have sex? >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharon al fonzie. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more tonight those stories and more tonight on "60 minutes". captioning funded by cbs . ♪♪ giorgio, look. the peanut butter box is here. ralph, that's the chewy pharmacy box with our flea and tick meds. it's not peanut butter. i know, i know. but every time the box comes, we get the peanut butter. yes, because mom takes the meds out of the box and puts them in the peanut butter. sounds like we're getting peanut butter. yes, but that is the chewy pharmacy box. ♪ the peanut butter box is here. ♪ ♪ the peanut butter box is here ♪ alright, i'm out. pet prescriptions delivered to your door. chewy. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ if you have advanced non-small cell lung cancer, your first treatment could be a chemo-free combination of two immunotherapies that works differently. it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-

and if the coral reefs are disappearing, done whole by 3rd has already been destroyed. and yet properly taking millions of fish out of the reefs to be kept on aquariums and health up. they have no idea exactly how many they're taking and what consequences it's having for the reef. it has caught allendale in 2016. her research took her to soon away in indonesia, why she saw people hunting, apprised bon guy, cardinal fish. they live in small groups, seek protection among the corals and plants, and are easy to trap in a fishing net that's time these called all fish into an endangered species for the community hunting for tropical fish as a welcome source of income. but the consequences for the ecosystem of coral reefs could be fatal, escaped on pursuit wind from iceland. fission is globe been studies done on individual types of fish calling from the cleaners. as for example, they picked parasites of bigger and smaller fish and seen. they're like the healthy spices of the revised quote all in that. a 5th. when one hop on to soon came off to a month, there was an experiment

and if the coral reefs disappearing done, hold a 3rd has already been destroyed. and yet people are taking the millions of fish out of the reefs to be kept on aquariums in health up. they have no idea exactly how many they're taking and what consequences it's having for the reef. it has caught all in that in 2016, her research took her to su, noisy and indonesia, where she saw people hunting apprised, bang, i called, and will fish. they live in small groups, seek protection among the corals and plants, and are easy to trap in a fishing net that's time. these called all fish into an endangered species for the community hunting for tropical fish as a welcome source of income. but the consequences for the ecosystem of coral reefs could be fatal, escaped on for so coin from iceland. fission is globe being studies done on individual types of fish calling from the cleaner us. as for example, they picked parasites of bigger and smaller fish and seen. they're like the health and devices of the revised quote, alden that a 5th, when one hop on to soon came off to a month, t

and the house of the coral reef really did break down on a number of species, declined on every fish in the color reef, plays a role euthanize. so it's important to understand what happens when you remove these fish from the environment. so can boss proceed by monday, sufficient household meet them. laban found research shows that between $40.50 coral reef fish end up in aquariums around the world each year. it's a long and often deadly journey that klein officious aka hits moll dead fish. he said as some one fishing on a small scale in the north of barley, i for though fish for different species and take them to an intermediary that had thought that the fisher put into plastic bags and kept at high temperatures, tropical temperatures, lorden is not clear how many folks die in this processor, but the rate is very high. it hawkins, is it in the city? then they go to the next in amy tree and so on until they reach the exporter. and only that person knows how many fish are being exported to europe or pot export via an estimated $4.00 to $5000000.00 tropical fish and up in european aquar

. >> diving to save the coral reef.ncreasing sea temperatures due to climate change cause the corals to bleach and eventually die off. this was once a colorful coral reef. not only did it help protect cousin island from coastal erosion, it was also a habitat for endangered fish species and a nursery for commercial fish. in order to rebuild the reef, reef rescuer luca saponari and his colleague first take a chisel to the corals that survived. >> we try to work with what is called super corals. in this way to help the reef to recover. those were strong and resilient. >> these coral fragments are going to be the beginning of new life. >> so we just open and we do this operation for around 100 fragments. we bring the rope underwater and we fix it on the nursery. >> it is the largest coral nursery in the world. more than 40,000 corals have been raised here in such underwater stations. when they reach the right size, they are planted on the seabed. the corals create new life, and rare species of fish return. >> when the clima

