Between 5 and 6 Million People told to evacuate. A quarter of the states population causing traffic jams on major highways. We are running out of time. The storm is going to hit. As irma hammers cuba the death toll rises in the caribbean with hurricane jose following close behind. Its now just hours before irma makes landfall. Today saturday, september 9, 2017. Announcer from nbc news this is a special edition of today, Hurricane Irma live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Look at those pictures. Good morning. Welcome to today this morning. In less than 24 hours irma is expected to make landfall in florida. The keys are expected to be the first part of the state to get hit. We have been saying it for days now. Again, folks, this is a monster storm. Its packing top winds of 155 Miles Per Hour as it batters cuba right now. Lets get to the latest headlines overnight. The storms path has shifted slightly taking a turn away from miami toward the west. Now florida residents on the west coast are in the direct path of irma. More than a quarter of floridas population has been told to evacuate. 5. 6 Million People were warned over the last several days that they should leave their homes and get to somewhere safer. The death toll is rising from irma. So far at least 23 people have been killed in the caribbean and police in broward county, florida, say one man died when he fell off a ladder while putting up storm shutters. Our team is covers it you will. Al roker has the latest on irmas path. Good morning. Reporter good morning, guys. This storm, we have been watching and waiting for the storm to turn. Its yet to happen. We still feel a little bit more confidence about where it is headed. Lets show you the exact location where irma is now. Currently its a category five i should say category four storm. Its just a couple of Miles Per Hour below a five. 245 miles southsoutheast of miami moving westnorthwest at 12. It continues at a snails pace at this point. We are going to watch it skirt along the cuba coast and get into the florida straits where the water temperatures are close to 90. That could add to strengthening. Sometime sunday morning into early afternoon southwest florida will see 150 Miles Per Hour winds possible, eight to 12foot surge, 10 to 20 inches of rain. On the southeast coach from West Palm Beach to key largo, 50 to 70 Miles Per Hour, 8 to 12 inches of rain. It makes landfall around ft. Myers sometime sunday afternoon into the evening hours with 100 to 125 Miles Per Hour winds. Three to eight foot storm surge, 10 to 15 inches of rain. Traverses the state as a category three storm moving into the southeast monday evening. Its still a storm with isolated tornado threats all along its path. Now storm surge is the thing that kills most people. Heres what we see as far as storm surge. From tampa down to key west back to melbourne anywhere from 8 to 12 feet. To tampa bay, 3 to 5 feet. Southeastern florida and the keys, 5 to 10 feet. We also have a surge map that shows you where we expect the surges of 9 feet or more stretching from naples down into the everglades. Thats where we see the most deaths out of the surges. Again, 10 to 15 inches of rain. The problem, guys, is with it slowing down it looks like it will come on shore with surges at the worst time around high tide. That could make the devastation even greater. My goodness. Thank you, al. As al mentioned there, cuba and the bahamas feeling irmas effects now. Time running out for floridas residents to get somewhere safe before irma makes landfall there. Lester holt is in miami beach. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, craig. Miami beach under a mandatory evacuation order. The winds howled. They are blowing harder now. Certainly not Hurricane Force, but we are feeling the storm. Though it has taken a westward shift this area not out of the danger zone. They are anticipating the water to come rushing in here at some point as storm surge. We have talked about whats happening in the caribbean. Cuba got hit when the storm went to a category five last night and entire islands without power. This is whats headed for florida. Irma tore through cuba overnight as a category5 hurricane. 155 mileperhour winds battering the islands northern coast. The monster storm slamming the bahamas, as well. Storm surges there could reach a devastating 20 feet. Irma has left a trail of death and destruction through the caribbean. New pictures coming out of the Virgin Islands reveal catastrophic damage. It may take years to rebuild all thats gone. I can guarantee you that i dont know anybody in florida thats ever experienced whats about to hit south florida. Reporter in florida, its time to get out of irmas way. We dont want people on the road when the storm starts to hit. Reporter the rush to get out has created massive traffic jams. Its one of the largest evacuations in american history. About 5. 5 Million People ordered to leave, more than a quarter of the population of the entire state of florida. And getting gas proving a challenge. Long lines. This is the first one that had a decent line. Taking about two, three hours to get gas. Reporter flying is no longer an option. South floridas major airports closed last night. Those lucky enough to get a flight out fear losing all they left behind. You never expect this to happen to you, you know. And when you lose everything, you lose you lose your possessions. You lose like separated from your family. Its hard. Reporter as for those who rema remain, an estimated half Million People are heading to the more than 40 emergency shelters that have been set up. I had to bring my two elderly parents here because im just afraid for them. Reporter not only are residents of miami beach being asked to leave, the Fire Department making its own preparations to relocate equipment, fire trucks, and ambulances off the island. You dont want to put your people in harms way. Right. Exactly. We definitely do not want to put them in harms way as much as theyd like to be here. Reporter despite all the warnings, some people will not leave. Im one of those people that you can call stupid or whatever. This is my home. I feel safe here. And this is where im going to ride out the storm. Reporter under the circumstances, it probably goes without saying, but Major CollegeFootball Games in the state are canceled this weekend, including home openers for the university of florida and florida state. Back to you in new york. Lester holt there with quite the ominous sky behind you at miami beach. A virtual ghost town. Thank you. As irma shifts slightly west, some residents who thought they would be spared from the storms worst are now planning for catastrophe. Kristen dahlgren is in in ft. Myers with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning. To give you an idea of how attitudes here have changed, yesterday during the day i saw people out on their boats, out on the beach. I went to a shelter last night, it doesnt open until 10 00 this morning, there were already people lined up to get in. Along floridas west coast, there is new urgency. What many thought was a miss has models shifting this way. Were not as far away from the center as we had originally thought. Reporter grace and frank scrambling to finish prep on santa bell island. My family wants us out totally, but it is a little difficult to do right now. Traffic, airlines are booked up. Reporter officials going door to door to make sure residents, especially the most vulnerable, werent lulled into a sense of security. Im thinking about my family, my wife, puppy. Reporter the Biggest Issue may be the storm surge. A wall of water coming ashore, leaving all these lowlying homes underwater. Search and rescue teams are ready for anyone that doesnt get out in time. Anything that helps us gain access to someone or something is on this vehicle. Reporter route 75 backed up for miles. Gas supplies are dwindling. Some places are running out of sandbags. This family from Port Charlotte is evacuating but couldnt find a place to go. All the hotels in gainesville, lake city, all were booked. So there was not a room available, so we had to sleep at a rest area with our kids. Reporter while others can only hope they didnt wait too long. Almost 2 Million People call southwest florida home. When you add in tourists, the number goes way, way up. Officials have been telling people here for days, dont Pay Attention to the center line. Youre in the cone of uncertainty. Their hope is that enough people got that message early enough. Thank you. Lets turn to Florida Governor rick scott, who is dealing with the hurricane thats going to impact his entire state. Governor, good morning to you. Sir, thanks for your time. Shelters are set up. The National Guard has been activated. I heard you practically begging residents to get out of florida yesterday. Here we are less than 20 hours out. Where do we stand . Well, weve worked very hard to try to get people out of the evacuation areas. I hope everybody is doing it. If youre on the west coast and youre not on the road by Early Morning today, its going to be too late. Were continuing to open shelters all around the state. Were going to do everything we can to get people to safety. The keys are going to start getting hit today with the winds, this morning with the winds. The big thing im worried about is the storm surge. Unbelievable storm surge. As much as 12 feet of storm surge. Not going to survive it. If youre in an evacuation zone, you have to get out and get out now. This is a great state. People are resilient. They work together. Theyre strong. They help each other. Were going to make it through this. We want to help you out this morning. We understand youre asking for volunteer nurses . Absolutely. We need 1,000 nurses. We have a website. We need about 1,000 nurses and we need 1,000 nurses in our shelters now to help take care of those that, you know, the special needs and others that need some help. Lo jgistically anybody that can help, wed appreciate it. Obviously, there are so many people trying to head out. So are you asking people who are in the area to go to the shelters instead . Logistical logistically, how would this work . Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. If youre in the area and you dont have to evacuate but you can come to the shelter and help these individuals, that would be outstanding. We need 1,000 nurses. Hopefully, well get them. Governor, weve got the information, by the way, for folks at home, the information is at the bottom of the screen, the email, the website you mentioned. Late morning, youre saying thats going to be sort of the deadline for folks to get out. Does that mean you guys are going to start contra flow at that point, all lanes will lead out of florida . What were doing is making sure we get the fuel there. Were working diligently to get fuel on the highway. Weve opened the shoulder from wildwood up to the georgia line. Id add more lanes there. We have 1700 troopers working to keep the traffic flowing. We have local police and Sheriffs Office to help keep the traffic moving. But it is late. If youre not on the road on the west coast by noon, you need to get to a shelter. Get to a friends house if youre in an evacuation zone. Get off the road. You said this is a catastrophic storm that your state has never seen. How are you feeling overall this morning . Youve been talking with the media, trying to get the word out. In this moment, do you feel prepared . Absolutely. We have great Emergency Management teams, great First Responders. The federal government, i talked to President Trump every day pretty much. Fema is here. I have all the resources of the