Island he was stuck and he needed to be the support team for the people down there, you know, that work for us, and make sure our restaurant was going to be safe. I was confident in his decision, but you never really know what situation they are getting into, obviously. We were hoping he would be back here in a matter of days and it looks like it will be a couple weeks at this point. Oh, my goodness. Its not as if you stayed behind in an entirely safe place, because you stayed in charleston, where there is flooding as a result of this. What is it like for you and your son . Its actually a daughter, but it was not as bad as what he experienced, but its nerveracking, and we live on the water in charleston and i watched the water come closer and closer to the backdoor, and i didnt think it was going to be as bad as matthew from last year, but it was worse, and it was not a hurricane, it was a tropical storm, and it was six feet from my backdoor and at one point i thought it would be coming in, and it was nerveracking, and no fun to be in that by yourself at all. And you are newly pregnant and that adds complications to all of it, but we are happy you weathered it well. We hope you are reunited with clint as soon as possible. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us this morning. Absolutely. Thank you. Best of luck to you. Meanwhile, were following a lot of news so lets get right to it. Hurricane irma is no longer a hurricane. The National Weather service is not tracking her that way but shes still doing damage, dumping rain on parts of georgia, florida, south carolina, and well continue to track that. We do have new numbers. We just heard that 15 Million People are without power as a result of this storm. The majority of them, of course n. Florida. The duration is the issue and we will get through that. The good news, in a situation like this, and its somewhat surprising, there has not been a tremendous loss of life. Yes, in the caribbean there have been over 30 deaths, and we are in the discovery phase. We dont know the hard numbers yet, but at this point five people have lost their lives in the United States. Were in big pine key just miles from where irma came ashore, where the eye came ashore, and it could have been so much worse. Key largo, they are going to start letting people back in. Only residents and Business Owners. Believe me, nobody else would want to be down here. The question is whether or not those people will want to stay once they see what is going on. We are showing you the scene this morning because this is the good news, the tobacco family, their home stands. The ironic license plate on that camaro of try again will be a motto for the entire community. They are here and safe and their rooster is crowing like crazy. Thats the good news. We have seen so much worse here. It gives context to the pen ttan saying 10,000 still may need to be rescued. We dont know. They just dont know what is going on. They got here last night and they worked all night long, run some of the footage of us being out with them as they did search and rescue, hot and humid and hard work, and theres no power or cell service or internet, and all the things we take for granted are not here right now. But they worked all through the night. They are out there doing it right now. We will rejoin them after the show to show their efforts. The point is they still dont know the true depth of what happened, who is still here and who isnt, god forbid. What they need . You will hear choppers. Thats their set of eyes. I want to bring in somebody for you. Darwin, come in here. Darwin tobacco, how are you . Good. Met you here and you were able to make it through the storm. How was it making it through . It was scary, but we just kept up hope. You know, theres not much you can do except prepare and hope for the best. Did you give any serious thought as a family to not being here for the storm . We did but we had so much to try and protect and so many animals, six cats, and chickens, so we wanted to stay and protect our animals because they are part of the family, too. Did you have a moment of doubt during the storm . There were a couple times i d. B did, but once we got settled in we were all calm. Me and my brother slept through it. Thats impressive. The water that came through and it got high, and what did you see . The water came up to our last step, and were on the highest elevation here, and we got pretty lucky. Further down there its lower, and they were nt. We know you lost things but you still have one another. When you were able to get around and look at the houses that were sucked out, what did you think . We were blessed. We didnt lose anything on the inside of the house, and i am thankful and a lot of people lost everything. And tell the tv what you saw . Homes off the stilts, and power lines down all over the place, and trees completely uprooted. Peoples businesses flooded, and septic fields flooding. Terrible. You were explaining to me to look at the tops of the trees, and your father was saying, i believe, that he thinks there was tornado activity down here, that it was not just the hurricane . Oh, there were definitely two tornadoes that hit big pine, and thats more relevant if you go down u. S. 1 and some of the other streets like gator boulevard. Do you have concerns about staying now . You know you are not going to have water or power for a long time . We are not worried about that. We have propane grills, and working on fixing the diner. Everybody that stayed is helping each other out. That is going to be key. We started clearing the roads themselves and people are bringing out their machines, and people have been bringing water to people that need it, and giving food to people that need it. Everybody in the community has been helping each other out. Its a beautiful thing to see. We wish you good luck and we will be here with you as long as we can. Thank you very much. Thats the tobacco family, and they made it through. Lets get to bill weir, and he was in key largo and now hes in a beat making his way down towards where we are deeper do the keys where the devastation even gets worse. Bill, how is the ride so far . Well, i will tell you what, chris, if these were happier times you