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CNN Live Today

Eyeing Isidore; Interview With Max Mayfield

Aired September 25, 2002 - 13:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Along America's Gulf Coast, all eyes today are on Tropical Storm Isidore. The storm has lost some strength, but forecasters believe it may still pack quite a punch as it heads north.
Hurricane watches are in effect along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. Isidore is already causing flooding in southern Louisiana, and schools are closed and shelters are open.

We have crews in position to cover Isidore's arrival. Jeff flock is in New Orleans. Mark Potter is at the National Hurricane Tracking Center in Miami.

We're going to begin with you, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks a lot.

Maybe you see the water on the lens. I think this is going to be a water event, as opposed to a wind event. I'm sure we'll find out from Mark later how strong this storm is now.

But all indications, though, are it's not going to be a very strong storm, but it is going to bring a lot of water with it, and that's what we'll have to watch.

Out here perched along the Mississippi River, that's the steamer, Naches (ph), which typically maybe you could get a riverboat ride on. No rides today, although much of the rest of New Orleans is not too badly bent out of shape over this storm.

Let's take a look at some pictures of some minor flooding already. There is already -- you know, this storm is so disorganized and so large, it's already had a lot of rainfall in New Orleans, so some minor street flooding already happening.

Some sandbagging already under way. They got some prisoners together to help the sandbag effort. Not too far from where we stand over in the French Quarter, there is sandbagging, as well as some boarding up going on. But again, it appears that it's not going to be a big wind event that would necessitate a lot of boarding up. Mainly the sandbagging if the floodwaters come up.

So, Kyra, we will continue to watch it, but at this point -- got our fingers crossed -- it looks likes it might be OK.

PHILLIPS: All right. I know it's very easy for me to stand here, Jeff, and say I empathize with you, but I promise you, I was a reporter in this area. I know how bad it gets.

FLOCK: I know that.

PHILLIPS: Have you heard the stories about the cemeteries? And do you know what I'm talking about with the water and...

FLOCK: I know, and -- exactly. And you know -- I'll tell you, you know this as well as anybody, Kyra. But for our viewers, it's like you're not able to see it, but you know, there is the levee over there past beyond the trees. That's the French Quarter off to the side. We wanted to be right down by the river, and that's why we're standing here. But the levee is over there, which they close off.

But you're right. The concept that, if the water comes high enough -- since this city is below sea level -- potentially you get stuff coming up from ground, like if people happen to be planted there. So, it's potentially not a good situation if you really get a lot of water, and we're just going to have to wait and see.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff Flock, we'll be checking in with you -- stay safe.

All right, now, we're going to check in with Mark Potter. He is in a little bit of a drier place, you could you say. Right, Mark?

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and it's nice being here, rather than out in the rain.

The forecasters here are working very hard and around-the-clock. They are watching three systems, concentrating on two: Isidore and Lili. And of course, Isidore seems to be the most immediate concern. It's out there in the Gulf, 300 miles south of New Orleans, heading north at about 13 miles an hour, and we're looking at a landfall of the center of the storm about midnight tonight.

We want to talk more about this, though, with the man in charge of all of this. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center.

And, Max, what is your concern on the coastal level of when this storm comes ashore? And will it be a hurricane?

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We are not really forecasting that. It could strengthen a little bit, but we think it's going to come inland as a storm -- a tropical storm.

I don't want to minimize that, because we can have loss of life from a system like this very, very easily. And we are concerned with all of the hazards associated with any landfalling system, and that includes the winds, the near hurricane force. The storm surge flooding will be near and well out east of where the center makes landfall.

We also have the inland flood threat. We could have some very heavy rainfall amounts, and we keep making some of those same mistakes over and over where we seem to have loss of life here in the United States after tropical storms and hurricanes make landfall from the rainfall. We need to be very, very careful about that, and not let people drive their cars through flooded-out roadways.

And then, with a situation like this, there's also the risk of isolated tornadoes from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

POTTER: And you make the point of correcting the mistake that we often make, where we concentrate on the center going ashore in central Louisiana, but this storm is much, much bigger than that. Is that correct?

MAYFIELD: It's not a hurricane, and it's certainly not a major hurricane. It's a strong tropical storm, but it's a large tropical storm, and the impact will be felt through a very large area of the northern Gulf Coast.

POTTER: And why the coastal flooding so much, even with a tropical storm? What made it happen with this storm in particular in the Gulf?

MAYFIELD: It is so large. And remember, this had been a major hurricane for a few days down there in the southern Gulf of Mexico. So, some very, very large swells have been generated. It's still large enough and stormy enough to continue generating waves out, and they are already coming on the coastline. There are already roads that are underwater from Louisiana over towards Alabama.

POTTER: And my last question has to do with where this storm goes from here, from Louisiana? And what's your concern then?

MAYFIELD: Well, we do have that concern with inland flooding after it gets inland, because it will take off to northeast and increase in forward speed, and there will be some very heavy rainfall amounts up the Tennessee Valley towards the Appalachians, and eventually up towards New England.

POTTER: And the point that you have made is that more people die in that condition.

