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CNN Live At Daybreak
Examining the Damage Caused by Hurricane Jeanne; Turkish Hostages Taken by Iraqi Insurgents; Latest Violence in Iraq
Aired September 27, 2004 - 06:00 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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's deja vu all over again in Florida. Another weekend, another hurricane. Families survey Jeanne's damage this Monday morning.
This is DAYBREAK for September 27.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- three Iraqi National Guard members have been killed and three others injured in a car bombing today in Mosul. Four civilians were hurt when the bomb went off next to a National Guard vehicle. Another Guard member was killed by a bomb today in Ba'qubah.
Word just coming into us now, a terminal under construction at Dubai International Airport has collapsed. A Dubai Civil Aviation Authority spokesman says there are casualties. Also, a number of construction workers are believed trapped in the rubble.
In the race for the White House, both presidential candidates are taking a break from preparations for their debate on Thursday night.
President Bush, who's been studying at his Texas ranch, campaigns today in Ohio, with stops at Springfield and Westchester.
Senator John Kerry is cramming for the debate and working on his golf swing at the resort -- at a resort, rather, in the swing state of Wisconsin. Today, he holds a town meeting at the junior high school in Spring Green, Wisconsin. At 6:30, we'll preview the debate with the editor of the "National Journal's" "Hotline."
Jeanne has left Florida with another blackout. The hurricane swept ashore late Saturday.
We have extensive coverage of Jeanne, now a tropical storm.
Rob Marciano is tracking the storm in the CNN Weather Center and we'll take you live to Chad Myers in the hard hit Melbourne area. We'll also have live reports from Vero Beach and Steinhatchee, Florida.
But let's start with Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, it looks like things are being a little bit more quiet across the Eastern Seaboard of Florida. Chad looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Power back on there.
But power outages could be a problem for Georgia, across the Carolinas. The center of the storm right here, just east of Tallahassee. You can kind of see the rotation here. It will continue to weaken as it slowly moves off to the north and to the east.
But to the east and the center, the circulation, this tornado watch box indicates the potential for seeing tornadoes. And there's a couple of more warnings out for radar indicated tornadoes. No reports on the ground just yet. And we'll see numerous of these warnings come out throughout the day today.
Heavy rain going to be an issue, as well. We could see three to five inches in spots, maybe as much as six in areas that were flooded out by Ivan and Frances over the last several weeks.
The latest numbers for you, 40 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida. Winds at 50. It is moving to the north-northwest at 12 miles an hour and will continue to weaken as we go through the afternoon.
So there it is and there's your track off toward the north and to the east.
Wind -- or beach erosion is still going to be a problem across the east coast of Florida and right up through the Carolinas, as far north as Long Island, as well. A big storm, big problems for a big area across the U.S.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about the problems in Melbourne, Florida.
Chad is there this morning -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
Still 2,500 people in shelters this morning. Most of those shelters are schools. So therefore the schools are closed today, so they don't have to try to get people in and out. They don't want buses on the roads, either, because still 76 percent of the power here, 76 percent of the customers still out. So although we have some power here, no power in most of the places.
And in fact, the hotel that we stayed at bought a generator so that they could make coffee. The last time we were here, with Frances, they said, you know what? Everybody didn't care that there wasn't power, they just cared that there wasn't coffee. So they bought a generator and got it hooked up to the coffee maker and that's what they did use for the entire storm.
Now power is, at least here, almost west Melbourne -- we're not that close to the shore. We were at the shore yesterday. The winds were still gusting, 25 and 30 miles per hour. You can't really get power crews up there and do much when the winds are still gusting at 30 when they're in those cherry pickers on up there. Two fatalities in Brevard County to talk to you about. One 60- year-old man in Micco and one 76-year-old man up in Merritt Island. We don't have any details on those. Police still investigating both of those. The 60-year-old man, though, in Micco was having a hurricane party and was found dead the next morning.
COSTELLO: Oh.
MYERS: Carol -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Oh, that just breaks -- oh, thank you, Chad.
We appreciate it.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: Chad Myers live in Melbourne, Florida.
Schools are still closed today in 20 counties across Florida. As of late last night, more than 2.5 million homes and businesses still without power. You heard Chad mention that those outages could last weeks, not just hours.
Across the state, another day of cleanup for people who have seen more than their share of destruction.
Let's see how it looks from Vero Beach, Florida.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is there -- good morning, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
I'm coming to you from a place called Lakewood Village Mobile Home Park. Three weeks ago, neighbors say they were cleaning up from Hurricane Frances and now they say it looks like it did, perhaps even worse, as a result of Hurricane Jeanne. Jeanne is, of course, a tropical storm now, moving north. But here it may well be remembered for its maximum power at landfall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The damage was heaviest in three counties along Florida's Atlantic Coast. In his Vero Beach parking lot, a tractor trailer flipped. In another, a bus. The streets here were flooded. Hotels surrounded by water.
