fox's joel waldman is live at miami international airport monitoring it all. joel? >> reporter: lucy g evening to you. we're getting groups of people actually walking by us who are just getting off carnival cruise line it was supposed to be a four-day cruise which in your opinion a nine-day cruise which sounds pretty nice but these people had had it. they were pretty loopy and most of them have to sleep in the airport here tonight. this is a live look right now at the american airlines ticket counter. even at this late hour, they're usually people over there but tonight no one. that's because the airport is running a 30% capacity. typically there are thousand flights. today only 300. >> i'm still trying to get my night from here to cuba but it's canceled. >> miami international airport typically handles around a thousand flights a day but so far following irma things are far from back up to speed. on tuesday, the airport only seeing around 300 flights in and out about 30% of its capacity. >> it's a nightmare. i've had to rebook get canceled, rebook. >> reporter: irm

millions are still without power, joel waldman is in miami beach. you've been there before the storm hit the area till now. what's the difference and situation there tonight? >> reporter: well, shawn, good evening to you, this is a calm but the frustration after the storm we're actually shrouded in complete darkness illuminated by the camera lights. this is sort of what we're seeing all over south florida especially in miami an overturned tree coupled that with a downed power lines and debris in the roadways and sidewalks, and it is still making it unsafe to move around. >> we got downed power lines across the state, roads impassable. debris all over the state. with irma moving north, storm has been causing coastal flooding in places look georgia and south carolina, while monday, jacksonville experienced storm surge that led to historic flooding >> jacksonville has been called some of the worst flooding seen in almost 100 year >> it blasted the entire 400 length state of florida including communities along both coasts >> there was a little bit more

here's fox's joel waldman. >>reporter: in south florida the keys were the hardest hit while at miami international airport flights are resuming on a limited basis as the cleanup process continues. this is going to be a frustrating it's going to take sometime to allow people back into their homes particularly in the florida keys. in places like charlie ton south carolina it now has that area dealing with flood damage. jacksonville, florida is also reeling after ir ma triggered historic flooding monday. power outages, lots of trees down in our area. power and emergency crews are spread ing out across the region to help but some two thirds of florida's population still remain without power. i stayed in a hotel room for a couple of days. the money ran out and now i'm waiting to get back in. in the hard hit florida keys officials now say it appears a quarter of all homes had been destroyed by irma and 65 percent sustained major damage. the at this point a navy aircraft carrier is in position off key west helping as

reporting from my aim, joel waldman, fox news. irma's deadly path through the carribeans is to blame for 70 percent of the homes in saint martin were badly damaged or destroyed. about 40,000 people are now living in shelters as they brace for the next big storm bearing down on the islands. that's hurricane jose meantime looting has been a problem on the island. officials are stepping up security to prevent break-ins and thechts. haiti also dealing with the aftermath of irma. some of these images are heart breaking. heavy rains flooded homes in the northern part of country and we're told the storm surge triggered dangerous waves as high as 20 feet in some individual yoases. take a look at this, this is a scene from the british virgin islands, irma causing massive devastation, buildings, hospital, roads, all badly did he stroid. with all of this destruction we're hearing reports of looting and robberies on the island. >> we want to get right over to gwen tolbart for the latest on irma's path and it looked like the latest update had

fox's joel waldman has the latest. >> reporter: president trump reiterating plans to cut taxes sayinghe proposed cuts to small and medium size businesses would be, quote, rocket fuel for the the biggest ever in our country tack cut. >> selling his new tax reform plan, donald trump saying his plan will simplify the process and benefit the middle class. >> under our framework, the vast majority of families will be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper. >>reporter: the framework as it stands now lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% while dropping the rate for small businesses to 25%. also doubles the standard deduction reducing the amount of taxed income to 12,000 for individuals and 24,000 for married couples. simultaneously benefitting families by increasing the child tax credit. the white house is struggling to get democrats on board as many details still remain unclear. >> i think there's a couple of democrats already checked out. in fact, i with some and asked them could you ever support a reluctant of the corporate tax rate? ? and they say no. >> reporter: in

