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American Morning
Hurricane Dennis Bears Down on Florida; Australian Medic Shares Stories of Survival
Aired July 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: Good morning, welcome to this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm CNN's Soledad O'Brien. And we're coming to you from the CNN Center in Atlanta this morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. We're following Hurricane Dennis this morning, a storm with the potential to create some major damage.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's kind of an understatement, really, especially when you consider that the folks who are directly in the path are the exact same people who were in the path of Ivan not long ago.
M. O'BRIEN: Many of them with blue tarps on their roofs still.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Waiting for an insurance check. And here comes a Category 4 storm. A lot of people are harkening back to Frederick, back in the late '70s, which is a tremendously powerful storm to hit Mobile.
So folks, this is the time to move to high ground if you're in that part of that world.
S. O'BRIEN: In fact, let's get everybody up to date with the very latest on this very powerful hurricane. Right now, it's a Category 4 hurricane. Sustained winds, they're telling us, about 145 miles an hour.
In this hour, we're going to take you live to Pensacola, Florida. Also, Mobile, Alabama, two cities that are in the path of the hurricane. You can see our reporters right there. They're standing by.
First, though, this is where we stand with things at Hurricane Dennis. More than a million people have been encouraged to evacuate the Gulf Coast. Landfall predicted to be between Pensacola and Mobile. Already 32 people killed in the Caribbean. Ahead of Dennis, tornado watches have been issued across the southeast.
Now for up to the minute look at Dennis, Rob Marciano, CNN Weather Center. He's got the very latest on the expected path.
Hey, Rob, good morning again. ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Soledad. 7:00 a.m. Eastern time, that's when we go the latest advisory. So just minutes ago. Maximum sustained winds remain at 145 miles an hour. So it's still a strong Category 4 storm. And it is located 165 miles to the south, southeast of Pensacola. And heading in that general direction also Mobile, Alabama in the path of this storm.
I want to point one other -- one thing out with this storm is that the effects of it continue to be felt hundreds of miles away. This is the radar shots -- so this is the actual rainfall being seen. There's the eye. You see the rain -- the radar beams being cut through the storm. This red watch box is a tornado watch out for this afternoon, typically north and right hand part of the systems is where you see tornadoes.
But even outside of that box, down towards Sarasota, Florida, we have a tornado warning that's just been issued for that county in Florida until 7:30 a.m. for the next 25 minutes. It is moving north at 50 miles an hour. And there you see that red highlighted county.
Up towards Tampa, up right into the early -- yesterday. And Manatee County saw a tornado touch down. Also, just north of Tampa, there was a tornado that touched down. So the effects of this thing continue to be felt hundreds of miles away from the center.
All right, closer to the center, we do have hurricane warnings that remain posted through this afternoon for the Pearl River, where the mouth of the Pearl River east of the Steinhatchee River. And that means that hurricane conditions are expected likely actually here in the next six to 12 hours, as it continues to make its landfall.
All right. I want to turn things around. Typically when we show you weather maps, we're either looking straight down, or usually from south to north.
Switch your orientation a little bit for me and pretend you're looking from the Alabama central part of the state, say Montgomery, south into the Gulf of Mexico. Here's Pensacola, Florida, Mobile, Alabama, and then over towards parts of Pascagoula, Mississippi, Gulf of Mexico.
And here's your time stamp. 8:30 this morning. So this is the forecast. And we call this true view. This is what we expect the skies to look like, the surf sort of to look like. But more importantly, the path of this storm as it begins its trek off towards the north and northwest.
So 2:00 this afternoon, just offshore, the storm surge will be in the center and the eastern part of this storm. And Miles, if this track verifies, which would bring it right up the gut of Mobile Bay, the town of Mobile will be in a world of hurt because the storm surge in the town of Mobile only needs to be a Category 2. If this thing is a 4, I mean, it's going to be -- quite a bit of it's going to be underwater. So evacuations obviously underway. And that's a good thing. We'll keep you posted throughout the morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Rob, and we should point out, because I think Mobile is on Central Time. Those times you posted...
MARCIANO: Yes, good point.
M. O'BRIEN: ...are Eastern. So let's just make sure folks there understand that.
I got a question for you. I was just reading one of the hurricane advisory discussions. And I just -- if you could help me out with this.
MARCIANO: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: It says after deepening at a rate that bordered on insane during the afternoon, Dennis has continued to strengthen at a more normal rate this evening. Deepening at a rate that bordered on insane, what does that mean?
MARCIANO: It exploded yesterday afternoon.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, really?
MARCIANO: I think you're probably reading something from last night.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, so last night, it's the 10:00 p.m. thing from last night, the discussion, as they call it. And I've never heard...
MARCIANO: At an insane rate?