Hurricane Jeanne came just three weeks after Hurricane Frances ripped through here.
AUGIE HAMPSON, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: We're actually worse off than we were the first time. There's a double whammy, in other words, you know?
BARBARA HAMPSON, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: I just believe that probably this is totaled in here. We probably won't be back.
OPPENHEIM: This hurricane may be remembered less for what it did than for the series of storms it followed.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Never before since, I guess since 19 -- 1880 has there been a state that has received four hurricanes at once.
OPPENHEIM: But as Hurricane Jeanne made history, it also mimicked its predecessors and left thousands without power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a grill, a propane grill, so we can cook.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): You'll get through it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're alive, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And in the case of one Florida man, thankful for friends who can help, thankful the damage wasn't worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Frances came through, a lot of people lost their carports and I came unscathed. So, you know, it's a roll of the dice, a luck of the draw.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): Yes...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just something that happens and we'll just move on from here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Some families may find it hard to move on from Hurricane Jeanne. Chad Myers was mentioning there are at least four people in Florida who died from the storm. Those numbers could change as we learn more about damage and fatalities. And also there are approximately 1.9 million homes in the state that don't have power. I should note, Carol, that within that figure, there are 70,000 homes without electricity in the Panhandle. That's from Hurricane Ivan from a week and a half ago, just a sign that the effects of a hurricane can be pretty long lasting.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Well, and hurricane season is not over. Two more months to go.
OPPENHEIM: Right.
COSTELLO: Keith Oppenheim live from Florida this morning.
Let's shift our focus now to elections in Iraq. They won't be easy, but they are necessary. That's what top U.S. officials are saying about the vote. It's scheduled for January despite the ongoing violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be polling stations that are shot at. There will be insurgents who will still be out there who will try to keep people from voting. But I think what we have to keep shooting for and what is achievable is to give everybody the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election, to make the election fully credible and something that will stand the test of the international community's examination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Powell says the U.S. military plans to move into insurgent heavy zones to help clear the way for civilians to go to the polls. A top military official says elections can be tough no matter what country you're in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, 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 VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Abizaid says some parts of Iraq still held by insurgents may not be able to take part in the election.
Kenneth Bigley's brother Paul says he has information that the British hostage in Iraq is still alive. Kenneth Bigley was kidnapped along with two American workers who were later beheaded by their captors. Paul Bigley gave no details on the information he received, but he called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to appeal for his brother's release.
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq and at least 26 of them have been killed. A memorial service was held Saturday for Jack Hensley, one of the two American hostages killed last week by terrorists. The service was at a church in suburban Atlanta, where Hensley lived with his wife and daughter.
In the meantime, in Turkey, a company says that it has heard nothing in weeks about 10 of its employees who were kidnapped in Iraq.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh visited the family of one Turkish hostage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fanar (ph) and Lila Gursoy (ph) flip through a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. But you won't find any articles about their father Hidir (ph), even though he's been in the Turkish press since being kidnapped in Iraq. The hearing impaired sisters don't know it.
GULLU GURSOY, HOSTAGE'S WIFE (through translator): The girls are at school all week and I keep them inside on the weekend. I told the people at school not to let them see the newspapers. VAN MARSH: Driver Hidir Gursoy, shown here with nine other Turkish hostages, is one of literally dozens of Turks who have been tortured or killed by Iraqi insurgents. The kidnappers say they'll behead Hidir unless his Turkish employer, Vinsan, pulls its construction business out of Iraq.
Vinsan says it's stopped work in Iraq, but has not committed to leaving.
Hidir's wife Gullu shows me pictures of her husband.
GURSOY (through translator): He's very talkative and full of energy.
VAN MARSH: And full of debt. Hidir, like many Turkish drivers and mechanics working in Iraq, is desperately poor.
GURSOY (through translator): I told him don't go, there's a war in Iraq. But he went. He did it for the money, so we could buy a house.
VAN MARSH (on camera): Gullu says she hasn't been able to work as a field hand since the kidnapping, but that Turkish authorities promised to help her family make ends meet. But she says she hasn't gotten any money, not even a phone call from the foreign ministry to let her know if her husband is dead or alive.
(voice-over): It's been three weeks and villagers here say Western hostages in Iraq seem to get all the attention and that poorer Turks matter, too. Turkey's foreign ministry says it's doing all it can to free their nationals, but that falls on deaf ears of two girls who keep asking when is daddy coming home?
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Bandirma, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And coming up on DAYBREAK, Chad Myers has earned his frequent flier miles this last month, covering Florida's powerful hurricane season. At 23 minutes past the hour, he'll take a look at his weekend battle with mean Jeanne.
