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CNN LIVE SATURDAY

Frances Slowly Moves to Strike the Florida Coastline; Russians Come to Grips with Recent Terror Attack

Aired September 4, 2004 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Stephen Frazier.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Linda Stouffer. We have special coverage of Hurricane Frances as it moves into Florida. First, though, a look at other stories at this hour.

"Now in the News," a developing story. Los Angeles International Airport is shut down this hour after two separate security incidents. That word came from an airport spokesman.

Now, in one incident, police were responding to reports of a suspicious person. In another incident, there was a report that a flashlight with corroded batteries somehow exploded in the international terminal and seven people were injured in that. But the Department of Homeland Security has a very different account. The agency says there was no explosion, no injuries.

Stay with CNN for live updates as they become available to us.

The death toll mounts in Beslan, Russia, where at least 323 bodies have been recovered from a school hostage massacre. Many children are among the dead and wounded. Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the town earlier today. He is calling on Russians to come together and fight terrorism.

Two explosions. One, a car bomb went off outside a police training facility in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today. At least 25 people were killed, dozens wounded. A suicide driver rammed the barricades of the academy as people were trying to leave the facility.

FRAZIER: And now to the storm. After battering the Bahamas, Hurricane Frances is now churning toward the coast of Florida. Frances is weaker now, but still a Category 2 hurricane. And it's huge; it's a very dangerous storm.

We have correspondents stationed up and down the coastline, and we're going to begin in the city of Melbourne, already feeling the effects of the storm, where Bill Hemmer is, and where he's with meteorologist Chad Myers, too.

Bill, have you found a hat for Chad yet?

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's got his own hat, he's on his own. We're going to talk to Chad in a second here, Stephen.

But really, for two days, it seemed like the state of Florida had a -- had a stiff arm out trying to keep this storm away from the state. And that's exactly what happened as Frances stalled over the Bahamas. It started churning in the waters there, moving sometimes very slow, almost four miles an hour. That is a different picture today.

We've had gusts here in Melbourne of 91 miles an hour. At various times we've had sustained winds well over 50 miles an hour. And we can start to feel the effects of Frances, and we do believe throughout the day and the evening tonight that the conditions now will get even worse.

Some videotape to show you. Stephen, when we talked earlier this morning, we were out on the other side of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. We're about a mile west of there, a mile inland. But we can see quite clearly on this Barrier Islands the amount of damage that was already being done to the front of businesses and stores there.

And there were palm trees that have been blown out. And there are also these giant street lamps that have literally flown and dropped off to the top of the bridge that goes across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Stephen, you mentioned Chad.

Chad, come on in here. He has two hats for you, actually. You're gauging winds right now. They seem to have lessened just in the past couple of minutes here, but, still, the gusts still come.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We just had a gust of 51. I just had the anemometer up, yes.

And I was -- we're here in this Marina, and I know Stephen is a big boater. And I will tell you, the folks here know what they're doing.

All the lines are doubled up, they have spring lines, they have tension lines, so that when the water rises the boat has somewhere to go. There's fenders all over the docks. Things are really, really -- because we had that extra day yesterday, you know, it was windy, but it wasn't a hurricane day, I think everybody got to all that completion, the stuff that they couldn't get done on Thursday. It was good that they had Friday.

And I mentioned this last night. I think yesterday saved some lives. The fact that this hurricane didn't -- it did slow down, and didn't get here in time, didn't get here in a hurry, that gave people 24 hours of extra prep time and 24 hours extra to get out.

HEMMER: And also, the hangover from Charley is evident up and down this state. I mean, people really sensed that with another storm coming within 21 or 22 day's time, within such a deadly storm of Charley, people paid attention. MYERS: Yes. Well, the irony is, somewhere north of Arcadia, somewhere -- somewhere between Orlando and probably that south of Kissimmee, this storm is actually going to crisscross where Charley went.

There's going to be damage this way and damage this way, right from the eye of the hurricane, from the right front quadrant of the hurricane. And as you can see, if you didn't know where you were going in Orlando, you couldn't find the signs. The signs are all knocked down, Bill.

HEMMER: So you're going to see cities like Daytona and Orlando, they're going to feel the effects of that crisscross that you described. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

HEMMER: Back in a moment next hour here. Also, live in Melbourne, listening to the governor earlier today, Stephen, saying that even if you have sustained wind of more than 50 or 55 miles an hour, and if that lasts for a period of hours here, you could incur an awful lot of damage here on the east coast of Florida.

Talk to you again next hour here live in Melbourne as well. We'll update you then. Stephen, back to you now in Atlanta.

FRAZIER: Good information, Bill. Thank you very much.

STOUFFER: And at this point, waves of rain are covering much of the southern end of Florida. We want to check an area just inland from the coast.

Gary Tuchman is weathering the storm for us. He is live Fort Pierce. He joins us live via videophone.

Hi, Gary. What do you see?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Linda, hello to you. And we want to explain to our viewers, one of the reasons we're using the videophone is it allows us to go into a powerful area where we anticipate the hurricane will hit. And we're able to leave quicker because we have less equipment.

