Page 18 - Down Trees News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Who deal with down trees, repair power lines. when we were sitting in our hotel last night, there were cops, firefighters. that's what the city was putting up. there are also people who work for the power companies. there are people part of what the city considers to be first responders. they are ensuring the safety of the people here by trying to get the lights on as fast as they can. >> thank you. we were heartened to see some lights on the building behind you. we don't point out often enough, the very first task of every first responder is to leave their own first priority. that is their ho...

Area. we've been talking to the mayor as well. this is a city of 3,000 people. he said the hospital closed yesterday at 5:00 p.m. there is no shelter at port st. joe. very concerned about the people that did not evacuate. a lot of the folks already losing power. this hotel where we're coming to you live from has already lost power. a lot of locals are saying they are afraid that the landscape in this city and along the panhandle will not look the same after the storm, just short of a cat 5 made landfall. >> it's a lot of trees around you. it's forest and there's a lot of trees and debris. a wi...

To show you these trees behind me. that's what the roads are looking like. they are getting more and more inundated. we're starting to see more debris and more trees that cannot with stand the strong winds from this historic storm. i'm just a short 15 minute drive from mexico beach from where hurricane michael and made landfa landfall. we drove there today. we were going to be live there. we turned back because we were afraid when the wind gusts reach 45 miles an hour, they close the bridges, so we turned back. yesterday i talked to many locals there in mexico beach. many people did not evacua...

>> to be clear, the crew is inside and getting this. that's not what it's like outside to be in that wind. think about this, wind speeds up to 150 miles an hour sustained. the thing about sustained winds, maybe people have been outside and felt 40, 50 miles an hour wind gusts. >> for a moment. >> this is sustained. it keeps on blowing. then you have wind gusts up to 175 miles an hour. if you are a structure, you're a sign, any of these things, that's what you're up against. that's where the trees come down. that's where things go flying. it's the one blessing of the storm is that it's moving r...

Alive. >> with winds at 155 miles per hour, given how rural it is, how tall the trees are, how long could this area have no power? >> it could be weeks, worst case scenario. i use worst case scenario because yesterday the governor and the federal government did a great job getting ready for a category 2 storm and the storm showed up as a 4. it reassures the military planning process of prepare for the worst and hope for the best. this storm reminds us that we can't prepare for the category, we've got to prepare for the total effects. with a category 4, it will take the power infrastructure dow...