shepard: that is live in south miami-dade county. we have been watching this throughout as we are waiting to find out exactly which way the storm ends up going. we have the predictions now from the hurricane center of storm surge that really indicate all of the southwest border area could end up pretty deep underwater. hopefully the projections from the national hurricane center are wrong and something changes here. it doesn't look like that is going to happen to the forecaster's natural hurricane center. expecting winds of 40 miles per hour to move into southwest florida on friday. they are having gusts at having gusts at that height. the forward progress of the storm at eight or nine miles an hour, this is a very slow mover. they are expecting some acceleration as this goes by and we can hope it happens because the more it gets in and gets out, the better you are to recover. the longer it stays in your area, it is like a prize fighter shot after shot after shot. you can take it for a while but a few hours later it starts to beat th

kyung, south miami, for us, in homestead, and that's where she joins us from, they're devastated by hurricane andrew. that was 25 years ago. how are folks there preparing for irma? >> reporter: yeah, it's not the lighthearted moods here because people still remember hurricane andrew. what we're seeing across this area, any gas station that is open like this one, we're seeing a long line of cars. this is a line that has not gone down the entire day that we've been here. this is one of those gas stations that stayed open. it's one of -- we've driven everywhere, don. many of them have already boarded up. the owners have evacuated. this owner says he's going to keep doing this, making sure people get gas for the next 24, 48 hours. he's determined to stay open until saturday morning. across homestead. there are also homes being boarded up. we met joel melendez. he barely survived andrew in 1992. he and his brother are running across the city boarding windows for free. he says this is absolutely a terrifying thing to live through twice. >> it's traumatizing, you know? serious. you know? this ain't

notice it's for all of south miami or south florida that is all the way up northward past west palm. the winds are approaching and the models are a little different. this is one model. we call it the rpm and it looks like it wants to slide it up towards the east coast of florida. it's in the cone of uncertainty when it comes to the national hurricane center's track. we still have a category 4 before land fall. now earlier the track was more east and came out and slammed into the carolinas more like this. so we're starting to see more of a northern and curvature off towards the northwest movement. doesn't mean much for florida right now because you're still going to see the entire state most likely have a land fall. keep in mind we still have a cone of uncertainty here. as we move on now and get in a little bit closer let me show you the difference of these two models we've been talking about and see if they've updated as well. we've got the european model and then on top of that is the u.s. model, don. as we run this through and what you're going to see is maybe slight differences. t

we begin with mark strassmann in miami beach, which is strangely quiet after so many people left. mark. >> reporter: south florida's last-minute evacuees stampeded into gridlock on the florida turnpike. traffic stood still for miles. shelters overflowed with pets and people. at this miami high school, among 40 shelters in the area, more than 1,000 people were turned away. >> wait in line. the buses will be picking you up. we will find you guys places to be safe, okay. >> reporter: people stood in line to buy propane, water and food. a storm of price gouging has hit the state, and florida attorney general pam bondi called out some companies by name. >> 7-eleven, come on. this isn't the time to make a buck. this is the time to help your fellow citizens. >> reporter: miami-dade county has ordered almost 700,000 people to evacuate, including shari schwartz. she worried what she may come back to. >> i'm really afraid. i am. i have to be honest. i'm afraid that... there might not be much. >> reporter: really? it's that worrisome? tony and rachel coddington will ride out irma in their condo. they live on the 15t

wsvn in south miami-dade with a live report. remember south miami-dade is where andrew hit. it went right into homestead and just by secretaried the bottom part of the state before going back out into the gulf of mexico and eventually going toward louisiana but andrew was the bellweather until now. >> the whole hurricane andrew connections is when we think of south dade because they were devastated by the storm and a lot of the the pictures we look at show the physical toll the storm is taking but the emotional toll i'm wondering if leading up to it because so many people had so much anxiety if you talk to people that were really nervous about this storm? >> we did, you know, we were down here in the homestead area for a couple days before the storm came through and meeting with people and a lot of them told us they remembered andrew and they had this mind set at first, almost as bad that i survived andrew, i can survive anything, but then last minute, you saw them frantically trying to go get sand bag, trying to get gasoline, trying to board up their windows and i think it

new hurricane warnings issued for south florida. miamiracing for a direct hit of this monster hurricane. irma. listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. and fragmented care- stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. every single one of you is on our list. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful and fresh. delicious and powerful, and full of nutrients. so there are no artificial colors... no artificial flavors... no artificial preservatives... and no artificial sweeteners... ...in any of the food we sell. we believe that the food we eat connects us to the natural world and to each other. we believe in real food™. whole foods market. over the course of 9 days sthe walks 26.2 miles,. that's a marathon. because he chooses to walk whenever he can. and he do