And we'll see if superficial traits really help voters decide on debate night. Time to tell us what you think. Our question of the morning is bangs or brains, what influences voters the most during these debates that are coming up this Thursday? Is it the way the candidate presents himself? Is it the way he wears his hair? Does his makeup -- remember the Nixon-Kennedy debates? Send us an e-mail. Tell us what you think. Daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There is more violence to tell you about this morning in several Iraqi cities. Four people have been killed so far in Fallujah, one in Ba'qubah, three in Mosul and five in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
CNN's Brent Sadler is live in Baghdad right now to bring us up to date -- hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.
Good morning, Carol.
Persistent attacks against the Iraqi National Guard in the northern city of Mosul. A deadly car bomb attack using machine guns, as well, when insurgents attacked a patrol, killing four Guardsmen. The Guardsmen, of course, are going to be the backbone, according to the U.S. and Iraqi officials here, of a future Iraqi security force in the months to come.
Attacks also in other cities against Guard units. Also, mortar strikes against a police academy complex in the central part of Baghdad and another mortar attack against U.S. troops in a forward position. No reports of casualties from those two mortar strikes.
Now, on the offensive front as far as the U.S. military is concerned, continued use of air power against a fierce militant anti- U.S. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds districts of the Sadr City slums, a district of Baghdad. Air power used against insurgent forces in those districts. Conflicting accounts of casualties from those air strikes. U.S. military officials say they were targeting activities of the insurgents with no civilian casualties. Doctors inside Sadr City saying that there have been deaths and injuries among the civilian population.
So continued persistent attacks during what U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says is a worsening situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: We know there have been continuing military attacks, but is anything else being done to curb the insurgency, Brent?
SADLER: Yes, right now in the Syrian capital, Damascus, very important top level talks involving the U.S. military, the Iraqi political leadership here, as well as the top Syrian intelligence and military leadership. This really is a crucial series of meetings going on in Damascus to try to get the Syrians, as far as the U.S. is concerned, on board with plans to try and seal up the border between Syria and Iraq, to get on the ground cooperation, trilateral cooperation between the U.S., the interim Iraqi government and the Syrians. Because it is across that border, say U.S. and Iraqi officials, that up to 50 foreign fighters, so-called jihadists, have been pouring into Iraq, joining the terror activity, adding to the insurgency, as well as key planners and financiers supporting the insurgency.
So really important meetings going on in Damascus right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brent Sadler reporting live from Baghdad this morning. Thank you.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:16 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The presidential contenders are in separate corners today, but they're getting ready for their big face-off on Thursday night. That's when the first of three debates takes place.
In New York, round two of the legal battle over ground zero insurance payouts. Developer Larry Silverstein is seeking an additional billion dollars in damages. Silverstein contends the 9/11 attacks were separate incidents and he deserves two payouts. The earlier trial ruled the attacks were one incident and awarded Silverstein $3.5 billion.
In money news, early damage estimates from Hurricane Jeanne are in the $5 billion to $9 billion range. Combined with Charley, Frances and Ivan, the total cost for Florida could top a $20 billion mark.
In culture, the book of Bob has been written. Bob Dylan's memoirs are set to be released next month. Dylan says "Chronicles: Volume 1" is a truthful look at a misunderstood career.
In sports, a Sunday night game thanks to Hurricane Jeanne. The Miami Dolphins turned the ball over four times in the torrential rain and the Pittsburgh Steelers capitalized to win 13-3. We'll have more football coming up later in the show in our DAYBREAK Scorecard segment. Chris Cotter will be along.
Let's head to the forecast center now and Rob.
MARCIANO: Nothing like a hurricane or a football game to get your Sunday off to the right start down there. Messy, messy weather for them. Moving north-northwest is the Tallahassee area, or the storm, I should say. Winds at 50. Tropical Storm Jeanne will continue to weaken as we go through the day, but the threat for rain and tornadoes continues across the Southeast.
Across the Northeast, not too bad. Your rain won't arrive until late tonight or tomorrow. And the Ohio River Valley and the Mississippi Valley looking really nice.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Time for a little business buzz.
Even if you don't live in Florida, you will still feel the effects of the hurricanes this year.
Carrie Lee tells us why live from the NASDAQ market site -- good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, you can probably guess this. Gas prices have been rising over the past two weeks as recent storms have shut down oil production and refinery activity along the Gulf Coast.
The national average for self-serve regular unleaded, $1.91 a gallon. This through September 24, according to the Lundberg Survey. And that's a gain of about $0.053 during the two week period.
Now, prices could very well steady or even drift a little bit lower once production and refinery return to normal. It could take a little while for that to happen. In fact, taking a look at oil prices, earlier this morning crude oil futures were above $49 a barrel. And the all time high, remember, is $49.40. So there's some concern here because inventory levels are at 29-year lows. Refiners having to buy back oil. That's helping to push prices up. So it could take some time to settle through, Carol. The bottom line, oil and gas prices have been on the rise lately -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Ah, we're used to that, I guess, though, aren't we?
