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CNN Live At Daybreak
Ivan Slams Gulf Coast; Two Americans Kidnapped in Iraq
Aired September 16, 2004 - 06:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Again, this morning, we have teams of reporters along the Florida panhandle, and in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi all tracking Ivan.
I want to bring you up-to-date about some of the information we've been getting throughout the morning. This out of Pensacola, and we do have some video to show you. It is nasty there, because this storm has spawned tornadoes in Pensacola.
We talked to the mayor, John Fogg. He said a hospital took a direct hit by that tornado, heavily damaged there, don't know which hospital. There are three hospitals there, and at least two of them suffered damage from tornadoes.
He says the Civic Center was damaged. That's a place where they sent people to be safe from the storm. It was hit, part of the roof blown off, so people moved to the center of the Civic Center. We understand there were no injuries there, at least no serious injuries.
Pounding rain is going on right now, and we expect there is some flooding in Pensacola. In fact, at one point a couple of hours ago, 135-mile-per-hour winds, many homes are damaged, and there is flooding there.
I thought we were going to have some pictures, but we will have them for you later, we promise.
Let's go to the Biloxi, Mississippi, right now and check in with Kathleen Koch.
At last check, Susan Candiotti was there, Kathleen. She had been talking to the owner of one of those floating casinos, who was worried about his property.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing, Carol, is that when it comes to the casinos, not only that one, the Treasure Bay Casino, but the casinos up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there are 12 of them. They employ about 14,000 people. It's very, very vital to this economy in generating $350,000 in tax money for the local area and the state every day. At this point, the early word is that there does not appear to be any substantial damage to any of those casinos.
I think it's very safe to say that the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, at least at this point in the earliest evaluation, is that we truly did dodge a bullet here. There are a lot of trees down, lots of flooded roadways, a good number of power outages. We're being told that about 50,000 households in Mississippi, southern Mississippi, are without power. That's about half of the households.
One of the emergency shelters in Biloxi here in Harrison County is without power, but, again, not that much severe damage. We do have some roofs off one at a restaurant. The awning of a local hospital's ambulance entrance came off.
But what we are really hearing is that the worst damage is to the east of here, and that's in Jackson County, Mississippi. That's the county furthest to the east, the one bordering Alabama. The sheriff there, Mike Bird (ph), says that there is a tremendous amount of debris down in the roads, downed trees, downed power lines, absolutely everywhere. And they won't know the full extent of the damage really until the sun comes up.
There are some 4,200 people in shelters throughout southern Mississippi, and they're really urging everyone to stay put, because this area of southern Mississippi I lived here for some 10 years, and it is laced with rivers, with streams, with bayous. So, there is a lot of flooding that people just haven't seen, a lot of roads that might have been washed out that you're not aware of. And so, they're really wanting everyone to be very careful, to stay inside.
Another big question mark is Ingalls Shipbuilding. That is one of the largest private employers in the state of Mississippi, run by Northrop Grumman, and that is in Jackson County in Pascagoula, Mississippi. We haven't yet gotten word on whether or not there is any damage there. That employs about more than 14,000 people here in southern Mississippi. So, very vital jobs, a very big shipbuilder for the nation building over the last several decades some 80-90 navy ships.
So, right now, we're still hunkering down, getting some winds, getting some rain. But the peak of the storm passed through here around 2:00 a.m. this morning, where we had gusts at up around 65 miles an hour. We're nowhere near that right now.
So, we're just waiting for light, waiting for the curfew to be lifted in about an hour and a half. And then, we'll get out and see more and have more to report for you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Kathleen Koch live in Biloxi, Mississippi, thank you very much.
We've been getting e-mails all morning long from people.
This from Melissa, she's in Michigan, but her sisters have evacuated from the Fort Walton Beach area.
And I do have a little bit of an update for you. We spoke to the Okaloosa County, Florida emergency management director about an hour or so ago. And this is what she reported. She said there are homes destroyed. Businesses are destroyed. Seventy-seven thousand people are without power right now. Some streets are literally under water. In fact, they're advising folks there not to venture out of their homes until noon today, because the streets are so dangerous, at least some of them. They have a 24-hour citizen line there in the emergency management center. And basically, they're getting a lot of calls from people whose roofs have blown off. But emergency crews can't make it there to help, so those people are pretty much on their own. So, your sisters were very wise to evacuate the Fort Walton Beach area.
