flooding in savannah, georgia. flooding in tiby island and chatham county, georgia, where i spoke with the public information office we are chatham county. i asked her about the situation there this night and through the next day or so. >> things are actually improving here. we've been out of the weather for a while. our tide, while high tonight, was not a major tide. even though we were kind of expecting a 10, it was much less, so that helped out a lot. we did receive a lot of flooding in our islands and coastal and low-lying areas from storm surge and heavy rain. we did have some wind damage as far as blowing down branches and some trees that have come down, those types of things. but it certainly isn't as bad as we were expecting a couple of days ago. >> explain how the moon would have played sbho th eed into thg tide. >> we did have an exceptionally high tide with the storm surge. we had a 4.7 foot surge. so that made the ft. pulaski gauge, it was a 12.24 around 12:30. so that is exception atly high that did ca

savannah is bracing for possible tornadoes, but as this storm pushes on, we are getting new images in of the devastation in florida. listen to this. more than 6 million people are without power. it is high tide in jacksonville, bringing in a record breaking storm surge that is taking over major roadways. our cnn cameras capturing some of the first video of the florida keys and just when you look at all these pictures and the devastation is stunning. my colleague john berman is joining me for the next two hours live there in miami amid boat debris. it looks like down in coconut grove, john berman. i know you are in the thick of it during the 100 mile an hour winds last night. tell me about where you are today. >> reporter: it goes without saying, brooke, it's not supposed to look like this. we are outside of coconut grove outside a bar named monty's and it was just hammered in the storm. look at all of the boats around me, sail boat, motor boats, tipped over and just pushed up on to the shore by the storm surge and it wasn't just the storm surge. it was one of the larger boats that bro

savannah is feeling the effects. charleston, south carolina, feeling the effects. atlanta, set to feel some effects as well. chad sticking with it. we will be back to this as this storm slowly marches forward, this monster called irma. coming up for us, thousands in florida looking to get out but miami international airport still completely shut down today after taking on some serious water damage. officials say they don't know yet when they will be able to reopen. huge questions as irma marches on. we'll have details on that ahead. patrick woke up with back pain. but he has work to do. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong. mikboth served in the navy.s, i do outrank my husband, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first home together in 2010. his family had used another insurance product but i was like well i've had usaa for a while, w

much the same in h savannah and charltton as well. >> thank you. people were evacuating too jacksonville to get out of the way of the storm. >> we should be clear there are flash flood warnings under way right now in the coastal cities in south carolina. this is still a very much ongoing water situation. >> indeed. before hurricane irma made its way it caused wide dev station across the u.s. virgin islands including here in at any time thomas. look at that boat. at crown bay. devastation across those u.s. virgin islands, we're still learning what really happened there. tough to get information out of those islands at this point. meantime in cuba, the death toll now at 10. cleanup efforts under way after irma pummelled the island nation. we will check in with patrick oppmann who is through in just a bit. he rode out the storm. >> not to be lost in irma's devastation is the city of houston trying to bounce back from hurricane harvey. tens of thousands of school children returned to classroom the monday. 268 of the 280 schools reopening. many challeng

certainly for savannah, higher than matthew that we saw just last year. here is the rain shield in atlanta and anywhere up there, you will see wind gusts today at 45 to about 60. that's the story, but the onshore flow and even one tornado there to the north of savannah and charleston. they are the two resort areas and any time you see one big cell, you can see in the neighborhood of an ef1. the jacksonville flooding up the st. johns because the water is trying to get out of the st. johns river and funneled through jacksonville and out to the ocean. it can't get through this choke point. that's why it is flooding so badly right now. if i get rid of this, one more thing we are watching is pool video. this is what is the stretch. this is from homestead to key largo. we are following the track of this helicopter as it flies through. this looks like the highest part of this bridge. it is a bridge that used to be very, very low and the opening and closing bridge. they fixed that and made it high. it was a three-lane road and anybody could pass in the middle. it

we are stretching from wilmington to savannah, georgia. they will be damaging winds and potential for tornados throughout the region as the system moves north. we have an intense amount of shear in this location. that's helping to rip irma apart layer by layer. the downfall is that same shear is ratching up the threat for tornados for those states. >> thank you very much. we originally feared the worst for the southeastern part of florida. tens of thousands fled areas like miami and west palm beach expected to bear the brunt of the storm. john berman is live from miami. a few minutes ago, the mayor told me that they didn't just dodge a bullet. they dodged a cannon. is it a similar story in miami where you are? >> it certainly isn't as bad as it could have been. that doesn't mean there is no damage. we are standing at a marina and coconut grove. the boat for instance is supposed to be in the water. it was pushed up here onshore. that boat is supposed to be in the water and not tipped over. you can see that sail boat to the left. it broke fr