joel waldman in miami. thank you much. >> harrowing stories of fear and survival continue as local radio mix master returns to philadelphia. >> c130 air lasted him from the devastated island of st. maarten. so it was hit by cat five irma. fox 29's joyce evans joins us in studio with the return home for a couple of popular radio dj's. joyce what an odyssey. >> absolutely. a long vacation to say the least for dj touch tone who hatches to be blind and is evening drive basely many party at five partner lady bee. now of course they're friends and families were worried. can you imagine being their boss and not knowing what was happening? >> dj touch tone. ♪ >> reporter: dj touch tone back on the area at radio 1 pound 00.3r and b. >> ♪ >> reporter: spinning and scratching hit tunes in the 12:00 o'clock work out mix with can ren vaughn. >> we're happy you are here because you are family touch tone. >> good to be back. good to be home. >> reporter: karen is the midday maven but her main job is operations manager her

we have joel waldman now in miami tonight. joel, what's it like right now there? >> reporter: frank and julie, good evening to you. we just got dumped on out of nowhere heavy downpours so these very, very, very outer bands of hurricane irma or some of the moisture associated with it now starting to be felt here in the south florida area. ironically, the wind had whipped up and now this rain just dumped down. things have quieted down. but essentially, the real issues that we are facing as hurricane irma tips to approach are twofold. one, the wind. you see downtown miami behind me with those whipping winds especially on the high floors, it could be a problem. there's a bunch of construction cranes there. those cranes, from what we understand, are only able to sustain 145-mile-per-hour winds. so what they are telling us, government officials, is that they're unlatching the cranes to in effect let them spin around lie weathervanes. the other major issue is storm surge. biscayne bay is behind us. we are about 20 feet above it right now. storm surge predictions are actu

fox's joel waldman picks up the story. >> reporter: here in the hard hit florida keys, more and morergency supplies are arriving but the recovery effort remains slow as entire neighborhoods were completely wiped out. >> it's going way ahead of schedule, weeks ahead of schedule and much of it, most of it i guess outside of the keys where we have a very special problem but working hard on that. >> reporter: president trump in florida thursday, visiting the naples fort myers area surveying irma damage and visiting with survivors. president trump noting that an army of power repair crews are making progress. >> there are more electrical people in this state i think than ever accumulated anywhere in the world. from all over the country they came. midday thursday 25 percent of customers across florida are still without power. that includes a number of nursing homes across the state and some areas rescue crews are now checking in on seniors and helping residents without air conditioning relocate. police meanwhile are looking into a hollywood florida nursing home where eight patients died un

joel waldman, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> of course a very active week for florida still tracking rain showers in the area as well mainly just offshore. hurricane jose is in the atlantic turning to the north not impacting the shoreline but we'll keep an eye on it for bermuda. as far as our temperatures for this afternoon, a little bit of a bump in the numbers out towards san francisco. 66. 70s and a few 80s. napa one of the spots checking in. 83 degrees. it will be just a touch warmer in your friday forecast. here's our live camera looking toward the oakland estuary towards san francisco and some patchy fog trying to regroup near the coastline right now and possibly right around the bay. temperatures for tomorrow no major heat. 60s to the mid-70s to the low 80s as we head into your friday forecast. as you can pick out right now, the system that produced all the cloud cover yesterday and the thunderstorms earlier this is week, now moving toward nevada. we still have fog to talk about to our south and a few patches regroup just offshore that will push locally back into the bay. current numbers,

reporter joel waldman tells us how people are bracing for landfall. four the national hurricane center says irma will make a direct hit on florida. this is what the storm did to the virgin islands. landfall in the sunshine state is expected saturday or sunday. either way, the time to prepare was yesterday.>> will fill up with water, i bought plenty of water and food, plenty of snacks. >> reporter: even north carolina and georgia are bracing for the worst. it is on certainty -- uncertainty that has people worried. >> leaving not knowing what we are coming back to is pretty rough. 400s of thousands of liberties are heading north and officials say the people are heating evacuation orders since staying put means staying in harm's way.>> we don't shelter in place. there are no buildings that we can guarantee will keep people safe within hundred 85 mile an hour wind hurricane. >> reporter: what's waiting on the other side? utility people waiting for outages. >> you can be talk about weeks if not longer to rebuild the entire electric system. if that is what

