in west palm beach across the water over there from palm beach. how is the evacuation process going? >> reporter: well, wolf, a complicated process, and very anxious process. we'll show you what it means physically to see all this. trying to get people off the barrier island. that's palm beach right there. low lying. mobile homes there. a lot of vulnerable population trying to get them across the bridges and here to west palm beach, a slightly higher elevation where we are and get inland into general population shelters if they can get them. the mayor of west palm beach says they want to try to get people off the roads by tomorrow. that mandatory evacuation for palm beach started this morning at 10:00 a.m. three hours ago, about. in parts of west palm beach, wolf, they're still adhering to volunteer evacuations but also parts of west palm, they are instituting some mandatory evacuations in some low-lying areas. storm surge will happen here. five to ten feet. i'm only standing five feet above the surface in the intercoastal waterway. wash up here,

we met each other at -- when palm west opened in 1999. >> jimmy: so you're family always, the palm, isk city. italian restaurant. we -- we -- i can't believe we're going to be 100 years old. and it -- it's lasted. we have about 20 restaurants. and basically, the palm is a a place people celebrate life, which is what we did. and what you did when we met, it's -- >> jimmy: i used to live -- i lived upstairs. i lived above the palm on 50th and 8th when i first started "snl." my dad, actually, made me live in an apartment close to work because he goes, "if the weather is bad, you got to make sure you're in there or else you get fired." [ laughter ] and i go, so that's the only reason i lived in midtown. i lived right there. but i used to come down and see you all the time. >> you would come down, i opened the restaurant. so, if you worked in a a restaurant you know you are there 20 hours a day. you'd come down sort of in between lunch and dinner. you know, and you'd sit and you'd be like -- and i remember one day you were there and you were really sick. >> jimmy: yeah. >> you were really s

county, looking out on to the roads here this afternoon, from here through broward county and into palm beach county, the areas we've focused on, and the roads, at least the major thoroughfares looked like this. these are the evac routes essentially. the highways you take to go from the very southern points of south florida all the way north to get away from the impact zone and the worst of hurricane irma. that is the area that we've seen traffic running rather smoothly. we are approaching those final hours where people are urged if you're going to move, now is the time to move. i don't want to make it sound like this is the way, how clear, this is the plastic all the way to north florida. once you get closer to orlando, tampa, those areas, there is a fair amount of congestion and it gets much slower, but at least down here in the southern part of florida, in dade county, broward county, palm beach county, this is very close to what we've seen throughout the day here today. wolf? >> looks like still enormous, enormous traffic going in one direction and very little in the other direction

lauderdale and palm beach, west palm beach, how should they be preparing for this disaster? >> well, wolf, they should be doing several things, first and foremost, they should listen to what the local officials tell them. there is a mandatory evacuation in broward county for the low lying areas, mobile homes, the coastal areas, palm beach county, that's going to go into effect tomorrow morning at 10:00. they need to plan to evacuate. for people who aren't evacuating, right now, they have to have a plan in place both to secure their homes, they have to have everything they need to get through a hurricane, and they need to make sure that they are prepared the day after a hurricane. write down all of the information that they need because there's a very good chance they're going to lose power. be sure that they have the numbers that they need, and communicate that to their families outside of florida as well, so that everyone is aware what have they'll be going through and the steps they'll be taking to deal with the storm. >> we're already seeing, congressman, very, very heavy

there is one special needs shelter opening in palm beach county, in west palm. they may open another one if they need it. they are trying to get as many elderly people in there as posz zable. a lot want to hunker down. they have caregivers and don't want to move. i spoke to the head of an alzheimers care place. the owner said he is going to evacuate them from one facility to another, not a shelter, yet. he didn't know the details. i said what is the biggest challenge, he said they are alzheimers patients, they ask a lot of questions we have to calm them down. that's a huge challenge. high concentration of elderly people here in palm beach county. they have to get them in a safe place. they have been doing that for days, by the way. again, in the last, final hours, that's critical. >> knowing where to take them and knowing it is safe, it will be open and can accommodate their needs. that is a huge deal and an important part of this. brian, i really appreciate it. thank you very much. brian, you are going to stay in touch. brian todd is there for us. let's talk to

you see a lot of palm trees bending over. the palm palms are flying all over the place.ans are all over the place. it's extremely windy. you know, like the basketball net has already come down. the landscaping is destroyed in the whole neighborhood. >> when you hear the worst is yet to come, how do you plan on keeping your family safe? how do you plan on keeping them calm during this? >> we have in my house -- that is completely buckled down, a safe room. when it gets bad we're going to hang out in the safe room. we have plenty of supplies and a generator. we'll be fine. we feel bad for the people closer to water that will have the storm surge but fortunately we are not in the flood zone. >> it's a relief to hear you have gone to such great lengths to take precautions. i'm sure you have family and friends worried about you. what would you like to tell them? >> i would like everyone to know we're all safe right now. i know the worst is still to come. right now everyone's spirits are high. we're well stocked and prepared. we were unable to get flights out of town and the d