So this is an experiment that we're doing. The picture might not be as good. We are able to be in the area we'll be expecting the center of the storm to hit.

The last three hours have gone way down hill here in Fort Pierce. Where we're at is the Fort Pierce Marina. And you can see it over here.

This is the Intracoastal Waterway. There's about 90 or 100 boats that are perched there right now, as people hope for the best, the boat owners.

We can tell you, though, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are about three- quarters of a mile away from the ocean. And here in Fort Pierce, one of the most interesting things is the biggest city (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is about 60 miles north of West Palm Beach. They have never been hit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) weather history by a major hurricane.

Recorded weather history since 1900 here in Florida, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has only been hit by two hurricanes, they were both Category 1s. One in 1933 and one in 1939. And now the latest forecasts show that they do expect this large eye of Hurricane Frances to pass over St. Lucy County, where we are right now.

The streets are completely deserted. That's exactly what police wanted. We just saw about a minute ago a police car coming up, making sure that everyone was away.

There actually is a curfew in effect between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. No one is allowed to be out in the streets. The curfew started two nights ago because of the speed of this hurricane. They started it early, as it turns out.

But it is expected to continue tonight. Maybe not tomorrow night, but there is absolutely nothing open. If you want food, if you want gas, if you want anything, it's all closed.

The only thing that is open are shelters. And there are 5,000 people, according to authorities here, in the shelters. Total population in this county of 213,000 people, and that gives you an idea that an awful lot of people have decided to take advantage of the shelters. And that authorities are grateful for.

But over the last three hours, it's gotten worse than they expect. As we all know, from all the reporting we've done, that it could stay very bad for a long time.

Linda, back to you.

STOUFFER: It is a good thing so many people did get out. Gary Tuchman, thank you very much for that. And we will continue to follow all the developments with this storm, Hurricane Frances.

Right now, though, we want to turn our attentions to a developing story, breaking news out of Los Angeles. LAX is shut down for a security breach. We had the opportunity to talk to a passenger who is there and has been dealing with this. Myron Tucker is on the phone.

Myron, can you hear me?

MYRON TUCKER, PASSENGER AT LAX: Hi. Yes, I can hear you.

STOUFFER: Tell me what your situation is. What is your status as a traveler? Are you trying to get out still, or did you just get in?

TUCKER: I'm actually heading up to Oakland to attend a friend's wedding, and we arrived at the airport about five after 8:00. And at that time, security was closed, so they were not letting anyone clear security. And since that time, we have been standing in line for, I guess, close to a couple hours. And then probably about 50 feet ahead of me a gentleman walked away and left his bag unattended for about 45 minutes. So we just had a scare there with -- they brought out dogs, who checked to make sure that the bags did not have any explosives.

And the bags did not, and the gentleman returned. So we're now moving towards the United gate. But what I hear is that we're going to have to evacuate the terminal.

STOUFFER: Are they telling you why? Are they giving you reasons for this?

TUCKER: Well, we're hearing conflicting reasons. We initially heard that a gentleman in the international terminal, the Bradley International Terminal, jumped past security. And, as a result of that, they had to close down the terminals from the Bradley Terminal, terminal 4, 5, 6 and 7.

And now I'm being instructed that we have to leave the level that we're on, the departing level, and go down to the arriving level. So they are clearing us all out for from the airport. And all the streets are closed off also.

STOUFFER: And Myron, you sound like you're handling this pretty well, considering you've been in line for a couple hours. What about the people around you? What are tempers like at this point?

TUCKER: You know, everyone is pretty calm. I think everyone just wants to have resolution. A lot of people are still hopeful that they'll be able to catch flights and get to their destination. But as we continue to wait, that doesn't look like that's going to be our reality today.

STOUFFER: Well, Myron Tucker, thanks for talking to us about your situation. And good luck getting on to that wedding that you had planned to attend this weekend. Thank you, Myron.

FRAZIER: And now to the situation with Frances, already kicking up a lot of wind and big waves in West Palm Beach, Florida, waves that we're watching on the Intracoastral Waterway, actually, not even the Atlanta itself, between Barrier Island and the mainland.

And our Sean Callebs has been monitoring those from his position in West Palm Beach -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Stephen, you're exactly right, you can see the white caps of the Intracoastal, and it's become about the way it has been for the past hour or so, really kicking up. We have seen the water level rise. We can tell that because the Palm Beach Yacht Club is over here over my left shoulder, and there is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) jetty, and it is basically swamped. It is now covered by the Intracoastal Waterway.

We've also been following the saga involving that luxury yacht out there. We talked to the skipper who was hired to, in essence, baby-sit it through the storm. It came loose from its moorings a couple hours, three hours ago, and begin to drift down through.

The skipper did a pretty good job of just being able to get it there. And to some degree of safety, but now he's concerned that, as this storm continues to batter this area of Florida, that thing is just going to continue to hit against the pilings and the cement jetty and cause some significant structural damage after that.

But really, this is a storm that is hitting Florida long and hard. The eye is still several hours away from making landfall near our area, and you can already see some of the damage.

