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CNN Live At Daybreak

Katrina Takes a Toll; No Constitution

Aired August 26, 2005 - 05:00   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, August 26. The winds and rain of Katrina take a toll. Katrina back to being a hurricane, packing a blustery punch this morning. It's flogging across Florida and is headed for a possible resurgence in the Gulf.
Plus, despite the dangers of hurricanes, the attraction of life on the beach is pure magic. But who pays when storms turn dreams into nightmares?

And on the other side of the Atlantic, you think southeast Florida has it bad. You haven't seen the wrath of nature's heavy hand until you've seen central Europe.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kelly Wallace, in today for Carol Costello.

We will have much more on Hurricane Katrina in just a moment.

Also ahead, Lance Armstrong speaks out about French doping allegations. We'll bring you what he told our Larry King.

And what's in a name? Apparently something that makes Diddy keep changing his.

But first, these stories "Now in the News."

Once again, the Iraqi interim government fails to meet a deadline. It had tried to have a draft constitution approved by midnight, but Sunni Arabs are objecting to the role of federalism in the torn country.

A spectacular and deadly fire in Paris early today. A seven- story apartment building known to house recent immigrants burns, killing at least 17 people and injuring 30 others.

It's not over yet. The federal panel looking at closing or realigning military bases across the nation convenes again this morning. It still must decide the fate of bases in eight states.

And for the latest, we turn to Chad in Atlanta.

Chad, it was a hurricane, now a tropical storm, and then back to being a hurricane again.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it never really lost very much punch. It never got down below about 70, because if you think about where this went over, it went over Miami, yes. But if you get 20 miles west of Miami, it's the Everglades. You get south of there, it's Florida Bay.

That's more water. I mean, it's not like the Everglades are a mountain range. It's a swamp. And a hot swamp at that.

So there still was the energy there for Katrina to remain strong. And that's actually part of the problem. Now it's going to get stronger in the Gulf of Mexico and make a right-hand turn and head for the northeastern coast somewhere probably in the Florida Panhandle.

It has already made a little bit of a turn here. Notice a little turn to the right in the overnight hours. It came down across Broward County, into Miami-Dade County, and then right straight across from Monroe and right through Florida Bay. And it's continuing that turn, and by Monday could be a Category 2, possibly a Category 3 storm before it's all done.

Behind me, this is not a live radar picture. This is a picture that adds up all the rainfall for hours and hours and hours. And I want you to see that up by Fort Lauderdale, where the winds were the strongest, and where the wind damage was the biggest, there was very little rainfall, two to three inches. It all came sideways, but there was very little rain.

Down here, south of Miami, down along Dixie Highway, you get down here to Cutler Ridge. And 15 to 18 inches of rain in this purple zone here. There's Cutler Ridge right there. This pink is 15 to 18 inches.

Now get a little bit farther to the north into south Miami, it's a little bit less than that. You get up to about Coral Gables, south Miami, that's somewhere between six and eight inches of rain.

We'll get real rainfall totals as everyone wakes up, looks at the rain gauge and emails that to the weather service. But let me tell you, it was a rough night across south Florida last night -- Kelly.

WALLACE: It was a rough night, indeed, Chad. And, you know, you're talking about 15 to 18 inches of rain in some areas.

MYERS: Yes.

WALLACE: Give us a sense of the context here. I mean, this is significantly higher than what that part of Florida would see in the month of August for the entire month.

MYERS: True, but it was already very saturated, 1.3 million people without power for the exact reason we talked about yesterday. The ground was already saturated. You get a wind gust of 60 miles per hour when there's standing water, those trees just go over. Those trees have been going over all night into the power lines, bringing down the power lines, bringing down the power for 1.3 million of the 5 million people down there in south Florida.

So a lot of folks can't even watch us this morning. They are picking up the pieces. And if you get 15 inches, whether you have a canal by your home or not, there's no way that that drainage canal can pick up all that water and take it away quickly enough. We have had a couple of calls from south Florida. And I would appreciate your emails if you do have power and if you've been out and around, or you can just look out your window.

Tell me what you see out there. Go to DAYBREAK@CNN.com and let us know what you have out there.

WALLACE: All right, Chad. And we, of course, will be checking in throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK.

MYERS: OK.

WALLACE: Thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WALLACE: Talk to you in a few minutes.

And in the wake of Katrina, there is lots of damage for Florida's east coast residents to clean up this morning. Chad was just talking about that.

