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CNN Saturday Morning News

Residents Of Florida Await Wilma; Wilma Slams Mexico; Son Of Hariri Wants Killers Brought To Justice; Judith Miller May Have Misled Colleagues; Officials Try To Identify Man Frozen In Glacier; National Hurricane Center Wilma Briefing

Aired October 22, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Look at this. Hurricane Wilma hovering over the Yucatan. Mexico is getting a lashing, no doubt. What does that mean for Florida? We're going to explore that this morning. Good morning, everybody, from CNN center in Atlanta I'm Betty Nguyen.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone, I'm Tony Harris. Let's get right to the latest on Hurricane Wilma.

Hurricane Wilma is pounding the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The eye is just inland between Cancun and Cozumel. Residents of Florida are nervously getting ready for Wilma to arrive. The hurricane is expected to start hitting the Florida Keys late Sunday or early Monday as a Category 1 or 2 storm with landfall Monday afternoon along the southwest coast south of Tampa.

Now, mandatory evacuation of the Keys are underway today starting with people that live in mobile homes. General evacuation of Florida Keys residents will begin this afternoon.

NGUYEN: And for the latest on what Hurricane Wilma is doing let's get right to our Jacqui Jeras. She has been tracking the storm at the CNN weather center. It's been just hovering over Mexico, it seems.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. It's barely been moving at all which is devastating for the Yucatan Peninsula. It has been weakening, however, in fact, slowly but steadily we've been losing five miles per hour in the intensity about every three hours. So we've gone down and we're at 115 miles per hour for maximum sustained winds, that still keeps it well within Category 3 range. You have got to be 111 at least to be a Category 3, so hopefully we'll get this back down to a 2 before it gets over open water.

It's just barely just off to the south and west of Cancun, right now. And with 115 miles per hour maximum sustained winds you know they are getting battered again at this time with just incredible winds and also the rainfall 10 to 20 inches on average across the northern tip and locally heavier amounts as much as possibly three feet of rain.

Now, how is this going to be affecting Florida? The more it weakens over land the weaker it will be once it hits Florida. Right now we think it's probably going to be a Category 2, but best to prepare for a Category 3. Just in case. Better safe than sorry. Hurricane watches have now been issued for all of the Florida Keys, and the Dry Tortugas. However we do expect watches will be extended farther up to the north later on this afternoon. It's just going to be a little later in the time period that you will be feeling the hurricane force conditions.

What a hurricane watch means is that hurricane conditions are possible in 36 hours from now. So that's like 11:00 Eastern time tomorrow night when we'll start to feel that. The forecast track has it back over open water late tonight. Maybe early tomorrow morning. It could strengthen a little bit again. Once it gets back over the heat source, head up to the north and east.

And it's going to come quickly. I know you're going to be watching all through the day today, you're going to say it's still in Mexico, it's still in Mexico, it's still in Mexico. Well, once it starts the turn it's going to be moving very quickly and our best estimate now is sometime late morning probably on Monday, Category 2 but there is still some question as to the intensity of this storm. Got to prepare for a 3. Might get lucky and have a one.

One other note, also in at 11:00 we have a new tropical depression. This is T.D. Number 25 just to the south and west of Puerto Rico. And it does have some potential to develop into a tropical storm. If so, in the record books that would be Tropical Storm Alpha. Tony and Betty?

NGUYEN: Jacqui, Jacqui, let's hope that doesn't happen. Of course we're going to have to stay tuned though, because you never know, this season has been so busy. Thank you. We'll check in.

JERAS: OK.

NGUYEN: Relentless winds and heavy rains are lashing Cancun. Visibility is now near zero as the hurricane force gusts up to 150 miles per hour. Storm surge is forecast to reach 11 feet. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Cancun. She is in an area where the power is out, obviously, it's very difficult to get her on the phone. When we do get her live we're going to bring her to you. But right now here's a report she filed just a little bit earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The seas and the wind are less strong than they were from a Category 3 to a Category 4. The difference really is incremental at this hour.

As the sun is coming up, the wind is still screeching and howling. There is water dripping down the walls of the ceilings of the hotel where we hunkered down for the night. This place is facing the Gulf of Mexico so we are looking out to the east. And it would appear as though the wind has changed direction from yesterday when it was coming in directly from the east. Now it appears to be coming in from the southeast which might represent a bit of a curvature of the counterclockwise winds from Wilma.

