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American Morning
Snow and Rain Pound California; Report Confirms Corruption in U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Program
Aired January 10, 2005 - 07:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A storm of historic proportions pounding the West Coast. Incredible snow in the mountains, in some places, 19 feet deep.
A dramatic rescue in Los Angeles, where the higher temperatures meant rain, rain, and more rain.
In the Middle East a new beginning for the Palestinians. Their choice for president announced this morning. Will peace now follow?
And the awesome force of the tsunami as it ravaged Indonesia. Amazing pictures that bear witness to the disaster on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 7 o'clock on a Monday here in New York City. Good morning to you.
Good morning to you as well, Soledad. Welcome back from Thailand.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The story is still with us, as you can see from the videotape we've shown from Indonesia. Unbelievable images in Banda Aceh. A videotape shot by a wedding photographer, he was on the rooftop when the tsunami hit.
That city is one of many places where the death toll was highest and it easy now to see why. Hard to imagine anyone surviving the force of this water; an entire city coming apart right before your eyes and being swept away in a rush of water.
O'BRIEN: Look at that. And, you know, you would see the people who did not make it, a number of them drowned, out and out drowned in the water. But there are so many who got just pummeled by all the debris that even, you know, even though they could hang on to something, were just hit and hit and hit again and again by cars sometimes that it's just awful to see, frankly, when they were recovering some of the remains, you saw how horrible ways in which they died.
HEMMER: We've seen videotape from Phuket, Thailand, where you were. We've seen videotape in India and Sri Lanka. But this, as far as I can recall, is the first videotape we've actually seen from northern Sumatra and Indonesia, so. We'll talk more about that in a moment. John King is still on the scene. We'll talk to John there, live from overseas.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the massive storm out West, it is a serious one-two punch of snow and then rain. We'll check in from Tahoe City, where the snowfall is some of the deepest in generations.
Plus, we'll talk to members of the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department, involved in this very dramatic rescue. We'll tell you more about this guy's story and what happened to him at the very end.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday morning.
Good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How you doing guys? Nice work over there last week.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
CAFFERTY: You done good, kid. We was proud of you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: The report's out on the U.N. Oil-For-Food program. It's just a nightmare, overpayment to contractors, lack of supervision, failure to implement recommendations of auditors. Wasn't anybody watching this thing? $64 billion at stake, and we'll take a look at what the U.N.'s got to do now to try and dig itself out of a huge black hole, where its credibility is concerned. This thing was so poorly managed, it just defies your imagination.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
HEMMER: Also, on a Monday morning, Kelly Wallace with us with the headlines across town, here in New York.
Hey, Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Bill. Good morning, everyone.
"Now in the News": Less than three weeks before elections to be held in Iraq, a top security official in Baghdad has been assassinated. The city's deputy police chief and his son were gunned down early this morning outside their home in southern Baghdad.
Police are investigating the attack. Just moments ago, Iraqi's Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says elections will go on as scheduled on January 30th, despite a recent upsurge in violence.
In the Middle East, Palestinian officials are set this hour to certify the frontrunner, Mahmoud Abbas, as the new Palestinian president. He had unofficially declared himself the winner of Sunday's election earlier today. He predicts "a difficult mission ahead". The official announcement is expected shortly. Opening statements due to get underway in about three hours in the military trial of Army Reservist Charles Grainer. He is the accused ringleader of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. His lawyer says the 36-year-old Army specialist might take the stand in his own defense. The trial is expected to last about a week.
And Lance Armstrong, will he go for number seven? The recorded six-time Tour de France champ is set to introduce a new Discovery Channel, Pro Cycling Team, this morning. The successor to his U.S. Postal Service squad. This, amid speculation Armstrong may hang up the yellow jersey and concentrate on European classics. We'll have to see. Seven would be a big challenge, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: He's not going to do that. He's going to go for number seven.
WALLACE: I think so, too.
O'BRIEN: Hang up the jersey and concentrate on -- please.
WALLACE: No, no, no.
O'BRIEN: That's my unofficial prediction.
WALLACE: I think you might be right.
O'BRIEN: Kelly, thanks.
WALLACE: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this winter storm. It's a winter storm warning now in effect for the Sierra Nevada region of California and Nevada. As much as four more feet of snow could fall before tomorrow. Now, that's on top of the already 19 feet in some parts. CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano live for us in Tahoe City, California with more.
Hey, Rob, good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
It's been an incredible weekend. Snow just coming and coming and coming. Even for the ski resorts that surround beautiful Lake Tahoe, at 6,000 feet, the snow even too much for them to handle. We've had road closures. At one point, the Reno airport was closed. Even an Amtrak train was stuck over Donner Pass, over 200 passengers there had to spend the night. They finally arrived in Sacramento later on Sunday morning.
Getting a bit of a break right now. More on the way, the snow really seems to never want to stop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice over): Snow, snow, and more snow. A series of storms has dumped as much as 19 feet of snow in the High Sierra mountains. Believed to be the most snow in the region in nearly 90 years. Avalanches and hazardous driving conditions are top concerns.
