Up. All of it with Major Concerns over storm sturge, that could get as high as 15 feet some some areas. Power obviously, people losing power. A major concern. A number of people without power is increasing by the power. When we first came on the air at 6 00 east coast time. This morning, 200,000 people without power. That number is now over 1 million. Well probably continue to see it climb. Weve got a team of correspondents across florida, as Hurricane Irma hammers the area. Lets start with correspondent Miguel Almaguer in florida city. Miguel good morning again. Reporter the wind is still blinding out here, the and ten miles inland from the coastline, they say the storm sturge is is not going to be a major issue. But these winds here that continue to knock down power lines and knock out power to this entire city. Still, much of this region remains in the dark here. The winds are Strong Enough that First Responders now say they will not leave the station. They are hunkered down. Were actually here at the police department. Theyre hunkering down here overnight, with city officials and the police department. They say at this hour, in these condition, they will not respond to emergency calls simply because it is too dangerous for First Responders to go out here. We rode out this storm overnight. It did sound as though parts of the building were beginning to come off. The building was completely destroyed during hurricane andrew. But 15 years ago, it was rebuilt to tougher and better building codes. Its made it through the night here. Many of these homes and businesses up and down the downtown area are completely boarded up. The mayor says this is a hurricanehardened community. Theyve been through storms like harvey before. Theyve been through hurricanes in the past. Theyre used to these conditions. He says the majority of the cities did not evacuate. Were actually at the door step to the keys which is experiencing a lot of flooding at this hour. Weve seen a few cars driving down this area. As a matter of fact, we saw one 45 minutes ago. It was a neighbor canning inas were okay, which we are. The wind is powerful enough to potentially push a car down the road. The water is slowly beginning to rise. Its not an issue here. Flooding is not a concern. Whipping winds still many without power and will be so for several days. Savannah, back to you. Lets check in with Gadi Schwartz down the road in the florida keys. Gadi, good morning to you. Youve come indoors, were happy to see that. Reporter yeah, savannah and matt, immediately after we talked we spotted a policlace. We found a church. You see it there, you see the winds whipping through. Were in a wonderful shelter. This is the Baptist Church here. It is made out of solid concrete. Weve found a couple families here. Weve actually got an audience. You guys are sitting here watching the hurricane, right . First of all, some of you guys were saying you were a little bit nervous earlier. Im going to just show you what were looking at. I know Cell Phone Service is kind of hard out here. Weve got this image and thats the hurricane right there. And its going this way. And this is where you guys are. Eventually, this is going to go up this way in the next couple of hours. And were going to see this go by. So, maybe two or three more hours of you guys sitting tight and watching out the windows and everything is going to be okay. Let me ask you, what do you guys think . Youre here, youre watching the winds, whats going through your minds . Were scared. And wind. Very mad. Reporter mad at the hurricane . No, because it wont let me go outside. Reporter mad at the hurricane because it wont let you go outside. Thats what were hearing here at the Baptist Church in key largo. For now, were safe, were dry. More like the mom and dad, gadi never wants to have. Le. Glad you guys are safe. Lets go to willie in the orange room. Interesting news youve got. Earlier this week, the city of miami issue a warning to residents about the danger of construction cranes in the storm. Take a look at this photo posted by a twitter user named savannah. It shows a collapsed crane on top of a building. This was a great fear that many people had in the city of miami. Officials saying those things can become missiles in some of these winds that were seeing, as dave price told us 80 to 100mileperhour gusts. One has gone down. At least two dozen cranes still standing. It takes too much time to get them down. It could be a week or more to dismantle one of those. The counterbalance on those can weigh up to 2,000 pounds that, too, very dangerous if the crane collapses in high winds. Guys, these are 900 feet tall in some cases. There are more than 20 in the miami area. Many people watching this anticipating this over the last week, were very worried about this exact scenario. And now, we do have one of the cranes collapsed on top of the highrise in miami. Not a good sign, willie. Appreciate that. Jo ling in ft. Lauderdale. Jo, were been tracking you. Hows the weather now . Lost her microphone. Well get word that shes not technically being heard right now. Well get back to her. Lets go to lester and al. Live weather coverage, boy, our crews are doing yeomans work trying to get those shots on the air. Lester and al in tampa, hi guys. Youre right, hi. And hats off to these crews working to get us on tv. We saw that image shared a moment ago about a crane collapse apparently in miami. When you take a picture, were right across the river from a couple of these cranes. Theyre meant, of course, to swing, kind of weathervane. But theres a lot of attention put on this at a time like this. Well be keeping an eye on those as well as other major cities. We had the mayor on a while ago who reinforced what is widely known, is this an atrisk city. They havent had a major hit of a hurricane, al, since 1921. Somebody pointed out the population was around 100,000 then. There are about 3 Million People in this tampa area . Thats right. This is a vulnerable section. Hillsborough river. And davis island. Theyve spent millions upgrading the Childrens Hospital there. Theres a lot of Residential Homes on this island. I mean, this is really a this