Let's head to Panama City now in Florida. Rick Sanchez is on the phone right now to bring us up-to-date with what's happening there.
Hello -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got some new information to report, Carol.
Let me tell you what I've got. I just got off the phone a moment ago with officials in Calhoun County. There is a small city there called Blountstown in that county. And we have just confirmed with officials there that they did get hit by what they're describing as a pretty strong tornado.
Several homes have been leveled, they say. And the homes, they say interestingly enough, this is how they describe it, were not next to each other. In other words, it may have been an irregular pattern that this tornado may have taken through the town.
COSTELLO: In Pensacola.
SANCHEZ: Now, here's the part we have not been able to nail down. So, let me just, as a caveat, say this preliminarily. There are several reports that there are multiple fatalities as a result of that tornado in Blountstown, separate from the two deaths from tornadoes that have been confirmed, that we have been reporting to you for the better part of the last 12 hours or so.
So, what I was able to nail down is that there has been a very strong tornado. The man in charge of OAC (ph) in that area is now there assessing the damage. I hope to be able to get back to him in about 20 minutes or so.
So, the part about the multiple fatalities is not confirmed at this point, although there do seem to be injuries; that coming from witnesses who have been calling in to the television and radio stations here in this area.
So, that's...
COSTELLO: Rick, you know, I was just wondering...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: ... Carol.
COSTELLO: Rick, I was just wondering, there have been a lot of tornadoes reported in that Florida panhandle area. Do you have any word on how many have actually touched down? SANCHEZ: I've got to tell you, we have been under tornado warnings almost throughout the night in this area. The exact number of touchdowns is not known. But we can say with confidence that there have been at least four tornadoes that have touched down throughout the night. And that's just based on confirmed reports or fatalities or casualties as a result of those tornadoes.
COSTELLO: Rick Sanchez reporting live from Panama City, Florida, this morning, thank you very much.
Finally, we have a confirmation on which hospital was hit in Pensacola, Florida. We talked to the mayor earlier. He says two tornadoes -- at least two tornadoes a couple of hours ago touched down. Two hospitals were damaged. We have confirmed that West Florida Hospital in Pensacola was damaged by this tornado. We do not know of any injuries, and we don't know if all of the patients were evacuated from that hospital or not.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with much more of our coverage on Hurricane Ivan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're going to continue with our coverage of Hurricane Ivan in just a bit. But I do have some developing news out of Iraq to tell you about this morning. Gunmen have kidnapped two Americans along with a British citizen in Iraq.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and check in with Diana Muriel.
Diana -- tell us what happened.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a CNN team has been down at the location where the men were abducted early this morning. That's two U.S. citizens and one British citizen taken from a house in the al-Mansur district of Baghdad to the west of the River Tigris. And neighbors have been coming out talking about what they saw and what they heard this morning.
It seems that there were two sets of guards who looked after that property, and the night guard never showed up last night. Normally, the guard changes at around 8:00 in the morning. The men were actually abducted at 6:00 in the morning.
Every morning one of the men would come out and switch the generator on outside the building. The generator also served 12 other houses in the neighborhood. So neighbors were quite puzzled as to why the power hadn't come on.
What had happened, it seems, is that two vehicles -- one a minivan and one a sedan car -- arrived at the house around 6:00. There were 11 men dressed in civilian clothes -- six in the minivan, five in the car. The five remained outside acting as lookouts. The six went into the building, took the three men, not a shot was fired, although police later did find weapons in the building, but they believe that those weapons are the property of the al-Khaleej Services Company, the trading and contracting company that the three men worked for.
The police have expressed concern that the house wasn't being guarded. But a neighbor, a 60-year-old lady who lives in an adjacent house, told our CNN producer there that she hadn't seen the night guard come on the previous night. And it seems as though the men were unprotected -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel bringing us up-to-date from Baghdad this morning. Thank you, Diana.
Let's head live to Mobile, Alabama, near where Hurricane Ivan made landfall, and check in with Bill Hemmer on what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING" and more.
We're getting a lot of e-mails from people in that area who have evacuated, Bill. This man from Fairhope, Alabama, which is south of you, he owns a mobile home community there. And he wants to know if you've heard of any damage report.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I have not there, Carol. I can tell you in a very general sense now, the officials here in Mobile are telling us that, you know, they've surveyed the area, especially in the city anyway, not where that gentleman is south of town. And they think they've come through this storm pretty well at this point, based on what they were expecting and based so far on what they have seen.