mike: we check in with reporter joel waldman in downtown, miami, how is it there now?reet of south on brickell avenue. a marked improvement, the water was waiste-high, it has receded. but we're expecting a last band from hurricane irma to come from south, head northward, this is why you see current ripple that way, we are getting word -- a third crane has gone down in miami, that is very bad news, these cranes weigh tons. and they just didn't have time to bring them down in time. they said they would need about two weeks to get them down, i am sure miami-dade county will look at this closely. host hurricane irma, they unlatched them and let them swirl like weathervanes, letting them spin but three of them folded and collapsed, damaging buildings. i may have told you, we were awoken at 8 p.m. with a banging on the door, they told us there is a hurricane. and then, it turned out that windows were flying out of our hotel, they were taking necessary precautions, we huddled into a bal room -- ballroom, a makeshift shelter. getting a thousand or more people in there, doing i

joel waldman, fox 29 news. iain and lucy? ck to you. >> thank you joel. >>> now some in florida began to make their way back home. the rush for necessity social security on. see these photos from a wawa in aveda a half our from orlando. the store is pack as folks pick up food and basic supplies. >> hungry storm victims are surviving with philly flavor. one guy from our area is bringing joy to many floridians with his delicious cheesesteaks. fox 29's chris o'connell joins us live from orlando with the story. chris? >> reporter: yeah, iain, things are starting to get back to normal after the storm here in orlando, and i want to show i was big reason why. you kind of just saw it. take a look at what just rolled in to storm ravaged florida. a convoy of wawa trucks. just arrived here stuffed with shorties and iced tea and coffee and hoagie meat. but this isn't the only way that philly is playing a big role in hurricane relief. >> we got up in the morning. all the fences were down. pretty much in the whole neighbor. >> reporter: the

joel waldman in the nation's capital tonight. joel, thank you. >>> new at 6:00 tonight, president trump's tax reform plan could result in a tax increase for californians. the gop plan would double the standard deduction but some itemized deductions would be gone. details still need to be worked out but that would probably mean people will not be able to deduct state and local taxes from their federal taxes as they can now. >> one of the key provisions is to deduct your state income tax from your federal tax. that's war against states like california, new york, new jersey, which voted overwhelmingly against donald trump. >> californians are also about to get hit with a higher gasoline tax and new real estate transactions fees to pay for affordable housing in california. >>> twitter announced today that it shut down more than 200 accounts tied to the same group of russians who posted political ads on facebook. the company also said it found three accounts linked to the kremlin that spent close to $275,000 on ads for twitter in 2016

fox news reporter joel waldman has the latest from washington. >> reporter: president trump reiterating his plan to cut taxes today saying the proposed cuts for small and medium sized businesses would be, quote, rocket fuel for the economy. >> it is a giant beautiful, massive, the biggest ever in our country tax cut. >> reporter: selling his new tax reform plan, president donald trump addressing the national association of manufacturers in washington. [ applause ] >> reporter: saying his plan will simplify the process and benefit the middle class. >> under our framework, the vast majority of families will be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper. >> reporter: the framework has it stands now lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% while dropping the rate for small businesses to 25%. it also doubles the standard deduction reducing the amount of taxed income to 12,000 for individuals and 24,000 for married couples. simultaneous benefiting families by increasing the child tax credit. the white house is struggling to get democrats on board as many details still remain unc