LEE: I know. We're talking about this all the time, aren't we?
COSTELLO: I know.
A quick look at the future?
LEE: Yes, things looking a bit weak. You can imagine high oil prices affecting stocks. They've had this inverse relationship really all summer. Things looking pretty flat for this morning's session. Technology issues looking a little bit weak. Walgreens, the drugstore chain, out with profits this morning. Wall Street looking for $0.31 a share versus $0.27 in the year ago period -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the NASDAQ market site.
Thank you.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, Chad in the eye of yet another storm. It is calmer now, but we want Chad to explain why he was standing outside in those 100 mile per hour winds. Chad will join me live from Florida next.
And the gloves come off Thursday night. But what about the cuffs, the quaffs and all those other superficial details of the presidential debates? We'll take a look at Thursday's showdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There is no rest for storm weary residents along Florida's east coast. Many still haven't recovered from Hurricane Frances and now there is the aftermath of Jeanne to deal with.
Our meteorologist, our favorite one, Chad, has our storm coverage from Melbourne, Florida.
MYERS: You can't say that (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: It's calm there now.
MYERS: It is.
COSTELLO: But then the sun hasn't come up and we can't see the damage yet.
MYERS: Well, there is damage behind me. And there's also damage to the south of here. In Melbourne, really, it did not take a direct strike. Yes, we got the northern eye wall. But if you get south of here into Palm Bay, into Sebastian and into Vero, that's where most of the damage is. And we had crews driving around that area all day yesterday.
It's difficult even to drive around when there's so much debris in the roadway, Carol. And there is also in that debris nails sticking up. I'm looking over here at a guy with obviously a rental Explorer and he's changing a tire this morning because he ran over something yesterday and don't realize it. It was a slow leak and he woke up this morning and now his tire is flat. And that happens all the time when you're driving around in that kind of damage -- Carol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MYERS: You can just see how the wind is just coming over that hill and over the cliff and right back into that light. It's just amazing.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
And at some point, the wind will change direction on us?
MYERS: It will. The stinging of the rain in your eyes is probably the worst part of it.
COOPER: Yes.
MYERS: That's the worst part about standing out here. I can't tell whether I'm wetter on the inside or on the outside. And it doesn't really matter at this point. But when you have to look into that rain, that's when it really, really hurts.
COOPER: Yes.
MYERS: It seems like there's sand in the rain, but there's not. It's all just liquid.
We all look like multi-colored Michelin men because we all just get blown up here in the air. You should see the crew over here. Every color you can possibly imagine and they're all as big as you possibly can be. And you know, I'm sorry I wasn't measuring that gust, but I know that was more than 74, because I felt that 74 and that's about what it was. We're going to be in it for a while. That's the problem now. And 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.
MYERS: Hey!
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 100. And this is pretty darned close to 100.
This is just Mother Nature at her worst.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, and of course those...
MYERS: It's so much better in a hat, Carol, but --
COSTELLO: Those pictures were from over the weekend. Was that Saturday or Sunday?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And of course, you're with Anderson Cooper there.
MYERS: Right. I think that was Saturday night. We were on the air, actually, all the way from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. And that's when -- the worst part was about 2:00 a.m. And the winds, we clocked at 104 miles per hour. And down at Vero Beach, the biggest gust was 122 miles per hour. So that's how we know that most of the damage, or at least the heaviest damage, is a little bit farther south than here.
But a couple of jokes going around here. Never send your tallest, lightest reporter, like Anderson, to a hurricane because he became like a spinnaker and I had to keep holding him on because I have a lower center of gravity, obviously.
COSTELLO: Seriously, though, in covering storms like you've covered them, you know, what, the past three storms, what have you learned from covering the storms like this?
MYERS: As a reporter, I've learned that the most important thing for us to do would be the homework before we get to a location. There are many locations that we could have set up all over the city. But we wanted to make sure that there was nothing east of us, or at least water east of us. We didn't want a house with shingles that would start flying off and onto us or at our crew or at the live truck.
So you have to get as far east as possible. And we were right on the water there. So there was no -- there was no home. There was no motor home. There were no shingles, there were no wood, there was nothing out there to blow at us and injure us, because in the dark you can't see it coming. The best case scenario would actually be, obviously, to be on the shore, to be on the barrier island. But the police wouldn't let us out there, so we didn't get out there. We were just on the inland side right on the Intercoastal, what they call here the Indian River -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So even though it looks unsafe, it certainly was not.
All right, Chad Myers...
MYERS: No. We did a lot of planning for it and I think we were safe the entire time or I wouldn't have had my crew out there, I wouldn't have had Anderson out there and I certainly, with a baby on the way, wouldn't have been out there either.
COSTELLO: Definitely so.
And I'm glad to hear that. And I'm sure Sally's glad to hear that, too.
MYERS: Yes, I'm sure she is.
COSTELLO: Chad Myers from Melbourne, Florida.