If we just look down here down Flagler Beach area, you can see the palm fronts (ph) are just being ripped off the trees. And we're starting to get a certain degree of buildup of water in the streets here. They were worried about the possibility of flooding, and obviously with good reason.

You see a guy go by here in this black Jetta. This is something officials have said time and time again people shouldn't be doing. But the fact that the storm has been downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 2 has certainly drawn a decent number of spectators along this area.

People trying to come out and see what that water is like. But we can tell you, a lion's share of people have, Stephen, listened to the warnings and listened to the calls to evacuate the area. The Barrier Island behind me lost power some time ago. A lion's share of those people have been long gone, though -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: All right. Sean Callebs from West Palm Beach. Late word is that more than a quarter million people are without power now. Sean, thanks very much . Be safe.

STOUFFER: Now, our weather folks have been marveling at the size of the eye of this storm all day. Meteorologist Rob Marciano joins us live with the latest track of this thing -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Linda. It still maintains its west- northwesterly movement.

There's that eye you spoke of. And what I'd like to do now, if we could, I think we have Ed Rappapport from the National Hurricane Center on the line with us.

Ed, we've been talking a lot about the size of this eye, the size of the circulation, how far out the hurricane-force wind go and how slow this is moving. That combination, does that make this truly an exceptional storm?

ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Every storm has its idiosyncrasies. Every one is special.

In this particular case, we have a hurricane that evolved from one that was more like an Andrew or Charley, with a very intense inner core, to one that was more like an Isabel of last year, that went up to the Mid Atlantic area, which is very large. Hurricane-force winds spread over a large are, but not an intense wind area near the center.

MARCIANO: Isabel, as you know, came ashore, eventually, as a Category 2 storm, but did quite a lot of damage in the Baltimore area as far as a storm surge is concerned. What do you think is going to happen when the storm surge comes ashore later on this evening?

RAPPAPORT: Well, the particular part of the coast that the hurricane is going to make landfall, the central east coast, is susceptible to waves and storm surge. So we expect a storm surge of about five feet, but very high waves along top the coast there.

So there will be some damage probably from the storm surge. There's already been some damage reported, scattered damage from wind. And, of course, we do have a problem with the rainfall. It's such a large storm and slow moving that we're going to have a prolonged period of heavy rain and probably fresh water flooding in the inland counties.

MARCIANO: One more question. What are you seeing right now as far as any reorganization of that eye? Is it condensing at all, is the convection (ph) around it getting any better organized?

RAPPAPORT: We've seen some increase in the amount of activity from the satellite and the radar, but the reports from the Air Force reconnaissance aircraft indicate that the center has not become better defined. So we think this will come ashore as a Category 2 hurricane.

MARCIANO: Very good. Thanks for your insight, Ed Rappaport, from the National Hurricane Center. We appreciate your hard work.

RAPPAPORT: Thank you.

MARCIANO: Back to the maps quickly. And I just want to -- I tell you what, if we could -- let's go ahead one more time here.

Ed mentioned a tremendous amount of rain. This VIPIR cast, this computer model, forecasts the actual amount of rain we might very well have up through 8:00 in the morning on Monday. Sixteen inches, maybe 17 inches at Daytona Beach, and Melbourne at Melbourne, 15.8 inches.

And then we're talking inland similar amounts, Linda and Stephen. Sorry, it's been a long day. So a tremendous amount of rainfall, as well. We appreciate to talking to Ed there at the National Hurricane Center.

Back to you guys.

FRAZIER: A long day, Rob. And it's not over yet. And we're glad you're with us for it. Thanks very much for those insights.

Russia is on the hunt for any additional suspects that may be alive following a bloody school hostage massacre. Hundreds are dead. The number has just gone up again. We'll tell you what the government is planning to do now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) STOUFFER: Welcome back.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling the school hostage massacre in Beslan a terrorist attack on the entire country. CNN's Matthew Chance is live in Beslan, Russia, where the whole tragedy is unfolding even now -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Linda, thank you very much.

And you're absolutely right, the people of Beslan are still coming to terms with the terrible tragedy that is before them here in southern Russia. We've been visiting some of the morgues today around Vladikavkaz, which is a town a short distance from here, where several hundred -- or a couple of hundred, at least, bodies have been laid out in lines in order for the relatives of those people who were killed in this hostage crisis to come along and to try and identify their loved ones. So scenes of much emotion being played out there around the hospitals, around the morgues, around this region, where many people are still being treated for their injuries, some of them very serious injuries, indeed.

Vladimir Putin, though, going on state television. The Russian president saying that it's because of Russia's strength and power that it's targeted by terrorists in this way. He also vowed to fight back as well as the Russian government could.

But certainly, on the streets of Beslan, there is a great deal of criticism of the way the Russian government handled this crisis. There's a certain amount of anger that seems to be brewing amongst people who have lost loved ones, lost children, lost sisters and brothers in this hostage crisis because they say the Russian government simply didn't do enough to protect those inside the school.

Remember, Vladimir Putin had come out publicly and said that he would do everything in his power to make sure that this crisis came to a peaceful resolution. Nothing could have been further from that in the actual case.

