of a hotel lobby in downtown naples. gabe, any let up, any change? >> no, it's gotten worse, brian, in the last few minutes. you saw that tree that had fallen just behind me a few minutes ago. we've seen more trees snap here. i'm standing at the lobby of my hotel covered and there's an overhang above me, but the rain is coming in sideways at this point. the power of this thick is just incredible. we just spoke to a manager here and he seemed quite worried about how this intensified so quickly. wow, brian, it's incredible to see this, downtown naples, this is just the wind event, and we are just being pummelled right now. i don't even know what happens in the next few hours once this storm surge goes through and if any of this floods, but just look at this. just have to sit here and watch and just see the power of irma right now. again, we're in downtown naples. on the inn on 5th if you're familiar with the area. a few minutes ago, as you saw, i was a few feet out into the sidewalk, still covered, but it got dangerous rea

that's the latest live here in downtown naples. back to you. >> so much concern about that storm surge. jay, thank you. >>> our team coverage continues now with first alerted meteorologist erika martin. where is irma now and where is it headed next? >> irma made second landfall around irelaa couple miles sout marco island. its current contained wind speed, 110 miles per hour, and it's moving northerly at approximately 14 miles per hour. i do want to show you that there is at least some good news. it is going to weaken, eventually being downgraded to a category 1 by the time it makes it to tampa, florida approximately at 2:00 a.m. monday morning where sustained wind speeds will be at about 85 miles per hour. as we zoom on out and look beyond florida into, it looks like, the tennessee valley, eventually it will be downgraded to a tropical storm, tropical depression. locally we have gorgeous weather, so of course i have to talk about that. ted, back to you. >> hurricane irma's ferocious winds toppled a crane in downtown miami. the cra

we're down on the street here in downtown naples and to give you the continued since of as this -- the eye of this hurricane gets closer and closer here to naples, i've tucked in behind a wall here to protect us from the worst of the wind. it's just too much. there's no visibility. if we can get to look down here on the street, the number of palm trees that are just blowing down the street and that's obviously a major concern for us because with such little visibility, you can't stand out here in this, there's no reason too. you can't see anything flying around. as we stand here a little bit more than an hour, we have endurds these kinds of wind, this kind of rain, we're still not quite at the -- at the eye of the storm here which we anticipate will be coming much, much closer and we will continue to monitor that. so it is a situation that is clearly deteriorating and after more than an hour of enduring this you really start to have to ask yourself, we're in downtown naples and the situation here in the buildings and the structures that were surrounded by are strong and from anything t

the eye blew through downtown naples at 5:00 yesterday. this is a massive uprooted tree. a pipe is spewing water. the mayor says, though, that they were fortunate because the storm surge expekted of 10-15 feet did not materialize. the water has been receding. the hardest hit area in this part of florida is around marco island, where the storm blew through. we are told there's several feet of water in the marco island area. downtown naples is without power. crews will assess the dam today. roads are impassable. it seems the naples area has been spared. the mayor says there were no injuries. again, local authorities are saying that they are very fortunate that the storm surge did not materialize. savannah? >> gabe gutierrez in naples for us, thank you. >> you mentioned the mayor. the mayor of naples is bill barnett. good morning to you. >> caller: thank you. thank you for having me on the show. >> i have been doing reading on you. you have been in nape ls for years. you went through andrew. compare and contrast for me, if you will. >> caller: i would compare wilma because a

this is the park in downtown naples and you can just see how much devastation this hurricane has brought here through the naples area. of course we're very limited. we don't have a lot of time to be able to get out and survey so knowing that the back half of this storm is approaching, we venture out as quickly as possible. look at this palm tree just sawed in half and collapsing over. this is that area by the outdoor pavilion, a concert area that i was talking about if you're watching over the course of the last few hours and if you look back here, this is the pavilion and the tarp that was on top of the structure outside, i thought for sure this was going to come shredding apart in the winds that we experienced. but from what i can tell for the most part, that held on, obviously the trees in this park simply another story and giving how long and how intense the winds were for the better part of two hours, the buildings that we're surrounded by, if we walk back this way, chris, i can show you one -- as we were standing out here reporting part of the roof and the building that we were rep

directly, but if my cameraman, aaron sassman, can zoom in behind me, you can see the debris here in downtown naples. the wind has really knocked several limbs off several tree branches down and we've seen power lines down, transformers blowing. this is getting to be the worst of it here in the naples area. the national weather service said the emergency operations center recorded a wind gust of 130 miles an hour a few minutes ago. we're expecting to be really close to the eye wall right about now, and we've seen this wind and rain pick up in intensity in the last few minutes. it's howling right now behind me, and thankfully we're in the second floor balcony, one of the hotels here in downtown naples. not too far from me is the beach, and again, local residents, they are fearful about the storm surge and it's incredible, the pictures that you've been talking about. we've seen kerry sanders reporting on it, as well, all that water going away, going out to sea, being pulled out to sea. the fear is when this eyewall crosses, what's going to happen when it's -- when it slams back on to shore. so we expe

