Powerful. And on bar buddha, the Prime Minister says the island is literally rubble. My goodness. Look at those pictures. Up to 37 Million People at risk tonight. 37 Million People at risk. And thats just the beginning. There are now three hurricanes in the atlantic. Irma, jose and katia. Our reports are live tonight all across the region weve got this covered. Cnns tom slater is in the Weather Center for us and thats where were going to begin tonight. Tom, this is a mon sfer itormon monster of a hurricane. Its time to pack up and head out because weve seen now 32 straight hours plus that this system has been churning with winds at 180 miles an hour or greater. We havent had systems like this. This is the strongest to ever impact the Leeward Islands and last night we were concerned about barbuda. In fact around 1 00 a. M. In the morning, barely habitable. The French Foreign minister said the four tallest billings on the island are completely destroyed, as well as most of the buildings. We havent heard from akwquill. Were not looking at a major land nfl the near feature. Weve got another 24 hours without one and its pulling away from puerto rico. About 70 miles away now. Its been undergoing kind of an eye wall replacement circumstance cycle. We organizing itself. As it starts to strengthen, were going to make the system make its way toward cuba and northward. Theyve moved it 60 to 70 miles from where it was this time last night. Anyone in the cone of uncertainty, still the options are open. We should know more in 24 to 48 hours. Irma may not be the only problem ahead. There are other systems that were looking at. We mentioned jose and katia. Katia is in the gulf of mexico right now. By this evening it was named a hurricane as well as jose. We knew jose was going to be a hurricane. There is a cold front sweeping down through the southeastern u. S. Its too bad the cold front wasnt moving through on friday because that would push irma into the ocean. But i think the cold front is going to push katia down toward mexico. Do not fret, that one is not moving anywhere. But im concerned about jose. Yes, sit a hurricane as well. And we know its following irma but for the most part its going to come close. Youre going to see the pattern of rainfall for irma and a little spike. It comes close to the islands again and maybe as a major hurricane. Tom seder in the Weather Center. I want to get to leyla in say juan. We spoke last night. The weather in puerto rico has really deteriorated as the hours tick by. What are you seeing right now . Reporter well we are still seeing rain, heavy wind gusts coming in. But really a lot of team on the island are breathing a sigh of relief because this is not what was initially expected from people here on this island, given that this was preliminarily expected to be catastrophic event here. So that is what a lot of people are saying on social media, calls that i have made to others that are in their own homes. And yet government officials, Emergency Management officials are saying dont let your guard down now. Because even if this, this rain and this wind that is what we awe earlier is the worst of it, we still have a lot of problems coming as a result of it. Lets start with power. More than 900,000 households right now without power. An don, they have already authorities are already say this will be a matter of days, it could be days possibly months before the power is back and restored for the folks that lost it tonight. And then there is the flooding. That is certainly going to be an issue. The rescue crews have had to go in to save dozen os people from flooding in homes as well as cars. So flooding and power are big issues. And of course tomorrow Damage Assessment begins. The fema director here already saying they will begin Damage Assessment as soon as possible. Don . Leyla santiago, thank you for your reporting. Joining me now by phone from st. Martin is lauren. Youre there with a group of people, five people, i believe. Tell us what it was like when irma hit. Well, we woke up about 3 00 in the morning after a little cat nap and the winds were howling, the rain started beating on the door to our balcony and it got progressively worse. We really couldnt see anything until about 5 30 or 6 00 in morning and this there was the most eerie blue light. Were on the sixth floor so we dont have wave water come up. But the way that everything drains in the room, it was coming from the door, sending debris in here and flooded our room. We had a couple of instances of water on the ground in both bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room and the balcony was a swimming pool. Its been a terrifying experience but we all came out of it okay and were glad everyone is safe. You were capturing the video during the hurricane. Lets take a look at it. Theres the door and theres the chair, im standing on the other side of the shachair. My shoes are soaked. Notice were moving sideways. Still have wifi. My goodness, its coming down like a fire hose. Yes. Everything was shaking. It was pretty scary, we were just hoping that the doors didnt crack and you know nothing blew inside and started flying at us. Once we realized that the door was safe and the rain was just really, really coming down, we hid out in one of the bathrooms and kind of barricaded ourselves behind three doors. We hid in there with candles and kind of waited it out until the eye of the storm was passing over us. I got to ask you something. Vi been trying to get in touch with someone who is on st. Martin and im wondering how youre able to get out . Are you on a cell phone or a landline . Im actually on a cell phone. We did lose power last night. We lost water and we still dont have water right now. The