joining us now from bradenton, close to tampa bay. what's happening where you are? >> wolf, your last guest you spoke to with the power outages, a lot of them here is because of this. i'm almost 6 feet tall and you can see how large the root is. there are kids playing on this now. this family is one of so many that are here in this area in bradenton trying to pick up the trees out of the road and they get and get the neighbors and you see the roofs and carports ripped off, oust electricity right now. trying to get them turned back on. they tried to avoid the downed trees and in fact they cannot get to bradenton beach because of the live wires. you are not allowing anybody on there. i have michelle with me and this is her home and they rode out the storm. what was it like for you? were you scared? >> yes and no. can't too scary for us. the kissed were playing and running around and we were watching outside. this was better than we expected. we didn't expect a tree, but we expected a flood. it didn't so that's a positive. >> this tree was all the way across the road b

bradenton, andly tell you that we are going to be trying to go to one of the islands closed up until recently, and one of the bridges that is right there across the bay there to survey the damage there, and perhaps we will be aable to get more information on what they are experiencing on that island pretty soon. wolf. >> all right. dianne gallagher driving around, and thank you. we are getting new video of the flooding in orlando, florida. wow, you can see the damage done in orlando, florida, and apparently, this is only just the beginning, and looking at the video of this courtesy of wkmg and you can see the streets underwater there, and not just orlando, but other parts of the state and especially jacksonville, florida, right now. we will stay on top of this, and new dangers and damage can as tropical storm irma is moving inland with the tropical force wind winds. we will have the updated forecast and a lot more on the breaking news coverage right after this. this is the j.d. power award for dependability. now i want you to give it to the friend that you think is most dependable. o

yeah, people kind of trying to figure out the traffic pattern here in bradenton right now. they experienced the side camera. we got the people with the chain saws attempting really here at this point what they're dealing with besides just trees down is a lot of power outages. more than half of manatee county lost power, part of that 5 million without it at this point in florida going over the river, this bay area which is -- it's high but not over the bank, john and that's what they were really worried about was getting that storm surge. the fact that tampa bay and the fact that bayou didn't get the surge they were expecting spared a lot of people's property. the wind did come through pretty fierce and, again, it's up high. that water there but didn't come over the roadways. i did speak with some police officers who spent the night in a school. they said that they went out after the winds went down maybe about 2:30, 3:00 to start assessing some of the damage. you can see here fences that came down, looks like we are going to be stopped on riverview boulevard. we are behind

john, we are in bradenton in palma sola shores and i want to give you a look. and let you see on both sides of the vehicle where we have the roaming coverage vehicles and the 360 view of the damage. and you can see the strong winds ripped off a carports and they tore down roofs. this is a retirement community. 55 and older, living here. we spoke to someone this morning who got out. they said it wouldn't be safe because the bay is right behind us. these are basically on the, right there on the cusp of the water and so they got out. no one was staying here, but he came to see his property. his was okay and some of their neighbors and the roofs completely ripped off, john and almost as if a can opener just opened these homes up. you can see that the damage is almost like a tornado. we've seen to where some homes have a lot of damage. some homes don't have too much whatsoever, and we're seeing this throughout bradenton. at this point we're seeing a lot of down trees and roughly half the county does not have power and i will say the police chief and i'll get out her

diane gallagher is in bradenton, florida.ay is about assessing the damage, finding out what was done and what is needed. >> that's right, john. you know, we have to do the caveat here that everybody here on the west coast instantly started preparing for the worst. so seeing any of the damage whatsoever, maybe a little less than they were expecting. i was talking to gary here who has yet to actually be in your own home to see it but your neighbors houses are just destroyed. >> yes, they are. the -- i just went into this house and the inside is fine. it's just the porch that was added to the mobile home that's torn up on this one. i haven't seen the others. but there is a lot of damage. >> were you expecting to come home and see these homes like this or -- >> i was actually expecting to come home and see nothing. i thought it would all be torn up. so, i guess they always say -- we bit a bullet, yeah. >> thank you so much, gary. i will let you look at your own home if you want to so you can check it out there. good luck and i ho

we can't even get to the bradenton beach area and they won't let people on there because of live wirese unable to get trees from across roadways that are blocked because there are so many live wires. some people are trying to get into the communities for the first time. a lot of people evacuate and this family stayed. they had finished renovating their home to prevent hurricane destruction and it was not so uncomfortable. they were expecting far more than this. they thought they were going to have some sort of flooding and they didn't really have the storm surge, but i can tell you we have seen homes on the other side of bradenton be ripped up. we check on them again. >> diane gallagher. at a minimum, it made a huge mess that will take weeks and weeks to clean up. appreciate the firsthand insights. >> emotional moments from the president and vice president as they along with others pay tribute to those lost on a day we will never forget. ful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believ

