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CNN Live Sunday

Tropical Storm Jeanne Hits Florida; Violence Expected for Iraqi Elections

Aired September 26, 2004 - 18:00   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 LIN, ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Our coverage of Tropical Storm Jeanne starts in just a moment. But first, here's a quick look at other stories now in the news.
Pakistani forces have killed a man who tried to assassinate president Pervez Musharraf last year. Officials say Amjad Hussain Farooqi was killed in an early-morning raid in southern Pakistan. Several others were arrested.

A Greek Olympic Airlines flight from Athens to New York was diverted to London because of a bomb scare. Authorities say the flight landed safely and all the passengers were evacuated. There were no reports of any injuries.

An Iraqi National Guard general is in U.S. custody. The general was arrested for suspected ties to insurgents. He had been chosen to head the National Guard and the reserve for the restive Dyala province just two weeks ago.

And U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says American troops will move into so-called no-go zones in Iraq. Powell says the goal is to bring insurgent areas under Iraqi government control. There are concerns insurgents will try to disrupt the upcoming elections. We're going to have more on that story in just a few minutes.

Good evening. I'm Carol Lin, and welcome to live, CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Up first this hour, from Daytona Beach to Miami, Hurricane Jeanne has left a familiar calling card of destruction on Florida's east coast.

Jeanne is now a tropical storm headed for the Gulf of Mexico. But earlier, it brought winds of up to 120 miles per hour earlier, and heavy rains as it made landfall north of West Palm Beach.

And once again, hundreds of thousands of Floridians are without power. And officials say some areas may be without electricity for up to three weeks.

Now, this is what it looked like in Brevard County, Florida, what's left of that building. But Florida Governor Jeb Bush says the heaviest damage was to the Treasure Coast counties of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: This has been a, as we know, a historic six-week period. Never before since -- I guess since 19 -- 1880 has there been a state that has received four hurricanes at once. And back in 1880 in Texas, where the last time it happened, there were probably 100,000 people who lived there.

We're a state of 17 million. And just about everybody's been impacted by the storm in one way or the other. And we're here to say that on the short-term basis, immediate relief will be coming in the form of ice and water, and it will be replenished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: So far a couple of deaths have been reported in relation to Jeanne, and it still may be a killer. It's still on the move.

Our meteorologist Orelon Sidney tracking Jeanne right now.

Orelon, what's its status?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot, Carol.

Right now, the winds are down to 65 miles an hour. The storm is continuing to weaken, expected to be a tropical depression by tomorrow morning.

Thirty-five miles southeast of Cedar Key about an hour ago, moving to the northwest at 12. I do think it's starting to take a little bit more of a northward jog, so I'm kind of curious to see whether or not the center is actually going to make it out over the Gulf of Mexico. It looks to me like it may be lifting up a little bit more northward rather than westward. We'll have to wait until the 8 a.m. advisory to see if -- or the 8 p.m. advisory to see if that's correct.

Did have a couple of tornado warnings up around Duval County, Nassau County, St. Johns County. Some damage reported earlier to a mobile home in some of those areas. But in general, we haven't seen very many tornados. Having said that, a tornado watch is in effect for southern Georgia, parts of northern Florida, until 1 a.m. in the morning.

In addition to that, of course, we do have flooding. The dark green areas are flood warnings. Those are areas where you already have flooding occurring. Flood watches in effect to the south and north. Though I think some of these to the south may start to be dropped off as most of the action now is north of Orlando.

Take a look at some of these 24-hour totals, though, and you can see why we do have those advisories. Look at Coopertown, 8.10 of an inch there. Six inches at Frostproof, Haines City almost six inches. And even Bartow picked up five. So lots of rain continuing.

Still the chance that you could see tropical storm force winds. So from Cocoa Beach northward to the Savannah River and from Destin, Florida, southward to Bonita Beach, you've got tropical storm warnings in effects for this evening.

Here's what we expect to happen then. Tomorrow, the storm system should continue working to the north, continuing to southern Georgia. By 2 p.m., expect it to be a tropical depression, and then heading on to the northeast and hopefully out to sea by the time it reaches northern parts of Virginia.

Certainly would be some good news to see that one go. Don't see much on the near term, anyway, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. So that, again, too, is very good news -- Carol.

LIN: You bet. All right. Thanks for the update, Orelon.

Well, originally Jeanne was supposed to skirt the coast of Florida and then up the east coast. So a lot of cities who were inland didn't think that they were going to be hit. Not true. Orlando felt hurricane force winds earlier today.

CNN's Eric Philips joins us live from there with more on the damage -- Eric.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we are here in Orlando where all day long, really, we've been feeling the winds kind of pounding us along with the torrential downpours from time to time.

At one point it sort of sped up and we were feeling the winds and the rain every five or ten minutes. We'd get these really huge gusts anywhere between 50 and 70 miles an hour associated with the rainfall that came from the outer bands of Hurricane Jeanne, now Tropical Storm Jeanne.

Toward the middle of this afternoon, it started to slow down. But even still, we still are feeling these gusts of wind. And that has caused emergency management officials here to reconsider the 5 p.m. curfew that they originally had.

They had instated that curfew at 11 p.m. last night. It was supposed to be expired at 5 p.m. this evening. But in a meeting late this afternoon, they decided to extend that curfew until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

What that means is that people are being asked to please not go in the street. Pedestrians, the motorists being asked to stay off the streets until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

If in fact they are on the streets, the authorities are going to be asking them to show an I.D., give them a work telephone number, something to show why they're supposed to be on the street. And if they cannot produce that, then they will be arrested, according to what police are saying. And if they are arrested, they won't be eligible for bond.

So they're taking this very seriously. Why? Because they say safety is definitely at stake here. They say with the winds still gusting anywhere between 50 and 75 -- 50 and 70 miles an hour at any given time, it's just not a safe situation. We shot some video while we were out today. What we saw is lots of downed trees, some downed power lines, debris in the roadway, things that you would typically find during a storm.

Officials here are saying they really did not get the type of damage in Orange County and in Orlando that they could have gotten. And really that is good news for them because of the fact that the storm took a slightly different path than originally forecast.

However, at this hour, they're saying they have about 130,000 people without power, which for a county the size of Orange County is really not that bad.

They're going -- they're starting to send teams out now to sort of assess the situation, see how bad the damage is. And they're also getting together search and rescue teams from this county, teams of 35. This county, Osceola County and also Seminole County, teams of 35 who will go into some of the hardest hit areas here in Florida, the coastal areas, and conduct search and rescue missions. Those teams will be dispatched over the next 10 to 24 hours.

But as you can see behind me, the wind is starting to sort of die down a little bit, although again, we're still seeing the gusts of winds.

You've got many families that are anxious to get back to their homes, including the ducks in this very pond. Obviously, they're very anxious to get back to their place of residence here, and they can't wait for that curfew to be lifted.

But again, authorities are telling people that it is really the safest thing to do is to heed the curfew and recognize that it's all for their safety. And at this point, they're expecting that curfew to be lifted at 6:00 tomorrow morning -- Carol.

LIN: Pretty tough authorities there if they're arresting ducks for being out past curfew, Eric.

On a more serious note, you mentioned the search and rescue teams of 35 people. How many people are unaccounted for that they have -- they feel that they need to send out these teams?

PHILIPS: I'm sorry, Carol. If you asked me a question, we have a really bad connection. I'm having a lot of trouble hearing you.

LIN: You know, I'm going to pass, Eric, but thank you very much. Good information there.

In the meantime, Jeanne is still moving across Florida. Reporter Damany Lewis from our affiliate WJXT joins me live right now from Jacksonville.

Damany, what is the situation there?

DAMANY LEWIS, WJXT CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Carol, the wind is picking up, and so is the rain. It's been a constant and steady wind and rain all afternoon.

Now we're actually standing behind our live truck to protect us against the wind and rain. But if we were to come out right now, you can see exactly just how strong that wind is. It is picking up. It's coming in gusts around 35, 45 and sometimes even 55 or even 60 miles per hour.

Now, as far as businesses here at Jacksonville Beach, if you take a look over my shoulder, you can see that they have boarded up their windows and they have put sandbags next to their doors to protect against flooding, because this is a low-lying area and flooding will happen over here.

Now if you take a look over to my left side here, you can see that this is a construction site. Now, the good news is, everything here is tied down. So even if we do have a strong wind, that these -- that these things will obviously not move. But when we have strong winds just like that, that felt about -- about 55 to 60 miles an hour.

Now, as far as people out here at the beach, there are some onlookers taking pictures. Let's go up and see if we can get a closer look at the ocean. And of course, as we get closer to the ocean, the sand, the wind, the rain starts pelting me in my face, and the gusts become stronger and stronger.

And you can see, actually, what -- what the wind is doing to the pier right now, pushing it. High waves. The surf is very high and strong. And of course, the wind is blowing.

Now, there is actually someone in the water right now, if you can see below. Jacksonville police do not want anyone in the water. It is extremely too dangerous to be out here. Let's go ahead and see if we can speak to this lady.

Excuse me, ma'am. Why did you decide to come out here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I live here and I just wanted to come and see. He wanted to take pictures of the pier.