LEL TONE, AVALANCHE COORDINATOR: Visibility goes down to absolutely zero. A lot of accidents happen. The winds are absolutely screaming on the ridges. We had winds last night of 163 miles per hour.
MARCIANO: Plows and snow blowers working around the clock to keep traffic flowing. Despite their best efforts, several major highways between California and Nevada shut down. And in one instance, travelers were stranded in their cars for over 12 hours.
Conditions on the slopes are even more difficult. Although some skiers decided to brave the elements, at least until resort managers shut the slopes down.
GARY MURPHY, AVALANCHE FORECASTER: Wind is the architect of avalanches and what we're seeing here is slab avalanches developing in the upper mountain because of wind-driven snow.
MARCIANO: Ski patrollers hit the most unstable areas of the mountain, setting off charges to blast away potentially deadly avalanches.
Even more snow may be on the way. Local forecasters in the area have extended a winter storm warning across the Sierra and parts of northern Nevada into Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: More snow on wait. Can you believe that? They don't want anymore at this point. Even the folks who run hotels here say, you know, we need time too dig out. Look how they have to dig out. This is a sidewalk.
This isn't just plowed up. This is cut through the snow. They just have to keep piling it up and piling it up. At some point, they literally take front loaders and move them to either another spot, you know, might not be a bad idea to dump it in the lake.
The Sierra Nevadas is one of the snowiest areas on earth, certainly proving that to be the case now. In Reno, in a desert, about 50 miles to the north and east of Tahoe, doesn't get nearly this much snow and they've already had several feet of snow. Since December 28, up until now, over five feet. This should be the snowiest storm since 1916 for those folks. Historic nonetheless.
More snow expected tonight and tomorrow. Couple of feet here at lake level. Double that up at ski resorts. Hoping to clear things out by the time Wednesday and Thursday rolls around. Trust me, they could use the break.
Back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: What a mess. If they've overwhelmed Tahoe, which is used to a lot of snow, it cannot be good. Rob Marciano this morning, thanks. MARCIANO: You bet.
HEMMER: The same part of the country now in Southern California, the story there is rain, the fifth straight day of it, in fact. There is severe flooding and mudslides, power outages. Also, as Miguel Marquez reports today, there are also some incredible rescues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's about as dramatic as a rescue gets. A man stripped of his clothing by the rush of water, almost doesn't make it.
Before the man was pulled to shore, he spent about 40 minutes floating through the Los Angeles suburbs on the roof of his BMW. His kids had been rescued earlier, but his car became a boat for about two miles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope tight! Grab it tight!
MARQUEZ: In Hollywood Hills, a house crumpled after the water sodden hillside behind it gave way.
REBECCA HAYES, EVACUEE: I hear this woman, from this car, say oh, oh, my god, oh, my god, my house fell (ph)!
MARQUEZ: A 33-year-old man and his two kids were plucked from the debris. Fire officials say is 10-year-old son buried up to his neck in mud was lucky to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got a baby, Michael.
MARQUEZ: In the suburbs north of Los Angeles, a river raged in what was once a dry creek bed. After a wall collapsed, a trailer park flooded, residents packed up children and chihuahuas and headed for dryer ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad wants to stay, but we have no choice. We have to evacuate.
MARQUEZ: Across Southern California, mud slid off rain-soaked hills, rock and mudslides blocked roads, creating hazards, almost everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mother Nature at its worst.
MARQUEZ: Mother Nature, relentless. In Malibu, a car with five passengers plunged on to the rocky shore. One person was killed. Near Dodger Stadium a homeless man died after being buried in mud.
(on camera): I want to give you a sense of where I am. We're in the Hollywood Hills on Laurel Canyon Boulevard where the street has literally turned into a river tonight. Many cars not even coming up the boulevard here, because they're so concerned about the water.
California's Office of Emergency Management says officially, two people have died in this storm. But several others have been killed in traffic related accidents. And California's due for another belt of storms Monday evening -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now, we have two of the people involved in the first incredible rescue you saw Miguel talk about. Captain Thomas McGalley and Captain Mike Yule of the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department are my guests now, up early there in California.
Gentlemen, good morning to you.
Captain McGalley, describe the scene as you saw it when you arrived there with this man and his two children there in the water below you.
CAPTAIN THOMAS McGALLEY, SANTE FE SPRINGS FIRE DEPT.: Well, it was pretty exciting for us. Even though we end up dealing with this quite a bit we had one vehicle that was actually in the riverbed itself.
We had approximately 40 bystanders that were up on board the bridge at the railing. They were attempting at that time to remove two of the females from the vehicle itself. We arrived on scene, assisted them. And the vehicle was actually floating down the riverbed so it had to be pinched at that time.
We were able to assist them, get the first two females out of the vehicle. And then the vehicle continued to float underneath the bridge out of our view. Our initial response, we went ahead and moved units further downstream in case we had to you'd utilize them and it became apparent at that time, we had to utilize them.
HEMMER: Just so our viewers know, you saved his two children first. He's still in the water, as you described to us. But what we just saw, too, was the chance of you bringing him on board that bridge, but then he slips at the last second. He lost his pants in all of this in addition to his car. He goes downriver for two miles.