. >> reporter: for decades, route one has been the main artery through south miami, a commercial route from convenience stores to upscale malls. now there is little left. >> it's gone. we used to shop at the shopping centeren the street. there's just nothing left. >> reporter: but further up route one, don lee lost everything. for three generations of the lee family, home is now don's van, parked by the side of the road. >> the hurricane tried to blow me away. >> reporter: were you scared? >> i was >> we're very fortunate. >> reporter: at the end of route one, amidst the rubble of a community that no longer exists, reality is setting in. >> i can say that right now we have food. we have water. supplies we salvaged and kept. but today we don't need anything. tomorrow's going to be a different story. >> reporter: help may be a long time coming. this is linda pattillo for "nightline" in homestead, florida. >> it's important to remember and terrifying to think that andrew caused $25 billion worth of damage in florida alone and claimed 26 lives in the u.s. >> and additional people died as a

south florida. joining me now, phil levine, the mayor of miami beach. mr. for making time for me. >> thank you. >> after cuba, the models have shown it's move to get eastern section but now the tracks show the west will be the worse of it. what do you want to say to people. all of these models are very unpredictable. things can turn on a dime. i'm telling all of our residents of miami beach. stay inside. stay buttoned down. don't go outside. this thing can turn, the winds are picking up, you can see it right now, there's debris flying around. more importantly, we're concerned about tidal and storm surge. i'm also thinking about the west coast of florida. very concerning. our thoughts and prayers are with them. >> you have assigned this storm a striking moniker in calling it a nuclear hurricane, why? >> because it's so powerful, so large. twice the size of andrew. we saw the destruction of what it's done in the caribbean. we hope to god it does not do the same destruction in florida. we're ready to go here in miami and miami beach. but i tell everyone, stay

very strong withs, the -- strong up to 100 miles per hour, so if you are watching the miami,miami beach, south maybe listening from the homestead area, a resident area, -- redland area, sweetwater, west miami and all these places, as this band lifts, there is the potential for a beta 100 is aper-hour winds, so it testament to the significant weather produced by irma, even outside of that center of circulation. we have to keep an eye on that and as it lives up. you think the wind is strong now? gustsuld have stronger coming your way through areas of south miami-dade. we want to put that out there now. >> we have been talking about -- host: that update from wplg and live satellite that's as florida is now in the throes of hurricane irma as it makes its way up. most. we would take -- the gulf coast. we would take a short break. when we come back, we will turn our attention to politics. nick troiano will join us live from 10. "washington journal" continues like this sunday morning. ♪ >> monday night on the communicators, mark jamieson, a visiting scholar at aei on net neutrality is interviewed by

we are south of miami. we are in an area absolutely devastated by hurricane andrew 25 years ago when you think about, you know, hurricane andrew, you think miami. but this is the area, homestead, florida city that just has never been the same. so that's something that is a reason why it's dead quiet here. people have gotten out. people have hunkered down in their homes and gone to shelters t. roadway you are seeing right now. >> that is the beginning of the overseas highway, so we've seen some cars still coming northbound, very few going in the direction of the peck-up truck you see headed southbound now. most people getting out, because in the florida keys, keep this in mind, there are 42 bridges between here and key west. so what monroe county emergency managers have pointed out is, hey, any 81 of those 42 bridges goes out and you're stuck. that's what makes the keys such a dangerous place to be. also, all the hospitals there are closed and they've said, listen, if you stay in the keys, despite emergency

