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CNN Live Sunday

Florida Prepares As Hurricane Wilma Approaches. Mexico and Cubs are cleaning up after the storm; Ensuring Safety Of Animals In Hurricane Affected Area A Challenge; The Red Cross Needs More Resources; FEMA Does Not Want To Repeat Mistakes

Aired October 23, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: I cannot emphasize enough to the folks that live in the Florida Keys, a hurricane is coming, and a hurricane is a hurricane, and it has deadly force winds. And while there have been evacuations over the last 14 months and there's not been a hit, perhaps people are saying I'm going to hunker down. They shouldn't do that. They should evacuate, and there's very little time to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Florida braces for Hurricane Wilma. The powerful Category 2 storm is expected to hit land sometime tomorrow morning. CNN is your hurricane headquarters. I'm Lisa Sylvester. Our extensive coverage on the path of Hurricane Wilma begins right now.

Picking up speed and bearing down on the vulnerable Florida coast, Hurricane Wilma is expected to slam ashore in some 16 hours. Forecasters are predicting the storm's right side, usually the strongest in any hurricane, will be more powerful this time. And there's an added worry. Wilma could grow more powerful in the coming hours.

CNN is dedicated to bring you every angle of this storm. Our reporters are monitoring conditions all along Florida's coast, and they're looking at Wilma's aftermath in Mexico and Cuba.

Let's begin right now though with a check on Wilma's location, and for that we go to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Lisa, we're estimating it's about 250 miles away from the Dry Tortugas and Key West at this time. It has been picking up some forward speed throughout the afternoon, but the intensity has been fairly steady.

The winds right now, 100 miles per hour. That keeps it at a Category 2 hurricane, but it's moving over very warm water right now and some additional strengthening is possible. It could even bump up to Category 3 before making landfall.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for all of the Florida Keys, and on both coasts of Florida, from Longboat Key southward and Titusville southward, because the storm is moving so very quickly, it's not going to weaken that much as it moves over land, and you'll be feeling hurricane force conditions as the storm exits over here.

A tornado watch has just been issued for much of southern Florida, from north of Tampa Bay extending all the way down through the Keys. Very common for tornadoes to develop with such spin in tropical systems.

Here is your forecast track. It's going to continue to accelerate to the north and to the east. And because of that additional speed, we're expecting -- it kind of makes timing a little difficult, but our best prediction is that it will be tomorrow morning, maybe even experiencing those hurricane force winds before dawn.

This is our in-house computer model forecast. And look at it. The tropical storm force winds arrive in the Keys 9:30 tonight. It's going to be looking at hurricane conditions possible by about 4:30 tomorrow morning. And there you see those hurricane winds making their way on shore around 8:30 along the peninsula and finally exiting the coast mid-afternoon tomorrow and booking up to the north and to the east very, very quickly.

So we're starting to see some of the outer bands beginning to move into the Keys right now and conditions will worsen throughout the evening -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: OK, Jacqui. We're going to check back with you in a little bit.

Well, is this a sign of things to come? Flooded streets in Broward County, Florida yesterday. It's on Florida's east coast, a possible exit point for Hurricane Wilma. There you see the pictures there.

The outer bands of the storm dumped so much rain, about a foot of water was left standing in the streets. With Wilma expected to hit Florida's southwest coast tomorrow, more flooding could be on the way. Right now though we want to check in with our Kareen Wynter. She's in Key West where the rain has already started coming down. Kareen, what can you tell us?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lisa, the rain and the thunder roaring above us. We knew the good times here wouldn't last long, the great weather we've had all weekend. The rain coming down here. The outer bands of Wilma, the starting point -- you can see some of the water starting to get backed up here.

It took this rain -- and we're going to swing the cameras around a bit to see those who are trying to basically escape the rain a bit on the streets here in Duval. It took this rain to clear the streets here a bit. It's been so busy all day long with people really wanting to celebrate until the very end, until the rain began.

And we're going to show you the difference about 60 minutes or so makes, a little bit over an hour, where we had clear skies, the sun was out a bit, and now this. But take a listen to how some residents wanted to ring in Wilma. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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WYNTER: And so the celebration is now on hold because of the rain that's starting to come down really in a heavy amount. There goes the thunder again. We asked the mayor of Key West if that was a concern of his, the fact that so many people have been really taking the storm lightly and said that they plan on sticking it out to the very end, even when the conditions decline.