Now, we can only speak, of course, for where we are. The phones are out, the power has been out for hours and hours and hours. The hope is, however, that the hotel residents that were moved by authorities, I guess it was a day and a half ago, to hotels in downtown Cancun, which is about a half hour from here, presumably they are all right. They did have provisions at the time. They seem pretty well set. And the people there were in fairly good spirits when I talked with them.

There was nothing else they could do but just to ride out the storm where they are. Now, as the sun is now coming up we -- if the roads are passable we'll go outside and check things out. That might be a little while before we are able to do that. I know yesterday they were covered in parts and you couldn't get through because of the high water and in some areas the debris. So the question is, how long will these conditions last? As you have been hearing, perhaps throughout the day. So it may be difficult to get around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: South Florida is keeping anxious watch on Hurricane Wilma. Many residents are aren't taking any chances. They are boarding up and they are getting out. Let's go to CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff. He's in Sanibel Island, Florida, on the Gulf Coast and, Allan give us a sense of how things are where you are right now?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, where I am at the moment as you can see things are actually quite pleasant, nonetheless, within the hour a mandatory evacuation will take effect here on Sanibel Island. Yesterday, the town used an automated phone system to notify all residents and this morning the police as well as teams of volunteers are going door to door, knocking on doors, making sure that people are aware of the evacuation notice and also doing everything they can to help people, especially those with special needs, the elderly, perhaps the handicapped, as well. Anything they can to help folks get out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES PHILLIPS, SANIBEL POLICE DEPARTMENT: They are going around and knocking on doors and they are dropping off these flyers and they are talking to people. And if there's any assistance needed they are contacting the police department to get off the island if they need or to shelters, wherever they need to go, doctor's offices, whatever they need, that's what we're doing for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Residents are also told to take their pets with them. The county had been planning to create a pet shelter in the Lee County Civic Center. That's in North Fort Myers but then authorities changed their mind because the building can only withstand a Category 1, perhaps Category 2 storm. So in case Wilma does come here and comes here pretty strong, they don't want those pets to suffer in that shelter so they changed their minds, and in fact, the Humane Society in this area already as of yesterday had airlifted about 20 pets to shelters in other states. Tony?

HARRIS: Hey, Allan, I think we're beginning to learn that you can issue a mandatory evacuation but you can't force people out of their homes. Do you get a sense that a significant portion of the population is just going to try to ride this thing out?

CHERNOFF: Not a significant portion of the population but certainly there are people. We chatted with a few of them this morning, as a matter of fact. One of the guys just went fishing a little while ago. Still wants to see if he can catch something today. Another fellow has a whole bunch of birds in his home and he said he would not be able to take them with him and therefore he didn't want to abandon them. He's going to just stick it out over here.

So some people are going to ride it out here. The police say what they will do is take the names and numbers so they can do their best to keep track of these people if in fact the storm does come.

HARRIS: CNN's Allan Chernoff. Allan, thank you.

NGUYEN: Well even though Hurricane Wilma hasn't even arrived in Florida yet, parts of the Sunshine State's east coast is already feeling the impact. Heavy rains from Wilma has flooded streets in Ft. Lauderdale making hazardous driving there. Some 50 apartments in the area were also flooded and forecasters warn Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach could be hit strong by winds as Wilma nears.

The executive editor of the "New York Times" says reporter Judith Miller may have mislead the newspaper about her role in the CIA leak controversy. A federal grand jury is investigating who leaked the identity of covert operative Valerie Plame.

In a letter to "New York Times" employees, executive editor Bill Keller says Miller did not tell her the extent of her discussions about Bush administration officials about Plame.

He says, quote, "I wish that when I learned she had been subpoenaed as a witness in the leak investigation I had sat her down for a thorough debriefing and followed up with some reporting of my own. It's a natural and proper instinct to defend reporters when the government seeks to interfere in our work." But he also adds, "And under other circumstances it might have been fine to entrust the details, the substance of the confidential interviews, the notes, to lawyers who would be handling the case."

HARRIS: And there is this, the son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is calling to bring those accused of assassinating his father to justice. A UN report concluded there is evidence of Lebanese and Syrian involvement in the February 14th bombing. Hariri's son calls his son a martyr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD HARIRI, RAFIK HARIRI'S SON (through translator): They failed to assassinate him politically. They assassinated him physically. They wanted to sideline him, to take him out of the political Lebanese political field. Rafik Hariri became a great danger on their projects. He became dangerous for the mandate system and the hegemony. He was dangerous for the tools to blackmail Lebanon and the Lebanese government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Syrian officials deny involvement in Hariri's killing and say the report is politically motivated. Today Syria's foreign minister says his country was an easy target.

