>> wow. why don't you get under the overhang. >> yeah, wow. i have to say, guys, this is the strongest. i'm going to stay a knee for a second because it's exhausting to stand there for a little bit. >> i bet, right? thomas roberts has been reporting on this storm all day for us and all night. he joins us from tampa. thomas, with a soggy good morning to you, because you have been wet for the last few hours, so that area is getting pretty significant wind and rain still, right? >>. >> reporter: yeah, it's been a wild night because the eye has just passed through on the eastern side of us. that typically brings a calm as the eye has passed over the southwest portion of florida for most of the day. meanwhile, we have seen the hillsborough river return. so, we've been monitoring this for hours now, alex. earlier, this was all beach. you could see rocks. you could see the return of what the water was putting back into the river. in is not what people had seen around bay shore, around tampa bay. that was the example of people actually taking their dogs out onto the sand because they don't typically get beach there. but this was pretty eye-opening for people that see it as it is right now, with debris floating in it and much closer proximity to this sea wall. the other thing we've been keeping a close eye on, the canopies along the riverwalk here in downtown tampa, there's one over there we've been trying to watch that wasn't latched down properly that's been one of the main concerns, adding to limb and other debris that can get loose, but projectiles that are popping off in these winds. alex, i know you've seen it from all the way over on the southeastern tip in miami and ft. lauderdale and looping around to the southwest florida area and up here in tampa and st. pete, the issue with high wind gusts. there are certain places like naples airport that registered 140-mile-per-hour gusts earlier. in sarasota they had gusts up to 105 miles an hour. that's just south of us. really the biggest issue for so many of these coastal communities has been storm surge. the prediction for this area specifically that we would see 5 to 8 feet of storm surge return because when tampa bay got sucked out and the hillsborough river got sucked out, all that energy went into irma, helping it produce all this rain. now that water will just pour back in. they didn't know if they were going to be able to handle that type of surge, that type of flow kochlg back into so many homes. we do know there have been millions of power outages reported. most of the outages have happened throughout florida specifically, but in this area, alex, it's over 1.3 million outages. the front page of the local newspaper just says "slammed." and i think that listening to this canopy over here gives you an idea of the noises and sounds people will have to get used to through the night as this storm system moves past and straight up the peninsula in florida and even up to delaware it will produce some storm systems. as you probably heard with s cynthia mcfadden in the last hour, the mayor of cape coral, they were worried about the storm surge and the canals, because they weren't able to get out for emergency rescues. here in hillsborough county, they also had to suspend emergency rescues because it's just not safe -- here goes one of those big gusts. it wasn't safe for those emergency crews to be out on the roads. tomorrow is going to be -- actually today, this morning, when the sun comes up, alex, it's going to be a bright day hopefully and people will be able to take a true assessment of what took place here in southwest florida. from marco island up to tampa and st. pete. i'm just waiting for that thing to coming flying off because it keeps making noises louder and louder. we saw the night sky, and this was well before midnight, but a lot of orange and blue pops and then the groan of something cracking. it was transformers actually popping throughout the area. so we saw over there, on that building, that way as well, at first we weren't sure what to make of it, if it was lightning or something else, but the pop and the groan of the actual explosion clued us in more specifically about the transformer issue. wind gusts, we continue to see them. i have to say, i'm soaked to the bone. my shoe size is probably a foot smaller now, along with jimmy, all of us here who are soaked. alease we elise, all of us. we've been out since 4:00 a.m. running around. to all of our colleagues, you know this, the tech engineers, our audio guys, our videographers, i.t. guys, everybody that runs out, scopes out the scenes for us, everybody keeping us safe, they've done an amazing job because this has been a wild ride off the heels of harvey. >> big props your way, too, thomas. i'm not going to quite let you go -- >> reporter: no, just throw me a towel! alex, throw me a towel. >> that's it? >> we'll have one here and bundle you up. >> reporter: please. >> real quickly, i want to ask about the river, the hillsborough river. how long it took for it to refill because that is the most bizarre phenomenon. for those of us who have never seen it before, when you have that water rushing out, you have a dry bed there, people walking around and then it comes rushing back in. so, how long did it take? >> so specifically for the river itself, we've been monitoring this over hours, alex. it's a well traveled waterway that typically in