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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hurricane Katrina; In Harm's Way; Europe's Disaster; Hey, Diddy

Aired August 26, 2005 - 05:29   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: And we're going to, Chad, now turn to some of that damage. We want to check in again with our own Susan Candiotti who is live in Hollywood Beach.
Susan, we know it's early out there, but we have this question, is there anyone venturing outside this morning to see what things are looking like?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very few so far. It's still very, very early. I only saw a handful of cars as we were making our way here this day.

And certainly with a Category 1 storm, as we all know very, very well, no major structural damage, no major amount of it is expected. And, in fact, that does not appear to be the case on any kind of widespread amount that we are seeing so far. For example, we did notice a steeple on a church collapsing into the roof. A convenience store, the roof collapsed. Some downed trees, railroad crossing signs down, that kind of thing.

However, the major amount of damage that we're seeing thus far, as Chad was referencing, is going to be from flooding as daylight shows itself. I know that we're talking about people, as he indicated, people walking around in knee-deep water, particularly in parts of south Dade County.

So that rain and power outages, that's going to be the tough thing that people are going to have to deal with for quite some time. More than a million people without power, at least 700,000 of them in Miami-Dade County. And a lot of these people lost their power late yesterday afternoon, early evening. And about a half million customers in Broward County, about 100,000 or so in Palm Beach County.

And I know we have been told by the Florida Power and Light Company, the utility company down here, that they expect that about 4,100 workers will be starting to restore that power just as soon as they can. We didn't see anyone working on it so far, but of course as the sun comes up we'll be looking around for that as soon as is possible.

So, for the most part, we're hearing reports of flooding in homes, flooding through entire neighborhoods and downed trees, power lines, some dangling traffic lights and lights. So it's going to be very, very dangerous for people to venture out in. As usual, authorities are asking people to stay home. If you don't have to be out this morning, this day in particular, don't go out -- Kelly. WALLACE: And, also, as you've been saying, Susan, to stay inside. I know you have been reporting that at least one of the deaths involved a man, I believe, who went outside to check some damage and then was facing a falling tree.

Susan, thanks so much. We're going to check in with you at the top of the hour.

Susan Candiotti reporting from Hollywood Beach and that is between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, of course, in Florida.

So here's a question, why are hundreds of thousands of people still building homes along shorelines in the path of hurricanes? And when their homes are damaged or destroyed, why are you paying for it?

CNN's Randi Kaye went to Topsail Island, North Carolina, to get some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a beachgoer's dream, Topsail Island on the North Carolina coast. It has also suffered the fiery of six major hurricanes in the last decade. Still, that hasn't stopped people like north Topsail Beach Mayor Rodney Knowles from building a home on the water's edge.

MAYOR RODNEY KNOWLES, TOPSAIL ISLAND, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, I guess I'm just a river rat and I like water.

KAYE: After Hurricane Fran flooded Mayor Knowles' home back in '96, he moved it back another 120 feet from the ocean and raised it 7 feet. He paid for that. But because the mayor's home is in a zone that qualifies for Federal Flood Insurance subsidy, guess who paid for a big chunk of his repairs? That's right, you.

KNOWLES: With any type of insurance, you have a pool of money goes in anywhere. And with the Federal Flood Insurance, the money we pay here may go to the mountains of North Carolina. It could go to Georgia. It could go other places.

KAYE: Fran in 1996 nearly destroyed Topsail Island. The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent $55 million to help rebuild here, $55 million, your tax dollars.

ORRIN PILKEY, COASTAL SCIENTIST: It's madness. I mean, it's just crazy to build on such a dangerous site.

KAYE: Orrin Pilkey is a coastal geologist with Duke University.

(on camera): Is it our obligation, as a taxpayer, to pay for these people to rebuild their homes?

PILKEY: I think not.

KAYE (voice-over): Pilkey has visited every barrier island in the United States and says Topsail Island is the most vulnerable to hurricanes.

PILKEY: This continual cycle of property damage is going to eventually cost the taxpayers a lot of money, and the individuals who live there as well.

KAYE: Money, your money, that was never even supposed to be spent here.

(on camera): Back in 1982, Congress passed the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. The law was designed to discourage people from building along the coast. It makes hurricane-prone areas off limits to federal aid, aid like federally subsidized flood insurance and money to help rebuild beaches and infrastructure.

(voice-over): Most of the northern part of the island falls under this act. But not even the threat of losing federal dollars could keep developers away. And in the wake of Hurricane Fran, there was so much damage, FEMA waved the usual rules and used millions of your tax dollars to clean up anyway, saying safety was at stake. Once forbidden funds made this sleepy little town irresistible to developers.

Real estate broker Pam Dabney has seen property values here increase 500 percent in just the last five years.

