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American Morning

Texas Braces for Hurricane Claudette

Aired July 15, 2003 - 07:04   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yet again, they are getting ready up and down the Texas coast, boarding up homes and businesses. Some are being urged to get out, to evacuate now. An upgraded Hurricane Claudette bearing down on the coast there.
And Ed Lavandera is live this morning, just about sunup in Port Lavaca, Texas.

Ed -- good morning. How goes it?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Well, we're starting to see some of the strongest winds we've seen in the last couple of days. We're here at the Lavaca Bay across the way. We're on the west side of the bay. Across the bay is more of an industrial type area, where a lot of folks in this area work. Here in Port Lavaca, you have about 12,000 residents. This is the bay. A lot of shrimp boats along this way here as well.

If you also follow down here along this side, back this way is where Port O'Connor is, and just the entrance from the Gulf into this particular bay. There are about 1,500 people who live in that town year round. There are also a lot of weekend beach homes in that area as well. So, many of the residents around here have been told that they have been urged to evacuate. There's a lot of low-lying areas, and flooding is a concern that many of the emergency officials in this area have at this point.

So, many of the people around here are being urged to evacuate. Some of those are heeding that warning; others not, saying they're going to stick it out here as well. Also many people boarding up windows, many people making the trips to the hardware stores. More people are expected to do that today.

One local official here tells me they expect landfall about 2:00 this afternoon around this area, and they expect heavy rains and heavy winds. And they'll see just what kind of damage Hurricane Claudette brings later on today -- Bill.

HEMMER: Keep us posted. Ed, thanks. Ed Lavandera there in Lavaca.

I want talk to Max Mayfield now at the National Hurricane Center for up-to-date information now.

Excuse me, I apologize, Max. I've lost my voice just temporarily. I think I'll give it to Soledad right now, and she can continue this interview -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Max, let's pick up right there. Let's talk a little bit about the progress of this hurricane now. Good morning to you.

MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: OK, good morning, Soledad.

Right now, the hurricane is a category one hurricane. The maximum sustained winds are about 75 miles per hour. The outer rain bands are already spreading over the upper Texas coast. They are getting tropical storm force winds. We've gusts above 50 miles per hour in Galveston. The center will continue towards the Mid-Texas coast and reach there this afternoon, but we don't want to focus just on the center. The conditions really continue to deteriorate, you know, down towards the Mid-Texas coast during the day.

O'BRIEN: So, when you say the landfall is expected later in the afternoon, at what point will the folks who are along that coastline, even if they're not right at the area where landfall is, what time will they start seeing sort of the effects of this hurricane?

MAYFIELD: OK, they're already seeing the effects here right now just because the orientation of the upper Texas coast here. Here at Galveston Island, they've had a five-foot storm surge there, the Pleasure Pier. That's probably the highest they're going to get. But the storm surge will start increasing here along the Mid-Texas coast. It's headed in the general vicinity of the Port O'Connor or Port Lavaca area. But the worst conditions will be near into the north of where the center crosses the coast. So, from that Matagorda Bay area up towards the Freeport area will be the worst areas.

O'BRIEN: Are you expecting that this hurricane is going to pick up speed over the next couple of hours as it heads toward the land?

MAYFIELD: We really don't think we'll see too much of a change. It's moving west at about 12 miles per hour, and that's good news because it should keep moving once it gets inland there. We're forecasting, you know, once it gets farther inland five to eight inches of rain.

The biggest concern right now, to tell you the truth, is on the immediate coastline there we almost always have some loss of life, even with Category 1 hurricanes, with surfers. So, we need to exercise some common sense here, and we really urge everyone to listen to their local officials.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense, in addition to that, of how much damage a Category 1 hurricane can do when it hits land.

MAYFIELD: Well, this is not a major hurricane. You know, it's just a Category 1 hurricane. So, we don't want to overdo it, but I certainly don't want to underdo it either. We're not expecting, you know, any major structural damage. There could be damage certainly to marinas. The small boats should be very, very careful. You don't want to be in the water during a hurricane period. That's one message we need to get out there.

So, if everybody just sort of hunkers down here today, let this thing get through, with some common sense we should be OK.

O'BRIEN: All right, that's good advice. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center. Thank you.