that includes the city of savannah, along with chatham county and other low-lying areas. and in south carolina, a mandatory evacuation order takes effect saturday morning at 10:00 eastern in coastal communities, coastal counties including charleston. >> there is the track. irma slammed turks and caicos overnight. meteorologist karen maginnis tracking this monster storm from the cnn center. she tells us when and where florida might expect her. good morning. >> good morning. yes, we expect landfall the next 36 to 48 hours. maybe late into the day on saturday or sunday morning. the latest from the national hurricane center, category 4. a strong category 4. we were looking at 185-mile-an-hour winds. we saw it go down to 160. and now 155 with gusts up to 190. moving to the west/northwest at just about 16 miles per hour. so it's really moving. but it's a really big hurricane. and now it is affecting the southern bahamas, this is going to move in a fashion pretty much like this -- not a straight line. typically we see fluctuations, and especially if it's trying to reorganize tha

we felt strong winds saw some flooding in different parts of the region, you talk about savannah, georgia, charleston, south carolina you talk about a flash flood emergency situation. that just came across, we understand the death toll from the storm in this part of the united states, three people died in the state of georgia, one person died in the u.s. state of south carolina. the airport situation also another situation weir monitoring because the world's busiest airport here in georgia, see this image, not so busy because of the flights cancelled or delayed. delta, which is based here in atlanta, cancelled 1,100 flight on monday, and southwest canceling the flights, mainly because of the strong winds going through the airport complex. i want to show you this image, this is flight aware.com. this is the misery scale, atlanta, georgia front and center. it will take some time, obviously, today they will start getting back to some partial activity, getting better and better as he we move each day forward. but michael you have to think about the fact there are so many people, especially in

that includes the city of savannah, it includes chatham county and other low-lying areas. in south carolina, a mandatory evacuation order, mandatory evacuation order takes effect saturday morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern time in the coastal counties including charleston. >> irma holding strong at category five, slamming turks and caicos overnight and now approaching the bahamas. meteorologist karen maginnis tracking the monster storm from the weather center. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> how long is the window for people to get out of florida now? >> it is closing so fast. i'm not sure that if i were living in south florida, i'm not sure that i would get in the car and try to make a run for it because all the services that would be available are so limited now. you can't even really buy an airline ticket. delta and american are saying that by tomorrow afternoon they're not going to have flights in and out of those international airports. those are the big airports. the window is closing for sure. i would say that if you report out by nower -- if you aren't out by now

the same threat fising other coast alcommunities like savannah georgia, and charleston south carolina. so far, irma being blamed for five deaths, one each in florida and south carolina. three in georgia including two from falling trees. >> about 8 million customers still out power in the southeast. the lights are off, folks. majority of those people are in the customers in florida and georgia. joining us life have crishrichr. he thank you for giving us the time this morning on this tropical depression moving right up into your neighborhood bringing all of this rain, what are you expecting and seeing? >> right now what we're doing is being very cautiously optimistic and watching water levels. projected see a rise in the flint river which was the source of 1994 and 98 floods. le watching it, about 1.7 feet below flood level on friday. so ob' obviously staying in touch with the partners at the state and federal level making sure we inform all of the citizens as we watch rain come into the atlanta area. >> what's your priority once the sun sums up? over an hour? >> first thing we're going

in savannah, the savannah river, getting up to over 12 feet. missing the record from matthew by just 0.2 of an inch. into charleston on the harbor, water over the battery. getting up over 9.92 feet. that place is third behind hugo. and then, of course, matthew. the extent of the wind and rain field expressing itself outward. it is interesting to note, still a tornado watch in effect for parts of georgia and the carolinas. another record, in a 24-hour period the number of tornado warnings in florida, the record was 47. they issued 69. for the first time ever in history, a tropical storm warning. far north georgia encompassing much of eastern alabama, suburbs of atlanta all the way into south carolina. again, coming up in the next hour, we'll talk more about that, wolf. sustained winds are at 50. by stock market morning down to 40, continuing to lose its strength. thank goodness there will never be another harvey or irma. those names will be retired. >> good point. we'll check back in the next hour. >>> more on the breaking news. after hammering