joel waldman is there. joel, some are saying that miami is like a ghost town.re most people evacuated? >> reporter: frank and julie, good evening to you. it's incredible to hear julie talking about how it's bigger than the state of texas. especially when that impending doom is coming our way. to answer your question, frank, it is a verdictable ghost town. there's pretty one no one around. it's a veritable ghost town. there are condos like the one you see behind me and in our immediate area, we have really seen virtually no one. yesterday, we were out on the beach. that is zone a. today we are near downtown miami, zone b. both are under mandatory evacuation orders but they won't forcibly remove you. they will just continue to warn you. the national weather service putting out an ominous tweet a few hours back essentially telling everyone on the florida keys that this is their last chance to get out but that it will be devastating for anyone on the keys. the two major issues, one is wind. and that does not bode well for all these high-rises made predominantly of

reporting in miami, joel waldman, fox news. >> now, in our area local officials are also responding.rginia governor terry mcauliffe has declared a state of emergency. he's promising to provide aid to states affected by the hurricane and then of course maryland governor larry hogan also saying that they are ready to help as well. >>> our team coverage continues this morning. let's head to our tisha lewis who is live virginia where one local businessman is working with fema to help hurricane vic victims. tisha what are they collecting and how can people get involved? >> reporter: well, annie, right now we are in sterling and as you mentioned, this is a locally owned business andy moore and his team, andy good morning to you. >> good morning. >> reporter: thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> reporter: where can people come if they want to drop off goods and what do you need. >> 103 carpenter drive in sterling, virginia and we are in desperate need of buckets that have cleaning supplies in them. so, we've already collected over 150 bags of clothes that we've sorted out by gender and

fox news joel waldman has a look at the plan and the reaction from washington, dc. >>> reporter: good evening to you. things happening very quickly here in washington these days which is sort of unusual. on monday, it was all about repealing and replacing obamacare. today it's taxes, taxes, taxes. the president unveiling his proposal in indiana. he says it will benefit all americans, especially the middle class. >> we have surrendered our competitive edge to other countries but we're not surrendering anymore. >> reporter: the president traveling to indiana laying out the framework of a new tax plan cobbled together by congressional members and the white house. >> under our framework, we will dramatically cut the business tax rate so that american companies and american workers can beat our foreign competitors and start winning again. >> reporter: republicans say their plan lowers rates for individuals and families, doublings the standard deduction, essentially doubling the amount of personal income that is tax- free, and eliminates loopholes. the gop says it also repeals what they cal

reporting from key largo, joel waldman, fox news. >>> our chief meterologist bill martin is off tonightbut mark is here. you saw the pictures with joel. it looked absolutely beautiful there. is that the kind of weather they can expect or are they looking at more rain? >> more showers. it's that time of year in that portion of the country where things could destabilize with storms. looks like that's happening now showing up on the satellite. so yeah, that's going to be a factor for tonight and into tomorrow. you can see the big picture of the u.s. we have some rain showers showing up in portions of the south and east. as we take a closer look at the radar, there you can pick out the clouds and a few showers beginning to move into florida. of course, it has been quite the week for them with the shift in the forecast track with irma. we are tracking that all week long and there you can pick out some of the showers. mostly just offshore. here we go with our local weather pattern. high clouds in california, lots of low clouds and fog this morning and still patchy overcast. main cloud cover o

joel waldman live now in washington, dc with a look at what's being proposed. >> reporter: julie andnk, good evening to you and all your viewers. tax reform is now the top priority on president trump's agenda. he argues his system will make it more fair simple and easy for all americans. >> we have surrendered our competitive edge to other countries but we're not surrendering anymore. >> reporter: the president traveling to indiana laying out the framework of a new tax work put together by congress and the white house. >> under our framework we'll dramatically cut the business tax rate so that american companies and american workers can beat our foreign competitors and start winning again. >> reporter: republicans say their plan lowers rates for individuals and families, doublings the standard deduction, essentially doubling the amount of personal income that is tax- free and eliminates loopholes. the gop says it also repeals what they call the death tax and alternative minimum tax and changes the tax rates for small businesses and corporations. president trump insists wealthy americ