M. O'BRIEN: ...weather forecasted say deepening to the point of insane.
MARCIANO: Well, there was as time when those forecast discussions were written in such technical jargon, that you know, didn't allow news anchors to read them and them read them on the air. So you wouldn't typically see words like insane be out of the National Hurricane Center.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: But it just exploded. And what Ed Rappaport mentioned about an hour ago is these smaller storms can really rapidly intensify. And you know, it was a very well put together storm when it hit Cuba, got knocked down in intensity. Gulf water -- Gulf of Mexico waters are 83 degrees plus. You get them over 80, and that's shoe for the fire.
Certainly the hotter, the more intense that storms going to get. So it did intensify -- rapidly intensify at an insane rate.
But once we get to this stage, it's tough for it to get a whole lot stronger at least at an insane rate. So that much we have -- we're optimistic about.
M. O'BRIEN: Forecasters assessing the mental health of Dennis now, saying Dennis is deepening at an insane rate. MARCIANO: Tom Cruise is not a meteorologist.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
MARCIANO: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Rob Marciano, thank you very much. Now that we have an idea where the storm may go, let's go ahead to some of the people and places in Dennis' path.
CNN's Randy Kaye in Pensacola, Florida. She joins us. It looks actually just kind of breezy and mild there right now.
Randy, how is it?
RANDY KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is breezy. It's very breezy, as a matter of fact. As the morning has gone on here, Miles, you could feel a little bit more of the effects of Hurricane Dennis heading this way.
It comes in waves, sort of, in bands. The outer bands started yesterday. Some very ominous, gray skies and some heavy rains throughout the afternoon yesterday. Then it quieted down. Then it got very rainy again last night. It sort of teases you, if you will. That's what the hurricane does.
But it's a different story this morning. If you take a look at the trees there behind me, there was a -- just a very little wind this morning and yesterday. And now they're blowing pretty good there.
Ivan, as you know, back in September was a Cat 3. Winds up to 130 miles per hour. If Dennis does indeed come ashore here as a Cat 4, we could see winds up to 155 miles per hour.
We're told by the Office of Emergency Management that in just about a half hour from now, we can expect sustained tropical winds. That would be in excess of 35 miles per hour.
And the hurricane is expected to be here through Escambia County and gone by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.
Now when Ivan blew through back -- and you can see the wind is picking up -- when Ivan blew through back in September, it deposited 9.5 feet of sand in some of the homes here and plenty of sand in the roads as well, about 9 feet or 10 feet of sand in the road.
So they're very concerned about the beaches. There's a dune replenishment project underway at Pensacola Beach in Perdido Key. They're very, very concerned about the sand there.
Folks here in Escambia County, though I will tell you, are extremely resilient. There's signs up around town. Even on the boarding of the home, we saw yesterday one home that was boarded up. It was spray painted on the windows, it said -- on the wooden plywood that said, "God protects us." And then there's some other signs around town that say, "We will be back." So a very resilient bunch. We are told we can expect a mandatory curfew to be put in place some time after 10:00 this morning local time. The shelters as well. There's still room in about six shelters here. 3200 spaces, but again, the time to go is now because the wind and the rain certainly kicking up -- Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Randy, when is the time not to go? Are they saying yet? When should people start hunkering down? They still have a little bit of time to evacuate, right?
KAYE: There is a little bit of time, but they're encouraging people, really, to go now because as I said, the tropical winds are expected to start here in about a half hour. So they really don't want people on the roads. And people really have, having sat through Ivan, those who have stayed behind, they don't want to be here for Dennis. And they know that. So they really have heeded the warnings.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. The worst case scenario would be to be in your vehicle, trying to get yourself to a shelter in the midst of all of this. So...
KAYE: Absolutely.
M. O'BRIEN: ...if you're thinking about thinking you might not want to stay where you are, we invite you to leave now.
Thank you, Randy Kaye. Appreciate it. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: Today is not the day for procrastination. I think that's fair to say.
Let's get right to Ed Rappaport. He's over at the Weather Center for us at the Hurricane Center. He's the deputy director there.
Ed, thanks for talking with us once again. Give me a sense of the exact location? And also, is this a fast moving storm or a slow moving storm?
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: The center is moving at about an average speed, maybe slightly faster than normal towards the north, northwest. It's now centered about 165 miles to the south, southeast of Pensacola.
I think we want to put this in perspective what we see now with a Category 4 hurricane. We have no indication in any of our records of there ever having been a Category 4 hurricane making landfall either in the Florida Panhandle or in Alabama.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow. So when you say that, and you consider that the damage or the damage that they have had historically, though, was a Category 3, what does that tell you?
RAPPAPORT: Well, this is going to be a storm of historic proportions. The hurricane force winds are extending out at least 50 miles. And that means that we're going to have a zone of destruction that's at least that large. Every storm surge, primarily near and to the right of the center, perhaps 10 feet or more, with waves on top.