NGUYEN: Checking some other stories now in the news. Iraq's independent electoral commission says it has not found any instances of serious fraud in last Saturday's constitutional referendum. Election officials said today that they received 100 minor complaints but did not discover any major violations. Final results from the October 15th referendum are not expected for at least a few more days.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to arrive in Lithuania this hour. He'll attend NATO talks on Monday. Now, earlier today Rumsfeld stopped in Mongolia after leaving South Korea. He thanked nearly 200 Mongolian army veterans for serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received a horse as a symbol of friendship between the U.S. and Mongolia.

Well Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is playing host in her home state of Alabama. She is taking British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to a University of Alabama football game today. They will also attend a ceremony at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church where four African American girls were killed in a bombing in 1963.

We're continuing to follow our top story all hour, Hurricane Wilma still pounding Mexico. It's been hovering over the area for at least 24 hours. So how is Florida preparing for it? That's ahead.

HARRIS: Plus, we're going to get the latest from the National Hurricane Center. We're expecting a briefing, Betty, in about a half an hour. When that happens we'll of course bring it to you live. CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.

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HARRIS: And top stories we're following now. Southern Mexico is being punished, pummeled by Hurricane Wilma, now a Category 3 intensity with sustained winds at 115 miles per hour. Cancun and Cozumel are getting the worst of it. The storm is expected to drift slowly northward and weaken to a Category 1 or 2 before making landfall in Florida on Monday.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was inundated with Wilma related rain, the outer band on Friday. More flooding could jeopardize vegetable crops. The Florida Keys already being evacuated today.

And new developments in the case of Judith Miller, "The New York Times" reporter jailed for refusing to reveal confidential sources to a grand jury. In a memo to his staff the paper's executive editor says she seems to have misled the staff about discussions with Bush administration officials with CIA operative Valerie Plame. Bill Keller said knowing more might have made him willing to look into a compromise with a prosecutor.

NGUYEN: Hurricane watches are now in effect for the Florida Keys. Evacuations are set to begin in less than an hour for barrier island and mobile home residents in Lee County which is in southwest Florida. Residents in Ft. Myers boarded up ahead of the hurricane arrival. We are joined now on the phone from Ft. Myers by Booch Demarchi. He is with Lee County Emergency Management. As we just mentioned, mandatory evacuation starts at 12 noon Eastern Time. Are you seeing people packing up and getting ready to move out?

BOOCH DEMARCHI, LEE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (on phone): Hi, Betty. At this point still premature. We've asked people to not start moving before noon and get to the shelters before they are open. That would be a problem in and of itself. At this point we hope they are packing but we hope that they are starting to move within the hour. We haven't seen a lot of movement yet. But that doesn't concern us at this point.

NGUYEN: Do you think people are going to take this a little more seriously this time around?

DEMARCHI: Absolutely. For two reasons. One about a year ago here in Lee County, southwest Florida we got hit whet pretty good by Charlie. Still remember those days. And of course we all witnessed the tragedy in New Orleans earlier this summer. Given those two experiences, one visual and one actual, Lee County is doing very sensitive to doing what it takes to protect itself.

NGUYEN: In light of Katrina and all we learned from the devastation afterwards, are you doing anything different this time around?

DEMARCHI: Yes, probably two things. One, we pulled the trigger on announcing our evacuations and opening shelters a little bit earlier than normally would have been the case. Secondly. We're adding extra bus drivers, extra buses and extra routes to the county run transit system because we all witnessed that in Katrina, where people essentially said I would have gone to a shelter, I just couldn't get there. So having that fresh in our mind that necessitated extra buses, extra drivers and extra routes for people who otherwise couldn't get to a shelter.

NGUYEN: And as people wait and watch to determine exactly within this cone of uncertainty where it's going to hit, of course it's better to be prepared than not, but for these shelters and these different places set up to take people in, are they ready for the onslaught of people who may be taking it very seriously and decided, you know what? I didn't go before but I'm going to go this time?

DEMARCHI: Sure, that's always the concern that you'll be inundated. Just a couple of numbers for you. We have already or we're in the process of opening up seven shelters and that's about a 14,000 person capacity. We already opened this morning one special needs shelter for about 300 capacity.

But in Lee County we could open up more if we had to. We have got about 30 shelters and about a 30,000 capacity. So we think we opened up the number sufficient for the need, but we can expand the numbers greatly if we're inundated.