Our coverage continues in the next half hour.
This is DAYBREAK for Monday, September 27.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 27, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's deja vu all over again in Florida. Another weekend, another hurricane. Families survey Jeanne's damage this Monday morning.
This is DAYBREAK for September 27.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- three Iraqi National Guard members have been killed and three others injured in a car bombing today in Mosul. Four civilians were hurt when the bomb went off next to a National Guard vehicle. Another Guard member was killed by a bomb today in Ba'qubah.
Word just coming into us now, a terminal under construction at Dubai International Airport has collapsed. A Dubai Civil Aviation Authority spokesman says there are casualties. Also, a number of construction workers are believed trapped in the rubble.
In the race for the White House, both presidential candidates are taking a break from preparations for their debate on Thursday night.
President Bush, who's been studying at his Texas ranch, campaigns today in Ohio, with stops at Springfield and Westchester.
Senator John Kerry is cramming for the debate and working on his golf swing at the resort -- at a resort, rather, in the swing state of Wisconsin. Today, he holds a town meeting at the junior high school in Spring Green, Wisconsin. At 6:30, we'll preview the debate with the editor of the "National Journal's" "Hotline."
Jeanne has left Florida with another blackout. The hurricane swept ashore late Saturday.
We have extensive coverage of Jeanne, now a tropical storm.
Rob Marciano is tracking the storm in the CNN Weather Center and we'll take you live to Chad Myers in the hard hit Melbourne area. We'll also have live reports from Vero Beach and Steinhatchee, Florida.
But let's start with Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, it looks like things are being a little bit more quiet across the Eastern Seaboard of Florida. Chad looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Power back on there.
But power outages could be a problem for Georgia, across the Carolinas. The center of the storm right here, just east of Tallahassee. You can kind of see the rotation here. It will continue to weaken as it slowly moves off to the north and to the east.
But to the east and the center, the circulation, this tornado watch box indicates the potential for seeing tornadoes. And there's a couple of more warnings out for radar indicated tornadoes. No reports on the ground just yet. And we'll see numerous of these warnings come out throughout the day today.
Heavy rain going to be an issue, as well. We could see three to five inches in spots, maybe as much as six in areas that were flooded out by Ivan and Frances over the last several weeks.
The latest numbers for you, 40 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida. Winds at 50. It is moving to the north-northwest at 12 miles an hour and will continue to weaken as we go through the afternoon.
So there it is and there's your track off toward the north and to the east.
Wind -- or beach erosion is still going to be a problem across the east coast of Florida and right up through the Carolinas, as far north as Long Island, as well. A big storm, big problems for a big area across the U.S.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about the problems in Melbourne, Florida.
Chad is there this morning -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
Still 2,500 people in shelters this morning. Most of those shelters are schools. So therefore the schools are closed today, so they don't have to try to get people in and out. They don't want buses on the roads, either, because still 76 percent of the power here, 76 percent of the customers still out. So although we have some power here, no power in most of the places.
And in fact, the hotel that we stayed at bought a generator so that they could make coffee. The last time we were here, with Frances, they said, you know what? Everybody didn't care that there wasn't power, they just cared that there wasn't coffee. So they bought a generator and got it hooked up to the coffee maker and that's what they did use for the entire storm.
Now power is, at least here, almost west Melbourne -- we're not that close to the shore. We were at the shore yesterday. The winds were still gusting, 25 and 30 miles per hour. You can't really get power crews up there and do much when the winds are still gusting at 30 when they're in those cherry pickers on up there. Two fatalities in Brevard County to talk to you about. One 60- year-old man in Micco and one 76-year-old man up in Merritt Island. We don't have any details on those. Police still investigating both of those. The 60-year-old man, though, in Micco was having a hurricane party and was found dead the next morning.
COSTELLO: Oh.
MYERS: Carol -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Oh, that just breaks -- oh, thank you, Chad.
We appreciate it.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: Chad Myers live in Melbourne, Florida.
Schools are still closed today in 20 counties across Florida. As of late last night, more than 2.5 million homes and businesses still without power. You heard Chad mention that those outages could last weeks, not just hours.
Across the state, another day of cleanup for people who have seen more than their share of destruction.
Let's see how it looks from Vero Beach, Florida.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is there -- good morning, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
I'm coming to you from a place called Lakewood Village Mobile Home Park. Three weeks ago, neighbors say they were cleaning up from Hurricane Frances and now they say it looks like it did, perhaps even worse, as a result of Hurricane Jeanne. Jeanne is, of course, a tropical storm now, moving north. But here it may well be remembered for its maximum power at landfall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The damage was heaviest in three counties along Florida's Atlantic Coast. In his Vero Beach parking lot, a tractor trailer flipped. In another, a bus. The streets here were flooded. Hotels surrounded by water.
Hurricane Jeanne came just three weeks after Hurricane Frances ripped through here.