LEWIS: Obviously this is a very dangerous situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. We're going.

LEWIS: Are you seeking shelter any time soon?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we're going now back home.

LEWIS: Thank you very much, ma'am.

And as you can see -- take a look over my right shoulder. You can see exactly what Jeanne is doing to the shore. There was sand here on the beach. But that sand has been replaced by tons and tons of seaweed brought on by, of course, Hurricane Jeanne.

Now, as far as lifeguards, they have issued a double red flag warning in this area, meaning the rip currents are too dangerous, and they do not want anyone in the water. They suggest that people just like these individuals please stay away from the water because it is very dangerous.

Jacksonville Beach officials, police have been going around surveying the area, looking to clean off the beaches, get people out of here, because the wind is too strong. And of course, they can -- it can be very, very dangerous -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Damany Lewis, stay safe out there. Obviously, a lot of people not taking the warnings by authorities very seriously as Jacksonville is now being pelted with rain and more wind.

And right now, Jeanne has moved on from Florida's east coast. Not by very much, as you can still see. But we're going to take a look at the cleanup. I'm going to be talking with Melbourne's mayor about his plan right after the break.

Plus, crisis in Haiti. Is progress being made in feeding thousands of desperate people? We're going to have a live report.

And still to come, what the U.S. says it will and won't do to get Iraq ready for free elections.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: After four hurricanes, just weeks apart, this could easily turn out to be Florida's costliest hurricane season.

One thing is for sure: residents are getting way, way too much practice at cleaning up and starting over. And nowhere is that more evident than the city of Melbourne. The mayor of Melbourne, John Buckley, is on the telephone with me now.

Mr. Mayor, it was good to spend a good portion of our coverage with you last night as you were hunkered in your home. You've had a chance to take a look and assess the damage in Melbourne today?

JOHN BUCKLEY, MAYOR OF MELBOURNE, FLORIDA: I've driven around, and we had quite a bit of damage, especially in trailer parks. There were six trailers completely destroyed. And several out there said they'd lost their carports, and other aluminum around their trailers.

LIN: How damaging was this -- was Jeanne compared to when Frances went through Melbourne a few weeks ago?

BUCKLEY: I guess I would consider it just about the same. I think it did as much damage this time as it did the last time. The city manager thought it was a little bit less. But one of our elementary schools, which was just built about three years ago, lost its roof. And it was a shelter at the time.

LIN: Wow. What about power outages? What's the situation in Melbourne?

BUCKLEY: About either two-thirds to three-quarters of the people don't have power. LIN: Two-thirds to three-quarters, because Florida power and light is saying it could be three weeks before they get their power restored again.

BUCKLEY: I understand.

LIN: That's a long time for those people to wait.

BUCKLEY: It sure is. And it's getting a little bit warm in the house there.

LIN: I can imagine. What about injuries? Anybody hurt? Anybody killed?

BUCKLEY: Not -- not locally here. I understand south of here there were a couple people that were killed. But down there at Barefoot Bay...

LIN: Right. Right, a car went over and two people drowned. Another report of someone who touched a power line being electrocuted to death in Miami.

BUCKLEY: Yes.

LIN: Looting was a big problem after Ivan and also after Charley and Frances. What about in Melbourne this time around?

BUCKLEY: We haven't had a real problem with the looting. I guess we've just been lucky. That's all I can say about it.

LIN: All right. Are people -- are people getting a chance to get out and assess the damage, then, at this point? It's got to be heart breaking today.

BUCKLEY: It was -- the people were starting to come out a little bit. But most of the people, the radios have been telling everybody to stay home. And which is probably a good thing.

But right now, the storm surge and winds have pretty much died down. In fact, I was able to cook a couple of steaks out on the grill this afternoon.

LIN: Right. Well, at least you have a good meal ahead of yourself, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much.

BUCKLEY: OK.

LIN: Mayor Buckley of Melbourne. A lot of damage there: three- quarters of the people without power.

Well, the presidential election here at home isn't the only one on the horizon. Iraq prepares to elect its new leaders in January. But will that war-torn country be ready? There are some conflicting views.

And later, a plane plummets to the ground in California. And it's all caught on tape. Look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Earlier today on CNN, Secretary of State Colin Powell said American troops will soon be moving into dangerous no-go zones in Iraq to try to control insurgents.

This comes before the elections in Iraq, and the elections right here in the United States.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is live from Crawford, Texas with more on this -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol.

The Bush administration does have concerns about those so-called no-go zones. But also concerns about what some outside of Iraq, what impact they may have on the elections there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): When Iraqis go to the polls, the White House hopes no other countries affect the process. But administration officials say they are worried.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: President Bush was briefed about these concerns, about the potential of Iran, particularly, having too undue -- too much undue influence on the election process.

QUIJANO: So to try to level the playing field, the White House did look at one idea, according to "TIME" magazine, to have the U.S. secretly back individual Iraqi candidates. But the president decided against it.

BARTLETT: He made the decision that there was not going to be anything covert. This would all be overt cooperation and participation to help the Iraqi people have the successful free and fair election process.

QUIJANO: Neither Democrats nor Republicans like the idea of a plan for secret U.S. action to affect Iraq's elections.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The CIA or any other group should not be involved in trying to decide the fate of the Iraqi people. Let's let them decide their fate.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Whatever credibility the United States has with the Iraqis would be completely blown out.

QUIJANO: Just last week, President Bush appeared in the Rose Garden with the country's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Their message? Progress is being made and elections will take place in January in Iraq.

But critics point to continued violence, and even some American military leaders acknowledge it will have an impact.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I don't think that Iraq will have a perfect election. And if I recall looking back at our own election four years ago, it wasn't perfect either.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Now, General Abizaid says that the goal is to have successful voting in the vast majority of Iraq, but he also adds that coalition forces are likely going to have to fight their way through elections. And he also predicts there will be a lot more violence between now and then -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Elaine.

We're going to stay on this point with our general, General Don Shepperd out in Tucson, Arizona.

Don, in order to have a successful election, clearly you have to get the security situation on the ground under control. You know about a recent security report that says an average of 70 attacks a day are happening around Iraq, 22 just in the city of Baghdad.

What needs to be done in order for the country to be secure enough to have credible elections?

GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, Carol, there's no magic to this. And it's very clear that no matter what we do, the Iraqi forces are not going to be able to provide their own security. And we're not going to be able to provide security across the country.

We are both going to do the best that we can to provide security for the elections. But people are going to be intimidated. They're going to be shot going to and at the polls. This is just going to be an ugly situation.

And Prime Minister Allawi in his visit to the United States last week made it very clear that no matter what, the elections are going to continued. So it's going to be dicey and it's going to be awful.

LIN: Well, General, Abizaid is saying that there's going to be an infusion of some 25,000 additional Iraqi troops. Are those troops going to be trained and ready to go in the next couple of months?

SHEPPERD: The answer, short answer is no. They're going to be able to do the best they can. They're going to be equipped. They're going to be trained. But they're not going to be the professional soldiers that you see in the coalition and the United States forces there.

Again, they're going to be doing the best they can. There's going to be a lot of violence. And you must understand also that the violence won't stop with this election.

This is the election from the interim government to the transitional government that takes place in January. Then there's another election the following year which will be the real election to elect the real government. And violence is going to continue all of next year. It's going to be a long process.

LIN: And then you have a situation here where a senior commander of the U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi national forces, has been arrested for possible ties to insurgents.

Doesn't this underscore the difficulty in knowing who you can trust, much less whether they're trained?

SHEPPERD: Yes. That was Lieutenant General Talib al-Lahibi. He was a senior commander in the Iraqi National Guard and a former army commander under Saddam's army.

You're going to have these situations. There are people there that are certainly not on our side in high-ranking positions in both the government and the military.

And again, you're just going to have to press ahead, realizing it's not going to are perfect, and realizing that establishing democracy and security in this country is going to be years, not weeks and not months.

LIN: All right. Well, give me an idea of what you think is going to be realistic in terms of these elections coming up in January?

I mean, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said credible elections, he thinks, secure elections can be held in 15 out of, what, 18 or 19 provinces. He didn't indicate which three provinces were the most dangerous.

Do you agree with that assessment?

SHEPPERD: Well, I agree that 15 of 18 you can probably hold elections, and credibility is in the eye of the beholder.

One of the biggest provinces is Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the Sunni Triangle, if you will, Ramadi, al-Niwaniyah (ph), Fallujah, Baqubah.

The Sunnis themselves may boycott the election, but they face a great danger in doing that. Clearly, the process under at least the interim government is going to take place, and it's going to progress ahead.

So if they stand out away from the election, they risk not being represented in the new Iraq. That will provide problems in and of itself. But again, it's a great risk on their part.

We're just going to have to wait and see. And it's going to be ugly.

LIN: In the eye of the beholder. That is a very good way to put it. Thank you very much, General Don Shepperd.

SHEPPERD: Thank you.

LIN: See what happens.

Well, it's been a mellow weekend, if you can call it that, politically speaking. President Bush spent this Sunday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He's going to be hitting the campaign trail tomorrow in Springfield, and West Chester, Ohio.