Captain Yule, how did you keep track of him during that time?
CAPT. MIKE YULE, SANTE FE SPRINGS FIRE DEPT.: During that time, we had people that were actually running the riverbank and keeping an eye on him. Captain McGalley on Engine 81 and myself on truck 811, went down one of the main streets and set up at the bridge. We had visual with him the whole time. And set up the rope systems to get him out of the water.
HEMMER: Wow. How are they doing today, do you know, Captain Yule?
YULE: Last I heard, he is unhurt and in good spirits.
HEMMER: To Captain McGalley, too, as we watch this videotape, here again, have you ever seen weather like this? In that part of the country? McGALLEY: The last big weather I believe we had like this was back in 1983, with the El Nino weather. But it's been raining quite a bit here for the last week. And all that water runs down. The way the storm system is designed is to get as much volume of water back out to the ocean and off the streets. That creates a lot of problems for us, especially when people get involved in the riverbed itself.
HEMMER: Job well done to both of you. And my best to you. Thomas McGalley and Mike Yule, captains out there in Santa Fe Springs, California. It has made for a heck of a follow-up to a story we watched over the weekend.
Thank you, gentlemen, well done.
McGALLEY: Thank you.
YULE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Wow, just remarkable.
Time to take a look at what's happening in today's forecast elsewhere as well.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
HEMMER: For two weeks, watching the amazing videotape out of Southeast Asia, you well know because you were there in Thailand. And perhaps nothing, though like we're seeing today in this videotape. A stunning new look at the power of the tsunami as it worked its way through the island of Sumatra. We'll get to that in a moment, also.
O'BRIEN: Amazing pictures.
Also, will Mahmoud Abbas get the Mideast peace process rolling again? One expert tells us why he thinks everybody's in for a sobering reality.
Also, here in the U.S., was sabotage behind the deadly train collision in South Carolina? That's ahead as well on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Two weeks after the tsunami disaster, here are some new developments. More than 140,000 people have died across the region. That number down from previous reports in which many Sri Lankan victims were counted twice. Still, the toll is expected to keep climbing as recovery efforts continue.
In Indonesia alone, at least 77,000 people are missing. The death toll there is 95,000. Most of the casualties are coming from the Aceh Province.
U.S. officials are making slow progress determining the fates of missing Americans. 18 U.S. citizens have now been confirmed dead, by the State Department, another 18 are presumed dead. Over 1,100 inquiries are unresolved.
Relief flights into Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, have resumed after a helicopter crash closed the airfield for just about an hour this morning. Investigators are trying to determine what caused a U.S. Navy chopper to plunge into a rice paddy just 100 yards from the crowded airport. The 10 crew members on board suffered only minor injuries.
Aceh Province, in northern Indonesia, was closest to the epicenter of the underwater earthquake and is one of the most devastated areas. John King joins us live from there this morning.
Hey, John, good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
So much sadness and devastation still evident here, but we thought this morning we'd share one positive milestone. The schools reopened today. The government making that decision not only to get the children back in school for education purposes, but also believing that psychologically, it would be good to get the children back into school, among their friends, in a learning and a positive environment.
So the schools reopened today, still as they did reopen, in many ways also a reminder that many students here were missing and will never attend classes again. Coming to grips with that, one of the many steps Indonesia, and especially here in Banda Aceh, that must be taken on the road to recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice over): Sunday morning, the market bustling, Banda Aceh, two weeks later. There is nothing normal here anymore. But some streets are busy again.
Anna Martia (ph), comes for salted fish, some chilies, watercress. And with her groceries carries hope that from disaster will ultimately come better days.
ANNA MARTIA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): Let's see what happens after these foreigners come. With the aid coming in, maybe it will become a greater city. There is so much help coming in.
KING: Coming in by the planeload. Though, at the two-week mark there are still significant problems delivering help to devastated coastal areas to the west of Band Aceh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the foreseeable future, there will be no road access to large portions of the coast. It will be by boat and helicopter.
KING: This line, near the town's center, at times runs two hours. At the end, cheerful Australian troops and the cherished commodity, drinking water.
New video, shown on Indonesian television, shows the devastation as the tsunami hits Banda Aceh. Fritzi (ph) was on a bridge and saw it coming.
KING (on camera): What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I run with my friends. I have eight friends and I ran. Running, just running, don't think about all the things. Don't think about -- just running.
KING (voice over): Two weeks later she still worries it could happen again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't explain it.
KING (on camera): Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trauma (ph), I've been through trauma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: On the 15th day since the tsunami, one of the challenges in the week ahead, plans to relocate many of the refugee camps. The United Nations says it wants to move many refugees into what it says are better camps with better services, sanitation, facilities for the refugees. Some are worried simply about moving in this uncertain environment.
And, Soledad, we're in the rainy season as well. It has been raining heavily all day. Rained heavily throughout much of the weekend. Conditions on the ground certainly complicating what already is a dire time for the refugees in the camps. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: That rain making things worse. John King for us.
John, thank you very much.
John mentioned some of the new pictures from Banda Aceh showing the force of the wave that took so many lives. Let's look again. This amateur videotape capturing what we've in many cases just previously imagined, the raging river of debris running through the streets.