would enjoy my ride here. We are on a 43foot fishing boat and picking our way out of key largo. For the last half hour it has been a maze of, you know, sunken boats and lines that were crossing channels. We had to cut them and retie them in order to pick through, and we are headed towards your way, and this is its hard to believe this is the same ocean that did all this devastation. Look at this. Glass today. Absolute glass. It remains me of the calm after the storm, and our captain has done a little recon and has reported there are sunken boats and pieces of houses and we will let you know what we see as we go through the keys. So many people reaching out to social media. Hey, check on sugarloaf key. What is going on down in cudjoe key. Thats what we are hoping to do. And for those anxious to get back and see what is left of their homes and boats, they are going to open up the upper keys, key largo, up to mile marker 73, and you have to have a sticker that says you are a local or Business Owner in here, and you know, the folks at least who have power back in miami, its a trip back in time, a trip back to when the spanish first fou found we lost bills shot. Its not about safety. Its hard to get a shot on a moving boat anytime when you have the interruption that we have now. Bill has been story telling the back and forth about romanicism and reality. Theres a resilient see and an individualism and a desire to stay, and thats all great. In times like this it can also be a liability. Life here, romanticism aside, its going to be a long time. Lets bring in the congressman, and the job of government in times like this is to inform, influence and inspire. The third one is important because people are going to get frustrated. This is going to be hard and hard for a long time, and long after this story is at the the top of the headlines. Thats right, chris. We were down in the florida keys yesterday to assess the damage. Thankfully the structural damage that i saw in key west was not as bad as i anticipated. The true tragedy here will be the financial toll this is going to take on so many people who work in the florida keys. A lot of them live paycheck to paycheck. People who own small businesses, just today, judah sylva, one of my favorite stops said, please, when can we get back . We need to rebuild our lives, and we are afraid we will lose everything. The truth is local Law Enforcement is in no position to guarantee the safety or security of anybody in the lower and middle keys. Thats why they are only opening up to mile marker 73. To those people who are worried and frustrated, i understand, but right now the best thing that you can do is remain calm and be patient because going down or attempting to go down to the middle keys or the lower keys is simply not safe. There are downed power lines, and no power anywhere or Cell Phone Service. If something were to happen to you down there you would be stranded, and nobody would be able to find you and nobody would even know, and thats why i am supporting our local Law Enforcement, the sheriffs office, and the county manager in monroe, and urging everybody to try and remain on the mainland. Stay calm. We will get you down to your home or your businesses as soon as possible but its still not safe. Key west was a pleasant surprise, you know, and obviously in a very qualified situation where it still got hit hard and thats the big Population Center and that was the big concern. It was better there than expected. However, as you go up the keys, marathon, as you mentioned, here in big pine, they got hit harder than expected. And the devastation here cannot be exaggerated. Thats right. We were not able to get on the ground there in the marathon area, but the c130 that we flew did try to drop down to 2,000 feet and we were able to see a lot of evidence of storm surge damage, and boats on land. That middle area of the keys from marathon to cudjoe, they will have to rebuild. A lot of their structures have suffered quite a bit of damage. I will be able to work on a tax relief package for those that have been impacted by storms like the houston area, and that will be important to helping these people rebuilding their lives. Good. One of the most striking things about yesterday, obviously i represent the keys, im down there a lot, and its one of the most vibrant and lively places in the world, and to see it dark and quiet and like a ghost town down in key west, that was tough to witness. Look, that is the reality, and people have to face it and know that its real so they can make informed decisions about what to do with their lives, and those that were affected by this, they can figure out how to help. Before we get back to you alisyn, i have to show you. These guys helped everybody out and now they are coming back to check out their own home. Thats a big part of this story that should not be ignored. The First Responders, they leave their homes. They are locals. They are there four everybody else and they are just now going back to see. They got lucky. He had damage ripped off on his house and hes on stilts, but the water missed him. We will show you homes and even though they were up on stilts, they still have water going through their first floor. And right now everybody is hitting on all cylinders and thats great. The reality right now is enough to handle. We will remember what happened with super storm sandy, politics can creep into what seems Crystal Clear at the moment, and they can attach things to clear and that can delay help and that will be unforgivable in a situation like this. As bad as sandy, the extra nation of harvey and irma can be politics. The terms of the flooding, and obviously in the keys, those are islands, and you are as far south as you can get and all the way north, jacksonville had massive flooding, and they have been dealing with it up until i mean, through today. Officials are telling people to leave their homes now. Were going to take you there to show you what is happening in jacksonville. Ng to get your Medicare Card number. So they can steal your identity, commit medicare fraud. What can you do . Guard your card . Guard your card . Just like your credit card. Nobody gets my number, unless i know they should have it. To protect