cell phone just started working so weve been able to contact our friends and family back home and obviously post all of the videos. Are you on the french side or the dutch side of the island . Are you near the airport . Right now were on the dutch side. So we have a view of the airport. Were about i would say 15 minutes around the corner. Our location is in a marina area, so its a little cove. And i think thats why, even though this part of the island looks really damaged to us, parts of the island, you know, were more devastated by the wind and the rain and everything blowing around. Were you able to get out or are you just staying close to the hotel . We got out today once the storm had pretty much passed. What does it look like . Its horrible. Its awful. This island was beautiful. It was tropical paradise. We came here, you know, with the intention of hosting the retreat and we brought 12 other people with us. Half of them made it on the plane and half of us are still stranded at the hotel. But its awful. Roofs have blown off, cars are damaged and flipped over, windshields, the back windshi d windshields have been ripped off, bumpers ripped off. Its an absolute disaster area. And youre used to hurricanes because youre from florida, right . Vo south florida. Im on the west coast south of tampa. My family lives in bradenton on a bayou. How does this compare . Weve been evacuated before but weve never seen anything like this. This was insane. Theres a balcony that flew off above us, where other groups were staying before they caught the flight out before the storm. Its hanging on by a thread. We tied it to our balcony so that it doesnt move but its just its really scary because it came down at one point when the rain was blowing so hard and we were pretty nervous it was going to blow right through the doors into our unit. Im not sure what we would have done had that happened. Loren, you be safe. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us here on cnn. Youre welcome. Thank you. Unbelievable. Miguel marquez is in miami tonight for us and we joins us life. You heard shes from florida, never seen anything like it. Dade county has issued a mandatory evacuation area for coastal cities. Set the scene for us there. Gas, water shortages . Whats happening . Reporter yeah, you can express the concern that floridians have tonight by the shortage of both gas and water. Water throughout florida, at least south florida. We went by walmart, publix, target, walgreens. Theyre all out of water. Walmart telling us theyre delivering some 1300 trailer trucks just filled with water alone, pulling it from as far away as nevada. Gas as well, theyre filling up everything, their cars, gas cans. Getting ready for the storm. Weve been at this place most of the day. Theyve delivered tens of thousands of gallons throughout the day. Look at the line here. Still, its almost 10 30 at night. Theres a giant line here. Its gotten better. It was two hours at the longest today. Its gotten much better. This is u. S. 1, the main route from the keys in Monroe County thats already under an evacuation order. Traffic has been steady all day but certainly given the concern that people have, the uncertainty about the storm and the strength of this storm, traffic going this way is going to get much worse in the hours and days ahead. Four shelters already open in miamidade, they started taking people in tonight. That is if numbers there are likely to grow. Miguel, i know youre used to covering these things. Its on the way. Be safe. Joining me on the phone now is roman guest. Thank you. We know youre very busy right now but we appreciate you joining us. Florida governor rick scott estimates 25,000 people have been evacuated from the florida keys. Mandatory evacuations. Do you suspect that everyone will be able to get out in time . We do. We actually do. We look at the images and the videos of what the affected islands are going through and the thought that we might be going through that in a few days a outright scary and concerning. As you mentioned, we have one road in and one road out. Keys residents are very connected to the weather and know when to take things serious. Theyve been taking this very serious for the last three days. I just drove down from the Emergency Operations center in marathon to key west, about a 50 mile drive and there is nobody in the keys. There is a very little amount of people in the keys. I drove around key west because i knew i was going to be on your show, to give you a good update report, probably 90 of the bars and restaurants are closed. Theres still a few stragglers. But i think the folks are taking this serious and im glad to report that. Im glad you said that. That one roadway in and out can be clogged. What are you expecting in terms of damage, roman . Can you even assess right now . Well, again, im looking at the images that youre showing on tv and its outright scary. I lived in south dade during hurricane andrew and this is much more powerful and bigger than andrew. And you know the damage that we had there. The thought that an andrew like and even possibly more would come through the keys is outright scary. I just hope that if it does come to the keys it crosses somewhere that is not populated with much to it. The keys are 120 miles long and we have 42 bridges, many islands. It really depends on what happens. Its outright scary. Let me ask you, the Florida National guard coordinating with North CarolinaNational Guard to utilize air assets to assist with ongoing evacuations in the keys, can you tell us about that . They were here today. Theyre in our oec, merge operations center. And depending on where the storm hits, we will move accordingly. Right now if its going to be