And his Democratic rival, presidential candidate John Kerry, is already in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where he's going to be campaigning tomorrow. Both big swing states.

But all eyes are strongly focused on Thursday, the start of the presidential debates. There are going to be a series of three. This one's going to focus, on Thursday, on foreign policy. Voters are going to get a chance to directly compare the White House candidates.

CNN, of course, is going to carry that debate live starting at 9 p.m. Eastern, and we're counting on you to tune in.

And later tonight, I'm going to be talking with Frank Donatelli, a former political director under President Reagan, and Ann Lewis with the Democratic National Committee.

Both are going to join me for a behind the scenes look at what really goes on and some highlights of how in this controlled environment of these debates and all these rules, how the candidates can at least try to make some news, take each other on.

In the meantime, back to our hurricane coverage. Jeanne is not done with Florida just yet. We're tracking the storm as it moves across the Sunshine State. Is the Panhandle next on Jeanne's list? I'm going to have a live report from northern Florida right after this break.

And still to come, looters and gangsters take advantage of the chaos left behind in Haiti by Jeanne. We're going to show you what the United Nations is doing to try to restore order.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On the half-hour, a check of what's happening right "Now in the News."

Tropical Storm Jeanne is weakening, but the storm is still packing winds of 65 miles per hour. Its center is located about 35 miles southeast of Cedar Key, Florida. Jeanne is moving northwest and is expected to make a gradual turn north before nearing the big band area of Florida during the next 24 hours.

And a leader of the Palestinian group Hamas is killed in a car explosion, but in Syria. The militant group blamed Israel for the assassination. Israeli officials have no comment just yet. And the slain Hamas leader was deported from Gaza, by the way, back in 1992.

And terrifying moments at a crowded airport festival in Fullerton, California. Moments after taking off, look at that, a small plane came crashing down, barely missing a control tower, but slamming into a parked car with two women inside. The women were treated and released. The two men in the plane are in critical condition.

And gas prices rose more than a nickel in the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey says the average price now for a gallon of self- serve regular is $1.91. The survey says much of the blame for the hike rests on Hurricane Ivan, which shut down and damaged refineries in the Gulf.

Hurricane Jeanne is now a tropical storm, but it's still packing a punch and causing a lot of damage. I want to bring you up to speed on what it did, the havoc that it wreaked as a hurricane earlier today. Take a look at some of these pictures.

Orlando was spared a direct hit, but the storm still caused a lot of the damage there. And it pounded the area with winds of more than 70 miles per hour. A third of the city's residents lost power in Vero Beach. At least a foot of water rushed through some streets.

A mobile home community was damaged. And for the second time in three weeks, all of the city was left without power. And heavy winds and rain also battering Melbourne. Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida in six weeks.

Hurricane Jeanne has created extensive damage. We've been showing you for the last 24 hours. But right now, as a tropical storm, the danger not over yet. So we're going to get you the exact position right now and what it's doing from meteorologist Orelon Sidney.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot.

The main threats now obviously will be tornadoes. And even though the winds are still gusty, that can cause some problems. But tornadoes and rain I think will be the main thing for the evening.

We have a tornado watch in effect until 1:00 a.m. this morning Eastern Time for parts of southern Georgia and on into Florida. The winds continue to gust.

At St. Augustine last hour, a peak gust of 70 miles an hour. At The Villages, 63 miles an hour. Cross City also showing a 63-mile-an- hour wind gust. And at Jacksonville, the winds gusted to 61 miles an hour.

Take a look at what's going on right now. We're still seeing the center of the storm open up quite a bit. You can see that, especially on the eastern side and across the south.

Just not getting as much activity here as we see obviously across the northern regions. And it looks like that the greatest threat will be in some of these rain bands that are coming in across southern Georgia and the northern portion of Florida. We have had numerous tornado warnings, actually about three. Not as many as I would expect, but we may see more as the evening goes on. We'll certainly have to keep an eye on it for you.

You can see, too, now that we're starting to get some activity across southern parts of Georgia. So you will be seeing increasing rain and clouds in places like Valdosta and perhaps even up towards Macon a little bit later on tonight.

In general, though, where we're concentrating is right across the eastern and central portions of Florida. You can see some pretty strong thunderstorms there around Jacksonville. That's going to be something to keep an eye on, too, for tonight.

So tomorrow we expect the storm to continue lifting out to the North and East. In fact, it looks to me like it may be lifting out a little bit northward now, then heading northeastward, continuing to drop some rain but hoping to moving off the coast, we hope, by Tuesday afternoon -- Carol.

LIN: Orelon, once it moves off the coast, any chance it's going to become a hurricane again?

SIDNEY: Well, if it moves off the Atlantic coast, it could certainly do that. I don't think that it's really likely that it will do it if it moves out over the Gulf.

You can see a little bit of it out over the Gulf of Mexico waters now. But it just doesn't look like it's going to head out far enough to regenerate at this point. If it moves off the Atlantic seaboard, heads out to sea, it could possibly regenerate, but that's going to be several days away.

LIN: Well, because this is a hurricane that actually turned in an entire circle and came roaring back.

SIDNEY: Yes, they do. They do tend to do that. I don't think this one's going to do that again, though.

LIN: All right. Thanks, Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

LIN: Hurricane Jeanne made landfall five miles from Stuart, Florida, and that's where we find Jawan Strader from CNN affiliate WFOR.

Practically, a ground zero -- Jawan.

JAWAN STRADER, REPORTER, WFOR: Indeed, Carol. I tell you, it was a very, very scary sight.

Right now, we're off of Federal Highway here in Stuart, right off the main drag, right in front of the Holiday Inn. Take a look behind me. You can still see some of the damage here.

This basically part of a mobile home. Some of the panels there.

But Carol, I want folks to walk with me here and see just a little bit more of that damage. You can still see palm trees down and all types of debris and everything else. But if you walk over here with me to this gas station, you'll see this -- this sign right here.

Well, this sign was completely torn off. This is a pure gas station. And right over beyond this gas station, right across the street, there was a Ramada sign right there, right behind that van. Let's see if we can walk over there.

A Ramada sign that was torn completely off, right in front of that pole. Nothing but twisted metal right now. Right next to it, you can see a palm tree down in the middle of the street right in front of the hotel.

We're going to go back to this gas station over here. This gas station was just torn to bits. The panels on the top of the roof just torn completely apart.

And I spoke to a lot of people in this community. They tell me that Hurricane Jeanne is a storm they'll never forget.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STRADER (voice-over): Hurricane Jeanne came roaring ashore with winds of 120 miles per hour, slamming into trees, buildings and anything else in its path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night it got a little intense. I'd say Jeanne was definitely worse.

STRADER: Don Simon's (ph) home took a beating from Jeanne, which nearly wiped out his balcony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at all the aluminum beams and such on all the other ones, that's what used to be here. And it just started from the bottom, broke loose from the bottom, started moving and breaking loose. And pieces were just banging against the door. And I guess the plywood can only take so much.

STRADER: Don's parking lot was also flooded as Stuart City crews worked to clean up what Hurricane Jeanne tore apart. Across the city of Stuart, folks are pitching in to help each other. Like at this doctor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they can't do that, they'll never do it. This is where you really separate your friends from all your others. Everybody digs in. This is the place that puts the bread on our table.

STRADER: And from his building to this nearly sunken boat, Hurricane Jeanne may have destroyed old memories in Stuart, but it didn't destroy the spirit of many in Florida, who have seen hurricane after hurricane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live in paradise. We've got a couple of stinky things.

I feel bad for the people who lost their homes. We've got some mortar damage, but we'll get through this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STRADER: And as you heard right there, everybody here expected to be OK. No serious injuries to report.

Also, the power and light crews are out there working. Unfortunately, it may take two to three weeks before the power here is fully restored.

Reporting live from Stuart, Jawan Strader. Back to you, Carol, in the studio.

LIN: That's what we're hearing. All right. Thanks very much, Jawan.

The southern end of Hutchinson Island took the brunt of Hurricane Jeanne's punishing winds and rain. And our Ed Lavandera is looking at the damage to the barrier island in Vero Beach -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, actually, we've been driving -- we started off the day in Melbourne and we've been driving south along US-1. And we can tell you that that roadway is a very hazardous situation. In many spots it's closed down for traffic, downed power lines, trees. In fact, the shoreline is in sand, that has just blasted on to the roadway.

You know, we've talked to so many people, and the consensus is pretty clear from most of the people we talked to that Hurricane Jeanne was much worse than Hurricane Frances.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): When Hurricane Frances blasted into Vero Beach, David Jenner (ph) evacuated his home. But this time he went to sleep in his own bed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honest to god, no. I slept in there all night.

LAVANDERA: When Jenner (ph) woke up Sunday morning, he knew right away Hurricane Jeanne was going to be more destructive than the last storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I stepped out of bed and I got over to my glasses and I looked down, and I was up above my ankles in water. And I said, "Hmm, we must be getting some flooding."

LAVANDERA: Many roadways and residential neighborhoods along Florida's east coast are under several inches of water. Steve Stiffen (ph) has three inches of water sitting in his house. With no job and no insurance, he can only count on aid money to help clean up the mess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a miserable experience. I don't want to go through it again. This is the second time now. So I've had enough.

