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American Morning
Tropical Storm Isabel's Wake
Aired September 19, 2003 - 07:02 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: Isabel hit the Mid-Atlantic Coast with a fury. Two reports to start this morning. Jeanne Meserve is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Susan Candiotti in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
Let's start this hour with Susan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surf pounding over sand dunes and seawalls as Isabel makes landfall south of Kill Devil Hills. Route 12 along the oceanfront under more than a foot of water. Cars couldn't make it. Four-wheel drives had better luck inching along through high water trying to avoid debris.
At this motel, Isabel sliced off pieces of the building and insulation with it. The pool behind this motel broke away, and the building itself was flooding.
Through it all, some couldn't resist seeing what conditions were like at their peril.
(on camera): Why are you out here, I mean, really, literally, in the middle of a hurricane?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to check it all out. Whenever you live here for a while, you like to get out and see what it's looking like. That's part of the reason you stay.
CANDIOTTI: And what does it look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty bad.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): This young man was determined to get from point A to point B, and Isabel wasn't going to stop him.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The super- charged surf so powerful it yanked down 50 feet of a fishing pier. The water obliterated the beach, usually about 50 yards wide, and swept right over the Boardwalk and onto seaside properties.
The wind wheedled its way under roofs, tearing them off, sending them flying.
And then there was the rain. The low-lying communities of Hampton Roads got exactly what they'd expected: extensive flooding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're moving from our old house. Tonight was going to be our first night staying in our new house, and it looks like Mother Nature has kind of taken care of that. To get to it, we're going to have to swim a little bit.
MESERVE: Wind took down trees. Trees and wind took down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity. Even some shelters were left in the dark.
The weather was so rough Virginia Beach emergency personnel were taken off the street for a time. Even life and death emergencies were being evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, Jeanne Meserve reporting there.
Our first look this morning in Virginia Beach. Kathleen Koch now live the day after.
How is the assessment for damage? Kathleen -- good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, everyone is simply saying at this point that they can tell you that this is unprecedented. Obviously, with the height of this storm, many people had to seek shelter, including the emergency officials, as Jeanne pointed out.
So, now that the sun is up, everyone is just now getting out and getting their first look at the entirety of this damage, and it was brutal. You'll see police officers now patrolling behind me.
Again, this curfew went through 7:00 a.m., so now people can get out on the streets. But, Bill, it's really going to be days before they know how bad the damage is, because 26,000 people were mandatorily evacuated in the state of Virginia alone, thousands more left voluntarily.
So, until people get back, get into their homes, see if their roofs are still intact, their porches, if their cars have blown away and things like that, we really won't know how bad the storm is. And just getting back to their homes will be a task in and of itself, because so many roads are flooded and blocked by fallen trees.
HEMMER: Kathleen, thanks. We'll check in. Don't go far this morning.
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 19, 2003 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Isabel hit the Mid-Atlantic Coast with a fury. Two reports to start this morning. Jeanne Meserve is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Susan Candiotti in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
Let's start this hour with Susan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surf pounding over sand dunes and seawalls as Isabel makes landfall south of Kill Devil Hills. Route 12 along the oceanfront under more than a foot of water. Cars couldn't make it. Four-wheel drives had better luck inching along through high water trying to avoid debris.
At this motel, Isabel sliced off pieces of the building and insulation with it. The pool behind this motel broke away, and the building itself was flooding.
Through it all, some couldn't resist seeing what conditions were like at their peril.
(on camera): Why are you out here, I mean, really, literally, in the middle of a hurricane?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to check it all out. Whenever you live here for a while, you like to get out and see what it's looking like. That's part of the reason you stay.
CANDIOTTI: And what does it look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty bad.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): This young man was determined to get from point A to point B, and Isabel wasn't going to stop him.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The super- charged surf so powerful it yanked down 50 feet of a fishing pier. The water obliterated the beach, usually about 50 yards wide, and swept right over the Boardwalk and onto seaside properties.
The wind wheedled its way under roofs, tearing them off, sending them flying.
And then there was the rain. The low-lying communities of Hampton Roads got exactly what they'd expected: extensive flooding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're moving from our old house. Tonight was going to be our first night staying in our new house, and it looks like Mother Nature has kind of taken care of that. To get to it, we're going to have to swim a little bit.
MESERVE: Wind took down trees. Trees and wind took down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity. Even some shelters were left in the dark.
The weather was so rough Virginia Beach emergency personnel were taken off the street for a time. Even life and death emergencies were being evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, Jeanne Meserve reporting there.
Our first look this morning in Virginia Beach. Kathleen Koch now live the day after.
How is the assessment for damage? Kathleen -- good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, everyone is simply saying at this point that they can tell you that this is unprecedented. Obviously, with the height of this storm, many people had to seek shelter, including the emergency officials, as Jeanne pointed out.
So, now that the sun is up, everyone is just now getting out and getting their first look at the entirety of this damage, and it was brutal. You'll see police officers now patrolling behind me.
Again, this curfew went through 7:00 a.m., so now people can get out on the streets. But, Bill, it's really going to be days before they know how bad the damage is, because 26,000 people were mandatorily evacuated in the state of Virginia alone, thousands more left voluntarily.
So, until people get back, get into their homes, see if their roofs are still intact, their porches, if their cars have blown away and things like that, we really won't know how bad the storm is. And just getting back to their homes will be a task in and of itself, because so many roads are flooded and blocked by fallen trees.
HEMMER: Kathleen, thanks. We'll check in. Don't go far this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
