Winds up to 160 miles an hour. The storm surge could rise up to 10 feet. Some areas are no longer habitable in the caribbean. Hurricane level winds could reach across the entire state tonight. Many are stranded. I dont want to stay for a whole week without electricity, internet, food, especially when you have a baby. Its harsh. Ten minutes before boarding time i they jaus canceled the flight without giving us any explanation whatsoever. They toll us, give yourself a shelter. We ended up having to pay 1,000 to go to dallas and then on to l. A. Its been awful. We knew as soon as we landed that we should never have gotten on the plane in england. You could hear officials asking us why youve got to florida. Why to come to florida and how to get out of florida. Those were the questions folks were addressing a the airport. Meanwhile, lets look at the path of the storm. Bonnie schneider is back with us. Ari, the storm center of irma, category five hurricane is interacting with the northern coast of cuba. But look at the size and the massiveness of this storm. In fact, you can even see some of those clouds getting closer to the border of florida. The storm is still a few hundred miles away. Lets take a closer look at the eye and the eye wall. We watched eye wall replacement cycles. That allowed it to weaken and strengthen a bit. But right now, that eye is certainly interacting with the land across cuba. Depending on how much interaction we see could really make a difference in terms of intensity, but fortunately not by much. I think were still going to see a powerful hurricane as it works its way towards florida. The northerly turn is expected to happen tomorrow. Right now its about 300 miles to the southeast of miami florida. Certainly getting closer to miami. And the movement is to the west at 13. And we are waiting for a gradual turn to the northnorthwest. When that occurs well start to get a better idea of exactly where that eye will pass over florida. But it certainly going to happen in the next 24 hours. So lets take a look at the track. If youre joining us now, things have been changing day to day with the computer models. Now most of the models are pointing more towards the west coast, seeing the most intense part of the storm. Here we are looking at land fall possibly around key west or somewhere in the mid florida keys and then perhaps a second one towards naples, florida, or somewhere along the west coast. Were likely to see more of an impact for sanibel and ft. Myers as well. It does weaken a bit by the time et gets into the lower sections of georgia. This could all change. But i want to show you the computer models. We call this the windshield wiper effect. Yesterday we were talking about the east coast of florida. But now theres a pretty nice consensus that it will be more of the west coast impacted. But i dont want to think on the east coast youre going to be feeling the effects of hur cane irma. You will be because of the size and the intensity of the storm. Current winds have already picked up in the miami area probably because the storm is so close now. The gusts have gotten up even higher than that. But look at the keys. Boy, those gusts are picking up and we expect it to increase as the storm gets closer. Heres a look at the computer models as we go through the day tomorrow. Watch the increase go from south to north. They will be intense as far as north to orlando or melbourne as we go into sunday. Thats where were expecting the brunt of the storm to go through Central Florida. This is just one computer model. The winds could certainly be stronger than that. And speaking of that, this is what we call our rpm model and it does show a land fall of the this storm somewhere in the florida keys. Then the heavy bands of rein working their way through the west coast of florida, but certainly rain and heavy amounts on sunday coast to coast. Again, because of the size of the storm, the center of the storm is 35 nautical miles wide. With the width of florida, were going to see the impact coast to coast. The storm surge looks like it may be worse further in the southwest part of the state earlier than we thought. Those numbers have gone up 12 feet in southwest florida. Storm surge unfortunately is a byproduct of these hurricanes. You get that push from the ocean in above what we would normally see normal elevations. Certainly well up to the west coast of the florida where were looking at that. 300 miles east of florida, the winds at 160. The movement to the west at 13. And incidentally, ari, when the storm eventually makes that turn, were expecting the speed to pick up. The faster the storm moves in, the faster it can move on. It will take a little while unfortunately for everything to really clear. Thank you very much, well be checking back. Were just a few feet from the beach. On the other side of the building as you can see there. We came to this station because this is one of the last places that we found in this whole area that had