some palm frawns, leaves, trash. so far so good but it's early.nd we've got a lot of this wind and even worse as those bands continue to rotate in off the atlantic. chris, we'll send it back to you in new york. >> if we're looking at potentially -- you're having trouble standing right now, if you're hitting 100 mile-per-hour winds, what's that scene going to look like? >> mike seidel who not surprisingly when you see exactly what he is dealing with there and what the folks in miami is dealing with is not able to hear us. fortunately he's getting up as you can see to a sheltered area where he is not at least in danger, i think, of flying debris and can actually stand up right. we'll keep checking in with all the folks there as we see this storm starting to move into florida with rain and wind battering the south right now. hundreds of thousands are in its path. already hundreds of thousands of people in the dark. we're tracking hurricane irma as it draws closer to florida's west coast, residents anxiously watching and waiting. take a listen. >> i'm

get across positive west palm beach where we are. 15 general shelters in west palm beach. none we know of in palm beach because they want people to get out. they're locking down this bridge so no boats can go through. a given. won't be boats on the water then but also manning checkpoints on these bridges. police checking to see if anyone coming across during the storm has proof of residence of palm beach. you don't have that, you can't get on to palm beach. they won't want anyone coming in just to see the waves. complicated process. trying to get people off this barrier island because the storm surge we're told will be about five to ten feet. i'm standing five feet above the water here and, of course, that means it's going to come up to where i'm standing and even higher. there's going to be wave action on top of that. this is a slightly higher elevation than over there. so they've got to get people off that island. talked about the elderly. that is just a huge problem right now. they're trying to get as many elderly people into shelters as possible. they have one special

--saw flemings, uprooted floodings, and uprooted palm trees.ere,se to tell the story as opposed to that boulevard into palm beach. what thesegine people were hearing as those palms tilted over. downedoned flooding, trees, billboards have been blown out. sayinge authorities anything about the return of power and the return of people to the area? >> as far as this area is concerned, palm beach is trying to tidy things up. folks were writing down the street on a bicycle. -- riding down the street on a bicycle. some people are getting back on the island. but it is controlled access. police are at every point. it will take weeks to answer your question. i expect palm beach will be up and running far faster than other parts of the state with a tax bracket like this. people will be allowed to return to their homes at least tomorrow in cases like palm beach. our bloomberg editor at large reporting live in palm beach. we'll be checking in with him. ising up, the united nations weighing new sanctions on north korea. we will tell you what options are on t

lots of palm -- excuse me, lots of palm branches on the ground covering the road. yeah, there are a few trees. i'm starting to see one or two spots of blue sky now, but there are some small trees down on the road here. >> so not devastating? there's damage, but just from the wind now we're talking, not complete devastation? >> not at my location, but i'm also protected by a bunch of concrete. i'm on the third story here on a car turn around, so i had to take shelter because the winds were just so intense. i haven't had a chance to go out on to the main street here. i'm just looking at what's on the surface street off the condos here. >> scott, i know why you're on the third floor. do you care to tell everybody else why you're on the third floor and what you expect in the next two hours? >> so that's the back-up plan i have. if there's a storm surge, that's where i'm going. there's actually multiple spots on the island that i can go to immediately when that storm surge and if that storm surge happens. i'm pretty sure it will as soon as the eye passes by, so i've got

look at the water here from west palm. you are looking at palm beach island. you can see the building, the equipment. they have been putting up storm shutters to make sure all the glass there is covered. we are seeing that everywhere across this region. it se doing today. getting ready. protecting windows. >> we are trying throw them up as fasts a we can. bras buying gas where it can be found. standing in line at a.t.m. for cash and getting what they can at a grocery store. >> i'm past scared. never seen a hurricane before. i don't know what to do. i'm just trying to use common sense. >> it's a beautiful day along the south florida coast. on the beach at fort lauderdale, there are those catching rays and hoping for the best. the sense of forboding is unavoidable. on the same beach, andrew houseman scooping sand to bags. >> honestly the strategy today is prepare for the worst, hope for the best. you know, there is storm surge, that is what we are doing the sand bags for. for rain and wind we can only hope the houses hold up. brad: they can only hope the houses

brian, just in terms of storm surge, i know that had been a concern in west palm beach. have you seen any of that? is there water on the ground? >> i think for the most part they dodged that bullet here and we were told to expect flooding on flagler drive just to my left and your right from the intercoastal waterway. thankfully, that has not happened. the water's intense there and a lot of white caps and we're not out of the woods here yet and so far we have not thankfully seen the storm surge. what we have gotten was tornadic activity and water spouts have developed in the intercoastal waterway that have threatened inland in this area with tornadoes or tornado warnings just to the west of us and tornadoes that were spotted to the south. we're surrounded by tornadic activity and luckily, none have touched down right where we are, but it's close at hand. >> yeah. >> okay. we'll check back with you, brian. be careful with those winds. i want to go to tom sader just to get a sense of the time line of what to expect for the residents on the west coast and obviously on the ea

