moved through here very quickly. you talk about the deaths. 17 people have been killed because of this fire. 20,000 people have had to evacuate. as we take you around the corner here, i ll tell you this, we talked to a man today who said he was awakened by his dog. the next thing you know he came outside and all he saw was the fire starting to roll over the top of his house. he wanted to get out quickly. it was bumper to bumper traffic. listen to what he just told us. my one dog is really alert to things and started barking and just wanting me to check on stuff. it was windy. i went out front. ashes coming down. wind blowing. went back in, checked my phone see if there s information about what s going on. didn t really find anything. came back out. embers dropping everywhere. grabbed my keys, my truck and dog and took off. i m just glad to be here. glad to have my dogs. you can replace the stuff but life s the most important. yeah, you can understand that
bumper to bumper traffic as residents were allowed to return home for the first time. the road to recovery may be the longest here in the florida keys, but those who live here say they re ready to rebuild. we re going to come back strong. everybody that lives here in this community. we will survive. we will survive this. reporter: gaddy schwartz, nbc news. thank you. for more on the recovery i m joined now by alice hill, former special assistant to president obama. once the water recedes, we ve learned this from katrina and sandy, it s hell to pay. this is a long road to recovery. we have debris removal. we have people who need to find ways to get to work. we have homeless. we have very ill people who have lacked medical care. this will be a difficult task for everyone. it will require all of the community to pitch in. let s talk about housing. people have one house, most people, they live in the house and once the water goes back
throughout south florida have been ordered to evacuate. many of them are clogging roads heading north. as al just mentioned, ns such a massive storm that it really is difficult to get away. but katy, there is some uncertainty for these families here that are now going to emergency shelters or trying to figure out how they re going to spend hurricane irma, spend the night, and they just don t know where to go. it is wild to see you at that airport, a normally bustling airport. we can barely move there are so many people. now it s all about empty. thank you very much. let s go to nbc s indicate why i beck who is traveling on i-95 from fort laurtd dale to atlanta. what is the traffic like out there, katy? well, similar to gabe, katy, the traffic here now is very light. it s almost an erie sight to look at i-95 headed north. you ve heard all the reports of this. back to back, bumper to bumper traffic, it seems that folks have hooelded the warning early
there in the final last few seconds. in kelly, kentucky, something else emerges in the sky. we can see venus here at this point in kelly, kentucky. i love the fact that you can see venus. even the president stepping out of the white house to watch. finally, the last major stop for the great american eclipse charleston, south carolina. the clouds cooperating. you know, it really puts us in our place as far as our role in the cosmos, doesn t it, the fact that we here on earth are part of something much bigger. and then sky gazers starting to make the long journey home. in remote rigby, idaho, bumper to bumper traffic for miles. the traffic coming out of idaho goes as far as the eye can see. reporter: this traffic jam started precisely as the eclipse ended. people already had packed, gotten into their cars. one family heading back to california. how long do you expect that to take you with this traffic? about 20 hours. reporter: 20 hours. was it worth it? 20 hours.
gaping hole. now the race to reroute the water causing bigger problems. the damage and erosion so severe emergency officials fear the worst. if the area doesn t hold, a giant wall of water could spill into the surrounding residential areas. just seven miles down from the city of oroville, this is the feather river. if that spillway fails, a million more gallons of water every second would enter this river. more than 200,000 people told to evacuate. the alerts coming in by phone and text. this oroville resident said he had five minutes to leave. her phone started going off, and we just immediately loaded up the kids and took off. yeah. reporter: dishes left on the table at this abandoned denny s. those fleeing stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for hours. gas stations overwhelmed. i m scared because i have never been in anything like this before. reporter: motorists tweeting photos and videos of their ordeal through the night.