but with this happening is a disgrace -- >> thank goodness. >> has to do with florida power and lightnd the officials trying to wipe this off. >> ellie, if you can hear me, i know the connection is hard because i'm down in the florida keys. let me ask you, you worried that this could happen. you placed phone calls before it happened. explain that to me. >> yes. yes, go ahead. hello? >> elle, can you still hear me? >> yes, yes, i can hear you. >> elle, my question was you were worried this could happen. you say you called to warn folks you were worried this would happen. you called the power company. give me the timeline? >> okay. i started calling the power company from the day before and i called them on tuesday and i spend the whole day calling them. i have a ticket number for those calls of 40 -- i'm sorry, 4301. i kept telling them it was a life-threatening situation and they kept telling me, we'll get to it and this and that. now, they never did. the facility called them several times and the air condition company called them several times also, so that's florida power and light

and light workers and florida power and lights going to be leaving. their folks are leaving tomorrow morning. once the storm passes through, they are ready to go to try and restore power especially to miami. we are told by a couple of guys here they will be leaving as soon as they can, as there is daylight and less wind. heading down to miami to try and turn that power back on for everyone. >> wow. that is some live shot. thank you. >> sara sidner -- >> well done. >> gutsy journalism there. that's a reminder to folks, as far as up north to jacksonville, still a lot to come on the op site side of where you thought this storm was. a lot of punch left. in miami this storm punched a lot as well. 100 miles an hour. the miami-dade airport will be closed today. a limited flight schedule on tuesday. schools in miami-dade county, also closed until further in the. >> yeah. some schools are shelters at the moment. they have been taking care of people. this shows how powerful wind are in miami. can you see the winds blew the roof right off t

you know, they're now pushing it to florida power and light, and florida power and light, well, now, they're shifting it to the state. according to "the new york times," rob gould said at a news conference on wednesday that when the company met in march with broward county officials to discuss hurricane preparations, the officials had not flagged the nursing home as a top tier critical infrastructure that would need power first. so they're basically saying when they were doing the preparations, they never said this was a critical facility, so it's not our fault we didn't respond immediately. >> and sadly in cases like this, you see this happen. you see all of the entities that potentially have liability pointing the finger at each other. and, again, when civil lawsuits are filed, when the discovery process begins, we'll get more of the facts. ultimately if these cases go to trial, jurors will have to decide who is ultimately responsible. but i can't help but get back to that nursing facility because, again, if you take your loved one to a nursing facility, your understanding, your be

any governors and come says they can't florida power and light. lorida power and light refused to speed up its response to senior living facilities they say. they say the county never listed nursing homes as critical facilities in power outages. is this true? >> yes. the county said they did that because florida power and light's guidelines don't have nursing homes as google infrastructure facilities. -- as critical infrastructure facilities. there's a lot of pointing back and forth as maybe to who should have stepped in here. thathose are the arguments the sides are giving us to why something was not done earlier. amy: i want to bring dale ewart into the conversation. so often a catastrophe like this, a climate catastrophe in this case, lays bare the weaknesses of the system. and also shows us the importance of government and regulations. but how is it possible nursing homes, where the most vulnerable criticalnot considered facilities in power outages? >> it really is a good question. .his is a tragedy it raises questions and concerns, not just ab

florida power and light, duke electric, others will be bringing forces to bear here. federal government brings to bear a number of forces that are imperative to the restoration effort like pushing debris out of the road and clearing roadways. yesterday what we saw was not just the reports of but the actual evidence of this will be the largest ever mobilization of line restoration workers in this country, period, end of story. they were already mobilized yesterday. they were at the daytona speedway. we will have line restoration workers from every company in this country from states all over the country but also from canada coming to florida to help restore the lines. so in florida, unlike in houston where they're buried powerlines, in florida they are strung on poles. we have to restore the poles, restring the lines. they restore the plant and subplant, then line by line into each road and half by half. you can't hook up each half ntil the home is safe. it's literally a joint effort from federal clearing to public and private partnerships to line restoration that are p

florida without power tonight and some places may not have electricity for weeks. let's discuss now. robert goal, the vice president and chief communications officer with florida power and light just want to warn our viewers there's a little bit of a delay, so please be patient with this interview. thank you so much. governor rick scott discussed the power outages at a briefing earlier today. let's take a listen before we discuss. >> we have about 65% of the state without power. it's going to take us a long time to get power back. i've been talking to the utilities and i'm having daily calls to get the power back on. they're going to do everything they can. i can tell you that they're bringing in 23,000 members, this is just what the utilities are doing, not including what the federal government is doing, not including the support of the military. >> so, robert, the governor said 65% of the state without power and an official count for florida disaster dot organize pegged the number at 6.5 million people. how long do you think the power starts being restored to some of the hardest hit areas in florida? >> well, we've been aggressive with attacking it thus far. we've got 3.1 m