The sun will be up in about an hour, Carol. And there will be a much better assessment at that point once the skies get a big lighter.
Top of hour, we'll go to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
You know, this storm is still strong. Last hour, it was about 115 miles an hour inland. That's packed in a heck of a punch at this point.
And we're going to get the backside in a moment here, Carol, as we go into "AMERICAN MORNING." And we'll talk with the mayor here in Mobile. We'll talk to the police chief also.
And also further east, Pensacola, the panhandle, we really started to take note of this late in the afternoon yesterday. It just seemed like the storm was really pounding that area of Florida, and indeed that appears to be the case with the tornadoes there, two deaths reported there. We'll try and figure out what's happening at that hospital as well that took what some say is a direct hit from a tornado.
And one more thing, Carol. As the winds continue to shift, they're now coming from the northwest as Ivan starts to move around us here in Mobile.
Top of the hour, we'll have it all for you. Heidi is back in New York; so is Jack and Andy. We've got another busy day here on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we do. Thank you, Bill. We'll get back to you.
Bill mentioned that hospital in Pensacola, Florida. We have confirmed that the West Florida Hospital in Pensacola was hit by a tornado. We don't know a specific damage report. When we get that, we'll let you know.
We want to see how the hurricane might affect the airline industry now, because I know a lot of you probably have flights scheduled. For that, we go live to "USA Today" travel reporter Ben Mutzabaugh.
Hello, Ben.
BEN MUTZABAUGH, "USA TODAY": Good morning, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: OK. Give us the bad news.
MUTZABAUGH: Well, it's obviously, as you probably can tell from all of the correspondents CNN has down there in the Gulf Coast, it's going to be a rough morning, a rough day, probably even two days, for anyone headed to the Gulf Coast.
The one bright spot, if there is one, is that New Orleans appears to have been spared from the worst of Ivan. It looks like flights will probably resume there sometime today and maybe even this morning. But really all bets are off for any travel today anywhere in the Gulf Coast area.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about travel over the next several days, because this storm is going to move around. And I know it's going to affect Atlanta, and you know how big the airport is here.
MUTZABAUGH: That's right. It is going to be move over Atlanta, and it is going to create some problems there. And anyone who is traveling through Atlanta -- Delta has a large hub there. AirTran has a large hub there. Those two airlines will be especially impacted.
But it's going to impact a lot of flights. Especially when it moves over Atlanta, it's going to create low visibility. It's going to reduce the airport's capacity to land planes, which is just going to create backlogs, and we all know that's something that's prone to happen in Atlanta.
COSTELLO: Yes, we do.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, as you probably well know. And it's also...
COSTELLO: Yes, go ahead.
MUTZABAUGH: It's going to create problems in other places as well; for example, a flight from Jacksonville to Memphis. For example -- Memphis is a hub for Northwest. So, a flight from Jacksonville to Memphis will have to fly around or over the storm. And some of them will go off OK, others will be delayed, others can even be cancelled. COSTELLO: OK. So, if I have an airline ticket and I really want to travel, what should I do?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, the first thing the airline suggests you do is check their Web site. There it will pose their delay information. Most of them post their cancellation information. And they all have posted what their policies are for travel to hurricane-affected areas.
And a lot of the airlines will have waivers that say if you are traveling to a city to or from one of the affected cities on a certain date, they're waiving change fees and some of the restrictions that will allow you to push up or push back your itinerary, depending on when and where you're flying. So, that's probably a good option for a lot of people who are headed to the Gulf Coast or other parts of the southeast.
COSTELLO: And it's probably good to go to the Web site, because to call an airline on the phone would be pretty much of a nightmare right now, wouldn't it?
MUTZABAUGH: That is true. I think even right now it's tough in the best circumstances. You know, a lot or airlines have had cuts, especially to the reservation centers. So, when you throw in all of these people who are being affected by the hurricane, it's going to tax what are probably already stressed reservation systems.
So, your best bet might be to go to the Web site. And then, if you can't find what you need there, then try calling the airlines, but be prepared for a lengthy wait.
COSTELLO: You know, you've got to wonder with all of the financial problems that Delta is having, and also US Airways, like, what effect this storm will have on them financially.
MUTZABAUGH: Oh, clearly, it's going to have a big impact. And it's most unwelcome news for all of the airlines that fly to Florida.