palm fronds flying around like cardboard. even in these conditions, john, we can tell you not everybody is cooperating with orders to stay off the streets. we were just told by palm beach county officials they've arrested 43 people for curfew violations. if you can believe that in these conditions. we saw actually a couple of cars driving by here not long ago. not smart. not smart. not only are you risking driving through storm surge and getting hit with a projectile, like a branch or a coconut, but risking arrest. another factor here we have to talk to you about. these cranes behind me. large construction cranes. i know we've talked about that all day. you've been reporting in miami about the crane that cracked. that's a danger here. just assured by a local fire chief that these cranes, they believe, are secure, but watching them closely. the fire chief said these cranes, the top, those top booms that you see up there, he said they're "pulling with the wind." that's a good thing. that means they're just going to point wherev

you see the palms go down and, remember, palms are built to bend. it's not a joke. the best wisdom about hurricanes seems to rhyme and that's what they tell but palms. they're built to bend. they also break and we're seeing that. the roads are going to get cluttered. the lights will come down. dave halsted says it's a one-two punch, sustained winds weaken and then the gusts that are often much stronger come in and break things off, signs become projectiles. and they can hurt people, they can damage people and worse. and, remember, for first responders, this is a challenge. if the roads aren't clear, they can't get places that takes time. it extends rescue time. it makes a bigger window, flooding adds to that and, again, we cannot say it enough. the wind is the spectacle. we see it. it amazes but it is the water that kills. storm surge is the biggest component of danger when it comes to a hurricane. florida is uniquely vulnerable to storm surge. it doesn't take a lot to do a lot of damage here. we're going to take a break. when we come back we will give you the lates

in the meantime let's move up to west palm beach. jackie deangeles up near the west palm beach airport. >> reporter: good morning to you, sara. slam into florida, this storm certainly did. things are calmer on the ground now just before the sun comes up and while safety was paramount going into the storm, it also will be recovering from the storm. the sheriff's office here has told everybody in our hotel, everybody is staying put until further notice they want to get out there and assess the damage themselves and make sure it's safe to hit the streets. but you have a lot of evacuees in this hotel worried about property damage. take a look at this video last night. this is one example of a boat crashing into a sea wall obviously palm beach county is an affluent community. there's a lot of real estate here a lot of boats, for example, things that people are worried about, their personal property they're going to be in a rush to be able to get back and assess the damage themselves while the authorities just want to make sure that they'r

the concerns are the palm trees. they're ripping down palms, coconuts are falling down. it's a slightly dangerous situation which is why we're going to head to shelter. i want to give you a sense of how evacuated. plenty of people are still here. and the concern obviously is that storm surge everybody has mentioned. i'm going to hop over to give you a sense of what is going on here. storm surge is going to be about 15 feet. we are at ground level there about 3 feet and folks have erected these steel plates here. they have battened down the hatches, bolted to the walls but that's not going to do anything wun once the water comes up. it will reach the awning blowing through every store in this area here. the damage forecast is going to be extremely extensive george. >> naples could get harder than any other city in florida. thank you matt gutman. tom llamas in ft. myers. tom. >> reporter: right now we're in the direct wind path of hurricane irma. we're looking basically west in ft. myers. you can see the wind line through those palm trees. you see how they're moving. we're

again, now, we're getting another huge gust of wind as these palm trees start to -- woo, as these palm trees start to go back and forth. we even occasionally -- see, i don't know if you can see it, but all the debris from the ground is starting to be picked up into the sky and sort of twirled around in the air. hopefully everybody is off the streets. where i last joined you from is not too far. i can virtually see it from where we're standing right now. and the roads at this point are impassable with all of the palm fronds, the trees down. hopefully not power lines. that is a very big danger with the above ground power lines. >> the expression "you ain't seen nothing yet, ," sadly, it' coming your way. bill karins is with us at the desk. this storm is asking like someone who has done wrong to the gulf coast of florida. i'm watching every little twitch and movement in that eye and it appears designed to wreak the ultimate havoc on mar koco isla and naples. >> this is just the last chapter. we haven't even begun to see what this cat 5 landfall in cuba did for 24 hours, and we've only beg

look at that palm tree, look at them swaying the way they are. now, not just that, tornado warnings are also out as wind gusts and rain continue to strike the southern portion of the state. over 400,000 people do not have power and that number is expected to rise dramatically, possibly reaching into the millions. let's bring in nbc's steve sosna, he is dealing with not just these winds but the fact that there are tornado watches in the area. >> that's right. these warnings pop up as quickly as they are issued. so we had a tornado warning in the miami area with circulation coming on board here, it has been canceled now, but more spinups definitely likely as these outer rain bands come pivoting in here rapidly. when that tornado warning was issued the storm was moving at 80 miles per hour. so it gives you little to no warning to prepare. so the latest here at 8:00 this morning is that eyewall is making landfall, it still hasn't technically made landfall by hurricane center definitions but it's awfully close and it's battering areas of the keys righ

