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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tale of two Storms
Aired September 06, 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.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: We will call it a tale of two storms. Hurricane Fabian increased in power before lashing Bermuda with 120- mile-per-hour winds. Meanwhile, tropical depression Henri is slowing as it continues to swamp Florida's Gulf Coast.
We have both storms covered with our Gary Tuchman in Bermuda and Jason Lanning of CNN affiliate Bay News 9 joining us from Madeira Beach. That's near Tampa, Florida.
And we will begin with Gary. Gary, how are things shaping up this morning? What time did daylight pop up there?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, Sean, right now it's 8:05 local time in Bermuda. So about one hour ago, there was sunrise, and it actually brought the sun, something that is usually quite the norm here, but today looks better than ever after yesterday's extreme weather.
Six hours of hurricane-force winds, including gusts of 125 miles per hour, but sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. So for most of that six hours, we had winds of over 100 miles per hour.
Sixty-two thousand people of Bermuda and the thousands of tourists who decided to stick it out are waking up to significant damage caused by Hurricane Fabian, but it's still not clear if there were any casualties. Members of the public have phoned in missing persons reports to police.
However, it has been nearly impossible to travel around the island of Bermuda because of hundreds of downed trees in the roadways. People can very easily be stuck away from their homes and have no way of calling in.
There are some areas without power and telephone service at this hour.
Now, the Bermuda Regiment, this British territory's part-time army, is hitting the streets this morning, 600 people strong, to start cleaning up and investigative operations. A causeway connecting Bermuda's airport has been washed out. So not only is the airport still closed, but there's no way to get there.
Roofs blown off houses, windows smashed everywhere, power lines, telephone lines, and cable lines down in the roadway.
I actually came back to my hotel room last night to find my windows smashed and the room I was in flooded.
But what was very unusual about this hurricane, not only was it strong, not only was it only the fourth hurricane in 77 years to directly hit Bermuda, but it just lasted for such a long time, and that's just so unusual.
We had so many tourists here who are curious, who are watching it come in. And then as they saw it continue and continue with these winds that were just howling, they actually started getting quite scared, which is something we don't always see from the tourists who flock around sites where hurricanes hit.
But either way, right now, we just still kind of puzzled and confused as to whether there are any casualties, and they are investigating that, Sean.
CALLEBS: Well, Gary, one thing that strikes me in watching your hurricane coverage over the years, usually you can tell residents to go inland, get away from this. But an island that small, there's nowhere to go. Personally, did you have any scary moments out there? And secondly, what was it like for the residents to have to endure something like that?
TUCHMAN: Well, that's the thing. I mean, the residents here on -- in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean can't practically fly away to safety. They have to bear it. And you are no more than 10 minutes from the ocean wherever you are in Bermuda.
But the tourists had the opportunity to go home. Many of them did, but many of them decided to stay, not only because they were curious but because they planned a long vacation, they spent money for it, and they were betting that the hurricane would miss Bermuda, like most every hurricane does.
Didn't happen in this case, and it was a frightening experience for a lot of people.
CALLEBS: OK, Gary Tuchman, as always, we appreciate your work. And we'll continue to check back with you as the day progresses and try and find out more information about the damage and if there were any casualties.
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 6, 2003 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: We will call it a tale of two storms. Hurricane Fabian increased in power before lashing Bermuda with 120- mile-per-hour winds. Meanwhile, tropical depression Henri is slowing as it continues to swamp Florida's Gulf Coast.
We have both storms covered with our Gary Tuchman in Bermuda and Jason Lanning of CNN affiliate Bay News 9 joining us from Madeira Beach. That's near Tampa, Florida.
And we will begin with Gary. Gary, how are things shaping up this morning? What time did daylight pop up there?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, Sean, right now it's 8:05 local time in Bermuda. So about one hour ago, there was sunrise, and it actually brought the sun, something that is usually quite the norm here, but today looks better than ever after yesterday's extreme weather.
Six hours of hurricane-force winds, including gusts of 125 miles per hour, but sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. So for most of that six hours, we had winds of over 100 miles per hour.
Sixty-two thousand people of Bermuda and the thousands of tourists who decided to stick it out are waking up to significant damage caused by Hurricane Fabian, but it's still not clear if there were any casualties. Members of the public have phoned in missing persons reports to police.
However, it has been nearly impossible to travel around the island of Bermuda because of hundreds of downed trees in the roadways. People can very easily be stuck away from their homes and have no way of calling in.
There are some areas without power and telephone service at this hour.
Now, the Bermuda Regiment, this British territory's part-time army, is hitting the streets this morning, 600 people strong, to start cleaning up and investigative operations. A causeway connecting Bermuda's airport has been washed out. So not only is the airport still closed, but there's no way to get there.
Roofs blown off houses, windows smashed everywhere, power lines, telephone lines, and cable lines down in the roadway.
I actually came back to my hotel room last night to find my windows smashed and the room I was in flooded.
But what was very unusual about this hurricane, not only was it strong, not only was it only the fourth hurricane in 77 years to directly hit Bermuda, but it just lasted for such a long time, and that's just so unusual.
We had so many tourists here who are curious, who are watching it come in. And then as they saw it continue and continue with these winds that were just howling, they actually started getting quite scared, which is something we don't always see from the tourists who flock around sites where hurricanes hit.
But either way, right now, we just still kind of puzzled and confused as to whether there are any casualties, and they are investigating that, Sean.
CALLEBS: Well, Gary, one thing that strikes me in watching your hurricane coverage over the years, usually you can tell residents to go inland, get away from this. But an island that small, there's nowhere to go. Personally, did you have any scary moments out there? And secondly, what was it like for the residents to have to endure something like that?
TUCHMAN: Well, that's the thing. I mean, the residents here on -- in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean can't practically fly away to safety. They have to bear it. And you are no more than 10 minutes from the ocean wherever you are in Bermuda.
But the tourists had the opportunity to go home. Many of them did, but many of them decided to stay, not only because they were curious but because they planned a long vacation, they spent money for it, and they were betting that the hurricane would miss Bermuda, like most every hurricane does.
Didn't happen in this case, and it was a frightening experience for a lot of people.
CALLEBS: OK, Gary Tuchman, as always, we appreciate your work. And we'll continue to check back with you as the day progresses and try and find out more information about the damage and if there were any casualties.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
