is. this is irma, florida behind it. the eye, itself, is about 35 nautical miles wide. it s pretty big. you also have hurricane force winds extending outwards 60, 70 miles. even if it s on the west coast the east coast will feel it because of the size and strength of the storm. the other factor that s a deadly one is storm surge. and things have changed, if you are just waking up and joining us now t. strong winds that pushed the water on the shore lean, the advisories for that with that ocean water coming right in, it can go miles inhappened, that number has increased to potentially up to 12 feet in southwest florida because of that shifting track. so storm surge is something i m very concerned with as we get closer to that storm working on shore. i feel from you sort of in that path, a major question one would have if you did decide to hunker down. we hope a lot of people did not. how fast will it be moveing? say you are in your home in ft. pliers or in miami-dade county,
back-to-back hurricanes back in 96. those hurricanes taking the pier down, bertha and fran. it was wiped out, rebuilt in 2002, they believe it can withstand florence, but it s going to be a test here. and up and down the coast tonight, the other major concern, the storm surge. as the hurricane pushes water inland for days here. abc s chief national affairs correspondent tom llamas tonight in myrtle beach, south carolina, where there is new urgency with this shifting track. tom leading us off. we are under a mandatory evacuation. reporter: tonight, the warning is clear. get out. this is not going to be a glancing blow. this is going to be, you know, a mike tyson punch to the carolina coast. reporter: the largest hospital in myrtle beach racing to evacuate patients. many of them critically ill, loaded into this ambulance bus. some taken as far as florida. it s not safe to try to care here. we re trying to get everybody out. and as such, we re shutting the hospital down. repo