coral hobbyists raise coral in the garages, basements, and living rooms. they have developed a lot of tools that are being shifted to coral restoration. one of the things that these people have discovered is that if you cut a coral, if you saw it and create another and, it grows as much as five times faster than regular coral. you can grow coral a lot faster and as they are starting to pharma, this is an important technique. they have known this for decades that this is what they do to create new pieces of coral that they sell or give to other people who are hobbyists. now, the scientists are taking these techniques and using them to propagate coral which they can then replant in the oceans. the equipment, the racks, they all came from the aquarium hobby. yet the hobbyists have their own names for coral that are not scientific names and the scientists have their scientific names. they haven't spoken to each other that much except for you're right that it's changing there's a horrible disease going through the caribbean right now called stony coral tissue l

population of about 200, 000, cape coral sits on a large peninsula surrounded by water, and cape coral is the classic florida real estate city. founded in 1957, it was a swamp, brought up by developers who marketed to prospective buyers as their own slice of paradise, a waterfront wonderland you can see the sign there. back in 2006, pbs aired a documentary detailing the documentary of how the city came to be. >> the salesman spread out across the country and around the world praising and sometimes exaggerating the joys of living in this new waterfront wonderland that was springing to life in southwest florida. prospective buyers were flown to cape coral where they were wind, giant and taken by car, plane or boat tours and subjected to a high pressure sales pitch. they called it fly and by. small aircraft often taking it and on an impromptu stripped on the cape coral parkway would flight buyers over the vacant land where salesman dropped bags of flour to mark their new home sites. >> thing is as improbable as it seemed when they were doing that, it worked. as michael grim wall writes in

coral reefs. they act as a buffer.st barrier reef and right now it's at risk from stressors like pollution. >> they're dying around the world. >> reporter: caused by the climate crisis. >> i would say the problems facing coral reefs are human. you can't have the ocean running a fever every summer and not expect there to be impacts. >> reporter: in this chain a sign hope is not lost for florida's reeves. elk horn floral spawning. it is the first in the world to reproduce this threatened coral using this technology. >> when it finally happened, we were just -- the first sense is just sheer relief. >> reporter: kerry o'neill is a senior coral scientist. she's been dubbed the coral whisperer. she lives up to her name. this spawning produced a couple,000 baby elk horn corals. she says her team expects 1,000 to live. >> this is a critical step. >> reporter: named for its resemblance to elk antlers, it lives at the top of the reef crest meaning it plays a big role in protecting florida's coast line from devastating storm surg

it health and productivity of the coral reefs.— coral reefs. cause for optimism in _ coral reefs. it is a rare cause for optimism in a _ coral reefs. it is a rare cause for optimism in a world - coral reefs. it is a rare cause l for optimism in a world where small gains can have a significant impact on their chances of survival. richard griffiths is the head of operations, island conservation, pacific regional invasive species management support service, and joins us now from new zealand. thanks very much forjoining us. we havejust painted out the way in which the eradication of invasive species does have an impact on climate change. how big a deal is it in the grand scheme of things? to the grand scheme of things? trr answer that question, david, the grand scheme of things? trr answerthat question, david, it might be good to start with why islands are so important. islands make up just a small part of the earth's land area, but they support a disproportionate amount of biodiversity. unfortunately, that biodiversity on those islands has been se

boats they're going to run afoul on two on the coral and the coral probably many places stretches 400, 800 yards wide. have you ever run in a bathtub or in a swimming pool? how slow that process is. and imagine the challenge of climbing out of of a of a landing craft onto, a coral reef in which it still is going to have some water on it. and these are ocean currents might add. and then having to lumber across the coral reef drop into the lagoon, which might actually be, say, somewhere in the realm of eight feet deep, right. the reef drop into that with a pack and a rifle and somehow manage to hold your breath while you're waiting ashore. and as you wait ashore with with the water, as it's receding, you're getting shot at by bye bye machine guns by mortars and other kinds of weaponry. that's a recipe for disaster. and so aware of this tactical challenge across coral reefs alerted the marines to try and study this problem. the challenge for them was they weren't able to convince the navy this was a problem. and so we'll see how that works. now so could pose this question. how would the

spawning produced a couple,000 baby corals.>> it's really the most important. this is a critical step to preventing alcorn coral from going extinct in the state of florida. >> reporter: named for its resembles to elk antlers this lives at the top of the reef mass means it has a big role protecting florida's coast. the problem is -- >> now there's a few left there's only a few scattered colonies. >> reporter: only 300 will left around florida, she says. >> it makes me emotional because i've seen the destruction of this species in my career. >> reporter: getting them to reproduce isn't as easy us a think. terrestrial animals do this all the time, you know, when you have an endangered panda or chimpanzees, the first thing you do is start a breeding program, but coral reproduction is super weird. >> reporter: o'neil tells me in the wild they are not successfully reproducing. they are also notoriously difficult to keep alive in aquariums, part of the reason why, she says, they face so much doubt from the scientific community that th