all the way from brevard into dade county, 70 to 77% of the florida power and light customers are without power. and then you jump over here towards naples, florida, caollir county, 95% of the florida power and light customers without power. not out of the woods for georgia, south carolina and into alabama coming up. >> really important information there. talking about some of those coastal areas expecting four to six-foot storm surge. look at the satellite imagery of what the water's going to look like, just ugly. thank you so much for that. >> charleston floods easily. that could be a trouble spot ahead. no matter where you are in florida, dangerous winds whipping up from coast to coast. millions are in the dark. live coverage in florida with more of hurricane irma next. >>> i'm victor blackwell continuing cnn's live coverage of hurricane irma in downtown tampa. starting to get a bit of moisture. steady just a moment ago. i want to go to stephanie elam who is also in tampa. there is of course this curfew here that was enacted yesterday during the evening hours. are you seeing people def

we heard from florida power and lights and they say that on the west coast of florida, they expect that power should be restored by next friday. as far as the east coast, they are saying that should be restored by the end of the weekend. they are making progress, but we are talking about so many towns and so many cities within this large state of florida. it's a massive effort to restore the power. 30,000 people have come from out of state for restoring power. >> we will speak with a representative of florida power and light. the major airports down in florida, miami, fort lauderdale, among others. >> what we are seeing are essentially that the big ones are starting to see operations come back slowly. the smaller airports like south florida and international airport in fot. myers and key west airport. no operations there. good news is fort lauderdale opens this morning, orlando, tampa are operating as well as miami international flew in flights this morning. before folks get too excited, you want to check with your airline. although they are up and running, the limited service, it's goi

power is out right now? are street lights working? >> it really depends on what section of the city. it's very, very spotty. certain areas have power and others don't. florida power and light are working diligently. as you know, millions of people that are without power. this is stretching the resources dramatically and bringing in people from across the country to take care of what's happening in florida. >> are there power lines down that could be very dangerous? >> absolutely. i saw them early this morning and i saw them last night. we see the crews there along with the first responders and the public works team and the fire departments that have gone beyond the call of duty to make sure that god forbid no one can get hurt and that's one of the reasons we can't have people back until we are able to secure it. >> what are your biggest challenges right now? >> i can tell you this. the good news is this. we invested a tremendous amount. we have been raising roads and putting in pumps and generators. we have been fighting back against sea level. it has been a big issue even during sunny days. we found during this historic high tide that we experienced with t

florida some time today and mobilize in lake city, florida, which is in columbia county near the georgia border. that is considered inland county and thought to be well-protected. separately, florida power and light22 staging areas across the state. thousands of fpl crews and the crews from visiting states will be disbursed to the areas with the greatest needs. if you consider that 90% of florida power and light's customers live or work in coastal areas, which are more exposed to high winds and storm surge, you get a better idea of why they are predicting that millions of people will be without power for several weeks. most of the power crews from other states have agreed to stay for at least 30 days, if longer, if needed, shep. >> shepard: trace, many of these out-of-state power company workers have helped with hurricane repairs over and over. >> they have. and florida would draw from southern states. but many of those are in texas. which is why florida requested crews from canada, michigan and other states. there's crews from indiana that have helped turn the power back on in florida after every hurricane since andrew. florida power and light has a mutual aid agreement with some companies like

and contractors to florida.. they'll join about 18-hundred other exelon utility workers... including more than 200 b-g-e contractors and employees. they'll work around the clock... to help florida power and light' - in what's expected to be one of the nation's largest power restoration efforts, ever. pepco's mobile command vehicle will be the base of operations. it's filled with workspaces, satellite dishes and phones to help dispatch crews. as irma bears down - two in florida closed indefinitely right now. orlando international and tampa international are both saying they won't reopen until crews can assess damage. fort lauderdale and miami international are both closed today. and miami could possibly resume service as early as tomorrow. stay with abc-7 for complete coverage of hurricane irma. coming up at 4:45 - a live report from miami. and don't forget to download our stormwatch 7 weather app for updates on irma's latest track. coming up - breaking news from texas. a plano home becoming the site of a mass shooting. the latest - still ahead. plus tracking irma. a live report from miami.. still ahead. yeah. must've been hot out there today, huh? yeah ok. yeah. beat even the toughest stains a