NGUYEN: You are with the county emergency management department, as you know with hurricanes or any storm there are those who despite whatever category it is, they are going to stay at home. What is your advice to those folks?

DEMARCHI: My advice to those folks is to remember Katrina.

NGUYEN: Very simple. Enough said. All right, well we appreciate your time with us today. And best of luck to you. Are you riding this out? Where will you be?

DEMARCHI: The staff is at the EOC. So it's a concrete bunker. Our safety is never in doubt while working through the storm at the Lee County EOC.

NGUYEN: All right. Booch Demarchi with the Lee County Emergency Management giving us details on exactly what's taking place there. As we mentioned mandatory evacuations of barrier island and mobile home communities in Lee County will take place in about 40 minutes from now. Tony?

HARRIS: The National Hurricane Center in Miami plans a briefing on Hurricane Wilma at 11:45 a.m. Eastern Time. And CNN will bring that to you live when it happens. And we are looking for citizen journalists. Send us your photo and video of Hurricane Wilma. Log on to cnn.com/hurricane but we want you to be safe when taking pictures. So don't put yourself or others in any danger.

NGUYEN: And you want to stay tuned to CNN all day long. We're going to keep you updated on Hurricane Wilma. As you see there Jacqui Jeras is working away. We're going to bring you the latest information as we get it. Don't go away.

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NGUYEN: Checking stories making news across America today. A mother charged with murdering her three sons by dropping them into San Francisco, into the bay there is under suicide watch at a hospital jail ward. Lashaun Harris has pleaded not guilty. A family member says she has schizophrenia and had stopped taking her medication.

The wife of an Ohio politician says she takes full responsibility for her arrest on charges of drunken driving. Frankie Coleman's husband is the mayor of Columbus and he's running for governor. Police say Mrs. Coleman say she drove her car into a pickup and failed a sobriety test.

Well, lawyers are slashing over whether certain statements made by music producer Phil Spector can be used at his murder trial. Prosecutors file court papers yesterday. They said they plan to use a statement in which Spector allegedly told police he accidentally shot actress Lana Clarkson. Defense lawyers say that statement should be thrown out because Spector was withdrawing from prescription drugs when police first interviewed him.

HARRIS: Forensic teams are working to identify the body of a man that was hidden for decades in a California glacier. He was apparently a military airman whose plane went down during World War II. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Sierra Nevada mountain range, 400 miles long. Could it be that this man recently discovered at the foot of a glacier preserved in ice and frozen in time was on an ill-fated military flight during World War II?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disappeared while on a routine training flight.

GUTIERREZ: Some local historians think so.

RAY SILVIA, LIBRARIAN: Tuesday morning I received a call from the government. They said they found an airman.

GUTIERREZ: Ray Silvia, a Fresno librarian says the military asked him to research plane crashes in the Sierra Nevada mountain range during that era.

SILVIA: Kind of obscure book but it's one of a kind on aircraft wreck.

GUTIERREZ: Ray searched of the name of the glacier where the soldier was found. There it was a crash back on November 18, 1942 that killed everyone on board.

SILVIA: It was uncertain, really, whether everyone was found.

GUTIERREZ: Then Ray turned to local newspaper reports from 1942. More details matched the discovery in the ice.

ALEX PICABET, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: People who reported finding this had found a parachute and cut a piece off of that parachute. The parachute itself said "U.S. Army."

GUTIERREZ: Alex Picabet says it was a highly trained team of national park rangers who chipped into the ice for hours so that this soldier could finally come home.

PICABET: He could have all kinds of things still with him in the pocket. He could have photos or letters. We don't know. So much still to be revealed as he comes out of the ice that's kept him company for the last 60 plus years.

GUTIERREZ: The body encased in 400 pounds of granite and ice was flown to the Fresno Coroner's Office where it was thawed. LORALEE CERVANTES, FRESNO COUNTY CORONER: We have been using cold water to melt the ice at a quicker rate.

GUTIERREZ: The coroner x-rayed the body in ice but so far no ID.

CERVANTES: Even if we found something that had his name on it or had an I.D., we would go further than that to try to provide positive I.D.

GUTIERREZ: From Fresno the body will be flown to the joint POW- MIA counting command in Hawaii where forensic studies will help determine who the man still wearing the military green sweater was.

CERVANTES: Something like this is really exciting, a chance to return anyone much less someone who has been missing for 60 plus years, the chance to return them to their family is pretty exciting for a coroner to be able to take part in that.