the palm trees are swaying. the palm fronds are snapped. you don't see much debris on the road, to be quite honest, other than over here, i noticed this nightly, neat organized pile of brush. i don't know if someone came by and swept it all up or if public works is already out clearing the streets because it comes down to what officials find once the sun rises, this should be over. at that point officials will go out and assess the situation. i don't want to sound like we still don't have some things to worry about, we still have that storm surge. as you said, the predictions for that have been downgraded. that's good news but still concern for residents and people in low-lying areas here in tampa. back to you in the studio. >> real quick, projectiles, you talk about the palm fronds but did you get the kind of winds you were worried about, that could cause damage to structures or anybody out on the streets? >> it's hard to -- we're in downtown tampa. when we were doing live shots earlier, we had buildings protecting us. even though the wind

brian todd is standing by in west palm beach. brian, how are things there and how are the preparations going? >> well, anderson, we are two hours into the curfew imposed by palm beach county authorities. this is the royal park bridge. authorities and police are telling us that the bridges like this will be shut down in the coming hours. they're not giving an exact timetable of when, but when this storm hits in earnest, you will see bridges like this shut down because they are of course elevated. they don't want people on the bridges. i can give you a sense here to your right, my left as we pan down on the intercoastal waterway. you get a sense of the approach of the storm. the clouds are darkening. the wind has been kicking up gradually all afternoon. look at, you know, we have been talking about storm surge. look at all the water on the intercoastal waterway. it's high tides tomorrow, you can see how on the right-hand side that's west palm beach how that could be flooded. if you go to the left-hand side that's palm beach. the ba

the palm trees are swaying. the palm fronds are snapped. you don't see much debris on the road, to be quite honest, other than over here, i noticed this nightly, neat organized pile of brush. i don't know ifom works is already out clearing the streets because it comes down to what officials find once the sun rises, this should be over. at that point officials will go out and assess the situation. i don't want to sound like we still don't have some things to worry about, we still have that storm surge. as you said, the predictions for that have been downgraded. that's good news but still concern for residents and people in low-lying areas here in tampa. back to you in the studio. >> real quick, projectiles, you talk about the palm fronds but did you get the kind of winds you were worried about, that could cause damage to structures or anybody out on the streets? >> it's hard to -- we're in downtown tampa. when we were doing live shots earlier, we had buildings protecting us. even though the wind was super heavy and it wami it was taking our

what you see is palm fronds flying down the main streets. that's why no one is to be outside, with these high winds now. broward county sheriff's office has been taking breaks, responding to 911 calls to protect safety of their emergency responders, of course. we are looking at an area with about 300,000, 200,000 people out of power. it is going to take a major economic impact as well. this area is usually pull of tourists beaches, bars, restaurants, all of those sh shuttered yesterday. these bands are hitting us hard and we're not even in the eye of the storm, i want to remind you. this is an area full, shelters are packed, they thought they would be in the eye, yet we are not, but it is getting very bad out here, brian. >> jolene, the other sad news, the storm is not yet parallel to you on the other side of the state. i'm afraid if you promise us that you're being smart about your own personal protection, i'm afraid it is going to get sportier where you are, when it does, we will come back to you. jolene kent, thank you very much. cal perr

i've never seen palm trees pop like these. normally palm trees bend and stretch with the wind so they can handle the wind, but in this case i noticed everywhere i was looking the palm trees, the prawns were gone, they were ripped off from hurricane irma. so now we're experiencing a direct hit from a strong category 5 hurricane and it's going to be a lot more damage when we get out there today. i expect most of the trees will be completely shredded now. >> thanks so much for joining us and stay safe. >> good to know he's inside an interior location that they say is a safe side of that hotel. i want to get right to our meteorologist in the cnn weather center. my heart is breaking for st. croix, st. john, st. thomas and now those folks in puerto rico that are really going to get hit hard here. >> even if they've lived there the entire lives they haven't felt anything like this and bringing this down to a category 4, i want to emphasize this. the 155-mile-per-hour winds, anything above 156 is a category 5. so you're splitting hair

the palm trees are whipping in the wind. the rain is just -- not quite sure what the wind speed is now, but i know a short time ago the weather service said 130 mile an hour gusts on marco island. bill, might want to step in and tell me what type of winds we're seeing here, but this is definitely the strongest i've felt in the last few hours, and this looks to be the worst of it, brian, and potentially some of the worst winds i've seen in covering a bunch of storms. this is pretty intense right now in downtown naples. this is going to be substantial damage here. most of the businesses here are boarded up, closed down, just very few hotels are actually operating right now. a lot of the people in this area heed the warnings to evacuate. not all of them did, though. a bunch of them are riding this one out in their homes. but again, the big fear right now is what happens after the wind dies down in a few hours and all that -- wow. >> gabe gutierrez -- >> it's intensifying, brian, i got to tell you, i'm surrounded by concrete wal

