bill weir is in key largo. the keys will get first. he has been story telling the rugged individualism of the culture and how they stay behind, and now you can see what he's dealing with with his team. bill, what's the situation? >> reporter: you're right. this string of little coral islands, home to so many d.r.e.a.m.ers and drifters and anglers down here, it's a special breed drawn down to the most tropical neighborhood in the united states but this is the price of admission, this kind of weather. there are 29,000 customers of the keys energy services, the power public utility here and 29,000 customers without power this morning. they have about 190 line workers from around the country who have come in ready to mobilize once the storm has passed, but it looks like the extension cord that plugs into the mainland and powers the florida keys went out last night some time around 11:00 p.m. they tried to re-energize it remotely but no go. so we're lighting up this shot off a car battery. we're really starting to see these feeder bands lig

here's krn's bill weir with more.>reporter: christine, dave, a very good morning to you from key west. when we headed out from here a few days ago on the sea spirit, we feared the worst. we'd heard rumors are dozens of bodies floating but the result is so much better than we could have anticipated. no one i met hasny knowledge of a fatality due to hurricane irma. estimates of 90% damage or destruction to all the homes in theeys seems vastly overblown. a colleague of mean made the drive. said maybe it's 30% or 40%. the big power lines survived. af i've been taking amazing pictures. everybody loves dub who is the caretaker of the sea point condominium in marathon key and he would never leave. as soon as the storm blew over he flew old glory. this is the scene. old glory still flying. this is next to the ship wreck. people out flol icing, swimming, having beers. it is a huge mess, but the folks i talked, they want america to know they're okay and will soon be open for business. >> bill weir capturing the spirit of the ke

bill weir has been seeing it get worse and worse. it is different where he is right now. outh florida. i'm sure you can match that where you are. >> reporter: i believe it. this is next level. i'm not going to use the word i would like to use. irma is getting nasty. i literally am taking cover here. this is not trying to have a flare for the dramatic. i'm underneath a stone carport here away from the wind. leeward side of this complex where we are now. as you can see, it is like standing in the shower. rain gear is useless against this kind of deluge. the wind has been shifting. that's the thing that's a little bit scary. at a certain point you get used to the treks of the wind and you adjust for t now it's so squirrely, it's circling around us. we'll probably have to move to the next carport over to protect our vehicle and what dry cables we do have left. trees are now split, patchy when we got here, are now becoming stripped bare. signs that were up are blowing horizontally through the air. the boats in this little hurricane hole harbor, which they consider safe, are bou

bill weir is joining us from key largo, and what is the situation like there, and what are you hearingut the rest of the keys, bill? >> well, wolf, last hour, we were in one of the richer neighborhoods in key largo where the homes looked unscathed and little scattered landscaping and boats toppled, but this is for the lower tax brackets, a trailer park here, and set in paradise on the other side of the damaged and destroyed motor home you can see is the atlanta ocean, and it washed this way, and it is going to give you a vivid picture of the shattered lives and you can see the markings, and we remember it from katrina, and on 9/11 they s searched the trailer and no bodies found. so these human touches of some angler's visor managed to stay on the throttle handle as the boat was shoved up thisser way, and the waves as irma was crusted across and no scattered bits of human lives and family, and pushed them right up against the overseas highway, and this is highway one, and key west is that way, and miami that is way, and this is looking like the kind of the litter that you would see on t

bill weir is in key largo.f the rugged individualists, the culture down there in the keys especially when it comes to storms. very savvy, very experienced. part of the life and often that breeds a unique form of reluctance to leave. we have tim jones joining us right now. he's in key largo. he's decided to stay. tim, can you hear me? >> yes, i can hear you. >> all right. so where are you? what is your level of safety and confidence? >> i'm at mile marker 92.5. i'm on the ocean side in a marina, where our boat is. we are not on the boat. we moved into a building here at the marina last night. we're literally 15 or 20 feet from the boat when we go out the doors. >> how is she doing? i know that everybody who has a boat, this is one of their biggest fears, how you tie up, how many lines and what direction and what you can hold off when it comes to a storm like this. how are you doing so far? >> well, to give you a little bit of an idea, because most landowners don't understand, we have a 41-foot boat. she's 14 by

the bad news is bill weir is right in the path of irma and she's coming hard right now. bill, can you hear us? >> reporter: i can hear you, chris, absolutely. she's getting nastier as first light breaks here over key largo. we're at the northern most biggest key about 95 miles or so from key west. my heart goes out to those folks who decided to stick it down there in paradise. it is anything but. we're start to go see as the light comes up all the downed trees, the boats in this harbor here bouncing up and down. it's interesting that force of wind quadruples as wind speeds doubles. so people who have lived through maybe tropical storm force, 60-mile-an-hour winds, maybe disrupted their lives for months or years afterwards, think of doubling that in some cases down here. there's the storm surge to worry about. we're not seeing any high water. we picked this spot because it is on the bay side. it is on relatively highland and it's all relative in the keys. there's no such thing as high ground down here but so far looks like we're getting -- we're staying out of accumulated