MAYFIELD: Inland fresh-water flooding, and most of the time, it's because people are driving their cars through flooded-out roadways and being swept away. If you can't see road, please don't drive there.

POTTER: So, even though this is being talked about as a tropical storm, it's not anything to take lightly.

MAYFIELD: And in the past, we seem to have focused more on the landfall event. We really don't want to let our guard down to the inland effects. Those strong winds, the heavy rains can spread well inland.

POTTER: Max, thank you very much. A long day and night ahead of you, so thank you very much for your time.

MAYFIELD: There are four tropical storms or four tropical cyclones. We have one...

POTTER: In the Pacific.

MAYFIELD: ... moving in the Pacific area.

POTTER: Right. Thank you very much for the correction, and he is the man who would know.

Kyra -- back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mark Potter, thanks so much.

Well, it's also going to be a long day, a long night ahead out in Alabama. I hope we can keep this picture up. Jere Heugh on standby with the wind patrol.

Hi -- Jere.

JERE HEUGH, CNN AFFILIATE WKRG METEOROLOGIST: Hey, yes, I've got my little handy Skymaid (ph) anemometer. We just started really sustaining 20 to 25 mile-an-hour winds, which kicked the water up a little bit.

A bigger problem so far has been the rain with this. We have had almost 14 hours of straight rain, lots of street flooding on the island.

Most of the residents here are still kind of wait-and-see. Tropical storm status, not too excited about that.

But the big boats, we are standing right in front of a big charter fishing area, and they have gotten out of here. They store the boats up in the bays and estuaries up around Mobile, where the waters are much more protected. But on the other side, we'll show you a lot of the smaller pleasure craft figuring to ride out the storm.

Always with storms like this, the big question is: How strong is it going to get? Is it really going to track as far west of us as we think it is? Or if at the last minute -- as so often has happened the five or six years is these storms take last-minute turns and make life very interesting.

In any case, I'm ready for it.

PHILLIPS: I know you are, and I know you have worked there for a while, Jere. Tell us how folks in Dauphin Island and the Mobile area prepare for storms like this. They know exactly what to do.

HEUGH: They sure do. In fact, as you drive around the island, you see the standard scene: lots of plywood over windows.

Lots of people just get off this island. It is so low that any sort of storm surge over five or six feet washes right over the island, and even if your house is on stilts, it's no fun to look down and see the Gulf of Mexico flowing beneath. So, lots of people just automatically evacuate... PHILLIPS: Yes.

HEUGH: ... and which is exactly the right thing to do.

PHILLIPS: Definitely, a different vision of room with a view. All right, Jere Heugh with our affiliate, WKRG -- thanks, Jere.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired September 25, 2002 - 13:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Along America's Gulf Coast, all eyes today are on Tropical Storm Isidore. The storm has lost some strength, but forecasters believe it may still pack quite a punch as it heads north.
Hurricane watches are in effect along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. Isidore is already causing flooding in southern Louisiana, and schools are closed and shelters are open.

We have crews in position to cover Isidore's arrival. Jeff flock is in New Orleans. Mark Potter is at the National Hurricane Tracking Center in Miami.

We're going to begin with you, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks a lot.

Maybe you see the water on the lens. I think this is going to be a water event, as opposed to a wind event. I'm sure we'll find out from Mark later how strong this storm is now.

But all indications, though, are it's not going to be a very strong storm, but it is going to bring a lot of water with it, and that's what we'll have to watch.

Out here perched along the Mississippi River, that's the steamer, Naches (ph), which typically maybe you could get a riverboat ride on. No rides today, although much of the rest of New Orleans is not too badly bent out of shape over this storm.

Let's take a look at some pictures of some minor flooding already. There is already -- you know, this storm is so disorganized and so large, it's already had a lot of rainfall in New Orleans, so some minor street flooding already happening.

Some sandbagging already under way. They got some prisoners together to help the sandbag effort. Not too far from where we stand over in the French Quarter, there is sandbagging, as well as some boarding up going on. But again, it appears that it's not going to be a big wind event that would necessitate a lot of boarding up. Mainly the sandbagging if the floodwaters come up.

So, Kyra, we will continue to watch it, but at this point -- got our fingers crossed -- it looks likes it might be OK.

PHILLIPS: All right. I know it's very easy for me to stand here, Jeff, and say I empathize with you, but I promise you, I was a reporter in this area. I know how bad it gets.

FLOCK: I know that.

PHILLIPS: Have you heard the stories about the cemeteries? And do you know what I'm talking about with the water and...

FLOCK: I know, and -- exactly. And you know -- I'll tell you, you know this as well as anybody, Kyra. But for our viewers, it's like you're not able to see it, but you know, there is the levee over there past beyond the trees. That's the French Quarter off to the side. We wanted to be right down by the river, and that's why we're standing here. But the levee is over there, which they close off.

But you're right. The concept that, if the water comes high enough -- since this city is below sea level -- potentially you get stuff coming up from ground, like if people happen to be planted there. So, it's potentially not a good situation if you really get a lot of water, and we're just going to have to wait and see.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff Flock, we'll be checking in with you -- stay safe.

