in south florida, trees are down, some of the streets are flooded. and it has not stopped raining since last night. we've heard from officials, florida's governor putting the state on notice that this is not a storm to mess with. and seems as though most people have heeded that warning and have gotten out of town and have tried to seek some type of shelter that can keep them safe from the storm. this is clearly a life-threatening situation, we heard that from governor rick scott and here in south florida, a storm surge is one of the biggest concerns, the water could rise significantly, pushed by the hurricane's wind, we're close to a marina where there were boats left there, you know, a lot of the owners, we, tying down those boats, trying to secure them and a lot have -- pretty much under water popping up and down, is very intense situation in south florida, power is out to hundreds of thousands of customers and more than 75,000 people have flocked to shelters. again, a lot of people here in south florida heeding those warnings and going into shelte

miami and south florida could take a direct hit. irma expected to hit as a massive category 4. tonight, the deadly path of destruction already across several caribbean islands. americans trapped. images from barbuda and st. martin. ginger zee with the track just in, and it's not just florida. georgia ordering evacuations, states of emergency in the carolinas -- while here in florida tonight, a million people now told to get out of irma's path. gas pumps running empty. state police now escorting fuel tankers. >>> the other major news tonight. donald trump jr. answering five hours of questions on capitol hill. >>> the wildfires in the west, new reporting tonight, homes burning to the ground. >>> the video. the famous nfl player claiming excessive force, saying police had no idea who he was. >>> and breaking now. a massive security breach possibly affecting more than 143 million americans and your social security numbers. >>> good evening tonight from south florida where this evening as we travel through miami, you can see it everywhere. families, store owners, boarding up, gettin

a hurricane watch just issued for south florida. now four shelters have opened in miami-dade county and families are starting to head there but that will still be in the impact zone. what authorities are saying that to pay attention to mandatory evacuation zones. if you're in one of those zones, you need to get out and get out now. but what we're running into, a lot of people are heading too the gas station and seeing long lines at the gas station. gas buddy.com reporting more than a third of gas stations in the miami ft. lauderdale area have run out of fuel. we've been seeing a run on supplies and bottled water and empty shelves in many different stores. this is a very -- go ahead. >> we know south florida gets a lot of their gas from refineries from producers in areas affected by harvey. if that's the case, where are they even going to refuel from? >> reporter: yeah, well, the governor said he's in touch with oil companies and trying to get in this fuel as quickly as possible to restock but time is running out. we're getting into

hurricane force winds, south florida by 6:00 a.m. on sunday, and then still for us, we're still thinking shower ua's and storms here on -- showers and storms here on tuesday. we're not concerned with severe weather. that can change. that is what we're thinking now. chilly tonight, need a sweater for high school football. perfect for the terps tomorrow. perfect for the home owner at home. . even downtown, there will b upper 50s to start. 6611:00. 69 a, 66 at 11:00. 69 at 1:00. very nice sunday, warmer, 75 and 80 with high clouds from irma on monday. showers and storms on tuesday from irma, left over showers on wednesday, and a few showers thursday and friday but not enough to plan your day around. low 80s back to average next week. >>> we're learning more about yet another child porn investigation in prince george's county. christopher space is a former substitute teacher and basketball coach and today authorities said they know dozens of victims but don't have names to go with the faces they are seeing on some pretty awful videos the

this evening, a hurricane watch is officially in place here in south florida. the buildings, windows and crepes across there city, and first, abc's linzie janis leads us off with the devastating images tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the images now emerging of the utter devastation hurricane irma left behind. buildings and trees ripped apart. this communications tower snapped. hundreds now homeless. >> i was standing, and i would not want to see a hurricane like this again. >> reporter: barbuda's prime minister telling abc news its as if a bomb was dropped on the tiny island, one of the first hit. >> my main concern right now is how we are going to survive after this. >> reporter: st. martin next in irma's crosshairs. shipping containers tossed like toys. at least 14 now dead in the storm zone, including 16-year-old xander venesia. drowning in rough surf off the coast. the death toll expected to rise and scores more injured. coast guard teams like this one have been flying in and out of the virgin islands rescuing people. our cameraman on that chopper capturing