fox's joel waldman key largo, florida reports. >> reporter: here in the hard hit florida keys more and more emergency supplies are arriving but the recovery effort remains slow as entire neighborhoods were completely wiped out. >> it's going way ahead of schedule. weeks ahead of schedule, and much of it most of it i guess outside of the keys where we have a very special problem but we're working hard on that. >> reporter: president trump in florida thursday visiting the naples fort myers area surveying irma damage and visiting with survivors. president trump noting that an army of power repair crews are making progress. >> there are more electrical people in this state i think than ever accumulated anywhere in the world is what i read before. >> could be. >> it's from all over the country they came. >> reporter: as of midday thursday, some 25% of customers across florida are still without power. that includes a number of nursing homes across the state. in some areas, rescue crews are now checking in on seniors and helping residents without air-conditioning relocate. police meanwhile ar

joel waldman reports from d.c.e to do what i think is right for the people of maine and the people of this country. and that is what has led me to my decision today. >> reporter: senator susan collins adding herself to the no pile when it comes to the gop repealing and replacing obamacare with a graham cassidy bill. the maine republican is the fourth no joining mccain senators john mccain, rand paul and ted cruz. the gop can only afford two defections with one of the bills name sakes still holding out hope. >> we'll know more tomorrow. >> reporter: graham chastity bill would take federal money spent on the medicaid program as well as sub diddies to help americans buy private insurance and divvy those up to the states and block grants. opponents feel unraveling obamacare would mean stripping millions of americans of insurance including those with pre-existing conditions. >> the congressional budget office is now scored the graham cassidy bill saying it would reduce the deficit -- budget deficit by $130 billion but a

reporting in washington, joel waldman, fox 29 news.in and lucy back to you. >> thank you much, joel. >>> you've seen the devastation. the desperation in puerto rico. you want to help. local communities donate wagon they can to challenge is how to get it to those who need it. >>> local officer walked into room. saw a man hanging from the window. his wife had just died. as soon as the cop grabbed his hand he realized he did not want to die. >> i'm here to help you, please. >> you saved my life. you saved my life. >> i gotcha. >> grab my egg. grab my leg. >> i got you my friend. >> i don't want to die. >> no, no new york city i don't want to you die. >> i gotcha. coney island has been around for a long, long time. reminds me of how geico has been saving people money for over 75 years. hey, big guy! come on in! let me guess your weight! win a prize! sure, why not. 12 ounces! sorry, mate. four ounces. i've been taking the stairs lately. you win, big guy. sorry, 'scuse me! oh, he looks so much more real on tv. yeah... over 75 years of saving

and that's where we find fox news correspondent joel waldman in marathon, florida, with the latest developments. joel. >> reporter: frank and julie, good evening to you. that nursing home story is absolutely horrendous. it was just 60 feet away or so from a level one trauma center and makes no sense. these are the issues after irma has passed through. now, we are in the lower half of the keys here, palm key to be specific and this is one example of so many. this used to be someone's home. this is their living room. you see the sofa here. this is actually a little container of almonds over here. just gives you a glimpse into one person's life ahead of the storm. this person evacuated as everyone in this little enclave did. authorities are trying to get supplies like food and water into the lower keys. >> there were a number of people in respiratory distress and other distresser. >> reporter: irma may be gone, but the storm's wrath continues. in hollywood, florida, more than 100 residents at a nursing home were evacuated wednesday with air-conditioning and power at the facility knocked out after

reporting from the florida keys, joel waldman, fox news. >>> fox 29 weather authority showers we sawarlier today you can thank irma for that. thank goodness we're only seeing the remnants. that's round one today, though. kathy you're tracking even more rain for tomorrow? >> absolutely lucy. that's really going to be the main event. the rain is over for the day and for the night. it is just going to be partly cloudy and some patches of clearing as well. so some of us may see a pretty sunset. dry in between that rain that passed through earlier today and this, this is what is left of irma. the national hurricane center not issuing any more advisories it's just the remnants moving toward the east. and that means rain for us during the day tomorrow. so some clearing skies during the evening hours across the delaware valley those clouds moving back on in with the rain during your thursday. 73 in philadelphia. 65 in the poconos. 73 in wilmington. and high humidity there's so much moisture in the atmosphere that fog will be an issue tonight. visibility down to two and a half miles in pottst

