Page 63 - Patrick Oppmann News Today

There. lets get to patrick oppmann. where were you during the storm? it you had a direct hit. >>reporter: yes. we were in the north coast of the island. we thought the storm was going to go by us. decided it was going to come to cuba, and it was a devastating blow on the island. all the way up the coast, to have been in the middle of a category 5 hurricane as it was when it hit cuba was an experience i hope not to reteet any time soon. the issues here is that area where we were where that direct...

Country that prides itself on its hurricane preparation. so obviously, theres a lot to learn from the way this very, very powerful storm has ravaged cuba over the last few days, but at least now, wolf, the sun is out and the recovery process has begun. >> you say the recovery process, it will be an enormous amount of reconstruction, right? >> reporter: absolutely. the sun comes out and it dries some of these waterlogged buildings and a lot of times, some of the buildings behind me are hundreds o...

Huge wave, aftermath of irma two days after it came through and theres still larger than unusual waves battering the shore and flooding over the weekend. the floodwaters have receded. all of us people are putting belongings out because this area was underwater and putting their belongings out to dry. there are huge pieces of concrete and trees down everywhere. a lot of it is without electricity, slowly being restored. pickup process, i expect the death toll to go higher as government authorities...

Myers -- when? tomorrow afternoon. it could get more intense after it passes key west. heres the storm coming off the cuban coast. patrick oppmann has done yeomans duty. he has the southeastern eye wall all night long. its pushing into southern florida. every time a band goes by you will get increased winds homestead down to cutler bay, youre seeing wind come in. anytime later this afternoon, a storm comes in, theres even a potential for a small tornado or two. keep that in mind. the watches hav...

Taking the brunt of hurricane irma right now. cnns patrick oppmann is there. patrick, what are you seeing? what are you feeling there? >> reporter: victor, very strong winds, very strong eye rain. all night long. it just screamed, the wind here. were actually in a town that is under water, if you can believe it. thankfully, were on a second story of a house. the coast which was about 50 yards away yesterday has now moved well past us in the town. the main street which we walked yesterday now has...

But this is the real deal. victor. >> yeah, chad. there echoing what we heard from the national weather service out of the keys that this is as real as it gets. take all of these warnings seriously. chad myers from the cnn weather center. thank you so much. weve got live pictures comes in from orlando. again what is hitting south florida in a few hours will be hitting central florida later in the day on sunday. so, were seeing a water distribution center here. there have been difficulties gettin...

Many of the people weve seen this morning have tears in their eyes when they look around the town, you can see some of the devastation. and i know for the people who live single story homes -- most of the people live in single-story homes. the water was conferri incoveris overnight. i dont know how they were able to get out. still its a couple feet of water where we are. irmas leaving but its not quite done with us yet. >> patrick oppmann. thank you stay safe. now, lets look north to the florida...

Its going to happen. consider this. weve talked tirelessly about it as well. 90 miles here from cuba to the coast of florida to develop. this is going to be more than 90 miles and instead of 90 miles of extremely warm water, weve got 120, 125 miles. that will intensify over time with the water temperatures at 85 or 90. and with time progressing, what to expect past florida. and georgia, thats got an interesting forecast. well share that in just a little bit. >> with all the warm water, the stren...

But some of the houses you see look like theyre going to fall over on a good day. i dont know how they survived. if we would have stayed on the first floor last night we would have drowned. most of the people who did not evacuate, i dont know how they survived the night, frankly. i know people told me they were going to stay. i think they regretted that decision. very few people expected cuba would get the beating it took. and you see the roofs fly off as the wind picks up. a very distressing sc...

Its not the point. the point is with the storm surge thats expected, now with the little bands of rain start to come through, with the wind they can overwhelm the banks, flood lobbies and put you in danger. right now irma is putting a pounding on cuba. our thoughts and prayers are with the people there who are suffering right now. what are they seeing? what comes next? >> they are seeing 160 overnight. now theyre down to about 125. but they are right on the eyewall. those keys that are north of ...