Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Hurricane Dennis Heading Toward Florida Panhandle; New Developments in London Terrorist Attacks; Birmingham Evacuated

Aired July 09, 2005 - 20:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN, your hurricane headquarters. Hurricane Dennis now barreling north in the Gulf heading toward the Florida Panhandle and gaining strength by the hour. Thousands vacate and thousand board up as Dennis moves in. And where Dennis has gone, devastation has moved in. From Haiti north to Key West, Dennis is leaving its footprint.
It is Saturday, July 9 and you are watching a special edition of CNN LIVE SATURDAY from your hurricane headquarters.

Good evening from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. CNN is your hurricane headquarters all night long and we will have in- depth coverage of the storm in just a minute. But first these are the stories also making news right now.

Thousands of people were evacuated tonight from part of the second largest city in Britain, in response to an undisclosed threat. Early this evening police ordered bars, shops and restaurants to close in an entertainment district of Birmingham. All patrons were advised to leave. Now at this hour police are still declining to provide further details to CNN. We are going to have a live report from London coming up a little bit later.

In the mean time police in London say three of the four bombs that shook the city on Thursday exploded seconds apart. They say the new information suggests the bombs that hit three subway trains were triggered by timing devises. The deadly bus bomb exploded an hour later, the confirmed death toll remains at 49 as recovery workers struggle to remove remaining bodies.

And just a short time ago the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at the Kennedy Space Center for Wednesday's planned lift off. It is scheduled to be the first flight of the shuttle fleet since the Columbia disaster two and a half years ago.

Now back to our special coverage Hurricane Dennis is gaining strength as it closes in on the northern Gulf coast. Dennis now a category 3 hurricane is expected to make landfall tomorrow afternoon. Already Dennis has killed as many as 32 people and prompted mass evacuations. So lets see where Dennis is right now. For that we go to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well Carol about 280 miles to the south of Panama City that is the exact location and rapid intensification continues to take place. As a category 3 hurricane as you mentioned with winds of 115 miles per hour but some gusts are higher than that. Despite the changes that we have seen in the intensification no changes in the official forecast track.

That is still right on target at this time. I have been watching those satellite radar image rain and it looks like we might be taking a little bit of a wobble to the north right now. So we will watch that very closely and see if it just a wobble or if maybe there is some other changes taking place. Just so you know that that is there out there.

Forecast track has it moving up to northwest and then slightly turning on up to the north and that might be what it is doing right now. Like I said we will watch it. Making landfall tomorrow afternoon, likely between the hours of two and six Eastern Time, still some changes possible in that. If it goes a little farther off to the east it is going to hit earlier, if it goes a little father off to the west it is going to be hitting later. So keep that in mind also.

Here are your official static's if you are tracking it at home, the latitude and longitude along with the winds at 115 miles per hour. We are expecting that to continue to intensify tonight a very rapid pace and then maybe slow down a little bit with the intensification tomorrow but becoming a category 4 hurricane with winds possibly up to a 140 per hour. We will explain category 4 more in just a minute.

I want to show you Carol how wide spread the rainfall is already with Dennis; it is not just affecting people in Florida. But it is hitting across parts of Mississippi and Alabama, all across Georgia and even in to the Carolina's. And you can see some of these showers and thunderstorms, when you start to see some of these yellows and these reds. That is very intense, so you are getting a lot of rainfall.

I want to show you a really cool animation that we just got in Carol and this is from a true view system. Here is Alabama, here if Florida so imagine yourself standing here on the beach looking out at the Gulf of Mexico. This red dot you see out here, this is Dennis as it approaches. When are we going to start to feel more of the impact right here along the Gulf coast, well take a look at what happens tonight.

The clouds will begin to increase, the showers and thunderstorms will be arriving by early tomorrow morning and watch that wave action begin to pick up by mid day we will be seeing some very heavy showers and thunderstorms. The hurricane forced winds arriving maybe around dawn and then the landfall we are expecting mid tomorrow afternoon as a category 4, winds of 140 miles per hour.

The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center what does it mean when a category 4 makes landfall? And these winds will be between 131- 155 mph, storm surge 13-18 feet. And widespread structural damage. Very large trees blown can be knocked down, flooding up to 6 miles inland. And massive evacuations are required and of course many those evacuations already taking place -- Carol.

LIN: You bet, Jacqui. More than a million people told to leave their homes as we speak along the Gulf shores. So it maybe a fair warning in deed if it is a category 4 when it makes land fall. Jacqui, we will check back with you at the bottom of the hour.