It seems that almost everybody inside the building was either killed outright or injured in some way in the eight-hour firefight that really racked this school number one in Beslan, where we're standing outside of just now, resulting in so many casualties. We have the latest casualty figures for you.

According to Russian officials, 323 people are now confirmed as dead, 156 of those dead confirmed as being children between the ages of seven and 17. So a pretty giant catastrophe on anybody's scale -- Linda.

STOUFFER: An extreme tragedy. Matthew Chance with the latest in Russia. Thank you, Matthew.

FRAZIER: We're going to spend some more time on this now, talking with Professor Akbar Ahmed in Washington, chair of Islamic studies and professor of international relations at American University in Washington. Also the author of the book "Islam Under Siege."

Professor, welcome to CNN.

AKBAR AHMED, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Hi.

FRAZIER: "Islam Under Siege" because many of these terrorists thought to be Chechen separatists. Those -- that's a mostly Muslim nation. And, also, apparently now, some links to people from other nations, too.

AHMED: Yes. There's a report that there are some Arabs involved. And there is Pan-Islamic dimension to this, although I may quickly add that there has been condemnation very wide, unequivocal condemnation of what took place throughout the Muslim world. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE), who's head of the greatest and most respected university in the Muslim world, he, himself, represents the highest cleric in the Muslim world, completely condemned what took place.

FRAZIER: I'm presuming this condemnation was widespread, as you point out, professor, because toddlers were used here as bargaining chips.

AHMED: Yes, this is a new scale in these terrible series of terrorist attacks that we've had. I mean, killing civilians is bad enough, but involving children is totally unacceptable and completely reprehensible. So, yes, you're right, this, unfortunately, has opened up another chapter in this age where we're living, where we may be unfortunately seeing more of this kind of gruesome and terrible incident.

FRAZIER: Well, this puts Muslims all around the world in the very uncomfortable position that some Islamic citizens have been in for the past three years now. Where is the condemnation? How widespread is it?

Why isn't there more of it, is what my neighbors are hearing in the mosques. Why isn't there more of a condemnation and more powerful?

AHMED: A very good question. And it should come. It should come loudly, it should come clearly, because Islam cannot justify this kind of brutal killing, particularly where children are involved.

No sane or decent or good human being can ever support something like this. And that condemnation should be very clear and very loud. I completely agree with you.

FRAZIER: What do you make of the fact that some leaders now are beginning to turn that corner and issue that criticism, including the operating director of Al Arabia television, for example, saying in a new column he just wrote, "All terrorists seem to be Muslim"?

AHMED: Yes, I have been writing about this. My book, which you mentioned, "Islam Under Siege," clearly points this out, that, while Muslims themselves need to look at themselves much more critically, they also have a feeling that they are at the receiving end. In fact, that they are the victims of many ongoing injustices.

So they'll point to Chechnya. And we know that the central government in Russia has not handled the Chechen problem very sensibly. There's been nothing but mass murder and deportations of brutality and torture and killings. And Moscow really has to settle and resolve that problem before incidents like this take place again.

FRAZIER: Well, that's going to be a long and painful process. Let's hope it is a beginning, though, of some kind of resolution, diplomatic I think you're presuming there.

Professor, thank you very much for joining us. Professor Akbar Ahmed from American University in Washington.

AHMED: Thank you. Thank you.

STOUFFER: And the whole Beslan crisis is an eerie reminder of the Chechen attack on a Moscow theater. That was in October of 2002. More than 700 people were held hostage there, 129 died when it was all over. Most of the deaths were caused by a knock-out pumped into the building to end the crisis.

Well, inch by inch, Hurricane Frances, it is moving in on Florida right now. When will the worst of the destructive forces arrive? Our coverage continues on that and more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Only last month, Charley hit Florida, and actually came around Friday the 13th. And now here comes Frances, as some families struggle to recover from the first storm they encountered. CNN's Jonathan Freed reports from Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Any other hurricane season Mike Gault would just be cleaning up after last month's storm. But this isn't any other hurricane season.

MIKE GAULT, HURRICANE VICTIM: It split the chimney apart and sucked the flue right out of the chimney.

FREED: The Gault family is now boarding up its windows, bracing for Frances, the second major storm in just three weeks.

GAULT: It's like, well, what's left for it to take?

FREED: When Hurricane Charley hit, Mike and Jody Gault and their three children were huddled in this bedroom closet, and can now tell you what $10,000 in roof damage sounds like.

JODY GAULT, HURRICANE VICTIM: The shingles were being torn off one by one. It sounded like 100 soldiers up there. It's like you could hear every single shingle at each moment being ripped off the roof. That was the scariest. M. GAULT: My daughter's bedroom is here, just to the left of this boarded up window. And the closets actually collapsed inside, and it was just like -- it was like a stream.

J. GAULT: This whole part of the ceiling just collapsed. It was so wet, it just fell in.

FREED: This Orlando community is still littered with debris from Charley, and many people like the Gaults haven't even settled with their insurance companies yet. Frances is just fueling frustration.

(on camera): With Frances bearing down now, is it hard for you to imagine a time when your house is going to look normal again?

