any deviation could make the winds stronger. watching the storm very closely. chad myers, thank you very much for keeping us posted. i want to go straight to freeport on grand bahama island. patrick oppmann and his team have been there for days now. the communications difficult, the conditions even worse. patrick, please tell us what you are seeing this morning as the sun comes up. >> reporter: good morning, well, you know, the winds have dropped somewhat. yesterday it was just incredible how long the storm went on, and how actually in the evening it seemed to intensify to a point we haven't seen all day yesterday. right now maybe we have category one tropical storm force winds, but we are sensing, you can sense that the storm is leaving or is at least less powerful, that may allow us for the first time in days to get out later, and sort of assess damage. we have seen people who have had to evacuate their homes.