The water reaching second floors of buildings as the folks there try to scramble to safety. This was the scene about 15 minutes after a massive earthquake triggered the tsunami. The tape shot by a local wedding photographer who was perched on a rooftop as the flood carried off everything in its path.
This was Banda Aceh before the tsunami hit, if you can show a picture of that. And then after, there's the before shot. Let's look at the after shot. You can see, completely wiped out. Pretty shocking.
Let's go back to this videotape, because I think it's amazing to see. We were told and then we had the opportunity, in other regions, not just Banda Aceh, but really everywhere where this tsunami had an impact, to see that a lot of the damage that was done, again, not necessarily done by people who were just overwhelmed by the wave itself, but by the debris. Look at that. That's a river of just junk and garbage and going as fast as it was. You know, anyone who is in there, if they don't drown, they're going to be pummeled to death in some cases.
HEMMER: The thing that strikes me about that, Soledad, is it just keeps going and going, and on and on. That river of everything, debris and cars and homes, just right down the center part of that town.
O'BRIEN: It makes some of the stories, the survivors told about grabbing on to anything a tree or a mattress or things like that, even just more amazing that they were able to survive.
HEMMER: And those people who grabbed on to something that they could if they had that opportunity, they held on for --
O'BRIEN: As they're zipping by.
HEMMER: They held on for hours.
O'BRIEN: Right. Six, eight, ten hours sometimes. Pretty shocking pictures. Hard to be shocked, after two weeks, it sort of hard to be shocked, still isn't it? But still is.
Let's take a turn here and talk about what's coming up this hour in the business report. Andy has a sneak peek at something very new. What you'll be driving in the future. A look at some concept vehicles just ahead, when Andy is "Minding Your Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. If you're looking for the most critically acclaimed Car of the Year, Andy Serwer has an answer for you, first check, "Minding Your Business".
Happy Monday to you. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Good to see you, Bill. Good to see you, Soledad. Nice to see you back.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
SERWER: We're talking about the Detroit Auto Show, this is the granddaddy of the business. With 700 cars on display there; 800,000 visitors expected. They've already voted for car and SUV of the year. And as you may imagine, yes, it's the Baby Bentley, the Chrysler 3000. Could it be any other car? That was voted Car of the Year.
There it is.
CAFFERTY: That's a good-looking car.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Looks great, doesn't it? It really looks great up there.
O'BRIEN: Is it expensive?
SERWER: Yes, it is kind of expensive. How much is it, Todd? We have any idea? They don't know.
The SUV is the Ford Escape. And this is kind of interesting, because it's the first hybrid to ever win in the category. So there you go. That looks pretty nice too.
And there are some cool concept cars as you might imagine there. One that's kind of really interesting is called the Synus, believe it, or not.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
SERWER: It is kind of strange, it's a Synus, S-Y-N-U-S.
HEMMER: Like a sinus headache?
SERWER: It's a little, pint-sized Brinks truck. We'll get a picture of it later in the show. It is kind of cool.
HEMMER: Worth waiting for.
SERWER: Yes, it sure is.
O'BRIEN: They should change the name.
SERWER: They should. It's kind of a joke, I think. They said it was firmly with -- with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Just a lot of fun.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thanks.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to "The Cafferty File." "The Question of the Day".
Hello.
CAFFERTY: How you doing?
O'BRIEN: Never better. And you?
CAFFERTY: Everything all right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, so far, so good.
CAFFERTY: Good.
An independent commission investigating the U.N. Oil-For-Food program released its initial assessment yesterday. What a nightmare. Confirming that Oil-For-Food was a corrupt enterprise of monumental proportions. The commission reports the U.N. failed to adequately monitor the $64 billion program, often ignored the recommendations of its own auditors. The commission has released 58 financial audits that show numerous instances of overpayments to contractors, including the firms hired to monitor Iraq's oil exports and its imports of food, medicine and supplies intended for the Iraqi people. One of those firms, Katectna (ph), employed the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It's a huge moment for the United Nations, they are facing a lot of scrutiny as they spearhead the relief effort for tsunami victims and handle billions of the dollars in aid money for that enterprise.
But is it too late? Is too much damage already done?
Here's the question: What does the United Nations have to do to restore its credibility?
I mean, start reading through this stuff and nobody has any idea where this money went. Nobody's paying any attention. The auditors say you need to do this and this. None of it had been done. It's an absolute --
HEMMER: Is it millions or is it billions?
CAFFERTY: It is a $64 billion program. Of that, there is $20 billion that nobody can find. Nobody can account for $20 billion.
O'BRIEN: A third of their money is gone?
CAFFERTY: Gone! And 40 percent of the administrative costs for this program, which they budgeted at $1 billion and ran the office here in New York City, 40 percent of that money, unaccounted for. Can't find it. Over $400 million, gone.
SERWER: He's upset.
HEMMER: You give us a lot to think about. Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Time for "90 Second Pop" on a Monday, too. Coming up in a moment.