GUTIERREZ: Exciting for everyone, from the park rangers who brought him out to local librarians who dug up the details. It's a chance to participate in history. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Fresno, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And you want to stay here for the latest on Hurricane Wilma. We're expecting a news conference from the National Hurricane Center around 11:45 Eastern. And of course, when that happens we're going to bring it to you live.

HARRIS: CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.

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NGUYEN: Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula continues to take a pounding from hurricane Wilma, but the Category 3 storm is now beginning to drift northward with winds of about 115 miles an hour. It is expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico and then turn toward Florida. At least two deaths in Mexico already are blamed on hurricane Wilma.

The popular tourist cities of Cancun and Cozumel have taken the brunt of the storm for nearly the past 24 hours. High waves reportedly have cut off Cozumel Island entirely and tens of thousands of people are huddled in hotels and shelters on that island. There is widespread flooding and at least one shelter in Cancun had to be evacuated yesterday because of the roof. It was threatening to collapse.

HARRIS: You know in just a moment we're going to see Jacqui Jeras. Look at this. Look at that behind her. It's a major storm.

NGUYEN: It's a massive storm.

HARRIS: Four hundred miles wide, is that correct?

NGUYEN: The eye, you can still see the eye. HARRIS: Jacqui, what is the latest? What can you tell us about Wilma what it is doing? Where it might go and when.

JERAS: Well, it is moving very little still, guys. It has been progressing very slowly up to the north, but it's basically been hovering around Cancun pretty much through much of the early morning hours and part of last night. It made landfall over the island of Cozumel. You could really see the eye very well defined at that time as about 4:30, 5:00 Eastern time yesterday and it moved very little since then. It is weakening.

That's the best thing I can tell you at this time is that as long as it is over land, the storm will continue to weaken. But it is still a major hurricane and they've been enduring hurricane force conditions for more than 24 hours now. And we're talking about the potential for maybe another 12 hours on top of that.

It is eventually going to make its way on up to the north, get back over the open water and then it's going to start to pull away. This is the latest radar imagery that we have and there you can see the center of circulation just south and west of Cancun and some of these outer bands, parts of the eye wall heading in towards the Cancun area once again, Cozumel is getting some stuff in pushing in from the west.

Not quite as bad over Cozumel, but the hurricane force winds extend out 85 miles from the center of the storm. The tropical storm force winds extend out 200 miles from the center of the storm. So that makes it about 400 miles across like you mentioned, Tony.

Hurricane watches have now been issued for the Florida Keys including Florida Bay and the dry Tortugas. That means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. This is our in house computer model forecast of the wind. Here you can see the storm at 11:00. It's going to drift northward, head over the open water, could intensify a little bit once again. This time tomorrow, 1:00 tomorrow we could see those tropical storm force winds arriving along the Keys.

We'll advance that into motion a little farther. There you can see it moving up the Florida coast. By Sunday night at 9:00 p.m., Category 3 storm by this model and then making landfall sometime on Monday morning right there near Fort Myers. Here's the National Hurricane Center forecast.

It brings that skinny line a little farther on down to the south but we want you to focus on the cone because there's still a lot of uncertainty to exactly where it's going to be going. Best estimate will be on Monday morning sometime. It's a Category 2 but that intensity could be up to a three, so we want you to prepare for a three as a major hurricane. Back to you guys.

NGUYEN: Cone of uncertainty is quite a wide area Jacqui.

JERAS: Well, yes, we're still talking about a couple of days out, about a day and a half to two days out.

HARRIS: Thank, Jacqui.

NGUYEN: As hurricane Wilma lashes the western tip of Cuba, more than half a million people have already been evacuated there. Forecasters say Wilma could dump as much as 40 inches of rain on parts of Cuba. Waves up to 21 feet high are crashing on the coast. CNN's Lucia Newman joins us by phone from Havana with the latest on what is happening there -- Lucia.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Betty. Well, right now people are tuned into their TVs and radios to try and find out if this hurricane is going to make a direct hit on this island or not, whether or when it's going to start moving in this direction. In Pinar del Rio on the western tip of Cuba, it has been raining pretty steadily. Some rivers have started flooding and as you mentioned, people have been evacuated.