i'll do it on twitter. >> bill weir joins us now.ve you here. >> good to see you. >> we are leaning in with what you have to say. tell us about this relationship. >> we wanted to give a physical reminder that these words will be studied for historians for centuries and taught to kids and it's normalized now because it just comes like a fire hose. this morning is pitch perfect donald trump tweeting. he averages six a day. he loves the morning. >> we noticed. >> he goes after perceived enemies, home and abroad. this morning he's tweeting after kim jong-un. he's going after, quote, crooked hillary clinton. it's interesting how he learned to use twitter. >> how did he? >> a digital publicist said you had to use this platform, and trump liked it. despite that, this guy ran his account for eight months. you can see the moment he took over. you can see in his vocabulary, his tone. people in the intelligent services think he's giving too much away. >> what he tweets matters. >> we'll be watching. thank you very much. bill's special report, t

you are welcome. >> very much. >> bill weir, cnn, puerto rico. >> it's so helpful to have bill weir therend our producer there translating, and she's puerto rican, and bill, he's giving us a glimpse into a desperate situation. that's one small sample of people about to run out of medication. >> the reason we will keep telling you the stories, and i know there could be a sameness to it, and you are, like, we get it, we get it. you don't get it. you couldn't be in that situation for a week. they will be living like that for months and months. it's going to move your pocket book because we have to have the federal government get involved there. they do have infrastructure problems and debt problems. that's only going to increase the need for help. this is going to be a real situation that all of america is going to live with, so we need to keep it in our sights. >> it's moving all of your spirits as well. donald trump, though, is not backing down against the nfl players taking a knee. is he winning this culture war? what does his base think about it? we have the bottom line. >>> and helping.

we lost bill weir. we'll check back with him.a stark difference between the ro mant schism that he targeted and that rugged individual wanting to ride out the storm and the reality of what irma did. it's still early. we know what happened in the caribbean but not really. we don't know the full total. in cuba we know very lit. . here so far the news has not been that dire in terms of loss of life but again it's early. the number one killer in a hurricane is not wind. it's water. and storm surge is just starting to come into effect. that's what we're dealing with here in naples. the eye has gone by. this is the back side. we're not getting crushed with rain the way we did the first time and maybe the wind is not as strong but it's still plenty strong. now it's bringing water with it. all of the water it's sucked out is coming back. and now there's a multiplier effect. the danger of the storm. let's take a break. when we come back we'll take you to the places dealing with the front side of hurricane irma and those dealing with the s

until then, i'm bill weir. >> bill weir. thank you so much to you and your crew. >>> we have more from the keys coming up next. also a powerful story of rescue and survival. college students stepping in and saving senior citizens abandoned at a nursing home. don't forget about us. we have crews in the caribbean on various islands getting a firsthand look at the damage. we're going the take you there coming up as cnn's special damage in the wake of hurricane irma continues. hi i'm joan lunden. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your family we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice. fothere's a seriousy boomers virus out there that's been al

bill weir joins us live from san juan. what did you see, bill?porter: this is the roughest i've seen in half a week here. just for perspective, it is an island off an island. as bad as it is is here, it's worse there. for years it was a u.s. navy bombing range until george w. bush told them to move and clean all the munitions up. now it is a playground for the rich and famous and home to 10,000 natives who work there and support the tourist economy. for the last week, no one knew anything about their fate. they were in this black hole of information. so luckily we found an angel with a small cessna to take us on a journey into that heart of darkness. we liftoff from san juan, a route steven has flown hundreds of times. but this is the scariest sky traffic he's ever seen. >> you could sense the tension in the air traffic controller's voice? >> absolutely. >> the airport versus no working radar. so every slow cessna and 6th fast jet is going by sight. >> we cross over resorts all shattered by maria. eight miles later, touchdown amid shattered airpl

the list goes on and on and on top of it all is bill weir.rise of the president's means of communication, a special report tonight, "twitter and trump." watch. >> in 2006 just as season five of "the apprentice" was falling out of the top five a web designer jack dorsey typed, just setting up my twitter. >> i have 09 followers at the moment. 90 people are watching what i'm doing. >> reporter: what started as an idea to send short messages to a network of friends grew into the newest strand of social media, and then exploded the day michael jackson died. >> for the first time we see more than 100,000 tweets in an hour and that's the sign that hold it, this has become a space people are going to both break and talk about news. >> reporter: this new tool captured the imagination of on-line marketers. >> back in 2009, i was working for a publishing company. >> reporter: including the man tasked with finding new ways to promote donald trump's new book. >> they were saying, we don't really understand this, so you're the expert. why don't you explain

