Lifethreatening flash flooding. Nearly half a million north carolinaians are without power as a result of a storm, which has knocked out power to more than a Million People in six states so far. Our Brooke Baldwin joins us now. Walk us through, brooke, what you have been seeing. Reporter sure. So we were one of the very first crews to get on the ground and see whats rested to as ground zero, mexico beach with our own eyes. You know, roads as you were pointing out because of the powerful 150mileanhour winds, roads are impassable. Power lines are down. Trees were down so we were able to secure a helicopter really early this morning. I started here in destin. As we flew along what is known as floridas gorgeous emerald coast, we started watching the coastline deteriorate from destin to panama beach and as we landed, in looking at it all first hand, you can tell quickly that its virtually gone. From the air, its clear, much of mexico beach after this stretch of beach is destroyed, while most of the 1,200 residents evacuated, they survived a near direct hit from michael. He didnt make it out in time the bridge is choiced and he was stuck. How does it make you feel to look around at everything just leveled . Well the thing is, you know, this is a small little up to. You know, this is our little up to. So every restaurant is gone. Every store is gone. All my neighbors, everybodys homes gone. So when you think about it, you know, all of their lives are gone. So how do you what do you do . Reporter scott says he lost most of his possessions, but he will stay and rebuild. I thought i had. All of this stuff going in here, its hard no talk about i to about it. Reporter all over the area, we heard this high pitching beeping. They are fire alarms, buried in the rubble, warnings that perhaps came too late. Again and again i heard from survives here who told me theyre simply grateful to be alive. These Three Friends were searching for one of their homes. It was hard for them to even recognize the street. Wow, no there are just no there are no words. No, theres not. Theres so many memories here. Reporter this woman named sherry says she didnt have time to grab anything but some clothes and her jewelry box. And to see this. Yes. Reporter it feels like what in. I cant describe it. Its just terrible. I just cant describe the feeling and i know im not the only one here that feels the same when theyve lost everything. Reporter mexico beach is virtually cut off from the rest of the state. Though emergency crews are working throughout the area, roads are still blocked. Power is out. And cell service is nonexistent. Halle, its mama. Im okay. Im okay. It was a lot more than and a lot rougher than we thought. How are you guys . Reporter our Satellite Phone was the only way for these women to contact their loved ones. I love you, too. Bye. Reporter oh, your daughter. Oh. Reporter the best part of the day, anderson, checking these people, there is no cell service on mexico beach. The loved ones, they see the picture up on the screen. They have been wondering if their moms, dads, Sisters Brothers were alive. We were able to show them those who rode it out are and rescued six facilitys in the wake of this hurricane. Its so early, they told me that number will rise, anderson. Brooke baldwin, appreciate it. Florida senator marco rubio has been surveying the damage. He joins us from there. Thank you for being with us. Can you describe what have you seen . Well, i havent seen mexico beach other than the i dont have head. Im here at the fema Emergency Center in bay county, very substantial damage. This is as bad as it gets in terms of power lines, Property Damage the mexico beach thing may turn out to be a horrifying tragedy in terms of both the property lochls i think the loss of life eventually. I was talking to the police chief, he was describing up to the last minute they were begging people to leave. Im talking at least a couple residents who were very elderly and a family with children, eight or nine, ten children that remained behind. You know, communications are down up here. So its still hard to sort of account for everybody and you know i dont want to speculate too much yet. But when that storm surge comes in, it doesnt just take the roof off the home, it takes anything that was in it. So its a tough situation here, really truly catastrophic as a storm in general. Panama city and other places, but the mexico beach thing is hard to describe, im not sure ive seen anything like it or a precedent for it. Obviously, with communications down, its so difficult for families who havent gone word of their loved ones. From what you have seen in the operations center. The interesting media needs, obviously search and rescue operations are under way in a number of areas. Is the state equipped to handle the needs that people are facing right now . Reporter so the state, florida does this as well as anybody, because of the experience. Unfortunately it comes in handy in situations. But i would sa i the most immediate, it will be there to provide assistance that needs backup. Heres sort soft short term, in the short term the most important need to have is to get communications up. Verizon is the lead provider in this area. It still is not working. At t which phone im on now is working a little bit. But thats a big deal the general public does not have access to each other or information. And then even the sort of First Responder radio system, its finally coming out live, damage, so communication is critical. I think starting tomorrow the shelters where people have been and other places start to run out of food and the