we're here in -- essentially downtown naples. about a half mile away from the gulf coast. and then if you look back in this way, this is looking back towards into town. we're watching this, over here with the tarp, that rooftop has been buckling up and down rather severely the last couple of minutes and we'll continue to monitor things like that. the wind is just -- ferociously blowing from the east to the west back towards the gulf, and that's clearly an indication we are on the north side of this storm as this thing swirls around us, and the eye continues to creep closer to us. after the eyewall gets here, the winds are going to shift. it's going to be from the west to the east. i was out on the beach just a little while ago. monitoring the situation there. it was amazing. the surf had been pushed back by these winds a good 100 yards from where we saw it yesterday. essentially all of that moisture pushed back out into the gulf waters. as we stand out here, obviously keeping close tabs on what's coming from our eastern side over here, chris. you know, the dang sir that th

>> jim, as you can probably tell, i'm standing in pitch dark standing in the middle of downtown naples's only our headlights providing illumination in this american city tonight. irma barreled through with ferocity. residents are counting their lucky stars that here, it was not a knockout blow. >> all across naples tonight, the post irma cleanup is under way. some of it by machine. some by man. the latter with more mettle than the former. >> my wife is safe. my house is safe. >> historic winds toppled trees, flooding roads and parking lot in a foot of rain. at this marina we saw the metal overhang torn to shreds, tossed on to boats below, one now under water. a similar predicament for the road meaning walking is now waiting to get home. >> first hurricane i have been through. >> the girls did good. >> perhaps more evident than the superficial damage, a deep root of compassion. not one restaurant was open so zach opened his. the pizza parlor was without power but not without people. >> it's wonderful. they are working very hard. it's very hot. to be able to go home and have something to

this is downtown naples. probably the commercial hub of all of southwest florida.streets but right now not so much. we have seen these palm palms raining down over the past couple of minutes as this weather has intensified. for that reason we're not going to be in this position for very long. we don't want to be dodging flying coconuts or anything like that. obviously it's a ghost town. this area is under a mandatory evacuation. only about half the town has evacuated. the reason for that, of course, not the wind or rain, it is the storm surge. we're about 650 yards down the street from the beach. you can't see it because of all the rain. about three or four feet elevation which means when that water comes surging up here and ginger has mentioned it, the force of that water, it's just going to sweep everything here. i'm going to jog over here to give you a sense of what it's like. folks are battening down the hatches with steel plates bolted to the walls. that's not going to do anything because it's going to go right through that glass. a very intense situation. fol

downtown naples is just being hammered right now. after wind gusts topped 115 miles an hour, this morning many in naples feel relieved. there may have been some flooding and wind damage overnight, but not the massive 10 to 15 foot storm surge the city had feared. >> the surge is done. and, you know, we'll deal with whatever damage was done, but i think it would have been absolutely catastrophic had it been a huge storm surge. >> reporter: instead, irma slammed on shore sunday afternoon with howling winds and relentless rain. first the eye slicing through nearby marco island. then naples. this is the rain that is hitting me. wow. geez. just a few minutes after that close call -- >> it would appear right now we are in the eye of the storm right now. look how quiet this is. how calm it is. for some residents, it was anything but calm. we're in 234e eye. what's going through your head? >> if i'm going to have to home to go back to. >> reporter: i'm sorry, ma'am. across the state, other evacuees crammed into the 500 emergency shelters. but

the surge still expected to hit downtown naples where it's still too dangerous to go. we're talking about water upwards of 10 to possibly 15 feet high. right now there is a curfew in place. it will be lifted at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning when those waters are expected to recede. back to you. >> glor: all right, jonathan, thank you very much. the florida keys were the first to bear the full force, first full force of irma. elaine quijano has made her way back to key largo to see what it is like now, elaine? >> here in key largo we are still feeling the >> reporter: here in key largo, we are still feeling the effects of hurricane irma. some very powerful gusts continuing at this hour. and here you can see, while some boats remain tethered, others, like this blue boat over here, have become loose and essentially started to free- float side to side, here. a little bit hard to tell at this moment. but all up and down the keys, we know that thousands of people remain without power, and key west was a place of concern. folks chose to stay here on the keys and ignored the mandato

this is interstate she, leading from north naples to downtown naples.rdinarily a well-traveled road on a sunday night. not a human being in sight except for police officers and individuals walking and driving and eager to get back to their homes to assess the full scope of the damage. we are live in naples, florida, tonight, brian taff, channel 6 action news >> brian, excellent coverage today. thank you. irma is now headed into the tampa area, which has been called the most vulnerable american city when it comes to flooding. tampa hasn't take an direct hit by a hurricane in almost a century. but tonight its mayor says that city is bracing for disaster. >> we have for 90 years avoided this day. but i think our day has come >> scientists have been warning for years that a hurricane could devastate tampa half of the population lives less than 10 feet above sea level. the city will flood at 3 feet. it's likely the storm surge from irma will be double that, if not more. >> miami is under a mandatory curfew. much of the city without power. but the big problem