is the most vulnerable city in america. We do not expect to be able to broadcast during the height of the hurricane here. We were doing the math, it becomes to high tide. I was looking at the clearance, you can see the marks where the high tide normally is you add 8 to 10 feet, we would be standing in water. Thats right, were starting to get into one of those feeder bands. You take at look at where we are, as far as irma is concerned. Its still a category 4 storm with 130mileperhour winds. It is currently 25 miles north east of key west, moving northnorth west at 8 miles per hour. So, its been fairly steady in its forward progress. And as you can see, were going to start to get a little forward movement. It is near fort myers, by this afternoon. Later today, into tonight, and the overnight hours, its right here in tampa. We worry about that wobble, could we see a direct hit in tampa . We cant rule that out. By monday afternoon, its in tlc, motlc tallahassee, and by as the system moves on, theres a Tropical Storm warning for atlanta. Storm sturge is the other big problem. Anywhere from 5 to 15 feet, especially along the west coast of florida. That heavy area from marco island all the way down to the keys. Weve got storm sturge and sanibel. All around this region. We are talking about anywhere from 9 to 15 feet of storm sturge. And thats going to be a big, big problem. Tornado watches also. Weve had numerous tornado warnings, they spin up very quickly. Theyve been in effect. And then they drop out. But everybodys got to be concerned about that. And on the lookout for a possibility of waterspouts and tornadoes. Rainfall. The heaviest rainfall will be in the keys. Upwards of twi in25 inches. 8 to 15 inches of rain locally up to 20 inches. The least amount will be probably in the panhandle, 4 to 8 inches, maybe 10 or 12 in some isolated spots. Right now, all eyes watching this. And when you seal the radar, you see how massive the system is, affecting both coasts at the same time. As advertised. As advertised. Virtually everyone in the state is at some risk from Hurricane Irma. Back to the studio. Lester and al, lets take a look at the monitor. We want to show you whats going on on the east coast. This is a location where our good friend mike sidell is. This is brickle key, in miami. Take a look at what the water is doing there. Wow. You know what, matt, in the next couple of hours, this is going to get worse. As the storm system, if we put the radar back up, as irma starts to parallel miami, and southeastern florida, that return flow into the system that counterclockwise low is going to get stronger. Theyre by no means out of the woods yet. They probably are getting into whats going to be their storm surge, as the system slowly makes its way northnorthwest. Theyre going to get that strong onshore flow and thats going to push that water right in there. Thats the east coast. You guys are on the west coast, and youre going to get to yo each other very well over the course of the next several hours over there. And right now, the storm in tampa, and theyre going to have move because the fear is that spot will be under water. Lets go to the mayor of fort myers on the phone, mr. Mayor, glad to have you with us. I wonder whats on the top of your worry list right now . Well good morning, our concern, is the preservation of life. As we speak, were moving citizens into safer shelters. But that time is growing to a close. We are now just beginning to embark on getting the message out that if you have not mobilized at this point, its not safe, and you need to stay in place. Do you feel like you had enough time . Because of course, we all knew that the whole state was at risk. But yet, there was a thought that it was going to be miami and southeastern florida that got the direct hit. Do you find that you had to scramble, or some people really had to scramble . Well, there were certainly some who felt that they wanted to ride it out. And for those who made that decision, there was certainly a scramble. And, of course, in large part, theyve been able to get out. This thing is pointed to us and were bracing for a direct hit, yes. We wish you luck. Obviously, were going to keep a close eye on whats happening in your city and all up and down the west coast. Mayor henderson, thank you very much. Thank you. Weve got jo ling kent back with us in ft. Lauderdale. Jo, whats the latest . Reporter hey, matt, the clouds are really moving in. The skies are darkening as the outer bands of irma come and make landfall here. Of course, were far away from the eye of the storm. You still feel the winds and rain picking up. Its doing significant damage here. You can see, were out if ft. Lauderdale and some big tree branches have fallen in the last couple of hours. In fact, were following along with the Broward County sheriff. They have issued a curfew until 10 00 a. M. Monday morning. What theyre saying with irma making landfall, you need to find the safest room in your house in Broward County and get to it. You need to put your cell phone in safe mode to keep your battery recharged if you do need to reach Emergency Services and if your phone lines go down. Take a look where well be. These streets continue to be empty. These winds are below 40 miles per hour. Theyve been patrolling to make sure that the debris is out of the roads. So far, we remain with power in this particular section of ft. Lauderdale. But the issue really is 200,000 people in the area. Completely lost power there. Theyre bearing down. Weve seen major signs come down along this street. But ft. Lauderdale, well prepared. They thought the eye of the storm was coming here. So, theyve hunkered down. They got their supplies early. And theres really no one on the street. Weve seen a couple of people drive by, taking a look at the storm. But it really is coming down now. And you can feel the clouds are moving super fast. And its getting quite dark. Matt. Jo, thank you very much. We have been showing you video this morning. Its pretty incredible. This is a storm chaser in the florida keys who got out of his car. He said he was testing the wind speeds there. His name is justin drake. Hes been at this