conditions deteriorate. Then you will sort of have some longerterm planning for people and housing people and those are the sorts of things that become upon you very quickly. But this all starts with getting communication going. Power is going to take a while. Im telling you, there is not a system that needs to be restored. It needs to be rebuilt in some parts. Living in florida, ive lived through a bunch of these, this is not a couple lines down. This is total annilation of the system and its going to take them a while to get going. Are there places in the state that you know about that First Responders have yet to be able to get to in terms of access . Well, again, communications is impeding some of that. I think mexico beach is an example of a place we dont have communication. We know search and rescue crews have been there and are going house by house, but part of it is, there is some of the landmarks you would rely on in the past are not there. So i dont know there are any areas completely cut off. But i am sure unfortunately some people are in need we wont know about, they have no way to call no, phone force internet or to call 911 or get anybody to come to them. That is the challenge im most concerned about, the inability to communicate with people who might be in need after the fact. Thats why getting and without power, by the way, even if we were able to restore communications tomorrow, there are people that wont be able to charge a phone as an example and be able to communicate that way. So i this i that would be my bigger concern, would be to survey all this area. Its going to take a bit. And, so, you have great people doing everything they can. But we got some real challenges in the early part of this. And obviously people without power are not going to be here tonight. What is your message to the people of florida tonight who do have power as they start to try and put things back toke or figure out what the next step is . Well, first thing i always tell them is that these things are very disruptive. Even if you didnt have Property Damage. It takes weeks for kids to get back to school and everything else. I want them to know the best people in the world in Disaster Response are on the case and you are forced to live through a hurricane, florida and the people that work here that do this at the state level are the best in the world at what they do. All that said, it will be weeks before people have power. I hope the people are staying in a hotel room after evacuating. You do not come back to bay county. You give up that hotel room, it will not be there. I know you want to see the condition of your home. Will you have no power. Nobody will be able to come help you if you get in trouble in the short term. There are some real challenges i had. Have a little patience and faith that this will get better every day. This is truly as bad as it can possibly be for this area of the state. Im sorry we are speaking to you under these circumstances. I appreciate your time. Thank you and good luck. As for any elected official, its tough to see this destruction in the lives of constituents. Its even tougher when those constituents are also your neighbors. Linda albrecht, a mexico councilwoman. She joins us by phone. You know this community. I cant imagine just seeing the images we are seeing it and knowing it as well as you do. What are you haering . What you know, have you been able to talk to people . How are things right now in terms of search and rescue and the like in. Well, thank you for keeping this on the news or letting people know what a frightful event that mexico beach residents are going through. I am not there. I evacuated as they asked mandatory evacuations. So im about six hours away. But i have been in touch via texting and as senator rubio said communication other than texting is very bad. Cell phones dont work. Power is out. So just from word of mouth and texting. We clean up is slow. We have a lot of volunteers that have organized and they are cleaning up the streets. The roads going in and out of mexico beach have been fill with debris and the Big Equipment has not been able to get in as of this point that im aware of. Our City Employees who were able to get in because they lived in mexico beach are close by, they are running out of food and water. So supplies are being airlifted either tonight or tomorrow morning, so then they can continue on with their jobs. We also have eoc are our interim administrator will be representing mexico beach at the county eoc because we, they have supplies put there. But mexico beach represented all of the time and so shes just stepping in and saying im going to go there and fight for what we need. Thats the Emergency Operations center for people who dont know. A personal question, if i may. Do you even know how your home is tonight . Not officially. I have been asking and asking. I live on the east side of town on 98th and im watching your film right now and i recognize, i think its hard when you look at these homes, because theyre in such disarray, its hard to say yes i recognize this, but up until just now, i have never found a video on the east side of town on 98. I live right on 98. I did hear so i dont know officially but i did hear from somebody secondhand that i live on a house on. [ inaudible ] and i was told that just about an hour ago, that my house is not on stilts. Its gone. I dont know that officially and you know how rumors go around. Weve heard various rulesors in the last 48 hours. Im grasping to the hope and im praying that a miracle happened. But it could be very realistic. Oh, councilwoman, im so sorry for all