gas. Or so we thought. About 20 minutes ago we saw that they had shut down the pumps. We saw a few people that had come in obviously looking for gas. Not too many, though. Maybe one every 15 minutes driving by and seeing red covers on the gas which means they are out of it. You can see theres no price there anymore. This is something that we thought we were going to be able to get some people getting gas and we were going to be able to gas up ourselves here. But again just a few minutes ago, this gas is going by so quickly. As far as supplies, weve seen people coming in for supply, which is helpful. Sorry about that. They are out of gas. We went right to the front. Theyre still open for the necessary suppliesupplies, chip sandwiches. A few people we talked to getting last minute supplies. But for the most part, this is friday evening here. And you would expect it to be, you know, normally obviously bustling. And everybody has taken a heed of the voice to get out of town and to move north or out. Not too many. Lets see we talked to one person that is by here. What are you here to get . Supplies . I already got all my supplies. Everything was taken out of these stores come monday, tuesday. There was lines from here to the diplomat. A quarter mile to here. Theres no supplies. Everybody has been hectic. Its been pretty wild. The gas goes instantly. As soon as it comes, it goes. And thats how it goes everywhere around here. Theres a lot of convenience stores, Publix Winn Dixie to the max. Whats your name . Jeremy. Are you going to wait it out. I always have. I would rather be in a building than a house. I hope everyone is safe. One of the few people weve seen here for the most part. Everybody has taken heed and gotten out. Thank you, phillip. And thats the rare breed we hear about, folks who are making the choice to stay there. Thanks for reporting from that gas station. Its not the only one we are tracking. If youre watching the special coverage, you may have seen a reporter pulling overnight duty and were speaking to a lot of floridians, wtvj reporter lye with us in kendall, florida. What do you have now . Well, weve got a little taste of irma to begin with. Weve got some rain, we got some wind and take a look behind me. All of those headlights. This is what an evacuation looks like on a saturday morning when a catastrophic hurricane is on approach. You can see, these people are all waiting for gas. Most of the people ive been able to make contact with, they say they are coming from the keys. They made that final decision. I was talking to this guy earlier. You said youre from monroe count county. Thats the key, by the way. Most people ive been speaking so have been from the keys. You guy s are the ones who pushd it to the last minute. Yes. I planned on staying but when i saw the eye potentially hitting key west, i decided to come to miami. Is this as far north as youre going to come. Hopefully. You just really dont want to leave home . Not really. But im going to head back as soon as i can. And thiss the plan. Twha do you think of all this . How long have you been living in the keys . Over ten years. So what do you think of all this . I was around for wilma. It took us a couple of years recover for that. Hopefully this wont be as bad. Did you stay for wilma . Yes. My car was destroyed in wilma. Hopefully thats not the case this time. Good luck. Hope you find a place in miami. Shelters, a lot of them are closed, overcapacity earlier. I was in the other shelter. They had 3,700 people. Another shelter with 2,000 people. I saw them turn away families and kids. Lets go ahead and see what else weve got here. Sorry, sir. By the way, the Highway Patrol here is doing a great job making sure that this is all done in an orderly fashion. As you can tell, all of these people, they really want gas, they need gas. It looks like trying to figure out what theyre doing here. Give me a second. Are you guys closing the pumps . Were opening the other side. Are you out of gas for this side . No, were getting loads and we want to have enough for this side also. All night long, theyve been bringing all the traffic into this side of the pump. This is the east side of the turnpike. Now theyre saying theyre going to reroute drivers to the west side because they want to make sure they even out the fuel and make this better for drivers and a bit more efficient. So theyre going to be waiting just a little bit longer. All these pumps, except for these two right here are empty. I shouldnt say empty in that they dont have fuel, meaning theres no cars here. Now theyre letting another vehicle up. I would go out there and try to talk to some of these drivers but i dont think theyre going to lower their window for me. So ewell wait for a few to come up. Long lines have been wrapping around gas stations all over south florida. And now the trick is really one, finding a gas station thats still open. Two, finding a gas station thats still open and actually has fuel. That is the