you get up towards savannah and the savannah river. they reached over 12 feet. just missing the all-time record by 0.2 of a foot. then in charleston, the harbor, water over the battery. 9.92 feet coming in third place behind hugo and matthew. then the warnings started to come out. not just the flash flood warnings but the tornado warnings. we had 69 tornado warnings in a 24-hour period, wolf. the record was 27 and for the first time in history a tropical storm warning for north george goernlgs including the atlanta area. enough is enough. we'll never have another harvey or irma. the last time we had back-to-back retirement names was rita and stan 12 years ago. >> very quickly, tom, what about jose? >> jose came very close to the northern islands. in fact, after they were hit the first time, 24 hours later they had another hurricane watch. missing the islands direct hit, sliding into the northern atlantic. great question, wolf. do not worry at all about jose. it will go in the books as quickly behind this one but no threat to the u.s. mainland. >> thanks very muc

the end point on both of these is savannah, georgia, which is interesting to note now, but quite a few of the models hug the east coast. the difference here is, and i want to make this perfectly clear, 25 years ago when hurricane andrew came in like a buzz saw from due west, and slicing across homestead, florida, that's a smaller part of the real estate on the angle than what we may have with irma, but let's remind everybody, 26 and a half billion dollars worth of economic loss and damages. 65 fatalities, the storm surge was 17 feet. i know they're calling for ten foot right now, but i think that's just conservative, they're doing that on purpose. they will up that later as it gets closer. now the track for the national hurricane center, yesterday shifted to the east. 60 to 70 miles, now back westward a little bit which puts miami in the worst possible position. because the worst winds, the worst storm surge, is in that northeastern quadrant. as everything circulates around this storm, counterclockwise, you get that surge of water. the walls of the seat coming in on the shoreline, up,

so anyone from cape fear in wilmington back to savannah, do not let your guard down. we could see this occur. we could also see it slide toward tampa on that coast. the trend, anderson, has been a little more toward the east. we got to watch that. quickly for you, just a little history, since 1970, category 4 and 5 storms that made landfall. hugo in '89. 140-mile-per-hour winds. of course, we had andrew that came in from the east across homestead, florida. we know that 25 years ago. those winds were 165. charlie in 2004, 150. and of course, we have harvey in texas at 130. this system is so much stronger than all of them. we can only hope for some weakening. we can only hope for the small window that it slides away from the u.s. again, that window, anderson, i think is closing quickly. >> tom sater, tom, thanks very much. the top of the program we showed you what it looks like in barbuda. a short time ago i talked to a pilot, greg scott, whose chopper carried a camera crew and the prime minister over the path of destruction. you're seeing now. here's our conversation.

we are seeing the most dangerous part of the storm right now is about savannah, charleston, down to daytona where our sara is. there is surge coming here. there is still surge on the backside because of the way the storm is spinning in the middle. that's not what they are worried about. this is a slight surge. two to three feet into tampa because it didn't moved over tampa. it moved east of there. because it moved east, the surge is on the east now. jacksonville, st. john's winter. main street bridge set the all time record set by hurricane dora in 1964. and the water is still pouring into this area. there's daytona. one band after another. sara will not get it of these bands for hours. this is the area seeing significant flooding. fernandina beach, you're 17 feet above where you should be and you're at low tide. another six feet at high tide at noon today. jacksonville, st. augustine, if you are along the intercoastal, st. simon's island, your water goes up at noon today. some spots will be 13 feet above the mean sea level. we are seeing high tides today. six feet normal high tide. then ad

united states and on air force i, if he gives me a chance, i'm going to be able to talk to him about savannah port, jobs for our area and things that are good for our country. when these sports teams get an invitation like that, it would be good to say instead of just the picture and cameo appearance, we'd like to have a real meeting to talk to you about some of these issues. >> guys, we have to leave it there. i'm out of time. i got the wrap. sorry. ron brownstein, jack lamont hill, this conversation is not going away. we will have you all back. authorities say a beach is imminent. puerto rico facing a new emergency as residents below this dam are told they got to get ot of theut of there. we'll take you live to puerto rico when we come back. he's on his way to work in new mexico. willie and john both work for us, a business that employs over 90,000 people in the u.s. alone. we are the coca-cola company, and we make much more than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays. for turning over new leaves. and all of ou

