bill: as we continue our focus on puerto rico as we mentioned moments ago they still need help in houston. people there facing a major challenge. they have hurricane debris unlike anything they have seen before. casey stiegel is on this story live in dallas. good morning. what do they do with this debris? where does it go? how big is the problem? bill, it is a massive problem as you can imagine. a lot of people trying to figure out how to best handle it. this debris will be taken all over the place to landfills in these special debris management sites that have been set up inside the disaster zone. that was done by the texas commission on environmental quality because while there is this push to get the debris cleared out quickly. groups like the epa want to make sure it s being done safely. there are hazardous materials that have to be disposed of as well and it has to be done properly. however, patience is wearing thin in some of those neighborhoods.
to talk with us. there is clearly an immediate need for water, food and shelter. how can the islands rebuild? the first step will be removing the rubble and debris. but how do they do that? exactly, john. there s a significant challenge we have from debris management. there s ongoing life safety issues that we re handling. the biggest challenge is not just debroidebris, but getting off of the island because there s no sustainable option for them. when they try to move the debris, they have to find somebody to put it. there s no open space on the island and the damage here is catastrophic. yeah. when the earthquake happened in haiti, the president said it would take a thousand trucks a thousand days to move that debris. this looks like a similar situation. they get everybody off the ild, clear the rubble. they need building workers,
local communities, whether they be for continued sheltering, debris management, life safety, communications support, or whatever the needs may be. reporter: now, since this storm was first forecast over 100,000 residents down here on the barrier islands have been ordered to evacuate. rob and mike? t.j., we are getting word the eye of the storm is beginning to break up? reporter: well, that s correct. we re all used to that very tightly wound eye of the storm, the center of the storm which we see on satellite images. usually that is the very ominous image for those of us who watch the weather very closely. but as this storm has been downgraded from a category 4 to a category 3, now a category 2, we have seen that eye begin to break up. it s almost barely recognizable now on the satellite map. there is always the chance that could reform, and that would of course be a bad thing for the northeast. but right now, the odds are against it. all right, certainly good
whether they be for continued sheltering, debris management, life safety, communications support, or whatever the needs may be. reporter: the worst part of hurricane earl was expected to impact the coastline here at 2:00 a.m. eastern time on friday morning. rob and mike, back to you. thanks a lot, t.j. now the latest on the path of hurricane earl. accuweather s ava dinges has the latest on this storm. ava, what can we expect today? well, thank you, mike and rob. we re definitely expecting the worst of hurricane earl to be impacting the coastal areas of north carolina at least into the early morning of friday. then it s heading for the northeast. but as for now, it s still a strong hurricane. a category 2 storm, winds sustained at 105 miles per hour. it is tracking to the north, a little east of due north, at 18 miles per hour. it is going to continue to head off the eastern coastline. the worst of the weather right now to the outer banks where we re seeing waves as high as 25 f
significant. across florida, more than 30,000 federal employees are on the ground working with state and local officials. while most of the state is dealing with down trees and damaged buildings, in the keys, the situation is more grave. just in the last 24 hours the coast guard has made more than 100 rescues. it is a dire situation but the good news is the resources are coming. we re getting food. we re getting water. we re reconstituting the port of key west but it is going to take a little time. reporter: beyond the continental u.s., on islands in the caribbean, a helplessness after irma s deadly assault. there is loot ing. some guard their property with machetes. on st. john, one of the u.s. virgin islands, nearly 100% of the power structure is damaged or destroyed. there is a significant challenge that we have right now from debris management. even there is ongoing life safety issues that we re handling. the biggest challenge is not just debris but also getting