power lines and trees in the miami area. transformers blowing up. we know the florida keys are now dark. 300,000 state-wide without power. florida power and light officials are warning that 4 million people could see outages by the end of this thing. that would be historic. we're also hearing about crews from pennsylvania leaving this morning about 10:00 a.m., they're taking a caravan of about 30 trucks. crews from all over the country are heading toward florida right now to help the state recover after the storm pass to get back up and running. randy gyllenhaal, nbc10 news. >> thanks for that, randy. >> nbc10 is keeping a close watch on irma's potentially historic devastation. you heard the governor say it, they expect this to be a deadly storm. we're going to continue to watch it, keep you posted. we'll be updating everything on-air and online. make sure you have the nbc10 app. >>> new overnight, two shooting victims in the hospital in critical condition. this happened in philadelphia, north philadelphia. one of the victims was shot near 18th and cumberland streets. the other was hit around the corner. one victim is 25 years old, the other is

and all people in the state of florida with this monster storm coming. >> best of hope to you and your family. >> followed -- florida power and light expects millions to lose power as it moves through the state. >> those that did in the shelter and evacuated we will have more when our special coverage continues you won't see these folks at the post office. they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. . >> the incredible power of hurricane irma we saw a the caribbean slowly advancing toward the of florida keys. buffeting the island chain is expected to make landfall sunday morning before making its way up the west coast. >> 6.5 million floridians under evacuation governor rick scott did not mince words earlier. >> you have been ordered to evacuate you need to leave now. this is your last chance to make a good decision. >> now we will check in with the fox news ex

and there's still going to be several more hours to go, my goodness, it's coming down. power outages, you mentioned that a few minutes ago, shepherd, 3.4 million estimated by florida power and light. duke energy which handles a lot of the utility up northern and central florida, they're estimating this will be a million of its customers without power and electricity at some point. this is going to be multiple millions of people in the state of florida alone who are going to be stuck for days likely without any electricity at home. this is why all city leaders, political leaders, emergency operation managers warn everyone who lives in florida, you have to have hurricane first aid kit and five day food. florida power and light has 17,000 workers all prepositioned. they are ready to go but they are not going yet. no one is going out fixing utility lines and replacing all the transformer that blew up overnight until after the storm passes. in the meantime, you can't drive on several roads, you shouldn't be driving at all for that matter. you see that car down off the road in the distance, the driver wasn't there an hour ago. that driver has now left the car, abandoned, stalled out, l

even as it makes its way up slowly but surely it will take some time for emergency crews and florida power lightstuation. the 13,500 people florida power and light has. patience is the key for south floridans. you get used to the storm coming. maybe it's not so bad outside. you want to go out there and be brave and say it's not that bad. but you have to stay patient and stay indoors. it's not that wet right now. but the gusts and the rain can turn very quickly. keep your guard up is the message. we even saw tornadoes in fort lauderdale. and a lot more rain because the squalls came north of miami. and we expect it to get worse here in miami. mike: another 26 hours ahead. we wish you the best. molly: the florida keys are already feeling the impact of irma and the worst is still yet to come. adam housley is live in key largo finding out firsthand. adam, how are things going? >> it's been a long battering for the keys. continuing winds, rain, and the threat of higher water. we were live all day across on the other side of key largo based on the oceanside, on the east side where the wind and water is

florida power and light, the utility down there, says at its peak, 4 million people could be outaged. right now, we're seeing a number of downs trees and power lines in the miami area. you can expect that to spread north and they're going to need help from crews like this all over the country to get florida up and running. we'll be here as the crews take off. randy gyllenhaal, nbc10 news. >> nbc10 is with you every step of the way as we track the potentially historic devastation. >>> other news this morning that we're watching in delaware county, a house fire broke out overnight on angora avenue. itting to crews about an hour to extinguish the flames. no reports of anyone hurt. >>> a suspect is in custody following the sexual assault of a 5-year-old child. police are releasing few details in the case. we know it happened on warrington avenue in southwest philly and the vp went to the children's hospital of philadelphia for treatment. >>> now to the break in the case of a father shot by robbers right in front of the man's young daughter. philadelphia police have arrested two brothers i

they said they alerted facilities and called florida power and light. d a statement, the nursing home said the center and immediately contacted florida power and lights and continues to follow up with them for status updates on when repairs will be made. outreach results were made to local emergency officials and first responders. what florida power & light came out with a statement and said in march, we met with broward county officials to identify top critical facilities that would require priority power respiration while these nursing homes were given a level of priority, other critical facilities such as hospitals and 911 centers were identified as higher priorities. bottom line, officials are saying in the state, including from the governor's office about rick scott, they should have called 911 if they felt like the people in the nursing home were in life-threatening or grave danger and for whatever reason, that did not happen. the governor now ordering local officials to go around and make sure they check nursing homes, including right here in holl