how much lighter the skies are right now than they were maybe 20 minutes ago. >> now people in downtown naplesemerged to get a bit of a fresh air. most are now worried about the storm surge at the coast. >>> an overwhelming amount of work to be done. this is from fort lauderdale. first responders forced to seek shelters themselves and teams from northern california are among them as crissy smith reports they're in place and ready to respond to calls for help. sfwlrks as the eye of hurricane irma threatened florida, bay area first responders were already in place. in fort lauderdale teams were staged, including 100 from the california air national guard's rescue wing. >> we were able to move into the effected areas a lot quicker. >> he says they'll likely move in within 8 to 10 hours. >> anybody that sheltered in place and in a position where they need medical help. >> reporter: alameda county fire shared a post on social media. urban search and rescue task force 4 were at the orlando convention center as irma moved in. more than 100 pg&e members arrived ready to start restoration monday. the d

they expect quite a bit of storm surge and the worry is what will happen to downtown naples, brian. >utierrez in naples, stay safe there. bill karins join us. i see you were over at the wall looking at the leading edge of this eye wall. >> it's not weakening either. it's just as strong as it was. i don't see any reason why it won't have cat 4-type gusts that are going to come on shore. gabe just said 76 was the highest mile per hour gust we've seen. kerry was elevated a little bit when we had him a couple hours ago when those gusts went through. they're going to end up with like 120. the wind itself is -- again, we're focusing a lot right now on the wind. because the wind is the life threatening thing that's happening now. about an hour or two after the eye goes north, even worse than the wind, is going to be the life threatening portion with the storm surge. we'll talk about that as it begins. i got all our weather producers are monitoring all our tidal gauges. as soon as that comes up, i will let you know immediately. it has not yet. the northern eye, this is where the strongest win

not many people did stay, i want to show you video we shot from downtown naples, fifth avenue is the heart of this small city. just a beautiful strip of earth right there. fantastic restaurants and world class shopping have been there countless times over my life as i visited my parents over the years. yesterday, not a soul in sight. we saw one family that we talked to. they told us they wished they had left. frankly, they were thinking the storm would track to the east, as so many others did, obviously, the track has changed in the last couple of days, i asked them, what they were doing, they said, like you, we're staying in a hotel. and just kind of hoping for the best. coming back out here live, i can tell you a bit about the conditions we're dealing with. appeals in comparison, 30 miles an hour and gusting 40. you see how that's manifesting and a little bit of rain falling, we do expect that over the coming hours, this will ramp up significantly, our top wind speeds later today, 130 miles an hour gusts with sustained winds. just north of 100 miles an hour, south of hundred miles

this is downtown naples. probably the commercial hub of all of southwest florida. right now not so much. we have seen these palm palms raining down over the past couple of minutes as this weather has intensified. for that reason we're not going to be in this position for very long. we don't want to be dodging flying coconuts or anything like that. obviously it's a ghost town. this area is under a mandatory evacuation. only about half the town has evacuated. the reason for that, of course, not the wind or rain, it is the storm surge. we're about 650 yards down the street from the beach. you can't see it because of all the rain. about three or four feet elevation which means when that water comes surging up here and ginger has mentioned it, the force of that water, it's just going to sweep everything here. i'm going to jog over here to give you a sense of what it's like. folks are battening down the hatches with steel plates bolted to the walls. that's not going to do anything because it's going to go right through that glass. a very intense situation. folks are hunk

now we've moved to downtown naples. the big concern here is as you were talking about, that storm surge as it rolls through here over the next couple of hours, as irma roars through, there is concerns parts of downtown naples could flood. and we just spoke with someone by phone who's actual lie chose to ride out the storm in marco island. of course mandatory evacuation there. the he says he's in a high-rise, conditions so far have been good. he's above ground. he expects to flood but felt more comfortable riding out the storm in his high-rise condo. but, again, here in naples, you can see behind me these palm trees just swaying a little bit. more so than the last hour or two. but we expected to get cranking over the next couple hours. i should mention first responders say that these -- because of the wents they have started to pull back and you are pulling their vehicles off the road for safety. and just to checking in as well. yesterday, we were at that main -- massive shelter in fort meyers. that one is at capacity. r

and this is downtown naples, the it will palm trees on a friday night. virtually nobody here. the people who are here generally believe they can ride out the storm surge. everybody in a mobile home park in collier county has been told to leave. we took a look at mobile home parks and it looks like they are empty. we found a few people moving out. this is joe and his mother, sue. joe works at a beachfront hotel. that hotel said get out. so he's making evacuation plans. they're going up to ft. myers, where sue is going to have four people and a bunch of pets in a one-bedroom apartment why they plan to ride out the storm. >> you do what you have to do. you do what you have to do. and we'll do the best that we can. if things don't work out, we did the best. >> reporter: they are doing the best they can. i don't see anybody really saying this is just going to be a blow-off storm. they remember the track. they remember charley from 2004. and they are getting out or hunkering down for this storm. >> just in terms of those who are staying or feel it's too late to get out, is there a p