challenge here. And a lot of people, theyve got to try more than once. It takes them three or four times until they find the gas that theyre looking for. So now what theyre doing is instead of actually stopping to get fuel. Were going to walk with them until you guys tell me you want us to go ahead and cut out. Were going to follow them to the other side and see how this traffic flow is working. They really are doing what they need to do to manage the entire situation. As you can imagine, if it wasnt done in an orderly fashion, weve seen on several in several gas stations manny, please be careful. We have seen in several gas stations, tempers flare. . Some instances, cops had to be called. This is a tense time. People are very stressed out. Theyre trying to get to safety. Emotions are pretty high right now. As you can see now, its much more full. Let me not get in your way, sir. This man is at the pump. Lets see if hes going to go ahead and talk to us. His license plate says marathon. Hi, sir. How are you . Fine. Youre live right now. Youre from the keys i take it . Key west. When did you finally decide to leave . At 8 00 when the thing got even with the sevenmile bridge. So the guys ive been talking to from the key, it was the advisory go ahead and figure that out. Lets not show his pen. A lot of the guys im talking to from key west, they saw the 5 00 p. M. Advisory and the 8 00 p. M. Advisory and thats what did it. The 8 00 p. M. Advisory when they moved the center of the cone from marathons east side to the sevenmile bridge, it was time to get out. And the category five was going to happen again. Yeah. And what is it . Why is it you guys in the keys just really want to wait till the last minute, dont want to leave your homes. I could leave earlier. I was on a trip and had to get in on wednesday, and by then i needed enough gas that i couldnt get any in key west. Where are you headed . Im headed to. Some relatives in lake mare rry. I need this far to get to orlando. I have enough if i cut the speed back a little bit from 70 because i get better mileage at 65. You know, best of luck to you. Im glad you left the keys. Thats the message we have been local wall to wall coverage here. We have been telling people the keys, they need to get out. This is the situation here as you can tell. Tons of people trying to get gas, really trying to get out of irmas path. Back to you guys. A lot of people have tough jobs out there during all this, but you are also one of them. I appreciate your time and reporting tonight. Appreciate that. Now ahead, southern florida evacuates the red cross deploying volunteers to florida for emergency services. We have the ceo with an interview explaining the emergency plan. Southern florida devastated by the record breaking hurricane andrew. You heard many offhand references to it, including some of the floridians weve been talking to. Those records could be shattered. Were going to give a lot more context to that historic storm up ahead. This thing just looks like a monster. We were very really very afraid. I visualize myself going back to my condominium and being destroyed. We are running out of time. The storm is almost here. If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm that our state has never seen. Its not only a dangerous storm, we have already seen loss of life. This storm has taken lives already. Its going to take more unfortunately if were not prepared. So please take it seriously. If youre told to evacuate, leave and get out quickly. The roads will fill up quickly so you need to go. Im a dad and im a grandfather. I love my family. I cant imagine life without them. Do not put yourself or your familys life at risk. Our kids kept saying get out of there. Now its going to go to the east. Im not super worried. But now yeah, were worried. This remains a remarkably dangerous storm. And the window to get yourself in the right spot for weathering the rm so, either evacuating or weathering the storm is closing rapidly. Possessions can be replaced. Your life and your family cannot. Lets not put too fine a point on it. If you have not evacuationed in an evacuation zone, you could do. I have my confidence in god. I know weve prepared for the storm. And when a storm is coming the best thing you can do is prepare for it. You dont just sit there. Do you think you might have to hunker down at home for a couple of days . Hopefully. If its still standing. Im very concerned. And i prepared like its going to be a category four. Five days of food, two weeks of water. My generator is filled. Uh. People never lived in the dark like this. Its going to happen like hurricane andrew did. And so were not getting back here, possible looting. Or your National Guard being here to protect the area. Its going to be unprecedented. Do you look at andrew . This is bigger than andrew, about 1 3 bigger in size and circumference. When you saw the power of the storm, when you saw the Doppler Radar . Its terrifying. Its terrifying. Absolutely. The beach right now, i wept b out this morning just to look around, its like post apocalyptic. Do you think theyre going to be safe. Safe with this hurricane . 