Nbc news weather correspondent sam champion for us live in miami beach. Whats it looking like . Well, ali, we just got to set this up for people realistically. At this point this is a recordsetting hurricane. Its not like any hurricane ive ever covered or weve ever seen. Its been stronger longer than any other Tropical Cyclone on the planet in recorded history. This is a bad storm and one that demands everyones attention. Lets show you exactly where this storm is right now. And the center of this storm making its way towards the turks and caicos. Weve still got a category 5 storm. 175mileperhour winds. Moving to the north, northwest at about 16mileperhour. Now, ali, you showed some ijz from saint martin. And if anyone has seen the pictures from barbuda, when this storm, the center, the eye of this storm moves over turks and caicos, it is all that and more. The difference with this center of this storm when it moves over the turks is it will probably be pushing about a 20foot wall of water. The storm surge will be just too much for these islands to handle, and that goes through the bahamas, the lower bahamas and the central bahamas. There is the shortterm track. Still staying as a category 5 through the turks and caicos into the lower bahamas. Then look at that area where you see a 4. The double 4 right there in cuba. Thats because this storm, the forecastmonthold z have this storm making a northern turn and thats why everyone in florida is trying to get out of florida or people who can get out are trying to get out. So watch this 4. Right now we have it as sunday at about 8 00 a. M. The center of this storm paking impact with the southern tip of florida. The area where that 4 is is homestead to miami right now at this point. Thats the Hurricane Centers track that has this as a category 4 storm. Another thing im going to tell you is and we have just recently been talking about harvey made impact at category 4. Irma as a category 4, never have two category 4 storms made impact in the same season, much less back to back on the u. S. So weve got a lot going on here, and Everyone Needs to take this storm very seriously. I know youve heard a lot of people talk about storms and even people who were standing right here in florida riding out matthew last year. Matthew stayed off the coastline. So the impacts on florida were not that severe. This storm will not be like that storm according to the hurricane all right. Just lost sam champions audio. Well get him back. You got most of the story from sam. Lets go to jacob who is standing by for us not too much away in miami beach. Jacob. Ali, about 150,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders as weve talked about all day long here in the miami area. Here on miami beach, at the beginning of september this beach would normally be absolutely filled with people, with beach chairs from all of these in many cases pretty nice apartment and condo buildings and hotels. Out here right now there is virtually nobody. I talked to the life guard just a few mijts ago. He said rarely will you ever see it as quiet as it is out here on a day that looks as beautiful as it does today. But if that storm holds and it indeed does go along the path it is projected to go on now, this area is in the direct target of the hurricane. The National Guard who we speak with earlier today is mobile iedsing around 7,000 troops from throughout the state of florida to come all to this area, especially particularly the miami beach area. We were talking with some of them earlier. Some of them are local sheriffs officers. Some of them are former military officers and theyre coming in after boarding up their own homes to come and help. What i want to tell you about right now, this vehicle, excavator, large tractor, i dont know what you would call it is basically picking up beach shaks, something that would normally be out here in order to get it out of the way of the incoming storm. And weve seen this happen all day long, day in and day out. If we can actually show you as well, the condo buildings up along the beach here, youre seeing sort of this corrugated metal shut the windows and the terraces in many cases on many of these buildings. A lot of the residents here have gone through hurricane andrew and experienced it on this very beach. They are saying theyre taking this as serious if not more seriously because of the news reporting that were hearing here. Let me actually take a minute and come and talk to this guy right here. This is james who i met before. Were live on msnbc. How are you doing today . Talk to me about what youre doing what do you have here. Basically whenever we get anything over a category 3 hurricane the city oshds us to go ahead and move all these boxes off the beach. Causes as little damage as possible to any of the builds or anything else. This is a manned to her evacuation zone right now. Yes. What does it look like on a normal day right here. Usually you would say 150 to 500 people. Its kuwait bare compared to what you would see. Where do you live. I live on 47th and pine tree. So you live right here in the direct path and the mandatory evacuation absolutely. Are you going to stick it out. Im going to stick it out. Why. Its my home, man. Got to take care of your family, your home, you know. Are you worried about your safety, about your friend or families safety. Ive been down here for 20 years. This one is worse than anyone ive seen before, but its nothing we cant get through. Its miami beach. How long are you going to be doing this. Probably all day today and part of tomorrow. We still have a lot of boxes to do and we try to help out with as many other people as we can when youre on the beach. Do you fear tore your safety. A little bit. What are you going to do, though, its miami beach. I guess you could manned editorial evacuate. James has decided to stick it out. Its a great trade off for the view. It certainly is. James, i appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. No problem at all. Good luck to you and well see you around here on the beach. Ali, people like james doing last minute propositions. Thooefr got a couple days to go but there literally is no time to spare. Beach shaks to move. So its