We're very concerned as well once the storm gets inland, we could see hurricane force winds extend inland near that center, a very tight core of winds for as much as perhaps 150 miles along the track.
S. O'BRIEN: You know, the question that comes to my mind is why? Why over the last 10 years or so have you seen so much strong storm activity?
RAPPAPORT: Well, there have been changes in the atmosphere and in the oceans. We go through these periods, multi-decadal cycles. And we're clearly in a period of very active weather for the Atlantic.
And exceptionally so this year in that we have a record hurricane so early in the season.
S. O'BRIEN: So what does that tell you? I mean, if you have a record hurricane so early in its season that you all have already predicted was going to be a very bad season, do you up that prediction then?
RAPPAPORT: Not necessarily because we've had -- we've reached this record, these storms so early in the season, it would imply that we're going to have above average. Even -- we've already said that, but we can't -- we don't have any historical record to say what this means now that we've gotten to these so early in the season, what that implies for later in the year.
But if we drop back to what we said at the beginning of the season, it would be active. Clearly, it is.
S. O'BRIEN: Where and when now are you saying it's going to make landfall?
RAPPAPORT: The where is a little uncertain, but we do think probably from the Pensacola area, maybe just east of Pensacola to perhaps somewhat west of Mobile, that's the zone that's under the greatest risk.
But because we could be in error in our forecast, because the track could deviate a little bit off to the right or to the left, we have to make sure that everybody in this hurricane warning area is well prepared. They need to complete their precautions, evacuate if they -- if mandatory or if desired, and do it now because the weather is going to deteriorate very quickly.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, clearly now is the time. Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center. Ed, thanks. And of course, we're going to continue to check in with you throughout the day. Appreciate it.
Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Let's turn it over now to Mobile, Alabama. CNN's Dan Lothian is there. And we're talking about, you know, Category 4 versus Category 3.
Dan, a lot of people there old enough to remember Frederick back it was in '79 or '78, I guess. '79.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: '79.
M. O'BRIEN: And if they're right in the Mobile Bay there, I think two out of three structures were damaged in all of Mobile area. Two out of three. It's an amazing thing. And that was Category 3.
LOTHIAN: That's true. And so, if this ends up being a Category 4 hitting this area, there will be extensive damage. And that is why there is so much concern here.
Emergency Management officials have been taking a look at their computer models and comparing it to the current path of the storm. And what they have done is revised some of areas of evacuation, areas where in the past, they have not experienced flooding. They fully expect that those areas further inland will have extensive flooding. So they will be going out and evacuating some of the folks from that area using their metro buses to go in and get some of those folks out.
Also, going through the housing projects, an area where they say in the past have not been so willing to evacuate, they're going to be going up and down those streets with the metro buses, trying to get folks onto the buses.
And one other thing that we just heard a few minutes ago from emergency management officials as the wind and the rain picking up here, we are told that they're using a computerized dialing system, where they can call multiple phone numbers at the same time. And they're hitting those areas where they believe folks are still in their homes, where perhaps they thought they would not be impacted. They're calling those homes and telling folks to get out, to go to higher ground, to go to shelters.
About half of the shelters here are now at capacity. An additional shelter has been opened, we're told, by emergency management officials. And more than 70 shelters have been opened.
Another note, too, is that some of the roads that are going into town, we're told that those will be shut down. There's a tunnel. There are two tunnel systems that take you from the shore area here, or the waterfront area here, into downtown. And one of those tunnels has a door on it, a gate door. And yesterday, they closed that.
We were told by long time residents that they don't ever remember a time when those doors were closed. And we're told that as this story continues to draw closer and then eventually make landfall here, the other additional tunnels which go into downtown will also be closed down.
So certainly, a lot of concern here, as Dennis approaches -- Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Dan Lothian in Mobile. Thanks very much.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, much more of our continuous coverage of Hurricane Dennis. Coming up next, we're going to talk about evacuations with the deputy police chief of Panama City Beach in Florida.
M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead, the federal government has a disaster plan in place already. We'll look at some of the plans for the arrival and then the aftermath of Dennis.
S. O'BRIEN: And we'll see what you see. Pictures from affected areas have been coming in from CNN viewers in the path of the storm. We'll take a look at those when our CNN special coverage of AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Usually this time of year, the white sandy beaches of Panama City are filled with vacationers, but obviously not today. Let's take a look at how the popular vacation spot is preparing for Dennis. Major David Humphreys is deputy chief of the Panama City Beach police department. He's with us this morning.
Good morning. Thanks for talking with us on I know what is a very, very busy morning. Give me a sense of how prepared you feel?