PAM DABNEY, TREASURE ISLAND REAL ESTATE: It's just like living in any part of the country, you know you have your earthquakes, you have your tornadoes any place. I think they'll trade the fear for paradise.

KAYE: Dabney sold this home a few months ago for nearly $1.5 million. Seems Dabney's selling real life sandcastles faster than kids can build them on a beach. And geologists say both could be washed away in an instant.

Then why are million-dollar homes being repaired and rebuilt again and again at your expense?

PILKEY: People are not concerned with coastal hazards, in part because they feel that the federal government will take care of them.

KAYE: And, like it or not, we will all pay the bill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And that was CNN's Randi Kaye reporting from Topsail Island in North Carolina.

The Federal Flood Insurance program has been in place since 1968. About 20,000 communities in the United States are designated floodplains.

Well turning now to Europe, floodwaters receding across central Europe and now the focus is on clean up and rescue operations. Days of torrential rain, flooding and mudslides have cost countless lives and washed away thousands of homes. Switzerland has had some of the worst of it.

CNN's Chris Burns live on the phone with us from the Swiss capital of Bern.

Chris, great to talk to you this morning. Give us a sense of what you've been seeing on the ground there.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly, just from where I am standing, I can see that the water is still over the banks of the Aare River which flows around Bern. That's the capital of Switzerland. And there was some very frantic, frantic scenes here yesterday as people called on their cell phones, waved from their balconies frantically for help. Helicopters and boats had to come to rescue them. When the boats couldn't come, the current of this river is so incredibly strong, still, that they had to send helicopters to rescue them from their balconies.

And authorities are saying that even though the waters are starting to come down, that people shouldn't go back to their homes here because the water could come up again. And what's very curious is there's driftwood that's holding back a number of tributaries back up in the Alps here that soldiers are blasting away to free some of that water to come down. And that water, combined with more rain, could cause more flooding. But they need to do that to get the water moving.

And that's with the situation here in Germany, the waters are starting to come down, but there is still flood warnings there. They did manage to save a monastery there, a seventh century monastery grounds, by sandbagging it to the hilt.

And the worst country really hit among these more than half dozen countries in central and eastern Europe was Romania with more than 30 people or so killed. There they don't have really the money for flood control and that's why so many people have died this month and last month.

Back to you.

WALLACE: Chris, yes, give us a sense, Chris, I mean this is something this part of the world hasn't seen in a very long time, right?

BURNS: Yes, this is -- well they had some pretty serious flooding back in 2002 and in 1999 and they have been doing some preparations for that, spending hundreds of millions of dollars, but that still doesn't stop a lot of this rain.

In Switzerland, though, they had three days of -- they had a month of rain in three days. And they have seen more roads cut off, they say, than in a hundred years. So, really, the flooding has been just paralyzing this country -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Chris, thanks for bringing us the latest. We hope there's some relief in sight for the people there.

Chris Burns on the phone with us from the Swiss capital of Bern.

Turning from floods to a horrific fire. This was the scene in Paris overnight. At least 17 people were killed, 30 others injured, when flames swept through an apartment used to house poor African immigrants. Six of the dead were children. Witnesses described people jumping from windows of the seven-story building before firefighters arrived. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Back here in the United States, Lance Armstrong coming out swinging. What the champion cyclist told our Larry King about a French doping allegation.

Plus, the name game and why this guy keeps changing his. Our Jeanne Moos takes a look.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's almost 43 minutes after the hour, and here is what is all new this morning.

Katrina is back up to hurricane strength now. It lost some punch after crossing south Florida. The storm smashed ashore last night with 80-mile-an-hour winds. Katrina is cranking back up again as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico.

CNN Baghdad confirming that President Bush made a phone call to a top Shi'a leader in Iraq. The call centered on the stalled negotiations on a new Iraqi constitution. A third deadline has passed without a compromise, apparently over Sunni-Arab interests.

In money, General Motors is extending its employee price promotion until the end of September. GM's plan now includes some 2006 full sized trucks and SUVs. Look for Ford and DaimlerChrysler to take the same route.

In culture, Martha Stewart is ready to throw off that unsightly ankle bracelet. She's being released from home confinement next Wednesday and says she's looking forward to her new daytime TV talk show.

In sports, former New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden is in trouble. He turned himself in to authorities in Tampa, Florida. He was wanted on several charges, including driving under the influence, eluding police and resisting arrest.

That is sad news to hear, Chad, that he is in trouble again.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Yes, he's had a great career. And maybe he can get this all worked out for himself.

WALLACE: We hope so. MYERS: Yes, exactly.

Hey, good morning. We know there are other places out there other than just south Florida. We'll try to give you a couple of forecasts.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: All right, Chad, we'll check in with you in a few minutes. Thanks so much.