another prop for the inn at fifth right there on fifth avenue very near downtown naples. so that's the heart of the city, and what a beautiful place it is on a normal day. not so much today. all this is headed north toward or fort myers, and i think the eye of the storm has just about left marco island. jim castos is riding out the storm on marco island. did you get the eye there, jim? >> it's still calm -- shepard: still calm. describe it for us. >> it looks like it's about to yet a lot worse, because that's what they say. how you doing, shep? big fan. shepard: always during the eye of the storm, it's calm. you went through a lot as it was coming, right? could you take us through the process? >> yeah. you know, it was a regular -- the storm just progressively was getting worse and worse. the palm trees, you know, moving more and more. then about 45 minutes ago it got really bad, that's probably where we hit our max winds. they were -- from what i heard -- 120 miles an hour or so. maybe higher. the palm fronds, you know, are just basically covering the streets. i'm lookin

just physically when you and i were on this afternoon into this evening we were looking at downtown naples at a stretch. we guessed that the sand bags in front of the hotel wouldn't be enough. we guessed the water was coming in in force and quickly doompt we know did that ever happen? >> i have been searching social media. i have been scouring for any pictures before dark. i have seen images that the water was up high on marco island. we are now two hours from when we expected to see horrific storm surge pictures and we haven't which gives me added confidence. storm surge predicting river flooding predicting is not like predicting the sunny and 75 high the next day. there is a lot more that goes into it. the storm is not as strong as was expected. it's further inland than was expected. so the parameters that they put into the computer to get the storm surge were likely too high and they only said possible storm surge. if we only did storm surge five to ten feet and if that is inland and we see the trend continue in other gaige, the hurricane center has not lowered their forecast surge tota

they were basically downtown naples. the heart of this town. mostly of southwest florida as well. it has been whipping through here, rain and wind for the past half an hour. so it is much calmer now. but this is just the first gentle nudge of what hurricane irma is going to deliver here. the concerns are the palm trees. they're ripping down palms, coconuts are falling down. it's a slightly dangerous situation which is why we're going to head to shelter. i want to give you a sense of how evacuated. plenty of people are still here. and the concern obviously is that storm surge everybody has mentioned. i'm going to hop over to give you a sense of what is going on here. storm surge is going to be about 15 feet. we are at ground level there about 3 feet and folks have erected these steel plates here. they have battened down the hatches, bolted to the walls but that's not going to do anything wun once the water comes up. it will reach the awning blowing through every store in this area here. the damage forecast is going to be extremely extensive george. >> naples could get harder than a

the startling thing is saturday night in downtown naples along avenue is that you could be out in theest and there's simply no sound here and no movement and in the past ten minutes maybe one or two police cars going by. every shop and restaurant down this mean a strip close down and most of them boarded up with plywood. people here are afraid of the storm and they know it is deadly and the essene what it is done in the caribbean. with the loss of life at more than 20 and the complete destruction on some of those islands. they have promised catastrophic winds here for eight hours of 100 miles plus an hour winds here and they should be taking these warnings seriously. there's a mandatory evacuation order in effect for collier county, where i am now. people have been getting out for the day. there has actually been a scramble to find place in the shelters in this region they have opened up stadiums. some people, as many as four hour waits, to get in. it's a difficult situation for some families already on the run and evacuating from the east coast and some of multigenerational with medi

the hotel we've been watching across the street in downtown naples. will those sandbags be near enough for what they're going to need to keep water out of their lobby? >> not if the storm surge has wave action on top of it and everything else, but remember, our crew, the kerry sanders crew up on the third floor of the parking garage. he said his elevation is six feet. we know that water level is one foot. technically, if he was correct with the elevation and if it rises five or six more feet in another hour he should be able to shoot down the water starting to surge around his parking garage and that's in an elevation of six feet and that's what we're waiting for in this next hour is to see if we get these incredible pictures of what a 10 to 15-foot storm surge looks like. we don't have our crews in situations near the coast. that's where it will be the worst, of course. they're further inland in parking garages with a little bit of elevation. so even our pictures, if we get them live enough may not tell yoi the whole story, but they'll give you an id

in downtown naples with a look at the damage. jonathan, good morning. >> good morning, charlie. we've been traveling all morning long. we wanted to stop along fifth avenue to show you the clean-up effort. just moments ago, we saw plows come through to carry off all of the palm trees that were downed during those high winds. its trees like this. that are really hampering this recovery effort. irma made its second florida landfall in marco island as a category 3 hurricane. but it reached naples with a terrifying force. the naples municipal airport recorded a wind gust of 142 miles per hour. the highest reported in the state. this drone footage shows the extensive damage. streets submerged. buildings torn apart. neighborhoods littered with debris. a roof completely ripped off. >> it's already pretty full. >> she rode out the hurricane cuddled in her closet. this type arouime around, she t shelter at a naple's country club as the dangerous eye wall passed. trees were torn in half. power lines ripped down. the naples storm surge feared to be one of most dangerous peaked at just over