So far between 300,000 and up to half a million people have been or will be evacuated before the storm hits the island. Preparations have been underway now for days to evacuate people from low lying areas, coastal areas, take them either to government shelters or to the homes of friends or relatives who live in houses that are considered to be fairly sturdy structures here. Now, we aren't expecting really serious weather here until Sunday at the earliest. But there has already been some light flooding already from the outer bands of hurricane Wilma on the far western tip of the island, Betty.

NGUYEN: You mentioned somewhere around 300,000 people that have evacuated or will evacuate. How is Cuba doing that? That's a lot of people.

NEWMAN: They have a lot of experience doing this. You do it with almost military precision. They have a civil defense system set up that just gets into action as soon as they hear that a hurricane is in the area. Block by block, house by house, they sort of make a survey to see who needs to be moved.

Obviously people who live in coastal areas, seaside towns, they are the first to go. The elderly, the sick and pregnant women, Betty, are the first that are evacuated. The pregnant women are taken to hospitals almost right away. Some of them have been sitting now in the hospital for almost three days and the hurricane hasn't even reached this area yet. Imagine.

NGUYEN: There definitely is a plan and people are packing up and moving out and getting into those shelters. CNN's Lucia Newman in Havana. Thank you Lucia.

HARRIS: Well, Florida Governor Jeb Bush is telling residents of his state to get ready for Wilma. The hurricane is expected to weaken from this current Category 3 strength down to Category 1 or two by the time it hits the state on Monday. That's still plenty of cause for concern and the Florida Keys are being evacuated. Scattered gas shortages are reported, but Governor Bush says there's a 10-day supply of gasoline on hand.

NGUYEN: We're going to continue to update you on the latest dealing with hurricane Wilma. So you do want to stay tuned for that.

HARRIS: Plus new developments in the slaying death of Pamela Vitale. The teen arrested will be tried as an adult. We'll talk to a San Francisco reporter who has been covering the story when CNN SATURDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The Bush administration is trying to keep ahead of the curve on hurricane Wilma. So let's go straight now to Washington and CNN's Gary Nurenberg. He is outside FEMA headquarters with the latest on storm preparations. Gary.

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Betty. Although some projections show that Wilma could be a Category 1 or Category 2 storm at landfall, acting FEMA director R. David Paulison says quote, "we are taking nothing for granted.

This agency is going to continue on as if this is going to be a major hurricane at landfall." Paulison says he is making no assumptions and is expecting, rather, the unexpected. At FEMA headquarters in Washington, Paulison says his staff is very tired after the pressure of weeks of hurricane preparation, but he says the staff is prepared and is ready to meet the challenge.

On the ground, FEMA has prepositioned 30 truckloads of water, ice and meals at two military bases. Four urban search and rescue teams are in place, as are nine national disaster medical teams with another nine on standby. The military is prepositioning ships and aircraft for use after the storm if needed and more than 300 satellite phones have been shipped to facilitate communications if existing systems are damaged as they were during Katrina. Paulison has some advice about what those in the path of the storm should be doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PAULISON, ACTING FEMA DIRECTOR: So they need to pay attention and if they are asked to evacuate they need to move out very quickly and move out of harm's way. But I think it's important that those who are not going to evacuate need to make sure that they have all their supplies together. We are asking people to have a three day supply of water, food.

They need flashlight for batteries, portable radios, those type of things, their medicines, the pharmacies are still open. Make sure they top off the car with fuel and so they can survive for three days before you know during the storm and after the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NURENBERG: Betty said a moment ago, the administration is trying to put out the clear impression that it is on top of this one and the White House said earlier today that the president this morning received an updated briefing on Wilma and that the administration is in close touch with officials in Florida as the storm approaches. Betty, back to you. NGUYEN: Gary, we want to thank you and also want to let the viewers know that we are still waiting from that news conference from the National Hurricane Center to give us an update on Wilma. That is going to take place within minutes. When it happens we're going to bring it to you live. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: ... for the briefing, the 11:00 briefing is underway.

RICHARD PASCH, HURRICANE SPECIALIST: ... down in Mexico, in the areas of Cozumel, Cancun, parts of the Yucatan peninsula are just experiencing a relentless continuation of hurricane force winds and extremely heavy rainfall. We really wish the best for the people who are down there because the conditions are still very bad down there right now. We anticipate the system will remain over the Yucatan Peninsula long enough during the day today such that it is anticipated to weaken a little bit more.