And we want to get the latest now from the ground on some of the damage we are seeing from Hurricane Katrina. As Chad was talking about, so much rain, a very big concern, flood damage.

We want to get a report now from an affiliate reporter in Florida, Jonathan Novak reporting from Cutler, Florida.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN NOVAK, WSVN-TV REPORTER (on camera): We're here in Cutler Ridge where the streets have been turned to small lakes, stalling out one, two, three. We have another car down there, four, five, six. Two more down there for eight.

Down here, as we look over here, Eric (ph), as we pan over, we have 9, 10, 11 cars stalled out down this way over my right shoulder, if we can pan over. And then three more in that overpass. Fourteen, about 14, 15 cars stalled out here near the Cutler Ridge Mall because of the heavy amount of rainfall that fell in this area around Cutler Ridge, around Homestead, around Kendall. We saw rainfall totals anywhere from 10 to 14-plus inches. Rainfall rates with Katrina, at one point, in this area were five to seven inches per hour on Thursday evening.

We have Jesus (ph) with V.I.P. Towing. And Jesus has been driving around here. What has the evening been like for you? Have you been dealing with a lot of these cars that have been stalled out? How many and what's it been like for you?

JESUS, V.I.P. TOWING: There's over 80 cars stalled. Everybody's been abandoning their cars on the side of the road. I got called in by SP (ph), by the Road Rangers, because they could not get a towing company from this caliber (ph) to come in to tow the vehicle from the middle of the turnpike. It was sitting in the middle of the turnpike with no lights and they left it abandoned. And they called me to have them (UNINTELLIGIBLE) pull it to the side because somebody was going to run into the vehicle.

NOVAK: All right, Jesus, got a busy night ahead of you, and we'll let you go.

JESUS: Yes.

NOVAK: Thanks very much. Good luck, and be safe out there.

Again, we're in Cutler Ridge, and numerous, almost countless numbers of cars stalled out. On top of that, we're still seeing winds here sustained. It feels like about 30 to 35. But we've been getting gusts over that. I would guess around 50 miles an hour. And right now we're right around 4:30 a.m. that we're down here, and again, if you can see, the winds are picking up. Still conditions here are pretty bad.

And again, as we head into tomorrow, most likely more rain will fall. And they'll have plenty of work on their hands, people like Jesus, dealing with cars like this and towing them out.

We're here in Cutler Ridge, reporting, Jonathan Novak, 7 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And again, that was Jonathan Novak from CNN affiliate WSVN TV, as he was mentioning, in Cutler Ridge, Florida.

And, Chad, looking at your maps there...

MYERS: Yes.

WALLACE: ... of course dead center of that area getting...

MYERS: Absolutely.

WALLACE: ... 15 to 18 inches of rain.

MYERS: Dead center, right there.

Now you'll notice up toward Bay Harbor, north of Miami, these greens here are in the moderate three to four inch category. Miami picked up about seven to eight right on that line where it turns from green to yellow.

But you notice the purples. Cutler Ridge, Richmond Heights, Princeton, right on down Dixie Highway, all the way down toward Homestead and the Homestead Motor Speedway between 8 and 10 inches in the orange. And then you get into the pink. That is literally 15 inches of rainfall right there. And that is right there at Cutler Ridge, 147 Ave. The entire area there from south Miami Heights right on northward, north to just about Coral Gables and Kendall that's where it was eight inches plus everywhere. So the pink area obviously the most damage occurred there.

And it was clear from his report that those cars were not just parked there with that little bit of water. Water had actually gone down by the time that reporter was there, because many of those cars were stalled out and they were now rain free or water free. So the water was up over many of those areas there.

And there you see Hollywood and Golden Beach. This is basically where the ground zero was for the eyewall. And the green there, about three inches of rain. A lot of it came sideways, yes, but the heaviest rainfall, the heaviest flooding was clearly south of there -- Kelly.

WALLACE: All right, Chad, we'll be checking in with you again in a few minutes. Thanks so much.

Much more ahead on Hurricane Katrina and many other stories making news this Friday. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back.

Turning now to Lance Armstrong. He says a French newspaper's charge that he used a performance enhancing drug back in 1999 is -- quote -- "preposterous." Armstrong told CNN's Larry King that it would be crazy for him to use the drug. The allegation surfaced Tuesday in a French sports newspaper that has a long history of blasting Armstrong.

Let's go "Beyond the Soundbite" now to hear a little more from Lance Armstrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, SEVEN-TIME TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER: I have never doped. I can say it again. But I've said it for seven years. It doesn't help. But the fact of the matter is I haven't.

And if you consider my situation: A guy who comes back from arguably, you know, a death sentence, why would I then enter into a sport and dope myself up and risk my life again? That's crazy. I would never do that. That's -- no. No way. That kind of an accusation is preposterous.

