Composition of the storm, what that northern wall means, and what it will be on the ground for those people in palm west and parts north. Right. So the biggest thing is for those folks between key west and marathon. This is where the heaviest rain band is coming in. Right now its just 15 miles, the center of circulation is a mere 15 miles from the main point of the keys. Again, thats not very far and the northern eye wall already starting to cross over. You can see the dark reds and yellows beginning to push over. That is torrential rainfall that is coming down so, again, its probably going to be blinding for the few people, and we hope there arent any but for anyone there, likely your visibility is zero when you have heavy rainfall like that. We did have some lightning but that has all gone away. I would like to point out oftentimes when you have the lightning really pull in around the eye wall thats actually a sign of weakening. We hope it stays that way although the lightning has now gone away so it may have just been temporary. As the heavy rain comes in, those winds are going to increase to their max output already getting sustained wind reports around the keys of 130 miles per hour, sustained means consistent. This does not count the gusts which are even higher than that. Now here is a look at where its going to go forward. It will continue up the west coast. Again, taking those reds, yellows and oranges on the radar, taking that incredibly heavy rain with it. Weve already started to see those rain bands from ft. Lauderdale push over to ft. Myers as we speak. Its starting now and its going to continue as that storm progresses off to the north. So, again, even places like tampa, orlando, youre going to start to see some of those incredibly heavy rain bands in just the next couple of hours. The winds have stayed the same. We are still at a category 4 storm right now of 130 miles per hour. The Forward Movement has picked up ever so slightly at about 8 miles per hour. This will adjust some of those arrival times, not by a whole lot but by some, so keep that in mind for a lot of folks there. Weve seen the expansion of Tropical Storm warnings and hurricane warnings from florida into portions of georgia, alabama, and south carolina. Again, the track overall has seen a shift to the west by about 14 miles. That may not seem like that much to you. It takes it out of downtown tampa just to the west, over by st. Pete. That may sound like a good thing for folks in tampa but actually what it does, chris, it pushes more of that storm surge into the tampa bay area so actually technically taking the track a little bit further west away from tampa makes it worse for tampa bay. All right, so two things youve taught us to remind people of at home. One, if its not a direct hit, it can still be a bad hit. Were looking about 70 miles outside in diameter around this eye itself. Even if youre 70 miles away you can get hit with the worst of it. In terms of the time schedule of when its coming, the speed at which the storm is moving, take us here in naples as an example of that. We are nowhere near the worst of it. These bands, these outer bands are softening, softening the ground and reducing the amount of what can be taken, what can be withstood. Before the show i went down to the marina. The water there was already at the banks. So when the storm surge does come its about duration as well as intensity. Intensity matters, too. The northern wall is starting to touch down in the keys. We have people everywhere the storm is going. The bad news is bill weir is right in the path of irma and shes coming hard right now. Bill, can you hear us . Reporter i can hear you, chris, absolutely. Shes getting nastier as first light breaks here over key largo. Were at the northern most biggest key about 95 miles or so from key west. My heart goes out to those folks who decided to stick it down there in paradise. It is anything but. Were start to go see as the light comes up all the downed trees, the boats in this harbor here bouncing up and down. Its interesting that force of wind quadruples as wind speeds doubles. So people who have lived through maybe Tropical Storm force, 60mileanhour winds, maybe disrupted their lives for months or years afterwards, think of doubling that in some cases down here. Theres the storm surge to worry about. Were not seeing any high water. We picked this spot because it is on the bay side. It is on relatively highland and its all relative in the keys. Theres no such thing as high ground down here but so far looks like were getting were staying out of accumulated water while the wind is picking up. Over on the atlantic side, though, even yesterday when things were relatively calm compared to this a place called the pilothouse, a popular restaurant here, they had a foot of water up to the door stop so im sure its much worse even just a short distance from here over on the nastier side of the winds right now. All the power is out in the florida keys so unless youre watching us on generated power you wont hear the admonitions to stay away from windows at this time, build yourself a little mattress fort or shield when you think about flying projectiles at this point but as first light comes up this is one of those dangerous times because human nature makes you curious, makes you want to go out, to see whats happening, check your property, maybe go charge your phone in your car. But that is when the bad stuff happens. Everybody, all First Responders, everybody in authority is saying shelter in place. Its just the worst is just beginning and who