we're here in downtown naples, which looks -- forgive the cliche -- a ghosttown. vie brandt farmers market. you can see the businesses boarded up. wind but the storm surge upwards of possibly 12 feet will certainly rush in and impact this place. we're only five blocks away from the ocean. if you haven't heard of this region, if you haven't been here, odds are you have had a tomato from it. a 45-minute drive east is a town known as the tomato capital of the u.s. there right now as we speak are communities of trailer homes and living in them right now, a group of migrant farmers who say they don't have the money or cars to get out to a safer place. they also worry about their documentation. an important note here, police saying their immigration status won't be checked at shelters. the good news, there are plenty of of shelters but they are quickly filling up. >> jonathan, thank you very much. they're telling people that if they have to go to shelters, they should bring whatever they can with them so there is as many supplies as possible. on biscayne bay, as the win

the surge still expected to hit downtown naples. where it is still too dangerous to go.walter upwards of 10 to possibly 15 feet high. right now there is a curfew in place. it will be lifted at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. when those waters are expected to recede. back to you. >> jonathan, thank you very much. the florida keys, were the first to bear the full force, first full force of irma. elaine quijano has made her way back to key largo to see what it is look now. elaine. >> here in key largo still feeling effects of hurricane irma. very powerful gusts continuing at this hour. here you can see some boats remain tethered. others like this blue boat over here have become loose. and eventually started to, to free fleet side to side here, little hard to tell at this moment. but, all up and down the keys we know that thousands of people remain without power, and, and, key west was a -- a place of concern. folks, chose to stay here, on the keys and ignore the mandatory evacuation orders. we're told, that if they decided to stay, they would be on their own. because the offici

naples. it's a beautiful downtown. gorgeous buildings, shopping district with designer high-end stores. is that all pretty much locked down? >> oh, absolutely. there's certainly no people around. and hopefully, they've all evacuated. they started evacuating early in the week. naples is like a ghost town like it certainly should be right now. no concerns. just the aftermath. >> you have talked to the governor? you mentioned that he's asked the president to declare a state of emergency for all of the county, just to try to start the process of relief ahead of the damage even happening? >> right. and, yes, i spoke to the governor a few times this past week. and we were on, all. mayors and a lot of city officials, city and county managers were on conference with him with him for like three nights in a row. he's been doing a great job. but we're getting e-mails from state agencies, from washington, d.c., from a lot of places that are saying, hey, we will be there for you. when this is over. so, it's a positive -- it's definitely a positive sign. >> mayor bill barnett of naples, florida. thank

naples, which could see 12 feet of storm surge. drew, how are preparations there? >> they're just about done here in downtown old naples.venue, friday night here. i don't know if you have ever been here, anderson. should it be packed. it is just boarded up. very few people here. i think the people on the west coast of florida, especially down here in southwest florida took a look at that last jog or the last couple of jogs from the prediction centers and decided this is just not worst it, this size of the storm. we just got an update, 9:00 tonight from collier county. that's the county we're in to show you how seriously the people here are taking it. nine shelters in collier county are now at capacity. they're not taking any more people. they have opened up three more this evenings as the influx of people away from the shoreline continues to move. and we've talked to people all day long, anderson, who are hopscotching. so they know somebody who lives a little bit inland and up country. know somebody that lives a little north of here. they're leaving there what they thought was a safe location and going there, trying to

downtown naples is just being hammered right now. after wind gusts topped 115 miles an hour, this morning many in naples feel relieved. there may have been some flooding and wind damage overnight, but not the massive 10 to 15 foot storm surge the city had feared. >> the surge is done. and, you know, we'll deal with whatever damage was done, but i think it would have been absolutely catastrophic had it been a huge storm surge. >> reporter: instead, irma slammed on shore sunday afternoon with howling winds and relentless rain. first the eye slicing through nearby marco island. then naples. this is the rain that is hitting me. wow. geez. just a few minutes after that close call -- >> it would appear right now we are in the eye of the storm right now. look how quiet this is. how calm it is. for some residents, it was anything but calm. we're in 234e eye. what's going through your head? >> if i'm going to have to home to go back to. >> reporter: i'm sorry, ma'am. across the state, other evacuees crammed into the 500 emergency shelters. but

understand, one of had high sh areas here in downtown-- the higher areas here in downtown naplesism the uth r water-- naples. the water in other parts we surveyed throughout the day yesterday has to be incredibly dangerous situation, the good news is we reported over the last day is that many of the people here in naples evacuated the area, we didn't see but a handfull of people out and about throughout the day yesterday. so that is a good sign. but it is quickly going to turn from a wind and structural story to this flooding story. here comes another gust. i'm out. >> wow. tracking hurricane irma right now, it is north of where you just saw ed reporting, north of naples moving close to fort meyers, florida, as the eye of the hurricane skirted the coastline it is moving inland, that will take some of the fuel for the hurricane engine right out of it. the forecast track for hurricane irma is going to take it into florida and into the desert southwest, it will be downgraded to a category one within hours, the reason for that is because instead of staying over the gulf waters, it is getting closer to land. it