. >> caller: i love your work, in bradenton i want you to autograph my john adams book but i couldn't get a ticket. here is my question, writing about abigail adams and we all know john adams's wife was the most liberal lady in america but when she was in england and went to see a fellow, she said some things had prejudice in her she didn't know was there, talked about the blackest man she had ever seen. and a fellow was touching the skin, the moment she called, and held more. hello? >> host: what would you like him to respond to? >> caller: i would like him to respond to that. i don't know -- >> jeanette, david mccullough. >> guest: i'm unaware of the incident you are talking about. i do know abigail adams, passionately convinced, dedicated abolitionists. she and her husband, her husband was the only founding father who became a president who never owned a slave and largely because she was so adamant on the subject. the next president who never owned a slave was their son john quincy adams, if she ever did say anything, and her actions as they do speak louder than words. >> host: wou

you were in sarasota or bradenton a year ago and i wanted you to autograph my john adams book but i couldn't get a ticket. here is my question. when you were writing about abigail adams, we all know john adams's wife was just about the most liberal lady in america. but when she was in england and she went to see a fellow, a fellow --othello it brought out prejudice she didn't know was there, she talked about how black he was, the blackest man she had ever seen and she was really repulsed by the fact that he was touching the skin of the fair desdemona and she called a fellow --ohello that heretic more. >> host: what would you like david mccullough to respond to? >> caller: i would like him to respond to that. i don't know if it is really a question. >> host: thank you very much. david mccullough. >> guest: first of all, i am unaware of this incident you are talking about but i do know that abigail adams was an ardently, passionately, convinced and dedicated abolitionist. she and her husband, her husband was the only founding father who became a president who never owned a slave. it was largel

. >> dianne gallagher is in bradenton, florida, south of tampa, tampa, and you are looking at where ae seniors do live in florida, but many of the seniors will be coming thhome t see the damage to their homes. >> and jake, we want to put it in perspective, and this is the gutter here and this is the remains of the carport scattered across the alley here, and pieces of roofs landed streets over, and some people found damaged carports in their home and thought it was theirs. so you can see the damage up here above from the drones, and also where close they are to the bay. that is why the sheriff came out friday and he had a bullhorn and he said everybody needs to get out now. this is a senior community 55 and older, and you need to get out of here, and nobody is in the homes, and it is good because when you are look at at the larger picture, the lanai and the sun porch is completely closed in, and you can see that it is calming down since we have been here, but across the rest of bradenton, a lot of the trees are down, and very few people are dealing with the power, because there is pow

them have water and as you can see, alleys full of water, and this is siden from people's homes in bradenton this is ripped off by the winds of irma. this is right on the bay. i want to give you a lye look from the cnn drone where we are located. you stee bay there, and this neighborhood back here seemed to catch the brunt of the winds from irma. nobody was here, and this is why it is so important to head the evacuation orders, because the sheriff's office came by on friday, i am told by the neighbors, with a bull horn saying you have to get out, this is dangerous. and this is when they thought that it would be an incredibly category 3 direct hit to this area, and obviously, that is not what happened, but you can see that it is good news that people did not stay here, because look at this. this la ni here, this sun porch here is crushed in and we have glass and the door is open, but there is no room. the furniture is still there, and the angels in the window are still here, but i have been seeing the people coming in and they have no idea with the carports just ripped to shreds and people ar

who was scheduled to face img academy in bradenton september 15th. st.ns is releasing a statement saying it's not the right thing to do for many reasons, both importantly the safety of the players, coaches and fans. they also recognized their friends and colleagues in florida need to be completely focused on preparing for the arrival of irma and the damage the storm will likely inflict across the state. >>> all of a sudden the nationals are closing in on popping that champagne for clinching the nl east as the magic number continues to be whittled down. it's at four, the magic number like howie kendrick's jersey. see what i did right there? right here is history. michael a. taylor with the first inside the park grand slam in nationals history. we're watching history right now, first inside the park grand slam homer in 18 years, in fact, in the bigs. yeah, he's safe at the plate. nats imagine on for the 11-10 win. main to three. so they could clinch on sunday, get those goggles and swim caps ready. >> they're going to been trying to prepare for this day...