Katrina is blamed for at least four deaths, all in Broward County. Three incidents involved trees blown over by Katrina's hurricane-force winds. The fourth person was killed when his car hit a tree.

Late last night, Florida Power and Light reporting more than a million people without power. At least 777,000 of them are in Miami- Dade County; another half-million are in the dark in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

This is the second hurricane to hit Florida this year. You'll recall four slammed into the state last year. That was a record number of hits. And just to remind you, hurricane season doesn't end until November 30.

Some 40 miles north of where some of our colleagues are is Delray Beach, Florida. And the storm approached there with its strong winds. It kept most people off the streets along the east coast. More than five million people in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties were warned not to be fooled by the modest power of the Category 1 hurricane.

I want to show you now pictures of Fort Lauderdale. When Katrina came ashore with winds approaching 80 miles an hour, while much of the damage has been from high winds, officials warn that flooding could also be very dangerous.

The storm was dumping one to three inches of rain per hour. And as you heard Chad say, much of the heavy rain is south of Miami.

Well, our citizen journalists are responding. This is a photo that came to us from a viewer in Pompano Beach, Florida. A citizen journalist called Adilbek sent us this shot of some damaged caused by Hurricane Katrina. You see that damage there.

Well, we are looking for more good citizen journalists. If you live in an area impacted by Hurricane Katrina, email us your photos. You can do that by logging on to CNN.com/stories. Please, of course, include your name, location and phone number.

And be sure to check out our gallery of vide from the storm on our Web site. Just click on to CNN.com for that and much more about Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina definitely put a damper on some party plans for MTV in Miami. The network had to cancel much of its ultra-hit four-day party dubbed "Hotel MTV" even before it started.

Have no fear, though. The Video Music Awards are still on schedule to air from Miami on Sunday.

To another part of the country now, southern California, where some people spent part of a very hot day sweltering. Rolling blackouts left up to a half-million people without power. The heat and trouble with a key transmission power line are being blamed for the interruptions. Temperatures in southern California hovered around 100 degrees yesterday.

That is tough for the people out there.

Well, coming up on this Friday edition of DAYBREAK, who foots the rebuilding bill when hurricanes leave piles of rubble? Our Randi Kaye follows the developers, who follow the money in her version of the "Beach Blues."

Plus, drafting an Iraqi constitution hits yet another snag. It is the third blown deadline. A report coming from Baghdad in just a few minutes.

And it's not "do wa diddy" or "diddy wa diddy." It's just plain old Diddy. But what's in a name? Jeanne Moos gives it her most.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning, August 26.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: The international markets in positive territory this Friday morning. Tokyo's Nikkei up 34 points. The London FTSE is up 13. And the German DAX is up 9 points.

We want to turn our attention again to Hurricane Katrina. Our very own Susan Candiotti is on Hollywood Beach, between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. She has been watching the backside effects of Katrina and joins us now.

Susan, it still looks a little rough out there. What have you been seeing on the ground? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when we pulled up here about an hour ago, it was raining. So we're still feeling some of the squalls.

This is a minor symbol of some of the damage that we're seeing around, a downed palm tree. We are here in Hollywood Beach, and it's safe to say, even in the words of the National Hurricane Center, that south Florida was relentlessly pounded by Hurricane Katrina last night.

Now it's balmy and windy. And it subsides; it comes and goes. But let me show you some of the most dramatic examples of damage from last night.

Number one, an overpass that is under construction on an expressway in Miami-Dade County, an expressway called the 836, this is a concrete and steel structure. Miraculously, no one was hurt. But this thing fell down. Fortunately, it didn't collapse on anybody as cars were driving by, but now a massive detour is going to take place.

They figure it's going to take them almost a day, if they're lucky to remove just the steel beams and the concrete structure that it collapsed. And then they have to assess the road to see how long it will take to reopen the highway beneath it to traffic.

Also, we have at least three storm-related deaths to report to you. Tragedies all of them.

The first one in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where a tree fell on a car as it was driving down the road, crushing one person inside and killing him instantly. Also, another fatality. A man had gone outside his house in Plantation, Florida, to inspect some storm damage when a tree fell right on top of him, killing him instantly. And a third instance where a man driving down the street -- and this is a coincidence -- was trying to avoid a downed tree when he -- when he ran into another one, taking his life.