worth if you can ask your photographer just to push into one of those con doze just to show people that because of the experience of southern florida with these things, youll see theres usually these condos on the lower levels are raised. So theyve got some allowance for flooding. Thats right. Exactly. Thats exactly right, ali. So if you look at the one that dana roker is looking at right now. Those lower levels have huge gaps. There are no condos on those lower levels. I can show you the beach paths out here obviously theyre raised up a couple feet above literally where the sea is today. But this is sea level. I mean, if you walk up here, you see signs, ali, that are out here. In fact, to point out what the impact of Climate Change would be, and it says 1, 2, 3 feet of Sea Level Rise could be devastating to this area. Thats right. Of course, it would be temporary storm surge from a hurricane like the one we expect to strike here, but nerls its something that they think about here often, they prepare for often and its not just the storm surge that comes into the beach here but also on to the bay on the other side of the road here. And what happens when those canals over flow and create a scenario thats not just storm surge coming in but actually water that seeps into the neighboring communities. And thats why people here are frankly very scared of. All right. Well stay close to you during the course of the next few days. Thanks. In some ways irma is really a generational storm. Its that monstrous. Floridans as you heard jacob say are no strangers to hurricanes. They build around it, they prepare for it. Some of the them like the guy we just taurkd to arent leaving. This is what makes our next guest such a great person to talk to about this. Congresswoman lewis frank el. This is boin ton beach, dell ray beach, lake worth and parts of west palm. Representative frank el, thats for joining us. Lets talk about what things are looking like in your district. Are people evacuating . Is it a mandatory evacuation zone . First of all, thank you for having me. Obviously i share the concern and first of all, i want the people who in florida know that my colleagues here in washington on a bipartisan basis is going to do Everything Possible to make sure we get the resources that we need for recovery. We are gearing up in Palm Beach County, which i represent most of Palm Beach County for a very, very big storm. The people who live on the coast have been ordered to evacuate and i hope that they do. Everybody else has been told to hunker down. We expect not only a very, very big windstorm, potentially a big storm surge, but the likelihood that we will be without electricity may be for the next three weeks. And so, you know, i have been through many of these hurricanes. I was mayor of my city West Palm Beach for eight years. We had four hurricanes. And this is what i learned, ali, and i want people to hear what im saying right now, which is this. State, local, federal governments, agencies like the red cross are doing Everything Possible to prepare, but there is absolutely no substitute for people being personally responsible and being prepared, because we dont know when or how someone else can get to you. And once it starts, once the winds get up about 35, approximate 40, 45 miles an hour, ems and rescuers are not going to be able to get people. Some of the towns along the east coast of florida have warned people, once the winds get to that level, youre going to have to sit tight until the other end of the storm. You have a lot of people in your district who are retirees. Are there special considerations that they have to think about or that have been undertaken for people who either need constant medical care or dialysis or are living in assisted living facilities . Well, in florida, most of those kind of facilities are required to have generators. People have been advised to make sure they stock up on their medicine. Its very, very important that we have a lot of people who live by themselves, so it is very important that they have a buddy system. A lot of these retirement communities, they do that. They make sure theres a budy system, there is somebody who will be knocking on doors. There are special shelters for people who have special needs. For the most part people are going to have to hunker down, make sure theyre not near a window during the hurricane, have their supplies and have a buddy. A very good idea. Congresswoman, once the storm rolls through and it neftel will, whats your biggest concern on the other side . Obviously as weve seen with harvey, its not just the storm as it comes down. There are really serious considerations in the several days after the storm. Well, what folks should know is initially dont be running outside. People are going to be trying to walk their pets and so forth and maybe try to ride around, but most likely the traffic lights will be out. There will be a lot of danger on the road. So people have to stay in. I would say the biggest hardship especially in florida where it is still very, very hot is we will probably be without electricity for many weeks. And if people get very hot and overheated and they get angry and they get thirsty, i think that is my biggest concern. Congresswoman, thank you for joining us. Our thoughts are with you and your constituents over the course of the next few days. Lewis frank yell who represents floridas 21st district. Well be thinking about your folks down there. Thank you very much. There are 2. 