bill weir is join g ing us fromy largo, and bill, can you walk us through what you are seeing?up and down the coast trying to find a strong enough cell signal to power these, and we happened to find one in the richest neighborhoods of key largo and these are all multi million dollar homes with pools in the backyard, and you can see that irma came here carrying everything in the path, and pottery like this, and taking tout fences and the trees and the occasional boat or two here, and you can see it. but the construction with the price tag of these homes keeps them from being swept a wway, b it is not the same in smaller communities or i trailer parks where we saw much more devastati devastation. but of course, this is just stuff. the main concern here is human life, and officially, there is only a couple of confirmed fatalities of irma in the florida keys, but hundreds listed as missing on facebook page, and i'm getting the social media calls, can you check on my parents on sugarloaf key or plantation key, and it is no way to know if they are okay or just cut off from communicat

thanks very much, bill weir in puerto rico. there's other news that's breaking. the irs, the internal revenue service is now cooperating, sharing information with the special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. it's a cnn exclusive. dede tails next. he finges forward. we're the number one dairy and apple producers in the eastern united states. supported by innovative packaging that extends the shelf life of foods. and infrastructure upgrades that help us share our produce with the world. here and all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in the finger lakes, visit esd.ny.gov. hi, i'm the internet! youwith usknoarmless bowling.lt? ahhhhhhhh! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. they always refer to me as master sergeant. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa bef

bill weir joins us to tell us what he has been seeing around him. bill? >> yeah, alisyn. we're about to set sail here on a sort of figurative and literal journey into the heart of darkness. we're going to try to leapfrog chris and go farther south to cudjoe key where the most devastating winds hit with hurricane irma. let me show you around our home for the next couple of days. this is a 50-foot fishing boat. these are common down here. this is sport fishing heaven. this is our captain, captain bam bam is going to take care of us. a dingy where we'll be able to go ashore and investigate exactly how these communities fared. we're going to head through this channel. we're on the bay side, heading past marathon. captain bam bam told me he took the kingy out yesterddingy out a little reconnaissance to see how the water is. he said you won't believe what's floating out here. of course, we see what's on the land devastation. these are tiny little islands so so much houses and boats are blown off of the keys into florida bay, are stuck in the mangroves. we'll be bringing that to

bill weir did the next best thing. the entire length of the keys. he's finally arrived at the end in key west. he joins us now. bill, what have you seen? >> reporter: well, anderson, you know, when we left key largo, it was truly a trip into the heart of darkness. we had heard rumors there were dozens of bodies floating. the destruction was unfathomable, but the result is so much happier than that. it could have been so much worse. everyone we talked to, not one person knows of someone who perished in irma. i talked to the pilot, the guy who leads the ships into key west harbor. he says the channels are clear to bring ships in with humanitarian aid. we had a supply delivery come all the way down. they drove u.s. 1 and reported the roads are in really good shape and when they're not, they're being fixed immediately. the seven mile bridge held. we had water for two hours today. so the luxury of actually washing our faces for the first time since irma was over cuba. but it's still a big job ahead. i finally got a chance t

our bill weir rode out the storm in key largo.s been filing amazing reports from there for days. we want to the check in with bill in key largo. bill? >> reporter: we're running on fumes. there's no gas here. the roads are cut off because they have to inspect the bridges and instagram angel heard my call for help, her name is shirley and she said hey, my friend katherine's dad has gas in his shed. that's the shed over there, after climbing the roof, those angels bought us a few more hours of live shots because these days our car is our home and our office, but you get a sense of just one of the homes here and this scene is repeated in an apocalyptic streetscape here in a neighborhood, a blink and a nod. this is mile marker 97. that's how they gauge distance in this part of the keys here and just about every home we've seen sustained some damage. the mobile homes, obviously, more than others and the post-andrew heavy stone construction seemed to have survived pretty unscathed, at least down here, but we're dying to get down south t

cnn's bill weir has more. >>reporter: i'd like to show you what's left of what was one of the most scenic neighborhoods south of san juan. first you see it looks like a bomb went off. this is lush tropical greenery. imagine the flowers and foliage. it's like a law mower in the sky came down. it's like that across the island. but this house is in a neighborhood purchased on a ridge. she's okay. her son, miguel, the little dog. hello. he's doing okay. they survived thankfully but are very worried. her husband is a vietnam vote ran is bedridden and needs insulin. and here's why the power is out. one of the main transmission towers crushed this home. thankfully the man who lives here evacuated before the storm. only about 50 people in the town of 28,000 evacuated. most rode it out. search and rescue teams aren't able to check on every because the roads are impassable. this will take months. this scene is being replayed across puerto rico and the need is so desperate. if this is any indication, puerto rico may rise