joel waldman watching a lot of that with the waters rising in miami, and joel, you've had debris flying, you have seen that yourself, have you flooding and winds as well. bring us up to date in south florida tonight. good evening? reporter: bill, good evening to you and all the viewers, around 8:00 a.m. this morning, we got a loud, we're getting a wind gust from south to north, but around 8:00 this morning we got a loud bang, bang, bang on the door and managers from the hotel said, look, windows are blowing out. everyone's got to evacuate into a ballroom in the center of this hotel and did a fantastic job. not easy to literally move a thousand or more hotel guests, everyone piled up on each other and hunkering down in the shelter just became too dangerous with glass shattering everywhere. you talk about the storm surge, we'll take you on a tour. this is the heart of downtown miami an area called brickell. this is brickell avenue out here. an absolute river. pretty much impassable. although now the water has come down a little bit, and in the last i don't know 30 minutes or so, we've see

mike: let's check in with our joel waldman who is in hurricane battered downtown miami. joel?elissa, good evening to you. believe it or not, this is actually a marked improvement from about two hours ago or so where the water was an additional 2 feet. if you want to know where we are, we are on brickell avenue, one of the hottest spots in downtown miami. typically littered with people. there are restaurants. there's clubs, nightclubs, but this is the main drag. it is a big one. two lanes here. got an island in the middle and then two more lanes, completely flooded out. this all as a result of what people were worried about, and that is storm surge. biscayne bay is just that way, about two blocks. the water last night when we were out was overflowing the banks a bit. the wind was whipping around and this is the end result. what's interesting now, the current all day long has been going north to south. going this way. but now the water is moving south to north. and our producer was checking out radar and it appears we are going to get smacked again at about 10:30 tonight. these

. >> joel waldman joins us from miami. when we talked most of that area had cleared out. the situation now? >> reporter: good evening, once again, for the most part, people have heeded the evacuation orders and have left, town, a short time we saw a family with a young child that walked by and a another woman walking her dog, we're not far from the airport and there's a flight that appears to be leaving town, heading towards the ocean. so flights also extremely limited but let me step out of the way and show you some major concerns with irma. if you look into downtown miami there, this is the area, you'll notice the crane, there's been an explosion of development in the downtown miami area and these cranes are very problematic. they're only capable, from what we understand, of being able to sustain 145 miles an hour winds, right now, irma once again in these latest forecasts, could make landfall as a cat 5. either way these will be much greater than 145 miles an hour, especially with the wind gusts. the higher the foyer, the stronger the wind gusts can be. we're talking i

reporting from miami international airport, joel waldman, fox news. >>> a homeless population on the rise. it's the first impression many visitors get as silican valley rents squeeze the most vulnerable. >>> up next, photos of a man suspected of robbing a passenger. >> we're tracking the chance of a thundershower tonight especially in the south bay. i'll show you the computer model that suggests there's a good chance early tomorrow morning. e don't need are surprises, like extra monthly fees. i see you, fee, played by legendary actress anjelica huston. you got me, mark. we just want fast internet for one, simple rate. for all the streaming and the shopping and the newsing, but most of all... for the this. internet for one everyday simple price and no extra monthly fees. ♪ because everyone likes easy. sure do. because everyone is on the go. because we all like to save energy, but sometimes we slip up. reaching up. ssssh! because sometimes we want it cool at night, then toasty in the mornings. introducing the easy to use, energy saving, adjustable from everywhere, easy on the wallet an

fox's joel waldman is live in miami beach. what is it like there tonight? >>reporter: shawn, good evening to you, the normally bright lights of ocean drive, a little bit dimmer tonight. people are taking this hurricane warning extremely seriously. they're hayed heeding the advice of the governor, taking off, leaving town and that is exactly what authorities want. we're telling everybody leave miami beevment i never thought i'd ever say that, but i'm saying it this days. deadly, extremely dangerous and nuclear. that's how hurricane irma is being described haisk already blasted several islands taking lives in the the carribean. this is serious and we can't take chances. it is live threatening. now, the most powerful atlantic hurricane on record appears headed for florida and that's been trigger ing evacuation orders statewide. the amount of wind that's been coming in we don't think we've like this, 175, 150 miles per hour. at this point more than a half million people have been ordered to leave south florida, everybody in south florida should be preparing for