elk horn coral spawning. this using aquarium technology. >> when it finally happened, we were just -- the first sense is just sheer relief. >> reporter: carrie o'neill is a scientist and she's been dubbed the coral whisperer. this produced a couple dozen baby elk horn corals. her team has figured out how to spawn 13 other species yet elk horn takes the top spot. >> it's the most important. this is a critical step to preventing elk horn coral from going extinct in the state of florida. >> reporter: named for its resemblance to elk antlers, it lives at the top of the reef crest meaning it plays a big role in protecting florida's coast line from a devastating surge. now there are so few left. a few scattered colonies. >> only 300 are left around florida she says. >> it makes me emotional because i've seen the destruction of this species in my career. >> reporter: getting them to reproduce isn't as easy as you think. >> terrestrial animals do this all the time. the first thing do you is start a breeding program.

they have reproduced elk horn coral one of the most important reef-building corals in the caribbean whichrevitalize ecosystems while also offering protection from hurricanes. cnn national correspondent isabelle rosales is joins us now with this exclusive. this is fascinating and this wasn't an easy achievement for scientists, they had a really challenging time getting to this point. >> absolutely. it's such a fascinating story here and such a stunning achievement and scientists over at the florida aquarium they are thrilled about this big breakthrough. they have done what no others before them have ever done, what some peers called impossible but this is only the beginning. spanning about 350 miles florida has the third -- the world's third largest barrier reef but right now it is at risk from stressors like pollution, warming ocean waters and climate change, period. now the florida aquarium says it is the first in the rorld to row produce the threatened elk horn coral, you see this video of it spawning right here using aquarium technology. this spawning right here produced a couple thous

we are buying time for the corals. corals. >> scientists are planning to breast implant the coral into the florida reef when they are big enough in about two years. > >> all right. i want to go dip into the ocean with of these ts we have. >> all right. try to stay cool s cool this weekend. you can keep up with all of your weather needs right here on kpix. thans kpix. thanks for joining ul homelessness crisis. so how will that new revenue be spent? new housing units in all 58 counties, including: permanent supportive housing, tiny homes communities, project roomkey supportive hotel units... and intensive mental health and addiction treatment. in short, 27 means getting people off the streets and into housing. yes on 27. in i just want to put that entire night behind me, which has been easier to do no i assume you heard through hope that sheila, she-- she died. >> deacon: yeah. >> finn: something wrong? >> deacon: it's just, uh... that's a lot to take in. >> finn: are you-- are you okay? >> deacon: i'm just, uh... sorry.

you're looking at a break through, elk horn coral spawning.rie is a scientist, also dubbed the coral whisperer. o'neil expects about 100 k0u8d survive into adulthood. her team has figured out how to spawn 13 other species yet elk horn takes the top spot. >> this is the step to making elk horn coral not going extinct. >> reporter: this coral lives at the top of the reef crest and plays a role protecting florida's coastline from devastating storm surge, which climate change is making worse. problem is -- >> now there's so few left, a few scattered colonies. >> reporter: only about 300 left around florida she says. >> makes me emotional because i've seen the destruction of this species in my career. >> reporter: getting them to reproduce isn't as easy as you think. >> terrestrial animals do it all the time when you have endangered pandas or chifmpanzes you start a program. >> reporter: but it's not reproducing in the world. and it's hard to keep them alive in an aquarium. >> we've faced criticism of people you can't keep those in an aquarium, tha

anybody coming in here because the coral they think they've got a natural defensive barrier. so plans a daring mission his marines bring their ilk they bring their higgins boats with a great place to be from new orleans. but up to the to the to the beginning of coral and the guys jump out in the water and the water is up to their necks. and sometimes over egg, so that they want to walking in and they're going to execute this maneuver the right and basically catch the the japanese are expecting something because we start a bombing but are not expecting get hit from the back side. so this is a brilliant maneuver here we see our raiders on the morning of august 7th. they actually in they've jumped over the coral walking in the japanese don't yet know that they're there. there are a couple of snipers in the area that get taken out. but this this operation was basically a surprise. us navy photo taken on the morning of the operation can see the radar units are going to be moving in. there's a ravine there, there's a hill to 20 that is going to be defended by the japanese and we wo