DAVID HUMPHREYS, DEP. CHIEF, PANAMA CITY BEACH POLICE: I'm sorry, sense of what?
S. O'BRIEN: How prepared you feel right now?
HUMPHREYS: I think we're as good as we can get right now. Most everybody has evacuated. The local people are still here, boarded up. And we're just going to have to wait and see at this point.
S. O'BRIEN: So some of the local people have decided that they're going to stay?
HUMPHREYS: Yes. There's a lot of -- probably the local people. A lot of people have left. And a lot of the local people who stayed have boarded up.
Like I said, all the tourists have left. People are prepared as they possibly can be at this point for this storm. And not to wish anybody bad luck, but as long as they keep moving to the west, we get a little bit better.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I can imagine. How about the shelter? Do you have shelters set up right now? Are they filled to capacity yet?
HUMPHREYS: Oh, not -- in our area, Panama City Beach, we're virtually on an island. All those are located in Panama City or the county, bay county proper across the bay and stuff from us.
But they do have those in position over in town. But as far as the beach, there are really no shelters out here. People are encouraged to leave the beach.
S. O'BRIEN: Now when's the final final, sort of the deadline, where people who are hesitating to evacuate really need to make their decision by? HUMPHREYS: I would say if you're not on the road right now, you probably need to consider staying where you're at. Conditions are starting to worsen now. And they're going to get increasingly worse as the day goes by.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean, it looks a little bit rough and a little bit windy where you are right now. Has that changed a lot in the last hour or so?
HUMPHREYS: It has certainly picked up here in the last half hour to an hour. And as I said, we expect that to do nothing but get worse as the day goes.
S. O'BRIEN: You got hit by Hurricane Ivan less than a year ago. Opal was, what, 10 years ago now. Have you been able to rebuild in the time since those hurricanes?
HUMPHREYS: Panama City beach is in great shape -- we've been in great shape. Hurricane Opal did do some damage, some considerable damage here in 1995. But Ivan, we got some weather from it, but there was virtually no main structural damage here.
Panama City beach has been open for business. And I believe if this storm will continue where it's going, I believe we will continue to be open for business.
S. O'BRIEN: So you know, just a few moments ago, we were talking to the folks at the National Hurricane Center. And they said historically, there has never been a Category 4 storm that has slammed or made landfall right where you are. So just how nervous are you today?
HUMPHREYS: Well, we were certainly nervous about the approach of the storm. We're not out of the woods yet. I'm certainly not going to tell you we feel great about it. But you know, the current track from what the experts are telling us, it looks better for us. I think we're going to get a good bit of weather. We're going to get a lot of wind. We're getting a lot of surf and a whole lot of rain.
But at this point, if it'll keep going west, we'll probably be OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, maybe you'll miss a little bit of what many people have expected you were going to get.
Where are you going to ride this storm out?
HUMPHREYS: I'll be at work. Our staff has been on duty. And we ramped up this morning. We've got a lot of people at work right now. And we'll be out throughout the storm. And that's what we're going to be. We're going to be at work like you all.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Major David Humphreys joining us out of Panama City Beach police department there. Thanks a lot. And good luck to you. We'll check in to make sure that everything turns out OK at the end of this storm. Appreciate it. HUMPHREYS: Thank you. Thank you so much.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: You know, we should point out, though, there is one thing to point out. Now on Panama City is significantly east of where the projected eye is supposed to hit.
S. O'BRIEN: It changed. For a while, they looked like they might be in the path. I remember earlier on the week, as we were talking to Chad, he said that, you know, there was a list of cities which really could take the brunt of the storm. And then, of course, as you know, he talked about that cone. So yes, they looked like they're going to really be in a little bit of luck there.
M. O'BRIEN: And one of the things, I don't know if I could telestrate over this right now, but the key thing to remember is, you know, when you start talking about Panama City, which is right about there, is that right hand side is the portion where the real trouble is, because the circular flow of a hurricane brings up all the sea water and the real heavy winds. And all the real problems come that way.
So being on that side kind of on the windward side of the storm, is a problem. So I guess what I'm trying to say is while he was backing off some of his concern there, folks there should be still a little bit worried about what's coming their way.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think that...
M. O'BRIEN: I think they probably are, but...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, everybody it seems, at least the tourists, have taken off. And we'll see how they ride out the storm.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) pretty calm about it.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on our special program, lots to be done before the hurricane strikes. And after 2:00...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, no question about that. We'll take a look at the role of the folks who are really busy in these kinds of events, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. What that agency has learned after last year's record number of hurricanes hit Florida.
Stay with us. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Live now in the newsroom, as we continue our special edition of AMERICAN MORNING with our focus on Hurricane Dennis. People all over the country have turned their eyes to the Gulf Coast, as Dennis comes closer to landfall. Very strong hurricane Category 4. Agencies in Washington are already working overtime to prepare, while people in the path of the storm are boarding up, and in many cases, moving out.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alix Mattison 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.