crystal river, now some of the enhancement of that heavy precipitation from georgia to jacksonville, savannah, bufford, charlston, south carolina. and the city floods and heavy thunderstorm. if you see significant rain bands moving across that area and into hilton head and bufford, south carolina, then you're looking at very severe flooding there. what about some rain fall totals? what can we expect over the next couple of days? in this i-95 corridor, in the corridor along interstate 4 between daytona, orlando and tampa, up towards jacksonville and lee city, we could see significant rain fall totals between 10, possibly as much as 20 inches. but because irma is moving so quickly now, maybe it won't have a chance to see those staggering rain fall accumulations. michael? >> great information there, karen. the eye is about 25 miles northeast of where we are here in tampa, in florida. as it's weakening, as karen was just saying there, as it is weakening, that's a lot of relief of tampa. the eye going west of the city over water, the fear was of a big storm surge in a city vulnerable to that becau

and that includes the state of savannah. and in south carolina a mandatory evacuation order takes effect at 10:00 eastern time. >> now, president trump has declared states of emergency in florida, puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. slamming turks and caicos over night, and now it is heading for the bahamas. >> i just want to say that the window in which you can safely leave florida, certainly south florida is closing rather rapidly. we have a category 5 hurricane. we know already that gas has been limited or nonexistent at a number of service stations. you can expect power outages, expect floods. there's going to be lots of wind damage. why not leave? that is just good advice. noi to turks and caicos onward. slit the difference between the bahamas and the cat island, those are islands going to be on the right front portion of this hurricane. and because of that that's when we potentially see tornadoes, very strong storm surge. it's not 185 mile per hour, but we see these different fluc look at this. now we've got all t

charlatan and savannah also significantly damaged because the storm surge pushes into florida and the state of g. and estimated 3.5 million customers would we without power in the state of florida. and about 6 million without power now. and 3.5 would be enough to make it the highest widespread -- >> listen, video that's been coming out of the islands that irma first hit shows complete devastation -- and we'll put that up -- have those island nations ever experienced a storm like that before? >> not at all. i looked at the numbers. models, theiss the european model was spot on in bringing southern florida into the mix. this went from a tropical storm to a category 2. didn't even get to cat 1, just skipped it. came through as a category 5 across this region. strongest we've seen on record. and then through turks and caicos, category 5. and out of this region, i looked into the numbers, 26 tropical storms and hurricanes have impacted the caribbean, the atlantic and parts of the east pacific since 1851 when records began. none of them were as strong as irma was and as long as irma was abl

all of these models meet up in savannah. i want to take you back to andrew. this came in from a different trajectory. we are coming up from the south. a small part of real estate of southern florida was hit by this although it was devastating. no doubt over $26 billion in economic losses. when you have a system coming up due south across entire florida peninsula and into the southeast millions more will be effected. unfortunately, miami is in the worst possible location with this kind of track. hopefully we see some movement and no one wins if it goes east or west. >> the miami area has almost 6 million people if you add the whole area. 20 million people in all of florida. there is great potential for disaster. i know you are getting more information. stand by. i want to get the latest on the ground in florida. out in palm beach near president trump's resort. no evacuation order there. residents are on notice to be prepared to evacuate. >> reporter: that's right. those evacuation orders will be mandatory within hours. at 10:00 a.m. eastern time tomorrow manda

and the surgeon in the wind doesn't change, we'll see water into savannah, into charleston and wall way up to possibly -- there's the it's still a category 3 just to the south of tampa. here's what happened to that crain. we just had a wind gust at miami international to 93. up 30 stories, that's 108. you go up to some of the tallest cranes still building buildings in miami, that's over 115. 1 goes up with height. that's why that crain failed, john. we do have that crain, we are also getting new pictures of flooding here. i cannot see much of anything frankly with the rain in nigh face. pet still have that surge, when we talked about the surge, it's blown through and into biscayne bay. the water has pushed up into the city itself. you can see the amount of water that's at least a couple people, and unless those buildings are raised a bit, water is -- and high tide isn't here yesterday. the wind will still be in there for -- and i believe the water will continue to go up. the water behind me, you can see that dock gut out to the jet skis, and the water lapping over. what you could see is