, this will decimate south florida. you got to hope it makes a turn to the east if you're in florida. makes a turn to the east. the dry side of the storm is on this side. you hope that's what happens. the most likely track is here. if that happens, all of this is under water. the windows are out at the top of those massive buildings all over my aim. the third tallest city in america. all of the tops of those buildings. all of this is flooded, and everywhere the acrosses, if the hurricane winds remain as they are now, 175 miles an hour. central pressure 911milibars. down from 914 last night but very strong. the strongest storm of its kind to stay this strong for this length of time ever recorded. 185 miles an hour for 37 hours. that has never happened in the history of meteorology. not recorded in the united states or anywhere on earth. so if this happens, this is devastating. that's why everyone who's been told they have a mandatory evacuation order f your governor or your mayor or your emergency manager said you're und

of barrels toward south florida. beaches and streets they are empty on a very hot, sunny day. they live look as i was shorting you, courtesy of earth cam. here you can see a cruise in orlando cutting away branches from power lines. they've been doing a lot of this kind of work, beating picking up debris in the area, clipping the branches near the power lines, warning of unprecedented power outages that could affect some 9 million people for weeks. that is florida power and light's prediction there. dozens and dozens of shelters are set up to open across the state. here's a mother and a seven year old baby eating lunch at a red cross shelter. north miami beach. phil keating is on miami beach for us this afternoon. hi, phil. >> hi, shep. a blue sky before 6:00. take a look at this place. this says, people evacuating miami beach. this is a south beach. typically will be packed with locals and tourists right now. i count, may be, 75 people. as far as i can see, it's just absolutely bacon. it's been like this on the beach

eventually somewhere close to south florida if not into south florida directly. the latest track from the hurricane center at 5:00 shifted a little bit west. because of the hurricane warnings across the bahamas, the hurricane watch south florida and storm surge in interior florida. storm surge watch for possible surges five to ten feet. this is tough stuff possible. the big question is where will it go. nobody has the exact answer. the closer we get the more likely it is we will see the answer focus somewhere right near the southern tip of florida. the latest advisory has it shifted more to the west than earlier. don't follow the center line. the en

new hurricane warnings in south florida tonight. that, as miami braces for a direct hit this weekend. want you to look at this. new satellite imagery. it shows irma barreling towards florida. this hurricane has killed at least ten people on its rampage and caused catastrophic damage. joining me on the phone is ronald jackson. he's the executive director of disaster and emergency management agency. hello, sir. the reports out paint a picture of complete and total devastation. what have you been hearing from your people? >> it's the same thing. the same picture we're getting. seeing some images of flooding in the north of haiti. we're hoping to hear more details on that from -- from the protection office, that does the coordination there. they were able to make some early evacuations, prior to the impact, the image they're showing, extensive flooding of the communityies, turks and caicos, getting their battering from the hurricane. and of course, the bahama chain of islands in the path. we managed to maintain some satellite communicat

there are the hurricane watches in 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 su

this evening, a hurricane watch is officially in place here in south florida. the buildings, windows and crepes across there city, and first, abc's linzie janis leads us off with the devastating images tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the images now emerging of the utter devastation hurricane irma left behind. buildings and trees ripped apart. this communications tower snapped. hundreds now homeless. >> i was standing, and i would not want to see a hurricane like this again. >> reporter: barbuda's prime minister telling abc news its as if a bomb was dropped on the tiny island, one of the first hit. >> my main concern right now is how we are going to survive after this. >> reporter: st. martin next in irma's crosshairs. shipping containers tossed like toys. at least 14 now dead in the storm zone, including 16-year-old xander venesia. drowning in rough surf off the coast. the death toll expected to rise and scores more coast guard teams like this one have been flying in and out of the virgin islands rescuing people. our cameraman on that chopper capturing scenes of

and the south florida impact could be devastating late saturday and sunday with not only flooding but additional rain of seven to 12-inches through sunday. predicted storm surge for southeast florida five to 10 feet. and that hurricane watch is up now for south florida and that will include miami, west palm, key west and naples. there is the most recent track. you can see that right there as it brings it into, again, south florida very close to miami and broward county late saturday night and early sunday as a category four. there's still time that this track could change just a little bit. a right-hand turn is expected at some point but unfortunately not fast enough to make ourselves feel any less uneasy about what is going on with the track of this storm into south florida. shawn and tony, that's the very latest. >> all right, sue, thank you very much. >>> in other news tonight, today a judge in prince george's county ruled an accused murderer is competent to stand trial. antonio williams is accused of murdering three young girls in clinton. they were all family members. today a psy

eventually somewhere close to south florida if not into south florida directly. the latest track from the hurricane center at 5:00 shifted a little bit west. because of the hurricane warnings across the bahamas, the hurricane watch south florida and storm surge in interior florida. storm surge watch for possible surges five to ten feet. this is tough stuff possible. the big question is where will it go. nobody has the exact answer. the closer we get the more likely it is we will see the answer focus somewhere right near the southern tip of florida. the latest advisory has it shifted more to the west than earlier. don't follow the center line. the en west of florida and could go east. right now the center of the guidance suggests that it may make landfall and come over the state. if it happens exactly like that, it mines the southern portion of florida, the entire state will be simultaneously under hurricane conditions. right now south florida is sunny and breezy. that is where we find abc7's brad bell with nervous people that want to know what is going to happen.