palm beach.ng right now. there's been a lot of these. tornado warning for the next 12 minutes until 3:00 o'clock eastern daylight time. if you're in wellington area, royal palm beach, florida, waxahachie grove, there's a tornado on the ground right now. just pictures from fort lauderdale. they are continuing to wash things off as the storm, the leading edge of the storm is over marco island now. we are waiting as janice was explaining earlier when the area of very lowest pressure comes across the land, that's when it's technically landfall. landfall technically happened this morning, a little bit after 9:00 o'clock in cudjoe key, in monroe county and then landfall is going to happen again we believe sometime soon in or about marco island. it isn't official yet but there are hurricane force winds there and we have some people who are riding out the storm there, some viewers, i want to go back to miami, it's hard to imagine, miami has been getting pounded for so many hours and wsvn is out. listen.

>> dylan dreyer for us in palm beach. thank you. >>> president trump is watching irma's path, as well. he'll be monitoring the storm from camp david. kristen welker is at the white house. >> reporter: good morning. president trump's message, the federal government is ready to deal with hurricane irma and the public should take the storm seriously. with his cabinet at camp david trying to show it is all hands on deck. at camp david this morning, president trump tracking irma, while trying to reassure the public, just before leaving the white house, telling reporters -- >> we're prepared at highest level. >> reporter: in his weekly address, urging everyone to take the storm seriously. >> i ask everyone in the storm's watt to be vigilant and to heed all recommendations from government officials and law enforcement. nothing is more important than the safety and security of our people. >> reporter: later this morning, the president will get briefed on the storm, as he convenes a meeting with his entire cabinet for the fourth t

in palm beach county north of that, 458,000. right now all of the outages that are being reported are on the east coast. we know for a fact that there are outages because our reporters are telling us on the gulf coast of florida. so you know that 2 1/2 million number is going to go up. back to ft. lauderdale. jo ling kent, i hope that thing didn't fall on you. >> reporter: no. the reason you are seeing so many outages here in broward county and ft. lauderdale is because of wind gusts that are bringing down stop signs like this one. we have seen the wind continue to increase throughout the day, ali. that has resulted in some downed power lines. of course, these palm tree fronds, those major branches that those leaves flying through the streets here. we also want to show you here, there is a major mega church right next door here. it is called the cavalry church. and the wind brought down its main sign. let's just walk right over here. that was brought down just a couple of hours ago. so you've got 600,000 people in broward county

also seen tops of palm trees snapped off. pauk trees are pretty darn resilient, kind of made to bend in these kinds of winds. when you start to snap tops of those, you realize you've gotten into higher gusts. where jacob was towards naples is about the position of the storm we were earlier this morning. bill is absolutely right to give him the warning all that has happened. one of the things i saw about jacob's shot that i didn't like, want to get word to him as well, he needs to think of elevation. two things to protect yourself from, did a great job protecting from wind, but as storm surge comes in, he is too low, that parking structure was only one story. you need to get more than one story elevation, if that water starts to quickly rise, he needs a position to be able to get in there. and you're correct with south beach location as well. the problem with being in the middle of the street now and winds that we're in, we have 90 miles per hour gusts you don't know are coming until that gust is on top of you. debris becomes

we are here in palm beach.s getting much rougher than what we saw yesterday when the storm was still very far away. now that we're within the 24-hour windows of the storm approaching, things are changing. winds are starting to pick up. we're going to see scattered downpours with thunderstorms on the extreme outer bands of the storm. so we do have a 3:00 c so everyone who is still saying here needs to be indoors after that point. conditions will rapidly deteriorate. driving around the main drag here in palm beach, everything seems to be boarded up. there are a couple of looky looses here trying to take pictures before the storm hits. everything is shuttered up, shops and restaurants, they all have their metal shutters on to protect against the storm once it does get closer. we did just mention that hurricane jose. and i want to point out barbuda, which was an area that has reports of 90% destruction to their buildings from hurricane irma. now this storm that is approaching is a category-4 hurricane with winds up

downtown west palm beach, thursday evening. usually busy, tonight is a ghost town. in west balm peach, brad bell, abc7 news. jonathan: that is good to see. 700,000 people under evacuation orders in florida. michelle: many are listening. this is the florida turnpike. it's packed with the evacuees bumper to bumper there. many of them are coming up our way. jonathan: we know that, northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg joining us along dale city tonight where he met floridians fleeing irma. you knew that because everywhere you turn the license plates were from florida. >> well, you absolutely said the trend is unmistakable. you come in the parking lot from prince william county. this is all you are seeing. the florida license plate. florida license plate. another one right there. everybody fleeing hurricane irma heading to see family and friends in the safety and the comfort in d.c. or t to stay away from the hurricane. many are relieved to get out of the storm's path. they are concerned about what is going to happen back home. >> your have to take important thin