In the meantime as we just heard the Alabama coast is right in the danger zone. Many people there are heading evacuation orders and heading for higher ground but others are still taking their chances of staying put. And they are hoping for the best. Well forecasters warn Mobile, Alabama may suffer a direct hit from Dennis. CNN's Dan Lothian is in that city and he joins us now with the very latest there. Dan are folks taking the order seriously to get out of town?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did talk just earlier with an emergency management official and he told me that people do appear to be listening to that evacuation order. More than 500,000 people from southern Alabama have already evacuated. There is a lot of concern, emergency management officials truly believing that this area Mobile will be heavily impacted by Hurricane Dennis. The storm surge expected between 10 to 12 feet, so a lot of people have been packing up and moving out.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): On this beautiful day as tourist play and sing on the white sands of Gulf shores. It is hard to focus on bad weather and Hurricane Dennis brewing hundreds of miles offshore. But that is exactly what restaurant owner Fred Peninger is doing.

FRED PENINGER, RESTAURANT OWNER: It is scary when it is out there.

LOTHIAN: Probable storm Cindy delivered another scale.

PENINGER: Like a sand storm coming straight across.

LOTHIAN: But now there is the threat of something much bigger, so the front deck awning is coming down. And if Dennis stays on course windows and doors will be boarded up. When you see a headline like this what does it make you, what goes through your mind?

PENINGER: That the prediction is wrong.

LOTHIAN: Peninger has been down this road before with devastating results. Last year it was Hurricane Ivan. So the water just came through your restaurant?

PENINGER: Came through here, picked up the front deck. It was battered. Everything you see out front here was just like a rag doll. Just pulled up, moved up.

LOTHIAN: Once again more than 500,000 people in southern Alabama have been evacuated to one of the main highways running in and out of here, I65 is now simply running north bound, that makes it a more efficient way of moving the folks out of here that were evacuated from the area. More than 70 shelters have been put in to place and we're told by emergency management officials that between 450 to 500 National Guards troops have been activated to be deployed to areas that will be impacted by the storm -- Carol. LIN: All right, dangerous work tonight and tomorrow. Dan Lothian thank you very much. In just a few minutes I'm going to be talking with the mayor of Mobile, Alabama. He is going to update us on how city officials are preparing for what could be a devastating storm there.

In the mean time the eye of the storm missed the Florida Keys but strong winds and pounding rain left a mess in Key West. Reporter Greg Hunter joins me now on the telephone from Key West to give us an idea of about the extent of the damage. Greg what are you looking at right now?

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well even though the eye past us well to the west, we had winds of up to like the mid 70s which is category 1 winds, a lot of debris, a lot of water, power lines down. Luckily nobody hurt or killed, but it still raining, it started raining last night and bands of rain it picked up this morning with heavy rain and winds in the mid 70s as I said earlier. And right now as we speak it is still raining and people now released are getting out. I guess compared to what it was just a few hours ago. It was bad, but rain's still coming down. This is a big storm.

LIN: You bet. But Greg, fortunately nobody hurt. I did hear though the dramatic rescue by the Key West fire department where, frankly, some little old ladies in their house were trapped because of a fallen tree. And firefighters actually managed to brave 40 mph winds and go and rescue them.

HUNTER: They got them out, they are safe. And that is one of the things we did not cover today, but is the extent of most of the damage, now there is leaking roofs, there is debris in the streets. There was as much a foot and a half of water in downtown Key West today. But they were lucky but you got to remember the storm passed well to the west and I hate to see what would happen if somebody took a direct hit from this thing.

LIN: Right, which is what the folks along the Gulf shores are thinking about right now. Greg Hunter thank you very much. Reporting to us on the telephone from Key West. Just a glancing blow from Hurricane Dennis. It could have been worse but we will see as it picks up steam as it is heading towards the main land United States right now.

Now before Key West Dennis unleashed it's fiery on Cuba. Dennis which was a category 4 storm at one point battered much of the island nation last night. Homes were damaged; thousands of people are still with out power there. Dennis is blamed for killing ten people there. Another 22 people are reported dead in Haiti. United Nations officials say at least a hundred people are still missing.