LAVANDERA: But just like in previous hurricanes, it was the mobile home parks that suffered the worst damage. Seventy-year-old Billy Dodge (ph) ventured back into his home Sunday to find the walls of his living room had blown away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Frances was bad. That gave me a little bit of grief. This is way more than that.

LAVANDERA: Despite the sadness many Florida residents are finding as they return home, Kim Muller (ph) has found a reason to smile.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She stayed here and made it.

LAVANDERA: Her cat, Miss Kitty, survived the storm, even as the part of the mobile home she was in collapsed. Muller (ph) left for a shelter and had to leave the cat behind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't want to leave her. Because I was afraid I would come back and she wouldn't be here. I'm just glad she is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Well, we're on the barrier island across from Fort Pierce, Florida. And you can see here, the beach, as the storm surge came across here last night, the beach here basically just blasted right into these buildings. And there's at least in some places two to three feet of beach sand here inside these first-story rooms.

And Carol, I can also tell you that the beach here also stretches 100 yards behind the building here into the first roadway. So you can get a sense of just how powerful the storm surge in these -- is in these situations.

And we had an interesting exchange with a woman this afternoon as we were making our way down south from Melbourne. And we were watching a woman as she was first arriving to her house after she had seen it for the first time. And she asked us to get away because this isn't really a story, in her mind, it's her life.

And in terms of all of the -- all the things we've seen over the last couple of days, when you see these images like this, and people are not allowed to come to these areas yet, we are talking about people's lives. And that's what makes it so painful for many of them as they venture back to their homes here, not only this afternoon, but also into tomorrow as well -- Carol.

LIN: You're right. And having to had to worry about this for the last month and a half. Ed, how many people have you heard from who are saying -- I mean, I heard this with the one guy in your piece, but how many have you talked to along your route there who are saying, "We're just leaving. We're getting out of Florida? We've had it. We can't take it anymore"?

LAVANDERA: You know, the elderly gentleman you saw in the piece, Billy Dodge (ph), he said -- as he was walking around his home, he said, "I'm moving to Hawaii. I've had it. I'm moving to Hawaii." And then he said, you know, later on, "I'm joking."

You know, I don't find a lot of people that really just want to pack up and leave. Some of the -- the gentlemen that were in the piece that had water inside their homes said, you know, "We're not going to sell our houses."

It's difficult. People here are tired, to say the least. You ask them what it's been like. And they say -- you know, what do you expect them to say?

I mean, they are exhausted by this. But I don't really talk to a lot of people that say they want to pack up and leave.

LIN: Good to hear. Thanks very much, Ed.

Well, the outer bands of the storm are hugging Florida's Gulf coast now as it pushes its way north. Sean Callebs is in Steinhatchee with the latest on the conditions there.

Sean, that area already pretty soaked from the last hurricane. And now Jeanne.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, very soaked. We are actually right in the heart of the band here in Florida, an area called Steinhatchee. Behind me you can see the angry waters of the Steinhatchee River, which flows down to the Gulf in a very ominously named area called Dead Man's Bay.

But really, here in Taylor County, it is one area that has not been hammered by the trifecta of hurricanes that punished Florida before Jeanne came aboard. Charley basically skirted this area; Frances did bring a lot of rain, downed a lot of power lines. And really, people in this area lost electricity for a couple of days.

Ivan simply skirted it. But they are worried about Jeanne and the 65-mile-an-hour winds she is bringing.

Really, very lame compared to what the people along the Atlantic coast had to deal with yesterday. But here's the reason for the concern about this.

We've all seen the pictures of palm trees blowing in Florida the past six weeks or so. But here they also have a lot of live oaks, they also have a lot of pine trees. Once these come down, power lines come down. We've been without power for several hours here in this area of Taylor County. And also, they're concerned about what this wind could do. A lot of these buildings in this area were built long before Hurricane Andrew and the strict building codes. So they're worried that perhaps 65-mile-an-hour winds could do some very significant damage to this area.

Also, even though it hasn't been hit directly with the hurricane, the economic pinch has been felt here. We know that Florida has a $50 billion tourism industry. Well, this area depends on the sport fishing. Very popular here.

We talked to the owner of one area here called Pelican Point, and he said his business is down about 75 percent this year. Among the people he's had fishing here, former President Jimmy Carter. But this, indeed, a very lean year. And even if Jeanne doesn't bring a great deal of damage, the hurricanes that hit Florida will long be remembered in this area as well -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much for that, Sean.

Getting help, obviously, to people who need it the most is a tough situation. And proving very difficult. In Haiti, we're going to have a live report on the desperate situation there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: We've been so busy covering Jeanne's track through the United States that we don't want to forget what the United Nations is now doing to bring more troops in to help Haiti, where Jeanne struck with a fury. More than 1,500 people were killed when it moved through the island. And thousands are now homeless.

Karl Penhaul is in Haiti and joins us live from the city of Gonaives -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

We've been driving through downtown Gonaives for much of the day today. What we have seen are the Haitians are starting to begin to pick up the pieces.

We came across a lot of women in the streets, doing the washing, finally, trying to get a lot of this very thick mud out of their houses, out of their clothes, out of the last few possessions that was left with them after the storm. We also have seen the reactivation of some of the street markets.

Some of the vendors there told us that some fruit and vegetables had been arriving from the capital of Port-au-Prince. But what the buyers were telling us, the housewives that were doing the shopping there, are telling us that most of the food prices have at least doubled.

A lot of the Haitians desperately poor before this storm struck, and there's very little way they can afford the doubling of these prices. So many of them still having to try on rely on these very slow food aid handouts that the United Nations and other independent organizations are giving out.

Now, the United Nations special envoy, Gabriel Valdez, was in town today. He came to meet with Haitian officials to see how they could better coordinate the aid effort and to reduce some of the chaos that we've been seeing this week, with riots in the food lines, and also some of the aid convoys being ransacked.

He has said that 150 extra United Nations troops have now been drafted into Gonaives from other parts of Haiti. He also said this -- he also had this to say about the aid effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN GABRIEL VALDEZ, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO HAITI: We are treating people with due respect. This is a very difficult situation. This is not a game.

This is a very difficult situation. And of course, we are not going to organize the distribution of food if we don't have the security in order to produce that and not to cause victims among the people who are waiting for the food. Therefore, I accept all criticisms, but easy criticisms are not welcome here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: After this week, Carol, Mr. Valdez says the United Nations will increase the number of food distribution points and hopefully then speed up the rate at which aid can be given out to these desperately hungry Haitians -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Karl. Karl, we're just looking at these compelling pictures you were showing of people fighting with rocks and guns over food.

Thank you.

Hurricane Jeanne roared also ashore in Florida. You know that by now. Anderson Cooper was there through the night right as it made landfall and passed up through his area in Melbourne. We're going to show some of his amazing moments coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Some say it takes a special brand of courage, or maybe just fool hardiness to go out in the middle of a hurricane. But CNN's Anderson Cooper and Chad Myers did it to keep you informed. So here's a look at some of their more memorable television moments as Hurricane Jeanne slammed ashore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you have any sense of how long the northern part of the eye wall is going to last in this location?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think you're going to be in it for another 45 minutes to an hour.

COOPER: Forty-five minutes? Are you kidding?

MYERS: Sorry, buddy. Listen, they pay you the big bucks. Come on. Suck it up out there.

Now you're protected, aren't you? Right now you're protected.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, you know, I'm not sure I'm protected. I didn't really intend to -- I was just walking away from the place where we were. And then all of a sudden, the winds just picked up like this. And I just happened upon the camera here.

A different camera, a different location. So I figured, you know, I should get on -- on air as quickly as possible.

But this is definitely the worst we've seen so far. And it's obviously very hard to stand.

Our equipment keeps breaking down. The cameras keep getting water inside them.

This is just relentless nonstop. Just brutal winds.

MYERS: We're going to be in it for a while. That's the problem. There's just no way to get out of it now that we're in it.

COOPER: I can't even hear what Chad is saying.

Whoa!

MYERS: At this point in time, it is hard to stand up. Remember, you asked me -- you asked me about 20 miles an hour ago, when is it going to be very hard to do this? And I said about a hundred. And this is pretty darn close to 100.

COOPER: Yes. So there's really no telling how long. I mean, Rob was saying it might last for 45, 50 minutes.

MYERS: It sure could. And if the storm continues to turn right, which it's not doing yet, we could be in the eye wall for an even longer time.

COOPER: Certainly not good news for us here.

MYERS: This is just Mother Nature at her worst.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: And you might say Chad and Anderson at their best.

That's all the time we have for this hour.

Coming up next, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profiles Cirque du Soleil.

At 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS" takes an in-depth look at the education gap that remains between the races in the U.S. Have any real advancements been made since Brown versus Board of Education ruling 50 years ago?

And then at 9:00 Eastern, "LARRY KING WEEKEND." Larry's guest tonight is Dr. Phil.