knows how long it will last, chris. Understood. Were talking hours and hours. Different here on the mainland but there is an asset in play. You cant call 911 once the winds get 40 miles an hour. The First Responders wont go out. Their safety matters. They are the best of us but they have to be there for the rest of us and it just doesnt rhyme, its real. You do have each other. You get nervous, wem getting a little freaked, reach out to those around you, combine, cooperate, and wait out this storm. Bill, we know that you are being safe and youre trying to get to a high point to see whats happening. You said you havent seen anything in terms of water yet but what is the concern where you are with storm surge and what it could do . Reporter well, there are so many different all right, here it comes. Irma, here we go. Yeah, the concern here is that everything is so vulnerable especially the salt water. Were in the northern part of the end of the everglades, that fresh salt water mix which makes it a great place for biodiversity but that salt water gets up into car engines, into the wiring. Five to ten foot storm surge would mean most of the florida keys would be over topped. Back in wilma about 75 of key west was inundated and it happened in two separate waves. One in the morning and one at midnight. People thought it passed. It came back. So water is the fact of life when you live in this part of the world. You come down here for the water because you want to boat, dive, or search for sunken treasure. A 10 foot storm surge just by perspective, you know, thats a onestory home. And we drove around yesterday thinking i wonder if theres any twostory parking garages where we can really secure our vehicle in case things get hairy. They dont exist on key largo. There is a dive shop which is our point of last refuge if the water gets too high, close to us here. Its three stories stone building. But thats a rarity. Thats a skyscraper in the florida keys. So were keeping an eye not just whoa not just on these gusts as they start to crank but also on creeping salt water, chris. All right, brother, do me a favor, get to safety. The reporting is important, your safety is essential. So well check back with you in a little bit. Let us know what we need to know in the interim, all right . Bill weir down there in key largo with his team showing you the reality, the romanticism of being a conch and the rugged individualism of being in the keys is giving way to a very wet, windy, and dangerous reality right now. Elsewhere in miami, miami beach has been getting pounded and, again, were just starting to see irma in earnest. So lets get to derek van dam down there around ocean drive, a famous place now infamous because of wind and water. How are you holding up . Reporter its actually becoming increasingly more difficult to stand. Were in a sheltered area now, chris, but winds have really picked up. I daresay this has to be very close to Hurricane Force and the reason i say that is because were checking some of the apps we monitor, the weather wind gusts. Rosen steel school a couple miles up the road from where we are, 63mileperhour winds sustained. Definitely gusting over 74 miles an hour. The threshold for Hurricane Force. The National Weather service from Broward County said that Hurricane Force winds should be expected this morning and into this afternoon. Im in Miamidade County on south beach and it certainly feels Hurricane Force here. Classic hurricane conditions behind us, trees, palm trees, there are signs that have been completely knocked over. Were protecting ourselves here because these signs, the coconuts and the tree limbs can easily become projectiles and weve said it before, well say it again, we dont want to become another statistic but its important to show you what is happening here because there are people who did not evacuate this area. If they are watching this morning its time to bunker down. Go into the middle of your house, get away from the windows. Use whatever protection you can to keep yourself safe that includes pillows, your mattress, get under it because this will start doing structural damage. Weve already seen it on the building that were staying in right now, some minor structural damage to the awnings being ripped off. Weve lost electricity and im going to turn around but i want my cameraman to be very careful as we do this. Look down ocean drive. Pretty much washed out by the horizontal rain. This is serious. Im going to stay protected, chris. Yeah. No, no, absolutely stay protected. You can see things without being in them thats just as important for us. The wind is going to frighten people and make them want to leave. The water will keep them from being able to leave. How is the flooding . Reporter okay, lets talk about whats happening here. You can see some of the buildup of the water. Im going to say had is from the heavy rain squall that were dealing with right now. Theres no doubt in my mind, chris, that with winds like this theres the long fetch or stretch of wind thats traveling across the Atlantic Ocean pushing up the water and well start to see that surge, the 3 to 5 feet can become a reality. We are forecasting it to come. Were going to watch out for that. Im going to stay over here. Stay out of the wind, my friend. We will check back with you. That is derek van dam showing you the early reality of irma as it is impacting south florida. Lets take a break here. Stay with cnn. When we come back there are a lot of people who didnt leave. Some of them couldnt. Some of them didnt want to. Key west has the northern wall of the eye of irma impacting it now. We have someone there who decided to stay. Well check in. At whole foods market, we believe in food thats naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. The whole country booking on Choice Hotels. Com. Four words, badda book. Badda boom. Let it sink in. Shouldnt we say we have the lowest price . Nope, badda book. Badda boom. Have you ever stayed with Choice Hotels . Like at a comfort inn . Yep. Free waffles, cant go wrong. I like it. Promote that guy. Get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed. When you book direct at choicehotels. Com. Book now. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. 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My livestream wont load. blows whistle technical foul wrong sport. Wrong network. See, you need unlimited on verizon. Its americas largest, most reliable 4g lte network. It wont let you down in places like this. Even in the strike zone its the red zone. Pretty sure its the strike zone. Here, use mine. All right. See you on the court, champ. Heads up vo when it really, really matters, you need the best network and the best unlimited. Now plans start at 40 per line for four lines. All right, my friends, you are looking at the least of the worst. This is Hurricane Irma making its effects and its presence known in southern florida. We just heard that the wall of the northern part of the eye of the storm is actually affecting the keys. So this is the beginning of the real deal, the process that were going to mark over the next 10 to 12 hours as irma starts on this path into and toward the florida mainland. The wind effect is obvious. The flood surge, though, storm surge, flooding, that has not kicked in yet. That is the major concern. The wind is the spectacle. It is the storm surge that kills. The number one cause of death in hurricanes is drowning. Thats why the officials were so concerned about that. So what happens to the people on the ground . That is the major concern. That is what drove the fear for evacuations. At last count over 380,000 people are without power. The authorities expect there to be millions without power, not just for hours but days or weeks. So the stakes are very high. Thats why they wanted people to get out. Not everybody heeded the call. When we talk about the keys thats the most vulnerable place. We have people everywhere the storm is going to be. Youve been seeing bill weir and his team suffer through these first waves of whats coming to key largo. Thats the biggest key. The closest key to florida. Key west is the farthest one away. People wanted to stay there, too. We have jim hines on the phone. He wanted to stay. He is there now. What is the gentlemans name, is it john hines . Okay. Can you hear me now, sir . Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. What is your Current Situation . Im in a concrete building with storm shutters closed. Its quite the ruckus out there. Quite the noise. All right. All right. All right, good, john. I know that a lot of people are giving you a hard time about staying behind. That is not why im talking to you, brother. I want you to survive. I want you to be safe. What do you know about the situation around you and how people are doing . Are you in contact with anyone else . Not right now. Everybody is hunkered down. Were in a concrete building on the fourth floor. We have storm shutters closed. Were safe. Were above any kind of flood surge. The hurricane is not going to knock down a concrete building. A lot of my friends, First Responders, are nearby in a concrete hotel. Were just hunkered down. Were safe here. We have plenty of supplies, plenty of water, food, hootch, and were good to go. Did you just say plenty of hootch . Yes, sir. [ laughter ] if can you keep your sense of humor that will help. It seems all the best wisdom in hurricanes always seems to rhyme. They say if you can face the drive, you can stay alive. And they say it is tough to beat concrete so you are in the right kind of structure. The concern for you, god willing you make it through the worst of irma and then its about enduring the aftermath. Do you have what you need to sustain yourself down there for one, two, even three days before they can start to get infrastructure back in place, power back and stuff you need for every day life . Yes, sir. I have enough for a month, plenty of food, water. A lot of people were saying you have to get out. I dont want to leave. I have an emotional attachment to key west. All my familys ashes are out in the atlantic. If a bridge goes out, everybody was talking about that, the bridge goes out and were without supplies for a few weeks or a month, id much rather be home and on this side of the bridge closing than the other side where everybody is scrambling to find a place to live and find gas and 10 Million People trying to get back home. I would rather be here. I hear you. The challenges are anywhere you look at it. Check in with me and let me know everything is straight down there. As you start reaching out to others, just let us know how things are doing. Again, im not i dont want to give you a hard time. I just hope your time there is not that hard, okay . Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. Be safe. God bless. Ill check with you in a bit. John berman is at the tip of the peninsula of florida. He is in downtown miami. He has been getting buffeted by wind there as we start to see the wow, look at that rain coming down on john berman as he struggles to stay put. A lesser man would have been blown away long ago. How are you doing, john .