Now do you have any compelling video or a photo of Hurricane Dennis on your cell phone? If so give it to us, send it to us. Send it to CNN. Log on to cnn.com/hurricane click on send us your stories and share your video and photos or comments we would love to hear from you. In the mean time dangerous weather spinning off Hurricane Dennis is already making a mess along Florida's Gulf coast. So straight ahead this hour a look at one neighborhood caught in the storm.

Also before the storm makes landfall plans are already under way for clean up, so we are going to check in as federal disaster officials prepare. But first new information about the London terrorist attack. And new fears in another British city. When CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well Pensacola, Florida, which was hit hard during the last hurricane season, could bear the brunt of Hurricane Dennis once it comes a shore. CNN's John Zarrella is live in Pensacola with a look at how people are preparing there for the storm. John they got to be worried now that it might be upgraded to a category 4 by the time it makes landfall.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol there is no doubt about that, you know, everything is already pretty much boarded up and shut down, the restaurants, the main streets, it is very, very much like a ghost town here now this evening as we approach darkness here in Pensacola. But I have to tell you, you know, it is hard to say how many people have left, they believe quite a few people got out of town early on this. But we talked to a man who was here a little while ago with his son.

And, you know, after they saw the storm come off Cuba and it was pretty ragged and down to barely a category 2 hurricane. They were planning to evacuate, they saw that and they changed their minds, and they had had reservations at a hotel in Georgia, which he gave up. So hard to say how many people are actually in that boat, you know, one of the serious considerations of course here is that they are still digging out from Hurricane Ivan a year ago, so many people with blue tarps still on their roofs, with debris in their yards with construction materials from the rebuilding process that has already begun.

And they are really concerned that a lot of that is going to end up getting blown around come tomorrow afternoon, become projectile flying and hitting other buildings and other structures. So, you know, it is a serious situation and I know officials here and in Mobile, Alabama are working to try and help residence, you know, get as much of that debris cleaned up, get it inside their homes as they possible can.

You know it is interesting one the county administrator in a press briefing about an hour and half or so ago said, he didn't know what the people of Pensacola had done wrong to deserve all this. First Ivan then two tropical storms and now this, possibly even worse than Ivan, there is a good bet that it will be. There are shelters here in Escambia County hold up to 8,400 people; they expect them to start filling up quickly tonight. They had only 600 people in those shelters earlier today. Now in Mississippi, in Buxom Gulf Port they have ordered mandatory evacuations there. All 17,000 people in those communities ordered to evacuate. So there is no doubt a ratcheting up or great concern here along the Gulf Coast because of the deepening strengthening power of Hurricane Dennis. And tomorrow we will all know exactly what community bears the brunt of what is now a major hurricane -- Carol.

LIN: Right because John right as you stand that is tentatively ground zero, I mean you are in the path of this hurricane. Pensacola a place that knows the impact 54 people died from Hurricane Ivan last year. You know the average hurricane direct hit for that area is like 12 years, so what are the chances that Pensacola is going to be hit for the second time in less than a year?

ZARRELLA: Well, you know, and think about last year when you had Jeanne and Frances hit with in a few miles of each other at -- meteorologically you would think impossible last year on Florida east coast but that happened. And now you have got two major hurricanes, you know, Ivan last year and now Dennis likely to hit very, very close to one another.

Again, you know, it just shows how little any of us puny humans know about Mother Nature and the power of nature, but we are certainly going to be feeling it tomorrow as we approach the morning hours and into the early afternoon hours. And the hope of course here is that as many people as possible got out, the islands have been closed down, Forvito (ph) Key is basically deserted. And it got to get every body off those Barrier Islands that would be a tragic mistake if anybody stayed out there -- Carol.

LIN: Can not underestimate Hurricane Dennis. It looks like it is going to be a big one. John you're a pro at this, you have seen them all. We will be counting on you for our coverage the next 24 hours. Thank you.

Well Pensacola is not alone in the danger zone. Mobile, Alabama also lies in the storms direct path. Officials are urging people to evacuate, but some residents are determined to ride out the storm. So joining me live by telephone Michael Dow the mayor of Mobile, Alabama. Mr. Mayor you yourself are hearing that people are refusing to live despite the reports that Hurricane Dennis could hit as a category 4?

MICHAEL DOW, MAYOR OF MOBILE ALABAMA (via telephone): Well I think that is pretty typical. All along the Gulf Coast we have heard all of our lives theses storms are coming and most of them don't, and I think people get accustomed to that. We are more intoned this year because of Ivan. And I think more people are taking it seriously but, you know, you prepare for the worst, I think that is what you do in these situations is prepare for the worst case scenario. And you hope to get lucky.