5 Million People in miami dated county. Lets go back south to where we started. A lot of them are trying to get out this arch, but its a five, five and a half hour drive to get out of the panhandle or out of the peninsula in florida. So its a tough task. What about flying . Marryiana, are you at the airport . Ive been here since 4 in the morning, ali, and this is a pretty tough task right now. These lines to get on any flight anywhere just keep getting longer and longer. There are many canceled flights, even though the airport remains open. This is the line of lucky people that actually have a boarding pass on their hands. Where are you trying to get to today . To orlando. To evacuate to yes. Get out of the storms way. Yes. Exactly. Its the only flight we could get tore tonight. When is your flight leaving . Can you show us. At 10 55. Its 3 something now and youre at the airport. How long have you been here for. We arrived at 8 00 in the morning. Thank you so much. Good luck to you. Ali, ive heard so many stories of frustration. Families that have been here overnight with their small children, with their parents and pets. Ive seen tears today. I actually spoke to one woman who got married in miami today. This is not how she imagined spending her first day as a newly we had. And i want to play that sound for you right now. This is what she told me. Its been a very stressful time. I mean, we really havent been able to enjoy everything the way that we wanted to because weve been so stressed and worried about our getting home situation. And weve had so many friends and family, coworkers texting, calling, you know, concerned. Its just its overwhelming. So many people out here today, ali, who were out on vacation, who were coming back from cruises who have absolutely nowhere to go if they dont get on a flight today or tomorrow, because they know that this airport, because of the kind of storm that were seeing, is likely to close over the weekend. And i have an update for you from that woman who we just spoke to. We ran into her moments ago. She had a boarding pass in her hands. It looks like she might be able to get out today, but as you can see from the crowds behind me, she is the exception at this airport right now as florida braces for this monster storm. So theyre going to close that airport they think maybe even tomorrow at some point. A number of the airlines have sent more planes to miami and Fort Lauderdale and airports to try and get more people out. But are all those people around you, they dont know what plane theyre getting on . They dont have tickets . What weve been hearing from passengers and again thats what they have told us is the opposite is in fact that the airlines dont want to send their crews out here. Thats what theyre being told because they dont want their crew members stranded in miami. This line of people here are people that are just trying to get many of them on any flights. So we know that places like dallas, houston, there are still folks that may be able to get to these cities today. The people in this line have a boarding pass. Theyve been able to check their flights. And it looks like in six, seven hours from now they could be getting on a flight. But this line over here to my left, thighs are people that have canceled flights that are pretty much stranded, and they dont know if they were be holding a boarding pass on their hand. Weve been talking to people here who actually ditched the line and said you know what . Im going to rent a car and try to get as far away from this storm as possible. Really its people trying to get out fast because they know it may be their only channels before this airport closes possibly tomorrow or saturday, ali. Well stay close to you. I know its hometown so you know it well, and youll be sticking with it through the storm. Thanks very much. You and i will be talking a lot over the next 72 hours or so. Florida governor rick scott was speaking just moments ago. Lets listen to what he had to say with his latest update. Good afternoon. I just had a briefing with jackson emergency officials. The storm surge is forecast to be five to ten feet, which is lifethreatening. Rainfall is forecast to be to 12 inches with isolated rain receiving up to 20 inches of rain in places. A hurricane watch is in effect for jup terr and southward around the florida peninsula to bow knee at that beach. The florida keys, lake oh key chao beand florida bay. Right now the National Hurricane center is reporting that Hurricane Irmarie mains a dangerous and lifethreatening category 5 storm with winds of 175 miles per hour. Based on what we know now, florida will have major hurricane impacts with deadly storm surge and lifethreatening winds. And we can expect this all along the eastern coast of florida. The florida keys should be prepared to start feeling the effects of this storm as early as tomorrow night. Look at the size of this storm. It is wider than our entire state and could cause major lifethreatening impacts from coast to coast. Regardless of which coast you live on, be prepared to evacuate. Floridans on the west coast cannot be complacent. Just because models show it going along the east coast, the west coast will still have hurricane conditions. Remember, hurng andrew is one of the worst storms in the history of our state. This is much worse and more de stating on its current path. Irma has already caused multiple fatalities. This storm is powerful and deadly. Were being very aggressive in our preparation for this storm and every floridian should take this seriously and be aggressive to protect their family. Possession can be replaced. Your family cannot. This is serious and we cant take chances. It is lifethreatening. This is not a storm you can sit and wait through. One of our Top Priorities right now is fuel availability. We know there are problems with supply at gas stations and are working around the clock to get fuel to you. Last night i spoke with all the fuel retailers. This morning i spoke with the Oil Companies and earlier today i spoke with fuel suppliers. I have been very clear to all of these groups i have to know exactly what they need so we can Work Together to get fuel to families as fast as possible. The issues as of now include fuel availability from some of our ports. Federal rules and regulations and getting fuel through traffic to gas stations. To address these concerns were doing the following. Ive talked to fema, the department of energy, epa, the department of transportation and the white house about waving federal rules and regulations to get as much fuel as possible into our state and through our ports. I have directed state Law Enforcement to provide Escort Service to gas trucks to get them through traffic so they can get to the stations faster. These state Law Enforcement he is courts are happening right now. For gas stations in evacuation zones, we need you to stay open as long as possible s