the center has about a 12-foot depth. in the bay shore area, in tampa bay, that's where people were running around with their dogs earlier and walking out. they never see beach over there. while folks i've spoken to today say, yeah, this will sometimes get low, it has never been where it was today with exposed rocks and exposed sand. also, this is part of the system that comes originally from the green swamp. this is used as part of the drinking water for hillsborough county. has been for decades now. they do have a controlled dam system. there was a release of water to help with that, especially around the temple terrace which has issues with high flooding. i was seeing images before of the water in the actual river that was down this low but it had the water demarcation line here so it was down about four to five feet. so, there was a definite notice of the water loss but the most important part of that is there was a controlled release of water. but mother nature actually sucked out a bunch of water on its own, specifically with tampa bay and straight into the gulf and surges all of that water back. that was one of the big concerns. as the hours go on, that will still be a big concern for people because this is an area that is prone to flooding to they're used to it but folks were worried about specific neighborhoods that had never got flooding before. once it gets safe on the roads, we can get out and take a look and go to some of those areas that have probably never seen effects like this. it's been since 1921 that tampa and st. pete actually had their own brush with their last big hurricane. >> how about if you -- >> reporter: and now irma comes along. >> how about if you take off after you towel off, dry off, catch your breath from having to report within all these wind squalls. you're an absolute rock star, thomas roberts. we are going to see you again but step away for a few minutes. >> reporter: thank you. >> there was a little bit -- >> yeah that towel won't get too much more wet. >> we also have good news about the category strength, steve sosna. >> this is to be expected. after landfall you have a weakening system. so down to a 1 with -- >> officially that was called. >> officially at 2:00 this morning. brand-new off the presses here. we do have a category one hurricane at us and it's still causing problems. wind gusts up to 70, occasionally 80 miles an hour out here. that will do some damage. not to let your guard down. there's still a really loud and dangerous night across central florida. the airport in orlando still gusting to 68 miles an hour. out where thomas is in clearwater beach we're looking at temperatures in -- or not temperatures, wind speeds, 65 miles an hour, 64 at st. peets burg. we're still seeing gusts up to 50 or 60 miles an hour, which can bring down more tree limbs. that's why officials do not want you going out here tonight and inspecting and a lot of people are in the dark here. hopefully you have your phone charged up if you're streaming us. i think the worst of the rain is starting to end in the tampa area. there will be another band that pivots back here but it won't be of the intensity we saw earlier on today. that band of rain is moving through the downtown orlando area. this is where the core of the extreme winds are. let's put a box zoom on this and bringing into some communities getting hit really hard. this is where the damaging winds are, right in the clairemont area, out east towards orlando, towards the theme parks now. we're starting to see the damaging wind come through here. it's also to the east of orlando, towards the space coast. it's this band right here lifting to the north. that's what's left of the eye. that's what was the strongest part of the storm. now it's definitely a much weaker version of itself. still, this is the band, if there's going to be damage, it will be along that one. another feeder band coming into the storm as well. this is where we have to watch for potential flooding rain. we'll track those rainfall amounts and show you what communities are getting that. the st. augustine area up to jacksonville. looks like a tornado warning in south georgia. the devastating "street signs" we don't think is going to come to frugs because we just don't have the strong winds anymore to bring that water onshore. 2 to 4 foot storm surge in tampa bay. better than the 5 to 8 foot projections we had earlier today. >> 2 to 4 will still leave behind a heck of a mess and get into people's homes and businesses. i mean, its not to be underrated. >> we're just not going to see those catastrophic projections, which i think everybody is very happy with. >> that is for sure, steve sosna. thank you for that. let's go to nbc's mia rodriguez from the brickell section. early good morning to you. i know significant flooding where you are standing. how about now? >> reporter: i can tell you there's been a dramatic change within the last few hours. physician we were down this alleyway before. the water was way, way high. now it's draining off. take a look at this. you can see all this material moving down here towards the drainage system. that's what it's exactly supposed to be doing at this point. this despite the fact that high tide was at 12:39 this morning. there was some question about what might happen. we had all this water here. it was up to about a foot and a half where i'm standing. further