we were actually here in downtown naples. this is where the eye of the storm blew through. you see toppled trees and knocked down power lines. this area is without power. you mentioned so many people in shelters at germaine arena. many people went up there and have been there for several days and said yes, the power went out at the arena. several thousand people were inside and the roof began to leak at one point, but again, a local emergency management official said the building was safe and the situation was controlled. we spoke with one evacuee overnight and said the situation was improving there. as i'm walking over here, talking about the storm surge. if you look, this is not far from the beach, this street. there is some water down there. and there was some overnight flooding in the naples area, but for the most part, that storm surge just did not materialize. if it had, this entire street would have been under water. thankfully despite us getting 130 miles per hour winds around 4:00 or 5:00 yesterday, the eye came through here and got calm. it was the backside of the

naples. the question is exactly how much of it and how much of this downtown floods, matt and savannah. >> that's gabe gutierrez in naples. the storm is creeping closer and closer to that area. >>> what's the latest, dave, what can you tell us, where this is going, how long? >> the tracking doesn't so much matter at this point. we know this huge storm is overtaking the entire state of florida. what we are going to see over the next several hours is first on the southwest side of florida, from naples and ft. myers and tampa, winds will increase rapidly, very heavy bands of rain. on the back end of that, that's when the surge happens. that is the biggest concern at this point. it's remarkable considering in some cases we're going to have wind gusts up to 125 miles per hour. a storm surge in some locations, 5 up to 15 feet, that's what we're facing. that's as we head through the afternoon hours into tonight. other complicating factors are high tide. and again, as we fall into darkness, that is another issue. it is near impossible at this point for first responders to get out and help people. now is

a lot of the flooding there had to do with storm surges overwhelming parts of downtown and other areas. this is naplesorida's west coast. it was one of the worst hit. this is where the eye of hurricane eventually made landfall on the us mainland. it was one of the hardest hit cities. one of the aspects to this tissue you is that looting has become a real issue. tying up the resources of law enforcement. these were pictures captured by a news crew showing a large number of people breaking into a store and fleeing with merchandise. our correspondent jane o'brien is in downtown miami and has been speaking with the general manager of the intercontinental hotel the city. miami is getting back to normal remarkably quickly, even the notorious traffic starting to get onto the city that this time yesterday was a ghost town. here to tell us a little bit more is robert hill, the general manager of the intercontinental, one of the largest hotels in miami. 600 employees. you are in constant touch with the authorities. what is the latest you're getting? first of all, we're very pleased we weathered storm yesterday

naples. the question is exactly how much of it and how much of this downtown floods, matt and savannah. >> that'sabe gutierrez in naples. the storm is creeping closer and closer to that area. >>> what's the latest, dave, what can you tell us, where this is going, how long? >> the tracking doesn't so much matter at this point. we know this huge storm is overtaking the entire state of florida. what we are going to see over the next several hours is first on the southwest side of florida, from naples and ft. myers and tampa, winds will increase rapidly, very heavy bands of rain. on the back end of that, that's when the surge happens. that is the biggest concern at this point. it's remarkable considering in some cases we're going to have wind gusts up to 125 miles per hour. a storm surge in some locations, 5 up to 15 feet, that's what we're facing. that's as we head through the afternoon hours into tonight. other complicating factors are high tide. and again, as we fall into darkness, that is another issue. it is near impossible at this point for first responders to get out and help people. now is th

right now naples is dark. the downtown main street behind me completely dark. 170,000 people in the county without electricity right now. and the entire state of florida, at least 2 million people without electricity. the damage assessment is going to have to wait until tomorrow. there were strong winds of above 130 miles-per-hour here, sustained for about a half hour in the city of 20,000 people. in our brief time out into the elements during the eye of the storm as it was passing overhead, we could see some significant damage, a number of big trees either snapped or pulled up from the ground. some damaged roofs as well. we did not see, though, widespread complete destruction of buildings. just small damage to homes and buildings. the other concern too is flooding. how bad is it going to be? on some streets we went down 2 or 3 feet already. that's been the real concern overnight. what could it be? we have heard predictions of a storm surge, anywhere from 10 to 15 feet. that could be very dangerous and that's why officials

downtown miami. griff jenkins is on the roads down about naples.nless the storm veers one way or another which it may, it's headed to this area. >> it's come here 75-mile-an-hour gusts. we have been driving around. we stopped for one second because we heard three loud booms. we saw a fireball in our live shot, and if you put the window down, this tree has caught on fire. it hit one of the power lines. i want to show you, it smells like smoke. this will turn into a larger fire. the embers going. the mayor bill barnett, i asked him 30 minute ago, anything you want to tell them? he said tell them the first responders are off the road. this tree hit the power lines and this is a larger part of the problem with more than 5,000 people here obviously, over a million in the miami area. the power grid as you all know is above grounds. that's causing the outages. now this tree just split into i don't know, half. about 100 yards back that way. it's starting to smoke and it's going to become a fire in the not too distant future. we'll hop in and take you off t