the first shelter for those coming from the keys will open up in south miami tomorrow. certainly the traffic there will get much, much heavier in the hours to come. wolf? >> certainly will. all right, miguel, we'll stay in close touch with you as well. miguel marques in miami. >>> let's get more on this, acting director of the hurricane center is joining us. based on the latest forecast, what are your biggest concerns for americans in the path of this storm? >> we should put this in perspective, wolf. right now we have a category 5 hurricane. it's forecast to move towards the southern florida peninsula over the next three to four days. about the time that it reaches the north coast of cuba early in the weekend, there will be a turn towards the north. we don't know yet whether that turn will occur when the center is just offshore, over land, or just to the west. the problem is that this hurricane, if it comes to shore at category 4 or category 5 intensity over south florida, will be the strongest to have hit land since hurricane andrew, and we would expect impacts that co

. >> joining me on the phone is the mayor of south miami. so glad that you could join us this evening. what's the latest on the evacuations. what's rur the latest? >> a lot of people have gotten out of town. i would guess we have less than half the usual pop ylshz. my concern is a lot of people have gone to the west side of florida because the initial center of the cone was coming up the east side of the peninsula so people went to the east side. it looks like they're in even greater danger now when they were here. >> but the thing is people have been told to move to higher ground or if they could get out of the state of florida altogether, you don't agree with that? >> no, i do and a lot of people have done that but today the airports closed, a lot of flights were canceled. people who thought they had things figured out discovered they didn't. there's folks who had their hotel reservations canceled who got stuck. it's the problem of living on a peninsula. there's not that many roads out. i'm looking at the traffic online from orlando north

the mayor of south miami, the mayor of miami beach, looking at storm surge maps, that's what guided the mandatory evacuations. it's what guided the mandatory evacuations in miami proper. all of that based on the storm surge. if it traction westerly, that will probably reduce the storm surge and spare miami if, again, if the worst case scenario. >> what were you hearing from local authorities and office holders that i know you've been consulting with today. >> there's a lot of concern about getting people out. getting people shelter. you saw the news that miami had invoked a emergency law to essentially detain against their will homeless folks in miami. in miami beach the mayor said he was going around talking to people one-on-one, trying to get them into shelters. the folks that are still here, which is a sort of self selecting crew, have a kind of more he can wi anymore any about what's coming for them than the people that have left. the people that are here said i lived through andrew, i was find with it. there's a intense desire to get people into shelter, away from coastal areas. th

this is a town south of miami, boy, has he been feeling it. feel like every time we see him, it is getting worse there. good morning. >> reporter: hey, savannah, good morning. rain and wind has become blinding in the last hour, we have been in these conditions about 13 hours now, they continue to deteriorate. it is not just the pounding, steady rain flopping us in the face all night and all morning, it is also powerful winds overnight. we could hear debris flying through the air and some of the buildings. want to show you how deserted it is. pan the camera here. this is downtown florida city. you can see it's a ghost town. a short time ago thought we saw first responders coming down, it was a fire truck, spin the camera here to get a better picture so the rain is not hitting the lens, this is what we are dealing with. very high winds pulling down palm trees and froms flying across the street. power lines are beginning to sag, seen transformers explode in the last several hours. first responders are out here. we have seen a few members of the p

miami-dade county. tell us what you have seen today. >> we traveled slightly south of miami, don, to homestead, florida.ou can see that i'm right in front of a mobile home park. the reason we came here is because this particular park, nearly every single part of it was completely levelled in hurricane andrew. so when we came down here, we met edward collins. now he has packed everything he owns, he completely emptied out his mobile home, stuffed it in his car, and he says he is, quote, beyond scared. he is driving north. he is going to get out of the state of florida. he shedding to family in virginia. but at the same time, don, we did dive across the street ten minutes away, and we met a mom who has two children, a 15-month-old and 4-month-old. she says she has water, fuel, food. she wants the ride it out. she thinks that she'll be fine. we are hearing many different types of stories even as irma barrels closer, and this area is under a mandatory evacuation. >> well, the question is maybe, okay, let's say she rides it out. but what the days after when people are trying to get supplies? maybe there is n