bill weir is in keilar fwoe. explain where you are and the igs. >> we are in a part of key largo, a town -- this is a well-known boat harbor here. and this is where we met the gentleman on your show on thursday night, the captain of the saltshaker who vowed to ride out irma aboard his 50-foot sailboat. that's it over there. it says western sunset. he's actually officially changed the name. many people concerned about that decision, his wife, his two wiener dogs, we came to check on him. turns out he had a change of heart as irma got bigger and more pointed towards the keys so his family is now in a motel in okeechobee. they got about 150 miles north of here. but there are still some die hards, still some old salts, about five different families here in this marina who are bunking down not on their boats. we have a pretty sturdy strong structure behind us here with metal hurricane shutters. they feel good about that. and then nearbitis a dive shop that's three stories tall, all stone structures. that's their plans

they're at their wits end, understandably, as bill weir just reported for us.wrong with what these cabinet members are doing? it's not just price. it's mnuchin as well. three members of the president's cabinet. >> right. it all comes back to the basic principle of public service, which is the core of the ethics program that public service is a public trust so every penny they spend of your money onne of these charter flights, it's money that's not going to something like the puerto rico disaster recovery after the hurricane. apparently they have pushed -- in fact, it's really become somewhat widespread. because you have secretary mnuchin, secretary -- administrator pruitt, and secretary price under scrutiny now. the house government oversight and reform committee led by chairman trey gowdy and elijah cummings have launched an investigation. they sent letters to the white house and 24 different federal agencies demanding answers by october 10th. one key issue in that investigation is going to be the level of responsiveness from the administration. we had issues

. >> we will get reaction from bill weir in san juan.on't know what you can hear down there because the communications are sparse, but we have been listening to fema officials telling us they are trying and getting the resources down there, but the big question that you have been asking and we have been asking that despite the administration says the operations are going well, why aren't the people on the ground especially outside san juan seeing or feeling this? >> reporter: yeah. that is the question. that's the question we get asked when we roll into the towns, either in the mountains or in the towns, and they will come up and say are you fema? any sort of contact is the moment of hope and then their faces fall when we tell them they are not, and we give them whatever granola bars we can spare. these guys were in irma and in harvey and some teens are in the mexico quake, and they don't have the numbers, as we have been talking about as in haiti. the dichotomy between the federal response and the local response, and on day nine local v

our correspondent bill weir went with his team to a restaurant in the keys then he returned to see thee a look at what he found out. >> i'm about to show you something that has shaken me unlike anything i have seen in 25 years and 8 other hurricanes. i interviewed bar called snappers and a bunch of festive key west residents who were debating whether or not to evacuate and stay. peter at that time was determined to stay, hole up inside his bar. he changed his mind. good thing he did. it is completely gone. look at this. gone. the entire bar. right here. where i sat and had shrimp tacos with my crew after a live shot and hung out with these amazingly warm gracious people. gone. shoved up bit storm surge into the side of the fence of the neighboring businesses here. this was the bar. you can see they tried to board it up with plywood but the storm, winds blew through it. and then inside the restaurant shoved everything up against the western wall of this place. and your heart just breaks. peter, the owner of this place, i just left him a voice mail. one of his employees told me he had aa

cnn's bill weir now with the latest on the destruction there. >> reporter: as the sky over the florida keys turn from stormy black back to paradise blue, that fear and anxiety turned to the heart break today as we got a glimpse of the damage today. we're about 60 miles away from the brunt of the storm, the eye of the storm came ashore, but it's hard to tell it was any more gentle here. you see these touches of humanity. reminders that family lived here year round, you have children's books, a bingo wheel with a ball inside. i met a former fireman who lived here who said i found my sink over there, my couch there. but aside from the stuff that is lost, the main concern is about human life and who survived and it's impossible to tell who survived because communication is impossible, all the cell towers are down. so unless you come across your neighbor or relative, it's difficult to figure out who made it out. i watched a parade of first responders, including a fire truck from los angeles. the navy is sending an aircraft carrier with humanitarian relief down to key west. 9/11/17, at 2:30

bill weir live in key west this morning bringing us reality. bill? >> reporter: hey, chris. yeah, it temperatures out that really location is destiny. where you live in the keys determines how much you will be hurt and how much of a mess you'll have to clean up. good news, we came down with such grim expectations with the loss of loss given the winds. no fatalities by anybody we have met down here. that's the first thing. i talked to the harbor pilot. he said they're clear. that's good. the power lines that connect all of the keys with the mainland, our supply guys drove down food and water for us. they said those held like the seven mile bridge in some places, u.s. 1 chopped up. but florida department of transportation on it yesterday tarring that road as fast as they can. the main thing here is fuel. they want to get the generators going, open up some restaurants and open up places. food is going bad. they were giving it to the locals who stayed last night. right now, the photographs. this is breakers but the city harbor of key west. you can see the wreckage of the boats b