Wind damage, we are seeing some results of that around south Florida. A roof collapsed of a convenience store, and we are seeing other wind damage, down signs and the like. But really, the most we are hearing about is flood damage.

We are hearing about knee-deep water in some places. Some people having to be rescued by fire rescue, taken out of their homes to escape this. And damage to boats tied up in marinas, that kind of thing.

And power outages? Well, that's going to be the major hassle down in south Florida for quite some time. More than a million customers, as I'm sure you have heard by now. And as you drive about, a large of intersections are -- of course homes without damage.

You have to be very careful if you venture out. I would highly advise against it for anyone living in this area, because it's going to take quite a while to get people back on line. And we haven't seen anybody, any crews that are out fixing things up, yet this day. But they do have more than 4,000 workers who are set to go probably as the sun -- or sun comes up as daylight hits before we start to see some relief, we hope, at least, in that department.

Kelly, back to you.

WALLACE: And Susan, Chad Myers is here, of course, and has a question for you.

MYERS: Well, I'm seeing the damage behind you, Susan. I mean, are you without power now? I see it's dark, the sun's not up. But are you without power, all the areas around you?

CANDIOTTI: We are. In this area, you can see pockets of power. It's extensive, as you can well imagine.

MYERS: Do you see any power lines down across the roadways with traffic signals dangling from them? That's what we saw a lot from Frances and Charley.

CANDIOTTI: We sure -- yes, normally that is something you see. I didn't see any of that as I traveled here. It took about a half- hour to get where I am from another part of the county. I'm -- I don't know, but as we drive around, obviously, and as the sun comes up, we'll be looking for that kind of thing.

MYERS: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: It is sporadic. But clearly, that's going to be a real danger to people. And they have to remember to treat these intersections as four-way stops.

All too often, people don't and just stream on through. I know driving here I almost ran into a tree that was in the middle of the road.

MYERS: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: It just popped up at me instantly.

MYERS: Right. You don't see it in the dark. You really -- everyone really should wait until daylight before they actually venture out, because there are so many things out there that are dangerous that you can't see, even if it's a nail off of a roof from your neighbor's house that's sticking up and you can't see it because it's in the dark. There's just a lot of debris out there, I'm sure.

Susan, thank you so much for your reporting. We'll be back to you in a few minutes.

CANDIOTTI: Absolutely.

WALLACE: Yes. And Susan, you know, I wanted to ask you one question, actually, before you go, because there was some talk that people might be feeling a bit complacent, hearing that it's a tropical storm, maybe just a Category 1. And I say just a Category 1. A Category 1 can wreak a lot of havoc. Did you see, in terms of preparations, that perhaps people weren't taking this all that seriously.

CANDIOTTI: Oh, a lot of people weren't, because when you hear that it's a Category 1 tropical storm, you have a tendency to let your guard down a little bit. But certainly experts were preparing the people who live in this area very well. They did tell them that most of the damage would be from flooding, and, in fact, that seems to be the case.

You are always going to experience power outages here -- gosh, when it's even less than a tropical storm. So that's to be expected. To this extent, probably not, with more than a million people without power, most certainly.

WALLACE: All right, Susan. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK. Thanks so much.

Susan Candiotti, reporting from Hollywood Beach in Florida.

Still to come on this Friday edition of DAYBREAK, Iraq's new government is still talking about a constitution, but is a deal even in sight?

Plus, floodwaters are tearing up Europe. This hour, a live report from Switzerland on how the country is coping with the disaster.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Friday. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Turning to Iraq now, where the country's interim government just can't seem to turn the page to the next chapter on its future. It was supposed to have reached agreement on a new constitution last night, but that didn't happen. It is now the third blown deadline.

Our Aneesh Raman tells us about all the developments in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the third time in two weeks, another delay in the process to draft a constitution in Iraq. Just after midnight, word from the speaker of Iraq's National Assembly that another day extension is being given to the deadline for a compromise as all three parties, the Shia, the Kurds, and the Sunnis, try to find wording that they can agree upon in this draft constitution.

Now, this is a self-imposed deadline, one that they hope to find compromise by. The key issue, of course, remains that of federalism.

The Sunnis have said they want no mention of regional autonomous governments in the new constitution. The Shia-Kurd coalition have it in that document. They are all aware, though, that if all sides don't agree on this draft constitution, all three groups have within their power the ability to reject this constitution in the national referendum set to take place by mid October. The Sunnis have been very vocal, saying that if federalism is found in the draft constitution, they will mobilize their community to vote down the constitution.

