Killed. Right now dorian is down to a category 3 hurricane, but that is still a monster storm. It still has 120mileperhour winds and still poses a potential threat to our east coast. The big question is, whether its next move takes it closer to land or keeps it further out to sea. Weve got people up and down the coast as well as meteorologists in the weather center. Bill, lets start with you. What is the latest on this storm and where it is headed next . The fact that it hasnt moved, give us some historical perspective. Lets start on this. 48 hours since it made landfall and this is the satellite imagery of that. So this is only traveling about a hundred miles. There it goes. Then it stalls. This was all day yesterday, all last night, a category 5 going to a category 4 and then a category 3 and then finally the eye disappears as it begins to weaken. The latest update from the Hurricane Center now for the first time in 12 hours, its not stalled or stationary anymore. We are drifting at 1 mile per hour. From here on out it should begin to slowly accelerate, slowly, painfully slowly. But wed like to get it away from the northern bahama islands so the people there waiting for rescue that need help can so the help can get in there. We need the winds to come down a little bit more. You notice we also have rain bands lashing the coastal areas, too. When the bands come through is when well get high wind gusts and may start getting scattered Power Outages from areas of West Palm Beach up to jupiter to fort pierce heading up toward the space coast, coco beach and melbourne area. We expect that during the day today. But the storm is expected to still be all day long today and all day tomorrow, safely off the florida coast by about 80 to a hundred miles. That means the core, the 12k0mileperhour winds, will not be onshore as we go through the next 48 hours and youll notice the Hurricane Center doesnt have it weakening much. It is still over the warm waters of the gulf stream. All of the weakening should just about be done. It really shouldnt get any stronger but still could possibly be a category 3 storm as it makes the turn and heads up toward the carolinas. We are going to have a very close call here in areas of South Carolina, north carolina, thursday into friday morning. All of our computer models are painting a picture here of brushing the coast or maybe even a landfall, stephanie. We are not done with this storm. You know, florida has to deal with some storm surge issues. Same with georgia. But South Carolina and north carolina, you could still have a direct landfall in about two days from now. All right. Bill, thank you so much. A storm surge and a category 3 is serious business. Gabe gutierrez is in jensen beach, florida, which is facing a storm surge warning and the potential for Tropical Storm force winds. Gabe, whats the mood there . When we say, oh, people in florida, theyre not hitting a storm yet. It looks pretty rough where you are. Reporter hi there, stephanie. Weve been seeing these conditions for about 24 hours or so. A short time ago an official in port st. Lucie just said this has been, quote, a test of patience. That is exactly what were seeing. You see right here theres a choppy surf. Weve been seeing these conditions, again, for the better part of 24 hours. You can see the palm trees swing in the wind. Not too significant wind here just yet but we are getting one of the other squalls and this is what we expect today, for conditions to deteriorate quite a bit. Residents here in florida, they have seen over the last couple days, waiting for the storm as bill just described that has been painfully slow in getting out of the bahamas. About 85 emergency shelters are open in the state of florida and more than a Million People up and down the florida coast, georgia, and the carolinas have been ordered to evacuate. Over there is Hutchinson Island under a mandatory evacuation order. We can tell you many people here have taken this seriously. Businesses are boarded up and cleared out. We expect the worst of the conditions from Hurricane Dorian to brush against the coast today but that latest track has it just a little to our east. Were expecting Tropical Storm force winds throughout the day today. This rain is really intermittent, an occasional rain squall, just before we came on the air is when it started so were getting soaked right now. Again, stephanie, many people here have evacuated and they are hopeful that they will not see as bad a conditions as they were expecting from dorian. All right. Thanks, gabe. Lets take you 90 miles north of where gabe is and Mariana Atencio is standing by in cocoa beach, florida, currently under a hurricane warning. What is the update . Reporter so, still, this is a Barrier Island still under mandatory evacuation order, steph, and i checked in with local authorities before coming on the air, still under hurricane warning. That weather that gabe is experiencing is coming this way, likely later in the morning. For these Barrier Islands, you said it and we heard from bill karins, the threat is really the storm surge. There are no life guards out on these beaches so they want people to stay off the water. Authorities describing the mood here as cautiously optimistic because it looks like the still monster of a cat 3 is going to stay off the florida coast. But right now it is 80 miles off the east coast of florida and thats a little too close for comfort as some of the authorities told me earlier today. I want to bring in one of them. This is the mayor of cocoa beach. Good morning. Reporter ben, last night we were at one of the local establishments. It was packed. This is still a Barrier Island under mandatory evacuation. What is the message as we head into this critical 24 hours . The message is still be careful, be vigilant. This thing is still a long ways out