spokesman said they alerted authorities saying the center immediately contacted florida power and light and continued to follow up with them for status updates on when repairs would be made. outreach was also made to first responders. florida power and light said they're sorry but said the nursing home still had power and that hospitals in 911 centers get higher priority to restore power, particularly after a storm like hurricane irma. now, on wednesday morning at 3 a.m. the first responders came here after a call. they found three people dead on the second floor. it was sweltering on that floor according to first responders. they then decided to evacuate 145 people. five others later died. now, the center has been cited for numerous safety and health violations, including generator maintenance issues. investigators have been inside all day. >> walking into the temperature inside the facility. the staffing inside the facility, and all of the conditions inside the facility in the hours leading up to this situation. >> reporter: authorities now investigating because they believe this obvi

and safety violations including maintenance with generators, an issue with that. in a statement, the nursing home points the finger at the power company and local officials. they say "the center immediately contacted florida power and light and continued to follow up with them for status updates on when repairs would be made. outreach was made to local emergency officials and first responders. the florida power and light company says look, the county said the highest priority to restore power are hospitals and 911 centers. we knew that a nursing home is a priority. that particular nursing home had power. the state is pointing the finger at the nursing home saying you had the responsibility to call 911 if you thought anybody was in danger. now, all of this really started wednesday morning when three calls came in to first responders. they came here to the facility on the second floor. the police chief said it was extremely hot, so they saw the three people had died and evacuated 145 others. five of those others died later on from heat-related causes. all eight victims. we spoke to jacqueline ventura whose mother survived, 83 with dementia. >> my mom needs long-term care. i've been driving around to different facilities. t

to talk to you guys and so the people out there know the truth of what's going on in there. >> all right, ellie. >> it's not the nursing home. it's the official of florida power & light that made the priority better for other people and not for these people. they have a hospital next to them. they had lights. the other people had lights. but if the facility and other family members report this problem several times, now everybody -- >> there's a lot of questions. >> they have excuses for what happened. >> there's a lot of questions when it comes to this but we appreciate you joining us. >> i hope so, too. it could happen to me and you again. >> ellie, thank you. >> or our family. >> report back to us how your mom is doing. >> have a great day. >> thank you. >>> i want to bring in cnn's ed lavandera who is in naples, florida, tonight. my goodness. what an awful story. ed, this goes to speak to what people are dealing with right now. this is an extreme circumstance, but still among the circumstances that people have been dealing with. >> reporter: it doesn't appear that the rehab center was considered a top tier facility. however, the facility across the street was a t

florida. the job that rick has done is being talked about all over. and to think that -- and i must say, florida power and light, where's eric eric, where's eric come here, eric. great job. i will say, they are way ahead of schedule. there are more electrical people in this state, i think, than ever accumulated anywhere in the world is what i read before. it's from all over the country they came. and, i mean, i've never seen -- you've never seen anything like it, mobilized all over i see pam, who's done such an incredible job stopping certain little problems before they start and actually getting some of the companies to put up a lot of money so the attorney general, i want to thank you, pam. fantastic job. elaine, where's elaine duke? don't lose him, okay i have to say that brock, working with your governor, working with pam, working with elaine working, by the way, with marco rubio, who's around here some place -- [ applause ] -- it's a team like very few people have seen, and i want to thank everybody. marco, i want to thank you a lot. you were really helpful. and i just again have to say, what do i know, bu

florida. the job that rick has done is being talked about all over. and to think that -- i must say, florida power and light, where is eric? come here, eric. great job. [applause] president trump i will say, : they're way ahead of schedule. there are more electrical people in this state i think than ever accumulated anywhere in the world is what i read before. from the all over the country they came. i've never seen -- you've never seen anything like this. >> no we haven't. president trump mobilized all : over. i see pam who has done such an incredible job stopping certain little problems before they start. and actually getting some of the companies to put up a lot of money. so the attorney general, i want to thank you, pam. fantastic job. \[applause] and elaine, where's elaine? elaine duke. where's -- \[inaudible] -- don't lose him. i have to say that brock working with your governor, working with pam, working with elaine, working by the way with marco rubio, who is around here someplace. [applause] it's a team like very few people have seen. and i want to thank everybody. marco, i want to thank you a lot.