We asked him also why not impose a curfew? He said he didn't want any limitations here, any restrictions on his community and wanted people to use their better judgment. Here's the mayor of Key West.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MORGAN MCPHERSON, KEY WEST, FLORIDA: You're going to have, just like anything else, people that want to get out and sightsee and do things they shouldn't do, but overall as a community, as a whole, I think that they're sober minded and they're battened down and they're at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And, Lisa, as this rain continues to come down, we'll see if more and more people take refuge in their homes. You can hear all that activity in the background. We'll send it back to you.

SYLVESTER: OK, Kareen. Try to be safe out there. Thank you very much for that report.

An urgent request from Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He's telling residents to get out of the Florida Keys -- and you saw the reason why -- but not everyone is leaving. Many are high-tailing it out of the there though, including some nursing home residents. We want to check in now with Terry Codd, with our affiliate WFOR. He is also in Key West with the very latest details.

TERRY CODD, WFOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Lisa. The question is, is it too late to evacuate at this point. Well, it seems to be a bit of a mixed opinion. One of the city commissioners here says, yes, you should stay where you are. Stay indoors. You should not try to go out during the hurricane. The mayor says there's still a short window here where if you do plan to evacuate, those heavy winds probably will not hit until tonight or tomorrow morning.

We're going to show you some video from the Key West Convalescence Center. We were hoping to have some video. I guess we're not going to have that for you, but they did evacuate 97 folks between the ages of their mid 40s to 105 years old. This is the fourth time they've evacuated in the last two years. It's enormously stressful for them and it's also very, very costly for the nursing home. They spend over $400,000 each time they have to evacuate. That pays for the ambulance, the staff overtime as well as paying the facilities that are taking in those folks. And as one person said who lives there, he said it's just an enormous intrusion in their lives.

But of course safety is the name of the game here; it's always been that way. Fantasy Fest, a major event here that brings in a tremendous amount of money and a tremendous amount of tourists to this area has been rescheduled, once again, from Tuesday of next week now to Wednesday. A lot of folks here depend on the enormous amount of money that comes in from that particular festival to carry them through the next few weeks, so just a lot of lives being affected here by Hurricane Wilma. Lisa, back to you.

SYLVESTER: Terry Codd, in Key West, thank you very much for that report. We hear that thunder certainly. The storm has already started there, at least the storm-like conditions.

Well, projections put Naples, Florida also within Wilma's crosshairs. Residents are taking heed, and taking action. The area could be hard-hit when Wilma slams ashore. The big worry now is whether it will still be a Category 2 hurricane or something more powerful. Worried Florida Governor Jeb Bush is already preparing for the worst in his storm-battered state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Later today as the storm gets closer, we'll be sending a letter to President Bush asking for a major disaster declaration. We say it time and time again that the most dangerous time is after a storm. Also, during the storm, it's important for people to stay safe.

We had 14 deaths before and after Katrina, which, you know, was only a hurricane Category 1 storm. All hurricanes are dangerous, and people that were outside during the storm lost their lives, and people lost their lives by using their generators inside their houses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: To get a real sense of how powerful the storm really is, just take a look at these pictures of what it did to Mexico. Hurricane Wilma beat up on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for two days, turning streets into rivers and damaging homes and hotels. The resort town of Cancun was especially hard-hit. And that's where CNN's Susan Candiotti rode out the storm. Susan, can you hear us?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lisa, the Mexican government -- yes. The Mexican government has been moving in supplies now to help both residents and tourists in Cancun. That's where we're reporting to you from, of course. Now, for residents, there are lines that are circle a block around city hall where they are handing out water and, in some cases, food just to help people get by here. And as well, as you drive around city streets, you are seeing acts of goodwill as, for example, small restaurants are opening up their refrigerators and their storage areas to hand out, for example, perishable items, such as cheese and fruit, to make sure that they get used and eaten, and these are accepted with gratitude from the people here.

Now, in terms of the tourists -- and there are tens of thousands of them that are still here, at least 20,000 of them, we understand, from all over the world -- they were evacuated to shelters, and we visited some of those today. For example, one that is set up at a school where there are several buildings and the tourists are being distributed throughout them, there they are being served.

Now, they are rationing it to a degree, but there is food and there is water. In fact, some of the tourists came there accompanied by hotel staff members, who were able to get a generator running and serve some hot food as well.

Now the sanitary conditions are not the best, but they are bringing in buckets of water and trying to do the best they can, for example, to make the toilets work, little things like that.