for years. We spoke to him earlier and started asking how he was doing after that . Im good. Yes, thats correct. Me and the meteorologists, we know exactly where we can get to when it comes to hurricane and stay safe. Because i was out there as well. Were exactly were looking at this video of you kind of bracing yourself into the teeth of the wind. Where exactly were you at that moment . We were up on the key, on the causeway, its a higher area in the region where we know we can avoid the storm sturge. We just picked a spot where we knew there was nothing downwind of us if any debris started blowing around, you were not able to hit us. You broke up. Youre on a causeway in what area . Saddlebunch keys. Justin, we see the picture. The picture tells the story quite well. What did it feel like to be facing down that wind . It was, by far, the strongest winds that ive ever experienced. We actually got a wind gust measurement of 117 miles per hour. But i have no doubt there are wind gusts stronger than that the anemometer were unable to measure. You can see the video where i fell down. Justin did you see much damage to the local structures . We actually sue kaw key west earlier today, there was a lot of damage on the outer feeder bands. Because we wanted to get in the eye of the hurricane, we decided to head east to get in the eye of the hurricane after it made landfall on one of the keys. Everybodys worried about the storm surge here. Have you seen any flooding, seen any of that or heard about it . We have experienced a 15foot storm sturge when we were exiting out of key west. When we were on the causeway trying to get out of one of the other keys, we ended up on the road and actually got up to vee how deep the water was to drive over it, knee deep, 2 1 2 to 3 feet high. Justin, you said a second ago, you said those were the strongest winds youve personally felt. Again, you do this as your hobby or living. Compare it to what youve experienced . What was the next severe winds youve felt . Id compare these winds to Hurricane Harvey. We were actually facing that hurricane at the rockport airport when it made landfall. Up to that point, that was the strongest hurricane that ive experienced. This one, even stronger, to put everything in perspective, just how powerful this hurricane is. The conversation earlier with a storm chaser with those dramatic images. Philip levine is the mayor of miami beach. Mr. Mayor, good to talk to you again this morning. As we say hello, were staying that the storm sturge in biscayne bay where you are, is 4 feet at the moment. The bad news youve got high tide coming there about 12 50 early this afternoon. Thats very, very true. As a matter of fact, were getting reports that the tides are 3 feet above predicted. Thats virginia key on key biscayne. This threat remains. And flooding for us is likely to occur. As i said before, we have portable generates, some in the city, but theyre no match, no match whatsoever, for the tidal surgeriy surges youre about to experience. For everyone listening, number one, we want to you know, you should stay inside. This is very dangerous. Assumer powerful and potential flooding theres no place for anyone to be outside. We dont want anyone to return to miami beach. And our curfews tonight and tomorrow are fully in effect. Mayor when we talked to you first thing this morning, we were remarking that it was somewhat of a relief that miami and miami beach werent a direct hit of the storm. And yet, since then, the worst images weve seen have been from your area, from that area. Has it been worse than expected . No, this listen, we could have been a direct hit, a category 5 hurricane, were somewhat relieved for that. But of course, as weve been saying were a lowlying barrier island. Were so susceptible for flooding. When you have a tidal surge like were having right now, its a very, very big deal. Its very serious. You had a evacuation in your city. You deserve the credit for that. You gave the alarm early. Do you have an idea when youll send crews to check communities to make sure people didnt ride it out . Right now, about two minutes going into an Emergency Operations meeting well be talking to all of our department heads. Our plan is as soon as this storm ceases, well be able to put First Responders on the streets. Then our crews from the mainland will begin being deployed coming back into miami beach. And the first order of business is going to be able to clear the roads. Once we clear the roads well have an opportunity to assess any issues going on. That is the mayor of miami beach, philip levine. Mr. Mayor, good luck to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. That combined with the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in texas of course say major test and stressor on washington and the trump administration. Were going to talk about that more with chuck todd who joins us more. Chuck, these backtoback disasters really stress the system. It does stress the system. And its really going to be a test for fema. I want to echo something because i remember this in my personal experience during andrew, and i echo something that marco rubio, senator rubio said, south florida, and southeast, its going to be delayed when some of the reinforcements which come in. Because theres only one way to get back in. And that is going to be yet another stress on vocations of folks living down there and fema to find the ways to get down. Neb mind the evacuees who are wanting to come back home. So, the system is getting stressed. And because of what the biggest damage is going to be and geographically where its locateded. This is going to stress fema. Its beyond the financial issue. Its simply getting down there. And months now, every time we see you, were talking about some kind of Political Division in this country. Right. This is one of those episodes, or situations where politics simply does not apply. It doesnt. And it hasnt. And by the way, i should update you what the president s been doing this morning. He hunkered down at camp david. Hes already spoken to four different governors in some states, as we saw als forecast, the remnants ever this is now going to hit