ALIX MATTISON, FLORIDA EVACUEE: We were out for six months from Hurricane Ivan. And then, we moved back in the middle of March. So now we're evacuating again.
KOCH: Laura Johnson, too, has evacuation fatigue.
LAURA JOHNSON, FLORIDA EVACUEE: I'm pretty worried. And we just board up our windows. And it's 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, FEMA DIRECTOR: 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 personnel.
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 on shore, 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 it's really made us even better prepared for this year's storms.
KOCH (on camera): 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)
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come, more on the evacuations from Hurricane Dennis. We're going to talk to the mayor of Mobile, Alabama, as that city braces for the major hurricanes. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, perfect time to get the very latest on Hurricane Dennis. Let's get right to CNN's meteorologist, Rob Marciano. He's at the weather center for us.
Hey, Rob. Good morning again.
MARCIANO: Hi, Soledad. Hi, Miles.
Another tornado warning out for parts of the Tampa Bay area. Similar cell we were pointing out about a half hour ago has moved a little close to Tampa Bay. And we'll zoom into that in just a second.
This is our tight radar. It's got the radar beams coming out from the various sources to give you the latest. There is the eye. You don't see the rain south of the eye, because the radars just don't go out that far.
Also on this map I've kind of put in a few spots -- there's Destin to show the sustained winds where they are right now at 34 miles an hour. So those, obviously, will be increasing as we go on throughout the day.
Tornado watch out for much of the Panhandle of Florida. But even aside from that, we've had a couple of radar indicated tornadoes in and around the Tampa area. Showed you Sarasota County earlier, obviously right through here. That same cell moved into Manatee County, and this has a possibility of having a tornado in it. It's moving north right through the bay and could easily be in the downtown Tampa area here in the next half an hour if that holds together. That's a radar indicated tornado, meaning the radar sees a bit of a spin, and because of that we put out the warning.
But yesterday there were a couple of reports of tornadoes that actually touched the ground in Manatee County and -- and did some damage. All right. This is the latest track for you from the National Hurricane Center. It hasn't changed much since 5 a.m. Eastern. They put the track out every six hours, but the latest numbers have been updated as far as where it is right now.
Category 4 status at 145 miles an hour. That has not changed in the past several hours. It's about 160 miles south southeast of Pensacola, Florida, and heading in that general direction. And that cone of uncertainty hasn't changed much, all the way to the Louisiana/Mississippi border and then towards say Destin, Panama City in that area, guys, so we'll continue to watch that.
And we'll also watch the threat for seeing tornadoes pop up hundreds of miles outside -- away from the center of this thing. So it is affecting a lot of people. That's for sure.
S O'BRIEN: Question. How come -- how come hurricanes spawn tornadoes and not necessarily right around where the hurricane is going to make landfall?
MARCIANO: There's so much spin that comes out of these things. At the lower levels you have the winds circling into the center of the storm, and then the winds are going at different levels outside. There's a lot of this sheer, is what we call it and they can go hundreds of miles out.
So that's where most of the damage came from last year along the Panhandle, if you'll remember. Even though Ivan and some of the storms hit to the west, the tornadoes that were spawned to the east is what did a lot of the damage, and there were literally hundreds during the hurricane season last year.
M. O'BRIEN: And as you say, it can go hundreds of miles out. Now the other thing that kind of makes me curious here, as they're talking about this storm being, you know, kind of tightly compacted, a smaller storm than some of the storms we saw last season. It looks big, though, when I see that radar track that you have there.
MARCIANO: Yes. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Am I not drawing right conclusion there?
MARCIANO: No, you're -- it does look big on the radar. It looks big on the satellite. But when they fly those planes through them and they do the crisscross patterns and drop the instruments through the actual clouds, through the actual storm, they take measurements through the nose and the aft of the plane, you know, those are the physical measurements that measure the wind field. And every storm is literally different.
And this particular storm happens to have a wind field that is tightly centered around the center of the storm. And that's a good thing, because it affects less people.
But much like Charley was, Miles and Soledad, last year, it was a very strong storm. This is a very strong storm. So where it hits, it will do damage similar to what a tornado would do.
And so the center of this thing is going to be of great concern for sure for the people who do get affected. And you know, optimistically, I suppose there is a chance that it does weaken somewhat before it makes landfall, and we'll certainly look for signs of that happening.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Rob. Appreciate that.