florida officials... have them covered. (sot) "their packing up tools , safety equipment, all the things their going to need ...however... once they land they'll be getting their trucks and other heavy equipement from florida power and light." under the agreement, florida power and light will cover the costs of the support from pg&e. (vicki) make sure you have the free kron4 mobile app to track hurricane irma. we will send out a push alert when this massive storm makes landfill in florida... we'll also be posting the latest information on our website kron four dot com. (grant) news today of a huge data breach -- affecting millions of americans. catherine is back with details of the hack that hit 'equifax.' (catherine) the giant credit monitoring company has acknowledged that a cyber-security breach compromised the personal information of as many as 143 million americans. that's nearly half the country. a staggering amount of information was exposed -- suggesting the criminals have everything they need to steal identities.... including names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and the numbers of some driver's licenses. they even got credit card numbers for about 209-thousand u-s customers. customers in britain

this morning florida power and light said customers on the east side of the state should have electricity by monday. those on the west side of florida, may have to wait until the end of next week. irma knocked out power to more than 6 million people, thats more than half the state. in the keys, residents are returning home after the state inspected all 42-bridges along "u-s one". the bridges were all deemed safe, but there is plenty of damage left to fix. a new estimate predicts insured losses from the storm will top 18-billion dollars in the u-s alone. more help from virginia is on its way to the u-s virgin islands in the wake of hurricane irma. three mor heading there this morning to help take care of people and open up a shelter. the islands were among the hardest hit by irma -- and residents are now desperate for power and water. happening today, police are searching for more possible victims, after they arrested a day-care owner's son... for inappropriately touching a baby! 27-year old kevin jones junior is charged with misdemeanor sexual abuse detectives believe jones inappropriatel

and recovery. right now more than 3 million people in florida remain without power. we should get new information on repairs when florida power and light officials give us an update in about half an hour. although they don't have the whole state. they just have the majority of it. and at least 13,000 remain in more than a hundred shelters across the state. i want to bring in morgan radford who is in naples, florida. what do we know about the president's trip, what he's doing, and who he's meeting with? >> reporter: we know he's going to be touring some of the heavily affected areas. but if you look just behind me, we're waiting outside of the naples airport for the president to arrive along with the first lady. he's expected to be greeted by florida's governor rick scott as well as his wife and he's traveling with vice president mike pence. he's going to first go to ft. myers florida. then he comes to naples where he's expected to go to naples estates which is one of the hard-hit regions. take a listen to what he said as he was boarding air force one. >> they're doing a great job on power. they're doing a great job. historically there'

florida. >>> as we told you more than 3 million people lost power in south florida and a group is ready to help here in the flood zone. the ceo of florida and power and light was out there, and employees including line workers and equipment operators are standing by to help with power issues. it's part of the mutual aid agreement with florida power and light. and a task force is hunkering down in orlando waiting for the storm to pass. they relocated from georgia to the orlando convention center. task force groups from los angeles and colorado are also at the same location. they have room to fit large emergency vehicles and equipment including 35 helicopters. hurricane irma is expected to pass orlando some time monday morning. and more than 80 search and rescue workers from the bay area are offering their help in florida. tonight task force 3 posted a photo showing 30 rescuers already arriving in florida. another group of the task force left early this morning. the >>> meanwhile most if not all major airports in florida are stilled closed. miami international shut done before the storm. -- down before the storm. they'll be closed monday, and could resume li

and as the storm continues to get near, we are expecting widespread power outages. the ceo of florida power and light says more than 4 million customers could be without power if hurricane irma stayed on its current track. reporting in ft. lauderdale, sarah rosario, nbc news. >>> several of florida's busiest airports have closed ahead of irma. yesterday people were scrambling to catch the last flights out of the state. more than 5.5 million people have been told to evacuate. about a quarter of the entire state's population. we spoke with one man who was still at the miami airport before he escaped to come to the bay area. he caught one of the final flights to san francisco where he'll be staying with his sister. not everyone was lucky to catch a plane before miami airport closed. >> i got an angel. for me it was really sad. some people doesn't get it and doesn't have anyplace to stay so they move to a shelter or something like that. irma is going to hit hard. >> flights out of the miami airport aren't expected to resume until monday at the very earliest. >>> and this was the scene last night at the a

i want to make it home again. >> florida power and light tells us they should have the electricity fully restored on the state's east coast by the end of the weekend and on the hard hit west coast by next friday. lauren blandard facts 2 news. >>> the warriors are taking part in a campaign to find homes for animals. zsa zsa and community ambassador donald foil are helping in the rescue and meeting a planeful of cats and dogs rescued from florida when it arrives in oakland in a few hours. the miami heat loaded the plane and the bay area humanity society will take over. >>> california task force went to assist in relief efforts but the services ended up not being needed. they took the photographs before they left and they are on the road driving 2500 homes. the task force leaders say he is pleased that the team did not have to go omissions. he saw how hurricane katrina devastated new orleans in 2005. they spent their times on rescue drills and training. >>> a federal appeals court reinstated ban on the fatty dust and goose liver delicacy. the video not associated with this story. the state'