. >> trees and mud covered parts of downtown but that appears to be the extent of the budget on miami. >>> the mayor of naples florida said that the city dodged storm surge predictions. residents still emerged to find gust of 142 miles per hour, the highest ever. >>> irma weakened to a cat 1 when it hit orlando. a curfew is in place until 6:00 tonight. downed trees and broken windows littered downtown. the mayor, bob buckhorn, said not only did tampa budget a bullet but it survived and it's manageable. meantime, the deaths of 10 people are blamed in cube a people woke up without power and neighborhoods are still underwater. irma was a category 5 hurricane with 160-mile per hour nd >>> strong winds in the virgin islands knocked out power and flattened homes in st. thomas. american evacuees are told to show up at the st. martin airport with only their passport and a small carry-on bag. topper shutt is in the weather center with more now on where tropical storm irma is now. >>> yeah. compelling video. that was a concrete house that was halfway demolished. that was strong stuff and the winds are down to 50 miles

water poured into downtown from biscayne bay while wind ripped across naples. entire state was hammered by the storm. cities like jacksonville under water. >> it looked like a nuclear bomb went off. >> reporter: the magnitude of the devastation overwhelming. >> everything is down and gone. >> we need water, food, we need gas. >> reporter: and power, five days after land fall, millions are still in the dark. and now each day in the strike zone begins with the difficult task of recovery. and a promise from survivors. >> we love it here. we're in paradise. we're going to rebuild. we're going to come back strong. >> reporter: the strength that continues to be tested here. jay gray, nbc news, miami. >> for some of these pets it could be their last chance. they have arrived at the last chance animal rescue in waldorf. they came in from hurricane damaged areas. dozens of these pets are available. all of them are updated on their vaccinations. anyone interested in adopting can visit the puppy palooza from 11:00 to 3:00 at pet smart in columbia. get yourself a kitten. >

miami area, the downtown district area, that was always clearly badly affected with the storm surge. the thinking was anywhere from naples, right the way to tamper, the waters would rush in, causing devastation. it is all with have the hurricane work, the dynamics. when the wind blows in the circular fashion, dynamics. when the wind blows in the circularfashion, it turned out dynamics. when the wind blows in the circular fashion, it turned out as the storm approached, the winds were coming off the land. what they did, they pushed the sea out further into they pushed the sea out further into the gulf of mexico, what happened in tampa bay area, dc dropped. the biggest worry was once the storm was pulling away to the north, the wind would come rushing back in off the gulf of mexico. pushing water up through the tampa bay, potentially bringing a storm surge of ten feet. that did not quite happen, the second bit of the storm was not as powerful. we are still to assess the effects further south, around naples and fort myers. it's safe to say, could have been much worse, at least in the area i am in right now. bangladesh's prim

esta cobertura, las inundaciones de downtown, impresionante por esta marejada ciclÓnica que va a seguir no solo en Área este de la pi nino sula si no tambiÉn hacia naplesyectoria entrando hacia valle de rÍo missisippi, eventualmente esta es la proyecciÓn para las 8 de la noche ban desafuero tes de irma estarÁn entre fort mayer y tampa, desplazÁndose hacia el norte cerca de tallahassee, donde el lunes, estarÁ y se ira debilitando para las 4 de la tarde dÉbil, lo peor va a estar pasando en las prÓximas horas en esta parte de la penÍnsula, las condiciÓn de tiempo van a mejorar en esta localidad y eventualmente veremos cuales fueron los estragos en su en en estado de la florida, en vivo, desde dallas josÉ. >>> gracias, en miami, se sienten como pueden ver estragos de este huracÁn por horas ya, pero este huracÁn que tiene tamaÑo de estado de t escatexas afecta la florida y tambiÉn en otras partes, como georgia, ha estado sintiendo los estragos de este huracÁn, en alabama, el estado que estÁ justo al norte de la florida, tambiÉn estÁ sintiendo los estragos de este huracÁn, porque como nos decÍa nÉstor cuando estÁ bajando de intensidad en su rumbo hacia el no

circulation coming right through naples, naples goes over 127 miles an hour, gusts could be higher than this, close to 100 around the miami area. miami downtown may not see the strongest wind, it may be in the western zone here. but the entire southern portion of florida under hurricane warnings and watch ex pends from daytona beach to the tampa area. and a storm surge warning all the florida from tampa to fort piercing, some of the latest numbers, 8 to 12 feet of storm surge, especially around the naples area and into the everglades, down toward homestead, a lot of homes in the homestead area which was hit so hard by andrew in 1992. after this it moves through the state of florida, over tampa, weakness to a tropical storm toward southern georgia, and then moves in towards portions of the tennessee river valley here. for us, we're not going to see much of it at all. maybe shower activity next tuesday. this will not be a big factor for us. a lot of people continue to ask me about that. our weather looking great t-saturday and sunday perfect for the redskins opener, 1:00 game there as we take on the eagles. 75 degrees on monday, there's a chanc

