get the lights back on. crews from other states are helping but fuel shortages are making it complicated. they are restoring power but they also are assessing damage as they go. this will not be a day operation. we will be restoring power day and night. jacksonville has started to dry out after yesterday s historic flooding. a number of roads are still under water and the mayor says it could be a week before the water recedes. the good news is that the city has lifted a mandatory evacuation order for certain areas. many florida airports are open again but airlines are only offering pli offering limited schedules. it could take a few more days for everything to return to normal. the airports are key for the millions who visit. the storm could have an impact on vital economic engine for the
still, third place behind hurricane hugo and matthews. it s going to lightning up somewhat. when it comes to the watches and the warnings we have in effect, obviously there are still flash flood watches as the water recedes. a still have a flash flood emergency, and that is for the charleston areas as you see here across georgia, a tropical storm warning for atlanta, from eastern alabama to the carolinas. irma s a 45-mile-per-hour winds, overnight it will become a depression. but now we have three fatalities due to the downed trees. we talked about in georgia, and one in south carolina. it s significant, it s break ing down. what a storm. we will never ever have another hurricane harvey or another irma. those two names are going to be retired. it s significant to know both of these landfalls with harvey and irma within 16 days of each other. and the u.s. has never had two
bumper to bumper traffic as residents were allowed to return home for the first time. the road to recovery may be the longest here in the florida keys, but those who live here say they re ready to rebuild. we re going to come back strong. everybody that lives here in this community. we will survive. we will survive this. reporter: gaddy schwartz, nbc news. thank you. for more on the recovery i m joined now by alice hill, former special assistant to president obama. once the water recedes, we ve learned this from katrina and sandy, it s hell to pay. this is a long road to recovery. we have debris removal. we have people who need to find ways to get to work. we have homeless. we have very ill people who have lacked medical care. this will be a difficult task for everyone. it will require all of the community to pitch in. let s talk about housing. people have one house, most people, they live in the house and once the water goes back
and as soon as the winds subside typically the water recedes. storm surge is the main reason we re always asking people to evacuate, has the highest potential to kill people and have damage. we hope people will listen to local officials and the warnings they re putting out. give us an idea for the rest of the stay. three million without power. i imagine some of it will come on through the day here. you ve got quite a challenge ahead of you. as you canvas all 67 counties, where do you start? so basically the way this works is that, you know, if the locals if a local government s capacity has been exceeded to handle any response and recovery issues it s either county to county mutual aid or the state. our job is to backfill the state with response needs. this is going to be a very logistically challenging
responders. governor greg abbott visited beaumont, texas where a boil water notice is still in effect, he reassured texas waste site slammed by harvey appear to be safe and have not leaked chemicals into the environment but encouraged texans to check with their doctors if they are in need of a tetanus shot. the governor said all interstate highways are open as flooding gets better tape by day. flooding is expected to continue for a few more days before beginning to reseed. sabine river at orange is beginning to reseed and all other sites are now in recession. reporter: in west houston the mayor says it could be two weeks before the water recedes after they let it go from the