the ceo of florida power and light says up to 4 million customers, more than 4 mel eun customers could expect to have their power out if irma continues on its current track. live in ft. lauderdale, sarah rosario. alex, back to you. >> sarah, as you hang on to your hat, is there anywhere, i guess that would be to your left, that you see higher ground. when you talk about storm surge, is there anything that would impede the water from reaching well into ft. lauderdale? >> reporter: when i look to my left, i don't really see higher ground. i know there is higher ground away from the beach. i don't see it in my view right now. but if people go inland, there is an area where people will be able to get further away from these waters. that's why officials have evacuated many people from this area. obviously the people surfing around here need to get out of here as the storm continues to head this way, alex. >> they sure do. sarah rosario in ft. lauderdale, thank you for that. >> florida has ordered mass evacuations. have they done enough? the state's attorney general will be here to answer th

get all of them on very, very soon. >> well, good luck to you and all the men and women who work with you. florida power lighte doing. we're following the breaking news. there's much more coming up. >>> the white house now says president trump will visit florida. we have the details on his trip. that's next. til we die... this i gotta try bendy... spendy weekenders. whatever kind of weekender you are, there's a hilton for you. book your weekend break direct at hilton.com and join the weekenders. been trying to prepare for this day... and i'm still not ready. 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. ♪ ♪ tempur-pedic helps there ayou get the most day... out of every one of them. only proprietary tempur material precisely conforms to your body. you get up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you won't toss and turn. and tempur-pedic is the best at minimizing motion transfer from your partner. you'll sleep deeply... and wake up, feeling powerful. savings end soon! through september 17t

florida power and light company says people on the west coast can possibly have power restored by september 22nd. those on the east as soon as this weekend. we have gabe gutierrez in hollywood, florida, investigating the death of eight elderly nursing home residents. >> reporter: this morning, loved ones demanding answers, still reeling from the deaths of eight senior citizens and the evacuation of 158 more after they were found inside a sweltering florida nursing home. >> it felt like 110/115 degrees in there. >> reporter: now, a criminal investigation is underway to determine what happened at the rehabilitation center at hollywood hills, where a transformer powering the air-conditioning was knocked out in the wake of hurricane irma. in a statement, the are fully cooperating with authorities to figure out what went wrong. saying workers, quote, diligently prepared for the impact of hurricane irma. and adding the center immediately contacted florida power and light. and our staff continually checked on the residents' well-being. the city's mayor, not buying it. >> it was human failure. on t

and power is restored. all right guys. >> reporter: the ceo of florida power and light. da's largest utility has to restore power to 1.5 million homes and businesses in south florida's three major counties. >> this is the first time in our company history we had all 35 counties, 27,000 square miles of our service territory hit. >> reporter: one of 14 fpl staging areas in south florida. a massive one. linemen here are working 16-hour shifts to fix the outages. anthony, utility spokesperson told us all power should be restored east coast, on sunday night. by west coast in ten days. before irma made landfall. it wreaked havoc. tony dokoupil has the story from puerto rico. >> reporter: a flight from saint marten to puerto rico takes less than an hour. but for some families stranded by hurricane irma, the trip took a week. touched down in saint marten with the national guard where they expect 300 to 400 americans waiting for rescue here at the sips -- since friday, the ambassador has been at the checkpoint. >> we have been getting medical emergencies out. still people staying

power is restored. pepco is sending more than 2 employees and contractors to florida, joining about 1,800 utility workers, including more &e contractors and employees, helping florida power and light in what is expected to be one of the largest power restoration efforts in history. >> a lot of downed wire, obstructions of the power lines and poles down. mobile command's vehicle is filled with workspace, satellite dishes, and funds to help dispatch crews. florida officials have supplies ready to help residents when it is safe. a have stored 3.2 million liters of water. there are 67 trailers filled with meals. officials also reached out to the federal government to kick in money for food and water. they have also asked complete abc 7 for coverage of hurricane irma. that is at wjla.com, and you can also download our stormwatch 7 weather app. a tragic house fire in montgomery county. one man died, another rushed to the hospital as flames raced through this home about a mile from the national institute of health. as q mccray reports, firefighters ran into some hurdles. q: law enforcement confirmed one person passed away and another was rushed to the hospital. this is a look at the scen

. >>> power outages are a huge problem in florida and they will be for some time to come. florida power and light says more than 3.6 million customers are without power. that's about 75% of their customers. unfortunately, the head of the utility says restoring power is going to take weeks at least. let's check in with nbc's phillip mena covering the latest in miami. with an early good morning to you, what's the latest there? it looks a lot couple e calmer ft. lauderdale with the winds howling around you. >> reporter: it's a much different story although we got pelted with another band of rain not too long ago. but mild by all accounts. want to show you about the benefits of preparation and evacuation here. this home was fortified with metal shutters and came out largely unscathed but these were hurricane-force winds that hit. look at the front yard. this is a large tree knocked down by those winds. this neighborhood is a good idea of what happened. look, the eye of the hurricane was on the other side of the state yet. it was still able to knock down these fences here. debris all over the street.