Hollywood's royal couple breaking up. Brad and Jen heading for Splitsville? The big question today, what's the real reason behind this break up? We'll have it for you ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 10, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A storm of historic proportions pounding the West Coast. Incredible snow in the mountains, in some places, 19 feet deep.
A dramatic rescue in Los Angeles, where the higher temperatures meant rain, rain, and more rain.
In the Middle East a new beginning for the Palestinians. Their choice for president announced this morning. Will peace now follow?
And the awesome force of the tsunami as it ravaged Indonesia. Amazing pictures that bear witness to the disaster on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 7 o'clock on a Monday here in New York City. Good morning to you.
Good morning to you as well, Soledad. Welcome back from Thailand.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The story is still with us, as you can see from the videotape we've shown from Indonesia. Unbelievable images in Banda Aceh. A videotape shot by a wedding photographer, he was on the rooftop when the tsunami hit.
That city is one of many places where the death toll was highest and it easy now to see why. Hard to imagine anyone surviving the force of this water; an entire city coming apart right before your eyes and being swept away in a rush of water.
O'BRIEN: Look at that. And, you know, you would see the people who did not make it, a number of them drowned, out and out drowned in the water. But there are so many who got just pummeled by all the debris that even, you know, even though they could hang on to something, were just hit and hit and hit again and again by cars sometimes that it's just awful to see, frankly, when they were recovering some of the remains, you saw how horrible ways in which they died.
HEMMER: We've seen videotape from Phuket, Thailand, where you were. We've seen videotape in India and Sri Lanka. But this, as far as I can recall, is the first videotape we've actually seen from northern Sumatra and Indonesia, so. We'll talk more about that in a moment. John King is still on the scene. We'll talk to John there, live from overseas.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the massive storm out West, it is a serious one-two punch of snow and then rain. We'll check in from Tahoe City, where the snowfall is some of the deepest in generations.
Plus, we'll talk to members of the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department, involved in this very dramatic rescue. We'll tell you more about this guy's story and what happened to him at the very end.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday morning.
Good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How you doing guys? Nice work over there last week.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
CAFFERTY: You done good, kid. We was proud of you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: The report's out on the U.N. Oil-For-Food program. It's just a nightmare, overpayment to contractors, lack of supervision, failure to implement recommendations of auditors. Wasn't anybody watching this thing? $64 billion at stake, and we'll take a look at what the U.N.'s got to do now to try and dig itself out of a huge black hole, where its credibility is concerned. This thing was so poorly managed, it just defies your imagination.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
HEMMER: Also, on a Monday morning, Kelly Wallace with us with the headlines across town, here in New York.
Hey, Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Bill. Good morning, everyone.
"Now in the News": Less than three weeks before elections to be held in Iraq, a top security official in Baghdad has been assassinated. The city's deputy police chief and his son were gunned down early this morning outside their home in southern Baghdad.
Police are investigating the attack. Just moments ago, Iraqi's Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says elections will go on as scheduled on January 30th, despite a recent upsurge in violence.
In the Middle East, Palestinian officials are set this hour to certify the frontrunner, Mahmoud Abbas, as the new Palestinian president. He had unofficially declared himself the winner of Sunday's election earlier today. He predicts "a difficult mission ahead". The official announcement is expected shortly. Opening statements due to get underway in about three hours in the military trial of Army Reservist Charles Grainer. He is the accused ringleader of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. His lawyer says the 36-year-old Army specialist might take the stand in his own defense. The trial is expected to last about a week.
And Lance Armstrong, will he go for number seven? The recorded six-time Tour de France champ is set to introduce a new Discovery Channel, Pro Cycling Team, this morning. The successor to his U.S. Postal Service squad. This, amid speculation Armstrong may hang up the yellow jersey and concentrate on European classics. We'll have to see. Seven would be a big challenge, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: He's not going to do that. He's going to go for number seven.
WALLACE: I think so, too.
O'BRIEN: Hang up the jersey and concentrate on -- please.
WALLACE: No, no, no.
O'BRIEN: That's my unofficial prediction.
WALLACE: I think you might be right.
O'BRIEN: Kelly, thanks.
WALLACE: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this winter storm. It's a winter storm warning now in effect for the Sierra Nevada region of California and Nevada. As much as four more feet of snow could fall before tomorrow. Now, that's on top of the already 19 feet in some parts. CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano live for us in Tahoe City, California with more.
Hey, Rob, good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
It's been an incredible weekend. Snow just coming and coming and coming. Even for the ski resorts that surround beautiful Lake Tahoe, at 6,000 feet, the snow even too much for them to handle. We've had road closures. At one point, the Reno airport was closed. Even an Amtrak train was stuck over Donner Pass, over 200 passengers there had to spend the night. They finally arrived in Sacramento later on Sunday morning.
Getting a bit of a break right now. More on the way, the snow really seems to never want to stop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice over): Snow, snow, and more snow. A series of storms has dumped as much as 19 feet of snow in the High Sierra mountains. Believed to be the most snow in the region in nearly 90 years. Avalanches and hazardous driving conditions are top concerns.
LEL TONE, AVALANCHE COORDINATOR: Visibility goes down to absolutely zero. A lot of accidents happen. The winds are absolutely screaming on the ridges. We had winds last night of 163 miles per hour.