across central florida and south florida, we are getting an idea of the damage irma left behind. more than 60% of the state has no power. many still have no idea what happened to their homes. we are tracking the destruction and still waiting to hear how bad it is in certain parts of the florida keys. governor rick scott heading there to assess the damage after a warning of a humanitarian disaster from local officials on the ground. let's get to it. >> live from the fox news debt. deck. >> shepard: powerful irma is moving into georgia after leaving destruction and parts of florida and the keys. more than 7 million homes and businesses have no power in multiple states as forecasters worn conditions will remain dangerous and life-threatening. the flooding in jacksonville has already reached record levels in the water is still rising. officials say if you are living in a high-risk area, get out now. if that is not an option, people need to find a house with a second story. floodwaters could rise to epic levels, jacksonville's mayor said today the flooding is unlike anything he seen b

watching south florida carefully over the week. looks like landfall will be late saturday night early sunday morning. let's get back to the roads now with erin. >> 6:49. i want to start you off with skyfox over a house fire that's under control. however, ridge road is still closed out by pen shop road between pen shop and ridge meadow road. you can see some miles of backed up traffic there leading toward that location. please be prepared to detour around it. again, fire activity has that road shut down. want to move over to our cameras right now because we have some big problems on the outer loop. it's an hour and 12 minute delay on the outer loop between 95 and the 270 spur. you can see this backed up avenue and it's all because of a work zone by old georgetown that still has the right lane and right shoulder blocked. avoid the outer loop if the a all possible. very atypical delays and you really need to leave early if you're going to battle that beltway delay right now. inner loop looks good. an earler inner loop crash involving

this evening, a hurricane watch is officially in place here in south florida. the buildings, windows and crepes across there city, and first, abc's linzie janis leads us off with the devastating images tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the images now emerging of the utter devastation hurricane irma left behind. buildings and trees ripped apart. this communications tower snapped. hundreds now homeless. >> i was standing, and i would not want to see a hurricane like this again. >> reporter: barbuda's prime minister telling abc news its as if a bomb was dropped on the tiny island, one of the first hit. >> my main concern right now is how we are going to survive >> reporter: st. martin next in irma's crosshairs. shipping containers tossed like toys. at least 14 now dead in the storm zone, including 16-year-old xander venesia. drowning in rough surf off the coast. the death toll expected to rise and scores more injured. coast guard teams like this one have been flying in and out of the virgin islands rescuing people. our cameraman on that chopper capturing scenes of ut

being given away by cities down here in south florida. not just miami beach but other cities. north miami as well as city of fort lauderdale. this has been going on since yesterday. and the mayor here is recommending right now that everybody get out but people certainly want to secure their homes beforehand picking up ten bags per person here on miami beach and then they are placing these in vulnerable spots where people are living next to the ocean on some other water way. they are looking to protect their structures from the water and folk whose don't live on water ways, folks who are land locked are concerned about the with hurricane irma and flood waters coming up from the storm drains and the sewers. certainly down here in south florida we are keeping a close eye on the forecast hoping hurricane irma steers away from our area. reporting from miami beach, news 4. >>> news 4 begins now with storm team 4. >> we are covering the most powerful hurricane ever measured in the atlantic ocean. mix of high winds and heavy rain proving catastro

moving into south florida, the keys and south florida as far as storm surge and high winds are concerned, moving inland near tampa by monday morning, possibly still as a hurricane. it's so large, it will impact both coastlines of florida. it will move inland and the remnants towards tennessee. this is a huge storm. about 400 miles wide. it's going to cover the entire state of florida. coming up in a bit, we'll talk about what florida may be expecting locally and speaking of that, somara has a loo your weekend forecast. >> you know what, this weekend is shaping up to be a nice one. in fact, we can head out to the beach maybe. let's look at what we can expect. the good news is, it's gt going to not be as windy this weekend. it should be comfortable heading to the coast. it is a little cool. water still pretty warm. temperatures in the low 730s, tons of tons of sunshine. a repetitive forecast on saturday and sunday. mostly sunny. just a notch warmer heading towards ocean city with temperatures in the low 730s on saturday. cape may also going to be experiencing some beautiful conditions out