In a moment we'll have more of our hurricane coverage. But first, here's a look at how Dennis developed over the past few days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Cindy and then maybe even Dennis. Right now it's just Tropical Depression 4. But Dennis is on the way.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: I urge all Floridians that live in the upper Florida Keys and along the Gulf Coast in the Panhandle to take hurricane preparedness measures now.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Dennis finally has touched the mainland here. It entered in Cienfuegos province in the south of Cuba, and it's slowly making its way up here towards Matanzas and Havana provinces in the north of the country where I'm speaking to you from.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The hurricane will be moving back over open water, and while it has weakened, it has done so because it's moved over land. It's the moves back over the water, that warm water into the Gulf of Mexico, that's the heat engine. That's what provides the energy for this thing, so more strengthening will be expected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A different perspective. We're on the second floor of the Best Western. I wanted to show you. South Roosevelt Boulevard. You cannot tell where the Atlantic Ocean is. You cannot tell where the road is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tornado touch down. One of the reason that they think as these little girls heard it this morning about 6 a.m., they said it wasn't a lot of wind. It was a boom. In fact, one said it sounded like a bomb, an explosion. This is the damage you see. They're cleaning up right now.
This barn was erected in 1951. It stood for more than 50 years. It came down at about four or five seconds today.
BUSH: My prayers and thoughts go to the folks of northwest Florida, particularly, that were hit last summer by Hurricane Ivan, and now are preparing for a storm that may have similar-type power and destruction.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the interstate headed north out of Mobile, Alabama, is a one-way four-lane highway.
M. O'BRIEN: One direction, out. So who is left? And is the properly -- everybody there properly prepared for Hurricane Dennis? We'll ask Mayor Michael Dow when he joins us in just a little bit.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: These pictures are from Pensacola, Florida. WEAR is our affiliate there. And you can just see that tower cam shaking in the wind there. And this is just the early effects of Hurricane Dennis, still a long way off in the Gulf of Mexico, but a Category 4 storm, packing 145 mile an hour sustained winds.
And already now -- I think the winds there I think are in the 30 knot range, so, and obviously, we're getting a little sense of it right now. You can only imagine what it's going to be like as this storm gets closer.
Of course, as it stands right now, going to move a little bit to the west of Pensacola, but this part of the world being on the more difficult, the hard side of the storm, if you will, the storm -- the side of the storm where more damage occurs.
Pensacola is a place right now that should be listening very carefully to the warnings and the evacuation orders that are coming from officials. Evacuation is the order across coastal Alabama as well for the same reasons.
Mobile, Alabama, one of the cities right in the projected path right now. Time is running out for people to make a decision. And a little while ago I had a chance to talk with Mobile's mayor, Michael Dow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR MICHAEL DOW, MOBILE, ALABAMA: I think the evacuations went extremely well. A lot of folks are staying. Hopefully, they're hunkered down. We're trying to get people this morning people to realize on the coastal areas, "OK, it didn't go down, It went up. Let's get out of the coastal area and get to a shelter."
We're opening a new shelter, Cause Spill (ph) here in Mobile and spending a lot of time with public housing, trying to make sure people are fully aware and communicating with and have one more chance to get out of these areas that could be in harm's way. So I think things are going as well as could be expected.
M. O'BRIEN: Mayor, you bring up a very important point here, because at a certain point it's better for people to stay put. When is that point, and are you encouraging folks to make a move quickly this morning?
DOW: Well, it's getting very close yes. We got a couple hour window here. We're hoping people will take a serious effort. If you got a friend -- if you have a friend who lives in a place that's maybe safer than yours, if you're in a mobile home or a coastal area, take this next hour to -- hopefully, they'll be watching all the communications this morning and just get to better, safer ground.
M. O'BRIEN: Why do you think people -- I mean you've lived there a long time. Why do you think people are so insistent on staying in their homes?
DOW: Well, I think many times you're here for a decade or two, and the storms always miss and you just don't feel that sense of anxiety. I think Ivan probably has given us that sense this is real. I think everybody expects this hurricane is real.
I'm not sure everybody realizes that it's easing up to, you know, a Category 4, and if it hits a that speed it's going to be unprecedented since about 1978 when we had Frederick sit on top of us for a long time and cause quite a bit of damage.
M. O'BRIEN: I remember Frederick well, and that did cause a tremendous amount of damage in Mobile. It took a lot of years for that -- your city to recover.
DOW: Well, most of the young people weren't even born then. So you know, we're in a different time. But, you know, we're as prepared as we can be. We're very prepared for the aftermath, and you know, we do a good job at that. Our biggest concern is getting people out of harm's way. And that's my No. 1 objective here in the next few hours.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. And so I assume you're doing everything you can to get the word out. Hopefully, people are watching television this morning. Are you going door to door? Do you have the kind of manpower to do that?