MARCIANO: Plows and snow blowers working around the clock to keep traffic flowing. Despite their best efforts, several major highways between California and Nevada shut down. And in one instance, travelers were stranded in their cars for over 12 hours.
Conditions on the slopes are even more difficult. Although some skiers decided to brave the elements, at least until resort managers shut the slopes down.
GARY MURPHY, AVALANCHE FORECASTER: Wind is the architect of avalanches and what we're seeing here is slab avalanches developing in the upper mountain because of wind-driven snow.
MARCIANO: Ski patrollers hit the most unstable areas of the mountain, setting off charges to blast away potentially deadly avalanches.
Even more snow may be on the way. Local forecasters in the area have extended a winter storm warning across the Sierra and parts of northern Nevada into Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: More snow on wait. Can you believe that? They don't want anymore at this point. Even the folks who run hotels here say, you know, we need time too dig out. Look how they have to dig out. This is a sidewalk.
This isn't just plowed up. This is cut through the snow. They just have to keep piling it up and piling it up. At some point, they literally take front loaders and move them to either another spot, you know, might not be a bad idea to dump it in the lake.
The Sierra Nevadas is one of the snowiest areas on earth, certainly proving that to be the case now. In Reno, in a desert, about 50 miles to the north and east of Tahoe, doesn't get nearly this much snow and they've already had several feet of snow. Since December 28, up until now, over five feet. This should be the snowiest storm since 1916 for those folks. Historic nonetheless.
More snow expected tonight and tomorrow. Couple of feet here at lake level. Double that up at ski resorts. Hoping to clear things out by the time Wednesday and Thursday rolls around. Trust me, they could use the break.
Back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: What a mess. If they've overwhelmed Tahoe, which is used to a lot of snow, it cannot be good. Rob Marciano this morning, thanks. MARCIANO: You bet.
HEMMER: The same part of the country now in Southern California, the story there is rain, the fifth straight day of it, in fact. There is severe flooding and mudslides, power outages. Also, as Miguel Marquez reports today, there are also some incredible rescues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's about as dramatic as a rescue gets. A man stripped of his clothing by the rush of water, almost doesn't make it.
Before the man was pulled to shore, he spent about 40 minutes floating through the Los Angeles suburbs on the roof of his BMW. His kids had been rescued earlier, but his car became a boat for about two miles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope tight! Grab it tight!
MARQUEZ: In Hollywood Hills, a house crumpled after the water sodden hillside behind it gave way.
REBECCA HAYES, EVACUEE: I hear this woman, from this car, say oh, oh, my god, oh, my god, my house fell (ph)!
MARQUEZ: A 33-year-old man and his two kids were plucked from the debris. Fire officials say is 10-year-old son buried up to his neck in mud was lucky to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got a baby, Michael.
MARQUEZ: In the suburbs north of Los Angeles, a river raged in what was once a dry creek bed. After a wall collapsed, a trailer park flooded, residents packed up children and chihuahuas and headed for dryer ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad wants to stay, but we have no choice. We have to evacuate.
MARQUEZ: Across Southern California, mud slid off rain-soaked hills, rock and mudslides blocked roads, creating hazards, almost everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mother Nature at its worst.
MARQUEZ: Mother Nature, relentless. In Malibu, a car with five passengers plunged on to the rocky shore. One person was killed. Near Dodger Stadium a homeless man died after being buried in mud.
(on camera): I want to give you a sense of where I am. We're in the Hollywood Hills on Laurel Canyon Boulevard where the street has literally turned into a river tonight. Many cars not even coming up the boulevard here, because they're so concerned about the water.
California's Office of Emergency Management says officially, two people have died in this storm. But several others have been killed in traffic related accidents. And California's due for another belt of storms Monday evening -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now, we have two of the people involved in the first incredible rescue you saw Miguel talk about. Captain Thomas McGalley and Captain Mike Yule of the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department are my guests now, up early there in California.
Gentlemen, good morning to you.
Captain McGalley, describe the scene as you saw it when you arrived there with this man and his two children there in the water below you.
CAPTAIN THOMAS McGALLEY, SANTE FE SPRINGS FIRE DEPT.: Well, it was pretty exciting for us. Even though we end up dealing with this quite a bit we had one vehicle that was actually in the riverbed itself.
We had approximately 40 bystanders that were up on board the bridge at the railing. They were attempting at that time to remove two of the females from the vehicle itself. We arrived on scene, assisted them. And the vehicle was actually floating down the riverbed so it had to be pinched at that time.
We were able to assist them, get the first two females out of the vehicle. And then the vehicle continued to float underneath the bridge out of our view. Our initial response, we went ahead and moved units further downstream in case we had to you'd utilize them and it became apparent at that time, we had to utilize them.
HEMMER: Just so our viewers know, you saved his two children first. He's still in the water, as you described to us. But what we just saw, too, was the chance of you bringing him on board that bridge, but then he slips at the last second. He lost his pants in all of this in addition to his car. He goes downriver for two miles.
Captain Yule, how did you keep track of him during that time?