let's go live to south florida. live look, a lot of stranded cars. >> get a few things you might need and head back home. stick with focus on broward county, want to check in with rebecca vargas. the effort to recover there. >> the cleanup continues here on a 1a along fort lauderdale beach, they are cleaning up the road, getting the sand off the road and back onto the beach, joining me is the mayor of the city of fort lauderdale. everybody is saying we really dodged a bullet especially in these parts of south florida. what do you think? >> i would agree with everyone's assessment. we are fortunate and blessed and it could've been worse. as you can see from what we are cleaning up, this is a minimal storm surge and a category 1 hurricane. i can't imagine what would have happened if irma had hit us head on. it would've been a completely different environment down here. there's a tremendous sense of optimism in fort lauderdale. we got through this okay. we got through it together. i do want to thank two groups. our cit

lauderdale and throughout south florida. we're looking at 1.2 million jobs created by tourism here, millions of people come to south florida every single year. these companies and of course these tourists and the people who work here in florida are going to see a really big hit to their bottom line. but cruise lines canceling in port everglades. it is uncharacteristically quiet. >> people trying to get out by plane, there are no trains there, cars. south florida's roads are packed and gas supplies are low. thomas, i see the line behind you. what's the situation? >> reporter: stephanie, we've had these lines all night long. we've been out since early this morning. north of us in hollywood, florida, and then just about 30 miles south here in miami. and this is what you can expect to see, these long lines for people that want to get gas to make sure they have a full tank, also people showing up with their spare gas canisters. when we started out earlier this morning in hollywood, one of the stations went dry while we were there

drivers trying to get north of miami in south florida. coming as prices at the pump continue to spike from what happened in texas already. the national average for regular unleaded now up to 2.67 a gallon. thirty cents more than just a couple of weeks ago before hurricane harvey hit. the hope that people are not gouging those prices in florida on top of the already demand. >> speaking of no gas, check this out. florida man captured on camera having to push his car to a gas pump he says the first stop that he could find with fuel since he left miami was 84 miles away. gas deliveries are being expedited to stations along the evacuation routes. >>> he got there and there wasn't a line. so a lot of exercise there trying to get it there, but got it to the pump. >> a lot of pain. folks are like, what a pain. >> i what can you do? you can't fly out thereof. can't drive out thereof. >> the traffic as we've been following the past three days has been -- you see the red lines on the maps everyone trying to get out of florida. >> get out. you need s

a little bit of a slower approach to the south florida approach but again saturday night, sunday it's travelling across the florida peninsula, sunday a at 8:00 it's just a little bit north of lake oak choab i as a category three storm and then it crawls becomes a tropical storm before a weakening depression near bowling green. that continues the trend of a little bit of a westward shift in the track as we're seeing with our orption al models as well. as we look at everything tonight, again it's located about 55 miles east, northeast of greatic nothing wa island. again, this trend continues to be a terrible situation for florida because that will likely give hurricane conditions to the entire peninsula over the course of 24 hours. so hoping for a miracle but we got to prepare for the worst down there. it sure does look like it. meanwhile our team coverage continue was lauren demarco at reagan national airport where flights from florida arrived tonight. lauren, what are those folks say ing. >>reporter: everybody who has arrived here just happy to be here, feeling pretty lucky at this po

the keys and south florida. here's our european model actually bringing the worst-case scenario to the miami area. a direct impact northward, that would bring the worst of the storm surge, the worst of the strongest winds and heavy rainfall across the sunshine state across south florida. this one brings it out into the atlantic again perhaps for another landfall across georgia or the carolinas. do not let your guard down. you could also be dealing with irma. this is what makes this so difficult. we know for the next 24 hours it's going to remain moving westward, but when will it turn? when will he get picked up by that trough? that is still you have to be determined and that's why there's so much uncertainty as we go 5-7 days out. one thing is for certain, bahamas and turkic akos, you are in line for one of the strongest storms we've ever seen. south florida, you need to complete your preparations right now and evacuate. the rest of florida, you need to monitor and listen to your local authorities, listen to you

south florida residents are advised to take shelter by tonight and stay there. irma is still packing winds of 155 miles per hour as it heads toward the bahamas. it's expected to be at least a category 3 hurricane for the next three days. officials say the odds have increased it will hit the southern part of florida on sunday. national hurricane center has issued a hurricane warning and storm surge warning for miami-dade, broward county, and the florida keys. that means hurricane conditions are imminently expected within that warning area. >>> bay area first responders and rescue crews are answering the call for help in florida, even though many are just getting back from texas and hurricane harvey. >> tiffany wilson is live at moffitt air national guard base with more on who's leaving this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is one of those situations where there is no rest for the weary. about 10