M. GAULT: I'm probably looking at a year.

FREED (voice-over): Mike Gault has decided to ride out the coming storm at home, determined to protect his property. His family is equally protected to protect him.

J. GAULT: I don't want him to be alone. I can't leave him.

FREED: So the Gaults are praying that bedroom closet will keep them safe one more time.

J. GAULT: I've had my moments where I've had some silent tears. But I have faith, and everything's going to be OK.

FREED: Jonathan Freed, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Time now to take a look at the other news making headlines at this hour.

STOUFFER: "Now in the News," Los Angeles International Airport is shut down this hour. Traffic is being diverted from the airfield. A bomb squad is on the scene.

Now, two separate security incidents. They're under investigation right now. We've been hearing from stranded passengers. And you can stay with us. We're going to keep following this developing story.

FRAZIER: Two explosions, one a car bomb, went off outside a police training facility in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today. A big one. At least 25 people have been killed, dozens wounded. A suicide driver rammed the barricades of the academy just as people were leaving it.

STOUFFER: Huge fires send black smoke into the skies over Hartha (ph), Iraq, this hour. An oil pipeline running north of Basra was attacked today. It's just the latest in a series of assaults on Iraq's oil industry.

FRAZIER: In the United States, both presidential campaigns establishing Labor Day Weekend beach heads in Ohio. President Bush touted yesterday's job's report as a sign of a growing at an "Ask President Bush" rally in Broadview Heights.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry used the same report to tell supporters in Akron that the president's economic policies have failed the middle class. Ohio, of course, a key battleground state in campaign 2004.

STOUFFER: Another one of those big battleground states is Florida. But we're watching Florida for an entirely different reason right now. Rob Marciano has the latest on that storm -- Rob.

MARCIANO: Hey. Hey, Linda. I knew I would do that this morning. Hey, Linda.

We're looking at winds that are now gusting to 60 miles an hour at West Palm Beach, 50 miles at Fort Pierce and Melbourne. This is the visible satellite picture, meaning that there's basically a satellite up there literally taking a picture using the sun as a flash bulb. And you really get a sense for the -- they cirrus tops and how the outflow of this thing spans out.

And the size of it, I mean, it almost touches South Carolina, certainly down towards Cuba. This is a monster storm with winds obviously gusting at times to hurricane strength, and it's not even on shore yet, this monster eye that is slowly moving to the west- northwest at, what, five miles an hour. That's crawling.

Category 2 storm, 105 sustained winds, gusting to 125. This red area indicates the area where we'll see hurricane-force winds.

Watch as we throw it in motion and move it on shore. This is the forecast from the National Hurricane Center. So we're looking at hurricane-force winds over the next, figure, 12 hours from West Palm Beach up through Melbourne, maybe as far north as Daytona. And tropical storm-force winds maybe as far north as Jacksonville.

It will weaken as it crosses Orlando, which saw over 100-mile-an- hour winds with Charley just a few weeks back. And then it reemerges in the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm, eventually heading into Alabama and Mississippi. And not so much a wind-maker at that point, but probably dumping a whole lot of rain.

And that's going to be a big issue. We've seen several inches of rain already along the coastline, and this thing just about to move on shore with heavier winds.

Here's the radar shot. There's Freeport. I tell you what, let's switch over to GR-114. I've got a better radar for you.

This really shows you the eye wall. Look at this thing. I mean, it's almost perfectly circular. It's 70 miles wide in diameter. So that is just a huge eye.

West Palm Beach, you're getting north winds right now, and they're gusting to 60. Ft. Pierce, not quite the heavy rain, but you're certainly in it.

This thing, as it slowly moves off to the west, the eye will be on shore probably in the next four to five hours. At least the western flank of the eye wall.

Linda and Stephen, this thing is so large and it's moving so slowly that it will take several hours, probably eight to 10 hours, for the eye it cross any one point. We want to mention one other thing. There is a threat and always a threat to the northern and eastern flank of the eye of seen (ph) tornadoes. And we'll be on the lookout for that throughout the afternoon and evening.

Back to you guys in the studio.

STOUFFER: Yes. I know you will, Rob. Thank you.

It is so big. Just the eye itself is as big as some storms Florida sometimes gets.

FRAZIER: Bigger than many that do a lot of harm, yes.

Well, the hurricane has certainly pasted travel plans for people who were planning to get to Florida for a holiday weekend get away.

STOUFFER: From clogged Florida roadways to those airports, they're closed, too. The storm is taking its toll on tourism, you can bet. We'll tell you when things just might get back to normal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUFFER: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning residents there they are really going to need patience to deal with this storm, because the hurricane is moving so slowly, it could hang around for not one, but two high tides. That means the state could see two rounds of storms surge and dangerous flooding. Florida's governor has already declared a state emergency for the entire state, and he's preparing residents for the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: It will take a long time for it. We're already seeing the beginning effects of the storm. The eye of the storm won't hit for -- until later on tonight, and then we'll have tomorrow, as well. So people need to be very cautious and very patient with this storm.