And, of course, I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern for more of our special coverage of Hurricane Jeanne and the damage it's leaving behind in Florida. And I've got the hour's headlines when I come back. And then "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired September 26, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Our coverage of Tropical Storm Jeanne starts in just a moment. But first, here's a quick look at other stories now in the news.
Pakistani forces have killed a man who tried to assassinate president Pervez Musharraf last year. Officials say Amjad Hussain Farooqi was killed in an early-morning raid in southern Pakistan. Several others were arrested.

A Greek Olympic Airlines flight from Athens to New York was diverted to London because of a bomb scare. Authorities say the flight landed safely and all the passengers were evacuated. There were no reports of any injuries.

An Iraqi National Guard general is in U.S. custody. The general was arrested for suspected ties to insurgents. He had been chosen to head the National Guard and the reserve for the restive Dyala province just two weeks ago.

And U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says American troops will move into so-called no-go zones in Iraq. Powell says the goal is to bring insurgent areas under Iraqi government control. There are concerns insurgents will try to disrupt the upcoming elections. We're going to have more on that story in just a few minutes.

Good evening. I'm Carol Lin, and welcome to live, CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Up first this hour, from Daytona Beach to Miami, Hurricane Jeanne has left a familiar calling card of destruction on Florida's east coast.

Jeanne is now a tropical storm headed for the Gulf of Mexico. But earlier, it brought winds of up to 120 miles per hour earlier, and heavy rains as it made landfall north of West Palm Beach.

And once again, hundreds of thousands of Floridians are without power. And officials say some areas may be without electricity for up to three weeks.

Now, this is what it looked like in Brevard County, Florida, what's left of that building. But Florida Governor Jeb Bush says the heaviest damage was to the Treasure Coast counties of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: This has been a, as we know, a historic six-week period. Never before since -- I guess since 19 -- 1880 has there been a state that has received four hurricanes at once. And back in 1880 in Texas, where the last time it happened, there were probably 100,000 people who lived there.

We're a state of 17 million. And just about everybody's been impacted by the storm in one way or the other. And we're here to say that on the short-term basis, immediate relief will be coming in the form of ice and water, and it will be replenished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: So far a couple of deaths have been reported in relation to Jeanne, and it still may be a killer. It's still on the move.

Our meteorologist Orelon Sidney tracking Jeanne right now.

Orelon, what's its status?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot, Carol.

Right now, the winds are down to 65 miles an hour. The storm is continuing to weaken, expected to be a tropical depression by tomorrow morning.

Thirty-five miles southeast of Cedar Key about an hour ago, moving to the northwest at 12. I do think it's starting to take a little bit more of a northward jog, so I'm kind of curious to see whether or not the center is actually going to make it out over the Gulf of Mexico. It looks to me like it may be lifting up a little bit more northward rather than westward. We'll have to wait until the 8 a.m. advisory to see if -- or the 8 p.m. advisory to see if that's correct.

Did have a couple of tornado warnings up around Duval County, Nassau County, St. Johns County. Some damage reported earlier to a mobile home in some of those areas. But in general, we haven't seen very many tornados. Having said that, a tornado watch is in effect for southern Georgia, parts of northern Florida, until 1 a.m. in the morning.

In addition to that, of course, we do have flooding. The dark green areas are flood warnings. Those are areas where you already have flooding occurring. Flood watches in effect to the south and north. Though I think some of these to the south may start to be dropped off as most of the action now is north of Orlando.

Take a look at some of these 24-hour totals, though, and you can see why we do have those advisories. Look at Coopertown, 8.10 of an inch there. Six inches at Frostproof, Haines City almost six inches. And even Bartow picked up five. So lots of rain continuing.

Still the chance that you could see tropical storm force winds. So from Cocoa Beach northward to the Savannah River and from Destin, Florida, southward to Bonita Beach, you've got tropical storm warnings in effects for this evening.

Here's what we expect to happen then. Tomorrow, the storm system should continue working to the north, continuing to southern Georgia. By 2 p.m., expect it to be a tropical depression, and then heading on to the northeast and hopefully out to sea by the time it reaches northern parts of Virginia.

Certainly would be some good news to see that one go. Don't see much on the near term, anyway, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. So that, again, too, is very good news -- Carol.

LIN: You bet. All right. Thanks for the update, Orelon.

Well, originally Jeanne was supposed to skirt the coast of Florida and then up the east coast. So a lot of cities who were inland didn't think that they were going to be hit. Not true. Orlando felt hurricane force winds earlier today.

CNN's Eric Philips joins us live from there with more on the damage -- Eric.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we are here in Orlando where all day long, really, we've been feeling the winds kind of pounding us along with the torrential downpours from time to time.

At one point it sort of sped up and we were feeling the winds and the rain every five or ten minutes. We'd get these really huge gusts anywhere between 50 and 70 miles an hour associated with the rainfall that came from the outer bands of Hurricane Jeanne, now Tropical Storm Jeanne.

Toward the middle of this afternoon, it started to slow down. But even still, we still are feeling these gusts of wind. And that has caused emergency management officials here to reconsider the 5 p.m. curfew that they originally had.

They had instated that curfew at 11 p.m. last night. It was supposed to be expired at 5 p.m. this evening. But in a meeting late this afternoon, they decided to extend that curfew until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

What that means is that people are being asked to please not go in the street. Pedestrians, the motorists being asked to stay off the streets until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

If in fact they are on the streets, the authorities are going to be asking them to show an I.D., give them a work telephone number, something to show why they're supposed to be on the street. And if they cannot produce that, then they will be arrested, according to what police are saying. And if they are arrested, they won't be eligible for bond.

So they're taking this very seriously. Why? Because they say safety is definitely at stake here. They say with the winds still gusting anywhere between 50 and 75 -- 50 and 70 miles an hour at any given time, it's just not a safe situation. We shot some video while we were out today. What we saw is lots of downed trees, some downed power lines, debris in the roadway, things that you would typically find during a storm.

Officials here are saying they really did not get the type of damage in Orange County and in Orlando that they could have gotten. And really that is good news for them because of the fact that the storm took a slightly different path than originally forecast.

However, at this hour, they're saying they have about 130,000 people without power, which for a county the size of Orange County is really not that bad.

They're going -- they're starting to send teams out now to sort of assess the situation, see how bad the damage is. And they're also getting together search and rescue teams from this county, teams of 35. This county, Osceola County and also Seminole County, teams of 35 who will go into some of the hardest hit areas here in Florida, the coastal areas, and conduct search and rescue missions. Those teams will be dispatched over the next 10 to 24 hours.

But as you can see behind me, the wind is starting to sort of die down a little bit, although again, we're still seeing the gusts of winds.

You've got many families that are anxious to get back to their homes, including the ducks in this very pond. Obviously, they're very anxious to get back to their place of residence here, and they can't wait for that curfew to be lifted.

But again, authorities are telling people that it is really the safest thing to do is to heed the curfew and recognize that it's all for their safety. And at this point, they're expecting that curfew to be lifted at 6:00 tomorrow morning -- Carol.

LIN: Pretty tough authorities there if they're arresting ducks for being out past curfew, Eric.

On a more serious note, you mentioned the search and rescue teams of 35 people. How many people are unaccounted for that they have -- they feel that they need to send out these teams?

PHILIPS: I'm sorry, Carol. If you asked me a question, we have a really bad connection. I'm having a lot of trouble hearing you.

LIN: You know, I'm going to pass, Eric, but thank you very much. Good information there.

In the meantime, Jeanne is still moving across Florida. Reporter Damany Lewis from our affiliate WJXT joins me live right now from Jacksonville.

Damany, what is the situation there?

DAMANY LEWIS, WJXT CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Carol, the wind is picking up, and so is the rain. It's been a constant and steady wind and rain all afternoon.

Now we're actually standing behind our live truck to protect us against the wind and rain. But if we were to come out right now, you can see exactly just how strong that wind is. It is picking up. It's coming in gusts around 35, 45 and sometimes even 55 or even 60 miles per hour.

Now, as far as businesses here at Jacksonville Beach, if you take a look over my shoulder, you can see that they have boarded up their windows and they have put sandbags next to their doors to protect against flooding, because this is a low-lying area and flooding will happen over here.

Now if you take a look over to my left side here, you can see that this is a construction site. Now, the good news is, everything here is tied down. So even if we do have a strong wind, that these -- that these things will obviously not move. But when we have strong winds just like that, that felt about -- about 55 to 60 miles an hour.

Now, as far as people out here at the beach, there are some onlookers taking pictures. Let's go up and see if we can get a closer look at the ocean. And of course, as we get closer to the ocean, the sand, the wind, the rain starts pelting me in my face, and the gusts become stronger and stronger.

And you can see, actually, what -- what the wind is doing to the pier right now, pushing it. High waves. The surf is very high and strong. And of course, the wind is blowing.

Now, there is actually someone in the water right now, if you can see below. Jacksonville police do not want anyone in the water. It is extremely too dangerous to be out here. Let's go ahead and see if we can speak to this lady.

Excuse me, ma'am. Why did you decide to come out here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I live here and I just wanted to come and see. He wanted to take pictures of the pier.

LEWIS: Obviously this is a very dangerous situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. We're going.