nothing like what we saw down in south florida. the upper keys damage is becoming clearer as wsvn seven chopper, a short time ago, both on the dryland. clearly, all this was flooded, heavy storm surge came in there, both came free, and some damage done as well. depending on where they are flying, it is indiscriminate about what gets destroyed and what doesn't. different homes built at different times under different building codes, but this particularly one is lost. where adam housley was earlier in the key largo area, there was a lot of houseboats. people for the most part year-round in houseboats. seven or eight in the location where he was had been destroyed as well. i want to get to east naples. i should say south naples where we have a drone video. we showed you some of this earlier. this drone video from an area that is just south of the city of naples peer member, naples is an area where the eye came over. with the backside of the wall appeared to collapse just a little bit. the storm surge did not come in like a code of, an

surge warnings up all over south florida. both sides of the coast and most of the state is going to wind up with hurricane conditions in the day on sunday. john? jonathan: thanks. dire warning from the florida governor to people still deciding if they will leave or not. you only have hours left to evacuate. the window is closing. if you are not on the road by midnight the governor says you will be stuck riding out the storm whether you want to or not. it's been a fury to prepare properties, boards are going up. shutters are put on. and people are deciding whether or not they are going to say. brad bell joining us live from delray beach. you have seen people hitting the road and other people wanting to ride it out. brad: that is right but there is a difference. we have seen the preparations farther in advance than in the past. locals telling us the same thing as well. it's still beautiful. winds picked up a little bit. there are people out enjoying want to walk across here. the sun is difficult to deal with for the camera. acr

storm surge warning for south florida. this includes the southeast and southwest of florida. 7 to 10 feet storm surge. including the florida keys starting saturday afternoon. hurricane warning for -- just barely to the south of tampa. that will become a warning too. what that means as winds could be gusting near 125 miles an hour. it's going to be really bad for the state of florida. look at how wide it is. as you go from pinellas county near tampa to the east coast of florida, that's 135 miles wide. let's look at irma. it's 400 miles wide. no matter where it moves into florida, it's going to be impacting both coastlines. here though, we're nice and dry. 57 degrees in washington. it's 49 in ga your day is going to shape up nicely. the bus stop, cool and dry this morning. perfect weather this afternoon. mid-70s. look at your weekend. gorgeous. we could see impacts going into next week from irma. let's check your friday morning commute. we're at the end of the week. good morning, jack taylor. >> we sure are. it's not going o

our correspondent ed lavandera is on the road in south florida. ed, update us on where you are, and what the conditions are like. >> reporter: hi, wolf. we wanted to check out the evacuation routes through various parts of southern florida. just to kind of see and get a better sense how many people were hitting the road and listening to these warnings, and quite frankly, what we've seen at least down here from dade county where we are now on the southern edge of dade 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

time frame, closest approach to south florida and miami. any shift to the east could bring that destructive core right into the metropolitan areas, then the rest of the state is under the gun, up in the tampa area where there's increasing concern for storm surge there, atlanta the wind threat and finally begins to wind down. the keys have not been hit by a category 5 hurricane since 135 and that was catastrophic. category 5 hurricanes are very, very rare. >> craig from w.f.o.r., thank you. the island of barbuda all but wiped out by hurricane irma is in the path of hurricane jose, another category 4 storm. barbuda was home to about 1600 people. laura bicker of bbc news was there today. >> the island of ba barbuda was once a caribbean paradise. now it is lost. hurricane irma has reduced it to rubble. the ruins lie scattered, torn and ripped apart. having survived the worst storm in living memory and knowing another is on the way, people are exhausted, hungry and just desperate to leave. >> everybody is just gone. the prime minister traveled f

florida. lauren: she even threatened to expose names of other businesses and even encouraging people to boycott merchants that inflate prices in a time of crisis. cheryl: she was not kidding around in interview in fox business yesterday. very latest on hurricane irma, let's go to fox senior meteorologist janice dean who has been tracking the storm. janice: 2 miles short of a 5 and still potential to become a 5 again, so just because you see a category level go down, the impact is still potentially catastrophic for the bahamas turks cacos and south florida,

keys and parts of south florida. chief meterologist topper shutt is tracking irma. topper? >>> still a category 5 and sustained winds 175 and gusts at 225. this will just hammer the turks and caicos overnight. and then tomorrow in the afternoon on friday, still a category 5 in between the bahamas and cuba, and then saturday morning and afternoon t -- it goes down to a category 4, 1 155. that is still a very dangerous storm, and st 2 afternoon. there are the hurricane watches in 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

