we have catering, steve. you know, watching you is unpleasant. reporter: i m going to take that as a compliment. shepard: you should. reporter: but this is, you know, it s, it can buckle you a little bit, but it can t knock you off your feet yet. it s, water s about 6 or 7 inches, and it s beginning to pool. it s dark and there s not a soul out. we ve seen a few people walking around earlier in the day. now no one s out. and in the distance people are sort of like shadows or figures, because the visibility is down to about zero. you can understand why a first responder would be putting his life at risk were he or she to venture out in these kind of conditions. you have a power line dangling over there, power lines are going to be coming down, you have trees snapping, you have debris in the road, and you have wind that could and gusts, certainly, move your vehicle off the road as well. so i know that first responders
suv facing the hurricane force winds. we found this brick building giving us a little break from the wind, but if you look over here you can see what it is doing. we have trees coming down, trees snapping, and this station where we re at, this thing, you see the roof rocking. if it fols it will go left. but basically what we saw on the u.s. one is something that emergency crews were hoping would not happen. that is a choke point. that is how emergency relief comes in and out of the keys. the southbound lane is open right now that means crews can come back and forth, but only protected by about a three-foot barrier. if the water levels continue to rise. the storm surge will continue to rise.
there are no reports of anyone missing here. we actually had to follow the military as they cut their way into this area, so many trees, thousands and thousands across the main highway, so very slow, very painful process, but they are making their way here. an american who lives here, you were here last night, mark, first of all let me ask you how are you? good, thank you. and your wife? she s fine. tell us, what did it feel like, what did it sound like? well, obviously, started off as a wind storm with rain. about 5:00 it really got intense, then about 7:00, southern portion of the storm hit, it got very intense. it was loud. you could hear trees snapping, things like that. were you scared? i was more excited than scared. how was your wife? she was probably the opposite. she was a good sport. she was. well, we re very glad to see you alive and well. your home did suffer a lot of damage, as did other homes.
happening today. could be more severe weather today. more survival stories this morning. one woman said her friend didn t make it. she made it through. we ll talk with mer. and we re getting i-reports. people helping us tell the story in the hardest hit areas. we ll share those with you as welcoming up later. you can see the debris as it started spinning around in a circle. i started hearing trees snapping, telephone poles snapping. powers went immediately out. it pushed through here in just a matter of moments. there s a lot of damage. it s going to be harder to stomach at first. but we ll be able to take this up.
it started spinning around in a circle. i started hearing trees snapping, telephone poles snapping. ten people dead among them, three children. we re going to be looking at the damage. also going to be looking ahead to some more severe weatherhitt country. also live in studio, a young man who is life changed yesterday. he is going to the nfl. we told you about him and his story. a physics major. also working on a civil engineering degree as well. only playing football three and a half years. he was drafted yesterday by the baltimore ravens out of tiny moorhouse, college. he s in studioith us. let s tell you about stories from overnight. president obama delivering the eulogy today for the 29 miners who died in the mix enploee mine explosion earlier this month in