Irma Barrels Toward Florida With Category 3 Force; Storm Surge Threat Increases For Florida Coast; 6.3 Million Floridians Ordered To Evacuate.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, here in downtown Miami, we've seen gusts up to 60 miles an hour. They are expecting sustained winds well above that when this storm hits about 20-plus hours from now. So, this is nothing and already the shore is being overwhelmed by storm surge. They're expecting six to 10 feet, even though track has shifted of this storm. The urgency for those in in area has not. Let's go the Chad Myers in the weather center. And it's something that we're battling here with the perception of even Floridians, which is if the storm has moved, they must be safe now.</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. And it depends on where you are. Some people are safer and some people are certainly more in danger. Just depends on your location in Florida and if you evacuated to the west coast because the storm was supposed to be here when we talked about it three days ago. Now that's not happening. The storm is going to be over Key West and into southwestern Florida. You know, and it still could. People have been asking, can this thing still miss Florida or miss -- you know what, Hurricane Irma doesn't know if there's a European model or a GFS model or an NAM model. It doesn't care. It's not running on any model or any timetable. So certainly, it still could miss. It's been moving to the west all week long. Two to 4 feet up and down the east coast, this is the real dreadful area, 10 to 15 feet here anywhere from Cape Coral through Naples right on down to Keys. That is the storm surge. If you don't understand what storm surge means it means a flood. You're going to get a 15-foot flood right over your house if you're in that little zone. If you're 30 feet above sea level you're in great shape. Don't even worry about it. Stay in your bunker. Don't move. If all of a sudden you realize, wait a minute, I'm six feet above sea level, that's not going the work, then all of a sudden you need to start to move -- Anderson.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Chad Myers, Chad, thanks very much. Chad, if you could, talk about for the folks who are here in Fort Myers, you're talking about 10 to 15-foot storm surge south of here in Naples. Is that going to reach Fort Myers?</s>MYERS: It certainly could because we talked about this model or this computer not agreeing with what Irma is thinking it's doing. Irma has been shifting left. We were waiting for this turn and we've been waiting for a long time. When does the turn occur? Well, the turn could have occurred east of Miami and everybody would have been missed even the Bahamas really would have just had a miss. That didn't happen. Waiting, waiting, waiting, and then all of a sudden, yes, you're into Fort Myers. So, there's no question that at the 5:00 advisory if this thing doesn't start turning, the hurricane center could slide that higher surge on up to Fort Myers for sure. And it's not out-the question that this thing gets into Tampa. That's why I need everybody on the west side of the state to watch this. You're still in the cone, Tampa, and you've never been out of the cone. Fort Myers never been out of the cone. Cape Coral, never been out of the cone. So, you know, this is still a great forecast, 120 hours ago, we were still forecasting this hurricane center was, and they're still right on the money.</s>COOPER: Yes. In fact, Chad, the last thing I heard you say in the previous hit was for Tampa to expect 5 foot to 8 foot of storm surge and that's been upgraded.</s>MYERS: That's right. We were talking about zone one, Pinellas, and Hillsboro, I need you to keep listening to your local officials there because we may have to raise the zone from A to B around parts of Tampa if it looks like the surge may get into Tampa Bay. Right now, it's 5 to 10. You know what, Anderson, this just a bad flashback. You and me standing in Tampa waiting for Charley, a Category 4, very strong storm and it turned right into Punta Gorda and we had to go chasing it to the south. That was 13 years or so ago. The same thing can happen today. I have a wind gust possible in Punta Gorda, Florida, tomorrow, of 150 miles per hour. The storm is still expected to grow as it gets into the warm water. This is serious and it's the real deal.</s>COOPER: Yes. And people in Fort Myers know this is the real deal. Chad was talking about possible expansion of evacuation zones in Tampa. That has now happened here in Fort Myers. The mayor's office, now they've expanded the evacuation zone to Zone B as well, which is in the downtown west and south down river, and that is obviously of great concern. There are a lot of people frankly who came from Miami, I just was talking to somebody who evacuated from Miami is now in Tampa and is now suddenly faced with the decision what shall do I do, stay in Tampa, try to go back to Miami? We just drove here to Fort Myers. I can tell you the highways are pretty much empty, certainly heading west on I-75, the highway was empty. There was a gas station open, you could buy up to $25 of gas. There were police there. It was very orderly. There weren't long lines. There is some light traffic heading back to Miami. I can only assume some people decided to try to get back there, but the situation in Fort Myers, it's always been serious, but as people are tracking this -- Governor Rick Scott is speaking. Let's listen in.