. >> anthony: today the river dogs are facing the evil forces of the dreaded savannah sand gnats. >> bill: yow! that's going to score a run, and that's going to leave a mark. he's gonna hold him. >> anthony: bad day for the sand gnats. >> bill: you're hated. you're hated. >> anthony: we will crush you like a -- well, sand gnat. >> bill: a sand gnat has almost no backbone. almost not skeletal structure. they fold. >> anthony: as difficult as it might've been to forgo the joys of the bacon-wrapped foot-long corn dog known as the "pig on a stick," we knew we'd be coming here, husk, sean's restaurant in downtown charleston, one of two that have helped make the city a fine dining destination. so i wanna know, southern living, it's very different up there and down here. it's a big transition. easy, easy for you or not? >> bill: it's easy. the only -- driving was the real transition because i drive like a new york person. when you come here driving like new york, you know, it takes you a while to recover. but, you know, i'm right on the edge here, like telling people that this is a really n

. >>> it is due east of savannah, georgia. as it pushes north, it will start to have impacts for the north carolina coast. we have tropical storm watches and warnings out for the eastern coast of north carolina. the good news, it is expected to stay weak. we don't expect any more intense fiction as it goes north. it will come into blocking mechanisms. this is good news. it prevents it from getting too close to the u.s. to actually have a direct land fall. we are still expecting to have impacts, however, john, most of those will be incredibly dangerous rip currents. storm surge 2 to 4 feet, as well as the potential of tropical force winds along the coast. >>> the president this morning writing a lot about the nfl and his players kneeling during a national anthem. he wrote just a few minutes ago, many people booed the players who kneeled yesterday which is a small percentage of the total. these are fans who demand respect for our flag! >> it is clear players had a plan how they were going to show they were unified after presiden

as time goes on you'll start to see these bans reach more north ward, so even into places like savannah, possibly into buford south carolina, you'll start to see pretty heavy rainfall and the wind is going to pick up. partly because irma is moving but partly because we got that enhancement of that moisture wrapped around that northern edge. the dynamic north upper right quadrant. here's tampa right now. i'll reenforce that idea, off hurricanes offshore. in the next two hours or so we'll start to see that shift. the high tides across this region are not dramatic. through here it's roughly a foot, maybe a foot and a half. but our storm surge is going to be 1 to 3 feet. so, michael, this is as you say a lot of low-lying areas here. it has really built up over the years and this is going to be one added troublemaker going into the next couple of hours with that onshore flow. >> yeah, it sure is. the city alone has been seen as vulnerable to this sort of storm and risk of storm surge. what you say, karen, makes perfect sense. we've been watching the waters here going outwards. when the winds

more flooding going on now than during hurricane matthew in savannah or in tybee. more flooding than 1964 all the way back to the 1860s before there were even gauges on the st. johns river in jacksonville. all because the wind is blowing the water here. it's the same surge you always get with a hurricane. but it's the surge on the north side. the worst side of the storm. this is now the worst side of the storm. now, there is some surge going back into tampa but two to three feet. not what could have been had the storm been slightly farther offshore. it is a tropical storm, 70 miles per hour. it is dying. it is disintegrating. there is enough of a high pressure up here that the winds will gust to near hurricane strength. all the way through georgia, south carolina and even southern north carolina later on today. at least 70-mile-per-hour gusts all through this region. that will bring power lines down, trees down and put more people without power like 5 million in florida is not enough, john, because it's still going. it's dying but it's still going for this region r

in the savannah river they made it to 12 feet. up in the charleston area which still has a little bit of anion shore flow, they made it up to 9.92 feet in the harbor. it was over the battery and that was significant. still, third place behind hurricane hugo and matthews. it's going to lightning up somewhat. when it comes to the watches and the warnings we have in effect, obviously there are still flash floods. still have a flash flood emergency, and that is for the charleston areas as you see here across georgia, a tropical storm warning for atlanta, eastern alabama to the carolinas. irma's a 45-mile-per-hour winds, overnight it will become a depression. but now we have three fatalities due to the downed trees. it's significant and breaking down. what a storm. we will never ever have another hurricane harvey or another irma. those two names are going to be retired. it's significant to know both of these landfalls were within 16 days of each other. and the u.s. has never had two category 4s in the same year. >> i'm getting texts an

somewhere around savannah into charleston by early next week. so here's the day-by-day outlook. we think typically two days is your latest point you should ever begin an evacuation. the last day is not a good idea. there's way too many elements, way too many people on the roadways to try to deal with this sort of a scenario, this sort of a storm. essentially makes tomorrow the final day in parts of florida to make these proper precautions. and of course we know hurricane matthew having very similar track did not make landfall in florida. left behind 600 lives lost and $15 billion in losses. want to touch on something here, too. if the system approaches miami at the categories we expect, around a category four, we know miami has exploded as far as buildings and structures in recent years. 145 miles per hour, that's the estimated wind speed on approach to miami. again, a healthy category four. once you get up to, say, 80 to 100 stories, the wind speeds because less friction could get as much as 30% higher. get up 20, 30 stories high, winds could be as much as 30 to 40 miles per ho

