we can show you, we are right on the beach here. daytona is not nearly as vulnerable to a direct hit from a hurricane at south florida is. they ve only had one direct hit since 1950. that was in 1960. they do get bad storms here, including matthew last year, which swamped many of these oceanfront hotels. the 70 some million dollars worth of damages here. a lot of these hotels had to shut down and redo their windows, redo all the carpeting. flooding along the beach, shepard. they are concerned about the possibility that the storm could be wars. in matthew last year, they got help right away. this year, the entire state is going to be in trouble. the help is going to be lots slower. shepard: rick leventhal on the beach for us. thanks. up next, we will talk to a guy in fort lauderdale who knows very well how dangerous this hurricane can be. that s because he s already been
they always have. again, thank you. the palm beach mayor has described hurricane irma the storm for centuries. she s asking people to stay calm for obvious reasons. she will join us live coming u. the united states postal service. priority: you wheyou wantve somto protect it.e, at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. legal help is here.
shepard: what was alike in puerto rico? sort of a glancing blow there. right. we have the center path about 7. we were in san juan and the elk risotto area. we dealt with hurricane force areas, but the tourist section, they held up really well. shepard: you wear on the dry side of that storm too? right. we are on the south side. a much different scenario here in florida. shepard: it s not a directional thing. it s not about north, south, east, and west, if it s moving east and west, dry side to the south, that s where you are. imagine being on the peninsula of florida as this comes up the west coast? that sounds horrible. it s absolutely going to be more impactful with the wind and the storm surge here, i would imagine. shepard: why do you do this? what is it? well, shepard smith, we try to get data and help the national weather office as well as the hurricane center with
you find a hotel room, or to stay here where they could be facing 10 inches of rain and a possible 10-foot storm surge. i saw one man actually checking this new level of his house with a gps out in front. it was 12 feet above sea level as we get 10 inches of rain and a 10-foot storm surge, a lot of these one-story buildings could be underwater. i saw a woman also constructing a safe room in her house with mattresses in the windowless area. a category four storm, if it hits here, would be able to rip the roofs off of houses and also ripped away some side walls and some buildings. that s not even talking about mobile homes. so people here facing life and death. you see it when you talk to them. you can hear it in the nervousness. it s really a contagious fear at this point, shepherd. shep: let s get straight to what do they call it? the extreme weather center. some changes here. a couple of changes.
storms forward speed is already slowing down. it went from 14 to 12 miles per hours. it is about to make us northwards turn to florida. anybody who has impeded the local warnings, your time is running out particularly if you are from monroe county. the thing to keep in key here is a simple 20-mile shift to the west or east could have terminus impacts on, you know, whether it s miami or communities from basically naples on up, the west coast of florida. take it seriously. shepard: andrew did exactly that. it was expected to hit the dade-broward line, instead it went south and devastated homestead. it saved miami and north miami-dade county and broward county. any movement. and yet, this is one of the storms and a rare storm where everyone in the whole state is going to be affected. i know you say you are ready, and i know you will, but this and harvey, and must be an