and, unfortunately, not moving very fast. Being a Barrier Island we are surrounded by water and i am really concerned about the flooding issues. Weve got to take note of that. Reporter youre a veteran of these storms. This storm has been unpredictable at best. Stephanie has been covering it since yesterday. What worries you specifically . What could still be the threat, the worst Case Scenario . The wobble we had, it was originally going to be 47 miles off our coast line, then 60, now closer to 80 so that wobble back west is really concerning because that changes the entire picture and thats why i want people to just, if youre, wherever you are by later today, just stay inside and be safe. What kinds of conditions are you expecting even as soon as noon today . At noon were supposed to be getting tropical force storm winds with possible hurricane gusts, so again, just not conditions to be outside in. What makes a Barrier Island, a city like cocoa beach so vulnerable . Tell me about the bodies of water that surround it. We are literally a Barrier Island surrounded by water. We got the Atlantic Ocean and in some parts my neighborhood is four blocks wide. I have the river two blocks behind me and the ocean two blocks to the east. So a very small strip of land thats very susceptible to flooding and storm surge. With a lot of people that have decided to stay put and hunker down. Thank you for taking the time to message them today, your constituents. Thank you so much. Thank you. Reporter the mayor of cocoa beach, stephanie. Finally, for Brevard County which is the county this Barrier Island belongs to, there are 14 shelters open on the mainland. They had to open an additional one this morning because they were at capacity, steph. All right. Mariana, thank you so much and stay safe where you are. Now i want to head down to the hard hit bahamas where at least five people were killed. Morgan chesky is in nassau located just south of where Hurricane Dorian is doing the most damage. Morgan, what are you hearing from officials there and how on earth are they planning to get to the people in the middle of the storm where we already know you cant get to those airports and certainly boats cant get there . Yes, steph, that has been the ongoing problem since dorian made its way through the northern part of the bahamas. Were told the coast guard was just able to move in yesterday to start to perform rescues in that hard hit abaco island. As it stands right now we know theyve medevacced 19 people from abaco to a hospital here in nassau six of those people in Critical Condition and the rescue effort is going to be ongoing throughout the day just because of the conditions that dorian provided made it so dangerous for even rescuers to go by air or sea to approach those hardest hit areas. Right now the coast guard is using helicopters to land in those areas that are cut off from all other rescue efforts as it stands right now. The Prime Minister telling me that he does plan to fly over abaco island today to witness the devastation first hand but he went on to say from the little hes already seen it is simply catastrophic and unprecedented. In the meantime, because dorian is such a slow moving storm, many there are under water so First Responders having issues themselves as a result of dorians sheer power as it continues to barely make its way through at such a snails pace proving to be a problem where we know 50,000 people sought shelter as best they could a lot of those folks able to see just the damage brought to abaco island and know this hurricane was not messing around at all. We know rescue efforts are ongoing through the day and relief efforts are being organized here in nassau but as you mentioned the seas are still plenty rough so it may not be tomorrow or even the next day before a lot of the other nonprofit agencies providing relief can reach the several thousand people in abaco island who may have survived dorian but now are facing an incredibly difficult road ahead rebuilding homes that were leveled and moving on from this storm that will forever change the bahamas for years to come, steph. Thank you so much, Morgan Chesky in nassau. The images on your screen moments ago were from freeport. Lets take you there. Sam tisher is a local resident in freeport one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. We spoke last night and you could barely go outside. The winds were so strong. You had told me for an entire day it sounded like a Freight Train was going by your window. What are things like this morning . Well, thankfully it has as i heard gone down to category 3, still incredibly strong winds. I am on the south side of the island which thus far has been spared a good amount of the flooding. Definitely not trying to linger outside. I just step outside just so folks can see the Freight Train still rolling. Palm tree in the back yard, we already lost one in the front yard. Walk down to the water just because its raging and our concern is high tide coming and the storm surge rising. So, you know, this is normally absolutely tranquil water. Thats the Defense Force across the canal so that is effectively the local coast guard. Theyve got their homes completely boarded up. Trees are down across the yard. So were thankfully okay. I have some friends staying with me. We have a 2yearold and a 4yearold and my colleague, joe. I know a lot of our friends have had to evacuate their homes. People still havent been rescued in some cases. I heard reports of people waiting upstairs or even in attics for 12, 14, 16 hours. So its still really, really bad because t last night you said your goal was to get out of your location and try to get to other parts of the island, potentially the northern part, where you could help people. Are you any closer to being able to leave your residence and get out into the neighborhood . No. We