south florida. widespread devastation followed by decades of rebuilding. now concerned if miami is ready to handle another monster storm. this is what miami looks like today t. coastline crowded with new condos, but built with stricter codes established after andrew. >> it's a strong building code. >> reporter: is it strong enough? >> this the a question i don't have the answer for you. >> reporter: another danger, 25 cranes, the city is now warning could collapse in category 5 winds and on the highest floors, stronger gusts, 75 miles per hour on the ground, turns to 115 miles per hour on the 30th floor. then there's the storm surge that could be 12 feet, which would easily flood a low lying miami neighborhood like this. this is what storm surge looks like. likely worse than we saw during hurricane matthew in jacksonville beach last year. which is why storm veterans are anxious. >> the panic has set in now. i keep hearing where it's shifting, where the winds are, i'm getting nervous. >> our thanks to kerry sanders for that report. >>> back in washington, republican's heads are s

south florida. widespread devastation followed by decades of rebuilding. now concerns if miami is ready to handle another monster storm. this is what miami looks like today. the coastline crowded with new condos, but built with stricter codes established after andrew. >> it's a strong building code. >> reporter: is it strong enough? >> this is a question i don't have the answer for you. >> reporter: another danger, 25 cranes the city is now warning could collapse in category 5 winds. and on the highest floors, stronger gusts. 75 miles per hour on the ground turns to 115 miles per hour on the 30th floor. then there's the storm surge that could be 12 feet, which would easily flood a low lying miami neighborhood like this. this is what storm surge looks like. likely worse than what we saw during hurricane matthew in jacksonville beach, florida, last year. which is why even florida storm veterans like megan are anxious tonight. >> the panic has set in now, and i keep hearing where it's shifting and where the winds are, and i'm getting nervous. >> reporter: construction companies sa

miami dade county. tell us what you've seen today. >> reporter: we've travelled slightly south of miami to homestead, florida. you can see i'm in front of a mobile home park. this particular park nearly every single part of it was completely levelled in hurricane andrew. so when we came down here we met edward collins. he has packed everything he owns. he completely emptied out his mobile home, stuffed it in his car and he says he is quote beyond scared. he is driving north. he's going to get out of the state of florida. he's heading to family in virginia. but at the same time we did drive across the street 10 minutes away and met a mom who has two children, a 15 month old and a 4 month old. she says she has water, fuel, food. she wants to ride it out. she thinks she'll be fine. we're hearing many different stories as irma barrels closer. >> okay let's say she rides it out but what about the days after when people are trying to get supplies. maybe there's no electricity and no water? >> reporter: you know there's a flor idian spirit and i've seen it heard and talked about as we've seen people sand bagging an

south florida. i think it will turn more to the west, 60 miles west of that, and that is bad news for miami and south florida. at 6:00 in the morning on sunday, they will feel tropical storm-force winds on saturday, and then it might make landfall in georgia or south carolina. see the red? that's the hurricane force winds. if it doesn't touch the land mass, that's okay. it will hammer the turks and caicos. but the good news is the big winds will miss cuba. we will come back and talk about the sea surface temperatures and when it will make the turn. >>> remember. hurricane andrew is one of the worst storms in the history of florida. this is worse and devastating. >>> a dire warning from track of hurricane irma. many of us remember the video of the widespread damage of hurricane andrew in 1992 in south florida and people in south florida are urged to take this storm seriously and everyone was ordered out of the keys and mandatory evacuations are underway where irma's record winds and expected storm surge are the concern. >> the fuel trucks are getting an escort, and long ways and traffic and highways a

by 8:30 sunday morning, it's south of miami and probably will go over miami and back out to see. i feel but the computer models are smarter than i am but i still feel is it will go up the west side of florida and the everglades and towards jacksonville but in any of event, no matter which track is takes, south florida and miami is in big trouble. we'll come back and bring out the stats and statistics, breaking a lot of those, and we'll have that. >>> topper, this category 5 monster storm pummeled caribbean islands killing at least 2 people overnight. floodwaters swamped boats and this is florida's governor making sure not to ignore the evacuation handed out sandbags. what concerns you the most? >> flooding. >> reporter: adriana is not taking chances. her parents lost everything during hurricane andrew. she picked up 10 sandbags, plans to security the family home and hit the road. >> that was kenneth craig. people are keeping a wary eye on areas and folks in upper marlboro are nervous because they were hit before. >> i've been through this before. >> i don't want to go through thi