Right now, maximum sustained winds are near 115 miles per hour meaning that Wilma is still a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir- Simpson scale. We do anticipate a little bit more weakening during the day today. However as we get into the afternoon and evening hours, it's probable that the center of the hurricane will emerge back over water over the extreme southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

Now as far as the forecast is concerned with regard to where the system is going to go, most of the models are still in very good agreement and our official forecast has been very consistent in anticipating this system to eventually cross somewhere over the southern Florida peninsula. But we can't be exact, of course on where the system is going to go. And it is imperative that people realize that where the exact center goes is important but it is not the entire story.

The system as it accelerates off to the northeast towards Florida is expected to be a fairly large system and even if you don't get hurricane force winds in your area, tropical storm force winds are expected to impact a large area of the Florida peninsula and the Florida Keys.

Now based on the latest forecast track which brings the system toward the Florida peninsula during the next couple of days, in the next 36 hours we believe the system will be close enough such that tropical storm force winds could begin to impact the Florida Keys.

Because we want to give the residents of the Florida Keys at least 36 hours notice of tropical storm force winds arriving there for the purposes of preparation before the tropical storm force winds arrive, we have issued a hurricane watch at 11:00 a.m. for all of the Florida Keys including Florida Bay.

We do anticipate especially if the system does not stall and it does continue to move offshore and our next forecast brings the system closer to the Florida coast in about 36 hours, that we will have to issue additional watches for the Florida peninsula later this afternoon.

Regarding the intensity forecast. While Wilma has weakened overnight and is down to Category 3 right now, that's still a very formidable major hurricane and it could weaken a little bit more down to Category 2 before it emerges over the Gulf of Mexico. However, we do think there is an opportunity during the next day or so as it moves to the northeast over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico for it to intensify and perhaps regain Category 3 or maintain Category 3 status during the next day or day and a half.

However, once it gets closer to the Florida peninsula, we think that the vertical wind shear will increase such that a weakening trend will begin as the system begins to accelerate over the Florida peninsula. Right now our best estimate is for a Category 2 hurricane to be approaching the Florida coastline within the next couple of days. However, we always urge people to plan for the possibility of one category stronger than we are forecasting.

So there is still the outside chance that we could get Category 3 hurricane approaching the southwestern coast of Florida. Again hurricane watches may be required for the west coast of Florida later this afternoon. The timing remains very similar to what we have been forecasting during the last day or so in that Monday morning would be the time that the greatest impacts would arrive on the coast of Florida.

But tropical storm force winds could arrive in the Florida Keys Sunday afternoon or evening and over the Florida peninsula perhaps late Sunday night or early Monday morning. The system will be accelerating and will likely pass over Florida during the day sometime on Monday. The timing is a little uncertain but that is the best estimate at this time.

Now that the hurricane watches are up toward the Florida Keys, I think Billy Wagner from Monroe County would like to summarize what the Keys are doing in response to the latest forecast information.

BILLY WAGNER, MONROE COUNTY, FL: Thank you Rick. Good morning, everyone. We finally resumed mandatory evacuation process. This morning we had a mandatory evacuation order issued for all mobile homes throughout the Keys. We started out with special needs evacuations transporting those personnel up the bayou here in Miami.

I might mention that here at FIU, we have our designated Red Cross shelter for all Monroe County residents. It's presently open. We have a few over 100 people there already. At noon, we will start our mandatory evacuation phased operation with an issuing order for all residents in the Key West area and extending up the Keys including the lower Keys to the seven mile bridge.

At 3:00 we'll proceed with a mandatory evacuation order of the middle Keys which takes from seven mile bridge to the long key bridge and that's including the cities of Marathon and Key Colony Beach, Duck Key and Conch Key, and at 6:00, we'll extend those orders up to include all the upper Keys from the Seven Mile Bridge through Key Largo including Ocean Reef and Islamorada and the city of Layton. I want to be very clear on the closure of the bridges which will take place at noon today with the mandatory evacuation order. Those two bridges in the Keys that allow our Marine traffic to go back and forth at Snake Creek and Jewfish Creek will be locked down. So those bridges won't allow any traffic through and it will allow our over land evacuation to move smoothly.

The sooner you can move and return to the mainland, the better off it is. Don't hesitate when we issue these orders. And anyone seeking information about the current events that we have scheduled this weekend and through next week, I recommend you can find that information on the web at flakeys.com. That's Florida, flakeys.com.

PASCH: OK, we're going to take some questions now. But before I do that, though, if I could I wanted to briefly mention that we did begin issuing advisories on the new tropical depression number 25 in the Caribbean Sea. Just briefly want to mention that we anticipate that will impact Hispaniola, Haiti, the Dominican Republic with some very heavy rainfall, that our forecast right now is for this to recurve (ph) ahead of Wilma before impacting the United States.