Now as we understand it, the big-picture plan for tourists is to eventually, according to the U.S. State Department who talked to the Mexican government, to move them probably by bus to the town of Merida, which is about 170 miles away. Be do not know when that will happen, but eventually to move them and they would fly out from there.

In terms of the airport in Cancun, the information we have from government officials is that it is in good shape, structurally sound, however, it is flooded, and that's why they can't use that airport at this time -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Susan, give us a sense on just your supplies. I mean, do you have enough food and water and what's the situation is like? I understand the power is still out there.

CANDIOTTI: Power is out, only generators are working, and people are taking up, as I said, shelter in both schools and some hotels in the downtown Cancun area. Everyone is rationing what they have and doing the best they can to get by, and we're doing the same thing.

SYLVESTER: OK. Susan Candiotti, we appreciate your help with this story. We'll be checking back in a little later with you.

And as we mentioned earlier, not everyone is leaving what could fast become Florida's danger zone, the southwest coast. Tom Bachmann on the phone now from Naples, and he is one of those residents who is staying put. So, Tom, I have to ask you right off the bat -- I mean, many people would say folks who want to stay in this area, with this approaching hurricane, have got to be a little nuts. So how do you respond to that type? How do you respond to that type of criticism?

TOM BACHMANN, RESIDENT: Well, I just would rather stay here than be caught on the road somewhere driving around or -- and I'm in a fairly safe building, I think.

SYLVESTER: Have you weathered other hurricanes before?

BACHMANN: Yes, a few, but nothing that might be this close. Just Charley was last year.

SYLVESTER: I heard that you were going to try to get a hurricane party together, to put on a hurricane party, but what happened with that?

BACHMANN: Well, everybody left town, I think.

SYLVESTER: Well, now it's going to be a ...

BACHMANN: And it was kind of a combined painting party and hurricane party.

SYLVESTER: So now it's going to be a party of one, then I guess. Is that right?

BACHMANN: Yes. No, just some of the guys that live here where I'm at.

SYLVESTER: So talk me through this. Tell me what your game plan is. Where will you be staying? Where will you ride this hurricane out?

BACHMANN: In my apartment. I'm in a condominium. And then if it gets really bad, I'll just go into the room without any windows in the closet.

SYLVESTER: Do you have enough food, water, supplies, and so forth? We know that FEMA officials are recommending people who do stay, that they have at least three days' worth of food, water, and any medicine. What's your situation?

BACHMANN: Oh, I always have lots of food. I just -- I have enough food for a couple weeks.

SYLVESTER: And just -- what does your family think of all of this? I mean, what is -- what are they saying? I'm sure they have to be extremely worried for your safety.

BACHMANN: No, I'm in -- I'm single, but then my parents live in town, and they're a few miles inland, and they wanted me to come over there, but I guess I would rather stay here and watch things.

SYLVESTER: OK, Tom Bachmann. Best of luck to you. And as we keep saying, please be safe there. We appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

BACHMANN: Ma'am, thank you. Take care.

SYLVESTER: All right. Take care.

Preparing for Wilma, we are all along the coast of Florida, for the latest on this fast-moving storm. In Palm Beach, residents go into shelters, but who else needs safety from the storm? We'll talk to the Palm Beach Zoo director.

Also, how is tiny Marco Island bracing for Wilma's wrath? We have reaction from locals. And in Sanibel Island, some people there are choosing to stay. We'll tell you why. It's all ahead this hour when our coverage of Hurricane Wilma continues.

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SYLVESTER: We'll continue our coverage of Hurricane Wilma in a moment, but first, let's check other stories now in the news. Officials in Nigeria say there are no signs of survivors after an airliner crashed outside of Lagos. Red Cross crews are at the crash site. One hundred seventeen people were aboard Bellview Airlines Flight 210. It went down Saturday night shortly after takeoff from Lagos.

The U.S. military confirms four American contractors were killed in an attack north of Baghdad late last month. Their convoy came under fire after getting lost in Iraq's Salah Ad Din province on September 20th. Two Americans were also wounded in the incident.

In the meantime, it's been another violent day in Iraq. Among the attacks, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqi police officers and two civilians in an attack in central Baghdad. And five U.S. soldiers were wounded in three separate roadside bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital.

Still to come, Hurricane Wilma takes aim at south Florida. As people across the state prepare for the storm, we'll update you on what the Red Cross, FEMA, and others are doing. Stay with us.

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SYLVESTER: You're looking at a satellite picture of Hurricane Wilma. Right now the strong Category 2 storm is off the western coast of Cuba. It's hitting that island nation with heavy rain and strong winds.