the latest location, 225 miles south of miami, florida. it is moving west now at 12 miles per hour. so -- it's still going to have to come out over land. i should say over those 90-degree water temperatures between cuba and florida, and we could see some restrengthening again. probably will still make landfall sometime sunday morning, southwest florida, causing up to 150 mile-per-hour winds. 10 to 20 inches. rain and 8 to 12-foot storm surges. in the southeastern part of the state, more of the same, although the wind's not as strong and the storm surge not as strong. as we move into sunday afternoon, it makes landfall into the evening hours. 100 to 125 mile-per-hour winds from sarasota, ft. myers, all the way to naples. rainfall, 10 to 15 inches. it stays a category-3 storm as it makes its way into georgia with temperatures -- i should say with temperatures 50 to 75 miles per hour. and the storm surge is going to be the big story. that's where the most damage and deaths can occur. we're looking at storm surges from tampa all the way to key west, back up to melbourne from 3 feet to 1

it was damage from south miami and flattened homestead and then moved right out into the gulf. now take a look at irma. irma is just about double the size if you put them together. irma was a category 5 for 69 hours. it's been breaking hours the entire trip over here. that shatters the record. the previous record was 17 hours. unbelievable of this strength of storm. still should be a four as it makes impact. this storm will go from the south of florida all the way to the north of florida. no matter what happens with its wobble on its initial impact. everyone in the state of florida has to watch the strength of this storm. as far as impact, the strongest part is right in the eye wall. the tight center, the beautiful clear center if you're looking at it from satellite picture. it has been in the most populated areas of south florida. now the hurricane center has adjusted that to the west. we're still cutting the storm across the central keys. that will be devastating for the keys. devastating for the keys. where ever the initial impact of the storm, it will be equally as bad. i d

this is a town south of miami, boy, has he been feeling it. feel like every time we see him, it is getting worse there. good morning. >> reporter: hey, savannah, good morning. rain and wind has become blinding in the last hour, we have been in these conditions about 13 hours now, they continue to deteriorate. it is not just the pounding, steady rain flopping us in face all night and all morning, it is also powerful winds overnight. we could hear debris flying through the air and some of the buildings. want to show you how deserted it is. pan the camera here. this is downtown florida city. you can see it's a ghost town. a short time ago thought we saw first responders coming down, it was a fire truck, spin the camera here to get a better picture so the rain is not hitting the lens, this is what we are dealing with. very high winds pulling down palm trees and froms flying across the street. power lines are beginning to sag, seen transformers explode in the last several hours. first responders are out here. we have seen a few members of the publi

you can see saturday at 8:00 p.m., storm system is just south of miami. landfall between key west and miami at this point. again, late saturday, early sunday morning. then it moves through central florida, possibly passing over orlando and daytona beach. winds of 115 miles per hour. full coverage at nbcbayarea.com. also look for my colleague. she's there on the ground tracking it for us. extended forecast, i talked about the shower chances. watch out for this. tuesday, wednesday, and thursday of next week. it's not much. that's the best possibility to get some activity for us. and temperatures also warming up in san francisco to 76 on sunday. for inland valleys, hold on. hotter, 97 on siunday. storms to the south. we'll keep a close eye on the doppler radar. best chance of rain would be next tuesday, wednesday, thursday. a lot happening on the weather board back here at home. if you're looking more on irma, i've been doing tweets so check out my twitter page. >> thank you, jeff. >>> up next, the san francisco gay men's chorus gets ready for a trip like no

dave, we're checking with people far to the south, miami and near the keys. but what we're seeing is movement to the north? >> absolutely, to the north and to the west. let's talk about what we know, the facts, let's get our kwo coordinates and then kate, we'll discuss what's happening, irma, category 4 storm. remarkable strength. after all of these days still retaining winds of 130 miles per hour. and located 65 miles south-southeast of naples, florida. let's go from the top of the show from when we saw sam, those winds continuing to roll through sections of miami, and ft. lauderdale, the eastern seaboard of florida, if you will. those are bands, those are on the sloppy side, if you will, on the dirty side, is what it's called, of this storm. now, let's begin to track irma as it takes its ride along the west coast of florida. by 8:00 tonight, it's still restaining strength of 125-mile-per-hour winds. it is going to rip through sarasota and fort myers and naples, on its way to tampa. one of the biggest areas of concern, tampa bay. it's two-fold. number one, w