down at that intersection, at least 2 1/2 feet. cars were not making their way down there. people were doing u-turns a couple blocks before here because they did not want to risk making their way down brickell avenue, which is the main thoroughfare through this particular area. now we can actually see the roadway. we can see the roadway for blocks, which was not the case when we first got here around 5:30, 6:00 tonight. there was so much water basically for as far as the eye could see. at least seven or eight blocks down, totally covered. that was 4 foot of storm surge that hurricane irma brought in because biscayne bay is about three blocks to the east whereof i'm standing. that water came in, over the sea wall, up the side streets and flooded this entire area. miami, i have to tell you, is a resilient place, especially when it comes to hurricanes. we're seeing nature at work. this is going to the drainage system, back out to sea. basically this water is going where it belongs. the issue now is what's left behind. so much muck. obviously, lots of sand -- whoa, a little wind gust. a lot of muck. there's lots of debris that was not visible when the water was covering it. they'll have quite a clean-up job starting this morning. >> i know you've lived in that area for a good decade or so so you know miami very well. have you seen people out and about, checking things out, walking down brickell avenue and elsewhere? >> reporter: when we first got here, no, nobody was out. now we're seeing occasionally some people but it's very early in the morning. some people may be trying to get some sleep. there are some alarms, fire alarms going off in some of the parking garages here, possibly set off by hurricane irma when the hurricane came through here and they've been going off for hours. right now there's not a lot of people out, frankly. we're out here. there's a couple of other media out here. but people aren't out here right now. they were a couple hours ago. you had mainly drivers saying, hey, can i go down this road? then deciding they couldn't. we haven't seen many vehicles making their way down here in the last hour or so. >> folks are trying to get a little shut-eye but i think things like the fire alarms will make it difficult, plus the winds that gust up every once in a while. maya rodriguez, thank you for that. let's bring in kristen dahlgren in ft. myers on florida's west coast. what are you seeing? i know you saw a lot, that is for sure. >> reporter: yeah, we absolutely did as those strongest winds and the rain came through. we didn't get that break from the eye wall. at that point the storm had sort of deteriorated. the eye wall had collapsed in on itself so, it was just relentless and there really was no relief as it came through. now, it's actually not too bad. as far as the rain goes, we're still getting gusty winds through. this morning it's all about the damage assessment. this came in here in ft. myers right as it was getting dark. so, i think a lot of people still haven't been able to see just what the damage was to their homes. the good news is the storm surge here in ft. myers wasn't as bad as many people expected. just on ft. myers beach where we were yesterday came up really to those hotels, to those homes and didn't flood a lot more of them as we had expected it to do. that's some good news. a lot of people waking up without power. here in lee county, where ft. myers is, 234,000 out of 259,000 people are without power. so, that's really just about 25,000 customers who still have power this morning. a lot of places, including where we are, there's no running water. so people waking up and not having running water this morning. so, this is going to be a difficult clean-up, difficult to get their lives back to normal, even as they're beginning to assess. we're also getting reports this morning we have now confirmed that germain arena, where about 7,000, 8,000 people are sheltered. the roof there is now leaking, causing a difficult situation for those people as well. a lot of evacuees anxious to get out of that building where the roof is leaking and it's still unclear if they have homes to go back to. the roads are flooded as well. just in the front of the building where we are, and we're trial to show you that in the next hit we come to you, the road covered by several inches of water. that could be deeper in places and could be dangerous in places. that's not storm surge. that's just the low-lying areas where there is now standing water. still a lot of assessment to go on this morning. >> oh, for sure. that germain arena you're talking about, i know there was some leaking but i believe they said it's structurally sound so they're not too worried about that. no one wants to be staying there and walking through puddles or sleeping in puddles, that's for sure. if you don't mind, thomas roberts wants to ask you a question. he has a soft place in his heart for ft. myers. he used to work there. ask away. >> yeah, almost 20 years ago back in local days when i worked in the ft. myers market and cape coral, lived on cape coral. i was curious, though, when it comes to -- as you were talking about the evacuees, were most people were a little caught in between about whether or not that wanted to g right, about whether or not they would evacuate? >> right. and we saw -- this was a difficult forecast because, you know, the cone was coming up