DOW: Well, in some areas we are. It's a little -- getting a little bit late for a lot of the door to door stuff. Not much time here. But I'm standing out in the rain trying to get the word out the best I can and all of our people are. And we really appreciate you guys taking an interest and helping us. This is very helpful to have you take this kind of national interest and be here in our time of need and we appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: We're asking you to become part of our coverage of Hurricane Dennis as citizen journalists. If you have storm-related pictures please e-mail them to us. Have your agent call us, if you would like.
Here's one we received from Joanie. I think it's Navarre Beach. Is that right, Navarre Beach, Florida.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: The streets there deserted, obviously, except for some blowing sand there from the dunes. S. O'BRIEN: High winds extended across much of southern Florida. Take a look at this picture. This from Chris. This is Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
M. O'BRIEN: Probably took that thinking to use it as his insurance claim.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And now it ends up on CNN.
And this -- this is an ominous sky that comes to us from we don't know where in Florida. It's a big state. Somewhere in Florida. Bob captured that particular image.
Here is our address for your video and your pictures: CNN.com/Hurricane.
S. O'BRIEN: Obvious warning.
M. O'BRIEN: I mean...
S. O'BRIEN: It sounds obvious, but it probably bears repeating.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Don't do anything risky to get a photo that you would e-mail to us. That would not be smart.
M. O'BRIEN: We'd be hearing from the attorneys if we didn't say that, right?
S. O'BRIEN: And it just would not be smart.
M. O'BRIEN: And it wouldn't be smart.
S. O'BRIEN: You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to check in on all the evacuations that are going on, all along the Gulf Coast, the highways, the shelters, the emergency presentations, all of that just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: And there's other news in the world. We'll step away from our hurricane coverage briefly and we'll talk with a witness to those attacks in London. This is an interesting one: an Australian who has survived other terror attacks. I think he was...
S. O'BRIEN: Two others.
M. O'BRIEN: Two other terror attacks.
S. O'BRIEN: The Bali bombings.
M. O'BRIEN: And wasn't he near the tsunami?
S. O'BRIEN: And the tsunami in Sri Lanka. This is a guy who's either been very unlucky or very lucky, depending on your perspective. M. O'BRIEN: I think you may not want to be in the same town as him.
Anyway, stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The investigation into the London bombings is centering on the possibility that timing devices may have been used in the attacks.
Meanwhile, people remain on edge and emergency evacuation of part of Birmingham, England, was lifted a few hours ago. Police cleared about 20,000 people out of the city's entertainment district after a suspicious package was found. Later, police said it was not, to use their words, a credible device. Birmingham, of course, is England's second largest city.
Well, our next guest may just be the luckiest man alive. No exaggeration there. Australian medic Trent Mongan witnessed one of the London bombings on Thursday. He walked away from a club in Bali before a bomb went off there, and he survived the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka.
Trent responded to help bombing victims after the attacks on Thursday. He's in our London bureau this morning.
Trent, thanks for talking with us.
Before we get into your kind of strange, you've got to admit, track record, I want you to explain. Is that right, you've narrowly avoided now three disasters?
TRENT MONGAN, SURVIVOR OF LONDON BOMBING: Yes. I was also in the Katherine floods in Australia in 1998. So that's actually four.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's bring that number up to four. So where were you when the explosions happened in London?
MONGAN: I got off, from where I work out now, a couple of the tubes ahead of the one that blew up at King's Cross, and I was walking out of King's Cross Station at the time it blew up.
O'BRIEN: And so what did you do?
MONGAN: I looked at my mate and I actually said an expletive that I won't repeat here, and then we just knew straightaway it was a bomb. We looked at each other and just thought, "Oh, my God." And I just thought, "Here we go again. This is another bombing. And you know, it's going to go downhill."
And then we saw the smoke we heard the screaming, and you could just hear people screaming, "Please help me. Someone help me. Help me."
And then the other people just started coming up. And we just grabbed some water and poured over their eyes and started reassuring them we're here to help them and make sure they were calm and try to reinforce the positiveness and, you know, not mention the word terrorism or bombing. And just keep them calm and cool and make sure that they were going to be safe and be looked after.
M. O'BRIEN: You're a military paramedic in Australia we should mention. Were you immediately taken back to the previous bombing that you really just missed by a few minutes in Bali?
MONGAN: Yes. Yes. It was -- the similarities were so remarkable. The smell, the sound, the screams, the injuries, the burns, the lacerations, the trauma, the cries, the -- you know, the horror on people's faces, absolutely traumatized. And it was just exactly what happened in Bali.
I was in the military for 13 years. I resigned earlier this year as an army officer. And I've had some pretty good training, but yes, two terrorist bombings, I've had enough, I'd say.
M. O'BRIEN: I've got to imagine. I sort of can't decide if you're kind of jinxed or if you're just incredibly lucky. Where do you come out on that?