LIN: Right. And some mandatory evacuations, some voluntary. Do you have a sense of how many people have evacuated in Mobile?

DOW: I would guess maybe that half the population has gone. In low-lying areas I think most of them are pulled out and that was our main concern. Our main concern was around the rivers, the low lying coastal areas and particularly along the Orange Beach gulf shores, coastal areas in this region. We have had a special effort to get people out.

LIN: We heard about a dramatic rescue that happened in Key West, Florida over night where emergency workers, the fire fighters in Key West, you know, they have a policy we are not going out in hurricane force winds to rescue anybody, be forewarned. And yet they braved 40 mile an hour winds to rescue some elderly woman who were trapped in their house by a tree. What is going to be the policy of emergency workers in Mobile if people do decide to stay and suddenly call for help?

DOW: Well it is a judgment call in this kind of situation, we have done that nearly every storm. You know if we know somebody is in duress, and we know that -- last year we had a fireman completely blown off of his steep and that would up fire fighting, I mean the fireman were just completely blown away from the hose. And it was time to stop trying to put that last fire out so. That is their duty and they are good at it and we are blessed to have the kind of public safety, you know, employees -- they are very dedicated, just like our military.

LIN: You bet. All right well it could be similar to a war zone in your neck of the woods.

DOW: Well my heart goes to the Pensacola people, in Gulf shores, and all of these -- you know, that storm can just as easily hit here, but they haven't hit there twice is heartbreaking.

LIN: You bet. Michael Dow, Mayor Michael Dow. Thank you very much of Mobile, Alabama. Nearly 500 National Guards people mobilized in that area waiting for Hurricane Dennis to unleash it's fiery.

In the meantime another city on edge, Britain an entire country for that matter on edge for the second time in three days. Thousands are evacuated from the thriving center of the countries second largest city. More on this developing story straight ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

Plus from London mourning those lost and those who is missing following Thursday terror attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: New fears in Britain today. Thousands of people evacuated from the countries second largest city. Birmingham is a hundred miles from London and police received information about a threat aimed at the heart of the city today. And there are new developments in the investigation into the London terror attacks as well. Our Alessio Vinci is in London with the very latest on this. Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Carol. Lets start in Birmingham about 20,000 or even 30,000 people according to eye witnesses have been evacuated from the city, this after at around 8:00 local time, about 5 hours ago police received information that there was some kind of a threat and so they first alerted bars and restaurants to search people entering those establishments.

Then eventually 40 minutes later following more, another intelligence lead they decided to eventually to begin the evacuation of this main city center. Of course being a Saturday evening in Birmingham the city was packed with people going to restaurants, going to bars and of course the evacuation took quite some time.

They did actually conducted two separate concealed explosions, or destinations of suspicious packages. One of them on a bus, but after that they actually determined the package was not was harmless basically and there was no real threat. Police officials also are telling us that there is no connection between what is happening in Birmingham, and what is happening here in London.

Now meanwhile back here in London the recovery here at King's Cross Station is still very much underway. The searchers are working under very hostile conditions, it is hot, it is dusty, it is very dangerous down there about 100 ft or so below ground where one of the three underground explosions took place.

Police officials are saying they don't know how many more people remain trapped inside, how many bodies are remained trapped inside the wreckage of the train. And they are not clear on how may people are still missing, we are going by British meteor reports that about 2 dozen, 25 or 26 people are still missing but this not an official number.

We also have some new elements about the investigation today police officials telling us that it is now clear that the three explosions happened within 50 seconds., leading them to believe that the devices, the explosive devices were triggered by a timely device perhaps rather than a suicide bomber, so this is all the latest from London as far as the investigation. The same time meanwhile it is Saturday night here, the city is bustling with people, there are a lot of people in the streets going to bars and restaurants. But I can tell you also the city have not returned back to its usual self.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister Tony Blair says all the surveillance in the world could not have prevented the attacks. With that thought in mind people in London began their weekend in a more somber mood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know you can never be a 100 percent sure it is not going to happen again.

VINCI: On the surface it may look like business as usual. But the manager of this cafe says compared to a regular Saturday she has half as many customers.

YEN CHONG, RESTAURANT MANAGER: You know the food will be going out there, being prepared and flying off the shelves pretty quickly. Especially around this time.

VINCI: It is clear people remain on edge.