AUGIE HAMPSON, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: We're actually worse off than we were the first time. There's a double whammy, in other words, you know?
BARBARA HAMPSON, VERO BEACH RESIDENT: I just believe that probably this is totaled in here. We probably won't be back.
OPPENHEIM: This hurricane may be remembered less for what it did than for the series of storms it followed.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Never before since, I guess since 19 -- 1880 has there been a state that has received four hurricanes at once.
OPPENHEIM: But as Hurricane Jeanne made history, it also mimicked its predecessors and left thousands without power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a grill, a propane grill, so we can cook.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): You'll get through it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're alive, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And in the case of one Florida man, thankful for friends who can help, thankful the damage wasn't worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Frances came through, a lot of people lost their carports and I came unscathed. So, you know, it's a roll of the dice, a luck of the draw.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): Yes...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just something that happens and we'll just move on from here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Some families may find it hard to move on from Hurricane Jeanne. Chad Myers was mentioning there are at least four people in Florida who died from the storm. Those numbers could change as we learn more about damage and fatalities. And also there are approximately 1.9 million homes in the state that don't have power. I should note, Carol, that within that figure, there are 70,000 homes without electricity in the Panhandle. That's from Hurricane Ivan from a week and a half ago, just a sign that the effects of a hurricane can be pretty long lasting.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Well, and hurricane season is not over. Two more months to go.
OPPENHEIM: Right.
COSTELLO: Keith Oppenheim live from Florida this morning.
Let's shift our focus now to elections in Iraq. They won't be easy, but they are necessary. That's what top U.S. officials are saying about the vote. It's scheduled for January despite the ongoing violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be polling stations that are shot at. There will be insurgents who will still be out there who will try to keep people from voting. But I think what we have to keep shooting for and what is achievable is to give everybody the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election, to make the election fully credible and something that will stand the test of the international community's examination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Powell says the U.S. military plans to move into insurgent heavy zones to help clear the way for civilians to go to the polls. A top military official says elections can be tough no matter what country you're in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, 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 VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Abizaid says some parts of Iraq still held by insurgents may not be able to take part in the election.
Kenneth Bigley's brother Paul says he has information that the British hostage in Iraq is still alive. Kenneth Bigley was kidnapped along with two American workers who were later beheaded by their captors. Paul Bigley gave no details on the information he received, but he called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to appeal for his brother's release.
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq and at least 26 of them have been killed. A memorial service was held Saturday for Jack Hensley, one of the two American hostages killed last week by terrorists. The service was at a church in suburban Atlanta, where Hensley lived with his wife and daughter.
In the meantime, in Turkey, a company says that it has heard nothing in weeks about 10 of its employees who were kidnapped in Iraq.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh visited the family of one Turkish hostage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fanar (ph) and Lila Gursoy (ph) flip through a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. But you won't find any articles about their father Hidir (ph), even though he's been in the Turkish press since being kidnapped in Iraq. The hearing impaired sisters don't know it.
GULLU GURSOY, HOSTAGE'S WIFE (through translator): The girls are at school all week and I keep them inside on the weekend. I told the people at school not to let them see the newspapers. VAN MARSH: Driver Hidir Gursoy, shown here with nine other Turkish hostages, is one of literally dozens of Turks who have been tortured or killed by Iraqi insurgents. The kidnappers say they'll behead Hidir unless his Turkish employer, Vinsan, pulls its construction business out of Iraq.
Vinsan says it's stopped work in Iraq, but has not committed to leaving.
Hidir's wife Gullu shows me pictures of her husband.
GURSOY (through translator): He's very talkative and full of energy.
VAN MARSH: And full of debt. Hidir, like many Turkish drivers and mechanics working in Iraq, is desperately poor.
GURSOY (through translator): I told him don't go, there's a war in Iraq. But he went. He did it for the money, so we could buy a house.
VAN MARSH (on camera): Gullu says she hasn't been able to work as a field hand since the kidnapping, but that Turkish authorities promised to help her family make ends meet. But she says she hasn't gotten any money, not even a phone call from the foreign ministry to let her know if her husband is dead or alive.
(voice-over): It's been three weeks and villagers here say Western hostages in Iraq seem to get all the attention and that poorer Turks matter, too. Turkey's foreign ministry says it's doing all it can to free their nationals, but that falls on deaf ears of two girls who keep asking when is daddy coming home?
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Bandirma, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And coming up on DAYBREAK, Chad Myers has earned his frequent flier miles this last month, covering Florida's powerful hurricane season. At 23 minutes past the hour, he'll take a look at his weekend battle with mean Jeanne.