MONGAN: I've been asked the same question by many people, and my family and I really haven't come up with an answer yet. My poor mom, I think her nerves are going to go to pieces.
But I just think I'm lucky. I think I've been blessed in some way. And whoever is looking after me, I just thank them for doing so and am glad I can, you know, be here to help other people. And at the end of the day I think the art of human compassion is being lost in this society, and we've got to go back to the old chivalrous days and help our ladies across the street look after each other better.
It doesn't matter who you are, black, white, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever. I just think people have just got to start respecting each other a little more.
M. O'BRIEN: At the same time, do you take away the message of, you know, there's sort of no safe place now anywhere in the world? I mean, four disasters that you have missed by moments?
MONGAN: Yes. There's no safe place. You're not safe anymore. But you can't hole yourself in your house and, you know, lock yourself in your bedroom. You've got to get out there and you've got to live your life and you're not going to be intimidated by these people, you know?
The world's changing. The climate's changing. And, you know in the future, more people are going to die. You know, people die in Iraq every day and Africa. And you know, that's what the G-8 summit is on at the moment.
And you've just got to, you know, look after yourself and take care of the people you care about and be happy within yourself and do the best you can for everyone else. M. O'BRIEN: Trent Mongan, I'm sure the folks there in London certainly appreciated you helping them out. And we appreciate you talking to us this morning. Thanks.
MONGAN: Yes, well, they looked after themselves. They're very professional people. And thanks for listening, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Sure thing.
M. O'BRIEN: It's amazing how philosophical you can be about all this.
S. O'BRIEN: I would think he'd have to be philosophical. I mean, where else can you go? He's literally, and I don't think it's an exaggeration, minutes he was away from losing his life four times.
M. O'BRIEN: And like I say, is that luck or unluck? Should he go play the lotto, or should he just get into the fetal position?
S. O'BRIEN: I think it's luck.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
S. O'BRIEN: I put it under the category of luck.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess.
Still to come on the program, just 10 months ago Hurricane Ivan slammed into Alabama's Dauphin Island. Some of the homes damaged then have yet to be repaired.
S. O'BRIEN: After the break we're going to take you live to Dauphin Island for the very latest of what's happening right there.
Stay with us. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Good morning, Pensacola. This is a live picture, tower cam. WEAR is our affiliate there. I'm just going to read you the forecast here because it tells a lot.
Showers and isolated thunderstorms, damaging hurricane winds, heavy rainfall and tornadoes possible. Highs in the lower 80s. East winds 55 to 65 miles an hour, becoming 75 to 90 miles an hour, gusts to 110. Chance of rain 100 percent.
Pensacola, if you don't know it now -- you should -- you've got Hurricane Dennis on the way there, and if you are anywhere where this camera is taking a picture right now, you probably should be thinking about getting to higher ground.
Now, some of the roads on Alabama's Dauphin Island are flooded, of course, and as you would expect, the winds have picked up there, as well. Erica Fox of CNN affiliate WALA is on the island. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA FOX, REPORTERS, WALA: Hi. I'm at Fort Gaine (ph), which is on the eastern side of Dauphin Island in southern Mobile County, where the wind has really started kicking up.
We haven't seen a lot of action all night. It's been very, very peaceful. Very, very calm here in Dauphin Island. But now the wind is starting to pick up.
In fact, let's go ahead and measure the wind right now, where you can see it looks to be about 17, 18 miles per hour. It's kind of been kicking up sporadically. Earlier it was 25 miles an hour. Look, it looks to be 22 miles an hour right now. So the wind is definitely kicking up.
Let's go ahead and look behind me at the Gulf. You can see the waves are kicking up themselves. And I've got a spotlight here. I can shine it on the water where you can see. Earlier tonight this area was really, really peaceful, but the waves are getting more aggressive as the morning wears on.
Now, this area was really, really devastated by Hurricane Ivan, which was just 10 months ago. And that's why it's so important that so many people evacuated, because this area is extremely vulnerable. The structures have been really devastated by Ivan. A lot of them have not been repaired. So it's very important that a lot of people evacuated, which they did, which is a good thing because it looks like we're going to be dealt another big blow with Dennis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Erica Fox of our affiliate WALA, Dauphin Island, Alabama. We thank you, Erica. We thank all our affiliates, by the way, for these contributions. Really helps out our coverage, because you can't be everywhere for a storm this size.
S. O'BRIEN: No question about that.
M. O'BRIEN: Even CNN can't be everywhere. We can be close.
S. O'BRIEN: Pretty much everywhere.
M. O'BRIEN: Good to have the assistance of Erica and company.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, there is plenty more hurricane coverage coming up this morning. We're going to have the very latest on the expected path that Hurricane Dennis is going to take.
Also, we're going to check in with more of our reporters who are waiting it out and watching all along the Gulf Coast. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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