180 . No. Its estimate there hads anywhere between 100,000 to maybe 500,000 people who will be looking for some sort of emergency shelter. This could be the largest Mass Evacuation in the history of the United States. We have never been in the shelter before. But we were very really very afraid. Well be lucky to survive. Its just going to be a horrible mess. Hundreds of thousands of people in florida are in these evacuation zones. Irma heading to land as weve been covering. Miamidade county ordering the largest mandatory evacuation ever. That means 650,000 residents urged by authorities to leave their homes immediately. Many have ended up in shelters hunkering down to wait out the storm. We have a very special guest. Joining me by phone is the ceo of the American Red Cross of Central Florida. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Jennifer, let me start with a question i have been putting towards many people in your position who are doing this important work. Number one, what is the most Important Information you want to convey right now . Epg i think the most important thing is for everyone in florida to listen to their state and local officials and when they make recommendations for people to evac yalt areas that they take that seriously. And they act upon that advice as soon as they receive it so that they can get to a safe place in order to weather out the storm. Safety is our first and foremost fors residents at this point. And what is the advice in your region . It changes hour to hour as the storm track changes. They have been ordering evacuations in our st. Pete area and tampa city proper. And there are evacuation shelters all across Central Florida as we speak right now. You mentioned the shelters all across florida. We mentioned that effort. But also at times on reports of shortages in the shelters. What can you tell us about the total volume and the efforts to have enough shelter to meet the human volume. We keep continuing to work with the state and local partners and identify additional facilities we can open. We want to make sure the facilities are safe places for people to weather the storm as they come through. As the shelters fill up, we continue to be in close con b contact. We were putting red crossers who had flown into orlando into cars, sending them down to West Palm Beach and further areas south so we could open additional helters as the need continues to grow. Red crosser, what does that mean . Volunteers or other experts you work with . They are. Theyre volunteers who are willing to raise their hand, get on a plane and spen two weeks away from their family in a disasterimpacted Community Just to help the local residents here in florida. So far weve got 550 that have flown in across the u. S. To help us. And we have another 400 that are already on their way. After irma passes well be able to bring even more help into the state of florida. You mentioned resources. There are always these pushes for funding. Weve been reporting throughout the day on the deal between trump and the congressional leaders on the government side. Then there is the do nations and other materials that are provided. Obviously thats very important. Above and beyond that, though, what else in your view at this hour, as we head into saturday, can people do if they want to get involved or help in the coming days . We are always looking for new volunteers that are happy to help. If that they goat to redcrossnet. Org they can fill out an application. Our staff are ready to train people and take care of impacted communities both locally. And if theyre available and trained appropriately to send them on a plane to help other impacted communities. The other thing is they can make sure theyre checking in on their loved ones. This is a neighbor checking neighbor kind of situation. So once the storm passes, we want people to get out, make sure that theyre safe, make sure that it is safe to leave their home, but then go check on your fellow neighbors and see if they need a helping hand as well. Thank you so much, jennifer, and stay safe. Thank you, sir. Our kids kept saying get out of there on monday or tuesday. Im like no, its going to go to the east. Im not super worried. But now, yeah, were worried. Ive be ive been a paramedic for a long time and ive seen this from the other side. Joining live here at 1 30 eastern time. The mayor from jupiter, florida, which is under one of those mandatory evacuation orders. Mayor, thanks for staying us late with us. Sure, my pleasure. What can you tell us tonight . In palm beach county, we have had mandatory evacuations along the coastal boundaries. But weve been watching the storm move to the west. And so were feeling like were not going to get the prunt of the storm per se, but were still planning for storm surges and maybe more likely to