model carries it more on the eastern coastline with possible landfall getting up closer toward savannah. any way you look at it, i don't want anyone to say, well, for sure you're going to have a landfall in miami right now, because we have to continue to watch this unfold day in and day out. it is hard to have a hurricane like this continue with its magnitude and strength for this long period of time. it goes through reorganizing. it will spin like a top on a table and start to wobble. when it goes to that reorganization, wolf, we could have a new center placement. so the retracking has to take place. but it does look like by this coming weekend and maybe a landfall on september 11 that somewhere in the southeastern u.s., we have a formidable storm that could be a catastrophic hurricane, a category 4 or category 5. >> a lot of nervous people down in south florida. take miami-dade county, a county of nearly 3 million people. at what point do they decide to evacuate that county, for example? >> the way the models are shaping up now, there is more confidence in this. because they're cluste

charleston, savannah. let me break this down for you a little bit better. here's what's going on now with the two models being close. i can use two fingers. that's what is happening, what landfall is expected. i know this area so well. ltd european model taking somewhere, i would say right around marathon. airport, right through here with the gfs. you're talking 20 miles distance from here. and then into the everglades. don't think that's going to slow things down because they really don't have much land. it's all water anyway. we're going to fill up this bay. cutler ridge, cutler bay. significant flooding. then miami. i've drawn everything in blue that's six feet above sea level or less. we're going to see at least the surge. look at downtown miami, completely wet. white where you are, chris is going to have storm surge 6 to 10 feet. that will take out power. even in the high ride buildings, you're going to be surrounded by water. it's time to get out because they told you to get out. >> all right. chad, water can be weaponized. that's wa we hear from the

for tybee island and for the savannah river, it was 12.4 in matthew. it's going to 14.4, two feet higher than matthew because of the way the surge is working. now, eventually, it moves to the west of atlanta, all of georgia, south carolina will see wind gusts above tropical storm force today. they will still bring down powerlines and trees. look at the winds in naples, we watched you go through this, chris, yesterday, 1:42, marco officially 1:30, after that we don't know if it got higher than that. original land fall, 120 miles per hour in the lower keys and we know many of the lower keys are now still impassable, so you can't go back and forth, you can't get back to key west, don't even try. >> it's also one of the reasons, as much as we appreciate the opportunity to do this kind of broadcasting and reporting i can't wait to get off camera and see what's going on. >> ever glades city, too. >> can we get on the island -- right, we're going to try to spread out there. we'll coordinate easier access. because there is still a lot of unknown. and as chad w

take it right across miami, maybe exiting parts of around cape canaveral and another land fall near savannah, georgia. so there is still some uncertainty here. we have several days here, wolf, to really decide what the system is going to do. i know it's easy to take a look at this and make your plans and you should and possibly evacuate now. but the authorities are watching this closely to see where the mandatory evacuations should be and where the aid needs to be in place come sunday and monday. >> looks like miami, fort lauderdale, the whole area could be in severe, severe damage control in the next several days. all right, stand by, tom, we're going to get back to you. we just received some pictures, aerial photos. you can see it right there, of the damage that irma already has caused on the small caribbean island of barbuda. there you can see, let's just watch this for a moment. all right, you can see the devastation already there in barbuda, the hurricane irma went right over barbuda. puerto rico next in line to feel irma's fury. let's go to our cnn george powell. he's on the scene for

and the now, savannah missed by 0.2 of an inch where we are seeing there and just going into charlotte. at the charlotte harbor, it is half a foot above the record of matthew last year and starting to recede, but a flash flood emergency remains in effect in this area, and that is more than the flash flood warning which means it will continue. and for the first time in history, from georgia in towards atlanta getting a storm warning and that has never happened. and there 69 tornado warnings in one period, and that is a record are. the rain is continuing, and flash flooding and power out of georgia and alabama and the carolinas, and the storm not overwith yet, and we will continue the are recap it and talk about the record books and i could talk for 20 minutes of the number of records broken, but the good news is no more hurricane watch or watch, just the tropical storm to the west. >> thank you, tom. and hurricane irma is pounding charleston right now are the flash flood warnings have been issued. joining me on the phone is the m mayor of charleston. can you tell us about state of the c