let's begin our coverage with cnn's bill weir. he's live in san juan. you are hearing a lot out of washington, d.c. the reality on the ground, a different picture. even if there are 10,000 federal first responders down here, and there are dire people of the most basic essentials to survive. a two-hour trip up into the mountains yesterday, and when we first got here our jaws would drop and we would say, look at that, look at that, and it's everywhere now, you become numb to it and it's the new normal here. this is a sample of how people are managing to get by hour-by-hour. beside a highway this is the most dependable utility in puerto rico these days, a pipe tapped into a mountain spring is the watering hole for a community of over 30,000. >> it's a natural spring? >> you can drink it straight. this is cleaner than the water you get from the department of water resources. >> reporter: that's good. how is everything else in life? you got enough food -- >> awful. awful. there's people that have a shortage of food. the national guard is all just standing th

bill weir is on the ground. >> reporter: barking orders at chefs.oday, jose is in one of the poorest neighborhoods in san juan, with volunteers from 8-80 working pans and sandwich assembly lines in an urgent race to feed as many hungry puerto ricans as possible. which is more satisfying to you as a chef, serving a gastrocreation in new york or washington or helping someone. >> i always say chefs like me love to feed the few, but we love to feed the many. >> reporter: from haiti to harvey, but most recently in the headlines for a two-year legal battle with the candidate. after candidate donald trump referred to mexicans and racists, he pulled his hotel in washington. you have a public feud with president trump in recent years. what is your reaction to him lifting the jones act today? >> it has been one of the bad things that happened in puerto rico over many years. you want to help the island, you need pragmatic, smart, business-like decisions. we need to make sure this happening and used for the betterment and the lives of the people of puerto rico.

our bill weir managed to reach plantation key. he has more this morning. >>reporter: as that sky turned from stormy black to paradise blue here in the florida keys, all that anxiety and fear the storm turned into shock and utter heart break as people began to survey what irma has wrought. this is a community in plantation key. about 60 miles away from the eye of irma, but, it's hard to tell that it was anymore gentle up here. this home used to be right on the coast of the atlantic b 500 yards away. now it is utter wreck. includes children's books, picture books. look at this. bingo wheel. people lived here year-round. this wasn't a transient or snow bird community. secretaries and boat captains. i met a former fireman who walked around just sort of shell shocked as he said my couch is over there, sink over there. aside from all the stuff lost, there is the human life. that's what most people are concerned about. it's almost impossible to confirm who was lost and saved because communication is down. the no power, no running water down here. road is impassab

what bill weir found does not back that up.give you his report next, and also, mark anthony joins us ahead. >> picked up by maria. and thrown here. look at these over on this side. >> broken planes are just the first signs of maria's strength. the entire island is ravaged from the swanky w hotel to the boats of mosquito bay. >> that is the cabin ostriches don't really stick their heads in the sand. a peanut is not a nut. and a real john deere... is actually real affordable. you learn something new every day. the surprisingly affordable john deere e series tractors. now you can own america's tractor for just $99 a month. learn more at your john deere dealer. you know win control? be this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. fixodent plus adhesives. there's a denture adhesive that

bill weir has been observing the aftermath from the keys. bill, how is it today? >> reporter: greetings. we're at about mile marker 72, 73 here on the overseas highway. look at how calm the atlantic is today. if only it stayed ta way all the time, eh? but the cost of living in paradise is the destruction of storms like irma as we work our way south as traffic sort of trickles ohm now. this used to be a very popular restaurant called mr. lobster. it's gone. it's been completely wiped away. not so much by wind and there is ooh sign of wind damage on the roofs here but by the storm surge as that 10-15-foot wave came and took that restaurant, a lot of it made of big shipping containers and floated across the antigua harbor and crashing into that boat you see there. the devastation not as bad as we've seen in some other less sturdily constructed areas, but thankfully lots of proof of life here. as we motored in, we saw people on boats, on balconies drying out their things, generators cranking. a lot of activity on the highway. earth movers clearing the sand. but little

i want to bring in our correspondent bill weir joining us right now. bill, you've made it all the way down to key west right now. the highway hasn't reopened down there. how did you and your crew first of all make that trek and get to key west? >> reporter: well, wolf, we came by boat. which if anything taught me after katrina, the roads will be really sketch '. if there's one road, even more so. we find a kind captain by happenstance interviewing people on your show and he brought us down. we visited marathon key along the way. we were off the torng keys and saw utter devastation from both the intracoastal and oceanside. we're expecting the worst. i got to tell you, we get better news the further south we come. right now we're where we started friday night, corner of green and duval. here's hemingway's old joint. it's mostly tree damage in the most populace part of the keys down here. i just ran into charlie johnson a pilot for the harbor, the city harbor. he's the guy who goes out and xwids big ships as they come to make port here. he had encouraging

i don't have any other choice. >> reporter: bill weir, cnn. >> i want to bring in congresswoman nydia velazquez. congresswoman, thank you so much for coming and talking about this important story. we're going to put up two satellite images onscreen. there they are right now. before and after images of puerto rico. you can see the almost complete lack of power throughout the island. what do the people of puerto rico need most right now, you think? >> definitely to restore the infrastructure because it basically collapsed. electricity, the power grid that is so crucial, so that hospitals in puerto rico could be able to open, to provide the services because these are live afe and h issues related to the power grid. and people don't have access to water, food, medicine, basic, basic things that could, you know, have an impact on the elderly and the children. so we are concerned, and right now some of the many information that i'm getting from friends in puerto rico is that they are on the brink of a human crisis. if not, they are already facing a human crisis. >> the fema director brock l