The outer bands of the hurricane began reaching parts of south Florida yesterday. Floodwaters inundated these streets in Broward County. Forecasters predict in the next several hours, Wilma will pick up speed and possibly strengthen before hitting Florida's southwestern coast tomorrow morning.

Wilma left Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula today beaten and bruised. The storm basically sat over that region for two entire days causing widespread flooding and damage. Four deaths are now being blamed on the storm in Mexico. No major injuries to report among the 10,000 American tourists stranded in Cancun and Cozumel. U.S. officials are now trying to arrange evacuation flights out of Merida, Mexico, about 170 miles from Cancun.

Back in the U.S., hurricane shelters are filling up. About 3500 Floridians have taken cover there, and Governor Jeb Bush is urging residents who are under mandatory evacuation orders but haven't left yet to get out now before the storm hits.

Ensuring the safety of animals in the strike zone is also a pretty big challenge, but that's exactly what Florida's Palm Beach Zoo is doing, and joining is now by phone is the zoo's director of living collections, Keith Lovett. So what are you doing to make sure the animals are safe?

KEITH LOVETT, PALM BEACH ZOO: What we are doing to make sure the animals are safe -- we have about 1,000 animals at the zoo and about half of those animals are being brought indoors into safe hurricane- proof enclosures right now.

SYLVESTER: Do the animals -- and you can tell me what type of animals we're talking about here, but do they seem to have a sense of what's going on, of what's to come?

LOVETT: Amazingly the animals, they do real well. They know how to protect themselves. They hunker down. I think what happens a lot of the time is the people who caring for them are a little wound up right now, and the animals are feeding off of that more than the pending storm. I think the people acting differently is really what gets the animals right now.

SYLVESTER: Where are you putting these animals: When we talk about evacuating, they're still going to be on the property, right, but you're just putting them in some creative locations, I guess?

LOVETT: yes, very creative locations. Basically a lot of the animals will do OK outside. We're now talking not huge winds, I mean, maybe 100 miles an hour. The biggest thing you have to look at, are there vulnerable trees above them? Are they in areas where they could be hurt?

So basically we use every facility we have at the zoo that's hurricane-proof. This goes from the restaurant to some of the night house areas. We even use the rest rooms for flamingos, spoonbills and ibises just because they are bunker-like structures and they do -- these animals will do well inside those.

SYLVESTER: So you're putting some of these animals in restaurants and restrooms. Which are the most difficult to move?

LOVETT: Probably at this point the large kangaroo mobs we have here at the zoo, we'll be moving them very shortly into a building that's actually the tiger night house building. The tiger won't be able to have access to them, but it's the same building the tiger is in. They tend to be a little bit flighty, so we'll be bringing them inside soon, but based on the numbers, it's a little bit tough to bring those guys in.

SYLVESTER: Do you have to drug any of the animals? You mentioned that some of them might be a little agitated, a little flighty, to use your words. Do you have to drug any of them?

LOVETT: We haven't had to. Unfortunately, because of last year with Frances and Jeanne, we're getting pretty good at catching up animals for hurricanes. We have a good feel of what animals will do well during the storm and what animals really need to come inside.

And sometimes animals are better off outside, because they do worse in a new environment and they stress too easily, so those animals will be staying outside, but they have structures outside as well.

SYLVESTER: All right. Keith Lovett at the Palm Beach Zoo joining us. We thank you very much for your time, sir.

LOVETT: Thank you.

SYLVESTER: Well, after taking a beating over Katrina, how is FEMA preparing to handle Wilma's wrath? Our Gary Nurenberg is live from the agency's headquarters in Washington, and he'll join is live next.

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SYLVESTER: Preparing for the worst, that's what relief organizations are doing in Florida before Hurricane Wilma's expected arrival. Supplies are being stockpiled and shelters are being set up for people who have had to evacuate their homes but don't have a safe place to stay. On CNN's "LATE EDITION" today, the president of the Red Cross said the string of hurricanes that has hit the U.S. here is presenting some serious challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTY EVANS, PRES., RED CROSS: I have to tell you that the response from the American public -- we've asked for more volunteers and those volunteers have come, they've been trained, and they are on the job right now. We're still doing emergency sheltering from Katrina, about 4,000 people still in 60 shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the American public has responded with financial resources.