QUESTION: Jeff Burnside of NBC 6. Talk to us about the storm surges both in the Keys and also in the population centers in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and because it comes from the west, why there's a distinction between the two storm surge forecasts.

PASCH: OK. The question has to do with storm surge, what is the potential impact of that on the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula both west and east coast. All right. We will refine the storm surge forecast as we get closer. Right now, we can talk in general terms about what the potential is. For a Category 2 hurricane approaching the southwestern Florida coast, there is the potential in some spots and it really highly depends on what part of the coast you're talking about.

But in some spots there could be storm surge on the order of 10 to 13 feet. If it were to intensify or maintain a Category 3 intensity as it reaches the coast, those numbers could be higher. And exactly where the highest storm surge occurs depends highly upon where the center crosses the coast, how far out the national (ph) winds are from the center and so it's really too early right now to specify what surge you might expect in the Keys versus southwest Florida. We think the highest surge impact will be on the west coast and the Keys and much less on the east coast.

QUESTION: And Miami and Ft. Lauderdale then are somewhat protected because it's coming from the west?

PASCH: The impact of surge would be much less on the east coast of Florida than it would be on the west coast. There's sometimes can be due to the onshore flow of a departing system some storm surge caused by that. However, we think the system will be moving fairly quickly. So there probably won't be as much time to build up the surge on the onshore flow of the departing system as there would be for moving more slowly. Right now our biggest concern is for the Florida Keys and portions of southwest Florida. We will refine that forecast and really what people really need to do about storm surge is to pay attention to the instructions from their local officials because they are the ones who know what the specific impacts in different communities, different parts of the coastline are.

QUESTION: A lot of times hurricanes are defined either by their rain content or by their wind content. Which is Wilma?

PASCH: Wilma is a little bit of both. I would plan for the possibility of impacts of both strong winds, possibly obviously hurricane force winds would be possible near where the center crosses the coast and passes over the peninsula. Because it will be moving fairly quickly by the time it crosses Florida, hurricane force winds will probably not just be felt at the coast or in the Keys, but could propagate well inland or possibly even impact the east coast of Florida.

Even though Wilma is expected to be moving fairly quickly over Florida, it still could produce rainfall totals of four to eight inches over the Florida Keys and parts of southern Florida. Isolated spots could be as high as 12 inches. So even though it will be moving fairly quickly, it still could be a significant rainmaker in part because it is such a large system.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) the storm moving as fast as it is moving (INAUDIBLE) does that impact the wind speed as it crosses Florida?

PASCH: Well, whenever a system is moving faster rather than slower everything else considered equal that will slightly increase the wind speeds that you would experience from that storm. We take that into account when putting our forecasts out. So the wind speeds that we will put in our forecast and the anticipation of this will be a Category 2, again, with some uncertainty, takes into account the forward speed.

QUESTION: As it is crossing the state, say it is a cat two like you're anticipating and with additional wind speed by forward motion, will there be any weakening of the storm as it crosses the state from west to east?

PASCH: We think there will be a gradual weakening trend takes place as it approaches Florida and as it crosses the coast. However Category 2 or Category 1 hurricane, the difference between those two is probably not significant in terms of preparation. Either one is going to be very strong.

It's a little uncertain what the intensity will be at landfall and because of the fact that it will probably be in a gradual weakening process we're not exactly certain what the intensity will be when it reaches the east coast of Florida compared to what it was on the west. But because we're moving fairly quickly, there probably won't be a whole lot of difference quite honestly and we should all be planning. HARRIS: There you have it, the 11:45 briefing from the National Hurricane Center, just some of the highlights for you. This storm Wilma now a Category 3. It has weakened a bit since the time that we joined you this morning at 7:00 a.m., category 3 with 115 miles per hour winds. When we joined you this morning, it was still at 125-130 miles an hour winds. And as you know it has been battering the Yucatan peninsula, Cozumel, Cancun and I guess --

NGUYEN: It's hovering over the area.

HARRIS: Exactly, just sort of sitting there. But once it gets into, once it moves into the Gulf of Mexico again, it is expected to intensify a bit and pick up some speed.

NGUYEN: And they are expecting landfall Monday morning in Florida somewhere around a Category 2, but of course we're going to be watching and let you know what it is when it happens. You want to stay tuned because there's much more to come on our hurricane coverage on hurricane Wilma.

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