If you considered the science, if you consider the protocol involved in drug testing, if you consider the standards that have been set over dozens of years, you know that none of that was followed here.

And so for Jean-Marie to say that was a shock to me, first of all, because I actually spoke to him that very same day for about 30 minutes on the telephone. I called him at his house in Paris and he didn't say any of those things to me. In fact, he was just sort of hemmed and hawed and said, I'm surprised. I said, Yes, I'm surprised, too. I think we're all surprised. But none of the stuff that of course I read in the paper came across in his phone call to me.

But this thing stinks. It's not good for me. And the unfortunate thing is that you potentially dealt with something that you have to face for the rest of your life. And, like I said, the protocol wasn't followed and there is no backup sample to confirm what they say is a positive test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And there you heard it, Lance Armstrong, an exclusive interview last night on "CNN's LARRY KING LIVE." Armstrong retired from professional cycling after winning the Tour de France for a record setting seven times this year.

Much more ahead on DAYBREAK. CNN's continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Don't go away, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Looks like it will be a beautiful day here in New York City.

Well remember the days when a certain rap impresario was known as Puff Daddy? Well his name has come a long way since then, and the other day it got even less puffy, which got CNN's Jeanne Moos thinking about celebrity name dropping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Never has the 16th letter of the alphabet been so insulted.

DIDDY, MUSICIAN: Enough is enough with the P getting in the way. You know, just call me Diddy.

MOOS: Easy for him to say.

(on camera): Who is this guy? What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: P. Diddy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: P. Diddy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Diddy P.

MOOS: And what was his next oldest name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff Daddy.

MOOS: And then he became?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: P. Diddy.

MOOS: And now he's?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff P. Combs.

MOOS (voice-over): Looks like the P isn't going gently into the night.

It's tough, keeping up with celebrity name dropping. First, Jennifer Lopez opted for J.Lo, then backed off it.

And what about Snoop Dogg?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like rap, and I don't like him, and I forget his name.

MOOS: His mom supposedly nicknamed him after the Peanuts character, because of his long, snoopy-shaped face.

First, it was Snoop Doggy Dogg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snoop Doggy Dogg, you need to get a jobby- job!

MOOS: Then Doggy became plain old Dogg, always with two G's. Seems like G is getting better treatment than P.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P. Diddy.

MOOS (on camera): Diddy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diddy. Just Diddy that's it.

MOOS: Did he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he?

MOOS (voice-over): He did.

DIDDY: Diddy. It's simple. You know what I'm saying?

MOOS (on camera): It's just Diddy.

DIDDY: Five letters. One word. Period.

MOOS (voice-over): Lately, another one-word wonder has been using her Kabbalah name, Esther.

Perhaps the king of name changers is Prince. When he recorded this song, he was known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a guy or a woman?

MOOS: He adopted this unpronounceable symbol, combining the male and female signs, to get around a contract dispute. And when the contract was no longer a problem...

PRINCE, MUSICIAN: I will now go back to using my name instead of the symbol I adopted as a means to free myself.

MOOS: So he's back to Prince, though not everyone recognized him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said that she thought Michael Jackson.

MOOS (on camera): Michael -- do you think this is Michael Jackson? No, that's close. Well, it's not really. He wouldn't -- Prince wouldn't like us to call him Michael Jackson.

(voice-over): And we wouldn't want to short-change this guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 50 Cent!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 50 Cent! (CROSSTALK)

MOOS: You're over excited.

(voice-over): It's not that he's changed his nickname, it's just that the way some folks pronounce 50 Cent is an automatic laugh inducer.

AMY POHLERT, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Members of 50 Cent's entourage -- is that funny -- maybe I should just stop the joke right here. Actually, Tina, you know, I think I know how this fight started. Hey, that seat is 50 Cent's!

TINA FEY, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I only have a dollar.

MOOS: These French guys weren't up on Diddy's name change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P. Diddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Puff Daddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P. Diddy.

MOOS (on camera): Hey, you know why he dropped the P?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

MOOS: So I could get closer to his fans. Are you feeling closer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MOOS (voice-over): But the French guy named Rafael (ph) followed Diddy's lead with his own nickname.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raffy (ph).

MOOS (on camera): Raffy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raffy.

MOOS: See I can't tell...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I drops the R, because -- to get closer to the fans.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And happy (ph).

MOOS (voice-over): Diddy will learn that there are worse things than being called by the wrong nickname.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're this international Mongol (sic) now. I mean, you have so much...

DIDDY: Mongol? Mogul.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe...

DIDDY: Mongol.

MOOS: Serves you right for diddling with your P, Diddy.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Who knew a name could be so complicated?

We thank Jeanne Moos for that fabulous report.

The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in just 60 seconds. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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