We need more. We're roughly $300 million short of our projected costs for Katrina, Rita. We haven't added on Wilma, because we don't know what that is going to mean for us, so we need additional financial resources to do the emergency work that we have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: The focus now, Evans says, is to wind down Red Cross emergency operations for hurricane victims, so other non-profits can take over long-term recovery efforts.

FEMA insists the mistakes it make during Hurricane Katrina will not be repeated with this storm. The agency started making extensive emergency plans days before the storm's expected landfall. CNN's Gary Nurenberg is at FEMA headquarters in Washington.

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Lisa. Homeland Security, the umbrella agency over FEMA, won't complete, rather, its post-action review of what happened with federal response to Katrina until December or January, but clearly some lessons have already been learned and have been incorporated into the planning for Wilma. Earlier this afternoon, FEMA said it's ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

R. DAVID PAULISON, ACTING DIRECTOR, FEMA: Time is running short. The storm is moving very quickly.

NURENBERG (voice-over): FEMA has nearly 1,000 personnel in Florida; 15 teams of state and federal officials scattered at emergency management centers throughout the state; 300 truckloads of food, water and ice prepositioned; emergency medical workers, and search and rescue teams in place.

PAULISON: We are as prepared as we can be right now, with us in the state of Florida. We've taken pretty much all the steps that we can take.

NURENBERG: Paulison was asked about reports that some residents of the Florida Keys are not heeding evacuation orders.

PAULISON: If anyone is remaining in the Florida Keys after the evacuation order is given, particularly with the size of this storm and where it's headed, they are making a significant mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG: Paulison went on to sat that eight specific helicopters have been designated for search and rescue after the storm hits, and can be diverted to the Keys if necessary, but he again repeated the plea that if you've been ordered to evacuate do so. He said it makes his job that much easier, and allows him to divert resources to those who have been taken my surprise and are in real trouble. Lisa, back to you.

SYLVESTER: OK. Gary Nurenberg at FEMA headquarters in Washington.

Hurricane Wilma heading towards the Florida coast. We are following this storm all day, and Jacqui Jeras will join us with the very latest on where this storm is headed, coming up next.

Plus, tiny Sanibel Island could be in for a direct hit, so why are some of its residents choosing to stay? Our coverage continues.

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SYLVESTER: We're keeping a close watch on Hurricane Wilma, as the Category 2 storm moves closer to the Florida Keys. Right now, it has sustained winds of about 100 miles an hour, but forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say Wilma is likely to pick up some strength in the next 24 hours. They say Wilma could reach Category 3 status later today with winds of more than 111 miles an hour.

Forecasters say storm surge flooding of eight to 13 feet could be expected along the southwest Florida coasts, as Wilma makes landfall. The storm began dumping rain already on parts of Florida yesterday. For the latest on where Wilma is headed and what we can expect to see as the storm progresses, we want to turn to CNN's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center -- Jacqui.

JERAS: Well, Lisa, we heard your concern that you just mentioned about this possibly strengthening back to a Category 3 storm. And that is something that we are very concerned about right now. If you look at the sat satellite imagery, you can see the eye becoming very well defined again and at this time is moving over what we call the loop current, a very deep and warm area of water. So we have a good six hours plus to go where this storm could still intensify before it moving over slightly cooler water and encounters more wind shear.

Right now the winds are driving it very quickly up to the north and to the east, and we're expecting that to continue to accelerate in forward speeds. Showers and thunderstorms have been just starting to rake the Keys over the last couple of hours, and we're also concerned about the threat of tornadoes, a tornado watch issued from north of Tampa Bay extending all the way through the Keys areas.

I will zoom in and show you one of our true viewers and this shows you the updating wind speeds. This is the sustained winds but we've been seeing gusts between 35 and 40 miles per hour. We do anticipate that the tropical storm force, sustained winds, that will be 39 miles per hour plus, will be pushing in later on this evening.

So that could be maybe three, four hours away. Forecast track has it continuing on this northeasterly path, and then heading towards possible landfall on Monday morning, and depending on how much more it picks up speed will depend on the timing of this storm system. We're very concerned about the rain, also the storm surge and also the type of wind damage.

I want to talk about storm surge more specifically what we're expecting across the southwest Florida coast. There you can see a computer model animation. This is from the National Hurricane Center. They sent this to us, and you can see the biggest area of concern. Here's Naples way up there. There you can see Marco Island. This whole area right here is basically the Everglades, it is not very populated. So this is actually one of the best-case scenarios.