JUAN LA PUERTA, SHOPPER: Yesterday we were having dinner, you know, outside. There was an alarm from one shop, normal alarm, and the people were so afraid and running away and ...

VINCI: At King's Cross Station where 21 died a bomb scare forced police to evacuate this bus. Officers said a suspect package was found on board turned out to be nothing serious but an indication that the threat level remains high. Meanwhile people continue to contribute to the victims and show support for those still searching for missing loved ones. Police say the casualty bureau is receiving thousands of phone calls. Two days after the attacks the exact number of missing people is still not known.

Local media are suggesting as many as 25 people remain unaccounted for. Investigators don't know how many bodies are still inside the carriage of the Piccadilly line; rescuers they say are fighting a hard battle underground.

ANDY TROTTER, BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE: They are now facing particularly difficult conditions. It is extremely hot, very dust and it is great challenge for them to continue their work to recover the remaining bodies from the train underground.

VINCI: Most transport services in the capital have returned to normal. But people that are using the London underground are still facing delays.

A big task of course will come on Monday morning when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to return to work back here in the city Carol. Most of them will have no other alternative but to take the public transportation and of course police officials are telling them to remain vigilant and to report any kind of suspicious packages.

Carol back to you.

LIN: Alessio thank you. Obviously also here in the states this is your hurricane headquarters. So we are going to turn our attention back to our big story right here in the United States. Hurricane Dennis gaining strengths right now. Jacqui Jeras with the storms currant track toward the Gulf Coast straight ahead.

And a look at the damage left behind in Dennis' s path. The destruction and even the deaths. You are watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back. Here's a quick look at what's happening right now in the news.

North Korea agrees to return to six-party talks aimed at ending a standoff over it's nuclear program. The talks will begin in about two weeks. North Korea's decision came today after one of its officials met with a U.S. official in China.

Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines launched a offensive against rebels near Falluja. Twenty-two insurgent suspects have been detained in the operation which began Thursday. The U.S. military carried out a major offensive in Falluja last November.

Lance Armstrong holds onto the overall lead after today's eight stage of the Tour de France. The six-time defending champ withstood several challenges in the mountain stage of the race. He finished 27 seconds behind today's leader, but has an overall lead of an entire minute.

Officials at Washington's National Zoo are closely monitoring the health of a panda cub born early this morning. The cub is about the size of stick of butter and weighs just ounces. Officials say right now mother and cub are doing fine.

Welcome back to your hurricane headquarters. This is our top story tonight. The National Weather Service has upgraded Hurricane Dennis to a category 3 storm. Now earlier today Dennis dealt a glancing blow to Key West, Florida with sustained winds, now, of about 115 miles per hour. It continues to strengthen as it churns toward the Florida Panhandle.

And the head of the National Hurricane Center says, Dennis could strengthen to a category 4 by the time it makes landfall tomorrow. That is strong enough to rip apart a mobile home. The storm is expected to come ashore tomorrow afternoon between Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama.

As of now it is being blamed for 32 deaths, including 10 in Cuba and up to 22 in Haiti.

With the latest information on where the storm is headed, Jacqui Jeras at the CNN weather center.

JERAS: Hi, Carol. Hi, Carol.

We have some new information we want pass along to you. Actually, something we've been noticing, the CNN meteorologists, our team going on here tonight. And you are going to play meteorologist here at home. We might be seeing a little bit of a change in the direction that this thing is going.

I put a piece of paper on my wall here and I want you to watch the center of circulation, the eye. See how it skirts right along our paper and then all of a sudden it starts to jump on up to the north, right there. Do you see that?

At this time it looks like it has been pulling far enough north that this might not just be a wobble. We have often see little bumps and hills in the general direction that the hurricane is going, but this looks like it could potentially be a little bit more significant than just a wobble. If so, that could effect the track of Dennis. So this is something we're going to be watching very, very closely over the next couple of hours.

We get into official updated forecast track from National Hurricane Center at 11 o'clock Eastern Time. So we'll be watching this and we'll see if they make any changes as that comes along at the 11 o'clock time.

All right. Rip the paper out and let's move along to the latest on the statistic here and the direction of where Dennis is going. It is a major hurricane, 115 mile per hour winds, rapid intensification over the last six hours, more intensification expected through the rest of the night even through the day, for tomorrow.