federal government. Theyre committed. We have all our resources. Ive called up 7,000 members of the National Guard. The big concern i have is our individuals listening and get out of harms way. We have to get out of the evacuation zones. You have to get to higher ground. You have to get to safety. The shelters are in safer locations. You have to keep doing that. Were prepared. Were resilient. Were strong. Well help each other and get through this. Florida governor rick scott, thank you for your time this morning and good luck. As weve mentioned, irma hit cuba and the bahamas overnight after leaving a swath of destruction across the caribbean. Nbc is in the bahamas this morning. Rehema, good morning to you. Reporter good morning to you. As the day begins here in nassau, the skies are gray, and that pretty much reflects the mood of so many people in the caribbean, and no more so is that true than in the island of cuba, where Hurricane Irma slammed into that nation overnight at winds of 150 Miles Per Hour. It is expected to linger there during the day with a potential of creating devastation throughout that island. People have tremendous reason to be afraid of whats happened because of what the storm has already shown it can do. 23 people have been killed as a result of this storm in the caribbean. The island of barbuda was essentially devastated, flattened by the storm. Other islands of st. Johns, st. Thomas, st. Martin, also homes leveled, pretty much nothing for people to hold on to anymore. Here in the bahamas, the southern bahamas were also pounded by irma over the last day. They say that there may not be much for folks there to go back to when they have an opportunity to really go in and assess the damage. Here in this area, a hurricane warning remains in effect for northeast and central bahamas where i am. Were expecting Tropical Storm force winds throughout the day. Weve had thunderstorms and lightning and rain overnight. While people may say we havent had the worst of it here, were not out of the storm just yet. The pictures are devastating. Thank you. It almost seems hard to believe, but theres actually another major hurricane on the horizon. It could prove to be a doublewhammy for those battered by irma. Dillon is in palm beach, monitoring hurricane jose. Good morning. Reporter good morning, guys. Yes, hurricane jose is a huge concern, especially for an island like barbuda. Ill show you the track in a second. Here in palm beach, you can see the ocean is certainly getting much more churned up. This is a different picture than what we saw when we came in yesterday. The town itself is virtual ghost town. There are really not that many people who have decided to stay here and ride out the storm. Just driving along some of the main drags in this area, everyone has boarded up shop. We certainly have seen restaurants and shops and everyone with the storm shutters on their windows. Rightfully so, with this storm just less than 24 hours away now. We did now see the western shift, so this area will not be hit by the brunt of the storm. Still, we are going to see Hurricane Force winds. We are going to see a dangerous storm surge. There is still a lot of reason to be concerned. It is good that people have left this area and boarded up and taken their precautions. Now lets focus on hurricane jose. I pointed out barbuda. That is an island that was about 90 destroyed with Hurricane Irma. Now, it is interesting to note that without a lot of communications on that island, they might not know this next storm system is coming. It is a category 4 hurricane with 150mileperhour winds. We have hurricane warnings once again in effect for antigua and barbuda. The conditions will deteriorate through the day today. Additional three to eight inches of rainfall is possible. Dangerous storm surge, flooding of up to two to four feet, and the winds up to 150 Miles Per Hour. What is still standing, its going to have a rough time with this storm system moving in. Now, the track of this storm is going to turn more to the north and eventually to the east. It is not taking the same path irma did. It doesnt look like it is going to be a threat to bermuda. For barbuda, it is going to be a rough day today. Guys . Dylan dreyer for us in palm beach. Thank you. President trump is watching irmas path, as well. Hell be monitoring the storm from camp david. Kristen welker is at the white house. Reporter good morning. President trumps message, the federal government is ready to deal with Hurricane Irma and the public should take the storm seriously. With his cabinet at camp david trying to show it is all hands on deck. At camp david this morning, President Trump tracking irma, while trying to reassure the public, just before leaving the white house, telling reporters were prepared at highest level. Reporter in his weekly address, urging everyone to take the storm seriously. I ask everyone in the storms watt to be vigilant and to heed all recommendations from government officials and law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our people. Reporter later this morning, the president will get briefed on the storm, as he convenes a meeting with his entire cabinet for the fourth time since taking office. In addition to irma, the white house is monitoring another hurricane, jose, and grappling with the fallout from harvey. On friday, the president s Homeland Security adviser says the government has the resources to handle multiple National Disasters and that the president s ready, too. Im extremely comfortable with President Trumps capacity to do so. Hes dem staonstrated an abilit juggle these issues on a regular basis. Reporter help is on the way for Hurricane Harvey victims. The president signed a 15 billion aid package for them that was overwhelmingly passed by the house. The threemonth deal includes funding for the gove