i want to go to bill weir in the keys in a boat he's been riding since this morning. fema put out this figure, 90% of the structures have some form of damage: i talked to an official from key west who said that was too high an estimate. what do you think? >> reporter: well, you know, i don't know about 90%. it's so interesting because the structures that are along the atlantic ocean which took the brunt of the force are those on the inside that took the dirty edge, are fortified. some of the steepest damage is inside these keys where the houses aren't as structurally strong. i'll show you some video of marathon key. we went ashore. i saw this building that had -- looked like laundry hanging from the railings and thought boy, there's a sign of life and went there. it is so stunning to see what the waves did with all the sand. some keys don't have beaches, but this one did, and it blew the sand up into the lobby of this condo, condominium, in through parking garage, against the door where the sand was at least three feet high. it was so surreal, which then lowered the c

i want to check in with bill weir in key west. he's now in key lar go where there are a lot of folks still riding out this storm. bill, the scene tonight is what? you've been talking to a number of people riding out the storm. i've been talking to them throughout the day as well. they can't say situation there? what are they facing? >> i'm going to give you a sense of that here. you don't have to be a meteorologist to know common sense. you hide from wind, run from water. stay away from the coast. there's a community of sailors, old salts down here in the keys. that's just not in their dna. i met a scuba boat captain by the name of timothy jones. he lives aboard a vessel, and this is his logic. >> this is home. this is a two bedroom, two bath condo. two cabins, two heads, living room, kitchen and dining room on the boat. >> you hope it's still a floating condo. >> it will be. >> this is your refuge in here? >> it used to be a sailing school rigging shop. we have what they call a ship stored at the end, and some offices. and we're s

cnn's bill weir has more from puerto rico. >> reporter: this is the most available utility in puertonto a mountain spring is the watering hole for a community of 30,000. >> it's a natural spring. it's always here. >> reporter: are you boiling it or you drink it straight? >> you can drink it straight, this is cleaner than the water you get from the department of water resources. >> reporter: okay, that's good. >> this is cleaner than that. >> reporter: how is everything else in life? do you have enough food, power? >> awful. there's people that have a shortage of food. the national guard is njust standing there, doing nothing. no electricity. no water for the city. it's going to take about six, seven months for anything to happen here. >> reporter: while safe from coastal storm surges, storms brought desperate decisionmaking. do you burn precious fuel serving for supplies or do you stay put and wait for help? lydia has two cars with no grass, two grandkids to keep alive on a ration of crackers. with no way to reach the highway pipe, they drink rainwater. no water, >> no water, no food

bill weir made his way to san juan and now live, phil, you met up with celebrity chef doing what he can yeah, this is the moment when so many people are trying to just engage in some action, something, as the frustrations over the federal response boil over. i got a twitter message last night from one of the most famous chefs in the world who said hey, i'm feeding 5,000 people tomorrow in one of the poorer neighborhoods of san juan. so i want to check it out. >> ci. >> reporter: happier times he'd be barking orders at sue chefs from spain to beverly hills. but today, jose andres is one of the poorest neighborhoods with volunteers from 8 to 80 working pans and sandwich assembly lines. all an urgent race to feed as many hungry puerto ricans as humanly possible. which is more satisfying to you as a chef? serving a gastro creation -- >> i always say that chefs like me, we love to feed a few, but i think we love even more feeding the many. >> reporter: he's become almost a fixture in disaster zones from haiti to harvey, but was most recently in the headlines for a two-year legal battle with

and a lot of time. >> bill weir, look from the ground and air of the situation in puerto rico.did get breaking news, tragic breaking news, two people died in a san juan hospital icu due to lack of diesel. that information coming from the mayor of san juan, telling leyla santiago two people have died in icu because of lack of diesel and resources there. so very dangerous. joining us now from san juan, dr. an peterson, senior vice president of global programs for american cares. doctor, thank you for being with us. i appreciate it. that breaking news devastating, two people died in an ic nushgs a hospital because of lack of diesel and the hospitals had been a priority area to get the fuel so they can get the power and cooling that they need. >> yes. absolutely. and i have visited a number of hospitals and their number one request is diesel, to keep the hospital functioning, to keep the patients safe, like the icu patients you mentioned. some parts of the island have been completely cut off. i was in ponce yesterday, the first time any of those hospitals have been visited. they ha