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

shep: our thanks to our friend at wsvn in south florida. their station is surrounded by water, but the problem is the storm surge is coming up and we wonder if it's going to flood out our friends. reuters news has been driving around in all of this. as this water began to rise in brickle in downtown miami. griff jenkins is on the roads down about naples. unless the storm veers one way or another which it may, it's headed to this area. >> it's come here 75-mile-an-hour gusts. we have been driving around. we stopped for one second because we heard three loud booms. we saw a fireball in our live shot, and if you put the window down, this tree has caught on fire. it hit one of the power lines. i want to show you, it smells like smoke. this will turn into a larger fire. the embers going. the mayor bill barnett, i asked him 30 minute ago, anything you want to tell them? he said tell them the first responders are off the road. this tree hit the power lines and this is a larger part of the problem with more than 5,000 people here obviously, over a

florida taking it extremely seriously. portions of south florida. you've seen firsthand how serious people are taking the storm. >> and, doug, you and i both have families who are connected or live in this area. we know south florida is -- they've weathered a lot. for a lot of them, they feel like they can go through another hurricane. this one is different. we've been talking about the size of irma and what proves that a difference -- shelter situation. something we found a short time ago to look at how they are filling up. some of them are at capacity. you have people who are showing up at these shelters. they've dot to bring everything that they can hold, food, pillows, blankets, of course their families who are going through that. it's system that's scarey for them because someone who have gone several of the shelters. no room here. youf eve got to find -- you' got to find -- you've got to find another one. they're driving from shelter to shelter to shelter and gas is not easy to come by. once we get there after irma, are we going up at some poi

i know several people who evacuated south florida. some went up to tampa and tampa on thursday night, you could hardly find a hotel room because there was so many south and east coast residents who had gone over to evacuate and escape hurricane irma there. so they saw the track of the storm yesterday and all afternoon or morning, really wasn't very windy at all down in miami-dade or broward or palm beach county. in fact 50 people up in palm beach county one of their shelters actually went back home yesterday morning. i would imagine today they certainly regret that decision, shep. >> shep: phil keating along the 79th street causeway in miami. phil thanks very much. we've just gotten 120-mile an hour winds now reported around big pine key in the lower keys. more than 1.2 million people now reported to be without power in multiple counties around florida i mentioned a little while ago this is a live look as a drive along in miami you can see the waves kicking up there at biscayne bay and i told you earlier if you're with us about a boat

the rush is on to get out of south florida. jonathan: a day ago well were reporting anxious people and they were getting in fight at home depot. set the mood there. what are you seeing today? most people gone? a ghosttown or are people staying and resigning to the fact that here it comes a marci: there are definitely some people even in the mandatory evacuation zones who think they are going to ride this one out. they are not listening to the warnings. where i am, it's not under a mandatory evacuation. people are riding out the storm. so you are seeing long lines to get things like plywood and the generators because people are planning to stay in hair homes. they want to make sure that they are able to protect their homes and the families when the storm comes through. jonathan: marci gonzalez in new smyrna beach. michelle? michelle: we are hearing about the dangerous storm surge. the effort to fill sand bags or if they are deciding to stay and ride it out. while it is looking more likely that there will be a south florida landf

all the coast of florida, west coast, east coast of south florida and the keys. getting ready for a major impact. raton, florida. what are they doing to get ready no matter where it makes landfall? >> that is a good point, doug. cones still include pretty much the tip of florida. a lot of people are gassing up and more are hunkering down. we are starting to get more wind. now that i hold this up getting a break. not that strong yet, around 15 miles per hour. but this is the beginning. it will go up from here. the folks we talk to today are planning to stay here. one lady we talked to had the kids in the backseat. interested to talk to her about what she is telling them. >> not much. just that there is a storm, and that we need to be safe. mommy and daddy will keep them safe. that is all they need to know. they don't need more than that. >> she is telling me all week she is making sure that the they prepared with the batteries and the flashlights. all sorts of stuff. after wilma 12 years ago they were without power for two weeks. she has a rough idea of what to ex

all they want to do is get out of south florida. we are live in florida right now, we're going to continue our live reporting throughout the evening. i'm brian taff, channel6 "action news." guys. >> all right, brian we'll continue to check in with you there. thank you. >>> meantime the storm is expected to strengthen as it moves over warmer waters just north of cuba. >> let's get right over to meteorologist adam joseph for the very latest on the track and the timing of irma. >> even though the storm right now is interacting with some land in the form of cuba as well as the bahamas it actually strengthened this afternoon and this morning. winds were down to 150 sustained. they're 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 are extremely 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

hurricane irma has slammed the caribbean expected to hit south florida by saturday. the combined cost of federal aid for both hurricanes will be staggering. i mean, when you think about that, you look at this monster storm right now heading towards florida. >> you can see the katrina. we saw two different storms really the effects in the end are the same. >> meantime as washington deals with debt limit crisis and a possible shutdown threat there was a little bit of bipartisan compromise between president trump and the democratic leadership. yesterday mr. trump agreed with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi's proposal to extend the debt ceiling limit for two months. >> the move stunned the president's republican colleagues. as the president talked about making deals but suddenly when you see chuck schumer and president trump slapping each other on the back and having a laugh and paul ryan and mitch mcconnell sitting there wondering what just happened. >> it was interesting today during a press briefing the president was asked about this, why did you do this and he said he