And we'll see if superficial traits really help voters decide on debate night. Time to tell us what you think. Our question of the morning is bangs or brains, what influences voters the most during these debates that are coming up this Thursday? Is it the way the candidate presents himself? Is it the way he wears his hair? Does his makeup -- remember the Nixon-Kennedy debates? Send us an e-mail. Tell us what you think. Daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There is more violence to tell you about this morning in several Iraqi cities. Four people have been killed so far in Fallujah, one in Ba'qubah, three in Mosul and five in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
CNN's Brent Sadler is live in Baghdad right now to bring us up to date -- hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.
Good morning, Carol.
Persistent attacks against the Iraqi National Guard in the northern city of Mosul. A deadly car bomb attack using machine guns, as well, when insurgents attacked a patrol, killing four Guardsmen. The Guardsmen, of course, are going to be the backbone, according to the U.S. and Iraqi officials here, of a future Iraqi security force in the months to come.
Attacks also in other cities against Guard units. Also, mortar strikes against a police academy complex in the central part of Baghdad and another mortar attack against U.S. troops in a forward position. No reports of casualties from those two mortar strikes.
Now, on the offensive front as far as the U.S. military is concerned, continued use of air power against a fierce militant anti- U.S. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds districts of the Sadr City slums, a district of Baghdad. Air power used against insurgent forces in those districts. Conflicting accounts of casualties from those air strikes. U.S. military officials say they were targeting activities of the insurgents with no civilian casualties. Doctors inside Sadr City saying that there have been deaths and injuries among the civilian population.
So continued persistent attacks during what U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says is a worsening situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: We know there have been continuing military attacks, but is anything else being done to curb the insurgency, Brent?
SADLER: Yes, right now in the Syrian capital, Damascus, very important top level talks involving the U.S. military, the Iraqi political leadership here, as well as the top Syrian intelligence and military leadership. This really is a crucial series of meetings going on in Damascus to try to get the Syrians, as far as the U.S. is concerned, on board with plans to try and seal up the border between Syria and Iraq, to get on the ground cooperation, trilateral cooperation between the U.S., the interim Iraqi government and the Syrians. Because it is across that border, say U.S. and Iraqi officials, that up to 50 foreign fighters, so-called jihadists, have been pouring into Iraq, joining the terror activity, adding to the insurgency, as well as key planners and financiers supporting the insurgency.
So really important meetings going on in Damascus right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brent Sadler reporting live from Baghdad this morning. Thank you.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:16 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The presidential contenders are in separate corners today, but they're getting ready for their big face-off on Thursday night. That's when the first of three debates takes place.
In New York, round two of the legal battle over ground zero insurance payouts. Developer Larry Silverstein is seeking an additional billion dollars in damages. Silverstein contends the 9/11 attacks were separate incidents and he deserves two payouts. The earlier trial ruled the attacks were one incident and awarded Silverstein $3.5 billion.
In money news, early damage estimates from Hurricane Jeanne are in the $5 billion to $9 billion range. Combined with Charley, Frances and Ivan, the total cost for Florida could top a $20 billion mark.
In culture, the book of Bob has been written. Bob Dylan's memoirs are set to be released next month. Dylan says "Chronicles: Volume 1" is a truthful look at a misunderstood career.
In sports, a Sunday night game thanks to Hurricane Jeanne. The Miami Dolphins turned the ball over four times in the torrential rain and the Pittsburgh Steelers capitalized to win 13-3. We'll have more football coming up later in the show in our DAYBREAK Scorecard segment. Chris Cotter will be along.
Let's head to the forecast center now and Rob.
MARCIANO: Nothing like a hurricane or a football game to get your Sunday off to the right start down there. Messy, messy weather for them. Moving north-northwest is the Tallahassee area, or the storm, I should say. Winds at 50. Tropical Storm Jeanne will continue to weaken as we go through the day, but the threat for rain and tornadoes continues across the Southeast.
Across the Northeast, not too bad. Your rain won't arrive until late tonight or tomorrow. And the Ohio River Valley and the Mississippi Valley looking really nice.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Time for a little business buzz.
Even if you don't live in Florida, you will still feel the effects of the hurricanes this year.
Carrie Lee tells us why live from the NASDAQ market site -- good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, you can probably guess this. Gas prices have been rising over the past two weeks as recent storms have shut down oil production and refinery activity along the Gulf Coast.
The national average for self-serve regular unleaded, $1.91 a gallon. This through September 24, according to the Lundberg Survey. And that's a gain of about $0.053 during the two week period.
Now, prices could very well steady or even drift a little bit lower once production and refinery return to normal. It could take a little while for that to happen. In fact, taking a look at oil prices, earlier this morning crude oil futures were above $49 a barrel. And the all time high, remember, is $49.40. So there's some concern here because inventory levels are at 29-year lows. Refiners having to buy back oil. That's helping to push prices up. So it could take some time to settle through, Carol. The bottom line, oil and gas prices have been on the rise lately -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Ah, we're used to that, I guess, though, aren't we?
LEE: I know. We're talking about this all the time, aren't we?
COSTELLO: I know.
A quick look at the future?