here's fox's joel waldman. >>reporter: in south florida the keys were the hardest hit while at miami international airport flights are resuming on a limited basis as the cleanup process continues. this is going to be a frustrating

joel waldman for fox, thanks so much, stay safe down >>> >> reporter: there are people out there who decide they're going to ride this out, but many more heading to local shelters, this is a massive line of people. homested i remember during hurricane andrew. just about 30 miles south of miami >> others are gathering love ones and hitting the road. this is footage of heavy traffic evacuating along i 75 north this morning. many are using it to avoid the impact zone and the worst of the hurricane. florida governor said he is working to keep traffic moving and bringing in more tankers to provide more fuel >>. >>> president trump signing a bull approving 15 hurricane harvey disaster aid. short term milks to bypass the debt ceiling as well as prevent the government shutdown this is only the first installment of what will likely be tens of bills of dollars in federal aid to the areas hit by >> recovery efforts continue where harvey left behind a trail of damage. storm ripped through neighborhoods leaving much of the city under water. thousands of homes destroyed by those heavy winds and fl

joel waldman has tonight update from key largo.>> reporter: power has been restored to the two thirdse nearly 8 million homes had their electricity knocked out by hurricane irma. >> they rode it out in my trailer park>> reporter: in the keys stories of survival. this man says his neighbors tried to ride out irma on their houseboat. the -- when it started treating -- when it started sinking.>> did not make any sense to lock it. nobody was going to steal anything.>> reporter: power crews are making progress including now and parts of the keys. for things like portable cell phone towers are getting up and running. many places are still in the dark. and without air conditioning the heat remains a concern especially for senior citizens. officials have been evacuating some assisted living centers without ac. is coming after eight people died at a nursing home under sweltering conditions in hollywood. police are now investigating.>> the temperature in the building was very warm. we saw patients that were compromised.>> reporter: trump getting a firsthand look at the raft in naples florida on

. >> fox's joel waldman has been in the thick things all week live at miami international airport. so, joel, it's back open at least. >> reporter: yeah, lucy and iain, good afternoon to you. we've been bracing the elements out there as have so many floridians over the last couple of days today brings us inside to miami international airport. i can tell you i fly in and out of here frequently usually it is jam pack but today you can see very thin lines right now the airport only operating at about 30% with 150 flights going out and 150 coming in. >> this is going to be frustrating event. it's going take some time to allow people back into their homes particularly in the florida keys. >> reporter: in places like charlestown, south carolina storm surge from irma now has that area dealing with flood damage. jacksonville, florida, meanwhile also realing after irma triggered historic flooding there monday. >> power outages. lots of trees down in our area. and this is going to be an on-going event. >> reporter: power and emergency crews are spreading out across the region to help. but some

. >> joel waldman, take care and thanks very much for your report. >>> and stay with ktvu for continuingas hurricane irma makes her way towards the u.s. we are posting the very latest on ktvu.com. >>> new at 6:30, lawmakers in the house of representatives have approved ten million dollars in funding to improve airport security. bay area congressman swalwell requested the money in response to a number of security breaches at the perimeter of mineta san jose international airport. the house approved his amendment as part of a homeland security funding bill. the money is allotted for airports that have experienced issues with perimeter security. since 2015, trespassers have breached the perimeter at mineta san jose and gotten on the air field actually on the air field at least five times. the house and senate have each passed versions of the homeland security funding bill which now needs to be reconciled. they hope to reach an agreement by the end of the week. >>> the u.s. senate today approved a deal between the president and democratic leaders linking relief for hurricane harvey with gove