If we finish this animation one more time to show you some of those reds. And those reds are the eight to 14 feet. This area right he is really honing in on the 14 feet, and some these little inlets and bays here will see the highest surge. That's why we're expecting these numbers to be up a bit compared to what a typical Category 2 storm would do -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Jacqui is this storm still tracking the way that we expected it to, to hit in that area that you were just showing us, or any kind of wobbling or turning or moving?

JERAS: Well anytime the storm is this far out from landfall, you can see all these little bumps and bobbles. That's why we say don't focus on the skinny red line. Because it can deviate a little bit farther up to the north and south. Right now our best estimate does bring it south of Naples, which would by best-care scenario, because having the worst of the storm would be the less populated areas, however, this storm is still a very big storm. We are talking about 400 miles wide. Everyone across central and southern Florida will be affected by it, not just the west coast either. We have the hurricane warnings posted for the east coast. People in West Palm Beach, down towards Miami-Dade County, they can be expected to see a hurricane one, category one conditions as the storm exits the shore.

SYLVESTER: That is a very good reminder. Thank you very much, Jacqui.

Right now people across south Florida are being told to head inland. Several areas are under mandatory evacuation orders, including Sanibel Island, and CNN's Allan Chernoff is there.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a delightful Sunday afternoon along the beach on Sanibel Island. The sun is trying to peek through the clouds, surfers are trying to catch a wave, but there are not very many people here. The police are not taking any chances. The island itself is now off-limits to anyone who's not already here, and the police since noontime on Saturday have had a mandatory evacuation in effect. That means they've been going door-to-door, urging people to get off the island.

Most people are complying, but about 40 folks have said to the police they are staying no matter what. The police don't plan to push them off, but these people say they want to stay because of pets or watch over their property. They also tell us that during the last major hurricane here, Charley, back in August of last year, they didn't have access to the island for five days, so that's on reason why some people are insisting they stay here, but it's not a terribly good place to ride out a hurricane. Sanibel, after all, is a barrier island, about a mile into the Gulf of Mexico, so it could become highly vulnerable as Wilma approaches.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Sanibel Island, Florida.

SYLVESTER: And as Wilma moves east toward Florida the storm is drenching Cuba with heavy rains. Cuban state television reports one evacuated town on the coast has been swamped by three feet of floodwaters, CNN's Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman joins us now by phone with the very latest.

LUCIA NEWMAN, HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (via telephone): Hello Lisa. Well after days and days of preparing for the storm, we're finally beginning to feel it here all along the western tip of Cuba. Here in Havana, it's been raining heavily on and off, the wind is howling, and that's even more so the case in Pinar del Rio Province which is to the west of us.

There the soil is already saturated after days and days of rain, and there have been reports of flooding as you mentioned both there and on the southern coast of Havana Province where there is one town that as you mentioned has at least three feet of water.

We saw at least one river with its banks overflowing in Pinar del Rio the people living nearby in fact had already been evacuated, and thank goodness, because an enormous tree had fallen on one of the houses and crushed it like a pancake.

The big danger now Lisa of course are the storm surges all along the south and northern coast of this island, including here in Havana. As we mentioned before, more than half a million people have been evacuated from low-lying coastal areas, as well as from dilapidated or weak structures that are considered to be unsafe, and there's certainly a lot of them here in Havana -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Lucia what are you hearing about tornadoes? We're getting some reports of tornadoes in the area?

NEWMAN: Absolutely. Yesterday and the night before there was some freakish tornadoes in Penal Del Reno, enormous tropical tornadoes that destroyed at least a dozen houses and some tobacco houses that they are called, these are structures made of wood, that are used to dry out the tobacco. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. People said it sounded like a train or a locomotive going through. And that we're told are those tornadoes are being caused by the atmospheric conditions brought on by this hurricane.

SYLVESTER: OK Lucia Newman, reporting from Cuba, we appreciate that report.

Well across Florida, city and state officials are preparing for Wilma as well. Marco Island is on the very tip of the state. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place there, but so why isn't everybody leaving? Their story when our coverage of Hurricane Wilma returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: More coverage of Hurricane Wilma in a moment, but now a check of some other stories making news. Officials in Nigeria say there are no signs of survivors after an airliner crashed out side Lagos. Red Cross crews are at the crash site, 117 people were aboard Bellview Airlines Flight 210. It went down Saturday night shortly after takeoff from Lagos.

The U.S. military confirms four American contractors were killed in an attack north of Baghdad late last month. Their convoy came under fire after getting lost in Iraq's Salah Ad Din Province on September 20. Two Americans were also wounded in the incident.