scenario fishing tourism any kind of income will come to ukraine completely from these coral reefs andup the waters of the city. that mu is praised by the heat of the indian ocean has increased the water temperature by six degrees celsius, which has led to the mikuleru coral strata and the skills of the mass to appreciate those nestan reef feathers, help the joint program urada malta narrow islands and the british institute of maritime investigation at nikton novokuudsy. i'm trying to spend the world in improving the meat waters. how to fully comprehend what is under threat their task is to document marine life at depth. this is a bodyper and a systematic investigation at a depth of applied thousands of meters of torpidity to live everything to check stan yahu's health, zatym of this dadina. we will give the hurray to the maldives. ucap, yes, mahchistvo dig new fucking areas and increase resilience before the onset of the climate crisis, more expensive to the next ship will stretch 35 dune novokoucin team, visiting eight different places to explore the ocean boulder. we have robots. wh

i know you got a condo on cape coral, jim tell us what you have been seeing today, because cape coral first land mass hit. >> hey, shep, you are correct. i'm actually in a very good spot because we picked this condo for its elevation. we're at probably 15-16 feet above sea level. so no problem with storm surge here, but storm surge has devastated, and it is at this moment devastating parts of southwest florida. this has been one for the record books. this community of southwest florida has never seen a hurricane come through like they are seeing today. >> what are people going to see tomorrow for people who bugged out to get away from the storm, what are they going to witness when the choppers go up tomorrow? >> it looks like a war zone. tree branches, tree debris everywhere i am getting reports of roofs being ripped off of some homes other homes have water in through their entire first floor. this is really the big one in fact, it's bigger than a big one. this is consuming all of the counties in southwest florida, but primarily the coastal counties really are going to have their hand

from ports charlotte to cape coral. that's life threatening 10 to 15 ft that could alter the coastline. the rainfall forecast is also very dangerous 18 to 24 inches of rain just dumping down between these major cities of jacksonville, tampa and orlando, and if you look at the impacts moving forward pretty much the entire state will have impacts for the next several days back to you, ryan and andrew. all right, kevin. thank you. let's head to the florida coast. now abc is justin finches in tampa. justin. what's the scene like there this morning? brianna andrew. good morning. perhaps you can see the wind and rain are really picking up here in the tampa area. hurricane in no doubt is getting stronger and for many, the time to evacuate has run out. overnight hurricane ian delivering its first blow to florida, hours before the storm is expected to make a direct hit as a major hurricane. the outer bands of ian have already spawned at least three tornadoes in the state. one of the twisters flipped over planes and damaged hanga

punta gorda into cape coral.ort myers, big cities, will all be under some type of saltwater flieding. either a foot, in some spots nine feet, above the gutters for some houses. that's how much surge is coming in here. the center of the eye is still offshore, but the eyewall is coming onshore. then we move this far east. tampa, you're still get north winds, some winds over 100 miles per hour. on the east side, the winds will come of. i can take you to this radar. there's cape coral, to naples, there's the eyewall, just finally making landfall. it's not considered landfall under the middle of the eye goes over land. john? >> the way you described this, millions of people in the path of this storm and will feel the severe impact. as we said, the life-threatening impact. let's go to punta gorda, which could see the worst of it and very soon. our randi kaye has been there all morning long. what is your you seeing now? >> reporter: we are seeing some pretty heavy winds, actually. i'm getting an -- [ inaudible ] >> okay

myers and cape coral. >> joining us now is the mayor of cape coral, florida, john gunter.ly know you have a lot of work to do there. so thanks for taking the time. >> you're quite welcome. glad to be here with you. >> i want to put a map up on the screen because this is will explain to folks who don't know cape coral well the layout. the blue lines on the map know show all of the canals, hundreds of miles of canals as i understand it, that are vulnerable points. if there is storm surge as advertised, tell me how much of that area, how high above sea level it is. what are the most vulnerable areas and what do you do about this threat? >> yeah, our city has probably more canals than any other city in the world. and we are away that there are possibilities of storm surge and the prediction is anywhere from five to ten feet so that is very concerning to us and making sure that we get that message out to our community. because we realize that not only is it that there is high wind potential, but high surge possibilities so we want to make sure that our residents evacuate those