miami beach. shep: the power outages 1.2 million people in south florida. what's the situation upon miami beach?> we have multiple areas that don't have power. atlantic broadband is a critical provider. they are on the critical list for fpl to get to them. shep: i guess in many ways people of miami beach are lucky it moved to the west. it's not a good day but it's not what we feared a few days ago. there are tremendous winds out there, tremendous debris flying around. we have hours to go and the tidal flooding is something we are worried about. i reached out to the mayors of fort meyers and cape coral to let them know we'll be willing, ready to assist them if they are experience the wrath of this hurricane. shep: hope to see sufficient on the beach soon on a sunny day. phillip levine. we just got the new tracking for the national hurricane center in miami. the newest update, the storm is still a powerful category 4 hurricane, maximum sustained winds 130 miles an hour. it's moving to the north. this is the second hour in a row the storm is headed due north at 9 miles an hour which will send it in

potentially 245 miles south-southeast of miami we should say. over 5 million florida yads are under mandatory evacuations this morning, many waiting for hours to try and get in the shelters ahead of this storm. >> georgia governor faithan diehl ordering residents to evacuate the coast as the hurricane is now pounding cuba with winds up to 155 miles per hour. welcome back, everybody, to msnbc world headquarters. as this hour, the storm is now at category 4 and poised to make landfall in the next 24 hours. over 5 million floridans are under mandatory evacuation as we've been talking about. bonnie, for those people that have been just getting up in the morning, everybody has had their eye owes hurricane irma understanding the fact that florida is in the eye of the storm. the entire state. you can't outrun this thing. no, you're right. and waking up to a completely different story today in terms of where the impacts might be. the storm is working its way further off to the coast of cuba. this is where it's been pounding much of cuba right now. boy,

miami. we have the most exposed assets in the south florida area in the downtown corridor, and yet people do not want to leave. there are 23,000 people countywide, and in the city of miami, a city of more than half a million people, about 200,000 are understand that order. so what the city is doing, we're just trying to be ready. the police, fire, we have picked up throughout the city of miami about 600 tons of debris every single day in the last three days. we have everything ready, but i can tell you that we have not seen a storm of this magnitude. we now know that it may turn west. but still we will be probably most likely on the dirty side of the storm. >> yep. >> so we will still get hurricane-force winds. >> regardless of what happens in south florida, miami is going to be the center of the response. mayor, you said something that a lot of people have put aside for a few days. the epa administrator told another network that now is not the time to talk about global warming, but you said earlier this is the time to talk about climate change. this is the time that the president and the ep

she's on the edge of south of miami. where you are right now, it was devastated by hurricane andrew in '92, how are people in the area preparing now for this new monster storm? >> reporter: this is 35 miles south of miami, and this is a city that was almost completely wiped off the map. this has been a town that we've seen trying to prepare, trying to get out, here's the problem, you need fuel in order to escape, this gas station that we're standing at, you can see that the windows are boarded up, tape is up here, the reason why, within the last 15 minutes, they just ran out of fuel. there's some deezle left. there's a gas station over here, two more on the side, they're out of fuel. right across the street, that citgo, also shuddered, completely out. the options here, south of miami, they are dwindling. after seeing the devastation irma left behind in the caribbean, floridians are bracing for a monster. boarding up their homes. and preparing to get out fast. >> today's going to be the deadline. people are going to get ca