savannah and charleston, flooding along the coast pushing water inland and then all evacuees are going, atlanta. atlanta's getting 60 or 75 mile-per-hour winds because the storm isn't done yet. landfall around islamorada, make surface to key west and the biggest, key biscayne. where andrew went in, and into homestead. not as much surge as wind. this is going to bring 10, maybe 12 feet of water. anyone not more than 12 feet above water is going to get water in their house and it's going to be sloshing and the waves on top of it, 10 to 20 feet. you can imagine power will do to the homes. they will be gone and why you need to be gone in some of the low-lying areas. some flooding and rain, but this is more of a floodmaker because of the surge and then wind damagemaker, all along the coast. both sides. east side and west side. nobody gets spared here. because it goes right up the middle. john? >> nobody gets spared here. important. listen to your governor, your mayor, listen to chad myers. he knows about these storms. we'll check in later for more. >>> plenty in florida remember the last ki

one still on the east coast, land fall near savannah, the other land fall southwestern florida, it's possible it could slide a little bit to the east, a little bit to the west. so, again, we've got to continue to monitor this. and when you look at the time line, there is time to prepare. evacuations already trying to take place. preparations getting the resources in place and as needed. but we're going to watch any interaction with the land mass. we are also going to watch any deviation to the track, to the north or to the south. anyway you look at it, wolf, a category 4 or 5 next weekend is considered catastrophic. it's stronger than harvey. the good news is it's moving faster than harvey so it won't drop that kind of rainfall. but we all know what happened to rockport in texas with those strong winds and we're looking at this to occur as a category 5 over the millions that live, of course, in the caribbean, making their way, of course, puerto rico, dominican republic, haiti, cuba, the bahamas, turks and caicos, and the southeastern u.s. this is an unbelievable storm of its magnitud

same time, these are kind of hugging the coast a little bit and all the models come together around savannah, georgia. but there was a difference today in the track. yesterday we noticed the shift eastward about 60 to 70 miles. today the track at 5:00 p.m. shifts back westward about another 15 to 20, which places miami in the worst possible place, and takes it due south and due north across the entire peninsula. when you have an eye right now that's 23 miles in diameter, that's where the winds are the strongest at 175, 180. don't think everyone in the state is going to feel that, but that is like a category three tornado on the ground for hours and of course that diameter and just outside. the hurricane force winds extend outward 100 miles. so that is going to be catastrophic for all of florida if this continues to be the case. the european model -- >> obviously it looks like we just lost tom's audio. when we get him back, we will get more and he will be getting more information as the news comes in. we will be going back to him several times. but you heard him say turks and kay koes right n

but the secondary track could just make a land fall right into around savannah, georgia. jake. >> tom sader, thank you so much. >>> joining me is rick scott, thanks again as always, the latest updated storm track appears to show irma making a direct hit on miami and the florida keys. though of course the track could still shift. is florida ready? >> we're working very hard, jake. we're very ready. i'm just working hard to make sure our citizens are ready. our biggest is fuel availability. i have had phone calls with the oil companies, with the carriers, with the retailers to try to get more fuel to our citizens. we have some shortages, we had some outages. it's the biggest issue, i've been working with the white house, the epa, fema, department of transportation, to, you know, reduce regulations so we can get more gas in the state. we're doing everything to get more fuel to the state. we're providing -- >> i hear you're talking to -- >> escort -- go ahead. >> keep going, i'm sorry. >> and providing escorts to get the carry yars out of the fuel depots, out to the stations

it will still be a three or four, savannah all the way to myrtle beach, you need to watch for that turn and you don't want that turn. florida does want that turn. it's going to hit the united states somewhere. there's no a question in my mind that someone in the southeastern united states gets smashed from this. where does it turn and how soon does it get into the florida peninsula. if it is right there in south florida, this will be likely significantly worse than andrew because the storm surge would be 20 feet. there aren't many places in miami all the way up to ft. lauderdale that are higher than 20 feet tall. >> that's a sad but true category there. if we're hoping for the shift to the east, it doesn't mean the storm misses florida altogether. as we saw from puerto rico, it doesn't have to be a direct hit to be a bad hit. chad, thank you very much for the information. what are the big concerns? flooding. that's why you prompt evacuations along the south florida coast. once those waters come, you can't get out. cnn's rosa florez is live in miami. what are you seeing? >> good morning,

