[Richard Quest, Cnn:] Real jubilation at the stock exchange, as a medal of honor from the Vietnam War rings the closing Bell. Let's not worry too much how the Dow is doing. This is a true hero who is ringing the closing bell. And, one, two, three. Yes, just what you had hoped from Specialist Five James McCloughan, medal of honor of the Vietnam war. Showing the market is down a tad, a small loss at the end of the day, on Thursday, it's September 7. Tonight, Irma's deadly advance continues across the Caribbean. We'll show you where it has been and where it is heading next. Britain gets moving on its Brexit Bill, as Europe polls for delay on the talks. And Russian trolls are buying their way into your social media. And now Congress wants answers from Facebook and Twitter. I'm Richard quest live in the world's financial capital, New York City, where I mean business. Good evening. Tonight, Irma is showing her power demolishing communities and shattering records as this monster hurricane rips through the Atlantic. No storm has been the strong for this long. Just take a look. Parts of Haiti are currently being battered. This is where Irma is at the moment, Haiti. And ahead, smaller low-lying islands like Turks and Caicos stand directly in its way. And soon Eastern Cuba will start to feel Irma was wrath. The scale of the devastation is vast and unprecedented. So, first in Puerto Rico hundreds of thousands of people are being left without power. Look at the winds that ripped through the island. Water supplies have been disrupted. The island of St. Martin both French and Dutch, badly hit. And in Irma's wake trees flatten, roofs torn off, communication towers and power poles all torn down. Northwest of their the Turks and Caicos Islands, people were warned. Expect the worst.
[Vaden Williams, Turks And Caicos Minister Of Housing:] As a government will do our best after the storm to get this country back on track. We can replace your homes and cars. You can't replace your lives. So, we encourage you to go to the shelter, go to the shelter now.
[Quest:] That's what happens. But there are competing models showing where the store may go next, which will talk about at the CNN world whether center in just a moment or two. I need to show you where it's been, where it's now and who's next in the path. Let's start on Wednesday. And you can see on Wednesday, you're down here. Barbuda has been completely devastated. 90 percent of the buildings have been destroyed. St. Martin, four dead, in Puerto Rico50,000 without power. Go to Thursday and you're looking at the Dominican Republic where 7,000 people have been displaced and Haiti, potential flooding mudslides. We'll talk to Paula Newton who's in Haiti in just a moment. And then a little bit further north, the Turks and Caicos Islands, where some of the islands will be completely over washed. We'll have the governor in just a second. And then towards Friday up into the Bahamas, which is undergoing the largest ever evacuation in the islands history. But this is where it gets very uncertain, because by the time we get to the weekend on Saturday in red it's where the storm could go. So, we are seeing mandatory evacuations in Georgia and in Florida and you're seeing in the Carolinas where a state of emergency has been declared. The cone has moved its way up getting bigger and this is where it is at the moment. The Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas are in Irma's path right now. Dr. John Freeman, is the governor in Turks and Caicos. I spoke to you 3 12 hours ago, governor, when you were waiting and anticipating Irma. Irma is now with you. How bad are things?
[Dr. John Freeman, Governor Of Turks And Caicos Islands:] Richard, thank you. I have been kind of working since we spoke. The Winds are building up. We have tropical storm force wins here. We haven't yet gotten the full hurricane force winds. Irma is about 70 kilometers off the most east of the island in Turks and Caicos, Grand Turk. Where in the coast already being felt. Electricity has gone down in Grand Turk. All water has ceased pumping and the shelters there are full, as you know would expect and hope. Over in Providence where I'm sitting somewhere across from Grand Turk we have already had some electricity going down in certain communities. It went down in the command center that I'm. We have a generator that's come on here. And we hope that it survives quite a while because of the winds speeds. So, that's roughly where we are.
[Quest:] Are you seeing the worst of it yet? I mean how much more do you anticipate there is still to come?
[Freeman:] We are not seeing the worst. I fear Irma is still limbering rather than being fully running. And because what we're getting is tropical force winds, which are significantly less speedy than the full hurricane force. We would expect within the next four hours.
[Quest:] Are you in touch with London? Which of course, has responsibility in these matters for assisting you. And if so, what is her Majesty's government saying that they can provide ones Irma has passed?
[Freeman:] We are in talks with London. I took part in a
[Quest:] Governor, thank you. We'll talk more on this. Please stay safe. Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and all in the Turks and Caicos. Thank you, Sir, for joining us. So, this is the Turks and Caicos, that's where the governor has been talking with us from his command post at the moment. Let's go slightly south down to Haiti. Paula Newton is on Haiti's northern coast, which puts this just directly opposite the Caribbean Sea from where the governor is. I hope, Paula, you were able to hear the governor. There sort of being trashed Now, the cone seems like it when I say it is going to miss, it's meaningless. You're going to feel the force. How bad are things getting?
[Paula Newton, Cnn Correspondent:] We are already. We are being lashed by some furious winds. And as I looked behind me just to make sure there wasn't anything on our way. As the governor he was saying, we have not seen hurricane force winds. Believe me, Richard, Haiti is very lucky for that. We have had some very blunt statements from local officials here and you're talking hundreds of thousands of people at risk. They say they are not prepared, nor are they prepared for the aftermath. So, all best intentions out the window. At this point in time they are very lucky that the path of the storm essentially wobbled a bit east and a bit north. Having said that, even the back end of this storm could be quite furious. It's not even just the wind and what's passing right now, but what's coming after. In terms of regions that will continue to have a deluge of rain and also those mudslides. A lot still to fear here as we just continue to see the beginning of the storm Richard.