Best estimate at this time is that it is likely going to be somewhere around the Florida Panhandle, Alabama state line area. But if we continue to pull northward on this storm track that could change it and bump it a little east. If it does that, that means that landfall would be a little bit earlier. So that is something that could be something very, very significant. Now, when are you going to start to feel more of the effects of this along the Gulf Coast, here on the northern Gulf Coast?

There you can see our hurricane force winds in the orange. Those should be arriving sometime tomorrow morning. If you haven't done everything that you need to do, you better rush and do that. Do it before dawn tomorrow, because by that time it is going to be too late for that.

I want to show you a sequence of radar pictures here. This is of some significant intensification in the showers and thunderstorms across the Florida peninsula at this time. They've been moving in and around the Orlando area. We can expect to see some wind gusts at times, 50, maybe 60 miles per hour with these thunderstorms as the push on through. Also, rainfall rates quite heavy around one to two inches per hour.

The moisture from Dennis making it all the way into northern Alabama; and this is a picture of Birmingham. And check out all those live lightening strikes that you see flickering there. None of the thunderstorms are severe but we've got the lightening and also some gusty winds on occasion.

Atlanta also getting in on the action here for tonight. Just some steadier rains and there are some significant delays also at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport because of Dennis.

So millions of Americans, certainly feeling the effects of this for tonight. The big blow comes tomorrow afternoon, Carol.

LIN: All right. Jacqui Jeras and her very sophisticated meteorology tools.

JERAS: You like that paper?

LIN: I like that. Let's see that paper again, perhaps in the next half hour.

JERAS: I'll show you later.

LIN: Thanks, Jacqui.

JERAS: OK. LIN: Well, that forecast is making people in Pensacola, Florida extremely nervous. With their city open to a direct hit from Dennis. Many residents are not taking any chances. They are boarding up and getting out. So joining me live with the latest from Pensacola is Susan Roesgen from CNN affiliate WGNO.

So, what are you seeing out there right now? It looks relatively calm.

SUSAN ROESGEN, WGNO, REPORTER: Well, relatively calm, but in the last few minutes it has gotten quite a bit darker, so we'll see what happens in the next half hour or so.

In the last hour, most homeowners and business owners along this stretch of Pensacola Beach were asked to leave. And from what we can see most of them have packed up and gone inland, even though they are reluctant to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN (voice-over): This is the Florida dream; to be able to live right along the beach. And the people who do live here are willing to take the risk that comes with that dream.

(on camera): Here's a little snapshot of Pensacola Beach, before Dennis gets here. Right where I'm standing use to be a house, a pretty good-sized one, but Ivan wiped it out. In fact, all over this neighborhood you'll see empty lots that used to be houses.

Let me show you something across the street here. This is one of those old 1950s cinder block houses. You can see that Ivan did a lot of damage to it. It is still standing, but it isn't livable. So in front of it now is this not-so-great FEMA RV. The government has provided hundreds of these in the Pensacola area for people who aren't able to live in their homes. They're living in these RVs.

Now the guy who lives here says he's going to leave. He's going to evacuate, but he's never really going to leave the beach. People who come out here love this lifestyle. He's just waiting for Dennis to knock out the rest of his house, probably knock out that RV, and then he's going to build again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I bought dog-eared pickets and I just put them all in here and they stayed. So I'm hoping it works again.

ROESGEN: Here's another one of those 1950s cottages. Kathy Gibbs fixed it up and just bought brand new furniture to replace the brand new furniture Ivan ruined. Two hurricanes in less than a year are no match for a woman determined to save her little place on the beach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, a lot of people would like to see it knocked down and put a big beautiful home, but even if I had $100 million, this is what I want. And I want to keep it just like it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROESGEN: Now, Cathy says, yes, the house will stay -- she hopes. But she is getting out. She plans to go just a few miles inland, in another area of Pensacola. A place that survived Hurricane Ivan and she thinks she will stay safe again in Hurricane Dennis, Carol.

LIN: We hope for the best. Thanks very much Susan Roesgen, live in Pensacola.

All right. Right now we are going to get the very latest on the path of Hurricane Dennis from Max Mayfield; he's at the National Hurricane Center.

Max, in the last hour you gave a pretty scary forecast that Hurricane Dennis may be upgraded to a category 4, close to the mainland. What have you got right now?

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Carol, this is a very, very dangerous hurricane. Even at the strength it is at right now it is a solid category 3 hurricane. The press reports coming in from the aircraft flying out there right now indicating the pressure is still decreasing, meaning that it will still intensify. This could very well become a category 4 hurricane before it makes landfall.