a hurricane warning now in place for all of south florida. our team of stormwatch-7 meteorologists and reporters.are tracking every step of this storm, the preparations and the aftermath. good morning washington i'm adrianna hopkins. and i'm larry smith. live team coverage all morning long begining with stormwatch-7 meteorologist good morning washington. toss to eileen - dry & fall-like through the weekend - irma on the move as a category 5 hurricane - florida landfall likely sunday morning today: mostly sunny to partly cloudy. nice. highs: 73-76 winds: nw 5-10 mph tonight: mainly clear and cool. lows: 49-58 winds: nw 5 mph saturday: mostly sunny. another spectacular day. highs: 70-74 winds: n 5 mph we've been getting brand new this is coming in from turks and caicos where the storm is hitting right now waves as high as 20 feet expected. communications we've been getting brand new video in this morning of we've been getting brand new video in this morning of this is coming in from turks and caicos where the storm is hitting right now waves as

the center were showing potential south florida landfall. i would say 50, 60 miles from the center offshore from what we were pretty dean is pretty good when it comes to predict emmys hurricanes. they can be unpredictable. you and i have been covering hurricanes for a long time and it certainly has the potential to go where we first thought it was going to go. right now we are pretty certain we will continue to see northward parallel track along the west coast. the tropical storm extends 220 miles from the center of the storm. hurricane force winds 80 miles. i'm not surprised steve harrigan is feeling tropical storm winds. a little bit of a wobble here. we will have to watch those advisories as they come in at 2:00 p.m. complete advisory from the national hurricane center. naples, 76 miles per hour. we are not getting a lot of reports from miami and marathon in key west not reporting at all anyway and that the time and maybe for the next week or so. we will have to see. hurricane warnings were 18 million people all up and down the florida co

new advisories overnight have more of south florida under a hurricane warning. >> the storm is currently passing between the bahamas and cuba on a direct path from miami. irma's winds have diminished a little but at 160 miles per hour it is still a category 5 hurricane. the red on the map shows areas under a hurricane warninging all of metro miami anticipate the keys and stretch up to vero beach. >> mandatory evacuation orders cover at least 1.2 million people in florida. all public are closed today and monday due to the storm. >> now, airlines are flying larger planes in to try to get more people out but it is still very difficult to get a flight. abc's stephanie ramos is in miami and joins us now with the latest. stephanie, good morning. what are you seeing? >> reporter: diane and nick, good morning. right now it's calm here in miami but, you know this, deadly storm is getting closer and closer to south florida, more than a million people have been ordered to evacuate as hurricane irma barrels through the caribbean leaving a mess of devastation behind. in florida, the governor is stres

if there is no real good news here for florida. >> jon: meanwhile, folks in south florida are eating the warning to head to safety. they are facing crowded roads and long lines for gas as more than half a million people in the miami-dade area are told to evacuate. what are the conditions like no now? >> still more than 36 hours out, conditions here are already beginning to kick up, we are seeing some wind gusts of 20 miles an hour, there is very different mood in south florida. in previous storms people would be sticking it out, writing it out but there is real palpable fear here. people who have not left in previous storms are leaving, there is fear because of what people have seen already from the storm. a death toll that right now stands at 23 but continues to rise throughout the day and the utter destruction it has already caused in the caribbean, making some islands uninhabitable. people are afraid of the storm does indeed hit south florida as a category 4, they know what that means, they have been through it in the past. it could mean downed tree lines, downed power lines, roof

storm surge watch across south florida. to give you an indication of how important it is, exactly where the center winds up is that it is the wind direction and the surge. you take it in the west coast, it comes up that way and the big surge problems are there. if it comes up anywhere in between then that means the entire state and the south part of the state could wind one hurricane force conditions. this is a difficult situation. closer we get to saturday the closer we will get to a firm track of where we expect it to go. the spaghetti models are helpful and interesting. it just highlights the possibilities. they are similar until we get to friday night. and then it will make the turn. everybody has the turn but slightly different variations. everybody eventually takes it back inland and farther inland in the southeast united states. two models that we watch a lot. e the g.f.s. is the american model in blue. european model in pink. they are together now but going out the next few days there is divergence here. where we ha