That would essentially be the longest delay in this process. It would require a new National Assembly be voted in that would start this entire process all over again.

It comes as a gruesome discovery is found Thursday by Iraqi police south of the capital. In a river near the Iranian border, 36 bodies found, all shot to death execution style. Police say all of them were bound with their hands tied behind their backs. They say the bodies could have been there up to five days.

No word on whether this is the result of an insurgent attack. It could be, instead, the result of regional violence, but once again underscoring the very real need for stability in Iraq, and as many have argued, the need for this political process to move forward.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: As for Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who has become the symbol of the fight against the fight in Iraq, she is staying the course. She plans to take her antiwar vigil on the road to Washington when President Bush leaves his Texas ranch later this month. Sheehan's son Casey was killed in Iraq last year. Sheehan expressed satisfaction that the peace movement she sparked didn't whither when she left for a family emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTIWAR PROTESTER: The one good thing about Camp Casey and what we started here, is that when I left it didn't end. When I left, it thrive and it grew. And it's because I am not alone, I am not the only one that wants the answers to these questions. It is the people standing behind me here, but there's thousands of military families, hundreds of gold star families who want the same answers to the questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Other military families have started a pro-Bush tour called "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy." And they plan a rally in Crawford, Texas, on Saturday.

And here is what is all new in the next half-hour.

Floodwaters devastating Europe. Is any relief in sight? We'll get a live report from Switzerland.

Plus, General Motors decides there's never too much of a good thing when it comes to selling strategy.

That when DAYBREAK returns. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Good morning from the Time Warner Center in New York. This is DAYBREAK. I'm Kelly Wallace, in today for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for waking up with us.

Coming up, Katrina rolls ashore in Florida. Is there more to come?

And you may not live in Florida, but every hurricane hits you in the pocketbook.

Those stories coming up. But first, these stories "Now in the News."

There appears to be little hope of a compromise soon on drafting an Iraqi constitution. A third deadline has come and gone with no agreement. Iraq's parliament speaker announced a one-day extension to complete a workable draft.

In Wichita, Kansas, the ex-wife of BTK serial killer Dennis Rader goes to court today. Paula Rader is trying to intervene in civil lawsuits filed against her former husband. She's trying to protect the proceeds from the sale of their house.

And back to Chad in Atlanta for the latest on Hurricane Katrina.

What's it looking like now, Chad?

MYERS: You know, we're going to focus probably for the next couple days on the damage that it did to south Florida. And then we're going to focus on the damage that it does up here, somewhere along the northern Florida coast. This is just another storm, just like a lot of them, that come across south Florida, then make a turn and then head on up here.

Now, this is still 72 to 96 hours away up here, but that's bad, because it's going to be in this very warm water gathering strength.

Here's what it's doing now.

It started out about here over the Bahamas, took a left-hand turn, floated on down to about the Miami-Dade, Broward County line, and then drifted on back down across, across into southern Monroe County, down to almost Key West. A lot of the outer bands did get to Big Pine Key. They got all the way down to Marathon. And that storm now has now moved on.

You can still see it's an eye. It is a hurricane again. When it got over land, it dropped five miles per hour, so it became down to just a tropical storm. But it's back up to a Category 1, still a 1 here. But by the time we're talking Monday, it's back into a Category 2 range, about 90 knots. If you add that up, that's about 105 or so miles per hour.

The problem with this storm was we had winds of about 75 north of Miami, but this pink area that you see right here south of Miami, anywhere from about the Coral Castle, right on down through Homestead, where Homestead, obviously, you'll remember that name from Andrew, that's where 15 to 18 inches of rainfall fell. And people are just now up to their knees. In some spots, higher than that.

This is very flat land, it doesn't run off very quickly. Notice, though, if you get from about -- oh, this is about Coral Gables -- you get right on up to Miami, north of that, very little rainfall. One, it all came sideways. Two, it didn't come down very much. Two to three inches there, where down south of Miami, 8 to 10, and obviously up to 18 in some spots.

WALLACE: I still can't believe 15 to 18 inches in some parts of that southern Florida area.

MYERS: Yes. Three inches an hour at a time, and that lasted for almost five hours.

WALLACE: Oh, incredible.

MYERS: Yes.

WALLACE: They are going to be dealing with the damage, as you said, for days.

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