reporter joel waldman tells us the victims range in age from 77 to 99 years old >>> reporter: search, recovery and repair crews are fanned out across the florida keys. it's home to some 70,000 people and by far was the hardest hit by irma. but it's not the only area of florida still reeling. >> we saw there were a number of people in respiratory distress and other distress. >> reporter: irma is gone but the wrath continues. in hollywood, florida more than 100 residents in a nursing home were evacuated wednesday with air-conditioning and power at the facility knocked out after the storm. police now confirming multiple residents at the home have died. >> we believe at this time they may be related to the loss of power in the storm. but we're conducting a criminal investigation, not ruling anything out. >> reporter: across florida, more than a dozen people have also been treated for breathing and carbon monoxide from generators. outside orlando, three family members died after a generator was found running inside a home. >> apparently, it was running and it was running inside the house.

. >> let check in with joe waldman live in miami. joel, earlier when we spoke with you you said you were waiting on new band to come through miami there. house it looking there now? >> all right i think we're having some issues here with joel. joel you can hear us? all right we'll check back in with joel shortly. he's telling us they were looking for a band or waiting for a band that would come through downtown miami there and expecting heavy rain and storm surge again an you can see the radar there as hurricane irma starting to appear to dismantle a little bit and still a strong category two storm. >> and also there's a curfew in effect it went into effect 7 p.m. trying to get people to and joel was saying he saw people not heeding that cu curfew. they are waiting for another band to come through with heavy wind and debris flying around and also floodwaters. >> just in the last hour or hour an a half we had seen that third crane that hit us snapped in half and ft. lauderdale. still even though the thick of the storm is not over southern

fox news joe waldman is now in miami, joel will foot the scene for us. >> reporter: good evening to youonce again from a very windy and stormy downtown miami. just to get some business out of the way, the last half hour i have used it to show you what a floating beer can can do. we found it in the water we don't litter but all the worries that forecasters had are coming into play. the wind is starting to whip around and going counterclockwise just as one would expect. the other is storm surge, we are seeing some of that. what we think it is is a combination of bay water being lifted and bounced off the building here. it is starting to reseed a little bit and we are not sure exactly why that is happening. to my right is a very large bay that is beginning to overflow, it is not continuously overflowing but continuously overflowing its banks. as a result of that we are getting floodwaters coming through. a third major concern with hurricane irma is the rain. they are now predicting close to 20 inches of rain so we are getting a combination of all of that right now. we are getting a lot of

it's already left a path of destruction in the crib quan and fox's joe waldman is live in miami with the latest, joel i see the breezes ticked up. tell us what's going on there tonight and i have a question for you. are you going to stay there throughout the duration >> yeah, we'll be here. we're talking about it it's looks like the track of the storm is moving west towards naples. and there's some talk about sending us that way. for now, we are here in miami. as you mentioned earlier in the day, it was a category four storm and the 11 p.m. advisory came out and guess what it's back to category five and undoubtedly make landfall this weekend. question now is where. >> we paid 1,000 to go to dallas and on to la. >> across florida airports bat bat oning down the hatches preparing for hurricane irma as some people still looking to fly out are now left stranded. >> we have not slept. barely even since we've been here trying to find a way out. >> irma blasting cuba and barack obama friday and predicted to hit florida sunday and left deadly catastrophic discussion across the eastern caribbean. at thispoint

. >> that's rite, let's check back now with fox's joe w waldman live in miami we spoke roughly two hours ago joel you were in knee deep water and whipped was coming in hard looks like you're still in water how are things now? >> reporter: lauren, marina i have a pond frog rubbing againt my leg they are incredibly heavy good reason not to be out during a hurricane. this is tow truck driver who is trying to get giving us the peace sign. but i'll tell you what there's a curfew in miami-dade county from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and that's a private business. technically he should not be out here and we're seeing more and more tourists coming out to take photos. this is a once in a life hurricane. again, not advisable and looks hypocritical and necessary precautions and keeping ourselves safe and we're not sure if everyone is aware of how to handle themselves within the sure kane and definitely not a good idea to be out here. the two things that everyone worried about storm surge and wind. and man oh, man did we get that in miami. interesting yesterday for forecasters were saying the storm is headed west and