the entire peninsula but that line was going through miami, through ft. lauderdale for a while. so, it's hard if you pay attention to just where that forecast track is. officials constantly try and tell you, it's a cone of uncertainty. it could go anywhere in this range. but i think a lot of people here where a little focused on where that exact track was. we did get here wednesday, water was sold out. i don't want to imply people weren't doing anything, but it was this question of, do we stay or do we go? a lot of people did get out. we saw the traffic on 75 but then there were some people addition we were talking to yesterday, the day before, trying to make that decision. one woman had planned on sheltering in a mobile home park. at the last milt, after talking with us, you know i'm going to get out and get out of here because i just don't feel safe. hopefully she is safe somewhere this morning. it was a tough forecast. tough for a lot of people to make that decision. >> it's pretty much the same thing here. alex, real fast, someone tweeted me, about how fast this filled back up. it started filling back up -- it's a little after 2:00 a.m. now, right? this started to pour back in around 11:00ish. it's filled up considerably since the last time we talked. >> thank you very much for clarifying all that. know last time you could barely breathe because of the wind gusts. thomas roberts and kristen dahlgren, thank you so much. we'll see you both, guaranteed. our special live coverage of hurricane irma continues right after this very quick break. power outages are a huge problem in florida and they will be for some time to come. florida power and light says more than 3.6 million customers are without power. that's about 75% of their customers. unfortunately, the head of the utility says restoring power is going to take weeks at least. let's check in with nbc's phillip mena covering the latest in miami. with an early good morning to you, what's the latest there? it looks a lot couple e calmer ft. lauderdale with the winds howling around you. >> reporter: it's a much different story although we got pelted with another band of rain not too long ago. but mild by all accounts. want to show you about the benefits of preparation and evacuation here. this home was fortified with metal shutters and came out largely unscathed but these were hurricane-force winds that hit. look at the front yard. this is a large tree knocked down by those winds. this neighborhood is a good idea of what happened. look, the eye of the hurricane was on the other side of the state yet. it was still able to knock down these fences here. debris all over the street. i want you to take a look at this tree. this is a massive tree, thousands of pounds, and it was cut like a twig, just snapped in half. it is taking over this entire intersection. you saw how that home was largely unscathed but this intersection is completely cut off. that's why it's so important for people to heed the curfew that was issued here. they don't want people out here. this is obviously road hazard. once the sun comes up, people will want to check on the damage themselves. they'll want to clear the road as much as they possibly can. there will be a lot of road issues, a lot of hazards around here. that is something they are trying to prevent. that's why they're trying to get people off the streets, at least in the middle of the night here. that curfew is lifted come 7:00 a.m. >> how about power outages. we reported, what, 3.6 million folks across the state without power. i know it's spotty in places. do you see people around there without power? granted, it is the middle of the night. people may be trying to sleep. >> reporter: the last we saw was 1.5 million without power just in the miami area, including miami-dade and broward county. those two account for 1.5 million people without power. the numbers were dropping. it was 2 million before that. they are able to get power up and running. in a lot of areas, most areas here, the worst thing the power is still out. >> okay. phillip mena, thank you for that. hurricane irma not done with florida yet. as orlando and tampa are now in the thick of it. they have heavy rain and wind. we'll be back with the very latest on where things stand now. back now at the bottom of the hour, hurricane irma is making its way north through the state of florida. the storm is less than 40 miles from tampa. one of the more densely populated areas that is expected to experience deaf stating hurricane-force winds. irma has been downgraded officially to category 1 status with sustained winds of 85 miles an hour but gusts up to 120 miles an hour. a curfew has been issued for the city of tampa. so, projections for storm surges have been reduced in some of the cities like st. petersburg, which is located in tampa bay, now expected to see surging of 2 to 4 feet. this all coming as tropical force winds are approaching the border between georgia and florida. florida power and light, which offers energy services to millions of floridans is reporting more than 3.6 million homes have been left without power in the state. jamie of wtvj is joining me from tampa. you have been rocking and rolling all night there. sure sounds windy, jamie. what's it like? >> reporter: yeah, you know, the rain has stopped. i could actually take off my rain jacket but my shirt is soaking wet that the wind is making it