CAPT. MIKE YULE, SANTE FE SPRINGS FIRE DEPT.: During that time, we had people that were actually running the riverbank and keeping an eye on him. Captain McGalley on Engine 81 and myself on truck 811, went down one of the main streets and set up at the bridge. We had visual with him the whole time. And set up the rope systems to get him out of the water.
HEMMER: Wow. How are they doing today, do you know, Captain Yule?
YULE: Last I heard, he is unhurt and in good spirits.
HEMMER: To Captain McGalley, too, as we watch this videotape, here again, have you ever seen weather like this? In that part of the country? McGALLEY: The last big weather I believe we had like this was back in 1983, with the El Nino weather. But it's been raining quite a bit here for the last week. And all that water runs down. The way the storm system is designed is to get as much volume of water back out to the ocean and off the streets. That creates a lot of problems for us, especially when people get involved in the riverbed itself.
HEMMER: Job well done to both of you. And my best to you. Thomas McGalley and Mike Yule, captains out there in Santa Fe Springs, California. It has made for a heck of a follow-up to a story we watched over the weekend.
Thank you, gentlemen, well done.
McGALLEY: Thank you.
YULE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Wow, just remarkable.
Time to take a look at what's happening in today's forecast elsewhere as well.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
HEMMER: For two weeks, watching the amazing videotape out of Southeast Asia, you well know because you were there in Thailand. And perhaps nothing, though like we're seeing today in this videotape. A stunning new look at the power of the tsunami as it worked its way through the island of Sumatra. We'll get to that in a moment, also.
O'BRIEN: Amazing pictures.
Also, will Mahmoud Abbas get the Mideast peace process rolling again? One expert tells us why he thinks everybody's in for a sobering reality.
Also, here in the U.S., was sabotage behind the deadly train collision in South Carolina? That's ahead as well on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Two weeks after the tsunami disaster, here are some new developments. More than 140,000 people have died across the region. That number down from previous reports in which many Sri Lankan victims were counted twice. Still, the toll is expected to keep climbing as recovery efforts continue.
In Indonesia alone, at least 77,000 people are missing. The death toll there is 95,000. Most of the casualties are coming from the Aceh Province.
U.S. officials are making slow progress determining the fates of missing Americans. 18 U.S. citizens have now been confirmed dead, by the State Department, another 18 are presumed dead. Over 1,100 inquiries are unresolved.
Relief flights into Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, have resumed after a helicopter crash closed the airfield for just about an hour this morning. Investigators are trying to determine what caused a U.S. Navy chopper to plunge into a rice paddy just 100 yards from the crowded airport. The 10 crew members on board suffered only minor injuries.
Aceh Province, in northern Indonesia, was closest to the epicenter of the underwater earthquake and is one of the most devastated areas. John King joins us live from there this morning.
Hey, John, good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
So much sadness and devastation still evident here, but we thought this morning we'd share one positive milestone. The schools reopened today. The government making that decision not only to get the children back in school for education purposes, but also believing that psychologically, it would be good to get the children back into school, among their friends, in a learning and a positive environment.
So the schools reopened today, still as they did reopen, in many ways also a reminder that many students here were missing and will never attend classes again. Coming to grips with that, one of the many steps Indonesia, and especially here in Banda Aceh, that must be taken on the road to recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice over): Sunday morning, the market bustling, Banda Aceh, two weeks later. There is nothing normal here anymore. But some streets are busy again.
Anna Martia (ph), comes for salted fish, some chilies, watercress. And with her groceries carries hope that from disaster will ultimately come better days.
ANNA MARTIA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): Let's see what happens after these foreigners come. With the aid coming in, maybe it will become a greater city. There is so much help coming in.
KING: Coming in by the planeload. Though, at the two-week mark there are still significant problems delivering help to devastated coastal areas to the west of Band Aceh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the foreseeable future, there will be no road access to large portions of the coast. It will be by boat and helicopter.
KING: This line, near the town's center, at times runs two hours. At the end, cheerful Australian troops and the cherished commodity, drinking water.
New video, shown on Indonesian television, shows the devastation as the tsunami hits Banda Aceh. Fritzi (ph) was on a bridge and saw it coming.
KING (on camera): What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I run with my friends. I have eight friends and I ran. Running, just running, don't think about all the things. Don't think about -- just running.
KING (voice over): Two weeks later she still worries it could happen again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't explain it.
KING (on camera): Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trauma (ph), I've been through trauma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: On the 15th day since the tsunami, one of the challenges in the week ahead, plans to relocate many of the refugee camps. The United Nations says it wants to move many refugees into what it says are better camps with better services, sanitation, facilities for the refugees. Some are worried simply about moving in this uncertain environment.
And, Soledad, we're in the rainy season as well. It has been raining heavily all day. Rained heavily throughout much of the weekend. Conditions on the ground certainly complicating what already is a dire time for the refugees in the camps. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: That rain making things worse. John King for us.
John, thank you very much.
John mentioned some of the new pictures from Banda Aceh showing the force of the wave that took so many lives. Let's look again. This amateur videotape capturing what we've in many cases just previously imagined, the raging river of debris running through the streets.