significant onshore flow, flooding in charleston, savannah, jacksonville, just like we saw with matthew. back to you. >> chad, i eel tell you, i have so much respect for what you do. but i've never wanted you to be more wrong than i do right now. i know the models are telling you what they're telling you. you make a good point that we heard from the first responders yesterday. there piece so much water down here and it can get weapon niezed. even if your lower the level of the lake, the winds can scoop it up and create surge in places that aren't near the beach front. hurricane irma, as you saw, the path is coming, heading to florida and bearing down right now on cuba. it's going right for that island. cnn is there. patrick oppmann live in cuba with the latest. it is good to hear that your family will be safe, but there's so many there who will be exposed. we know you'll be out there to tell their stories. how is it now, my friend? >> reporter: chris, as an avid fris fisherman, look at this. look at these entrepreneurial young men. we saw them go out about an hour ago. i said isn't it t

primarily from that corridor from gainesville, towards jacksonville, florida and up the coast towards savannah, georgia. that's the scenario as it plays out now. take a look at this. this has looked so impressive on the satellite imagery over the last few hours because this eyewall looks like it is really becoming much more concentric. when that happens, we know it is strengthening. you can see the orange and yellow bands around i would say about two-thirds of the eyewall. we're seeing some of the stronger winds associated with that. it is still 70 miles from key west. so what are we anticipating now? a category four. so it did increase in speed. from this latest information from the national hurricane center compared to its last advisory at 10:00 p.m., it increased in intensity 10 miles an hour. ordinarily i would say it is just a number. you should worry about the storm surge. and there is this tornado watch for south florida, palm beach county, dade county. we are looking at the potential for tornado activity. we have seen numerous tornado warnings that have been issued. look at the stronge

it could stay along the coast the entire way like matthew and turn left eventually around savannah, but it wouldn't be as stronlg because it is interacting with the land longer. in the water, it stays stronger longer. >> no good and coming our way. that's the basic news right now. chad, great to see you. still a category 5. that's coming in. florida's densely populated areas, emergency workers bracing for what could be the massive evacuations in u.s. history. more than 4 million people live in just two counties that are being evacuated. miami-dade, broward. gridlock is not the only concern. monroe county, home of the florida keys, the mandatory evacuation order is running into another problem, a fuel shortage. >> we are experiencing difficulty with fuel. a lot of gas stations are shut down. we are worried about what is going to happen. i have been in contact with the governor's office to get fuel down here to make sure the evacuation is smooth. >> rosa florez is live on the beach with some people. >> reporter: there is a huge concern from what we heard from the governor, they are liftin

weather that will be lifting northward past orlando, making waits towards jacksonville, up towards savannah, georgia. the system continues to churn. it has been losing strength. today we thought for sure the track that came in from marco would slide toward tampa and make its way off the big bend. well, look where the center is right now. in fact, our center is off that track. coming up at 11:00, there will be a new forecast track from the national hurricane center. we expect it to slide east, but we also still expect a little northwesterly component to it. that means with the center more east, it could be more of an issue as we get towards orlando, which by later on tonight after midnight to 4:00 a.m., they'll be in the thick of it with pretty good wind gusts. >> clearwater, where ryan is, 78 to almost 80-mile-an-hour winds there, right? >> yes. >> what about in daytona? >> daytona? basically what we're watching in daytona -- here is cape canaveral. i do have another radar to show you. daytona will be into it pretty good in a little while. we have west palm beach. we're in the southern half

so is savannah. the rain was so significant. the water tried to get into the st. john's river and couldn't go anywhere. the wind kept blowing it in. it was flooding because of fresh water flooding and then salt water came pouring in again. ft. pierce, 15" of rain. marco island, 140-mile-an-hour winds. it's going to be hot where you are, chris, and across south florida. it's the muggy heat that always happens after a hurricane. the air is falling. it's sinking. high pressure. sunshine all day long. sunshine. what a mess out there. you need sun screen all day long. the sun will be so intense, it will be midsummer sunshine today. uv index all the way to 10. alisyn? >> chad, thank you very much for all of that forecasting. so, obviously, irma has eclipsed a lot of other news. there are things happening in washington. former white house chief strategist steve bannon says that firing james comey as fbi director was, quote, the worst mistake in modern politics. what does the white house think of his assessment? maggie haberman is here next. building a website in under an

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