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American Morning
A Federal State of Emergency Declared for Three States
Aired September 22, 2003 - 08:05 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: Along the Mid-Atlantic coast this morning, a federal state of emergency has been declared for three states, including Virginia, after Hurricane Isabel stormed through that region last week. Seven hundred thousand still without power in Virginia.
Two reports to start this hour. Kris Osborn is live in Virginia Beach. Susan Candiotti is live a bit further south in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Let's start now with Kris -- good morning.
How are conditions today?
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Bill.
Well, the latest word on those conditions you mentioned from the emergency operations center is officials do expect a 75 percent restoration of power in the hardest hit areas in the State of Virginia, which would be, of course, Hampton Roads, Richmond and areas of where I'm standing now in Virginia Beach.
Behind me is one of 70 ice trailers that are being delivered throughout the State of Virginia today because, well, frankly, living without power for many residents here has been a very tough road. Over the weekend, many of them lined up in grocery stores. At one point, Teeter's was giving out free ice to people who were very frustrated and concerned. Many of them were trying to save their food and things of that sort. There will also be 83 trailers of water delivered throughout the State of Virginia today.
Now, as for the pace of reconstruction, which some, including the mayor of Newport News, have been very critical of, over the weekend Secretary Ridge did address this in a press conference. And he said this is not like something, Bill, where we had, say, the New York blackout, where a simple location can be fixed or a switch could be turned, but rather hundreds of power lines down throughout the entire state. Crews are working vigorously, a lot of work ahead.
Lastly, Bill, in terms of the urgency of this, the president will be visiting the EOC headquarters later on this afternoon. That speaks very much to the intensity, if you will, of those who are living without power -- Bill.
HEMMER: This is not going to be easy.
Kris, thanks. Further south, as promised, Susan Candiotti now in Kitty Hawk. Boy did they take a wallop last week -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did, but it's a much brighter day this day, as work -- real repair work gets under way at the start of the work week here. Here in the upper part of the Outer Banks, called Dare County, including Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, an estimated $200 million or more in damages here.
Let's take a look at the roadway just behind me. Now, some sections of this beachfront road are completely passable. This is not one of them. It is still buried under about two to three feet of sand and bulldozers are at work and have been since early this morning starting to move that sand around. About two to three feet of sand in some sections. And now, of course, the question is for these works, what is the pavement going to look like underneath? Is it going to be OK? We know in some sections it's broken up.
Now, they're also going to have to do a lot of repair work, of course, here on a lot of these beach front homes. Most of them are rental properties. This one in particular was built back in the 1940s and it was swept off of its foundation.
Now, the front of it, you can see, is no longer here. The window is blown out. And you can even see, of course, inside this person's bedroom. We did talk to the owner just a little bit, but he was much too devastated about what has happened. However, this is a rental property. He owns others. So he is not yet clear on exactly what's going to happen to this particular property.
However, as you look down the beach just a little bit in this direction, you can see that a lot of homes made it through the storm all right. They're still standing on their stilts and have very little damage. And so the question is going to be for officials, what's going to happen to those pieces of property that were -- are now facing the sea, dipping into the sand, swept off their foundations?
They have to decide whether these people will be permitted to rebuild or if they'll fall under the wrecking ball because the water, now that it's receded, has done a lot of damage here and they have to figure out the master plan for what this beach is going to look like in the future -- Bill.
HEMMER: Susan, thanks.
The bottom line, Isabel left one heck of a fingerprint in its way.
Thanks.
Susan Candiotti, Kris Osborn, there up and down the East Coast.
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 22, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Along the Mid-Atlantic coast this morning, a federal state of emergency has been declared for three states, including Virginia, after Hurricane Isabel stormed through that region last week. Seven hundred thousand still without power in Virginia.
Two reports to start this hour. Kris Osborn is live in Virginia Beach. Susan Candiotti is live a bit further south in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Let's start now with Kris -- good morning.
How are conditions today?
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Bill.
Well, the latest word on those conditions you mentioned from the emergency operations center is officials do expect a 75 percent restoration of power in the hardest hit areas in the State of Virginia, which would be, of course, Hampton Roads, Richmond and areas of where I'm standing now in Virginia Beach.
Behind me is one of 70 ice trailers that are being delivered throughout the State of Virginia today because, well, frankly, living without power for many residents here has been a very tough road. Over the weekend, many of them lined up in grocery stores. At one point, Teeter's was giving out free ice to people who were very frustrated and concerned. Many of them were trying to save their food and things of that sort. There will also be 83 trailers of water delivered throughout the State of Virginia today.
Now, as for the pace of reconstruction, which some, including the mayor of Newport News, have been very critical of, over the weekend Secretary Ridge did address this in a press conference. And he said this is not like something, Bill, where we had, say, the New York blackout, where a simple location can be fixed or a switch could be turned, but rather hundreds of power lines down throughout the entire state. Crews are working vigorously, a lot of work ahead.
Lastly, Bill, in terms of the urgency of this, the president will be visiting the EOC headquarters later on this afternoon. That speaks very much to the intensity, if you will, of those who are living without power -- Bill.
HEMMER: This is not going to be easy.
Kris, thanks. Further south, as promised, Susan Candiotti now in Kitty Hawk. Boy did they take a wallop last week -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did, but it's a much brighter day this day, as work -- real repair work gets under way at the start of the work week here. Here in the upper part of the Outer Banks, called Dare County, including Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, an estimated $200 million or more in damages here.
Let's take a look at the roadway just behind me. Now, some sections of this beachfront road are completely passable. This is not one of them. It is still buried under about two to three feet of sand and bulldozers are at work and have been since early this morning starting to move that sand around. About two to three feet of sand in some sections. And now, of course, the question is for these works, what is the pavement going to look like underneath? Is it going to be OK? We know in some sections it's broken up.
Now, they're also going to have to do a lot of repair work, of course, here on a lot of these beach front homes. Most of them are rental properties. This one in particular was built back in the 1940s and it was swept off of its foundation.
Now, the front of it, you can see, is no longer here. The window is blown out. And you can even see, of course, inside this person's bedroom. We did talk to the owner just a little bit, but he was much too devastated about what has happened. However, this is a rental property. He owns others. So he is not yet clear on exactly what's going to happen to this particular property.
However, as you look down the beach just a little bit in this direction, you can see that a lot of homes made it through the storm all right. They're still standing on their stilts and have very little damage. And so the question is going to be for officials, what's going to happen to those pieces of property that were -- are now facing the sea, dipping into the sand, swept off their foundations?
They have to decide whether these people will be permitted to rebuild or if they'll fall under the wrecking ball because the water, now that it's receded, has done a lot of damage here and they have to figure out the master plan for what this beach is going to look like in the future -- Bill.
HEMMER: Susan, thanks.
The bottom line, Isabel left one heck of a fingerprint in its way.
Thanks.
Susan Candiotti, Kris Osborn, there up and down the East Coast.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
