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American Morning

In the Dark

Aired September 29, 2003 - 08:34   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Isabel may be just a memory for most, but nearly two weeks after the storm, thousands of people in North Carolina and Virginia are still feeling the effects. Thelma Stewart has been without electricity for more than eleven days now. She's joining us from her home in Newport News, Virginia.
Thanks so much for being here, Miss Stewart. We appreciate your time under these circumstances, of course.

Tell us, how long have you been without electricity? When do you think, more importantly, you will get it back?

SELMA STEWART, NEWPORT NEWS RESIDENT: Well, we lost electricity approximately 11:00 the day of the storm. And I had anticipated that we wouldn't get it until the end of the week, but right before you all started filming, the Power Louisiana, trucks from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, came down the road, so it looks like we'll have power before the morning is out, and we're very excited about that.

COLLINS: See, you must have told them you were going to be talking to CNN. That's why they're there, huh?

STEWART: No, we didn't know. But we were very excited, very happy about that.

COLLINS: Well, that is some great news. And we see those trucks coming in, at least I think that's who we were talking about here. Needless to say, tell us why you think you were so badly affected where you are geographically.

STEWART: I think probably we caught the -- it was a huge hurricane. And we caught the outer winds, and it just whipped up on the peninsula and the trees. We just got a lot of heavy winds, and it knocks down the trees, which feel on the power lines. It lasted all day long. It was really something to see...

COLLINS: Did you have any idea...

STEWART: ... and be involved in, actually.

COLLINS: Right.

Did you have any idea or think at all when you first heard that this hurricane was coming, that it was going to be as bad as it was?

STEWART: Well, when we originally heard about the hurricane, it was a category 5, and we knew that that was the strongest one. By the time it got closer to North Carolina, it had calmed down to about a 2 or 1. And I don't -- it was still -- people really weren't sure exactly what a 1 or 2 was, would be, but it was still very powerful, and it was the winds and the fact that it was so large and it lasted all day long.

COLLINS: Miss Stewart, what has been the toughest part for you?

STEWART: Just not being able to go with my normal routine. We do have a generator. We had lost power a couple of years ago in an ice storm, so we were able -- I'm luckier than some people in the area who have lost everything, their homes, or if not their homes, their possessions, everything in their freezer. So we were able to maintain some basic services, my refrigerator, my freezer. We were able to keep in contact with the television, so we knew what was going around in the area, and it was very scary to see a lot of the activity and what was happening in North Carolina and other parts of Virginia.

COLLINS: Right, I can only imagine what that must have been like. Who, if anyone, do you hold responsible for the predicament that you're in right now as far as the electricity is concerned?

STEWART: Well, I don't -- that's really a hard question. I mean, this is Mother Nature. I think the electric company, the power companies in this area, have done the best that they can. We have, as you can see around me, these huge trees. They pulled down the power lines. The Newport News is a peninsula, it's very long, and we had destruction from one end of the city to the other. So I think they've really have done the best that they can. And it's for some of us, it's been a longer haul than for others. But we're all grateful.

COLLINS: All right, Selma Stewart, we appreciate your time this morning, and certainly hope that those trucks you just saw a few moments ago will get that power back on for you. We'll check in to find out if they did. Selma Stewart from Newport News. Thanks so much.

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 29, 2003 - 08:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Isabel may be just a memory for most, but nearly two weeks after the storm, thousands of people in North Carolina and Virginia are still feeling the effects. Thelma Stewart has been without electricity for more than eleven days now. She's joining us from her home in Newport News, Virginia.
Thanks so much for being here, Miss Stewart. We appreciate your time under these circumstances, of course.

Tell us, how long have you been without electricity? When do you think, more importantly, you will get it back?

SELMA STEWART, NEWPORT NEWS RESIDENT: Well, we lost electricity approximately 11:00 the day of the storm. And I had anticipated that we wouldn't get it until the end of the week, but right before you all started filming, the Power Louisiana, trucks from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, came down the road, so it looks like we'll have power before the morning is out, and we're very excited about that.

COLLINS: See, you must have told them you were going to be talking to CNN. That's why they're there, huh?

STEWART: No, we didn't know. But we were very excited, very happy about that.

COLLINS: Well, that is some great news. And we see those trucks coming in, at least I think that's who we were talking about here. Needless to say, tell us why you think you were so badly affected where you are geographically.

STEWART: I think probably we caught the -- it was a huge hurricane. And we caught the outer winds, and it just whipped up on the peninsula and the trees. We just got a lot of heavy winds, and it knocks down the trees, which feel on the power lines. It lasted all day long. It was really something to see...

COLLINS: Did you have any idea...

STEWART: ... and be involved in, actually.

COLLINS: Right.

Did you have any idea or think at all when you first heard that this hurricane was coming, that it was going to be as bad as it was?

STEWART: Well, when we originally heard about the hurricane, it was a category 5, and we knew that that was the strongest one. By the time it got closer to North Carolina, it had calmed down to about a 2 or 1. And I don't -- it was still -- people really weren't sure exactly what a 1 or 2 was, would be, but it was still very powerful, and it was the winds and the fact that it was so large and it lasted all day long.

COLLINS: Miss Stewart, what has been the toughest part for you?

STEWART: Just not being able to go with my normal routine. We do have a generator. We had lost power a couple of years ago in an ice storm, so we were able -- I'm luckier than some people in the area who have lost everything, their homes, or if not their homes, their possessions, everything in their freezer. So we were able to maintain some basic services, my refrigerator, my freezer. We were able to keep in contact with the television, so we knew what was going around in the area, and it was very scary to see a lot of the activity and what was happening in North Carolina and other parts of Virginia.

COLLINS: Right, I can only imagine what that must have been like. Who, if anyone, do you hold responsible for the predicament that you're in right now as far as the electricity is concerned?

STEWART: Well, I don't -- that's really a hard question. I mean, this is Mother Nature. I think the electric company, the power companies in this area, have done the best that they can. We have, as you can see around me, these huge trees. They pulled down the power lines. The Newport News is a peninsula, it's very long, and we had destruction from one end of the city to the other. So I think they've really have done the best that they can. And it's for some of us, it's been a longer haul than for others. But we're all grateful.

COLLINS: All right, Selma Stewart, we appreciate your time this morning, and certainly hope that those trucks you just saw a few moments ago will get that power back on for you. We'll check in to find out if they did. Selma Stewart from Newport News. Thanks so much.

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