And it's been another violent day in Iraq. Among the attacks, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqi police officers and two civilians in an attack in central Baghdad. And five U.S. soldiers were wounded in three separate roadside bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital.

Preparing for Wilma, how the tiny Marco Island is getting ready for the storm. Our John King is there who talked to some of the locals this morning. What they had to say when we return.

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SYLVESTER: Marco Island, off Florida's Gulf Coast, is also preparing for the arrival of Wilma. CNN's John King is there, and he joins us now live. John, how's it going out there?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you Lisa. Well it's quite a nice day at the beach. You've been hearing that from some of our other correspondents. I know if you check out here we are on the tip of Marco Island a string of condominiums, and hotels, the waves getting more intense, and the breeze picking up a bit. But still relatively a peaceful afternoon.

However, about 12 hours from now they expect a tidal surge to begin here as Wilma begins to hit shore, this island like much of southern Florida, under mandatory evacuation orders. Most in this community we found are complying with those orders, but as we discovered by walking around the city, driving around the city this morning, some complying faster than others.

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KING (voice-over): The Sunday rush at Breakfast Plus Cafe: eggs over easy, home flies, steaming coffee, and the debate over whether Marco Island's mandatory evacuation order means you really need to go. Denise Horvat lives 30 miles down the road in tiny Everglade City. All but a handful of people left town Saturday she says. And Denise plans to move inland after one more shift.

DENISE HORVAT, WAITRESS: It's a big share, but you know, sometimes you have to listen to it and go, so by afternoon, I'll be going.

KING: Going it appears, for good reason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, cell phones off please.

KING: At Marco Islands the Emergency Operations Center, word Wilma is aiming this way, likely to deliver winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and a tidal surge of seven to 10 feet.

MIKE MURPHY, MARCO ISLAND FIRE CHIEF: All the modeling, everything indicates it's still staying on target with us. The EOC indicates Marco Island as the direct hit as of right now.

KING: It's a town of expensive coastal condominiums and pricey yachts, far different now than in 1960, the last time a hurricane hit directly from the west. The mandatory evacuation began Saturday. City manager Bill Moss says 90 percent of the 20,000 people who were on the island have left.

BILL MOSS, MARCO ISLAND CITY MANAGER: There are still too many people on the island. We are an island, we are surrounded by water, there's going to be a lot of water, likely be a total disruption of all utilities.

KING: Nudging holdouts who want to stay is the most urgent message. Detective Linda Guerrero's (ph) patrols focus on Latino neighborhoods. At Marco Island Catholic Church, the pews mostly empty, the pastor's homily mixing the scripture and storm preparedness. FATHER TIM NAVIN, SAN MARCO CATHOLIC CHURCH: We're all supposed to be some place other than Marco Island as of 8:00 this morning. So we should be on the other side of the border. If you want to get to the other side of the border and you don't have transportation there are buses that are leaving from the post office up until noontime.

KING: Most everyone on Marco Island is gone or going. Most businesses closed. It is tradition that storm humor goes hand in hand with storm preparedness. A hurricane named Wilma is no exception.

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Lisa, again officials are told to expect the storm to hit and they say as of now to expect a direct hit between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the morning. The beach relatively peaceful now but they expect a tidal surge of seven to nine feet, they had been expecting about 14 feet when the storm was rated perhaps a Cat 3 when it hit ground now he expect a strong category one or a weak Category 2.

Still a seven to nine foot surge would get the water up here and up into many of these coastal condominiums. Relatively an up scaled community here, we also visited a small gritty fishing village just down the road, many trailer park homes there right up against the water. So there are preparing for heavy flooding in this area. They are hoping, hoping that the storm is not too severe, but they say they're taking no chances -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: John, I guess there's a reason why they say the calm before the storm. I mean as we can see in the picture behind you. Where are you planning on staying? You said the storm surges could reach those condos, including I suppose you're in a condo right now. Where will you be waiting for the storm?

KING: Well it depends on how it is when it hits. But we're setting up here; we are told the water could conceivably reach us. We're on a balcony at a hotel right out at the beach, this is very safe structure though based on everything we can tell. Our plan is to have some of our CNN team here; some of us may try to wander around town a little bit, conditions permitting.

There's an Emergency Operations Center that you saw in the piece it is less than a mile from here. We want to visit there for periodic briefings; we want to check back on Goodland that fishing village down the road, where some people say they want to tough it out. That is quite dangerous, because the water is already right up against the edge of the piers and many of those home are right there. So conditions permitting, we'll wander around a bit, but will stay safe.