</s>GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT FLORIDA: Hurricane Irma is battering the South Florida and the Florida Keys with dangerous winds and continues to remain a catastrophic and life-threatening major Category 3 storm with winds of 125 miles per hour. This is a deadly major storm and our state has never seen anything like it. Millions of Floridians will see major hurricane impacts with deadly, deadly, deadly storm surge and life-threatening winds. There's a serious threat of significant storm surge flooding -- there is a serious threat of significant storm surge flooding along the entire west coast of Florida, and this has increased to 15 feet of impact above ground level, 15 feet of impact above ground level. Think about that, 15 feet is devastating and will cover your house. In the Tampa Bay area, the surge is forecasted to be 5 feet to 8 feet. Think about that. The typical first story is 7 feet to 10 feet, 5 feet to 8 feet. This is a life-threatening situation. Remember, the storm surge comes in -- comes after the wind. Do not think the storm is over when the wind slows down. Local officials will let you know when it's safe. The storm surge will rush in and it could kill you. Here in Orange County, you're under a hurricane warning and will see dangerous and life-threatening wind and torrential rainfall of more than a foot. The rainfall has already started in this area and the wind will begin tonight. We could also see tornadoes. Please take action to keep your family safe and shelter in place or find shelter now. There is a mandatory evacuation order for mobile homes in Orange County. If you have been ordered to evacuate anywhere in the state, you need to leave right now. Not tonight. Not in an hour. Now. You are running out of time to make decision. Evacuations are in place across the state more than 6.3 million Floridians have been ordered to evacuate. You need to listen to local evacuation orders. I'm a dad and I'm a grandfather. I love my family more than anything and I cannot imagine life without them. Do not put your life or your family's life at risk. Right now is the right time to do the right thing for your family. School buses are aiding in evacuations. Please take advantage of this service. If you need to leave and are unable to do so for any reason at all, call 1-800-342-3557 and we will do everything possible to get you out. Protecting life is our absolute top priority. There will be no resource. There will be no expense that will be spared to protect lives. I urge everyone to check on your neighbors, families, and friends. If you know someone who is not evacuating and should, please contact them and make sure they have a plan to get to safety. But you can't wait to get out. You can't wait until storm's here. You have to do it now. Possessions can be replaced. Your house can be replaced. You and your family cannot be replaced. Shelters. We have been working with counties across the state to ensure there are enough shelters. Currently there are more than 320 shelters open across every county in the path of the storm and more opening today. More than 54,000 Floridians have already taken shelter and there's still room for more. If you have a building and emergency officials ask you to open a shelter, please comply. You will save somebody's life. This is so important to families seeking safety. Everyone in Florida needs to find a safe place to go. Traffic. Evacuation routes are moving and we have stopped the shoulder driving on I-75 from Wildwood to the Georgia line because traffic is moving. If there's a need to reopen this, FDOT and Highway Safety will do so immediately. Evacuations are not meant to be convenient. They are meant to keep you safe. Check realtime traffic information and evacuation routes at fl511.com. Fuel. We are still aggressively working to keep gas stations opened and filled. This won't last much longer in South Florida because it will be unsafe to be on the roads. While all the fuel ports in Florida are now closed for safety as Irma impacts our state, following the storm, state troopers will resume escorting fuel supply trucks directly to gas stations across the state. Highway Florida motor fuel import tax for five days to help bring more fuel to our state for storm response and recovery. This will make our more efforts to bring more fuel from neighboring states after the storm. We know fuel is important. We're doing everything we can to get more fuel in the state. Florida's prepared. Every single Florida Guardsman that can be deployed has already been deployed to prepare and respond to this storm across the state. We have so many members of our law enforcement that are putting their lives at risk to help Floridians get to a safe place and they will not stop until it is no longer safe. We cannot thank our Guardsmen, our law enforcement, any of our first responders enough because they're putting themselves at risk to take care of everybody else. Utility providers. They're actively prepositioning resources throughout the state and in neighboring states. We all know the importance of getting power back on. We will work aggressively with our utilities to make sure it gets back on as quickly as we can. I want to be clear. We are under a state of emergency. Employees who perform vital services including health care staff, we need you to be there to help your community. Right now, Florida needs 1,000 volunteer nurses to help at our special needs shelters. If you're a nurse and you can volunteer, please e-mail at helpfl@flhelp.gov. You can