cape coral is a city of around 200,000.inated by this continuous network of canals, making it extremely vulnerable, according to the local real estate agents. it has almost 400 miles of waterways. here's what the city looks like from the ground. yesterday, residents who had not evacuated cape coral were ordered to shelter-in-place, and have since been stranded. back at the coast in fort myers, these are hel residents who have been waiting out the storm without power. one local official described the devastation. >> to say it is devastation would be a severe understatement. just watching people in homes and things flow by. it was a very tough scene to witness. we have lost most of our entertainment district. many, many businesses, many homes. they are starting the search and rescue efforts as we speak. if i could relate anything to anyone, please, please stay away. >> fort myers counselor. you can hear the emotion in his voice. look at this. these are storm hunters, and they flew through the eye of this hurricane. speaking a

and it went over cape coral.ioned at, you know, the radar that i was looking at, we were is always on the outside of the wall. so our winds got pretty strong. whenever it shifted, 's started coming out of the west and we started to see a lot more damage happening. >> todd: lorrie whited, we appreciate you. we know it is not easy not having power water. we appreciate you waking up and giving us your story down there. >> thank you. >> todd: a hurricane continues but we are talking to the salvation army to coordinate to relief efforts across the disaster zone. >> carley: find out how you can help coming up next. ♪ ♪ hi. i'm wolfgang puck when i started my online store wolfgang puck home i knew there would be a lot of orders to fill and i wanted them to ship out fast that's why i chose shipstation shipstation helps manage orders reduce shipping costs and print out shipping labels it's my secret ingredient shipstation the number 1 choice of online sellers and wolfgang puck go to shipstation.com/tv and get 2 months fre

is a small island between fort myers and cape coral on the map.being with me and for being able to talk about this, as i can only imagine what you are seeing and going through. i want to show the pictures and video you took from the balcony of your apartment and that water everywhere. wind. the whitecaps on that water flooding by where you are. what in the world was that like? >> it was kind of unbelievable to be honest with you. the winds are picking up in the morning. we were prepared as we could be. to be honest, we were still prepared but there was nothing going on. we had laid down to take a nap. when we woke up, there was six foot of water next to the house. fortunately, we were on the second floor. >> what is it like right now? >> total devastation. every telephone pole in town, every restaurant is total. the water has receded, but it left behind mud and muck everywhere that you could walk. there is debris everywhere. i mean, i live across the street from the restaurant and a 30 foot walk in cooler that was 150 yards away is now on the road

john gunther, cape coral, florida. some of the most beautiful beaches in the area, bradenton, venice, anna maria island. these routinely make some of the top 20 beaches in the world. they're all in this neck of the wood. of course cape coral along with pine island and fort myers itself, the target, ground zero if you will for all of this. as this has been building, people have been losing power, even without the storm formally hitting the area here. of course we have got the eyewall of the hurricane coming onshore. that was about 40 minutes ago but the kablooy, if you will just about an hour 45 minutes away. they're following this very closely, particularly my next guest. melissa sacey, i'm hoping that, duke energy florida state president. i'm told a lot of folks already without power. but you're making preparations dealing with what you can. what can you tell us? >> yes, good afternoon. thank you for having me. we have been preparing over the last several days and as of today noon, we had about 10,000 customers that h

we've seen 135-mile-per-hour gusts when it was hitting cape coral. down towards naples, 112 miles per hour. 105 at port charlotte. sanibel island, 106 miles per hour. this has been a strong storm and it remains strong. the red is denoting the hurricane-force winds that will continue to extend into central florida. near lakeland we're talking. as we push forward, even southern tips south of orlando could see hurricane-force winds as we head into thursday. beyond that with the latest updates, we are seeing the threat for a hurricane watch that's been issued for parts of south carolina and georgia coastline, as we could see re-energizing. it could be a tropical storm as it moves into the carolinas, bringing heavy, wet, chilly rain into parts of the carolinas through the weekend. and beyond that, you know, the power outages, that's going to be a big concern tonight. we're expecting power disruptions throughout much of the state, as you've already seen. that could stick around for weeks in some isolated regions, but especially the swath here in red from t

he also spent some of the day in cape coral. this is some of what he saw there. >> it is so fascinating now. i have spent the last 36 hours trying to picture what a four storm surge looks like, giving the projections as a unit was screaming to shore. 3 feet is enough to destroy lives, to take everything. the sad part is, a lot of these folks had no insurance. search and rescue has been going to some volunteers. this is the florida search and rescue. some of the best trained people in the country in that field helped out with the tower that collapsed a couple of years ago near miami. the coast guard has trained with urban search and rescue as well. but, oh my goodness. i am just feeling with my feet. hazards that you cannot see. that is what officials are worried about now. people maybe wanted to see what is left of their lives and may accidentally electrocute themselves. there have been fires that started because of natural gas leaks. you have to worry about snakes. you have to worry about sewage and maybe oil spills. this is ju

even the roads here in cape coral, in some cases, have been washed out. we have some video of where we are here. we've seen so many buildings washed away completely. others collapsed. we've heard the buzz of helicopters throughout the day, trying to get in here and do rescues. there have been people all afternoon waiting to be rescued. meanwhile the death toll continues to grow. at this point it is still an evolving number. neighbors are fearing that it's going to continue to grow as more people are found over the coming days. that's just the harsh reality, jesse, what we're facing at this hour, as convoys of rescue workers, utility workers, continue to move in here, to the area. i spoke with a man who lived in this home here behind me. he got about three hours before the storm hit. he came back this afternoon, and said, "will, i've been talking with my neighbors for years, what it's going to be like if we get the one big storm." it's happened. he said, "i don't know i can come back and rebuild after a situation like this." that was echoed by a couple nei

the highest one report, cape coral. one hundred and forty miles per hour. then you've got redfish pass, gorda, cape coral, and pelican bay, all between one hundred and twenty six and one hundred and twelve miles per hour. these rainfall totals are way up there as well. coral springs in delray beach around 10 inches. homestead nine and three quarters. st. james city about the same ancestor of fire rescue at about nine and a half inches. of rainfall. and so, you know, that's all on top of really gusty winds, a storm surge and just overall chaos there throughout the state of florida. look at that on the left hand side of your screen, it's naples, florida. much of naples completely underwater. that right there is why we tell you to turn around. don't drown, never try to drive through water that is moving over what typically would be a roadway. >> you can really get your car swept downstream quickly. that may right. there have been a part of the storm surge. but in any event, you see that rescue taking place right there. and that's just one of those situations y

for impact. >> carley: people in cape coral need to be worried, of course. because of janice dean said, florida businesses are providing essentials like gas, sand bags and food while inflation still takes a major toll. >> todd: peggy davenport just outside tampa joins us now, peggy what have you done to prepare? >> good morning, how are you? yes, we have prepared as much as we can, we've gotten our food sources ready, shopped early and got ready and waiting to see like the extent of the damage. i'm concerned about the flooding and i'm concerned about power outages, obviously power outages, we will not be cooking for our customers. we are taking it day-by-day or minute by minute to get ready for the storm. >> carley: you own a meal delivery service and many people rely on your business for daily dinner. i know that you want to stay in business and feed people, i saw on your facebook page you might have to issue refunds for wednesday and thursday foot deliveries, i'm sure with the economy, that is the last thing you need right now. >> it's been really tough, i

i'm on the southernmost part of cape coral.s is a home where a man evacuated about 3-4 hours before the storm really hit. he said he had the sense to get out of the way, and if he came back home to just, you know, to discover this today. and he says for years they've been talking about the big one, the big storm that would cause a situation like this, fearing it. and it seems by all indications that big storm has come, and it has left a remarkable trail of damage. we're talking about a considerable loss of life tonight and an overwhelming loss of property. the video that we have that our teams have been out working today here on cape coral and really points all along southwest florida show this remarkable trail of damage. this is still a very active search and rescue operation. there are helicopters coming in and out of here constantly with the coast guard as they're trying to go to some of these islands where people earlier today with were waiting to be rescued. you also have rescue crews going up to structures like the ones b

on the tip of cape coral right next to ft.this is one of the hardest hit areas of the entire region, we have heard the buzz of coast guard helicopters throughout the day performing rescues here. you have to get some of these areas by boat because the bridges and roads have been washed away. as a matter of fact i'm standing next to a canal that was created under the storm surge and the force here making waterways where before there were none, washing away people's homes completely. they had the diligent and very dangerous work of trying to go into what's left of some of these structures to check for survivors. unfortunately tonight that fatality account continues to rise. they are still working on an overall number of fatalities to report to you at this hour. we understand tonight that more than 700 rescues have been attributed to this storm so far. that number continues to grow as the search and rescue operation is a very active at this point. it's a chaotic scene around fort myers as well, so much of the area without electric