So people in that warning area need to listen very carefully to their local officials. We've been talking to the emergency managers, actually from Louisiana through Florida, all wee long and I do feel very good that people are responding as they should be.

LIN: It sure sounds like it from the folks that I've talking to along the Gulf shores coast. category 4, 130 mile an hour winds, minimum, right? And enough to shred up a mobile home, rip off roofs off of houses.

MAYFIELD: And blow in doors and windows. And the thing to remember here is that the damage really goes up exponentially as the winds increase. So, you know, a category 4 is not just a little bit worse than a category 3. It is a lot worse. So putting this in perspective, this hurricane could become stronger than Ivan, stronger than Opal, stronger than Frederic. Those are hurricanes that people remember up in this area.

LIN: You bet.

MAYFIELD: By the way, on Jacqui's paper there, if she had left that paper along the track of the hurricane.

LIN: Right?

MAYFIELD: About three or four hours ago, it would be going more westward. So, we learn to expect these wobbles, and I should also point out the graphics there that you just showed, that is not the official forecast from the National Hurricane Center. Our forecasts have been very consistent, coming up here in the general area where Hurricane Ivan hit. It could very well be a little bit left, a little bit right of that. But I just want to make sure people understand that. LIN: All right. Are there any variables at all in the next 24 hours, Max?

MAYFIELD: Sure. Man, we've learned to expect some changes. What we don't want to do is have people overly focus on just that little dot. You know, this hurricane is not just a dot. It is a large circulation and no matter where this hurricane makes landfall it is going to have a big, big impact over a very large area.

In fact, our number one concern is with the storm surge. We are now forecasting 12 to 14 feet of storm surge over a very large area here. This is Pensacola, Destin -- sorry, Fort Walter Beach (ph), Destin, even over toward Panama City are likely to have six to eight feet of storm surge, so.

LIN: So you are talking about flooding?

MAYFIELD: This will have a big impact.

LIN: Flooding six miles inland, then?

MAYFIELD: Well, it may -- it is probably not going to go six miles inland, but it can certainly overtop some of the barrier islands, and will push up into some of the bays. And some of those folks who died from the storm surge, last year in Ivan, were not on the barrier islands. They were actually well inland in the -- you know, the main (ph) importance are those bays.

LIN: Right.

MAYFIELD: So, people need to remember that. They are evacuating these people as we speak. People really need to take this very seriously.

LIN: Very seriously, indeed, category 4 not to be taken lightly.

Max Mayfield, thank you very much. I know you are going to be updating us throughout our special coverage tonight.

MAYFIELD: Thank you, Carol.

LIN: Appreciate it.

Well, far from the path of Hurricane Dennis, federal disaster officials in Washington are making preparations for the aftermath. CNN's Kathleen Koch reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alex Madison and her husband packed their bags and their twins and headed to a relative's home in Washington to escape Hurricane Dennis. They live in the Florida Keys, right on the water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were out for six months from Hurricane Ivan. And then we moved back in, in the middle of March. So now we're evacuating again.

KOCH: Laura Johnson, too, has evacuation fatigue.

LAURA JOHNSON, EVACUEE FROM FLORIDA: I'm pretty worried. And we just board up our windows. And it is just a repeat of Ivan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to our video teleconference this afternoon on Hurricane Dennis.

KOCH: Across town the Federal Emergency Management Agency conferenced with states in the storm's path to make sure everyone is ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The effort is going quite well. And also the cooperation with our state partners and our advanced teams in the field.

MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEMA: We're in total response mode right now. We're moving in supplies. We're moving in the meals ready-to-eat, ice, water, cots, medical personal.

KOCH: In nearby Maryland, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration kept a watchful eye on Dennis' progress. That job will continue even as the storm moves onshore, because of the possibility of deadly inland flooding.

ROBERT KELLEY, DIR., FORECAST OPS., NOAA: Even people further inland, in the lower Mississippi Valley, heading up -- and this storm will continue up to the lower Ohio River Valley. People need to be aware because there will be heavy rain inland and it could be very dangerous.

KOCH: The 2004 hurricane season marked the largest disaster response and recovery effort in FEMA's history. It spent more than $5 billion in Florida alone. But the head of FEMA insists those hurricanes have not hampered the agency's ability to respond this year.

