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wonder how it is even stand. a storm surge tore through marco island, and after it ripped through downtown naples, they're talking weeks if not months for recovery. at times, the water has been up to your waist it's that deep. for those that fire fighters could not reach, the only option, which was a dangerous one, was to walk through the flood waters. brian is in naples tonight. brian, how bad is the damage there that we're talking about? >> reporter: well, you just mentioned the phrase weeks if not months. that's exactly the phrase that officials here in naples told us it would take to recover from this, from the storm's hit of this city. take a look. this is what we're talking about. look at these ground floor apartments here. this is all from the force of water. this is not wind damage, this is the storage surge that came up
anticipate we will, we're not coming. we're not putting people in peril when they didn't heed the mandatory evacuation. >> giving what we know now, do you know how many homes, what area will be under water when the worst of it hits there, when the worst of the storm surge hits for? >> well, right now, as it appears, probably not anything under water. we're expecting 4 to 6 feet of storage surge. areas of upper tampa bay, safety harbor, northeast st. petering burg, those are the areas we most concerned about. >> well, that's a good update to hear, but i know you and your team are taking this seriously, sheriff gualtieri, it's going to
bands, the winds, waves, surge it will be happening. most of these storms come in and go. this is going to sit here for 24 to 36 hours once it makes landfall. we're not talking about from now so we'll talk about this storm through the weekend as it's sitting here dumping rain. the storage surge and flooding will be the two main concerns with this storm. we're talking about taking a beat of 120 mile per hour winds for 24 hours, a lot of structures will fail but the inundation of waters will be devastating with this storm. all 6 that energy is coming along with it and it will come
addition strong winds and this is where the biggest threat fors is loekded. you have to understand where the storm came from to know what to expect. look at the amounts of rain that have been dropped in portions of florida. ft. pierce with 16 inches of rain. gainsville with nearly a foot. napeles with a foot of rain. look at georgia and it recently started to rain. kingsland over 10 inches of rain already. homeland about eight inches of rain. keep in mind for georgia, the rain is still coming and likely will for the next several hours. the numbers are going to go up in terms of wind speed. we will not see numbers like this going forward, but they are impressive and naples with a wind gust of over 140 miles per hour. largo island at 130 miles per hour. storage surge is still a concern for portions of florida. mostly on the western coast.
and it's just a massive storm with all of the swirling clouds, and that's what is covering up virtually the whole state of florida right now. bill: yeah, i bet it's a beautiful thing from space but a hell of a thing to go through on the ground, and millions are experiencing that now. senator, good luck. we'll speak again very soon. bill nelson, the democratic senator from florida, riding this out through orlando tonight. sandra, on we go. irma is here, back to you in new york. >> things changing by the minute. bill. irma pummelling florida with hurricane-force winds but authorities pointing out the biggest danger comes from potential storage surge. we're going live on the ground in naples next where they're bracing for a potential 15-foot wall of water. oh. hey mom. now that we have your attention... capri sun has four updated drinks.
massive storage surge of 10 to 15 feet. that did not materialize. we were actually here in downtown naples. this is where the eye of the storm blew through. you see toppled trees and knocked down power lines. this area is without power. you mentioned so many people in shelters at germaine arena. many people went up there and have been there for several days and said yes, the power went out at the arena. several thousand people were inside and the roof began to leak at one point, but again, a local emergency management official said the building was safe and the situation was controlled. we spoke with one evacuee overnight and said the situation was improving there. as i'm walking over here, talking about the storm surge. if you look, this is not far from the beach, this street. there is some water down there. and there was some overnight flooding in the naples area, but for the most part, that storm surge just did not materialize. if it had, this entire street
we will stay in close touch with you as you head south. be careful over there. let's move north. the storm is moving north. we are seeing the worst flooding around jacksonville in the northern part of the state where the storm surge put streets and homes under water. kaylie h kaylie hartung is there. how bad is it? >> reporter: it looks bad now. in downtown jacksonville we are about two blocks off of the middle of downtown, but it is going to get worse. high tide at 2:00 p.m. the storage surge that flooded the streets will bring waters to six feet above high tide leer. as bad as it looks, it will get worse. this has been interesting to see so many spectators here on dry ground checking out the scene
we are standing by for a fly over and some of the areas hit hardest in florida. we will have that for you and a threat of storage surge as irma makes its way north right now. this is cnn special live coverage. hy you look. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. [he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing... ...so he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he can see his bottom line. ahhh...that's a profit. know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks-dot-com.
>> all right, everybody. one of the innumerable news conferences by governor wreck sco -- rick scott. he's been working around the clock. he started by saying "it's here." right now he said parts of the keys are being affected by this 170 mile-an-hour winds off the coast of cuba but those winds are very expansive and they're already reaching key west. he's saying six to 12-foot storm surge is possible. a storage surge flows in very powerfully, very quickly and then leaves just as quickly and it takes everything with it in its wake. that is why he's saying everybody get away from any
right and that's where i'm going to be. it has to start the first minute after the winds subside. >> what is your biggest fear when you look at a storm here that is several times the size of hurricane andrew. it is going to get stronger as it hits the warm water. what is your biggest fear? >> obviously a storm surge is the one that kills the most people, the storm surge. and the reasons for evacuation is because the storm surge mappmap and i want to make sure those folks move out because there could be a deadly storm surge coming from this hurricane and it could push a large amount of water inland. obviously you have to worry about property damage. first thing, obviously, loss of life. but outside of that storage surge is loss of life, property damage and then our economic