trees in west palm beach. officials gave a stern warning to residents to evacuate and we're learning animal control had to rush up in that dangerous weather to rescue more than 50 animals not only left behind but had no way to escape. >> these are dogs that had literally the owners had gone. and they were left either in pens or in yards that they would not be able to get out of. or tethered or chained. >> animal control and florida state attorney said that those residents who left of their pets outside will be charged with animal cruelty. our coverage continues after this. fios is not cable. we're a 100% fiber optic network. and with the new fios gigabit connection... you get our fastest... internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get

he wants to see a palm tree. he also establishes a goal to go all the way from the south across the gulf to the mouth of the orinoco river and travel up the river find the headwaters of the amazon go down the amazon and go over to africa and go up the congo river. huge ambition. he didn't make it. the reason is he got sick and it was at the end of his walk in that changed history basically. his motivation was he'd read a lot of travel. it had profound experience in botany in biology and he'd also taken wisconsin geology classes and that improves importance later on when he's in the sierras. and he was curious about the unknown. hit his profound curiosity about how things work and how things are related and he had the goal of the palm tree and the goal of the amazon. that is what motivated him. now, what he took with him was pretty limited. hit one rubberized bag, one student of thin wool clothing which was actually pretty good travel gear. he would average about 18-20 miles a day and walking. he'd take a look at

the wind is bending the palms. behind me, this marina, so far the boats and the sailboats are holding up well. we haven't seen anything too dangerous yet. we are watching the water. the big concern is the storm surge in the cape coral area. we're watching some of that water rise. that's the latest. we'll send it back to you guys. >> to tallahassee and governor rick scott. >> hurricane irma made landfall at 9:10 a.m. as a category 4 storm. the eye of this powerful storm is now 80 miles south of naples and approaching naples/ft. myers area later this afternoon. a vast majority of the state is experiencing extreme winds. it will up pact highly populated communities and leaving destruction in its wake. our east coast, south florida is experiencing increased wind gusts, coastal flooding and dangerous seas. we will feel the impact late don't and early monday. there are areas in south florida and the keys have had up to 12 inches of rain. across the state we can see an additional 8 to 15 inches of rain. the vast majority

brian todd is in west palm beach. off the southeastern coast here in florida, very vulnerable. evacuation mandatory. police have been going toor to door. brian, what is it like now? >> well, chris, we just got our first touch of rain from the earlier bands of this storm coming this way. the rain has stopped now, but winds are kicking up, and i heard you and kyung lah talking about storm surge in miami. we're on a pier in west palm beach surrounded by water. this is just the intercoastal, not the ocean. the ocean is on to the other side of palm beach, that barrier island. that's vulnerable to storm surge. storm surges here could be several feet and once that happens all of this could be inundated up onto flagler drive over there on west palm beach, and what we have just been told by west palm beach and palm beach county officials is that in a little over two hours they are really going the start cracking down on a curfew, 3:00 p.m. eastern time is when they want people definitively off the roads. they wanted them off t

you see a lot of palm trees bending over. the palm palms are flying all over the place.over the place. it's extremely windy. you know, like the basketball net has already come down. the landscaping is destroyed in the whole neighborhood. >> when you hear the worst is yet to come, how do you plan on keeping your family safe? how do you plan on keeping them calm during this? >> we have in my house -- -- - is completely buckled down, a safe room. when it gets bad we're going to hang out in the safe room. we have plenty of supplies and a generator. we'll be fine. we feel bad for the people closer to water that will have the storm surge but fortunately we are not in the flood zone. >> it's a relief to hear you have gone to such great lengths to take precautions. i'm sure you have family and friends worried about you. what would you like to tell them? >> i would like everyone to know we're all safe right now. i know the worst is still to come. right now everyone's spirits are high. we're well stocked and prepared. we were unable to get flights out of town and the drive, it was

that's west palm beach and, remember, just in terms of geography you have palm beach, a barrier island, then west palm beach right up hard against the shore. mandatory evacuation center, and that's the reality. remember, we are still many, many hours away from the worst of it. what we know about this storm now, the reason we're following the eye is that 70 miles in circumference around that, the diameter out around that storm, 140 miles across, that's hurricane force winds, so it's not just about the eye. it's about that whole range. we're already getting hit with it. we're up in naples on the west coast. this has become a new source of concern with this storm, what will happen to the west coast up into tampa, tampa bay uniquely vulnerable to storm. we're going to tell you why throughout this morning. so, again, i want to repeat this for people in florida. the timetable has shifted. things will happen later. we were supposed to get hit this afternoon here in naples. it will now be this evening. but what we expect has stayed the same. it's going to be bad and, in fact, it's bad already.