All right, now, we're going to check in with Mark Potter. He is in a little bit of a drier place, you could you say. Right, Mark?

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and it's nice being here, rather than out in the rain.

The forecasters here are working very hard and around-the-clock. They are watching three systems, concentrating on two: Isidore and Lili. And of course, Isidore seems to be the most immediate concern. It's out there in the Gulf, 300 miles south of New Orleans, heading north at about 13 miles an hour, and we're looking at a landfall of the center of the storm about midnight tonight.

We want to talk more about this, though, with the man in charge of all of this. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center.

And, Max, what is your concern on the coastal level of when this storm comes ashore? And will it be a hurricane?

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We are not really forecasting that. It could strengthen a little bit, but we think it's going to come inland as a storm -- a tropical storm.

I don't want to minimize that, because we can have loss of life from a system like this very, very easily. And we are concerned with all of the hazards associated with any landfalling system, and that includes the winds, the near hurricane force. The storm surge flooding will be near and well out east of where the center makes landfall.

We also have the inland flood threat. We could have some very heavy rainfall amounts, and we keep making some of those same mistakes over and over where we seem to have loss of life here in the United States after tropical storms and hurricanes make landfall from the rainfall. We need to be very, very careful about that, and not let people drive their cars through flooded-out roadways.

And then, with a situation like this, there's also the risk of isolated tornadoes from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

POTTER: And you make the point of correcting the mistake that we often make, where we concentrate on the center going ashore in central Louisiana, but this storm is much, much bigger than that. Is that correct?

MAYFIELD: It's not a hurricane, and it's certainly not a major hurricane. It's a strong tropical storm, but it's a large tropical storm, and the impact will be felt through a very large area of the northern Gulf Coast.

POTTER: And why the coastal flooding so much, even with a tropical storm? What made it happen with this storm in particular in the Gulf?

MAYFIELD: It is so large. And remember, this had been a major hurricane for a few days down there in the southern Gulf of Mexico. So, some very, very large swells have been generated. It's still large enough and stormy enough to continue generating waves out, and they are already coming on the coastline. There are already roads that are underwater from Louisiana over towards Alabama.

POTTER: And my last question has to do with where this storm goes from here, from Louisiana? And what's your concern then?

MAYFIELD: Well, we do have that concern with inland flooding after it gets inland, because it will take off to northeast and increase in forward speed, and there will be some very heavy rainfall amounts up the Tennessee Valley towards the Appalachians, and eventually up towards New England.

POTTER: And the point that you have made is that more people die in that condition.

MAYFIELD: Inland fresh-water flooding, and most of the time, it's because people are driving their cars through flooded-out roadways and being swept away. If you can't see road, please don't drive there.

POTTER: So, even though this is being talked about as a tropical storm, it's not anything to take lightly.

MAYFIELD: And in the past, we seem to have focused more on the landfall event. We really don't want to let our guard down to the inland effects. Those strong winds, the heavy rains can spread well inland.

POTTER: Max, thank you very much. A long day and night ahead of you, so thank you very much for your time.

MAYFIELD: There are four tropical storms or four tropical cyclones. We have one...

POTTER: In the Pacific.

MAYFIELD: ... moving in the Pacific area.

POTTER: Right. Thank you very much for the correction, and he is the man who would know.

Kyra -- back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mark Potter, thanks so much.

Well, it's also going to be a long day, a long night ahead out in Alabama. I hope we can keep this picture up. Jere Heugh on standby with the wind patrol.

Hi -- Jere.

JERE HEUGH, CNN AFFILIATE WKRG METEOROLOGIST: Hey, yes, I've got my little handy Skymaid (ph) anemometer. We just started really sustaining 20 to 25 mile-an-hour winds, which kicked the water up a little bit.

A bigger problem so far has been the rain with this. We have had almost 14 hours of straight rain, lots of street flooding on the island.

Most of the residents here are still kind of wait-and-see. Tropical storm status, not too excited about that.

But the big boats, we are standing right in front of a big charter fishing area, and they have gotten out of here. They store the boats up in the bays and estuaries up around Mobile, where the waters are much more protected. But on the other side, we'll show you a lot of the smaller pleasure craft figuring to ride out the storm.

Always with storms like this, the big question is: How strong is it going to get? Is it really going to track as far west of us as we think it is? Or if at the last minute -- as so often has happened the five or six years is these storms take last-minute turns and make life very interesting.

In any case, I'm ready for it.

PHILLIPS: I know you are, and I know you have worked there for a while, Jere. Tell us how folks in Dauphin Island and the Mobile area prepare for storms like this. They know exactly what to do.

HEUGH: They sure do. In fact, as you drive around the island, you see the standard scene: lots of plywood over windows.

Lots of people just get off this island. It is so low that any sort of storm surge over five or six feet washes right over the island, and even if your house is on stilts, it's no fun to look down and see the Gulf of Mexico flowing beneath. So, lots of people just automatically evacuate... PHILLIPS: Yes.

HEUGH: ... and which is exactly the right thing to do.

PHILLIPS: Definitely, a different vision of room with a view. All right, Jere Heugh with our affiliate, WKRG -- thanks, Jere.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.