cold, so i couldn't do that up. unpacked a lot of good news in that intro. basically, i think, irma -- hurricane irma underdelivered in tampa because we missed the eye and it went more inland. and south florida it overdelivered. i think they got more than they expected. as for the situation here in tampa right now, it's much calmer than it was before. the eye passed us. there is no rain right now. wind is a factor. if you point up to the traffic lights and traffic signs, they're rattling a little bit. the palm trees are swaying. the palm fronds are snapped. you don't see much debris on the road, to be quite honest, other than over here, i noticed this nightly, neat organized pile of brush. i don't know if someone came by and swept it all up or if public works is already out clearing the streets because it comes down to what officials find once the sun rises, this should be over. at that point officials will go out and assess the situation. i don't want to sound like we still don't have some things to worry about, we still have that storm surge. as you said, the predictions for that have been downgraded. that's good news but still concern for residents and people in low-lying areas here in tampa. back to you in the studio. >> real quick, projectiles, you talk about the palm fronds but did you get the kind of winds you were worried about, that could cause damage to structures or anybody out on the streets? >> it's hard to -- we're in downtown tampa. when we were doing live shots earlier, we had buildings protecting us. even though the wind was super heavy and it was coming at us, it was taking our breath away, it was -- i didn't see anything flying around. it was more just the rain slamming down on us. it was -- it was kind of -- i was wondering because i kept looking for our own safety for me and my photographer, manny, to see, you know, objects flying at us and i wasn't seeing it. it was the rain in our face. >> wtvj's jamie guirola out in the thick of things. we want to bring in skipper captain from islamorada. skip, welcome to you. we were talking to our correspondent in florida who said they have dodged something of a bullet but much of the damage was to south florida, where you are. i know you drove between mile marker 80 and 90 earlier today. what did you see? what was that drive like? >> well, i'd have to say hello. i would say we dodged the bullet also somewhat like the folks in tampa. we have so much debris on the road. we have one highway in and out of the florida keys, highway 1. we had a rumor yesterday at 2:00 that bridge on 1, drawbridge in the florida keys, called snake creek drawbridge at mile marker 86 was out. they said the bridge was being destroyed, on and on. we were hunkered down in a government building here, my friend, dennis ward who invited me to stay here, the state prosecutor. he said, come o skip, you can stay here so we did. what a wonderful place. however, at 2:00, when rumors started flowing on the iphone, we get in the car and go down because the wind had quit -- not quit but down to a mere like 60 miles an hour. and we said, well, let's go ahead because we have to stop this rumor. we went over the snake creek bridge and went down to it. we had lots of debris on the street. from key largo to key west it's nothing but debris on the side of the road. >> you know, skip, we're -- >> we went to the bridge and went over the bridge and went over the bridge again. found nothing to be wrong, thank goodness because that's our life blood coming in and out of the florida keys. the bridge is fine. i don't know if there's a problem with it technically that we can't see. they had put the stay arms from going over, they were gone but work to be done on the bridge. >> for sure. engineers will -- >> we're going to be all right. we're keeping our fingers crossed. they're clearing the roads. maybe by tuesday they'll allow people to come back down to monroe county. i'm not sure it's passable from key largo to key west. i don't know how the status is at this point. >> the good thing is, they'll have engineers checking out the snake creek bridge. i know that bridge, it would have been horribly destructive had that gone down. i'm glad that rumor you can dispel. you talk about the debris. i also want to talk about the gulf water. i saw pictures of the bay in the gulf, which was just bizarre. there's no water there. is it coming back? we know it's expected. has that started? >> that's a good question. i've been here all these years and i don't remember -- hurricane wilma, the water went away, and the bay was dry, however it's got to come back. that's a mystery. that's called a surge. if it comes back today as a surge -- the water left, it has to come back. who knows what will go over the highways surgewise. we're still in a high building. maybe it's not over yet as far as the dangers of the surge. that's a mystery. can't answer that one for you. where did it go and when is it coming back, that we don't know. but for sure it's coming back. it's very interesting. the phenomena we're in right now, i'm not sure what's going on. >> i'm sure you'll be glad, since you're the captain of the blue chip 2 charter boat, you'll want that water back. we're glad to see things aren't as bad as had been expected but it's still a mess in the keys. thank you for talking with us, waking up early in the morning and we'll check back in with you in the future. appreciate it. for all of you, we'll be back with our special coverage of hurricane irma right here on msnbc. >> i'm just absolutely in awe of the wrath and the fury mother nature has brought upon naples, florida. hurricane irma continues its track north after brutalizing south florida. we're being joined from miami near the airport which presumably remains closed, right, vaughn? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, alex. the airport, miami international airport, it's about two blocks from where we're standing right now, airport spokesman said overnight that they're not expected to open up operations on a limited schedule until tuesday. five different terminals were damaged over the last 24 hours, five from water leaks, significant water leaks that came in through the jet bridges and roofs. we should get a better look tomorrow and tuesday what that exactly looks like. we're ten miles from where miami beach is, which is impressive. we attempted to leave our hotel -- there are two hotels to our right with about 200 people staying there. like them inside there, we're stuck here. we've been stuck here through the storm because of this. we attempted to drive out yesterday morning and the poirful winds, 99-mile-per-hour winds at miami international, multiple trees knocked down preventing the one way out for us and all those staying at the hotel. as we're looking around, the palm trees stayed up but the other damage is significant. 85% of people in miami-dade county are without alex. another 65% in broward county next door. the main utility here in miami says to take up to a week, may take upwards of a week to restore that power. for us, we are actually just watching over here, someone driving to get on this main passageway, one of the main roadways past the airport and had to turn around not only because of more downed trees but also the flooded waters. >> look, i'm sure you're frustrated not being able to get out and get a story but frankly, you're right there where a story is. can you ask your cameraman to go over behind your left shoulder there to that palm tree because that didn't get knocked over -- it looks like it was fortified, it's been held down by cables. i think that's why a lot of the trees in that area didn't fall down because they've been, you know, held up. >> reporter: yeah. andy is going to look at the palm tree that's being held up here. an interesting point is i made the point we're ten miles away. when we woke up yesterday morning and said, boy, we're far away from where this storm is going to strike, especially when they were looking at the fact the eye was no longer going to hit miami, our thought was we wouldn't see much of the storm. where we were based at, there's a main water inlet, when you fly into miami you see them, lakes, other water inlets that go up next to these house. that's what we're interested to survey when the sun comes up. on the other side of the street is where that inlet was. it didn't look like a lake yesterday. they were significant waves which contributed to a large degree, 100-mile-per-hour winds which forced this over. it's dark so we can't see waterway right now. as seemed to be the feel across the state, the winds have died down. those waves have resided back into being more of a standstill lake but you saw the damage, alex, that it did over the course of 24 hours. >> what an eerie concept, looking at a lake, a small inlet and have it look like something out of the ocean with those kind of waves. well, thank you so much. that tree behind you is pretty significant. i'm sure you may be stuck there for a while, my friend. we'll come back to you. >> we tried to move it. we tried to move it. >> hercules, there you go. let's go to debbie steinguard riding out that storm in aventura, north of miami. debbie joins us on the phone. you decided not to evacuate. talk about the structure -- when you say condo, is this a high rise? >> i live in a -- yeah, it's got 40 floors. >> 40 floors. what floor are you on? >> 34. >> you are way up there, debbie. i've heard that meteorologists and forecasters were saying the concern for someone like you was the wind gust. obviously not the storm surge and flooding. what kind of winds have you felt? >> i was afraid of -- i've never been so scared in my life. it sounded like a freight train, the whole 24 hours. i never experienced anything like it in my life. it was a freight train that didn't stop. so, even though the impact glass windows doesn't mean, you know, it can't break. so i was really scared and i have my whole family staying here with me, the dogs, the grandchildren, everybody came here. >> it sounds like have you rode it out okay. did you draw curtains, blinds, just in case the glass were to shatter? >> actually, no. it's so pretty, it's all glass, we didn't shut anything. it's shatterproof glass, so we didn't put anything in front of it. to think of it now, no, i don't think i would have even done that, but we live right on -- we live on the intercoastal, which is right over the ocean, so we see the ocean. our view is ocean and bay. we saw all the waves. it was -- i can't tell you how hard the rain was coming down. i never -- i -- i've been living in florida 30 years and i have never been that scared. >> i can imagine. debbie, what's it like when you look out your window right now? >> i can see trump tower, i can see porsche tower, it's all