In addition, if they're in a shelter, they need to talk to the American Red Cross volunteers before they go home. As we all know, some of the loss of life occurs after the storm. And there will be a lot of rain, a lot of utility poles down, a lot of wires in that water. Make sure that your children and you, yourself, do not go back to your homes or don't leave your homes until it is the proper time to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRAZIER: Florida Governor Jeb Bush there with some timely warnings. And you heard him talk about wires in the water. That's the kind of thing that became a factor in the Bahamas, where at least one death is being linked to the storm. It was an electrocution, in fact. Our Karl Penhaul is in Freeport with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For several hours, the town of Freeport, on the island of Grand Bahama, was in the eye of the hurricane. That led to a decrease in the wind speed. But now, as the tail of the hurricane passes across this Bahamian island, the wind speeds are picking up again back into hurricane force.

We tried to talk to the weather experts to find out precisely what's going on. We caught up with them, though, in a Freeport hotel. They had to evacuate the weather center at the airport overnight.

Six feet of water, waves driven by those high winds, came through the airport and started to crush the side walls of the airport, leading to their evacuation. They say that the last wind speed they registered was 86 miles an hour. After that, the wind pulled all the equipment off the roof of the airport. No more reading.

Since that, this morning, in the early hours, we were told by the authorities that islanders in many in the low-lying areas of Grand Bahama had to be evacuated, areas that were not foreseen as flood risk areas. But more than 200 people in the early hours of this morning took to their rooftops because of the rising flood waters.

They were brought from their homes to safe areas by fire trucks, by fire trucks and other four-wheel drive vehicles. They are now in safety. But, yes, widespread flooding. The area of Grand Bahama is without power, and some of the telephone lines are also down.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Freeport, Grand Bahama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Karl's report is the kind of thing that they're watching with some trepidation in St. Augustine, Florida, where CNN's Kathleen Koch is on hurricane watch.

And it's good to see those images, Kathleen, because where you are right now, weather so nice, you could be lulled into a false sense of security there.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Stephen. And we really haven't had many storm bands here yet. But, still, if you look at this historic square, they have already boarded up.

They were boarding up back on Thursday when we first got here to town. So they are really taking this storm very seriously. And one of the reasons is that when you look over here, you'll see that this city, the historic part of the town, is surrounded on three sides by water, two rivers and a bay. And so it really does not take much for it to flood.

This morning, one of our crews went about town and they were able to find business owners still filling up sandbags, still propping them up against the doors of their businesses, still hoping to save any property inside. Because, we're told, again, in just a severe rain storm that you can have flooding, eight, 10, maybe even 12 inches.

Now right here, in this historic plaza, in the center of town, again, this is the oldest city in the country, founded back in 1565 by Spain. They planned a birthday party here today. And unfortunately, because of all the threats from Hurricane Frances, they canceled it.

However, there was one group that still did have a celebration right here in this pavilion behind me. They're gone now. But it was a local couple renewing their wedding vows. Ryan Cooper (ph) and his wife, Kristen (ph), they had eloped a year ago.

He is with the Marines. He served with the 1st Marine Expeditionary unit, the first group into Baghdad. And as soon as he got back from Iraq, they ran off and eloped. But they have been wanting for quite some time to get together with their entire family, renew their vows. And they said they were going to do it hurricane or not.

Now, they only had 20 people, versus the original 60 who had intended to come. But they say that they were very happy, and the rest of it went off without a hitch -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: That is a great story, Kathleen. We're delighted you brought it to us. And let's hope their marriage can weather many, many more storms over the years.

KOCH: Quite so.

FRAZIER: Kathleen Koch in St. Augustine. Thanks.

STOUFFER: Not even a Cat 2 could get in their way.

Well, there is never a good time for a hurricane, but a holiday weekend, well, it's one of the worst times for Florida. Take, for example, St. Augustine. It is a ghost town, after tourists and residents packed up and left. CNN's David Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The slow approach of Hurricane Frances gave beach-goers in St. Augustine one more day in the sun. But the choppy surf was a constant reminder the fun was not going to last.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is the first time we ever boarded up our home. We never did that before. Just because of the wind of the storm, we're afraid it might not hit -- not hit us, but the wind itself might cause a lot of damage.

MATTINGLY: Thousands made their hurricane decisions early. Labor Day Weekend crowds who were supposed to come to celebrate the city's 439th anniversary stayed away. Celebrations were canceled, and empty sight-seeing trolleys were a sign of a big money holiday lost.

JOHN YEARY, TOUR GUIDE: I'm seeing no one. I'm seeing people boarding up stores and maybe a few people walking around, but not much.

MATTINGLY: Below sea level in some areas, St. Augustine is always prone to flooding. But long-time residents say it's unusual to see so many boarded windows and sandbags. Frances is one storm everyone is taking seriously.

PAUL WILLIAMSON, CITY SPOKESMAN: So everybody is just kind of -- I use the word a lot, we're poised. We're just kind of waiting to see what happens right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emergency Operation Center. May I help you?

MATTINGLY: Shelters opened Friday night for people living in probable flooding areas. They were encouraged not to wait until the last minute to leave home.