have Tropical Storm winds rather than the bare brunt of the storm as it moves to the west. But we were certainly preparing for the worst, not more than 24 hours ago. Sure. In our coverage tonight and our reporters on the ground have seen a lot of folks who are figuring out what theyre doing. Some getting gas, some going north. Some getting gas and going home. What are you telling folks now at this stage . Well, you know, the foebs that were in the mandatory evacuation area hopefully you made arrangements, you made a plan. If not, that simply means if something goes south in the middle of the storm theres no first reresponders that are going to be available to you until after the heavy winds have died down. So helpfully everybody has been accounted for. Weve been prepared for this for, you know, since the early to middle part of the week. And at this stage, you know, you can kind of feel the community saying okay, weve got to rally together and kind of get ready to hunker down for a couple of days here. And then once we come out of this, figure out what the next steps are. Were speaking live to the mayor of jupiter, florida. We talk a lot about the worstCase Scenario. Could you outline the best Case Scenario for florida . Well, for the state of florida, the best Case Scenario is a track that moves to the west and some sort of weakening. You know, we had been preparing for a track to come really right up the east coast. Not gosh, a day ago. We thought it was going to be coming right towards us. But, you know, at this stage, so many people are on the road. I really fear for the people that got on the road thinking that they would be able to get gas at northern points and, you know, get into that area. Thats my biggest fear is our friends and neighbors who have kind of trekked out there without much of a plan other than get out of dodge. So i know our shelters are accepting people, but theyre starting to fill up for sure. But boy, we sure are hoping for the best. And get out of dodge is the start of a plan. Thats certainly what the evacuation orders suggest. But you need more than that. Mayor wodraska, thanks for staying up late with us. The last time a storm hit the area of this size was 92. I spoke to debar wasserman shultz. We the latest on Hurricane Irma. The last time a storm this size hit florida was 25 years ago. The body count, 61 deaths and flattening more than 125,000 peoples homes. This was the most expensive hurricane in u. S. History. The damage toll was over 50 billion. Hurricane irma on the right, much bigger in size, in scope, in breadth, and wre believe in intensity than that record ho holder hurricane andrew. It was something out soft wizard of oz. Things flying in front of us and coming over the back of the car. I still remember. One of those giant offramp signs just sort of dancing down the road. That could have sliced the top of the car off and taken our heads off. This is a strange position to find myself in. So they wedged their car behind a metro rail support column and took cover. I slipped down underneath the glove box and thats where i delivered my report of the worst moments of dealing with one of the scariest moments of my life. One of the scariest moments of his life and so many other peoples lives. Southern florida is accustomed to preparing for inclement weter and hurricane, but were told by experts in house, by government officials, by authorities, this one is different. Earlier, i spoke with congressman Debbie Wasserman shultz, for example. I asked her, whats hur top concern . One of my main concerns is the folks who have refused to leave despate mandatory evacuation orders. While we have seen quite a few people make their way to shelters, get out to low lying areas. Miamidade is undertaking the larger evacuation in their history, there are people who are choosing to stay point. Were grist were grizzled veterans down here. But unfortunately theres a lot of people who get clinical. We do a lot of prep and thankfully most time, particularly in modern times, we have not had to ride out and deal with a very significant storm. You showed a graphic earlier, ari, of andrew, which was one of the most devastating storms in our history in the United States and essentially irma would swallow andrew in terms of its size. My district really appears to be headed for a direct hit, even with the western jog, because i remember the saw grass to the sea grass, from the everglades to the ocean. And the distance between naples and weston, my hometown, is just under 100 miles. And the width of the Hurricane Force winds is about 75 to 90 miles. 