bill weir in key west and meteorologist chad myers in the cnn weather center.had, we'll begin with you, where and when, those are the two questions? >> where -- key west. when, tomorrow, 8:00 a.m., that's first landfall. where, naples, cape coral, fort myers -- when? tomorrow afternoon. it could get more intense after it passes key west. here's the storm coming off the cuban coast. patrick oppmann has done yeoman's duty. he has the southeastern eye wall all night long. it's pushing into southern florida. every time a band goes by you will get increased winds homestead down to cutler bay, you're seeing wind come in. anytime later this afternoon, a storm comes in, there's even a potential for a small tornado or two. keep that in mind. the watches have gone all the way up into georgia. hurricane warnings for the southern half of florida. but overnight, michael, what happened is the model, and we're going to talk about these models in a half hour or so. the models shifted 20 miles farther to the west. so, now, not a landfall near marathon, florida. likely a landfal

bill weir made it all the way to the end of key west. he's off of that boat and has captured incredible images along the way. i'll talk to him about what he saw next. i wanted to know where i did my ancestrydna. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. it's opened up a whole new world for me. ♪ you know win control? be this guy. check it out! self-appendectomy! oh, that's really attached. that's why i rent from national. where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. which makes me one smooth operator. ah! still a little tender. (vo) go national. go like a pro. a heart attack doesn't or how healthy you look. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. ♪ ♪ where do you want to go next? ♪ ♪ because there's always more world, there's platinum. backed by the service and security of american expre

i want to go to bill weir in key largo where it's also started to rain pretty hard. bill, how is it now? >> it's so interesting, anderson, like someone flipped the switch and turned on the waterworks. we were just enjoying calm skies and then boom it came on. now it's easing up a little bit. ernest hemingway, law mar, calm and beautiful and el mar when it sink your boat and house. of course the keys bracing for el mar in irma form. also look at the attitude shift. couple days ago, riding it out because that's what we do, but last night about 6:00 city managers in key west had a meeting and came out shaken. that's when they decided to evacuate 500 prisoners out of the county jail down there. that's when they started really sending people north in ways they hadn't seen earlier. they announced this morning key west high school is a refuge of last resorts. no service is provided, bring what you need, but pets are welcome there as they're hunkering down for what they were thinking might be the biggest direct hit since the great labor day hurricane of 1935. people have long

bill weir there in the keys.rida governor telling everyone that no one in the keys will be safe. they want to be careful about hyperbole, they want to make sure when they offer a warning like that that people take heed. we'll take a quick break. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or to

what bill weir found does not back that up. we'll give you his report next, and also, mark anthony joins us ahead. >> picked up by maria. and thrown here. look at these over on this side. >> broken planes are just the first signs of maria's strength. the entire island is ravaged from the swanky w hotel to the boats of mosquito bay. >> that is the cabin. it's all pop-culture trivia, but it gets pretty intense. -ahh. -the new guy. -whoa, he looks -- -he looks exactly like me. -no. -separated at birth much? we should switch name tags, and no one would know who was who. jamie, you seriously think you look like him? uh, i'm pretty good with comparisons. like how progressive helps people save money by comparing rates, even if we're not the lowest. even if we're not the lowest. whoa! wow. i mean, the outfit helps, but pretty great. look at us. wow. i mean, the outfit helps, but pretty great. tais really quite simple.est it comes in the mail, you pull out the tube and you spit in it, which is something southern girls are taught you're

our bill weir rode out the storm in key largo. him do amazing reporting over the last few days. he fileded this report to give us a sense of some of the damage he's just beginning to see. watch this. >> reporter: we're seeing a lot of mobile homes that have been torn apart. here is a power line. be careful, rod. this is some of the most dangerous hazards is live electrical wires. you can hear them buzzing as we go around and this is just one canal, a sample of, you know, this is a good -- i would say 300 yards from the coastline and a lot of the debris just got pounded over here by the winds, the waves pushing piles of rocks up against doors over on that side of the community. the good news is we get word from officials down in key west. no fatalities reported miraculously. it's amazing, but they're worried about the humanitarian assistance they're going to need. a lot of elderly and infirmed that couldn't evacuate. they need food and they need fuel and they have a desal nation plant and a generator, so they can get by. >> that's

bill weir is now in san juan.lier, a little while ago, you were in one of the hardest hit areas, one of the few reporters to actually get there. the governor is warning of a humanitarian crisis on u.s. soil. update our viewers on what you're seeing? >>. >> wolf, bottom line, puerto rico is facing the biggest crisis this island has seen in a century or so. the hardest hit areas include most of the island and they need everything. food and water and power and information. the official death count now 10. the mayor of this one municipality told me six people died after the storm. it's so difficult, i can't express to you the challenges they're facing now even just getting from point a to point b is beyond belief. take a look. it's so hard to move around this island because puerto rico is a tangled mess of shattered trees and downed power lines. and endless gas lines where the desperate can wait half a day under the blazing sun for a few precious gallons. in the rural highlands south of the capitol, it looks like a bo