(on camera): And while it's still too early to tell how strong Frances will be when it reaches north Florida, the 10 to 20 inches of rainfall predicted could easily take streets normally clogged with tourists and fill them with flood waters.

David Mattingly, CNN, St. Augustine, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: And, of course, any other Labor Day Weekend, Walt Disney World in Florida would be packed. But not this holiday weekend.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck and the rest of the gang aren't taking any chances on the storm. Even Donald with his webbed feet isn't hanging around.

Walt Disney World closed all of its theme parks today amid concern about possible winds and rains from the hurricane. Its hotels are still opened to accommodate about 75,000 holiday guests. Disney officials say they are monitoring the storm and will reopen the parks as soon as any storm-related dangers have passed.

STOUFFER: And we want to get more now on the blow to Florida tourism. We're joined by travel industry analyst Tom Nulty.

Thanks so much for being with us today.

THOMAS NULTY, TRAVEL INDUSTRY ANALYST: Good to be back.

STOUFFER: First of all, flights, anybody flying in or out of Florida today?

NULTY: You know, there are some people. When you take a look at the Flight Explorer software program, you can actually see that there are still some flights going in and out, but they're primarily on the west coast, in the Tampa and Ft. Myers area. But Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, West Palm Beach, no flights at all.

STOUFFER: Forget it. All right. And this thing is so slow as it's heading across Florida. When might things get back to normal?

NULTY: Well, American Airlines, which is one of the large carriers in Florida, is projecting -- they were earlier projecting they would be back to business this evening in Miami. But they're now saying tomorrow morning from Miami.

Then they'll slowly start opening the airports throughout the day. They'll open up the Fort Lauderdale, then West Palm Beach. They won't open up Orlando until Monday afternoon.

STOUFFER: And because you have so much warning on a hurricane, I know cruise lines are able to change their itineraries. But this is a pretty big storm to try to steer around.

NULTY: It's a big storm, but I think there was some good news and bad news for people. The good news is that some people got on extended cruises.

In fact, I was talking to the president of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line yesterday and he told me that one of their ships came in early in order to let people off so they could go home. But they were going to take the ship back out to see, and they decided -- they actually offered the passengers, if you'd like to stay, we will take you back out to sea again.

So 800 people got off and they all got back on again, and they went back out. So they had been -- been touring the seas on a cruise to no where, but enjoying themselves.

STOUFFER: Following the sun with a drink in hand, I guess.

NULTY: Exactly. Right. Other cruise passengers weren't so lucky. Their seven-day cruises are becoming six and five-day cruises. But the cruise companies are taking good care of them with extra perks and other things to make it worth their while.

STOUFFER: If you had Labor Day plans for this weekend, and you were hoping you could still pull it off, and now it's obvious you're not going to be able to, what do you do? How do you go about canceling?

NULTY: Yes, well, it's difficult. You're going to have a hard time getting through to airlines.

So if you booked through a travel agency, I suggest you call them. Most of them have 800 numbers.

Some of the online travel agencies, like Orbitz and others, also answer telephones. In addition to that, they have been proactively sending messages to people that purchased from them, telling them what to do.

Now, if you actually end up going to the airport, then you want to be prepared for it. Because it's going to a mess when things start up. Go comfortably, bring some extra food, snacks, other things, especially if you have kids with you...

STOUFFER: Right.

NULTY: ... because it's going to be a mess. And you could find yourself sitting on airplanes for a long time. So be prepared for it.

STOUFFER: And no one likes to do that.

NULTY: No.

STOUFFER: Well, let's take you to from the East Coast airports to the West Coast, because we have this situation at LAX today.

NULTY: Right.

STOUFFER: Shut down. There were two separate incidents, one involving a suspicious person, and one, mixed reports about some sort of corroded batteries in a flashlight that either set off some minor explosion or perhaps set off some kind of detection machine. You know that airport so well. How could this be affecting things?

NULTY: Well, it's going to basically clog things up. I know where one of the incidents took place in terminal six, which is towards the end of the terminal link. And it really shut down three terminals because they're linked together. And because of the way that airport is designed, when those three terminals are closed, they really have no choice but to close everything else, just the way the traffic flow goes there.

The other thing that happens is that the Bradley International Terminal is right at the end of the horseshoe. And if there's an incident there, they have to close it down as well.

So they have had a double whammy. It's going to be very, very difficult for them to get things going again. A there are going to be lot of flights delayed all over the country as a result of this, because those departing airplanes were headed to other destinations. And from those destinations, they were supposed to depart. So people are going to be delayed around the country as a result of this country around LA.

STOUFFER: And the longer it's closed the worse it's going to get around the country.

NULTY: It will be a mess. It's going to be a mess.

STOUFFER: Tom, thanks.

NULTY: My pleasure.

STOUFFER: We've had a lot to cover on both sides of the country. NULTY: My pleasure.

STOUFFER: Tom Nulty, thank you.

FRAZIER: And you can follow Frances' projected path by logging on to cnn.com/hurricanes. Some very powerful tools there to show you the storm, and you'll also find links to emergency information and resources, as well as tips on what you should do during a hurricane.