hit land was for it to come somewhere from the miami-dade-broward county line and hit the causeway where the station is located. it went maybe 20 miles southwent to homestead and just wiped out the southern tip of florida. anybody who woke up. i remember it was yesterday, waking up in the morning and turning on ""the today show"." miami look fine. as it flew south, kept getting worse and worse. when they got down to the homestead area, nothing but trouble. street signs can't be read home reduced to nothing. and a couple of weeks of a very difficult time for residents left behind. it was a cleanup of -- this one could be much larger, higher winds, higher impact area, entering into the florida keys. the national wildlife sanctuary down there and across the florida panther reserve come up in western, southwest florida somewhere in the naples-fort myers area and just make its way straight up the state. nothing like this has ever been seen. we will keep an eye on the storm and on florida. we have been getting a much closer look on some of the devastation that the hurricane has left in the caribbean. the storm has killed at least 23 people now a

this is just one line here in south miami. an enormous line. two police officers helping out getting people in as fast as possible. takes about an hour in this particular line. one person rocking their truck back and forth in the hopes just to get a little more fuel in. people now in miami making the hard decision, do they hunker down or get out? tonight florida bracing. irma ripped through several caribbean islands overnight. the storm sustaining winds over 185 miles per hour for days. >> the roof is about to come. >> reporter: gusting up to 220 miles per hour. leaving widespread damage throughout the region. in puerto rico more than 1 million people are without power. the eye of the hurricane nearly knocked out all buildings in barbuda. roughly 90% of buildings damaged. >> i have never seen any such destruction. >>. >> reporter: late today irma's core moved over the dominican republic and haiti leaving behind flash flooding and mudslid mudslides. across florida tonight residents bracing for a direct hit. the storm on track to make landfall ea

you can see, as it goes to the south of miami, south of the keys, category 4, it retains strength through there. it doesn't come out past this because the track is unpredictable. we will have a better idea by wednesday. these are all the different models and data. exactly where to go. we're continuing to watch it. if we see impact, it wouldn't be until after tuesday. we have a good while before we know what's going on with this and what track it's going to take. >>> lauryn, thank you. a manhunt in charles county, maryland. deputies say brian pierce shot two men outside of a home on port tobacco road. one man died at the scene and the second because of the search, the sheriff's office is adding patrols near mt. hope elementary school. >>> friends and family say goodbye to a man killed trying to help a stranger. his daughter said she will continue helping others even though her father died doing that. he was one of two good samaritans who stopped to help drivers involved in an accident in beltville. another driver hit her father and the other good samaritan and took off. >> pretty much keep

miami. pretty much south of miami all the way to the tip, not a lot of population, nobody lives there, once you get down to miami and naples there. it's weakened a little bit, 130 miles an hour. my system is stalling becau the water right here is in the upper 80s to lower 90s. there we go. so begin, it could reintensify as it travels and takes the turn to the north because warm water fuels hurricanes. not a lot of wind in the upper layer of the atmosphere to sheer it apart. it could be apart by that point. might be too late. category 4 right now. expected to remain category 4 as it sweeps into the ft. myers area during the day tomorrow, then rolls through tampa, sarasota, siesta key. some of those areas evacuated and continues to move up through central florida. then by tuesday, wednesday, it's in the deep south and up through the ohio valley. we're going to start to see cloud cover debris monday morning. clouds will increase monday for our area. then by the time we get into tuesday and wednesday, that's when we could see rain out of it. once it hits land, we're going to have to concentrate

we begin with mark strassmann in miami beach which is strangely quiet after so many people left. mark. >> south florida's last-moment evacuees stampeded into gridlock on the florida turnpike. traffic stood still. shelters overflowed with pets and people. at this miami high school, 40 shelters in the area, 1,000 people turned away. >> the buses won't be picking you up. we'll find a place for you to be safe. >> people stood in line to buy propane, water and food. a storm of price gasping hit the state and florida attorney general bam bondi called -- pam bondi called on some companies by name. >> 7-11, this isn't the time to make a buck, help your fellow citizens. >> miami-dade county ordered people to evacuate. >> i'm really afraid. i have to be honest, i'm afraid that there might not be much. >> really? it's that worrisome? >> tony and rachel codington will ride out irma in their condo. they live in a 15th floor of a miami high rise with a full week's supply of food, hurricane shutters and a good view of the storm when it barrels through. >> i'm not sure if it will be good or bad but we'll see w