power outages are a big problem. as of now, 170,000 people in florida without power. several local power companies send crews to florida in the morning. psg are sending 150 crews to florida power and lights sending 30 trucks to florida or perhaps georgia. those trucks are not alone. this convoy was spotted traveling this afternoon. >> president trump along with vice president pence and cabinet members were briefed on hurricane irma during a meeting in camp david. they discussed the storm's potential impact. >> hurricane irma is being addressed and officials are watching hurricane jose. today it brushed over barbuda where residents vacated to antigua because irma left them nowhere to take shelter. the navy sailed to st. thomas to evacuate people needing medical care. they'll be treated? st. croix. >> it's estimated there are thousands of americans trapped at st. martin. >> the "6abc" app will pass along updates. the "6abc" app is a free download for your mobile device. "action news" has special coverage of hurricane irma as it makes landfall beginning at 5:30 tomorrow morning on "6abc." >> moving on tonight to two brothers, one just 16 years old is charged with the murder of a man in the

and neighboring states. we know from previous storms how incredibly important it is for power to be restored quickly. florida power and light has activated its emergency response plan and has thousands of workers preparing to respond to irma. they're one of the largest providers in our state. we're also working with out of state utilities and electrical contracting companies to secure additional resources. they have opened more than 20 state sites throughout the service area where restoration crews, trucks and equipment are stationed. lake okeechobee. water levels in lake okeechobee are still being lowered and the lake is currently 13.67 feet. at this point we have no major concerns with the dike. we will immediately advise if any of that changes. we are staying up with the army corps of engineer and the south florida water management district. shelters, if you are evacuating from the keys, you can shelter at florida international university. there's absolutely no reason for anyone not to evacuate if you're ordered to evacuate. shelters are available and will be available and you should follow the directions of local offici

the utility has a mutual aid agreement with florida power and light and when florida asked for help, pg&e offered to send 100 linemen, engineers and supervisors from across northern california. 12 year lineman veteran cisco shaft and the rest of the team know their job is a vital part of the overall emergency plan. >> the restoring power is the first step in the rebuilding process. it's basically the backbone. the grid is the backbone of a community. >> reporter: as soon as the crews here at the yard in hayward finish packing up their gear, they'll be going to davis. that's where they'll meet up with the other pg&e linemen who will all fly to florida tomorrow. katie nielsen, kpix5. >>> about 20 airman from travis air force base are heading to st. croix to help victims of irma. they flew out this morning. the group includes medical personnel. they also plan to send medical equipment. >>> the senate has passed a spending package that would send billions to the victims of hurricane harvey and hurricane irma, if necessary. the package includes about $15 billion in disaster relief. that's

power state-wide right now. that number is rapidly growing. florida and power and lightich is the florida utility company, estimates that some 4 million could lose power. that would be a historic number. back here live, we're also expecting crews from pekoe to begin loading up in pennsylvania, and they should have about 30 trucks hitting the road at about 10:00 a.m. a lot of help from pennsylvania and new jersey. for now, live in morristown, nbc10 news. >> thanks for that, randy. >> the caribbean island of st. martin is struggling to recover after hurricane irma. the island and people there suffered extensive damage from the then category 5 storm. you can see homes destroyed. cars overturned, trees ripped apart. authorities are responding to the national disaster, looters are breaking into shops to either collect essential survival goods or to steal items in the stores. nbc10 continues to track irma's potentially historic devastation. and the path throughout the day along florida's west coast. make sure you have the nbc10 app downloaded to your phone. we'll be sending up

orlando and atlanta. >> evacuees trickling back into the florida keys, but key west still off limits because the roads and the bridges are blocked. >> and what about power? florida power and lighters are on the job 14 r 24/7 all over the sunshine state trying to restore power. >> just a day late operation, we will be restoring power day and night. we're in the same position as everybody else. we want to get the lights back on as quickly as possible. >> the utility company says fewer poles are down than they anticipated. most were brought down by falling trees and not wind. >>> one of the other major concerns in florida, of course, is gasoline. >> and where it is available, the lines are quite long. we have team coverage tonight starting with david culver who traveled from fort lauderdale to naples. quickly found things are getting kind of tense there. david. >> reporter: this is becoming a sight that's all too common down here. long lines for gas. i was just talking to one woman who has been in the car 45 minutes. she's only halfway there. another 45 to go. look at this line. it wraps about 50 cars all the y

