difference between catastrophe and obliteration and something that is devastating but survivable. you saw irma when you were there and obviously now that storm is getting ready to turn towards the florida keys and miami. what should people expect? you are someone who s been in the midst of this storm and many others. well, get out of the way. that s the biggest thing. we had crews on saint thomas during the hurricane and they lost a root of their hotel when the hurricane struck. i was in texas a couple of weeks ago and we dealt with hurricane harvey as it hit. the devastation is seemingly pretty similar. and you can lose your life if you do not heed these evacuation orders, these warnings to have supply and fuel. you just need to get out of the way. there are some choosing to ride out the storm. we saw one young woman with two young children. she says she s got baby formula and food for them and she s
past hurricanes to get a sent of what is about to happen in miami and south florida, irma is bigger and more powerful than hurricane andrew, which devastated florida. hurricane katrina, you had 1,600 people die. the hurricane force winds there though were 86 miles out from the eye. irma is about 70, we understand. when you put all that together, are we looking at a catastrophic hit or not? yeah. i think we are. i think as a meteorologist, it s just to me surreal that we re watching me inin ining history last couple of weeks. harvey of course and now the big winds and surge or irma hitting a highly populated south florida. so, reed, when you think about for a moment the fact that
let me go backwards a little bit more if i can just to show you. this is that european model puttiput ing miami and all of florida in the wrong position right now. yesterday was well off the coast. this is not good to see this kind of commonality when you are only two and a half days out. when it comes to our storms, katia do not worry about. but it s going to push katia down. the big concern is jose. yesterday it became a hurricane with katia at the 5:00 p.m. hour. it is now a major hurricane, category three. it will move to the north. but unfortunately, this is kind of frightening and sad. category three now, we have got hurricane watches for the same northern islands that were decimated with the prime minister of bar bay does saying it is uninhabitable.
florida bracing for a direct hit from hurricane irma. millions in its path. miami right now directly right in the center our tom satyr saying what will be the worst of this storm. the florida keys, one of the state s most vulnerable locations is under mandatory evacuation. bill, what is happening where you are. reporter: erin, a whole lot of nothing. it is a beautiful night it is shaping up to see as you can see the sky one of your typical key west sun sets. people send their vacation savings on to watch with a drink. but it is a ghost key as they have seen evacuation levels unmatched in recent memory. and we re here between two of the keys. if you have never been down there, it is a feed of geology and human engineering.
brother and i, you know. hopefully i make some type of change or i save a life or two. that s all that matters at the end of day. people packing up, crowding roads and airports to escape the hurricane. options in homestead 30 miles south of miami are dwindling, right with the gas supply. one by one gas stations closing and boarding up. stay at your own risk says florida s governor. we cannot save you once the storm starts. you need to tell us now. i got the big pens, the little pens, everything. she is not heeding that order. she was not alive when hurricane andrew ripped through. my plan is to just stay here, see where it takes us. this house stayed here for andrew. i m pretty sure it will hold. she has weeks of food for her