AirTran and JetBlue, for example, two discounters which have generally -- discounters have generally done well during the past two or three years even after the September 11 attacks. But even AirTran and JetBlue have issued earnings warnings, saying that all of these hurricanes heading towards Florida are really going to put a damper on their revenue for this quarter.
COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh from "USA Today," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MUTZABAUGH: Thank you.
COSTELLO: And I hope you're not flying anywhere.
We're going to have much more on the path of Ivan when DAYBREAK returns. You stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: I'll update you again on Hurricane Ivan. It did make landfall around 2:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. These are live pictures we're seeing out of New Orleans. And, Chad, help me with this. I know this is Lake Pontchartrain.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pontchartrain, right.
COSTELLO: OK. So, tell me exactly where this is in New Orleans. Is it above the downtown area?
MYERS: Actually I can show you -- I can do better than tell you. I can show you on the map.
The map that I have coming out of my computer here has the entire area here of New Orleans.
New Orleans itself, Lake Pontchartrain right there. There is the causeway that goes across Lake Pontchartrain. Now, the problem would have been had all of this rain -- these are rainfall totals that fell east of New Orleans. Look at this red zone, 9 inches. This red zone, 8. And then a rapid decrease back over to New Orleans, picking up virtually no rainfall at all, less than an inch. Only back over here in the blue zone did they pick up an inch.
Had this nine-inch rainfall total, Carol, been over New Orleans, they can only pump one inch an hour out of that city. And many areas in the city -- we always talk about the dyke system around there. There are a lot of folks that are not inside the dyke. New Orleans would have been in a world of hurt this morning.
COSTELLO: Boy! You're not kidding.
MYERS: Instead, the areas to the east of them are in a world of hurt.
COSTELLO: You know, Chad, a lot of our viewers are e-mailing us, and they want to know exactly where the storm is heading now. Who should be worried in the next half-hour or so?
MYERS: Well, basically southern Alabama and the western panhandle of Florida are in it now. There are a couple of different things we can talk about.
The wind speeds that are still here -- and I'll pan us back over to where the eye of the storm, although it's really losing its eye intensity. There is where the center of the storm is. The center really of the intense windfall is all the way here from east of the eye back down across still parts of Pensacola, north of Panama City right through here. The wind here is still at least gusting to 85, maybe 90 miles per hour in this zone here.
Now, there's another issue, if you're not in this wind field, you could actually be in a tornado zone, because the entire area here, these little things that are spinning here, here and here, those are what we call sheer markers. And those sheer markers are indicating that there is some rotation in some of the other thunderstorms. You won't get rotation really in the eye wall. You don't get enough up and down motion in the eye wall to make that happen. But here around Columbus, also down along Blakely (ph), we had one around Donaldsonville earlier, all of these little spinners here, all of these circles, are showing sheer in the storm, and that sheer, the spin of the storm could actually be indications of tornadoes. And, in fact, we have about five counties under tornado warnings right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, thank you, Chad. You know, I'm sorry to be so distracted, but I'm just getting more information about this hospital in Pensacola, Florida, that took a direct hit from a tornado.
We have a hospital spokesperson. Do we have her on the phone right now? We do not. We'll probably get her after this break, right? OK. We'll hopefully get Kathy Houser right after this break to tell us more about that hospital in Pensacola hit by a tornado earlier.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: All right, let's get right to it.
We do have confirmation now that West Florida Hospital in Pensacola has been hit by a tornado. There is damage.
On the phone right now is a spokesperson from that hospital, Kathy Houser.
Kathy, what can you tell us?
KATHY HOUSER, WEST FLORIDA HOSPITAL: Well, actually what I'd like to tell you is that there is misunderstanding that we were not hit by a tornado. We have had tremendous high winds, as you can imagine.
But the reality is, as far as we know -- now, again, it's dark here. We're still in the middle of this hurricane. We have had, as I said, very, very high winds. But we have not...
COSTELLO: Tell us about damage.
HOUSER: Right now, we have boarded all of our windows. We have had a few of the -- they're boarded from the inside. We've had some of the windows blown into the board, but the board, it's holding. We've had some water damage at this point.
But, again, it's dark. We haven't been able to get out yet to do a full-blown assessment at this point.
COSTELLO: Quickly now, just to calm people's nerves, all of the patients are safe. They're OK.
HOUSER: Absolutely. COSTELLO: All right.
HOUSER: Absolutely, they -- them staff, their families and all of our patients are perfectly fine, and...
COSTELLO: Well, we're glad to hear that. Kathy Houser from West Florida Hospital speaking to us.