Bill Clinton is preparing to undergo heart surgery. The former president talked exclusively with Larry King last night. We'll find out what warning he now has for Americans who may think they have a healthy heart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUFFER: Welcome back. Now to another story we're following.

He's still a hot tawic of conversation for political fans and foes alike, but today all the talk is of a speedy recovery for Bill Clinton. He's in a New York hospital today. He's waiting to undergo heart bypass surgery some time next week.

Now, Vice President Cheney, who, himself, has suffered from heart problems, called Mr. Clinton this morning to wish him well. And last night, the former president phoned in to CNN's Larry King from his hospital bed. It was an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think if people have a family history there, and high cholesterol and high blood pressure, they ought to consider the angiogram, even if they don't have the symptoms I had. There is some chance of damage there, but it is like one in 1,000, and I really think it probably saved my life. And I'm very grateful to my physicians, Dr. Barak (ph), and all the great people in Westchester County who did that, and then these people at Columbia Presbyterian.

LARRY KING, HOST: Thank you...

CLINTON: I'm just grateful. I guess I'm a little scared, but not much. I'm looking forward to it. I want to get back to -- I want to see what it's like to run five miles again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: You heard that reference there to doctors in Westchester County. The president initially -- the former president -- checked himself into a hospital near his home in Chappaqua in Westchester County, New York, and then was transferred down to New York City, where he awaits that surgery.

For more on his condition and the nature of this upcoming heart surgery he faces, here's CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): A few hours in the operating room, a few days in the hospital, and several weeks of recovery at home. That's what Bill Clinton has in front of him.

First, the surgery. After opening the chest cavity, doctors take healthy blood vessels, usually from the legs, and attach them to the heart, allowing blood to bypass the blockages in diseased arteries.

The arteries rarely clog up again. In fact, 90 percent of people who have bypass surgery have clear arteries 20 years later. According to the American Heart Association, the death rate for this surgery for someone who is young and relatively healthy, like Clinton, is less than one percent. After the surgery...

DR. HARVEY HECHT, BETH ISRAEL MEDICAL CENTER: Typically, he'll be out of bed by the next day, starting to walk a little bit. And hopefully out the door of the hospital by four days, engaging in a cardiac rehabilitation program and feeling pretty normal, we would hope, by about two months after the surgery.

COHEN: But the recovery doesn't end there. Doctors give bypass patients strict orders for the rest of their lives.

HECHT: He will have to be on an appropriate diet, lose weight, be physically active.

COHEN: The recovery isn't just physical.

DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We know very well from scientific studies that it's not uncommon for individuals to suffer some degree of emotional trauma related to the procedure.

COHEN: Depression and anxiety set in sometimes after bypass surgery because the patient all of a sudden is faced with his or her mortality.

SPERLING: And this is a major life event. This is a major wake- up call.

COHEN: And because patients like Clinton are told to reduce stress, sometimes type A people like Clinton miss being in the center of things, on the go all the time, and have a hard time following doctors' orders to slow down.

SPERLING: He's got to recognize that number one right now has got to be his own health and recovery from this procedure.

COHEN: Former President Clinton is one of the lucky ones. Many people with sudden chest pain have heart attacks and die immediately. They don't get a second chance.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FRAZIER: We've been issuing warnings all day about these storm surges and high winds. Not everybody heeds them, though. And after the break, we'll take a look at why one surfer just had to hit the waves as Hurricane Frances closed in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUFFER: The powerful surf created by Hurricane Frances was a powerful attraction for at least one man. The surfer did make it back to shore after being -- there you can see him out in those huge waves. And here's what he had to say when he was asked by a reporter about that stunt, inadvisable stunt. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You weren't scared at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Did it two years ago, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, a lot of people at home think you're nuts. They're all boarded in under -- under shelter and in shelters. I mean, what -- what motivates you? Is the risk really worth the reward?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, you wait all year for it. And if you've surfed with people that are number one a long time ago, 20 years ago, and surf this big, you're used to it. So this way you don't have to travel. You get it here. You don't have to travel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brian Norcross (ph) was saying how the currents just drag you out there. Can you talk us through how it felt once you got out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was ridiculous. It sucks you out into the ocean and then the drift is horrendous. Basically, you've just got to take your time, hold position and catch what you can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long have you been surfing? Because they were saying you have to be a really experienced swimmer and surfer to be doing this. And have you done this around the world?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I have been to Hawaii, but I was there to work. But I've been surfing 29 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-nine years. And what is your profession, may I ask?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an arborist by trade. And I don't know, you know, you can grab the fun when you can grab it, you know. Police try not to let you do it, but legally, you're allowed to go out and go surfing, you know. It's your right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUFFER: Frances, dude, it's cool. It's cool, man.

FRAZIER: Cue the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) music here.

Well, I'm going to slide out, and Fredricka Whitfield is going to take my place here to join Linda for a little bit more this afternoon.

STOUFFER: Yes. Good to have you here, Stephen Frazier.

We will be back with a lot more coverage on the hurricane and the other stories we're following right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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