LEWIS: Are you seeking shelter any time soon?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we're going now back home.

LEWIS: Thank you very much, ma'am.

And as you can see -- take a look over my right shoulder. You can see exactly what Jeanne is doing to the shore. There was sand here on the beach. But that sand has been replaced by tons and tons of seaweed brought on by, of course, Hurricane Jeanne.

Now, as far as lifeguards, they have issued a double red flag warning in this area, meaning the rip currents are too dangerous, and they do not want anyone in the water. They suggest that people just like these individuals please stay away from the water because it is very dangerous.

Jacksonville Beach officials, police have been going around surveying the area, looking to clean off the beaches, get people out of here, because the wind is too strong. And of course, they can -- it can be very, very dangerous -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Damany Lewis, stay safe out there. Obviously, a lot of people not taking the warnings by authorities very seriously as Jacksonville is now being pelted with rain and more wind.

And right now, Jeanne has moved on from Florida's east coast. Not by very much, as you can still see. But we're going to take a look at the cleanup. I'm going to be talking with Melbourne's mayor about his plan right after the break.

Plus, crisis in Haiti. Is progress being made in feeding thousands of desperate people? We're going to have a live report.

And still to come, what the U.S. says it will and won't do to get Iraq ready for free elections.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: After four hurricanes, just weeks apart, this could easily turn out to be Florida's costliest hurricane season.

One thing is for sure: residents are getting way, way too much practice at cleaning up and starting over. And nowhere is that more evident than the city of Melbourne. The mayor of Melbourne, John Buckley, is on the telephone with me now.

Mr. Mayor, it was good to spend a good portion of our coverage with you last night as you were hunkered in your home. You've had a chance to take a look and assess the damage in Melbourne today?

JOHN BUCKLEY, MAYOR OF MELBOURNE, FLORIDA: I've driven around, and we had quite a bit of damage, especially in trailer parks. There were six trailers completely destroyed. And several out there said they'd lost their carports, and other aluminum around their trailers.

LIN: How damaging was this -- was Jeanne compared to when Frances went through Melbourne a few weeks ago?

BUCKLEY: I guess I would consider it just about the same. I think it did as much damage this time as it did the last time. The city manager thought it was a little bit less. But one of our elementary schools, which was just built about three years ago, lost its roof. And it was a shelter at the time.

LIN: Wow. What about power outages? What's the situation in Melbourne?

BUCKLEY: About either two-thirds to three-quarters of the people don't have power. LIN: Two-thirds to three-quarters, because Florida power and light is saying it could be three weeks before they get their power restored again.

BUCKLEY: I understand.

LIN: That's a long time for those people to wait.

BUCKLEY: It sure is. And it's getting a little bit warm in the house there.

LIN: I can imagine. What about injuries? Anybody hurt? Anybody killed?

BUCKLEY: Not -- not locally here. I understand south of here there were a couple people that were killed. But down there at Barefoot Bay...

LIN: Right. Right, a car went over and two people drowned. Another report of someone who touched a power line being electrocuted to death in Miami.

BUCKLEY: Yes.

LIN: Looting was a big problem after Ivan and also after Charley and Frances. What about in Melbourne this time around?

BUCKLEY: We haven't had a real problem with the looting. I guess we've just been lucky. That's all I can say about it.

LIN: All right. Are people -- are people getting a chance to get out and assess the damage, then, at this point? It's got to be heart breaking today.

BUCKLEY: It was -- the people were starting to come out a little bit. But most of the people, the radios have been telling everybody to stay home. And which is probably a good thing.

But right now, the storm surge and winds have pretty much died down. In fact, I was able to cook a couple of steaks out on the grill this afternoon.

LIN: Right. Well, at least you have a good meal ahead of yourself, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much.

BUCKLEY: OK.

LIN: Mayor Buckley of Melbourne. A lot of damage there: three- quarters of the people without power.

Well, the presidential election here at home isn't the only one on the horizon. Iraq prepares to elect its new leaders in January. But will that war-torn country be ready? There are some conflicting views.

And later, a plane plummets to the ground in California. And it's all caught on tape. Look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Earlier today on CNN, Secretary of State Colin Powell said American troops will soon be moving into dangerous no-go zones in Iraq to try to control insurgents.

This comes before the elections in Iraq, and the elections right here in the United States.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is live from Crawford, Texas with more on this -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol.

The Bush administration does have concerns about those so-called no-go zones. But also concerns about what some outside of Iraq, what impact they may have on the elections there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): When Iraqis go to the polls, the White House hopes no other countries affect the process. But administration officials say they are worried.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: President Bush was briefed about these concerns, about the potential of Iran, particularly, having too undue -- too much undue influence on the election process.

QUIJANO: So to try to level the playing field, the White House did look at one idea, according to "TIME" magazine, to have the U.S. secretly back individual Iraqi candidates. But the president decided against it.

BARTLETT: He made the decision that there was not going to be anything covert. This would all be overt cooperation and participation to help the Iraqi people have the successful free and fair election process.

QUIJANO: Neither Democrats nor Republicans like the idea of a plan for secret U.S. action to affect Iraq's elections.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The CIA or any other group should not be involved in trying to decide the fate of the Iraqi people. Let's let them decide their fate.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Whatever credibility the United States has with the Iraqis would be completely blown out.

QUIJANO: Just last week, President Bush appeared in the Rose Garden with the country's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Their message? Progress is being made and elections will take place in January in Iraq.

But critics point to continued violence, and even some American military leaders acknowledge it will have an impact.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I don't think that Iraq will have a perfect election. And if I recall looking back at our own election four years ago, it wasn't perfect either.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Now, General Abizaid says that the goal is to have successful voting in the vast majority of Iraq, but he also adds that coalition forces are likely going to have to fight their way through elections. And he also predicts there will be a lot more violence between now and then -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Elaine.

We're going to stay on this point with our general, General Don Shepperd out in Tucson, Arizona.

Don, in order to have a successful election, clearly you have to get the security situation on the ground under control. You know about a recent security report that says an average of 70 attacks a day are happening around Iraq, 22 just in the city of Baghdad.

What needs to be done in order for the country to be secure enough to have credible elections?

GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Yes, Carol, there's no magic to this. And it's very clear that no matter what we do, the Iraqi forces are not going to be able to provide their own security. And we're not going to be able to provide security across the country.

We are both going to do the best that we can to provide security for the elections. But people are going to be intimidated. They're going to be shot going to and at the polls. This is just going to be an ugly situation.

And Prime Minister Allawi in his visit to the United States last week made it very clear that no matter what, the elections are going to continued. So it's going to be dicey and it's going to be awful.

LIN: Well, General, Abizaid is saying that there's going to be an infusion of some 25,000 additional Iraqi troops. Are those troops going to be trained and ready to go in the next couple of months?

SHEPPERD: The answer, short answer is no. They're going to be able to do the best they can. They're going to be equipped. They're going to be trained. But they're not going to be the professional soldiers that you see in the coalition and the United States forces there.

Again, they're going to be doing the best they can. There's going to be a lot of violence. And you must understand also that the violence won't stop with this election.

This is the election from the interim government to the transitional government that takes place in January. Then there's another election the following year which will be the real election to elect the real government. And violence is going to continue all of next year. It's going to be a long process.

LIN: And then you have a situation here where a senior commander of the U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guard, the Iraqi national forces, has been arrested for possible ties to insurgents.

Doesn't this underscore the difficulty in knowing who you can trust, much less whether they're trained?

SHEPPERD: Yes. That was Lieutenant General Talib al-Lahibi. He was a senior commander in the Iraqi National Guard and a former army commander under Saddam's army.

You're going to have these situations. There are people there that are certainly not on our side in high-ranking positions in both the government and the military.

And again, you're just going to have to press ahead, realizing it's not going to are perfect, and realizing that establishing democracy and security in this country is going to be years, not weeks and not months.

LIN: All right. Well, give me an idea of what you think is going to be realistic in terms of these elections coming up in January?

I mean, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said credible elections, he thinks, secure elections can be held in 15 out of, what, 18 or 19 provinces. He didn't indicate which three provinces were the most dangerous.

Do you agree with that assessment?

SHEPPERD: Well, I agree that 15 of 18 you can probably hold elections, and credibility is in the eye of the beholder.

One of the biggest provinces is Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the Sunni Triangle, if you will, Ramadi, al-Niwaniyah (ph), Fallujah, Baqubah.

The Sunnis themselves may boycott the election, but they face a great danger in doing that. Clearly, the process under at least the interim government is going to take place, and it's going to progress ahead.

So if they stand out away from the election, they risk not being represented in the new Iraq. That will provide problems in and of itself. But again, it's a great risk on their part.

We're just going to have to wait and see. And it's going to be ugly.

LIN: In the eye of the beholder. That is a very good way to put it. Thank you very much, General Don Shepperd.

SHEPPERD: Thank you.

LIN: See what happens.

Well, it's been a mellow weekend, if you can call it that, politically speaking. President Bush spent this Sunday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He's going to be hitting the campaign trail tomorrow in Springfield, and West Chester, Ohio.

And his Democratic rival, presidential candidate John Kerry, is already in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where he's going to be campaigning tomorrow. Both big swing states.