Thank you for joining us. Our continuing coverage continues on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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Aired September 16, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Again, this morning, we have teams of reporters along the Florida panhandle, and in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi all tracking Ivan.
I want to bring you up-to-date about some of the information we've been getting throughout the morning. This out of Pensacola, and we do have some video to show you. It is nasty there, because this storm has spawned tornadoes in Pensacola.
We talked to the mayor, John Fogg. He said a hospital took a direct hit by that tornado, heavily damaged there, don't know which hospital. There are three hospitals there, and at least two of them suffered damage from tornadoes.
He says the Civic Center was damaged. That's a place where they sent people to be safe from the storm. It was hit, part of the roof blown off, so people moved to the center of the Civic Center. We understand there were no injuries there, at least no serious injuries.
Pounding rain is going on right now, and we expect there is some flooding in Pensacola. In fact, at one point a couple of hours ago, 135-mile-per-hour winds, many homes are damaged, and there is flooding there.
I thought we were going to have some pictures, but we will have them for you later, we promise.
Let's go to the Biloxi, Mississippi, right now and check in with Kathleen Koch.
At last check, Susan Candiotti was there, Kathleen. She had been talking to the owner of one of those floating casinos, who was worried about his property.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing, Carol, is that when it comes to the casinos, not only that one, the Treasure Bay Casino, but the casinos up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there are 12 of them. They employ about 14,000 people. It's very, very vital to this economy in generating $350,000 in tax money for the local area and the state every day. At this point, the early word is that there does not appear to be any substantial damage to any of those casinos.
I think it's very safe to say that the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, at least at this point in the earliest evaluation, is that we truly did dodge a bullet here. There are a lot of trees down, lots of flooded roadways, a good number of power outages. We're being told that about 50,000 households in Mississippi, southern Mississippi, are without power. That's about half of the households.
One of the emergency shelters in Biloxi here in Harrison County is without power, but, again, not that much severe damage. We do have some roofs off one at a restaurant. The awning of a local hospital's ambulance entrance came off.
But what we are really hearing is that the worst damage is to the east of here, and that's in Jackson County, Mississippi. That's the county furthest to the east, the one bordering Alabama. The sheriff there, Mike Bird (ph), says that there is a tremendous amount of debris down in the roads, downed trees, downed power lines, absolutely everywhere. And they won't know the full extent of the damage really until the sun comes up.
There are some 4,200 people in shelters throughout southern Mississippi, and they're really urging everyone to stay put, because this area of southern Mississippi I lived here for some 10 years, and it is laced with rivers, with streams, with bayous. So, there is a lot of flooding that people just haven't seen, a lot of roads that might have been washed out that you're not aware of. And so, they're really wanting everyone to be very careful, to stay inside.
Another big question mark is Ingalls Shipbuilding. That is one of the largest private employers in the state of Mississippi, run by Northrop Grumman, and that is in Jackson County in Pascagoula, Mississippi. We haven't yet gotten word on whether or not there is any damage there. That employs about more than 14,000 people here in southern Mississippi. So, very vital jobs, a very big shipbuilder for the nation building over the last several decades some 80-90 navy ships.
So, right now, we're still hunkering down, getting some winds, getting some rain. But the peak of the storm passed through here around 2:00 a.m. this morning, where we had gusts at up around 65 miles an hour. We're nowhere near that right now.
So, we're just waiting for light, waiting for the curfew to be lifted in about an hour and a half. And then, we'll get out and see more and have more to report for you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Kathleen Koch live in Biloxi, Mississippi, thank you very much.
We've been getting e-mails all morning long from people.
This from Melissa, she's in Michigan, but her sisters have evacuated from the Fort Walton Beach area.
And I do have a little bit of an update for you. We spoke to the Okaloosa County, Florida emergency management director about an hour or so ago. And this is what she reported. She said there are homes destroyed. Businesses are destroyed. Seventy-seven thousand people are without power right now. Some streets are literally under water. In fact, they're advising folks there not to venture out of their homes until noon today, because the streets are so dangerous, at least some of them. They have a 24-hour citizen line there in the emergency management center. And basically, they're getting a lot of calls from people whose roofs have blown off. But emergency crews can't make it there to help, so those people are pretty much on their own. So, your sisters were very wise to evacuate the Fort Walton Beach area.
Let's head to Panama City now in Florida. Rick Sanchez is on the phone right now to bring us up-to-date with what's happening there.