the population of cape coral may naples combined was about 20,000 people. right now, it is more like 200,000. incredible developments since the last storm that was comparable to this one. >> what are you seeing as a meteorologist with the strength and patterns of the storm? >> well, one thing that is the hallmark of our changing climate that we have seen is rapid intensification. as it approached cuba it went barely from a hurricane into a category three landfall, then held his strength and came off of cuba, overnight last night it went from a category three on the edge to a category five. two rounds of rapid intensification. we know other storms in the atlantic, this seems to be a trend as far as intensifying quickly. in many cases, what used to be a category three or four storm is now a category five as a result of warmer oceans. we also can pretty much add a foot to all the surge levels that we are seeing. sea level has risen over the last century. you can simply take a storm like donna 60 years ago, we have six inches more water simply because of climat

and there you center really moving right over cape coral. but it's this right front quadrant that are watching out for that. you're going to see the piling up in the waters that you're going to see that 8, that 12 foot storm surge and on top of that, maybe wave 20, maybe 40 feet high guys. that is going to be just a devastating storm when lands. well, that's terrible. all right. hope somehow it's not quite that bad, but thank you for a spelling it out, lawrence and more. >> on in throughout the broadcast. in the meantime, we move on to other news tonight and flight attendants. lot of them grabbing signs walking the line, picketing and protesting for better working conditions. and that's happening nationwide at some. 21 airports. >> across the country, including right here in the bay area. flight attendants with southwest airlines picketed outside the oakland airport today. they're demanding the airline agreed to a new contract after they say negotiations have been ongoing for 4 years. they say they want better pay and benefits and improvemen

reporter: the island atolls of the maldives are known worldwide for their crystal-clear waters and coralhey're also home to another incredibly biodiverse and important ecosystem -- seagrass meadows. shaha hashim is a maldivian ocean conservationist working to bring this overlooked ecosystem to light. shaha: it looks like there's a big, a huge patch of seagrass, actually. so i'm going to jump in, have a look first, and then we'll do a rapid assessment of the meadow. this is to understand what kind of species there are, the species composition, and whether the patch is healthy to do more in-depth surveys. reporter: very little scientific work has been done on the country's seagrass meadows, and new sites are still being explored. seagrass meadows play an important role for the climate, as carbon reservoirs. there are eighdifferent species of seagrass found throughout the maldives. the root system of these plants, closely related to orchids and lilies, helps bind the sand together and prevent erosion, a major challenge for an island country like the maldives. a number of resorts in the mald

so much to me, he secedes me as duke of cornel and takes on the responsibilities for the dutch in coral -- the dutch in conroe -- that i have taken on more than five decades. today, i am proud to welcome the prince of wales. the country whose title i have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty. with catherine beside him, our new prince and princess of wales i know will continue to inspire and lead our national conversations upping to bring the margin to the center -- where help can be given. i want also to express my love for harry and -- as they continue to build their lives. in a little over a week's time, we will come together as a nation. as a commonwealth. and indeed a global community. to -- to lay my beloved mother to rest. in our sorrow, let us remember and draw strength from the likes of her example. on behalf of all my family, i can only offer the most sincere and heartfelt thanks for your condolences and support. they mean more to me that i can ever possibly express. and, to my

this is actually each one of these are coral little pieces of coral beast on gold. okay, so you can imagine the craftsmanship of actually shaping each one of these pieces. okay. so each one of these had been done and then drilled into and then put individually on to the tiara and so tiaras actually the chair is kind of it became or make it a little bit of a comeback aren't they sort of kind of gonna went away for a while, but you know, you see like little kids sometimes still wear them and stuff like that. but yeah this one she would have bought this while she was over in france. and again, this is something that she would have warned a special occasions formal events, you know, things like that and it was sort of a necessity to you know be able to mix and match at least with with with the other diplomatics diplomatic core, okay. now i'm gonna get into this part here. and i want to show you this piece. very careful now put on black background, okay what is this? look at that? this is elizabeth monroe's aqua marine necklace. so i don't know what happened soon. just w