south florida on sunday. there is still some uncertainty as to where the northward turn will occur but everyone in south florida should be preparing for the landfall of a potentially catastrophic major hurricane on sunday with category 4 to 5 winds and a potentially life-threatening storm surge. we have a hurricane watch in effect for the east coast south of jupiter inlet. all of the florida keys and lake okeechobee. we have a storm surge watch in effect south of jupiter inlet and bonita beach. including the florida keys, anywhere in the pink area, a risk of a life-threatening storm surge. we could see flooding exceeding five to 10 feet above ground level. if you have been asked to evacuate, please follow that advice. we are expecting tropical storm force winds to arrive first in south florida, in the keys during the day on saturday, progressing northward through central florida sunday morning into north florida by late sunday and potentially into georgia and south carolina by sunday night into monday. we cou

impacting south florida sunday. moving northward across the carolinas we think monday and then if we get any effects in the form of clouds and rain, that would be tuesday into wednesday. all right. that's your seven day forecast. 8:51. let's head back to maureen and allison. >> thank you caitlin. 8:51 with concerns over hurricane irma on the rise and the devastation from hurricane harvey fresh in everyone's minds it's never too early to prepare for a storm. >> fox news consumer reporter steve noviello has important things to check off your list when preparing for a hurricane. >>> it is a quick and easy checklist to make sure that you are prepared in advance of any sort of storm or disaster. step number one take a home inventory we've got video for you. this is super easy to do folk. we'd like to think that we know exactly what's inside of our house, but do you really? when it comes time to file a claim yo what was damaged. so go room to room take pictures of everything. brands, sizes, even photograph receipts if you

>> well, if you're in south florida, there's just no time to wait. if you're in central or north florida, you still have a little bit of time to do it, but, yes, you can get a flight out. a lot of people have flown to atlanta but now you may get hit into atlanta but it's a difficult decision in terms of logistically what you do. when there's an evacorder just get out of dodge. what's going to happen in if areas is you will have life-threatening storms. lauren: can you update us in a fuel situation, we have a couple of seconds here? >> they are doing everything they can, they are bringing big tankers, exporting them, legitimate huge problem and they are doing everything they can to mitigate the problem. congressman dye santos, thank you, good luck to you, sir. >> thank you. lauren: janice dean has been tracking the storm. cheryl: yeah, looks like the storm is going to hit straight into florida, there's no question mark about it. up north in florida in washington the house now expected to vote on the controversial harvey package today, but many conserv

it's going to make a huge impact on south florida and the keys. the models in good agreement right now. saturday night to sunday making impact on not just south florida but the whole state of florida. and this storm takes up the whole peninsula. so it's going to cover the whole peninsula as it makes landfall. and then eventually moves up towards the carolinas and georgia that will be our next story for now we are watching florida. listen to your officials. listen to your local forecast. get out if they tell you to do so, your time is running out. jackie: some of them saying get out. we are not coming back for you. heather: don't call 911. jackie: hurricane irma path of destruction. heather: bracing for direct hit from the most powerful atlantic hurricane in recorded history. jackie: jillian mele picks up our coverage from miami where there is a major gas crisis here this morning. jillian: there has been a gas crisis for days. governor scott has been trying to get as much fuel down. just a couple cars in line. counting three at this point. not real

i sit on the board of the big health clinics here in south florida. the doctors are out working through the storm and making sure this is being taken care of. so there are a lot of good things happening, john. good to have you on. >> always a pleasure. thank you. >> millions of residents are facing extreme damage to their homes and property from hurricane irma. what options are available for folks who might lose their home and everything they own? >> chip, so many of us don't want to leave our homes. everything we've worked for is locked inside those four walls. what can you tell people they should do? >> you should take all your valuables that you can with you. i mean your emotional values too. things you can't replace. i often go to disaster areas afterwards. it's not just the stuff that you lose, it's the emotional aspect. people are depressed after they come back and find that everything is gone. all their memories are gone as well, too. it's a big factor. almost post trauma mattic stress, and people are depressed afterwards. for >> for those who

keys and south florida. the eye of the storm is making landfall in southern keys. powerful category 4 storm has top within of nearly 130 miles per hour. it will turn and barrel up the state's west coast. tornado warnings have been issued for a large swath of south florida. jeff glor is just outside of the mouth of tampa bay. expected to take a direct hit from the storm overnight. jeff, good morning, again. >> reporter: charlie, good morning to you. actually we just got a tornado warning just to the east of tampa. we expect to see more of those as the morning goes on and as this storm goes on. we're in tampa-st.pete. we're at tampa-st.pete beach along the gulf of mexico. city of tampa is to our northeast. clear water to the north. sarasota to our south. when we pulled in here last night not a lot of buildings were boarded up and that's because this shifted, this storm has shifted to the west now and as you said is expected to potentially hit us head on here in the tampa bay area, an area that has not seen a m