tall palms. i was walking around outside, a clump of bananas fell off one of our banana trees so we know what we're having for breakfast tomorrow. >> well, this house where you are built in 1851, mr. hemingway lived there in the '30s. i know it with stood major hurricanes in the past. why not heed the warnings this time around, dave. you've heard from officials for nearly a week now this going to be unlike anything we've ever seen. >> that's correct. we did heed the warnings. there are two options in a hurricane. one is to evacuate. and two, is to take safe shelter, which tens of thousands of people in the state of florida have taken shelter, so have we. we just happen to own one of the safest shelters in the florida keys. >> what makes this shelter so safe? >> it's great. it's a singularly unique piece of property. we're located on one of the highest points of ground in florida keys. we're not in a flood zone. our building is built out of 18" blocks of solid limestone. with those two components

somehow he links that up with gods glory as the palm tree. he wants to see a palm tree. and he also establishes a goal of wanting to go all the way from the south across the gulf to the amount of the river, travel up the river, find headwaters of the amazon, go down the amazon, then go over to africa and go up the congo river. huge ambition. he didn't make it. the reason is, he got sick of the dirt in of his walk and that changed history acyclic. so his motivations were he read a lot of travel. he had profound experience in botany and biology. it also taken what is at wisconsin some geology classes. that will improve important much later on race in the sierras. he was curious about the unknown. yet this profound curiosity, how things work, how things are related. and he had the goal of the palm tree and the goal of the amazon. so that's what motivated him. now, what he took with him is pretty limited. he had one rubberized back, one suit of thin wool clothing which pretty good travel gear. he would average about 18-20 miles a day walking. if you take a look at the 1865-6

we were in palm beach county far west palm beach county today and we drove down to fort lauderdale. there were gas stations open. there were no lines for them. they had gas. there were some shops, restaurants, stores open. there weren't a lot of people around. so it seems that a lot of people have heeded the warning. miami dated county, 23,000 have taken them up on their shelters. we were in far western palm beach county today, this is a really interesting area. it's very ago cultural, immigrant driven. it's very poor. people had to be buzzed to shelters along distance away. their problem is two-fold. one, the power of that storm may come right over them. and two, the rain dropped on that lake and the water shed above it in the days after the storm has gone may swell that lake to the point where it breaks the levies. if that hanls, dozens of communities south of that lake will be literally wiped out. so it appears, at least here in fort lauderdale and parts of the far east in florida, people have heeded warnings. they've gotten out. many people, though, staying, and it seems that th

five to ten feet of storm surge in palm beach county. they're starting evacuation in about ten hours. that's palm beach to my left here. it's a beach head area and barrier island. those people have to get out by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. where we're standing in west palm beach, a voluntary evacuation, probably mandatory in certaindon. they're telling people, you've got to heed the evacuation orders. if you stay, you know, you got to make sure you're in a fortified place. if you leave, a lot of people are saying you don't have to leave the county. don't try to get so far away or out of state and run yourself to ground. just shelter. you can shelter in your own county. it's a fluid evacuation scenario. a real concern here for the elderly. >> brian, appreciate that. want to bring in david valez. he is a st. thomas resident that was caught in the devastation of irma. you went over to the resort on the island for safety. tell me what you went through. >> yeah. we decided to go over to the resort last minute because we thought it would be a

maybe you can see some of the palm trees out there ongoing as well.the water here where all the boats are docked, not so bad. we should have video to show you because we are feet away from biscayne bay right now and the storm surge is large, it is actually not safe for anyone specially us to be standing right there -- [inaudible] shepard: we are losing the audio there a little bit. let's go to phil keaton live on 79th street in miami, phil, still raining. >> oh, my gosh, the rain has picked up again and the winds howling, blowing debris at me and past me at the street. it's too much rain for it to drain after storm surge and high tides flooding roadway connecting you mainland, over to the beach barriers island. curfew has been announced for tonight within the past hours because the roads are too dangerous, so impassable, so many streets have flood waters in them and so many county wide have traffic lights that are not working, not operable. power is out for three quarters of all residents of miami-dade county at 750,000 the count according to fpl and

beach to palm beach. threats that they're monitoring here, victor. storm surge is one of them. we've heard chad and other experts tell us 5 to 12 feet of storm surge possible. we're at low hide in the intracoastal waterway, when the tide rises, 12 feet, this could be inundated. palm beach could be inundated. here's another threat. the construction sites and cranes. look at this, this is a very large crane along the coastline at west palm beach. a construction site. this building is 14 stories high. the crane extends at that. you see halfway up they have secured that crane with a large metal brace is that enough to keep it in place when this storm hits in earnest, when this place is getting.strongest wind surge and storm surge, we're going to see about that. like in miami, we believe that these cranes, the very tops of them are going to be allowed to swing around in the wind like a large weathervane so they don't meet resistance. but then, the debris from the site is also a significant threat. so we're mon