you are going through and your community and i know everyone is thinking about it and praying. But i just go ahead. Could i say one thing . Sure. Im asking that the residents not return to mexico beach. They are not ready to have people return. The roads are full and the more people that return, theyre just going to get in the way and i know this weekend and i mentioned another program that this weekend will be tough and many will think, gee, lets drive down there and see how our house is. But until we notify you, please dont come down and get in the way of the cleanup crew. An important message. Councilwoman, i wish you the best. Thank you. Thank you very much, anderson. Just a short ways away from mexico beach is st. George island, it took a onetwo pound punch from the wind and the storm surge. You can see tree branches washing by, shingles, siding, pieces of front porches. Timbers the wreckage of a lot of lives floating in the front yard. Christa miller rode it by. She joins us now from phone from mannedies house. Can you mandys house . Can you describe the damage . Its completely gutted and start over from ground up. The walls, i had my mother stand against the wall. Shes a shorty, about 52, but the water would have been well over her head had she been in the house at the time. Wow. So it was both, though, i know we are looking at the house now, it was both the wind and the water the flooding . Oh, yes, of course. Yes. The wind the flooding went the highest its ever been on the island. My house is almost exactly halfway from the bay to the gulf and i had water at least over a foot up in my house. Ive never dreamed water would get that high. No wes dent thats ever lived there seen that water that high before. Our family has been there for hundreds of years. In terms of the rest of the area around where you are, i assume the damage is just as bad . It is. Most of the houses that are on this side have left anything on the ground level. Its completely washed satellite like there. I heard that you described the storm as feeling like a 48 train coming from all directions . Yes. Thats exactly how it felt. We were in appalachacola. We could see across to the bay and watch the storm as it came in. It felt like a monster coming down on top of you the whole time. You know, my dad kept saying, it will be over in a couple more hours, were about in the worst of it now. It seemed he repeated that three times, it was never going to stop. People say it was a fastmoving storm. It doesnt feel like that when youre in it. Yeah. Not when youre in it. Yeah, kristen miller, i appreciate the time you talking to us. Im sorry for all you are going through and all your neighbors. We wish you the best. Thanks, anderson, as soon as we rebe i would this area, we love tourism so much, obviously, the councilwoman said now is not the time. As soon as we get things back up and running, the best way is to contribute to our local small economy. We greatly appreciate that and appreciate everyone that comes to visit. You take care, well be in touch. Thank you. Coming up next, people waiting to hear from loved ones who were in places like mexico beach. You saw folks talking to Brooke Baldwin, one woman heard from her brother there. Well talk to her, later how all the devastation, people are planning how theyre going to rebuild. Well have that and much more as our live coverage continues. Width of your mower. Tha when youre done, it looks so good you post a picture on social media. And it gets 127 likes. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 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She joins us now. Tell us about the last contact you had with your brother yesterday. Hi, thank you for having me. Yesterday around 2 00 or 1 30 excuse me, he texted many ethat they were okay and that it was hitting right then and then we lost contact after that, thats the last i heard from him. And has his girlfriend, i understand his girlfriend was with him at the time. Has anyone heard from her in. No, not as of yet. Just hoping its because hes probably out there helping people, if i know him, hes a great guy and maybe still because of no cell service im hoping. Our Brooke Baldwin was out there, gave her cell phone to somebody. There are people that dont have access to communication. I understand the friend is currently looking for him, trying to get into the mexico beach area. Have they had success getting there . Well, i heard from his daughter, he is going back in, looking for danny again, a man chris haughton. They have a fishing charter they run, danny pretty much emptied out the mexican beach ocean if you will. Hes a good fisherman. Can you tell us the area in case somebody is hearing this and gets to the area, they can ask around . Oh, yes, thank you so much. Tracy lived in beacon hymn, which is at kaylin lane, i think thats about four miles of mexico beach, really close there, still to mexico beach. And your brother lives in that area with her . Yes, they had decided to stay back and just ride it out. He had boarded up her windows and you know he was confident that he could survive and you know, so i am, too, i got a lot of hope yet. Lisa, i appreciate you being with us. If you could just stay with us for a moment. I want to go to Mikel Marquez in mexico beach. He has been helping get the word out about people there who came in the storm and want their loved ones elsewhere to know it. Miguel, explain where you are and what you have been seeing. Well, this is downtown mexico beach. Were just down from the pain pier of mexico beach. Where there are a lot of survivors who are starting to gather there