But all eyes are strongly focused on Thursday, the start of the presidential debates. There are going to be a series of three. This one's going to focus, on Thursday, on foreign policy. Voters are going to get a chance to directly compare the White House candidates.

CNN, of course, is going to carry that debate live starting at 9 p.m. Eastern, and we're counting on you to tune in.

And later tonight, I'm going to be talking with Frank Donatelli, a former political director under President Reagan, and Ann Lewis with the Democratic National Committee.

Both are going to join me for a behind the scenes look at what really goes on and some highlights of how in this controlled environment of these debates and all these rules, how the candidates can at least try to make some news, take each other on.

In the meantime, back to our hurricane coverage. Jeanne is not done with Florida just yet. We're tracking the storm as it moves across the Sunshine State. Is the Panhandle next on Jeanne's list? I'm going to have a live report from northern Florida right after this break.

And still to come, looters and gangsters take advantage of the chaos left behind in Haiti by Jeanne. We're going to show you what the United Nations is doing to try to restore order.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: On the half-hour, a check of what's happening right "Now in the News."

Tropical Storm Jeanne is weakening, but the storm is still packing winds of 65 miles per hour. Its center is located about 35 miles southeast of Cedar Key, Florida. Jeanne is moving northwest and is expected to make a gradual turn north before nearing the big band area of Florida during the next 24 hours.

And a leader of the Palestinian group Hamas is killed in a car explosion, but in Syria. The militant group blamed Israel for the assassination. Israeli officials have no comment just yet. And the slain Hamas leader was deported from Gaza, by the way, back in 1992.

And terrifying moments at a crowded airport festival in Fullerton, California. Moments after taking off, look at that, a small plane came crashing down, barely missing a control tower, but slamming into a parked car with two women inside. The women were treated and released. The two men in the plane are in critical condition.

And gas prices rose more than a nickel in the past two weeks. The Lundberg Survey says the average price now for a gallon of self- serve regular is $1.91. The survey says much of the blame for the hike rests on Hurricane Ivan, which shut down and damaged refineries in the Gulf.

Hurricane Jeanne is now a tropical storm, but it's still packing a punch and causing a lot of damage. I want to bring you up to speed on what it did, the havoc that it wreaked as a hurricane earlier today. Take a look at some of these pictures.

Orlando was spared a direct hit, but the storm still caused a lot of the damage there. And it pounded the area with winds of more than 70 miles per hour. A third of the city's residents lost power in Vero Beach. At least a foot of water rushed through some streets.

A mobile home community was damaged. And for the second time in three weeks, all of the city was left without power. And heavy winds and rain also battering Melbourne. Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida in six weeks.

Hurricane Jeanne has created extensive damage. We've been showing you for the last 24 hours. But right now, as a tropical storm, the danger not over yet. So we're going to get you the exact position right now and what it's doing from meteorologist Orelon Sidney.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot.

The main threats now obviously will be tornadoes. And even though the winds are still gusty, that can cause some problems. But tornadoes and rain I think will be the main thing for the evening.

We have a tornado watch in effect until 1:00 a.m. this morning Eastern Time for parts of southern Georgia and on into Florida. The winds continue to gust.

At St. Augustine last hour, a peak gust of 70 miles an hour. At The Villages, 63 miles an hour. Cross City also showing a 63-mile-an- hour wind gust. And at Jacksonville, the winds gusted to 61 miles an hour.

Take a look at what's going on right now. We're still seeing the center of the storm open up quite a bit. You can see that, especially on the eastern side and across the south.

Just not getting as much activity here as we see obviously across the northern regions. And it looks like that the greatest threat will be in some of these rain bands that are coming in across southern Georgia and the northern portion of Florida. We have had numerous tornado warnings, actually about three. Not as many as I would expect, but we may see more as the evening goes on. We'll certainly have to keep an eye on it for you.

You can see, too, now that we're starting to get some activity across southern parts of Georgia. So you will be seeing increasing rain and clouds in places like Valdosta and perhaps even up towards Macon a little bit later on tonight.

In general, though, where we're concentrating is right across the eastern and central portions of Florida. You can see some pretty strong thunderstorms there around Jacksonville. That's going to be something to keep an eye on, too, for tonight.

So tomorrow we expect the storm to continue lifting out to the North and East. In fact, it looks to me like it may be lifting out a little bit northward now, then heading northeastward, continuing to drop some rain but hoping to moving off the coast, we hope, by Tuesday afternoon -- Carol.

LIN: Orelon, once it moves off the coast, any chance it's going to become a hurricane again?

SIDNEY: Well, if it moves off the Atlantic coast, it could certainly do that. I don't think that it's really likely that it will do it if it moves out over the Gulf.

You can see a little bit of it out over the Gulf of Mexico waters now. But it just doesn't look like it's going to head out far enough to regenerate at this point. If it moves off the Atlantic seaboard, heads out to sea, it could possibly regenerate, but that's going to be several days away.

LIN: Well, because this is a hurricane that actually turned in an entire circle and came roaring back.

SIDNEY: Yes, they do. They do tend to do that. I don't think this one's going to do that again, though.

LIN: All right. Thanks, Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

LIN: Hurricane Jeanne made landfall five miles from Stuart, Florida, and that's where we find Jawan Strader from CNN affiliate WFOR.

Practically, a ground zero -- Jawan.

JAWAN STRADER, REPORTER, WFOR: Indeed, Carol. I tell you, it was a very, very scary sight.

Right now, we're off of Federal Highway here in Stuart, right off the main drag, right in front of the Holiday Inn. Take a look behind me. You can still see some of the damage here.

This basically part of a mobile home. Some of the panels there.

But Carol, I want folks to walk with me here and see just a little bit more of that damage. You can still see palm trees down and all types of debris and everything else. But if you walk over here with me to this gas station, you'll see this -- this sign right here.

Well, this sign was completely torn off. This is a pure gas station. And right over beyond this gas station, right across the street, there was a Ramada sign right there, right behind that van. Let's see if we can walk over there.

A Ramada sign that was torn completely off, right in front of that pole. Nothing but twisted metal right now. Right next to it, you can see a palm tree down in the middle of the street right in front of the hotel.

We're going to go back to this gas station over here. This gas station was just torn to bits. The panels on the top of the roof just torn completely apart.

And I spoke to a lot of people in this community. They tell me that Hurricane Jeanne is a storm they'll never forget.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STRADER (voice-over): Hurricane Jeanne came roaring ashore with winds of 120 miles per hour, slamming into trees, buildings and anything else in its path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night it got a little intense. I'd say Jeanne was definitely worse.

STRADER: Don Simon's (ph) home took a beating from Jeanne, which nearly wiped out his balcony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at all the aluminum beams and such on all the other ones, that's what used to be here. And it just started from the bottom, broke loose from the bottom, started moving and breaking loose. And pieces were just banging against the door. And I guess the plywood can only take so much.

STRADER: Don's parking lot was also flooded as Stuart City crews worked to clean up what Hurricane Jeanne tore apart. Across the city of Stuart, folks are pitching in to help each other. Like at this doctor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they can't do that, they'll never do it. This is where you really separate your friends from all your others. Everybody digs in. This is the place that puts the bread on our table.

STRADER: And from his building to this nearly sunken boat, Hurricane Jeanne may have destroyed old memories in Stuart, but it didn't destroy the spirit of many in Florida, who have seen hurricane after hurricane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live in paradise. We've got a couple of stinky things.

I feel bad for the people who lost their homes. We've got some mortar damage, but we'll get through this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STRADER: And as you heard right there, everybody here expected to be OK. No serious injuries to report.

Also, the power and light crews are out there working. Unfortunately, it may take two to three weeks before the power here is fully restored.

Reporting live from Stuart, Jawan Strader. Back to you, Carol, in the studio.

LIN: That's what we're hearing. All right. Thanks very much, Jawan.

The southern end of Hutchinson Island took the brunt of Hurricane Jeanne's punishing winds and rain. And our Ed Lavandera is looking at the damage to the barrier island in Vero Beach -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, actually, we've been driving -- we started off the day in Melbourne and we've been driving south along US-1. And we can tell you that that roadway is a very hazardous situation. In many spots it's closed down for traffic, downed power lines, trees. In fact, the shoreline is in sand, that has just blasted on to the roadway.

You know, we've talked to so many people, and the consensus is pretty clear from most of the people we talked to that Hurricane Jeanne was much worse than Hurricane Frances.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): When Hurricane Frances blasted into Vero Beach, David Jenner (ph) evacuated his home. But this time he went to sleep in his own bed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honest to god, no. I slept in there all night.

LAVANDERA: When Jenner (ph) woke up Sunday morning, he knew right away Hurricane Jeanne was going to be more destructive than the last storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I stepped out of bed and I got over to my glasses and I looked down, and I was up above my ankles in water. And I said, "Hmm, we must be getting some flooding."

LAVANDERA: Many roadways and residential neighborhoods along Florida's east coast are under several inches of water. Steve Stiffen (ph) has three inches of water sitting in his house. With no job and no insurance, he can only count on aid money to help clean up the mess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a miserable experience. I don't want to go through it again. This is the second time now. So I've had enough.