SYLVESTER: OK. John King at Marco Island, we appreciate your report.

Forecasters say Hurricane Wilma is picking up speed and strength as it moves northeast toward Florida, and CNN's Dave Hennen and Jacqui Jeras are in the Weather Center with more on what Wilma is doing right now and what we can expect. How is it looking? JERAS: Well Lisa, we have a very small window of time here for Wilma to continue to strengthen. It's been pretty steady all day long. A Category 2 storm with winds of 100 miles per hour. In order for this to become a Category 3, it has to have at least 111 miles per hour. And we're going to answer the question as to why there's such a short window as Wilma is moving over some warm water right now. Meteorologist Dave Hennen, one of the best hurricane meteorologists I know, Dave is here to explain it.

DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Appreciate that Jacqui. We want to talk about the Gulf loop current, you might have heard this kind of buzz word around, because we talked about it during Hurricane Katrina, we talked about during Hurricane Rita as well. It's very hot water. Let me show you this graphic and basically what we have is all this hot water in the Caribbean getting pushed up into the Gulf of Mexico. That hot water is fuel for the fire, if you will, high-octane fuel.

The hurricane right now is located right about there. And notice where that's at, in that pool of very hot water. When Katrina, when Rita moved over those areas, we saw them turn into strong hurricanes. There are other atmospheric factors that are in effect here that weren't in effect during Katrina and Rita, mainly the strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

In fact, I was just looking at some of the latest data from our Air Force reconnaissance flight, that is the NOAA plane that goes into the core of the storms, and drops down that little thing called the drop sound, and we get information back on what's going on with the storm.

The pressure has actually decreased a little with the storm, which would show that it's strengthening, but we also see that the storm appears to be more tilted from flight level down to the ground, maybe a sign that there's some wind shear, so think of it as the winds stronger in the upper levels of the atmosphere, weaker in the lower levels of the atmosphere, the hurricane doesn't like that, it stretches out the eye or the core of the storm that would normally go out. That may tend to weaken the storm, so you have all these various factors that are into play.

Let me take you to our titan machine show you a couple of things. These are some various buoy reports. Those are the little red dots. Notice this particular buoy right out here that is showing 81 degree water, that is that hot water we talked about, wave heights 12 feet and here's another buoy, water temperatures pretty warm here as well off the coast, look at the winds there east at 25. The winds have already been reported to about tropical-storm force, so we are not out of the woods yet and of course we're sitting here waiting for the latest advisory, Jacqui. I would expect that we'll get those numbers shortly.

JERAS: Yes, we usually get them in just before the top of the hour. As soon as we get that information, we'll pass that along to our viewers. We could see a stronger hurricane that is possible. So make sure you keep it right here. Thanks Dave. Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Thank you both.

And we're bringing you the very latest information about Hurricane Wilma. Coming up, where the storm is expected to hit in Florida and when. We'll be right back.

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SYLVESTER: This is what Hurricane Wilma looks like as it churns off the coast of Cuba. The Category 2 storms are bringing strong winds and a whole lot of rain to that island nation, between 10 to 15 inches of rain could fall there today. And Florida, while hundreds of miles away, is already feeling the storm's effects. In southeastern Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale, this was the scene. Streets completely flooded but it's the state's southwestern coast that's predicted to get a direct hit from Hurricane Wilma tomorrow morning.

Our coverage of Hurricane Wilma continues, plus a home that can survive a hurricane. What one Punta Gorda couple did to make sure their house was there to stay when our coverage of Hurricane Wilma returns.

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SYLVESTER: The countdown for Hurricane Wilma's U.S. arrival has begun. Floridians have had days to get ready or get out. What still needs to be done?

From Mexico to Florida, we have got reporters stationed all along Wilma's path. We will bring you live updates through out the hour.

Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY our special hurricane coverage. I'm Lisa Sylvester in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Hurricane Wilma is on the way, the storm that made a mess of a popular resort of Cancun is picking up speed and may gain strength as it cuts a path toward Florida. Mexican officials report at least four deaths in the Yucatan. Provisions are scarce, streets are flooded and beaches washed away. Mexican resorts suffered serious damage.

Hurricane Wilma is expected to come ashore around dawn tomorrow along Florida's southern Gulf Coast. And several hours ago Governor Jeb Bush made a final plea for the people in the low-lying Florida Keys to get to the Florida mainland.

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