reason and even that, there are a bunch of palm trees down and palm fronts down. it is going to hold which is that the winds were very intense and they were 110 miles an hour, but a lot of things that were built here have been built fairly recently. the ratings that were required after hurricane andrew here for a category 2 were above winds and the construction were rated even higher. on the whole, the wind damage isn't going to be the worst part of this and the worst part of of this is that there are hundreds of millions of dollars of property lining an ocean that's swelling to 15 feet as i speak to you and that will send seawater rushing toward all of it which is where most of the property damage will be and hopefully people aren't along that narrow strip. i think the folks got inland and they weren't in structures like mobile homes, i think, by and large people will be all right. the other big thing to worry about now is power and we've been having a wink here in and out. there are 1.5 in florida and general and power and gas and flooding will be the big three

palm beach, that barrier island off the shore here, there's still people there. supposed to be evacuated. west palm beach, on the mainland where brian todd was, mandatory evacuation. people still there. you get the point. we know there are a lot of floridians watching. we want you to heed the warnings. we want you to make the right choice for your safety. lord willing you will all get to say, boy, did you have it wrong. i stayed and i was fine. i'd welcome that possibility. we all do because nobody wants to be right about something being catastrophic. but we do have to prepare. that's what we hear from the federal government all the way down. so we're going to take a break. we're between bands of rain right now. that's a window of opportunity for you to make the safety moves you need to. please, stay with cnn. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette and her new mobile wedding business. at first, getting paid was tough... until she got quickbooks. now she sends invoices, sees when they've been viewed and-ta-dah-paid twice as fast for free. visit quickbooks-dot-com. th

look at those palm trees at the top there and you can see some debris down in the road. i'm not 100% sure but this looks like ocean drive to me. in fact it is. right along ocean drive one of the most famous stretches of roadway certainly in all of florida if not in all of the country. normally on a sunday morning, at 10 in september, this would be teaming with people, there would be hundreds on bicycles and riding up and down on skateboards and running there along the boardwalk. right in the heart of south beach and it is just taking a pounding right now, with 100- mile an hour winds inland at miami international airport out on the beach of course miami beach is a barrier island and these live pictures tell the story. you can see the winds coming in from the east so those palms moving inland at the moment because the storm has not yet passed by miami. once it goes north up the west coast, then the winds will shift down in the city of miami but you can see that the street lights are still on. the traffic lights are on. there's electricity around in some places, but you ha

these bridges, according to the police, like this one connecting west palm to your left with palm beach to your right are going to be shut down and police are going to be manning check points. you mentioned a high tide where you are, chris coming soon. it's coming here and the good news from chad we just heard is that the storm surge here may not be quite as high as we thought. but if you look at how close the intracoastal waterway is to here, you know the storm surge of four feet is still dangerous. we'll show you in several hours, when the storm hits here in earnest we're not going to be standing at the spot we're standing this is a construction crane this building goes up about 14 stories. the crane is much higher. can you see two-thirds the way up the crane there's a brace where they've secured the crane to the building. but still, with winds this high, and debris flying there's a threat from construction sites like this one. we will not be here in the spot when the storm hits in earnest. they are concerned about cranes here as they are in miami. the tops of the cranes are going to

diane suave, director, palm beach co.l care: "these are dogs that had literally ... owners had gone, and they were left either in pens, or in yards that they would not be able to get out of, or tethered or chained."> ( marty ) the county's animal control director and state attorney say they'll prosecute those who have left animals tied up outside. ( marty ) however -- more than 160 shelter dogs and cats - have been rescued and are safe hundreds of miles away from the path of irma. the pets were flown to columbus, ohio friday night courtesy of the u.s. humane society. once they've been checked out by vets, the dogs and cats will be available for adoption in ohio, indiana and kentucky. ( marty @ landing) meanwhile people in mexico are grappling with a storm of their own. katia, churning in the gulf of mexico, made landfall friday as a category 1 hurricane. it's since been downgraded to a tropical storm. but the wind and rain have made rescue efforts following thursday's 8-point-1 earthquake more difficult. at least 65 peopl

you can see palm tree, around there in the wind.rma's passing over naples right now, the eye justin land it is a category two storm as it interacts with the land there. still very strong wind gusts sustained at times at 110 miles an hour. >>> we want to check with brian taff once again, brian, you are live there in naples, florida with your live reports is what happening right now. >> well, sarah, i wish i could be more eloquent for you but quite frankly at a loss for word right now. what we have experienced over last two hours has taken our breath away quite honestly. the winds that we have never seen in our lives, 142 miles an hour wind gusts clocked at naples international airport, southwest florida international airport, 30 minutes from where we stand. there were moments where we could not see the trees that you see, behind me here. these trees were bent over as 90 degrees. i took a picture, of the building behind me, before the storm began, this morning. on my iphone. i will put that on the screen. what you will see is building