LAVANDERA: But just like in previous hurricanes, it was the mobile home parks that suffered the worst damage. Seventy-year-old Billy Dodge (ph) ventured back into his home Sunday to find the walls of his living room had blown away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Frances was bad. That gave me a little bit of grief. This is way more than that.

LAVANDERA: Despite the sadness many Florida residents are finding as they return home, Kim Muller (ph) has found a reason to smile.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She stayed here and made it.

LAVANDERA: Her cat, Miss Kitty, survived the storm, even as the part of the mobile home she was in collapsed. Muller (ph) left for a shelter and had to leave the cat behind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't want to leave her. Because I was afraid I would come back and she wouldn't be here. I'm just glad she is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Well, we're on the barrier island across from Fort Pierce, Florida. And you can see here, the beach, as the storm surge came across here last night, the beach here basically just blasted right into these buildings. And there's at least in some places two to three feet of beach sand here inside these first-story rooms.

And Carol, I can also tell you that the beach here also stretches 100 yards behind the building here into the first roadway. So you can get a sense of just how powerful the storm surge in these -- is in these situations.

And we had an interesting exchange with a woman this afternoon as we were making our way down south from Melbourne. And we were watching a woman as she was first arriving to her house after she had seen it for the first time. And she asked us to get away because this isn't really a story, in her mind, it's her life.

And in terms of all of the -- all the things we've seen over the last couple of days, when you see these images like this, and people are not allowed to come to these areas yet, we are talking about people's lives. And that's what makes it so painful for many of them as they venture back to their homes here, not only this afternoon, but also into tomorrow as well -- Carol.

LIN: You're right. And having to had to worry about this for the last month and a half. Ed, how many people have you heard from who are saying -- I mean, I heard this with the one guy in your piece, but how many have you talked to along your route there who are saying, "We're just leaving. We're getting out of Florida? We've had it. We can't take it anymore"?

LAVANDERA: You know, the elderly gentleman you saw in the piece, Billy Dodge (ph), he said -- as he was walking around his home, he said, "I'm moving to Hawaii. I've had it. I'm moving to Hawaii." And then he said, you know, later on, "I'm joking."

You know, I don't find a lot of people that really just want to pack up and leave. Some of the -- the gentlemen that were in the piece that had water inside their homes said, you know, "We're not going to sell our houses."

It's difficult. People here are tired, to say the least. You ask them what it's been like. And they say -- you know, what do you expect them to say?

I mean, they are exhausted by this. But I don't really talk to a lot of people that say they want to pack up and leave.

LIN: Good to hear. Thanks very much, Ed.

Well, the outer bands of the storm are hugging Florida's Gulf coast now as it pushes its way north. Sean Callebs is in Steinhatchee with the latest on the conditions there.

Sean, that area already pretty soaked from the last hurricane. And now Jeanne.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, very soaked. We are actually right in the heart of the band here in Florida, an area called Steinhatchee. Behind me you can see the angry waters of the Steinhatchee River, which flows down to the Gulf in a very ominously named area called Dead Man's Bay.

But really, here in Taylor County, it is one area that has not been hammered by the trifecta of hurricanes that punished Florida before Jeanne came aboard. Charley basically skirted this area; Frances did bring a lot of rain, downed a lot of power lines. And really, people in this area lost electricity for a couple of days.

Ivan simply skirted it. But they are worried about Jeanne and the 65-mile-an-hour winds she is bringing.

Really, very lame compared to what the people along the Atlantic coast had to deal with yesterday. But here's the reason for the concern about this.

We've all seen the pictures of palm trees blowing in Florida the past six weeks or so. But here they also have a lot of live oaks, they also have a lot of pine trees. Once these come down, power lines come down. We've been without power for several hours here in this area of Taylor County. And also, they're concerned about what this wind could do. A lot of these buildings in this area were built long before Hurricane Andrew and the strict building codes. So they're worried that perhaps 65-mile-an-hour winds could do some very significant damage to this area.

Also, even though it hasn't been hit directly with the hurricane, the economic pinch has been felt here. We know that Florida has a $50 billion tourism industry. Well, this area depends on the sport fishing. Very popular here.

We talked to the owner of one area here called Pelican Point, and he said his business is down about 75 percent this year. Among the people he's had fishing here, former President Jimmy Carter. But this, indeed, a very lean year. And even if Jeanne doesn't bring a great deal of damage, the hurricanes that hit Florida will long be remembered in this area as well -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much for that, Sean.

Getting help, obviously, to people who need it the most is a tough situation. And proving very difficult. In Haiti, we're going to have a live report on the desperate situation there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: We've been so busy covering Jeanne's track through the United States that we don't want to forget what the United Nations is now doing to bring more troops in to help Haiti, where Jeanne struck with a fury. More than 1,500 people were killed when it moved through the island. And thousands are now homeless.

Karl Penhaul is in Haiti and joins us live from the city of Gonaives -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

We've been driving through downtown Gonaives for much of the day today. What we have seen are the Haitians are starting to begin to pick up the pieces.

We came across a lot of women in the streets, doing the washing, finally, trying to get a lot of this very thick mud out of their houses, out of their clothes, out of the last few possessions that was left with them after the storm. We also have seen the reactivation of some of the street markets.

Some of the vendors there told us that some fruit and vegetables had been arriving from the capital of Port-au-Prince. But what the buyers were telling us, the housewives that were doing the shopping there, are telling us that most of the food prices have at least doubled.

A lot of the Haitians desperately poor before this storm struck, and there's very little way they can afford the doubling of these prices. So many of them still having to try on rely on these very slow food aid handouts that the United Nations and other independent organizations are giving out.

Now, the United Nations special envoy, Gabriel Valdez, was in town today. He came to meet with Haitian officials to see how they could better coordinate the aid effort and to reduce some of the chaos that we've been seeing this week, with riots in the food lines, and also some of the aid convoys being ransacked.

He has said that 150 extra United Nations troops have now been drafted into Gonaives from other parts of Haiti. He also said this -- he also had this to say about the aid effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN GABRIEL VALDEZ, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO HAITI: We are treating people with due respect. This is a very difficult situation. This is not a game.

This is a very difficult situation. And of course, we are not going to organize the distribution of food if we don't have the security in order to produce that and not to cause victims among the people who are waiting for the food. Therefore, I accept all criticisms, but easy criticisms are not welcome here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: After this week, Carol, Mr. Valdez says the United Nations will increase the number of food distribution points and hopefully then speed up the rate at which aid can be given out to these desperately hungry Haitians -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Karl. Karl, we're just looking at these compelling pictures you were showing of people fighting with rocks and guns over food.

Thank you.

Hurricane Jeanne roared also ashore in Florida. You know that by now. Anderson Cooper was there through the night right as it made landfall and passed up through his area in Melbourne. We're going to show some of his amazing moments coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Some say it takes a special brand of courage, or maybe just fool hardiness to go out in the middle of a hurricane. But CNN's Anderson Cooper and Chad Myers did it to keep you informed. So here's a look at some of their more memorable television moments as Hurricane Jeanne slammed ashore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you have any sense of how long the northern part of the eye wall is going to last in this location?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think you're going to be in it for another 45 minutes to an hour.

COOPER: Forty-five minutes? Are you kidding?

MYERS: Sorry, buddy. Listen, they pay you the big bucks. Come on. Suck it up out there.

Now you're protected, aren't you? Right now you're protected.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, you know, I'm not sure I'm protected. I didn't really intend to -- I was just walking away from the place where we were. And then all of a sudden, the winds just picked up like this. And I just happened upon the camera here.

A different camera, a different location. So I figured, you know, I should get on -- on air as quickly as possible.

But this is definitely the worst we've seen so far. And it's obviously very hard to stand.

Our equipment keeps breaking down. The cameras keep getting water inside them.

This is just relentless nonstop. Just brutal winds.

MYERS: We're going to be in it for a while. That's the problem. There's just no way to get out of it now that we're in it.

COOPER: I can't even hear what Chad is saying.

Whoa!

MYERS: At this point in time, it is hard to stand up. Remember, you asked me -- you asked me about 20 miles an hour ago, when is it going to be very hard to do this? And I said about a hundred. And this is pretty darn close to 100.

COOPER: Yes. So there's really no telling how long. I mean, Rob was saying it might last for 45, 50 minutes.

MYERS: It sure could. And if the storm continues to turn right, which it's not doing yet, we could be in the eye wall for an even longer time.

COOPER: Certainly not good news for us here.

MYERS: This is just Mother Nature at her worst.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: And you might say Chad and Anderson at their best.

That's all the time we have for this hour.

Coming up next, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profiles Cirque du Soleil.

At 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS" takes an in-depth look at the education gap that remains between the races in the U.S. Have any real advancements been made since Brown versus Board of Education ruling 50 years ago?

And then at 9:00 Eastern, "LARRY KING WEEKEND." Larry's guest tonight is Dr. Phil.

And, of course, I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern for more of our special coverage of Hurricane Jeanne and the damage it's leaving behind in Florida. And I've got the hour's headlines when I come back. And then "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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