BROWN: We still have a lot of recovery operations going on throughout the Southeast. So we already have some people and equipment down here. So the good news about last year's storms is that it has made us even better prepared for this year's storms.

KOCH: Still FEMA officials know they have their work cut out for them with forecasters predicting a hurricane season just as bad as last year's -- Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: We have much more coverage here from your hurricane headquarters, CNN. So stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Key West, Florida was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Dennis, but the storm's outer bands were so powerful as it passed by today they knocked out power, caused flooding and other minor damage today.

Right now Dennis is a category 3 hurricane, but it could reach category 4 strength. By this time tomorrow Hurricane Dennis will likely have already slammed ashore along -- somewhere along the Gulf Coast.

Today, many people heeded evacuation orders and headed for higher ground. But others are taking their chances and are staying put hoping for the best. CNN's Dan Lothian found out how Mobile, Alabama is reacting to Dennis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Boarding up and appealing to a higher power. Residents in Mobile, Alabama braced for Hurricane Dennis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think it is very important. We'd like to put that message out to everybody. You know, need to pray. That's the only thing that is going to get us through this thing. And at least calm our nerves and, you know, just keep things straight.

LOTHIAN: This restaurant's trademark shark has been removed from it's rooftop perch. The employees are pitching in, placing tables, chairs and other supplies from the first floor into large containers and sending them to storage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to believe it is so pretty, it's going to be such a bad storm coming. Hopefully we'll have a business to come back to.

LOTHIAN: Anything that can blow away has been removed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you worry about some of the inventory that's left, you know, we'll loose the coolers. Primary thing is really to save the employees.

LOTHIAN: Owners say they have been hit by other hurricanes. Last year Ivan caused extensive damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. It just -- they're just getting closer and closer. It's getting to be a hard time.

LOTHIAN: But the threat of more storms and more damage doesn't appear to dampen the desire to keep this business right where it is, on the water's edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know that is the price you pay for living in paradise. You know, south Alabama is absolutely beautiful and we're thankful to be here.

LOTHIAN (on camera): A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for Mobile and surrounding areas and more than 70 shelters are now open. Emergency officials are now considering imposing a curfew from tomorrow morning to tomorrow evening -- Dan Lothian, CNN, Mobile, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right. Do you have a compelling video or maybe even a photograph if you are in hurricane country, of Hurricane Dennis? Maybe even on your cell phone. If so, send it to us. Send it to CNN. Log on to cnn.com/hurricane. All you have to do is click on "Send Us Your Stories" and share your video, photos or comments. But please do not do anything risky in order to shoot the video. You safety is paramount. The same way we tell our crews in the middle of the storm their safety comes first as well.

In the meantime, you are watching your hurricane headquarters, here at CNN. So stay tuned, we've got much more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Thanks so much for tuning in for our special Hurricane Dennis coverage. Remember you can go to cnn.com for more on the storm, including the predicted path of the storm, safety tips, and images of the storm damage. Now stay with CNN as Hurricane Dennis gets closer to making landfall because we have correspondents up and down the Gulf Coast to bring you the very latest.

Another update on Hurricane Dennis is right up after the break. And of course, I'll see you again at 10 o'clock Eastern. That is when CNN's Special three-hour live coverage of Dennis begins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JERAS: I'm Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather center. Information just in now on Hurricane Dennis, a 9 o'clock advisory Easter Time is just in. And Dennis has strengthened even more. Winds of 125 miles per hour, still category 3, but only 6 miles an hour away now from category 4 status. It is expected to continue to strengthen tonight and become a category 4.

It is moving northwesterly, but we might see a little bit more of a pull to north-northwesterly as we head through the night, for tonight. Forecast estimate has it moving somewhere into the Florida Panhandle, extending over into southern Alabama tomorrow afternoon. I would say mid to late afternoon.

Exactly where it hits, still to be determined, if you live anywhere in this cone area you do need to be on high alert as the storm approaches and continues to strengthen.

What is a category 4 mean to you? It means winds of 131 to 155 miles per hour. And the National Hurricane Center's official intensity forecast at this time is at 140 miles per hour. So that is smack dab in the middle. Storm surge of 13 to 18 feet and widespread structural damage. Very large trees can be down and flooding up to six miles inland.

Mass evacuations will be required, and they have already happened. Still a threat of very heavy rain and some gusty winds. A tornado watch in effect for much of the western half of Florida, throughout the night tonight. We'll keep you updated. Another update in 15 minutes. Now we go to Larry King.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com