Hello -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got some new information to report, Carol.
Let me tell you what I've got. I just got off the phone a moment ago with officials in Calhoun County. There is a small city there called Blountstown in that county. And we have just confirmed with officials there that they did get hit by what they're describing as a pretty strong tornado.
Several homes have been leveled, they say. And the homes, they say interestingly enough, this is how they describe it, were not next to each other. In other words, it may have been an irregular pattern that this tornado may have taken through the town.
COSTELLO: In Pensacola.
SANCHEZ: Now, here's the part we have not been able to nail down. So, let me just, as a caveat, say this preliminarily. There are several reports that there are multiple fatalities as a result of that tornado in Blountstown, separate from the two deaths from tornadoes that have been confirmed, that we have been reporting to you for the better part of the last 12 hours or so.
So, what I was able to nail down is that there has been a very strong tornado. The man in charge of OAC (ph) in that area is now there assessing the damage. I hope to be able to get back to him in about 20 minutes or so.
So, the part about the multiple fatalities is not confirmed at this point, although there do seem to be injuries; that coming from witnesses who have been calling in to the television and radio stations here in this area.
So, that's...
COSTELLO: Rick, you know, I was just wondering...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: ... Carol.
COSTELLO: Rick, I was just wondering, there have been a lot of tornadoes reported in that Florida panhandle area. Do you have any word on how many have actually touched down? SANCHEZ: I've got to tell you, we have been under tornado warnings almost throughout the night in this area. The exact number of touchdowns is not known. But we can say with confidence that there have been at least four tornadoes that have touched down throughout the night. And that's just based on confirmed reports or fatalities or casualties as a result of those tornadoes.
COSTELLO: Rick Sanchez reporting live from Panama City, Florida, this morning, thank you very much.
Finally, we have a confirmation on which hospital was hit in Pensacola, Florida. We talked to the mayor earlier. He says two tornadoes -- at least two tornadoes a couple of hours ago touched down. Two hospitals were damaged. We have confirmed that West Florida Hospital in Pensacola was damaged by this tornado. We do not know of any injuries, and we don't know if all of the patients were evacuated from that hospital or not.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with much more of our coverage on Hurricane Ivan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're going to continue with our coverage of Hurricane Ivan in just a bit. But I do have some developing news out of Iraq to tell you about this morning. Gunmen have kidnapped two Americans along with a British citizen in Iraq.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and check in with Diana Muriel.
Diana -- tell us what happened.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a CNN team has been down at the location where the men were abducted early this morning. That's two U.S. citizens and one British citizen taken from a house in the al-Mansur district of Baghdad to the west of the River Tigris. And neighbors have been coming out talking about what they saw and what they heard this morning.
It seems that there were two sets of guards who looked after that property, and the night guard never showed up last night. Normally, the guard changes at around 8:00 in the morning. The men were actually abducted at 6:00 in the morning.
Every morning one of the men would come out and switch the generator on outside the building. The generator also served 12 other houses in the neighborhood. So neighbors were quite puzzled as to why the power hadn't come on.
What had happened, it seems, is that two vehicles -- one a minivan and one a sedan car -- arrived at the house around 6:00. There were 11 men dressed in civilian clothes -- six in the minivan, five in the car. The five remained outside acting as lookouts. The six went into the building, took the three men, not a shot was fired, although police later did find weapons in the building, but they believe that those weapons are the property of the al-Khaleej Services Company, the trading and contracting company that the three men worked for.
The police have expressed concern that the house wasn't being guarded. But a neighbor, a 60-year-old lady who lives in an adjacent house, told our CNN producer there that she hadn't seen the night guard come on the previous night. And it seems as though the men were unprotected -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel bringing us up-to-date from Baghdad this morning. Thank you, Diana.
Let's head live to Mobile, Alabama, near where Hurricane Ivan made landfall, and check in with Bill Hemmer on what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING" and more.
We're getting a lot of e-mails from people in that area who have evacuated, Bill. This man from Fairhope, Alabama, which is south of you, he owns a mobile home community there. And he wants to know if you've heard of any damage report.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I have not there, Carol. I can tell you in a very general sense now, the officials here in Mobile are telling us that, you know, they've surveyed the area, especially in the city anyway, not where that gentleman is south of town. And they think they've come through this storm pretty well at this point, based on what they were expecting and based so far on what they have seen.
The sun will be up in about an hour, Carol. And there will be a much better assessment at that point once the skies get a big lighter.