a direct hit to key west, i will be moving up to marathon or key largo or homestead and the main land depending on where its going to hit. If the bridges go out, were utilize an air bridge system. We practice that, talk about that all of the time. Hopefully we wont have to implement that. 42 bridges, all it takes is one to go out to stop all of the traffic and it could be weeks or months before that bridge gets repaired. My goodness. Stay safe. We know youre busy. Thank you very much. Well check back in with you later on this evening or tomorrow on cnn. Please stay safe. Thank you. Were just Getting Started here on cnn. Were going to be covering this throughout the duration. And when we come back, much more on this deadly category 5 hurricane heading for the u. S. And the two others just behind it well the one wer behiothe it in the atlantic. Officials tracking and preparing for the storm will join us next. Dental professionals recommend using an electric toothbrush. For an exceptionally fresh feeling choose Philips Sonicare diamondclean. Hear the difference versus oral b. In a recently published clinical study, Philips Sonicare diamondclean outperforms oralb 7000, removing up to 82 more plaque and improving gum health up to 70 more. Its Sonic Technology cleaning deep between teeth. From the most recommended sonic toothbrush brand by dental professionals. Switch to Philips Sonicare today. Philips sonicare. Save when you buy now. Philips sonicare. And ive never seen a better time to refinance your home, than this summer. Why . Because right now were seeing our average customer save 20,000. 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Massive. Everything seems calm, right . Blue sky and peeks of sun visible above the eye. So unbelievable now. Joining me now is the chief of the forecast Operations Branch of the National Oceanic and atmospheric organization. Joining us again. Greg, where is Hurricane Irma right now . Good evening, don. Hurricane irma is just north of the island of puerto rico this evening as weve seen on satellite and radar images, a stunning image of catastrophic hurricane now moving away from the island of puerto rico. And heading where next . Well, basically remaining over the warm water, and thans crucial. That will probably allow the hurricane to maintain intensity over the warm waters as it moves to just to the north of the island. There are hurricane warnings up there. And it looks like it will remain out over the water, the most destructive portion of the eye probably offshore. Can you walk us through the possibilities of where it hits the continental u. S. . Well weve seen relatively consistent information coming out from the National Hurricane center and also the computer models, plus the large scale global models and higher resolution models that handle hurricanes in a very High Resolution that the system will continue to move towards the straits of florida, basically near the keys of florida by saturday night before making a turn to the north and probably impacting a portion of southern florida. Whether it goes west of the peninsula or to the east, the current track is east of miami, a very dangerous track moving up the east coast of florida an eventually into portions of the carolinas late into the weekend. When do you expect landfall again . The eye main remain offshore just east of miami, not necessarily making landfall. But the track is just grazing the coast of southeast florida. And its not certain whether landfall will occur in florida or whether it occurs further up the cost into South Carolina or georgia. Still a lot of uncertainty as we get out into three days. But all interests along the east coast need to keep an eye on this dangerous storm. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. The powerful storm was going to slam florida in the coming days with, so i want to check in with peter brown, the commander of the seventh coast guard district in miami and he joins us by phone as well. Thank you so much for joining us. What is the coast guard doing right now to prepare for this hurricane . Thank you, don, for the opportunity to explain what your United States coast guard is doing. And i would add that in addition to being responsible for florida, im also responsible for coast guard operations in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands where were dealing with the onset of the storm. We have several hundred people in puerto rico right now who are h hunkers down as others are. Were working to respond as soon as the sun comes up tomorrow. We have a number of helicopters that remained in puerto rico to provide live search and rescue. How are you protecting that rescue fleet right now . The helicopters are in a reinforced concrete hangar on the northwest corner of puerto rico which was only brushed by the Tropical Storm force winds. The cutter fleet, the ships based in san juan sailed out of the way of the storm to the south. And as soon as the seas lay down and allow us to return, well be moving back quickly toward puerto rico and the Virgin Islands to bring life saving aid to wherever needed. What are you hearing from your folks in the field . I got a grort from san juan that they were experiencing Tropical Storm force winds. There was awe pore outage at our pace and i heard your reporter describing the wide spread Power Outages numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Thats consistent with what weve experienced. But no major damage reports. And i believe that when daybreak occurs well be able to get the helicopters out of the hangar, provide assessments and rescues where needed. Whats your number when concern of the storm of this magnitude . Its the combination of the catastrophic winds. Weve heard 1