power that is the concern now. people ask when the lights come back on. i hesitate to answer. florida power andhts estimate weeks if not longer until they restore electricity in southwest florida. there is no running water. the pipes are broken. while damage might have been light, the ride is a long one by any measure. in naples, brian taff, channel6 "action news." >> thank you, brian. excellent reporting. cecily tynan continues to track irma, a tropical depression but still causing serious problems. >> it's cut off from its source of fuel, warm water when that happens, a storm weakens quickly. it's no longer a tightly wound, intense hurricane. it's now just a broad rainstorm about 800-miles across. still getting heavy rain across parts of south carolina with severe flooding. that weakens as the storm presses west. tropical storm irma, 900-miles west of georgia moving west 15 miles per hour. maximum sustained wind 35 miles per hour pushing up to the northwest, becoming a remnant low, weakening more, but this storm will be impacting our weather as we head for the second half of the week. i talk

the florida power and light you will hear a lot about that. you will hear them still working across town before they really start and get bad here. upwards of 9 million people will do that. why that is most of them is on pulls up top. they are bracing for what they can. be safe in the meantime they will hit the keys first. the mayor there is not evacuating. we are joined we're joined now on the phone. the government needs to be here. they have to be ready when the storm passes for whatever reason they were able to leave. we have to be here to get started. you can educate me on this. we are expecting storm surges 10 feet or more. they are only three or 4 feet above sea level. you are now. and when those sticking around now. there is properties that are going to get damaged the people have moved into higher ground the people are ready to get out. well had services there. we had water. it's going to be uncomfortable after water. we will be ready in case something happens. those things will be okay. they see the lights on this morning. obviously so

power back on. we need to make a different repbtion between people and customers. florida power and light, there's some 5.5 million customers in florida that still don't have power. to give you a sense of how hard they are working back there, those are sleeping trailers that can sleep 1,800 people. there are people working around the clock to get this power back on. over here, this is an empty parking lot. moments ago, it was full of trucks and crews and they are now out trying to get the power restored. here's an official and here's what he had to say. >> we have assembled a workforce of 20,000 strong, the largest in u.s. history, and they are working hard to get the lights back on for customers as soon as possible. >> reporter: the white house is also saying they have deployed the biggest army of power workers from all over the country, even from canada. the lucky ones will get power back in hours or days, and others will take weeks. john? >> we have the camera still looking at this front end loader, moving the trees off the streets, alex, which, again, is the sight people want to see.

florida. >>> the "sun sentinel" says hurricane irma cut power to millions of homes and businesses in south florida. florida power and light warned that getting electricity restored will be a slow and dangerous process. it will take weeks to get everyone back up. >>> "the miami herald" reports that three cranes at south florida construction sites snapped in irma's howling winds. the first crane collapsed at an apartment building being built in downtown miami sunday morning. hours later the winds brought down another crane at a miami condo tower. and a third went down later in the day in ft. lauderdale. no injuries were reported. >>> and the tampa bay times reports on the rescue of two manatees stuck in the bay. the reverse storm surge sucked the water out of sarasota bay, leaving the manatees stranded. a friend posted them on facebook. they rolled the manatees onto a tarp and dragged them 100 yards. wildlife officials were notified and helped get the manatees into deeper water. >>> still ahead, riding out the storm. we'll take you to atlantic beach, florida, where many residents decided to ride out the hurricane despite ev

a spokesperson for the rehabilitation person says they contact the florida power and light and stateency officials immediately after losing air-conditioning. spokesperson says the facility had adequate staffing and followed protocol throughout the rice sis. they also said water and ice were provided and disrobing residents is not protocol for staying cool. florida's agency for health care administration that regulates the facility told cnn at no time did the facility report conditions were dangerous or the health and safety of the patients was at risk. mg dwell marquez, cnn. >> new fallout from protests in st. louis outraged after a former police officer was acquitted after the death of a african-american man. how it is affecting other things in st. louis today. ice. with one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. ♪ won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car

interesting to note, though, the chief of communications for florida power and light put out a statementaying they believe that the eastern half of florida should have their power restored by the end of this weekend. and then for the west and the southwest, it will be about ten days. september 22nd. that's a bold statement thinking we were going to go weeks and weeks, but collier county, 84% still without power. brevard and miami-dade, still 50%. ten days is a long time with the temperatures rising, anderson. >> some of the people on this block were saying they got the day of the september 22nd as well. temperatures are rising, no air condition. it's pretty miserable. gas supply obviously is an issue in florida as well. >> reporter: yeah. people have been talking about that consistently. when a gas station opens up, people run for it. we were with the coast guard today as they opened the shipping channels back up because so many people were wondering when that would resume in terms of bringing gas back into the port. so many people rely on the ports here. if you look behind me, you can s