back, it's pretty much back. all the lighting is -- the power isn't all back but there's enough power that you can see all the buildings. >> how about you guys, did you lose power? >> no. >> you're pretty lucky. bottom line, are you glad you stayed or frightening enough that you'll think twice about riding out a storm again? >> well, considering if you look at it, everybody's perfectly fine. you know, i live in new york also, but i don't know. to go to the airport with all the traffic and get caught there and come back here and dig your way in, i'm not sure if i would have wanted to leave. >> how did your dog ride out the storm? >> i have four. >> wow. how did they all do? >> oh, they were eating and -- they didn't even know there was a storm. they're very pampered pups. my granddaughter brought three cats. >> oh, well, that must make for a lot of fun between all of those animals. listen, debbie -- >> they were separated. >> that sounds very smart. sounds like you were doing a good job for your family, giving them safe shelter. thank you for your story and tndz safety as you ride out the remainder of this storm. thanks, debbie. >> you're more than welcome. our continuing coverage of hurricane irma continues straight ahead here on msnbc . this is the rain that -- >> wow. >> -- hitting me. >> wow. okay, why don't you get under the overhang. >> reporter: this came off one of the palm trees to the east of me. and i'm not going to let go of it because it could fly around. probably weighs 25, 30 pounds. >> reporter: the angle of approach can make all the difference. and a storm that's more parallel -- oh! that hurt. >> just a few of the dramatic moments from our correspondents covering hurricane irma for us over these last 24 hours. as it continues to pummel florida, pregnant women across state are choosing to ride out the storm in hospitals instead of shelters just in case they go into labor. nbc's medical correspondent dr. john torres spent some time with expectant mothers and brings us this story. >> reporter: inside one of the largest hospitals in miami, more than 100 pregnant women hung e hunkering down, many just days away from giving birth. >> no baby yet. i want him to stay in there as long as possible. >> reporter: baptist hospital allowed women at least 36 weeks pregnant to ride out the storm here. if they went into labor during the hurricane, emergency crews would not be able to get to them. >> who knows. the roof might fly off and my water might break. >> reporter: the city of miami tweeting that one woman had to deliver a baby by herself at home. transported to another miami hospital, baby and mom are okay. and it's not just moms-to-be at baptist hospital. thousands of others lined the hospital. hospital chefs feeding 8,000 people today alone. >> we have been cooking nonstop from 4:00 in the morning. >> a lot of busy folks. dr. john torres reporting. let's bring in meteorologist steve sosna. went to cat 1 about an hour ago. any chance this could resurge and go up to a cat 2 at this point? >> i have really good news for you. that's not going to happen. >> yea! >> everybody's nerves are frazzled, everybody's exhausted. we will get better. it's not there yet but we do have some improvement in the fact this will not intensify. so, certainly the takeaway here after we've had just a really tough 72 hours across the state of florida right now. it's an 85-mile-per-hour storm, a cat 1, the loews on the scale here. its not a storm that is void of problems here. we have some heavy rain, some gusty winds out there. and, certainly, that will cause some problems. let's take a look at the projected path. when do we get rid of the storm in northern florida? it doesn't happen until probably late in the day today and into tomorrow night until this storm is finally out of here. so, that means that the rain and the wind across north florida will still continue here as you wake up on this monday morning and as you head off to work. as you move through the day on tuesday, that's when the storm reallile gets out of the picture and we can really mark significant improvements in the weather forecast and people can start to clean up and really improve on their lives here. so, here's a look at the wind gust we saw here earlier on. as this eye wall came ashore. let's pan in here. the naples/marco island area, certainly hardest hit. wind gusts of 142 miles an hour. inland seeing wind gusts up to 77 miles an hour in the everglades. 93-mile-an-hour wind gusts in miami and homestead. you saw sam champion get bumped around in those wind guses here today. mike seidel as well. 90-mile-an-hour wind gusts in west palm beach. the ironic part was that eastern florida wasn't even in the cone. that's how expansive the storm was. the cone just tracks the center of the storm. even outside the cone we had a lot of hurricane-force wind conditions. unfortunately, the wind and the rain will continue in northern florida communities. you're not out of the woods just yet. i think by tuesday life gets back to normal. >>teve sosna. there's an evacuation of the raymond james stadium in tampa. we're hearing alarm bells about this 37. we'll take a short broadcast and about to thomas roberts in tampa. a very good early morning to all of you. i'm alex witt. florida continues to take a beating from hurricane irma. it is now a category 1

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