MAYFIELD: Thank you.

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 July 15, 2003 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yet again, they are getting ready up and down the Texas coast, boarding up homes and businesses. Some are being urged to get out, to evacuate now. An upgraded Hurricane Claudette bearing down on the coast there.
And Ed Lavandera is live this morning, just about sunup in Port Lavaca, Texas.

Ed -- good morning. How goes it?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Well, we're starting to see some of the strongest winds we've seen in the last couple of days. We're here at the Lavaca Bay across the way. We're on the west side of the bay. Across the bay is more of an industrial type area, where a lot of folks in this area work. Here in Port Lavaca, you have about 12,000 residents. This is the bay. A lot of shrimp boats along this way here as well.

If you also follow down here along this side, back this way is where Port O'Connor is, and just the entrance from the Gulf into this particular bay. There are about 1,500 people who live in that town year round. There are also a lot of weekend beach homes in that area as well. So, many of the residents around here have been told that they have been urged to evacuate. There's a lot of low-lying areas, and flooding is a concern that many of the emergency officials in this area have at this point.

So, many of the people around here are being urged to evacuate. Some of those are heeding that warning; others not, saying they're going to stick it out here as well. Also many people boarding up windows, many people making the trips to the hardware stores. More people are expected to do that today.

One local official here tells me they expect landfall about 2:00 this afternoon around this area, and they expect heavy rains and heavy winds. And they'll see just what kind of damage Hurricane Claudette brings later on today -- Bill.

HEMMER: Keep us posted. Ed, thanks. Ed Lavandera there in Lavaca.

I want talk to Max Mayfield now at the National Hurricane Center for up-to-date information now.

Excuse me, I apologize, Max. I've lost my voice just temporarily. I think I'll give it to Soledad right now, and she can continue this interview -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Max, let's pick up right there. Let's talk a little bit about the progress of this hurricane now. Good morning to you.

MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: OK, good morning, Soledad.

Right now, the hurricane is a category one hurricane. The maximum sustained winds are about 75 miles per hour. The outer rain bands are already spreading over the upper Texas coast. They are getting tropical storm force winds. We've gusts above 50 miles per hour in Galveston. The center will continue towards the Mid-Texas coast and reach there this afternoon, but we don't want to focus just on the center. The conditions really continue to deteriorate, you know, down towards the Mid-Texas coast during the day.

O'BRIEN: So, when you say the landfall is expected later in the afternoon, at what point will the folks who are along that coastline, even if they're not right at the area where landfall is, what time will they start seeing sort of the effects of this hurricane?

MAYFIELD: OK, they're already seeing the effects here right now just because the orientation of the upper Texas coast here. Here at Galveston Island, they've had a five-foot storm surge there, the Pleasure Pier. That's probably the highest they're going to get. But the storm surge will start increasing here along the Mid-Texas coast. It's headed in the general vicinity of the Port O'Connor or Port Lavaca area. But the worst conditions will be near into the north of where the center crosses the coast. So, from that Matagorda Bay area up towards the Freeport area will be the worst areas.

O'BRIEN: Are you expecting that this hurricane is going to pick up speed over the next couple of hours as it heads toward the land?

MAYFIELD: We really don't think we'll see too much of a change. It's moving west at about 12 miles per hour, and that's good news because it should keep moving once it gets inland there. We're forecasting, you know, once it gets farther inland five to eight inches of rain.

The biggest concern right now, to tell you the truth, is on the immediate coastline there we almost always have some loss of life, even with Category 1 hurricanes, with surfers. So, we need to exercise some common sense here, and we really urge everyone to listen to their local officials.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense, in addition to that, of how much damage a Category 1 hurricane can do when it hits land.

MAYFIELD: Well, this is not a major hurricane. You know, it's just a Category 1 hurricane. So, we don't want to overdo it, but I certainly don't want to underdo it either. We're not expecting, you know, any major structural damage. There could be damage certainly to marinas. The small boats should be very, very careful. You don't want to be in the water during a hurricane period. That's one message we need to get out there.

So, if everybody just sort of hunkers down here today, let this thing get through, with some common sense we should be OK.

O'BRIEN: All right, that's good advice. Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center. Thank you.

MAYFIELD: Thank you.

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