still e-mail to prior e-mail address we were using, bprchdpreparedness@flhelp.gov. Again, we need nurses for our special needs shelters. We've already received thousands of supplies. This is great news, but we're still acting to try to get these individuals to our shelters. We're also going to need -- continue to need volunteers before and after the storm. So many people across the country and across the world have called to offer their prayers and support. I want to thank the governors of the other states that provided every resource we've asked for. I know the entire country is behind us. I've been talking to the White House pretty much every day, been talking to FEMA all the time, talked to Brock Long this morning, FEMA administrator. I've talked to almost every cabinet member and they are doing everything they can to provide whatever resource they can. We have our country's best first responders ready to help us and Florida will get through this. If you're in an evacuation zone, you've got go. You've got to get out now, get to a safe place. This is a catastrophic storm our state has never seen. Remember, we can rebuild your house, you can get possessions again, but we can't rebuild your life or your family. Florida is tough, Florida is resilient, Florida is unbreakable. Let's stay together and help each other. You can follow my Twitter account @flgovscott for lifesaving messaging and updates in English and Spanish. Florida is an amazing melting pot of loving people and I'm so proud to be governor of this incredible state. (Speaking Spanish)</s>COOPER: You're listening to Florida's Governor Rick Scott giving just another urgent warning to people to be taking this storm seriously. He was talking about that storm surge basically swamping people's homes. Here in Fort Myers, if you've been listening to Chad Myers over the last hour or so, they have upgraded the level of storm surge that they expect a little south of here up to Naples, possibly even as far as Fort Myers to 10 to 15 feet. That is extraordinary. Right now, for Tampa, it is 5 feet to 8 feet. This area in Centennial Park where you can see the water right here, probably about 8 feet over the water, so there will be water all throughout this area. And as we go back -- as we join Chris Cuomo who is in Miami Beach as well, Chris, it does bear repeating that the mayor here has expanded the evacuation zone to Zone B, which is downtown south and west down river. And for anybody who has not evacuated at this point, but needs help in order to get to a shelter, the mayor is saying call 211. That is the number they of set up. Call 211 and they are going to try to help get people to these shelters. Chris, I just drove by the Germane Arena on I-75, there were long, long lines, and I know we'll talk to our Drew Griffin shortly outside there, there were long lines, hundreds of people waiting to get in. We'll be checking in soon, Chris, to see if those lines are moving. A very severe situation here as it continues to be for you and everybody in Miami.</s>CUOMO: Yes. Look, we're getting a band of just a taste of what is to come. I'm no fan of standing in the rain, but it's important to demonstrate something. If you haven't evacuated, if you need to get out, look how much more difficult it would be now. We're getting gusts of about 65 miles an hour and now pretty I'd say medium level band of rain. Dave, if you pan to the left a little when you get a chance, Dave, look at the difference in the water that this wind picking up and the rain coming in has made. The storm surge now is easily overwhelming all of the docks in this area and it's just a marginal uptick in wind, the addition of rain, and you know what, if you needed to hit the road now, you would be in a bad way because driving in this is not easy. Your visibility is shot and this is nothing compared to a hurricane. Anderson, you and I have been in plenty of them. This is mild, but it changes the dynamic and that's why we just heard the governor in such, you know, serious tones telling people you need to move when the window opens. And if you're in an area right now like downtown Miami, when this rain stops and this band moves, if you need to get out, if the government has told you to, take the chance, because once this happens, movement is hard, Anderson. It's hard.</s>COOPER: Yes. It's very deceptive when you're here, I mean, look right now, Fort Myers, you know, there's a gust of wind, but there's no storm. It's very deceptive. You know, I've just put on sunscreen because the sun is out behind clouds. And the difference between when one of those bands comes, it changes on a dime. When we were driving here, one of those bands swept over the highway, we were driving on, the rain was just torrential. We had to slow down to a crawl on the highway and that was just a quick band. This thing is going to be going for many, many hours, some 24 hours from now, we will be in the thick of this as will all the residents here, frankly, all throughout Florida. Some people may feel toward the east that it's not going to be as bad and for some people it won't be, but this storm is so big it is going to impact everybody in one way or another. We have a lot more ahead. We'll take a quick break. We'll talk to our Drew Griffin at the Germane Arena to give you a sense, last time we checked in him about an hour ago, or about 10:00, it was supposed to be opening. There were probably hundreds if not more than a thousand people waiting to get in. We'll see what the scene is there next.