this is essentially wacula, florida, east of bradenton. sort of in the center of the state. kind of west of avon park, if you know the region. at any rate, a lot of flooding. it's localized. officials are dealing with irma and warning companies don't take advantage of people. the attorney general in the state of florida said a couple of days ago her office was getting about 100 calls an hour from people reporting price gouging. some 8,000 complaints before the storm even hit. people reported cases of water costing as much as ten times more on amazon than other sites. it sounds like those were companies that with whom amazon works, not amazon itself. still, in response, amazon reports its suspended some independent sellers. another complaint, gas going for $6 a gallon. almost three times the national average. some storms have now capped prices on crucial items including water. airlines put limits on ticket prices. under florida law, store owners face fines of $1,000 for each complaint with a max of $25,000. the judge is here. judge andrew napolitano. this became a big deal af

one gas station over in bradenton. it didn't have fuel, but it had food. there was a line of 40 minutes to wait just to buy things like bread or ramen noodles for people. at this point right now, most of them trying to get additional fuel to top off cars in case they have to go to work. their lives have to continue even though we don't have power for nearly 40% of the county. >> all right, diane, thank you. diane gallagher on the fuel shortage that is so significant, huge parts of florida outside of the keys, one of the hardest hit parts was napeles on the west coast from where irma made the second landfall. damage can be seen all over town and they are telling residents to boil water until they can determine it is indeed safe. ed has been throughout the storm area for us. ed, you heard from the mayor of naples. you have breaking news on the cost of the recovery. >> reporter: we spoke with the mayor, bill barnett and the city completed the initial damage assessment. this is only for the city of naples. they estimate so far some $100 million in damage. the

host: bernie on the independent line from bradenton, florida. caller: good morning.y story of the week was friday. six months ago, i said on this program that russia did not only interfere with the election, they hacked e-voting machines. -- the voting machines. a lot of people in this country are morons. i believe in the next i've years , when they release -- in five years, they will say, when they release the documents, that russia changed the votes. we do not want to admit that russia beat us and we have a more on in the white house -- more on in the white house -- moron in the white house. host: reports that russia attempted to hack voting systems and most states say they were not successful. does that change your view? caller: no, it would be embarrassing for them to admit russia changed the votes. do you really think the people who voted for a man like that, do you believe it? host: more of the usa today story he was talking about, saying russians attempted to hack election systems in 21 states in the run-up to the presidential election. u.s. department of home

. >>> it's two hours south of bradenton where i am tonight, you're going to find the city of benita springsrma. >> reporter: much of benita springs is under water. this small community between ft. myers j and naples. it was slammed with winds and rains. when we come upon caretaker of the mobile homes she's worried about an elderly couple who decided to stay in their home. through water that sometimes comes up to our waists water contaminated with oil and garbage. we tracked about a mile into the neighborhood. homes are inundated, some are completely overturned. we meet a -- he's shaken by the condition of his neighborhood. >> there's a lot of damage. >> reporter: we finally make it to the home of edith, he's 98, she's 83. the door is near their trailer. >> do you want us to fall the fire department or police department? >> no no no we're fine we're doing good. >> reporter: we asked why they didn't leave when most of their neighbors did. >> difficulties taking care of my husband. we have after, you know, he has all his -- everything, it's easier. >> reporter: and a question we often ask of d

my family lives in bradenton on a bayou. >> how does this compare? >> we've been evacuated before but we've never seen anything like this. this was insane. there's a balcony that flew off above us, where other groups were staying before they caught the flight out before the storm. it's hanging on by a thread. we tied it to our balcony so that it doesn't move but it's just -- it's really scary because it came down at one point when the rain was blowing so hard and we were pretty nervous it was going to blow right through the doors into our unit. i'm not sure what we would have done had that happened. >> loren, you be safe. i appreciate it. thank you for joining us here on cnn. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> unbelievable. miguel marquez is in miami tonight for us and we joins us life. you heard she's from florida, never seen anything like it. dade county has issued a mandatory evacuation area for coastal cities. set the scene for us there. gas, water shortages? what's happening? >> reporter: yeah, you can express the concern that floridians have toni

pierce to sarasota, bradenton. it makes sense, it's earlier than expected. get the word out. if you get away from the costlines and get inside, you're going to be able to ride the system out. we want everyone to get away from the storm surge. get in a sturdy building. we have two days before this makes landfall, don. >> tom, thanks very much. new warnings for florida as miami brace farce direct hit. we'll talk to some people that have done battle with this have done battle with this monster storm. t the reason i'm telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that... you'll never be ready for. your little girl getting married being one of them. ♪ ♪ whuuuuuat?rtgage offer from the bank today. you never just get one offer. go to lendingtree.com and shop multiple loan offers for free! free? yeah. could save thousands. you should probably buy me dinner. no. go to lendingtree.com for a new home loan or refinance. receive up to five free offers and choose the loan that's right for you. our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over thre

as we push you ahead, moving the storm forward to cape coral, pun that gorda and bradenton.his is where the storm is going next. the pressure is still 938 mil y ba bars. you're going to see 27.70. as far as that thing goes. that's the pressure of the storm. it is losing wind but it's not losing pressure so it's still going to have a significant wind event, storm surge all the way up through tampa tonight and eventually all the way up through sta. marks and the bend of florida tonight and in the early morning hours. >> what's over marco island right now, what is the eta in terms of coming to naples and what's your sense of duration of that back side. i ask because con tech chully brian toad is still getting hammered. it never seems to end. >> west palm is in it because the outer eye wall is still there. the outer band is still there. just look for the color oons radon the radar map. the wind on the hurricane is strong above. the winds up there are 1.5 times higher than at the surface. when it rains down, that rain brings the wind can it. it rolls the wind can it. so that's wh

. >> reporter: trees uprooted, this one in bradenton taking part of a house with it. >> it's an incredible sight. >> reporter: the first image from the keys where irma made its initial u.s. landfall as a category four yesterday morning now coming in showing houses barely standing, cars buried beneath sand with bridges closed, residents who evacuated are now trying unsuccessfully to get back. >> very anxious and we all just want to go home and see what's going on. >> reporter: irma's second landfall on marco island. >> total whiteout now. >> reporter: leaving damage and gratitude. >> we were getting pictures that we were going to have 10 to 15 feet of storm surge and we're grateful we were spared. >> reporter: a sentiment shared by so many in the sunshine state. >> it was not as bad as i thought it was going to be. >> reporter: even while florida's largest power company says as many as 9 million people still at one point today still had no electricity. >> no power, no internet. we're living like savages. [laughter] >> reporter: trying to have a sense of humor as crews from as far away as ca

>> my family is in bradenton and sar a sot ta. >> my family is in northport, florida. >> have you been able to get a hold of them and talk to them. >> yes. we face timed with them yesterday and this morning. the we got disconnected earlier because the power went out, and wi-fi was down and we lost everything but we've talked to them. they we're safe, and are hoping that we make it home in one piece after the storm. >> yeah. of course you are. and so, just very quickly, what were you all doing in the country? what kpiemds of business were you doing on a business trip and did you know irma was coming your way? >> we were actually on a fitness retreat. we came here to -- with a celebrity -- >> hmm. that's a cliff-hanger. okay. we have lost them for the moment. obviously our producers will check back to make sure they are okay. >>> meanwhile, here to update us on the storm's track is the dr. michael brennan. weep checked with you last hour. what do you see now? >> well right now we're seeing the identify of irma has just passed over the islands of st. martin. the eye wall is just cleared p

we were to split the difference here, go right up through the center, are we making land fall at bradenton. pete. right now it looks like sarasoto, but this system has had so many incarnations that it would be very hard to predict right now. every city all along this west coast of florida is vulnerable. here is our spaghetti models. we show you this all the time. they are in agreement it is moving north and slightly northwest. but any wiggle room, even if it's 5 miles, 10 miles off the west coast of florida, that's a huge impact. what i will tell you, when i saw this, it floored me. we're still seeing this outer band. there has been an eye wall recycling here. it's gotten strong, but it made that wobble more towards the north, northwest. so if you know anyone in the florida keys, chances are you are not going to be communicating with them because the storm surge here is supposed to be 5 to 10 feet. you go up towards the coast, towards fort myers, the beautiful marco island and you are looking at 10 foot storm surge, maybe 12 foot storm surge. you could see 10 inches of rain fall, 20 inches

that's the case not only in tampa but bradenton. and, steph, i do know there was a -- >> so this was weather channel coverage that's going on all night. we just, in the last few minutes, heard from both tampa and st. petersburg. and you saw how for kind of twin cities, the conditions can vary. we saw a lot of that throughout the day. let's go to the east coast, maya rodriguez. let's check in with her again in miami. i want to continue to emphasize that while we're talking about the gulf, the east coast got, in many ways, more of this storm than a lot of people expected because the story line and those spaghetti lines in the forecast really shifted dramatically west so you couldn't blame people in miami for thinking they were perhaps out of peril. >> in fact, when we spoke to some residents in miami, they were basically breathing a sigh of relief. we feel so bad for everybody on the southwest coast of florida. they'll get hit by this storm. better them than us is basically what they were saying but it turns out that miami had its own

marco island, sarasota, cape coral, bradenton, all of those area, the storm surge is going to be a hugend it's not just the amount of rain you're going to see it's that wall of water that's going to come up and you probably are going to be -- not probably, it looks like you are going to be in the worst possible position in relationship to hurricane irma. >> scary stuff up and down the west coast of florida. appreciate it karen. our ed lavendera is back with us from naples in southwest florida which is a place that has been battered by hurricanes before. a lot of damage done in the past and a place where the storm surge is a major fear. ed? >> hi, michael, hurricane wilma back in 2005, that is the storm that many people who live here in this corner of southwest florida measure all storms be. and even talking to the mayor today asked him what do you expect and fear the most here as the worst of hurricane irma makes its way on shore. the storm surge, 10 to 15 feet and being on the right edge of that eye wall could also be -- create some of the fiercest winds and that is of great concern. e

. >>> good evening we're broadcasting tonight from bradenton, florida a street where you see has no powerhe west coast but the effects of hurricane irma are being felt all over this state still. there's a lot to report over the next two hours. we're going to be focusing on what happened in the caribbean where the storm has passed by the misery is remaining. there are now 16 deaths in the united states contributed to the storm. twelve of them here in the states and at least others in the caribbean. fema estimates 19 homes were damaged or completely destroyed. over the next two hours we'll hear from survivors who rode out the storm and people who coming home to see what's left behind or not left. virgin islands, the people there have told us they're feeling neglected. the three largest islands in the virgin

. >>> welcome back from bradenton, just north of sarasota. this community seems to have done well.is block this home is obviously severely damaged. but most of the houses on this block are okay. they even have electricity tonight. for six and a half million customers elsewhere in florida, they are out power. irma isn't even done yet. there are four storm-related deaths in other states, three in georgia, one in south carolina. florida has one confirmed storm-related death. there has been flooding in charles, south carolina, historic storm surge in jacksonville, florida. so we have a lot to cover over the next hour. we want to begin in the florida keys which took a direct hit from the hurricane when it was still a category 4. kim k i understand you had to take a boat out to key largo because there's no way to access the island by car? >> you're absolutely right. we were forced to. that is the only way to get down there with any sort of speed. highway 1, which is the way to get into the keys, that is shut off. some emergency vehicles are being let through, but the people who were down

we had a family, a young family staying at a motel in bradenton, and they had been staying there at one by the way, we've besided we're going to raise your hotel rate because there are so many people here. we're going to raise it. and they said we have a newborn baby, and they said good with shelter. those are the bad actors, but we're seeing so much more good. if you remember, we had -- i can't prosecute people, but i can fine them $1,000 per violation up to $25,000 per day and keep going on that. so we have thousands of, if anybody complains about anything, we send a preservation letter out so we can get the information back to see what's happening. what i can tell you though about some good, if i could, you know, we had some complaints about a bad actor in south florida with chevron who was gouging. chevron corporate gave a million dollars. 7/eleven stores, there were a few -- because they're all franchised out. corporate came in and gave 103,000 bottles of water, $150,000 to the red cross, ash hi furniture, a million dollars -- ashley furniture. and i just heard from folks at carniv