10 we are going to have a lot of people get very, very hit very, very hard and weve not had a storm that is really goek to affect every major metropolitan area in the state virtually. So thats my concern. Were preparing. Were working with the state and the local and the federal officials. They prepositioned equipment and supplies and they have hhs at the federal level has medical teams prepositioned, ready to come into the state and already prepositioned in the state. So were ready for the aftermath of this thing. But its going to be devastating. Congresswoman you mentioned it, the few people but people nonetheless who are there who for whatever reason lnt leaving. Maybe they dont consume as much media as you mentioned. Maybe they feel they have quote, unquote, been through this before. What do you want to say to them tonight . Anyone within the sound of my voice that is in a mand doatory evacuation storm absolutely still needs to get out. You have this evening that you can evacuate, get to higher ground, go west, go to an emergency hurricane shelter that are open and available. Burr its essential that you not leave yourself vulnerable in the path of devastating storm surge where there are no Emergency Personnel that are going to be available to help you if you remain in the path of that storm. Its absolutely critical. Winds 160 miles an hour, slated to make land fall now we can tell you early sunday. Bonnie schneider is back with the latest. Bonnie . Ari, this is really interesting. You can see the eye of Hurricane Irma interacting with cuba. The movement says its moving to the west but a northwesterly turn is expected. You can see the gradual Movement Starting west and then working its way more to the northnorthwest. I think in the 2 00 a. M. Statement that were about to get, we might see some change in that direction. Thats important. The more it moves to the westerly direction, thats worse news for florida. Lets take a look at the position and where the storm is right now. Its about 300 miles away from miami. And unfortunately it is getting closer to south florida. Maximum winds 160 miles an hour. Still classifying the storm as a dangerous category five. Its been a 4, but its a 5 right now. And not much of a difference because we have those winds at 155 before. Heres the latest track, you can see were expecting a land fall somewhere in the florida keys and then a second one somewhere on the west coast of the florida. The cone of uncertainty does stretch further off to the east, including miami at this point. That could change again. But right now, we are looking at covering mooe of the west coast of florida. Thats not to say the east coast of florida wont be impacted because this is such a large storm. Take a look at this. The computer models have shifted to the west and theres a good consensus that turn to the northwest will occur sometime tomorrow. See tow heightly packed the lines are . That way you know nay ear more in agreement. Most of them are pointing more towards west coast. This is a really interesting graphic. Even if youre on the east coast, further off to the north. Youre going to feel the Hurricane Force winds likely because of the mass i have size of irma. Its a huge, huge hurricane. Even the eye itself weve shown you, that five is 35 nautical miles wide. Its really strong in terms of size. Notice the orange here, the Hurricane Force winds. They do work their way across the peninsula from west coast to east. Were going to see the potential for a lot of wind damage and power outages. Currently, the winds are also picking up. Look at the current wind gusts. Theyre getting pretty strong at miami beach and especially in key west. Some of the wind gusts climbing well over 100 miles an hour already. And the storm has not yet worked its way in that vicinity. Another huge threat is the storm surge when the water rushes inland. And this is going to be a big factor with Hurricane Irma because of the size and strength of it. Yeah, its just tremendous weve done so much looking at the potential path. People talk about models and where its going to head. What youre showing in just raw scale is bigger than a state. Its been more than two decades since hurricane andrew devastated parts of florida. Millions more directly in this path of Hurricane Irma. Are the cities and the construction sites ready . Tonight, a clear view of trouble on miamis horizon. A sea of kruk cranes with no time to take them down. Officials who operate two dozen cranes say the 360,000 pound Steel Structures are built to withstand 145mileanhour winds. But theres fear tonight irma could knock them down, which is why theyre designed to spin. They will blow whichever way the wind is blowing just like a weather vane would. Thats what happened as irma passed floug puerto rico. Though during super storm sandy, this one collapsed. From sky to sea, First Responders are bracing for the worst. The National Weather service says buildings could be washed into sea. Some could be uninhabitable for weeks, even months. 