cant leave. Any idea when youll be able to . You had said at best maybe people could go through the streets on jet skis. Have you seen anything like that . Yeah. We actually one of our friends, one of the guys that helped build our coral farm, he and some friends have jet skis and we saw videos of them out trying to help rescue some people. Weve got a bit of spare diesel fuel so people are able to get to us since we cant get out. For rescue efforts. Were having to share that. Like i said, we got a really strong, big, pickup truck and we cant get out to help anyone. There are reports. Go ahead. Why cant you get out . The streets arent flooded where you are. Is it just the wind . Its dangerous conditions. I mean, trees are going down. There are gusts still at 120 miles an hour from what i last heard. You know, were ready to help as best we can, my friend and my colleague is helping organize relief efforts on the outside. Weve been in touch with the wc kitchen. A lot of folks about how we can bring aid in once things clear up. But people cant even, let alone drive here on the island, people definitely cant get into the island to bring much needed aid to the bahamian people. Have officials given you any idea when things will clear up . When we last spoke you said you felt safe in your home but also you had stored food and other supplies. How long do you have that food . I think we took on a few extra people but were doing a good job of rationing things out. We definitely have a few more days of supplies water, some batteries, hopefully, you know, i dont know how i still have a signal right now to speak with you but as long as my battery lasts were communicating with people from the outside world. I know the government of the bahamas is doing everything that they can. I couldnt tell you when the storm is going to pass. Were relying on outside satellite data but what well really need is help from the outside world to help people recover from this. Do you have concerns that a storm surge is still in your future . Yeah. I mean, we stayed up well past hours we really were able to stay awake because we were waiting for high tide. To see if the storm surge was coming, again, the wind picked up again just so people can see, so the water is lashing against the seawalls where we are but it hasnt yet risen too high. Were still very much paying attention to that. This is completely unprecedented. It is completely unnatural. I dont know how to describe this other than were in the middle of a Climate Emergency right now. Nothing like this has ever been seen before. There are people that have been through series of cat 5s, cat 4s, cat 3s, and no one really has any explanation or way of grounding this experience compared to anything theyve gone through before. Before we go, one more time. Can you just show me an image, move the camera so i can see the water and the back yard and the pool area . Yeah sure. Ill walk over there now. The one thing you want people to know who are not in the bahamas, help us understand what you want us to know about the situation there and the people there. The situation here is that once the storm passes whatever can be sent over, diapers, water, fuel, medicine, if youre in florida, georgia, on the coast, you have boats, helicopters, planes. Send stuff over because people here are really going to need help. And, also, obviously our main concern is on people right now but the reason im down here in the first place is because we built our first coral farm here to restore dying reefs and ultimately these reefs along with mangroves and dunes, coastal ecosystems not only are amazing but actually protect against storm surges and provide jobs. We have to rebuild these reefs, too, because ultimately they sustain people on these islands. We need to figure out how to help immediately now and then also rebuild our planet because its what takes care of us. All right. Sam, thank you so much. The people of freeport are lucky that youre there. All right. Coming up, much more on Hurricane Dorian with preparations under way right now in the carolinas as the threat grows greater by the hour. But first, another disturbing story. New details about the horrific boat fire off the california coast. At least 25 people pronounced dead. Others still missing. How on earth could Something Like this happen . By the strolle s [ growl ] good boy. Hey. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. This morning we are learning new details about the deadly boat fire that happened off the Southern Coast of california. Officials now report 25 people have died and nine are still missing. 33 passengers and six crew members were onboard for a Labor Day Weekend scuba diving trip. In the middle of the night the boat became engulfed in flames while passengers slept below deck. Five crew members were able to escape the blaze. Nta barbara, c the latest. Tell us about the search efforts this morning. There are still nine passengers unaccounted for. Reporter yes, steph, good morning to you. Quite simply, crews are going to be facing some very difficult conditions as they try and get inside and get to those remaining victims. So we do expect a briefing later today from coast guard officials. We also know the ntsb is expected to be on scene later today to begin their investigation. Were hoping to get some sort of update. I think the most Shocking Development this morning is the fact that those numbers have skyrocketed. We now know a shocking 25 victims have been claimed in this boat incident. Nine people are still unaccounted for. Were told as the coroner continues to go through and identify remains and victims those numbers could change but it lets you know how wide this devastation is. Let me talk to you about the conditions. We know that crews are still going out there, still working. Heres the deal. This right here, Santa Barbara