your identity, new Medicare Cards without Social Security numbers will be mailed next year. Visit medicare. Gov fraud stay sharp people [fbi agent] youre a brave man, your testimony will save lives. Mr. Stevens . This is your new name. This is your new house. And a perfectly inconspicuous suv. You must become invisible. [hero] ill take my chances. Chris cuomo here in big pine key. The owner of the home behind me telling me just one more story of how this community will come together to get through this. And went down to the winndixie and half was blown out, and workers were there giving out water and ice no questions asked. Somebody that lived through the storm as a journalist, a great resource, a cnn affiliate, cbs 4 in miami. What was it like to make it through it here in the keys . Chris, it was a pretty terrifying experience to be down there. Where you are, i am surprised you are able to broadcast where you are right now. I know thats no small feat because we had to carry everything out to get a cell phone. Impressive you are able to do that this morning. We came in behind a bulldozer. There are several bulldozers were were stationed along the florida keys and they were literally plowing along, jet skis, refrigerators, you name it. They plowed through it. Fire and rescue going through and cutting down lines. It was amazing to watch. We got to marathon and basically stayed there with the deputies that were basically hunkered down in the gymnasium. Many of them looked shellshocked and many had already seen their houses completely devastated, and they were just trying to figure out what the next move was. They knew they had to get to work the next morning. It was pretty surreal to see the whole thing. The next morning, 5 30 in the morning yesterday, we pushed our way as far as we could go and that was big pine key, and running over and weaving through u. S. 1, and parts of the roadway are missing and washed out from the storm surge, and it was a remarkable thing to see. As we pulled into big pine key, one of the most amazing moments was seeing the key deer, and there are only a few thousand of the deer in the area, and they can swim, and i have been told they can swim as fast as 13 miles per hour, which is awesome. They were there. They were survivors. I dont know how they did it, but you have to think about it, these animals were in the water for an extended period of time dealing with that storm surge. Yeah, we saw a lot of them last night. We came down with task force 2, the first set First Responders to come in here, and they were doing assessments for all the coordinated resources that will be needed here, and i know they are a big tourist attraction, and this is one of the only places on the planet where you have crocodiles and alligators, and we saw them, too, last night, and you have to swim if you want to survive. People are being allowed back in if they are Business Owners or residents, and what do you think they will find, and even if they come back with the spirit here in the keys, no gas or power for a long time. Yeah, i think this is a very hard reality that they are about to meet. In terms of the resilience. These are the most resilient people you will meet in america. Its unbelievable what they go through and are willing to go through to live where they live here. I have no doubt about their resolve. As they come down, its a steady stream. These folks are only able to go halfway down, and the lower part, they are still not letting people down there because they are working on the roads and the neighborhoods. U. S. 1 may be cleared, but the neighbors they have to get to, we met a lot of people situated here that are stocked up with gas and ready to go down there and try to make it. Without Cell Phone Service or power, theres a limited amount of time you could probably spend down there comfortably, or if you had the resolve to sort of get things done. Its going to be interested to see what the next weeks and months are going to be for all of these residents. We know its going to be challenging. I dont know if they are going to have to leave for a little bit and sort of get everything back together and then come back down and do what they need to do. Its a tough call, david. We both know that firsthand because we know the reality firsthand. Its one thing to be house proud and then the whole problem of letting pride overwhelm your decisions for your own safety. We will see what the future holds down here. Its going to be long rebuilding and theres going to be a lot of resources and a need for a lot of patience. Thank you for having the courage to brave out the storm so you can get information out to people as soon as possible. Wfor, a cnn affiliate, appreciate, brother. Alisyn, another factor they will deal with. For the First Responders, the heat, the humidity, and even at night it felt like it was about 90 degrees, and the sweat was immediate. You saw everybody we met, nobody had a shirt on last night because its very difficult to be down here in the best of times in this weather at this time of year. Now no power, no ac, no fans, no relief. Understood. Chris, i am so glad that david just gave us an update on the key deer because i already viewers emailing me asking to ask if you saw the deer and if they survived. They are all over the place. Chris, we will be back with you in a minute. Lets talk about flooding. People in jacksonville are set to return home after the raging floodwaters ripped through their city, and city leaders lifted the Evacuation Order just moment was go. We have haley live in jacksonville. What does it looks like . Reporter alisyn, so many yesterday were stunned. At its worse, the water ran as far as you can see here inland. Now theres mud remaining, debris. Downtown is drying out. Such an incredible skwrubgs aposition just a day away. The waters rolling down here were white capping as the wind was ripping through, and a wind tunnel formed through the highrises downtown. Yesterday we were so stunned to see onlookers checking out the scene here today, and today these men calmly sitting here at the rivers edge. I would not have dared come this close to the edge, but you can see some of the damage here, that floating dock thrusts up against the seawall ther