25 years ago, buildings were flattened by andrews storm surge and powerful winds. Now south floridas building codes will be put to the test. So will critical operations like hospitals. During harvey, some were forced to evacuate as floodwaters rose. But here in miami, the largest hospitals plan to stay open. We got a lot of hurricane andrew veterans here. This is bigger, broader. It is a big unknown. Reporter this weekend, 9 million could use power. The electric grid could be crippled for weeks. Two Nuclear Plants prepearing to shut down. Dire forecast predicting disaster and now a region scrambling to stay on its feet. Thanks for that report. Now ahead, lester holt was with the First Responders gearing up for the next long stretch. Things change as time goes on and the storm gets closer and closer to mainland florida. One thing we know is fewer responders will eremain in the path of the storm on miami beach. But theres one storm, station 2 firefighters readying their gear for possible research and even rescues. Ore own Nbcs Lester Holt has that story. It is business as usual in miami beachs fire station 2. But tomorrow night, station 2 might be this zensquare miles sole lifeline. The three other stations are closing for the storm. Virgil fernandez is fire chief. What we want to do is make sure that our equipment is able to rerespond afterwards. We will keep a contingency here at one of the fire stations. But we dont want to mess up our equipment and not be able to respond. Reerpt today, firefighter. Reporter the city has also announced First Responders will not be responding at some point. After 40 miles an hour, we cant safely send personnel out in the street. Reporter residents planning to stay have been warned. When you hear the warnings, do you stop and pause . I think about it. Everybody panics, but i try to remain calm. I take it as any other hurricane. We are preparing as best we can. Reporter the approaching storm, a twist of fate for chief fernandez who came 2from Hurricane Harvey just a week ago. Some people think youre all powerful. Unfortunately, we would love to be, but we, too, have our limitations. Nbc news lester holt out there 2346 florida. I want to bring in the global editor of Digital Content and hes been monitoring people who are trying to get out or figure out their situation, as well as those who have decided to stay. Lets take a live look at the traffic camera. I75 just north of tampa. Traffic moving there pretty well. If youre following this, if youre listening to us on the radio and youre hearing the storm track has changed and youre thinking about turning around, dont. That is ridiculous. You can not outrun this hurricane. Its wider than the state. We heard earlier from the gas station talking about shelters. Some people being turned away from shelters. If youre jammed up, running out of the gas, trying to get to a shelter, floridadisaster. Org shelters. Thats what the state of florida and officials are are directing people to. They want people to get there. That will have the latest information on shelters. To the airport. People trying to get out by air. Miami airport has basically said last call. 10 30 was the last flight and thats it. They had a big jam up with the baggage towards the end of the tonight, thats it. So theres no point in trying to get to the airport at this poinpoint weve been talking about these cranes. Theres 20 to 25 of them in miami. The reason were concerned about these cranes is while theyre desooened to withstand these winds, sometimes they dont. This was hurricane sandy. This was west 57th street here in new york city. A kran snapping in half during sanity. I think we have that video. Yes . No . There it is. Thats the concern right there. The widst of this storm is going to bring Hurricane Force winds to miami regardless of the track and that is a big danger there. We have the beaches empty in miami, which is what we want to see. The bottom line is people need to keep moving north. Moving north is just a good idea at this point. There is some stuff online. People who left miami are upset that they left miami. They now think that miami is going to be out of the danger zone. Thats just not the case so keep moving north. Right. This is a little bit like when people talk about the calculation of buying insurance. You get it so you have something if they cans go wrong. If things dont go wrong, you dont say gosh, i wish things went wrong so i could spend my insurance poll spip like wise, playing russian roulette in which part of the state evacuation orders are deliberate brought so people get out. Youre getting against yourself. Youre betting the storm is going to be big. We heard from the florida governor. We can rebuild our home, we cant rebuild your lives. Thats it. Our live coverage continues. Were live throughout the night. And a very good morning or evening to you. Im richard lui in new york city at msnbc world headquarters. 2 00 a. M. In the east, 11 00 p. M. In the west. Youre watching special coverage of Hurricane Irma on this day. The storm roaring past the bahamas and cuba, as it takes aim at florida. Once again as a category 5 there. All this while florida braces for what lies ahead to the next 48 hours. Tough 48 hours. And survivors in the caribbean are adding up the damage left behind. The number is big. At this hour, hur