Top of hour, we'll go to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
You know, this storm is still strong. Last hour, it was about 115 miles an hour inland. That's packed in a heck of a punch at this point.
And we're going to get the backside in a moment here, Carol, as we go into "AMERICAN MORNING." And we'll talk with the mayor here in Mobile. We'll talk to the police chief also.
And also further east, Pensacola, the panhandle, we really started to take note of this late in the afternoon yesterday. It just seemed like the storm was really pounding that area of Florida, and indeed that appears to be the case with the tornadoes there, two deaths reported there. We'll try and figure out what's happening at that hospital as well that took what some say is a direct hit from a tornado.
And one more thing, Carol. As the winds continue to shift, they're now coming from the northwest as Ivan starts to move around us here in Mobile.
Top of the hour, we'll have it all for you. Heidi is back in New York; so is Jack and Andy. We've got another busy day here on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we do. Thank you, Bill. We'll get back to you.
Bill mentioned that hospital in Pensacola, Florida. We have confirmed that the West Florida Hospital in Pensacola was hit by a tornado. We don't know a specific damage report. When we get that, we'll let you know.
We want to see how the hurricane might affect the airline industry now, because I know a lot of you probably have flights scheduled. For that, we go live to "USA Today" travel reporter Ben Mutzabaugh.
Hello, Ben.
BEN MUTZABAUGH, "USA TODAY": Good morning, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: OK. Give us the bad news.
MUTZABAUGH: Well, it's obviously, as you probably can tell from all of the correspondents CNN has down there in the Gulf Coast, it's going to be a rough morning, a rough day, probably even two days, for anyone headed to the Gulf Coast.
The one bright spot, if there is one, is that New Orleans appears to have been spared from the worst of Ivan. It looks like flights will probably resume there sometime today and maybe even this morning. But really all bets are off for any travel today anywhere in the Gulf Coast area.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about travel over the next several days, because this storm is going to move around. And I know it's going to affect Atlanta, and you know how big the airport is here.
MUTZABAUGH: That's right. It is going to be move over Atlanta, and it is going to create some problems there. And anyone who is traveling through Atlanta -- Delta has a large hub there. AirTran has a large hub there. Those two airlines will be especially impacted.
But it's going to impact a lot of flights. Especially when it moves over Atlanta, it's going to create low visibility. It's going to reduce the airport's capacity to land planes, which is just going to create backlogs, and we all know that's something that's prone to happen in Atlanta.
COSTELLO: Yes, we do.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, as you probably well know. And it's also...
COSTELLO: Yes, go ahead.
MUTZABAUGH: It's going to create problems in other places as well; for example, a flight from Jacksonville to Memphis. For example -- Memphis is a hub for Northwest. So, a flight from Jacksonville to Memphis will have to fly around or over the storm. And some of them will go off OK, others will be delayed, others can even be cancelled. COSTELLO: OK. So, if I have an airline ticket and I really want to travel, what should I do?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, the first thing the airline suggests you do is check their Web site. There it will pose their delay information. Most of them post their cancellation information. And they all have posted what their policies are for travel to hurricane-affected areas.
And a lot of the airlines will have waivers that say if you are traveling to a city to or from one of the affected cities on a certain date, they're waiving change fees and some of the restrictions that will allow you to push up or push back your itinerary, depending on when and where you're flying. So, that's probably a good option for a lot of people who are headed to the Gulf Coast or other parts of the southeast.
COSTELLO: And it's probably good to go to the Web site, because to call an airline on the phone would be pretty much of a nightmare right now, wouldn't it?
MUTZABAUGH: That is true. I think even right now it's tough in the best circumstances. You know, a lot or airlines have had cuts, especially to the reservation centers. So, when you throw in all of these people who are being affected by the hurricane, it's going to tax what are probably already stressed reservation systems.
So, your best bet might be to go to the Web site. And then, if you can't find what you need there, then try calling the airlines, but be prepared for a lengthy wait.
COSTELLO: You know, you've got to wonder with all of the financial problems that Delta is having, and also US Airways, like, what effect this storm will have on them financially.
MUTZABAUGH: Oh, clearly, it's going to have a big impact. And it's most unwelcome news for all of the airlines that fly to Florida.
AirTran and JetBlue, for example, two discounters which have generally -- discounters have generally done well during the past two or three years even after the September 11 attacks. But even AirTran and JetBlue have issued earnings warnings, saying that all of these hurricanes heading towards Florida are really going to put a damper on their revenue for this quarter.
COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh from "USA Today," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MUTZABAUGH: Thank you.
COSTELLO: And I hope you're not flying anywhere.
We're going to have much more on the path of Ivan when DAYBREAK returns. You stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: I'll update you again on Hurricane Ivan. It did make landfall around 2:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. These are live pictures we're seeing out of New Orleans. And, Chad, help me with this. I know this is Lake Pontchartrain.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pontchartrain, right.
COSTELLO: OK. So, tell me exactly where this is in New Orleans. Is it above the downtown area?
MYERS: Actually I can show you -- I can do better than tell you. I can show you on the map.
The map that I have coming out of my computer here has the entire area here of New Orleans.
New Orleans itself, Lake Pontchartrain right there. There is the causeway that goes across Lake Pontchartrain. Now, the problem would have been had all of this rain -- these are rainfall totals that fell east of New Orleans. Look at this red zone, 9 inches. This red zone, 8. And then a rapid decrease back over to New Orleans, picking up virtually no rainfall at all, less than an inch. Only back over here in the blue zone did they pick up an inch.
Had this nine-inch rainfall total, Carol, been over New Orleans, they can only pump one inch an hour out of that city. And many areas in the city -- we always talk about the dyke system around there. There are a lot of folks that are not inside the dyke. New Orleans would have been in a world of hurt this morning.
COSTELLO: Boy! You're not kidding.
MYERS: Instead, the areas to the east of them are in a world of hurt.
COSTELLO: You know, Chad, a lot of our viewers are e-mailing us, and they want to know exactly where the storm is heading now. Who should be worried in the next half-hour or so?
MYERS: Well, basically southern Alabama and the western panhandle of Florida are in it now. There are a couple of different things we can talk about.
The wind speeds that are still here -- and I'll pan us back over to where the eye of the storm, although it's really losing its eye intensity. There is where the center of the storm is. The center really of the intense windfall is all the way here from east of the eye back down across still parts of Pensacola, north of Panama City right through here. The wind here is still at least gusting to 85, maybe 90 miles per hour in this zone here.
Now, there's another issue, if you're not in this wind field, you could actually be in a tornado zone, because the entire area here, these little things that are spinning here, here and here, those are what we call sheer markers. And those sheer markers are indicating that there is some rotation in some of the other thunderstorms. You won't get rotation really in the eye wall. You don't get enough up and down motion in the eye wall to make that happen. But here around Columbus, also down along Blakely (ph), we had one around Donaldsonville earlier, all of these little spinners here, all of these circles, are showing sheer in the storm, and that sheer, the spin of the storm could actually be indications of tornadoes. And, in fact, we have about five counties under tornado warnings right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, thank you, Chad. You know, I'm sorry to be so distracted, but I'm just getting more information about this hospital in Pensacola, Florida, that took a direct hit from a tornado.
We have a hospital spokesperson. Do we have her on the phone right now? We do not. We'll probably get her after this break, right? OK. We'll hopefully get Kathy Houser right after this break to tell us more about that hospital in Pensacola hit by a tornado earlier.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: All right, let's get right to it.
We do have confirmation now that West Florida Hospital in Pensacola has been hit by a tornado. There is damage.
On the phone right now is a spokesperson from that hospital, Kathy Houser.
Kathy, what can you tell us?
KATHY HOUSER, WEST FLORIDA HOSPITAL: Well, actually what I'd like to tell you is that there is misunderstanding that we were not hit by a tornado. We have had tremendous high winds, as you can imagine.
But the reality is, as far as we know -- now, again, it's dark here. We're still in the middle of this hurricane. We have had, as I said, very, very high winds. But we have not...
COSTELLO: Tell us about damage.
HOUSER: Right now, we have boarded all of our windows. We have had a few of the -- they're boarded from the inside. We've had some of the windows blown into the board, but the board, it's holding. We've had some water damage at this point.
But, again, it's dark. We haven't been able to get out yet to do a full-blown assessment at this point.
COSTELLO: Quickly now, just to calm people's nerves, all of the patients are safe. They're OK.
HOUSER: Absolutely. COSTELLO: All right.
HOUSER: Absolutely, they -- them staff, their families and all of our patients are perfectly fine, and...
COSTELLO: Well, we're glad to hear that. Kathy Houser from West Florida Hospital speaking to us.
Thank you for joining us. Our continuing coverage continues on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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