back up to 155 on the verge of a cat five but the waters just to the west of the bahamas and south of miami warm and warm very deep. so this could very well intensify even more once it starts to hit these waters before it heads into south florida. it's 380 miles right now from miami. moving to the west at 14. again, we're waiting the new track that should be updated within the next half hour but now this still has it, hitting the keys southwestern florida sunday morning winds sustained 145 miles an hour. brian mentioned folks leaving south florida but even if they head inland to central or northern florida they still need to be in a secure location because they're still going to get six to 12-inches of rain, still going to see at least a cat one or two storm through the entire state of florida and then it falls apart tuesday morning near georgia. storm surge is another major threat for key largo miami you're looking at a five to 10-foot storm surge. that's the wall of water that comes with the storm on the ocean floor and as we take a look at marco island south of fort myers and near the ev

just south of miami is the city of coral gables, a city that received a lot of damage from hurricane andrew 25 years ago. joining us now is the mayor of coral gables. it's been a long night. it's not nearly as long of a night as it has been for you and city officials and emergency management teams on the ground there. can you give us an update on conditions in coral gables evacuation orders obviously yurnds way. >> people are more worried about their cars than themselves sometimes. i think that cars have been evacuated to our garages and inland. whereas, i think that more than 50% of the people are going to stay in their homes, and they forget about andrew. i mean, with andrew, which there was a direct impact, think it was less harsh, less severe than this one. with andrew, we had areas of our house, and we had 48 miles of coastlines, including -- we had areas of our coastline that were totally flattened. you could see for blocks without seeing a house standing up, and some people, you know, my home is my castle kind of attitude, but they're thinking of staying, and i want to remind

we wanted to show everyone at home the image that really drives home the real danger here in miami and south florida. when it comes to the storm surge you just mentioned. we know that miami floods easily. look at this tonight. if you had a 3-foot storm surge, those areas in yellow would be underwater. a storm surge higher than 3 feet, and watch this. the areas in red go completely under, and that's why they are so concerned here in miami tonight, ginger. authorities are trying to get the warnings out. >> reporter: water is one of the most powerful things, and this doesn't even take into account high tide. high tide happens just after midnight, and just after noon, that could make the surge from 5 to 10, and make it 8 to 13 easily, david. >> bracing here in south florida tonight. ginger, thank you. >>> the island of barbuda taking a direct hit from hurricane irma. more than 90% of the island homes and buildings destroyed and tonight, listen to this. hurricane jose is now on a path to hit that same island. just moments ago, i spoke with the prime minister, gaston brown, with now an urgent effo

i know south florida, the keys are likely still to get hit very hard. miami, south florida going to feel this. ci citys along the west could be on the wrong side of this hurricane as you know, governor. are you confident those regions are ready for this? >> well, we were ready. it's going to keep changing. the big thing right now is we're going to do everything you can but you got to do your job. >> i visited a shelter in miami yesterday. it was already full. and we saw the aerials of the line, people waiting to get into shelters throughout florida. are you confident there are enough safe spots for people to go? >> we're going to continue to open shelters as needed. i shut down all the schools starting friday morning. through monday. make sure we have plenty of locations, we're going to work to make sure we have all the food, water, still working on trying to get more fuel into the state. i said we're not going to collect certain taxes last night to see if we can get more fuel in the state and keep working to do all these things but you've got to do your job

we have a home in the southern part of our area, around south miami. >> inland? >> inland. you never know. what happens during andrew, miami beach was evacuated and they went to kendall in the west and that's where andrew went. the predictions are better. the science is more precise. i think we know it's going to wallup us anywhere it goes. >> the storm predictions are horrific. a ten-foot storm surge that could flood blocks and blocks and blocks west that way. >> absolutely. the science is better. it's more precise. we can forecast it. miami is ready. i mean, we have had days to prepare and we saw through cnn what happened in houston. people are ready. those who don't want to leave their houses won't leave their houses anyway. but, everything is functioning fine. this is so much better, the response than it was during andrew. in andrew, everything fell apart. katrina, another mess. this one, with irma, we are ready. we are as ready as a community can be. >> representative, thank you. this city, state will need your spirit. thank you in advance. >> appreciate it. >> great to