The water reaching second floors of buildings as the folks there try to scramble to safety. This was the scene about 15 minutes after a massive earthquake triggered the tsunami. The tape shot by a local wedding photographer who was perched on a rooftop as the flood carried off everything in its path.
This was Banda Aceh before the tsunami hit, if you can show a picture of that. And then after, there's the before shot. Let's look at the after shot. You can see, completely wiped out. Pretty shocking.
Let's go back to this videotape, because I think it's amazing to see. We were told and then we had the opportunity, in other regions, not just Banda Aceh, but really everywhere where this tsunami had an impact, to see that a lot of the damage that was done, again, not necessarily done by people who were just overwhelmed by the wave itself, but by the debris. Look at that. That's a river of just junk and garbage and going as fast as it was. You know, anyone who is in there, if they don't drown, they're going to be pummeled to death in some cases.
HEMMER: The thing that strikes me about that, Soledad, is it just keeps going and going, and on and on. That river of everything, debris and cars and homes, just right down the center part of that town.
O'BRIEN: It makes some of the stories, the survivors told about grabbing on to anything a tree or a mattress or things like that, even just more amazing that they were able to survive.
HEMMER: And those people who grabbed on to something that they could if they had that opportunity, they held on for --
O'BRIEN: As they're zipping by.
HEMMER: They held on for hours.
O'BRIEN: Right. Six, eight, ten hours sometimes. Pretty shocking pictures. Hard to be shocked, after two weeks, it sort of hard to be shocked, still isn't it? But still is.
Let's take a turn here and talk about what's coming up this hour in the business report. Andy has a sneak peek at something very new. What you'll be driving in the future. A look at some concept vehicles just ahead, when Andy is "Minding Your Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. If you're looking for the most critically acclaimed Car of the Year, Andy Serwer has an answer for you, first check, "Minding Your Business".
Happy Monday to you. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Good to see you, Bill. Good to see you, Soledad. Nice to see you back.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
SERWER: We're talking about the Detroit Auto Show, this is the granddaddy of the business. With 700 cars on display there; 800,000 visitors expected. They've already voted for car and SUV of the year. And as you may imagine, yes, it's the Baby Bentley, the Chrysler 3000. Could it be any other car? That was voted Car of the Year.
There it is.
CAFFERTY: That's a good-looking car.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Looks great, doesn't it? It really looks great up there.
O'BRIEN: Is it expensive?
SERWER: Yes, it is kind of expensive. How much is it, Todd? We have any idea? They don't know.
The SUV is the Ford Escape. And this is kind of interesting, because it's the first hybrid to ever win in the category. So there you go. That looks pretty nice too.
And there are some cool concept cars as you might imagine there. One that's kind of really interesting is called the Synus, believe it, or not.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
SERWER: It is kind of strange, it's a Synus, S-Y-N-U-S.
HEMMER: Like a sinus headache?
SERWER: It's a little, pint-sized Brinks truck. We'll get a picture of it later in the show. It is kind of cool.
HEMMER: Worth waiting for.
SERWER: Yes, it sure is.
O'BRIEN: They should change the name.
SERWER: They should. It's kind of a joke, I think. They said it was firmly with -- with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Just a lot of fun.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thanks.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to "The Cafferty File." "The Question of the Day".
Hello.
CAFFERTY: How you doing?
O'BRIEN: Never better. And you?
CAFFERTY: Everything all right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, so far, so good.
CAFFERTY: Good.
An independent commission investigating the U.N. Oil-For-Food program released its initial assessment yesterday. What a nightmare. Confirming that Oil-For-Food was a corrupt enterprise of monumental proportions. The commission reports the U.N. failed to adequately monitor the $64 billion program, often ignored the recommendations of its own auditors. The commission has released 58 financial audits that show numerous instances of overpayments to contractors, including the firms hired to monitor Iraq's oil exports and its imports of food, medicine and supplies intended for the Iraqi people. One of those firms, Katectna (ph), employed the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It's a huge moment for the United Nations, they are facing a lot of scrutiny as they spearhead the relief effort for tsunami victims and handle billions of the dollars in aid money for that enterprise.
But is it too late? Is too much damage already done?
Here's the question: What does the United Nations have to do to restore its credibility?
I mean, start reading through this stuff and nobody has any idea where this money went. Nobody's paying any attention. The auditors say you need to do this and this. None of it had been done. It's an absolute --
HEMMER: Is it millions or is it billions?
CAFFERTY: It is a $64 billion program. Of that, there is $20 billion that nobody can find. Nobody can account for $20 billion.
O'BRIEN: A third of their money is gone?
CAFFERTY: Gone! And 40 percent of the administrative costs for this program, which they budgeted at $1 billion and ran the office here in New York City, 40 percent of that money, unaccounted for. Can't find it. Over $400 million, gone.
SERWER: He's upset.
HEMMER: You give us a lot to think about. Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Time for "90 Second Pop" on a Monday, too. Coming up in a moment.
Hollywood's royal couple breaking up. Brad and Jen heading for Splitsville? The big question today, what's the real reason behind this break up? We'll have it for you ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
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