my timing s impeccable. just a second ago, they were showing clearwater beach, and on clearwater beach, the water is off the beach because the storm itself is pushing the winds out to sea, and largely there is no water, not at least up where there normally is right along the seashore in tampa bay and clearwater beach. these are live pictures coming from naples. this is steve heir began s position. the windows heir began s position. the winds have picked back up again with 142 mile-an-hour gusts at the naples airport. i m say they ve picked up. we re just waiting for that eye to pass over there. we really think parts of the are over naples now. it seems to be wrightening up just a little bit brightening up, but this storm is still on the move. officially from the national hurricane center, we re expecting yet another update from the national hurricane center at 5:00 eastern time, so
storm. shepard: joe drew, we wish you all the best as they ride out the storm there on the boat on florida s west coast. thanks a lot. we re continuing to watch these pictures coming to us out of naples. and the storm is continuing its northward trek at 12 miles an hour, 115 mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds. and in just about five minutes, we re going to get a brand new update from the national hurricane center down in miami. and hopefully, we ll have a much better idea about where this storm is going. actually, they ve sent out an advanced copy of this now, and i can now tell you here is the brand new information from hurricane irma as of five minutes early for a 5:00 release. it s now a category two storm. so enough of this eye is over the land to where it has reduced its wind speed, and it is not nearly as strong. maximum sustained winds now 110
these shots. and we re expecting at some point that the eye will pass over, and we ll have a calm a day and be able to assess a little bit about how this went. as the storm continues to head north, the eye of the storm is sort of straddling the land. so part of the eye wall is over the water, part of the eye wall is over part of the eye is over the land. so the storm is still able to have that fuel that it needs, the warm, warm water of the gulf of mexico, still fueling that storm as it continues its move northward. if at some point it gets completely over and look at the oh, never mind. i m looking at the sky tower radar for you, and i can see that almost all of the eye of the storm is over land, though some of it is still over water. and we ll be able to see how much the strength diminishes here in the next few minutes. fully in naples now, so is our
will be under the eye very soon, and i know that it is a somewhat wobbly eye. they often become a little more disorganized once they get over the land. when you look around in your general vicinity there on fifth, steve, how does it look? reporter: it looks like a very powerful wind storm in this part of the city with a lot of debris on the roads, a lot of downed branches. i m not seeing uprooted trees, i m not seeing wanton, complete destruction of the kind we saw in katrina where entire buildings and vehicles were picked up and thrown. that might be because i m in a very built-up part of the city, some very sturdy buildings around me, so i can t give the full picture. but where i am it s branches and bits of rooftops but not wholesale destruction of buildings, not street signs snapping, but just debrie and rise debris and rising water. now, that rising water could prove to be deadly in the hours
in the naples area are itching to get out and save people, and i think, you know, rules might be bent or broken in the next couple of hours for them to do so. but it would be, it would be suicidal to be driving around in this right now, shepard. shepard: september 10th is a lot of things. september 10th is the absolute peak of hurricane season. it s the most hurricane-y day of the entire hurricane year, september 10th. and september 10th is also should you tell them or should i? [laughter] reporter: it s not about us, right, shepard? shepard: it is this time. it s steve harrigan s birthday. and what are you going to do? go to a ball game, maybe hang out with the family, or do you want to be on the leading edge of the eye of hurricane irma stand anything the water in naples, florida, and talking to moron shepard back in new york. steve, thank you for choosing the latter. reporter: no way, man. thanks, shepard. let s just hope everyone gets through this okay, you know?