downtown miami under more than four feet of water in some places. white caps on some city streets. and flying debris. then, irma's eye moved out of naples. that area getting thrashed with high winds and high water. reporters and plum trees getting pushed all around. the storm surge is a big concern along the gulf coast. irma sucked water out of tampa bay, and people know this. forecasters are warning folks. irma is meant to send it rushing back. i am kimberly suiters. more than 2 million people without power tonight. it could be a long time before they get it back. we have team coverage of hurricane irma. we begin with meteorologist steve rudin tracking the storm. are we talking about less historic proportions? i want to give you the latest update. updates come in every hour from the national hurricane center. 100 10. wind gusts at 130 miles per hour, moving to the north at 14 miles per hour. it made landfall on marco island earlier this afternoon, now drifting towards ft. myers and eventually up toward tampa, where they are expecting significant storm surge over the next four to eight hours. let us show you the tractor that storm as it

downtown miami. it's evacuation zone b. there were not a lot of people around. i've lived in florida for a long time. i lived in miami for ten years. i lived in naples for four years. i can tell you people have taken some storm seriously in a way i have not seen before and i've covered about 20 hurricanes. i can tell you in downtown miami very, very few people around and that's an area usually bustling with people. miami beach also quite deserted. people did heed this. you're always going to have that handful of people that say i'm going to hunker down and be in my place and i'm not going to leave. for the most part people heeded that and you saw that in the numbers of people showing up at the shelters. they could not open shelters fast enough here in florida. so many of them were filling up. people were taking this seriously. they were leaving where they were living and going to shelters because they thought i don't want to take that risk. i don't want to take that chance of whatever irma has in store for us. >> they were opening shelters. it went from 260 yesterday to 290 now. thank you for joining us. here in studio, meteorologist steve. let's ta

have you spoken with anyone else that chose to ride this out in naples as far as what they're seeing, whether it's more in the downtownntown area was pretty much evacuated. we had some of our neighbors said they were going to ride out the storm. last minute, last night they said it wasn't worth the risk and they all pulled out. just about everybody that we know has pulled out of naples itself, and they've moved a little further east or out. that's the feedback we've been getting from people. sandra: how about power? >> no power. we were fortunate enough to have power up until about three hours ago or so, and then it was flickering in and out and we lost all power and we've been without it since, so that's our next issue that we have to deal with. sandra: i've found over the past couple of hours, people write in saying there's a lot of people who don't live in the area full-time like you do, they live up north in the summertime, and then they end up checking in with those that are there full-time. are you getting that sort of -- are you involved with that sort of correspondence? people worry about their homes if they'r

naples, where the eye of the storm passed sunday. the rain creating white out conditions similar to a blizzard there. some reporters saying it felt like being hit with a firehose. and in downtown this! winds over a hundred miles an hour tearing the roof right off this house. the city has also been dealing with serious flooding from storm surge. we'll have live reports from miami and tampa in just a few minutes. we will continue monitoring the video coming out of florida and will bring it to you as we get it. 5:xx - and right now local groups working around the clock to help those impacted by hurricane irma. suzanne kennedy is live at red cross headquarters in fairfax, suzanne? right now and the rain from the massive story heading our way. the impact in our area as early as tomorrow - coming up next. hurricane - irma weakening, as it moves over the western florida peninsula - next update from nhc at 5am - increasing clouds from irma today - cloudy & cool tomorrow; few showers late - unsettled work week; warming late week today: sunny and cool start. increasing high clouds. highs: 74-77 winds: ne to e 5 mph tonight: mostly cloudy. lows: 54-61 winds: ne 5 mph tuesday: overcast. c

downtown charleston was flooded. the water was hip-deep in spots. more flooding could be on the way overnight during high tide. on florida's gulf coast, naples took a real hard hit, according to mayor bill barnett, but not as hard as was feared. here's jonathan vigliotti. >> reporter: hurricane irma turned naples enter a sea of destruction, plunging neighborhoods like this underwater after dropping nearly a foot of rain. some areas were flooded by six feet of storm surge, but far less than the 12 to 18 feet predicted. 140mph were so punishing this gas station was twisted into a pile of metal. bob utter's neighborhood took a beating. >> we were quite amazed at all the major trees that are down, and we've been through a couple hurricanes before, but nothing like this experience. >> reporter: almost all of collier county's 300,000 residents are without power. downed trees and purr lines barricaded streets and posed a threat to homeowners anxious to see what's left. on marco island, the clean-up has begun, but the lack of electricity and water is slowing the process. further east, the farming community of amockley, america's tomato capital, has