Hurricane ever. Massive size. At least 24 hours of danger ahead. Right now Hurricane Irma officially a category 4 with winds clocking in at more than 130 miles an hour. That is the scene in miami. Where a construction crane was blown down by the storm. And those winds not the only danger. Already we have seen tornados reported across florida. That danger will continue throughout the day. The eye wall has passed over the florida keys now leaving dangerous flooding in its wake. You see that right there and irma approaching the mainland with the entire west coast facing deadly walls of water. Naples first in line, then ft. Myers. 10 to 15 foot storm surge possible there and tonight tampa and st. Petersburg. They are as vulnerable to storm surges and will feel irmas full force. Our Abc News Team is deployed across the storm zone and right with me is ginger zee. We just saw the flooding in the keys and the storm has move passed. More storm surge to come. Remember it rotates counterclockwise
Up the coast and when it gets here, ginger said the biggest concern is the storm surge, thats the case here. I talked to the mayor earlier. He told me the same thing. 10 to 15 feet storm surge well inland. 10 to 15 feet of salt water moving at incredible force both in the beginning of the hurricane and sweeping back behind it. The winds picking up already. We saw a giant tree go down next to us and debris everywhere and once the winds reach about 100 Miles Per Hour, gusts up to 125 as we just saw in that map t model that just came out. Thats going to be sustained for quite some time and theyre expecting considerable damage. I want to head back to amy robach in south florida in miami. Amy, you had 100 mile per hour winds in south florida as well . Reporter we are in the worst of it right now. It is certainly strong winds here, up to 82 Miles Per Hour gusting now. Hurricane forced winds here in downtown miami. I wanted to point out that the streets are starting to flood. I heard ginger m
Have taken a direct hit since over 90 years. We train hard. We practice hard. We practice during the week as if it were game day. I think were ready but obviously until you get into this situation youre never going to know. Im sure well find glitches, im sure therell be things we can do better but right now i got hundreds of people ready to go help their fellow citizens. Were tampa strong george. Tampa strong after it passes through but you have a warning out there right now, once the winds top 40 miles an hour your police, First Responders will not go in those streets . We will not. I will not put those men and women at risk. Folks, if theyre in a situation they need to find shelter because we cannot come and get you if the winds are sustained at 40 Miles Per Hour. Its just not going to happen. Well come and get you as soon as the winds die down but in that period of time ive got to keep my officers and firefighters safe. So you have got the concern of wind. You have got the concern o