bill weir is in key largo. they're going to open that up this morning to residents and business owners. the bad news is the reality there is going to be shocking for them when they get there. bill, i know you were strand there yesterday. we saw the long lines driving down of people waiting for gas, trying to figure out if they could get in or out. i was shocked, by as bad as it is in key largo, i couldn't believe how much worse it got as we got closer to where this eye came ashore. >> i'm just hearing you're in big pine for the first time, chris. you went over land? you didn't take a chopper or boat? >> no. we came with the first responders. this task force two from south florida are the first group dispatched with the national guard to give an accounting of what the situation is and to hopefully do search and rescue. so far, so good. they worked all night. they were supposed to start at daybreak. >> it's great that you're down there. that has been our target. we've been reporting up here. and between live shot

bill weir has more from puerto rico. >> reporter: besides a highway this is the most dependable utilityerto rico these days. a pipe, tapped into a mountain spring, is now the watering hole for a community over 30,000. it's a natural spring. >> it's always here. >> reporter: are you boiling it or drinking it straight? >> just clean it. >> that's good. >> this is cleaner than that. >> how's everything else in life? you got enough food? >> awful. there's people that have a shortage of food. the national guard is not working out the way it should be. they're standing there doing nothing. no electricity or water for the city. it's going to take about maybe six or seven months for anything to happen here. >> reporter: while safe from coastal storm surges, maria brought hellish mud slides cutting off families for days and forcing desperate decisionmaking. do you burn precious fuel searching for supplies or stay put and pray for help? lydia has two cars with no gas, two grandkids to keep alive on a ration of crackers with no way to reach the highway pipe they drink rain water. no water, no food

so anybody in any low lying area here expanded the evacuation zone, i want to go to bill weir in key for latest preparations there. bill. >> anderson, yeah, same situation here between the bands seems like it's clearing up. gusts will come and go. it's interesting, of course everybody is focused on human life in this storm. and then their pets and whatnot, but i know there are countless floridians thinking about their boat, right? so let me give you a sense of what a marina is like here at the top of the keys. this is a big cruiser here called living the dream. we actually met the captain. he is riding out the storm here. not aboard this boat, but in a building nearby to keep an eye on things. but it's interesting to see people come out and make adjustments according to the wind. right now they're moored off of this concrete dock here because that's the way the wind is going. they say they're going to have to shift it once it comes around. get a load of this one here, this boat owned by carol, the queen of this marina. she was telling me this boat was the only one to survive andrew. c

but right now we want to go to bill weir in big pine key. he's on a boat. tell us everything you have seen over the past 12 hours. >> reporter: good morning, alyson. we are off little porch key further west of chris than a couple of miles. but we harbored here in between these keys. and it's just been unbelievable journey to get down here. we left key largo yesterday morning, as you know, and motored our way down and stopped along the way. we stopped at matacombe key. we went ashore at marathon, the second largest, most populus key. and it was -- we weren't 50 paces in and our jaws were on the sand. we stopped at a place called sea point condominiums. from a distance it looked like all the windows had been blown out and the curtains were fluttering in the wind. turning out it was drying laundry. we thought, there's proof of life. fantastic. we went up to this place and realized that the entire pool, which is in the post beautiful spot on this point, the pool had buckled almost like there had been an earthquake. the deck collapsed into itself, collapsed ther

and bill weir found the story in the alaska cat mine national park. >> reporter: this not sa poisup tore suppose to hunker down and admire grislies through long lenses. the two mamas and bunch of kids they didn't get the memo. holy [ bleep ]. that was unbelievable. we, we were in the middle of a bear parade. >> well, we stood our ground. we, we, made our focus in one spot. and they came to us. >> yeah. >> you guys okay, having fun. >> yeah. >> brad believes this is safe in part because this is one of the rare spots in alaska where humans carry cameras, and instead of guns. here is that one place where, bears respect people. because people respect bears. >> there was a time when the state of alaska thought if they killed the bears there could be more fish for the people. but brad tells me the salmon runs weren't nearly as healthy. when this guy poops in the woods as bears do, he is spreading marine nutrients into the valleys. they're stewards of an environment where everything is connected by salmon. >> i am scared every year. come back every year they show up like miracles iechl say, t

cnn's bill weir reports. >> reporter: it is so hard to move around the island because puerto rico is a tangled mess of shattered trees and downed power lines and endless gas lines where the desperate can wait half a day under a blazing sun for a few precious gal lons. in the high lands south of the capital, it looks like a bomb went off. lush green hillsides are now brown and broken under the power of hurricane maria's winds. it's up here where residents had no choice but to shelter in place. as this camper was tossed like a toy, dee y diana and her family still huddled. how are you? i'm still alive she tells me. >> it's hard to tell by the road, but the back of the house is built on concrete stilts. imagine the an sigh tp diana inside, worried the back end of the bedroom is going to slide into the ravine, so she moves the whole family into the living room, they hear this crash of the power tower go down on the neighbor's roof. at one point she tells me they prepared to die together. which is scarier, combat in vietnam or hurricane maria? the hurricane is worse. he survived a combat