LEE: Yes, things looking a bit weak. You can imagine high oil prices affecting stocks. They've had this inverse relationship really all summer. Things looking pretty flat for this morning's session. Technology issues looking a little bit weak. Walgreens, the drugstore chain, out with profits this morning. Wall Street looking for $0.31 a share versus $0.27 in the year ago period -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the NASDAQ market site.
Thank you.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, Chad in the eye of yet another storm. It is calmer now, but we want Chad to explain why he was standing outside in those 100 mile per hour winds. Chad will join me live from Florida next.
And the gloves come off Thursday night. But what about the cuffs, the quaffs and all those other superficial details of the presidential debates? We'll take a look at Thursday's showdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There is no rest for storm weary residents along Florida's east coast. Many still haven't recovered from Hurricane Frances and now there is the aftermath of Jeanne to deal with.
Our meteorologist, our favorite one, Chad, has our storm coverage from Melbourne, Florida.
MYERS: You can't say that (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: It's calm there now.
MYERS: It is.
COSTELLO: But then the sun hasn't come up and we can't see the damage yet.
MYERS: Well, there is damage behind me. And there's also damage to the south of here. In Melbourne, really, it did not take a direct strike. Yes, we got the northern eye wall. But if you get south of here into Palm Bay, into Sebastian and into Vero, that's where most of the damage is. And we had crews driving around that area all day yesterday.
It's difficult even to drive around when there's so much debris in the roadway, Carol. And there is also in that debris nails sticking up. I'm looking over here at a guy with obviously a rental Explorer and he's changing a tire this morning because he ran over something yesterday and don't realize it. It was a slow leak and he woke up this morning and now his tire is flat. And that happens all the time when you're driving around in that kind of damage -- Carol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MYERS: You can just see how the wind is just coming over that hill and over the cliff and right back into that light. It's just amazing.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
And at some point, the wind will change direction on us?
MYERS: It will. The stinging of the rain in your eyes is probably the worst part of it.
COOPER: Yes.
MYERS: That's the worst part about standing out here. I can't tell whether I'm wetter on the inside or on the outside. And it doesn't really matter at this point. But when you have to look into that rain, that's when it really, really hurts.
COOPER: Yes.
MYERS: It seems like there's sand in the rain, but there's not. It's all just liquid.
We all look like multi-colored Michelin men because we all just get blown up here in the air. You should see the crew over here. Every color you can possibly imagine and they're all as big as you possibly can be. And you know, I'm sorry I wasn't measuring that gust, but I know that was more than 74, because I felt that 74 and that's about what it was. We're going to be in it for a while. That's the problem now. And 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.
MYERS: Hey!
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 100. And this is pretty darned close to 100.
This is just Mother Nature at her worst.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, and of course those...
MYERS: It's so much better in a hat, Carol, but --
COSTELLO: Those pictures were from over the weekend. Was that Saturday or Sunday?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And of course, you're with Anderson Cooper there.
MYERS: Right. I think that was Saturday night. We were on the air, actually, all the way from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. And that's when -- the worst part was about 2:00 a.m. And the winds, we clocked at 104 miles per hour. And down at Vero Beach, the biggest gust was 122 miles per hour. So that's how we know that most of the damage, or at least the heaviest damage, is a little bit farther south than here.
But a couple of jokes going around here. Never send your tallest, lightest reporter, like Anderson, to a hurricane because he became like a spinnaker and I had to keep holding him on because I have a lower center of gravity, obviously.
COSTELLO: Seriously, though, in covering storms like you've covered them, you know, what, the past three storms, what have you learned from covering the storms like this?
MYERS: As a reporter, I've learned that the most important thing for us to do would be the homework before we get to a location. There are many locations that we could have set up all over the city. But we wanted to make sure that there was nothing east of us, or at least water east of us. We didn't want a house with shingles that would start flying off and onto us or at our crew or at the live truck.
So you have to get as far east as possible. And we were right on the water there. So there was no -- there was no home. There was no motor home. There were no shingles, there were no wood, there was nothing out there to blow at us and injure us, because in the dark you can't see it coming. The best case scenario would actually be, obviously, to be on the shore, to be on the barrier island. But the police wouldn't let us out there, so we didn't get out there. We were just on the inland side right on the Intercoastal, what they call here the Indian River -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So even though it looks unsafe, it certainly was not.
All right, Chad Myers...
MYERS: No. We did a lot of planning for it and I think we were safe the entire time or I wouldn't have had my crew out there, I wouldn't have had Anderson out there and I certainly, with a baby on the way, wouldn't have been out there either.
COSTELLO: Definitely so.
And I'm glad to hear that. And I'm sure Sally's glad to hear that, too.
MYERS: Yes, I'm sure she is.
COSTELLO: Chad Myers from Melbourne, Florida.
Our coverage continues in the next half hour.
This is DAYBREAK for Monday, September 27.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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