[Quest:] All right. Is it believed that you're going to get the outer bank of the hurricane looking at the model so far or is Haiti going to receive the full force? Again, maybe it's dancing on the head of a pin, Paula. But you know what I mean.
[Newton:] No. It is actually highly significant, what you're saying, Richard. And they will not take the full force. And so, we're talking about anything that might approach a category one or category two, perhaps not even hurricane force winds. That is good news. They told us point blank that they weren't prepared. The problem, Richard, is that even when you start to get more of this outer bands. How much moisture actually is produced in which areas has a significant impact on the kind of devastation we might see here and unfortunately loss of life. Right now people are still not in those evacuation centers. There weren't many of them to begin with. A couple that we visited didn't have food or water. They just said it was a solid structure so please come in. People were not convinced. And really, quite resigned to what happened and most people hunkering down in their own homes. You know, shaky homes I might add. A lot of them plywood and tin roofs and they are trying to whether this. We still have another 10 hours to go at least.
[Quest:] Paula, final question. Some viewers may well be wondering, where are you? What structure are you? Obviously, safety for you and our team. Where are you?
[Newton:] Yes, good point. We Cape Haitian, we're a little bit elevated. We can see the ports. And we are in a hotel. Has good cement, good rebar, good windows. Things have been boarded up. We are fine and of course, CNN has made sure that we have all of the provisions here that we need. Even if the power goes out we will continue to do our live shots. What is alarming, again, is the lack of preparedness pretty much all around us even though we feel we are quite safe here.
[Quest:] Paula, thank you, I appreciate it. Give the best of the team. And Tom Sater is with me at the world weather center. Tom, I have done a rather shabby job with my map of showing here it is going and what it is go doing. With your more sophisticated graphics, let's take this point by point. If we may.
[Tom Sater, Cnn Meteorologist:] OK.
[Quest:] I see where it is. What are the winds and the rainfall currently?
[Sater:] Well, about 280 kilometers per hour. Remember, super Typhoon Haiyan was at 315, but it didn't have the staying power that we have with Irma. What we are watching now is we are getting conditions that are pretty rough on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic into Haiti. More concerned about the Turks and Caicos right now, Richard. Because of the sea level rise as it makes its way toward the islands. I mean, they are looking at a good 6, 6.5-meter storm surge here. But this is new today. Warnings for the Bahama Islands but they slapped a hurricane watch unto southern Florida. This is a big, big stage. They don't slap these up here haphazardly. This is heavy consideration, a great analysis because it costs millions and millions of dollars when you put a hurricane watch somewhere in the U.S. because federal, state and local aid that needs to get in the equipment that needs to get here and evacuations.
[Quest:] When do you expect to know when that north turn is going to happen? Let's be clear about this when I say you I mean meteorologist and the UGS. They are pretty certain this northern turn is going to happen.
[Sater:] Yes. It is going to happen. About a week ago we were wondering exactly what had happened sooner than later. I mean, you would like to see that turn northward sooner and stay from, of course, the Bahamas maybe if that's possible and cross off the East Coast. But the storm surges going to be an issue. That term what we are watching though, getting closer to around northern Cuba. Still some questions on whether northern Cuba will have any interaction with this storm system. Because if it does, then it would break the system down to category two. Unfortunate for Cuba getting a lot of water just kind of squeezed out over that area. But it still looks like it's going to be some time, I believe late Friday. The timing seems to be good. The models have been in great achievement, which is staggering really this far out. The European model last Thursday had it sitting south of Miami. U.S. model was up by the U.S. you know, over 12,000-mile separation. But the turn takes place on Friday. Again, the models have been shifting a little west and a little east. This is when it gets interesting now. If we take a look at the spaghetti plots and there's all kinds of models. There is over 70 of them really. But again, there's been a little shift off to the east with some of the spaghetti plots, but if we break it down even further, you're going to be able to see that it's either going to be one of these two scenarios and they are both terrible. The European takes it right into Miami. So, a 10- foot storm surge right into Biscayne Bay. That takes it right up towards Orlando on Sunday and straight up into Georgia. The American model takes it right up the coastline and slams into Savannah, Georgia. So, both will be historically damaging.
[Quest:] Move to your left if you would be as kind and show me. So how serious is Jose still out in the Atlantic and Katia in the Gulf? Amazing. It has been since 2010 we had three hurricanes at the same time. Those names are Carla, Julie and Igor and it looked just like these positions here. It's almost identical. It's amazing. Katia is not a big concern although it is for Veracruz and Mexico as it slides downward. We've got a little bit of a cold front here, Richard, which is too bad that it's not coming through on Friday to help push Irma away. But that'll slide that system to the south. Now Jose, we knew was going to become a hurricane and it is. Yesterday we talked about it could become a major hurricane. That means category three. And it's getting dangerously close to the northern islands of the lesser Antilles. Can you imagine telling the residents of Texas 24 hours after Harvey hits you and devastates you and you have another one coming with another hurricane watch. Hurricane watches are now in effect. It is hard believe in hard to just fathom this. Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, the system is coming dangerously close. They are already as we've heard barely habitable. So where do you go? We don't have a convention center like we do in Houston. I don't think it's going to make landfall, Richard. But it's going to come close enough where tropical storm force winds are going to throw all of that debris around. Debris that has enclosed on buildings. Tom Sater, thank you, sir. Thank you. Stay with it. Obviously, you're going to stay with it. We need you for the details. Thank you. Not knowing exactly where the storm will hit is making it very hard for the authorities to give any evacuation orders. Airlines are lowering ticket prices. Every seat on every plane is being filled to get people out before Irma causes thousands of people to be stranded once the flights are canceled. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening.