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CNN Live Sunday

Florida Prepares For Hurricane Wilma

Aired October 23, 2005 - 20:30   ET

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

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Blowing this way, then the water is actually blowing offshore and you don't get as much of a surge so that is where we expect you to be just to the north of the eye but sometimes wobble turns into turns and we'll see what happens in the next few hours. We'll see if it turns back to the right again or is that left turn a true turn or not. It could just be a degree or two, but that would make a lot of difference.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, Chad. That's great insight and when you get a chance give me the number of that re- modeler because it's looking great in there, finally.

MYERS: He's expensive.

MARCIANO: You mentioned - you're familiar with the Keys, you've given me directions down there, where to go, what not to do when covering a storm and the central Keys, that's the area that got hit the hardest with that storm back in 1935, the Labor Day Storm, so we're going to go there now, Chad and Carol, we're going to check in with an affiliate reporter out of WFOR there and Art Barron should be there. Art, are you online with us?

ART BARRON, WFOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm here. Do you see this? We're getting a little bit of rain and the winds are beginning to kick up out here. We're in Marathon on the northeast side of U.S. 1 and this is Boot Key Harbor that you're looking at right now. We're going to check out the water down there because it is starting to look a little rough. You're talking about the storm surges, well, on the northeast side of U.S. 1, we're going to get about two to four feet of storm surge and on the southwest side of U.S. 1 they are expecting, as you mentioned, anywhere between five and eight feet of water.

Of course, that spells trouble because that means areas of U.S. 1 will be under water virtually isolating people here to the Keys.

You're looking at these boats, they've been strapped down, so to speak, they're tied down, they did that a good part of the past couple days so a lot of people have had time to prepare but we also understand that some people are going to be sleeping in their boats. The one right over here and the Pegasus right over here and we spoke with the EOC and the director over there says that these folks have got to be crazy because you'll remember during Katrina not too long ago, somebody drowned while sleeping in his boat a couple of months ago.

Marylou Webber is here, thank you for braving the rain, but EOC says you've got to be crazy to be on your boat, why are you doing this?

MARYLOU WEBBER, BOAT OWNER: Well, as I told people around here, it's my birthday present and I want to take care of it but the back of my boat does say "Die Broke" and I have no intentions on dying right now so I will be safe by just trying to protect my assets.

BARRON: Let's get a shot of the boat, if you will. Tim McFarland (ph) I know you have to wipe the lens over here. This is your birthday present?

WEBBER: Yes it is.

BARRON: Is it worth risking life and limb, though? Because you know when is really a safe time? Right now you're really kind of in the thick of things.

WEBBER: You're right and that's why I said I have no intentions of being unsafe and calling my own life the end now (ph), so I will be safe, I have a safe harbor to go to here. We have food, water, I'm going to stay as long as it's safe and I think that time to move is coming very soon.

BARRON: All right. Marylou Webber. Well, happy birthday and hopefully you will find some safe refuge within minutes from now because it's really not a good idea to be weathering this hurricane on your boat.

A couple of quick information here. Some facts for you. I spoke to the EOC within the past couple of hours and we've been talking about perhaps one in five people made the evacuation out of the Keys. We're hearing from the director over there from Colonel Rick Ramsey (ph) that as many as five to seven percent of the people evacuated, so the vast majority of people who are hunkering down. As you can see, things are beginning to deteriorate right now.

That's the very latest out here live in the Keys, in Marathon. Art Barron. CNN, back to you.

MARCIANO: Art, stay right there because our severe weather expert Chad Myers got married in Key West, he knows all about the Keys and I tell you it's not easy to get him fired up and to get him really, really concerned and there's a look of worry on his face.

MYERS: There is.

MARCIANO: When talking about the Keys and he wants to ask you a question.

MYERS: Well, I'm really concerned about where he is and I hope he has someplace to go because Boot Key Harbor is not the place to be. Boot Key Harbor does not have a cut to other side. As all of this water starts to pile up in the Boot Key Harbor, it is actually going to pile up there. There is a country club or a golf course or whatever you want to call it right there along that and all of those boats he's talking about right through here, this is actually going to be like a catcher's mitt where this water comes right in and the water comes right up to you.

Storm surge here could be eight feet. Back to you, guys.

MARCIANO: So, Art, you probably couldn't see that, but what Art was pointing out, he was just hoping you have a fallback position of some sort ...

MYERS: Somewhere north or south of there.

MARCIANO: Do you? We lost him. Hopefully he does. Chad, thanks for that insight, things obviously starting to pick up there in the Keys with rain increasing and the winds increasing as well, Carol.

You know, Chad is the first one to say, you know, it's not going to be that bad. When I see that look on his face and the folks in Key West not evacuating, that could be a huge story, especially if this thing continues on its southern trend. So we'll hope for good news coming tomorrow night. Back to you.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Keep our fingers crossed. Rob, we all remember the tragedy of the nursing home residents in the New Orleans area found dead after Hurricane Katrina. Coming up, what Florida is doing to help residents of nursing homes weather the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: I want to talk about the most vulnerable and the least likely, perhaps, to evacuate simply because they're too weak, they can't. You might recall after Hurricane Katrina, 34 people, elderly, died when the high water overran St. Rita's Nursing Home east of New Orleans, the owners of which have since been charged with negligent homicide.

Now in Key West today residents of a nursing home in harm's way were loaded onto buses or ambulances whether they liked it or not. Reporter Carey Codd of affiliate WFOR was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Late for your trip?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CAREY CODD, WFOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paramedics loaded up their precious cargo one by one onto buses bound for a safer spot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. Hold on to this one.

CODD: Ninety-seven residents from the Key West Convalescent Center are on the move. And the man they call the Captain, Frank Kaiser, doesn't want to be.

FRANK KAISER, NURSING HOME RESIDENT: It's sort of an intrusive pain in the ass.

CODD: Residents range in age from their 40s to 105. A team of paramedics is taking them to facilities in Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm and Ft. Pierce to ride out the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, we've gotten really good at this.

CODD: Officials say this is the fourth evacuation in two years and it does not get easier with time.

JOE SMITH, KEY WEST CONVALESCENT CENTER: Very difficult. These are Key West conchs and they don't like leaving their home but we don't have a choice.

CODD: That's because the government makes them do it and it's costly. Close to $400,000 each evacuation for the ambulances, staff over time and payment to the other facilities. Residents say it's stressful and they don't like changing their routines.

KAISER: You don't have the right kind of timing for breakfast, for lunch or dinner or going to bed.

CODD: But officials say the residents will be safe, and that's the bottom line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now, as this hurricane is about to make landfall, we are looking for citizen journalists. Send us your photos and video of Hurricane Wilma. Log on to cnn.com/hurricane but we want you to be safe when taking these pictures so please don't put yourself or anybody else in danger.

Now, our complete hurricane coverage continues in just a moment. Florida's Gulf Coast is turning into a ghost coast. We are going to check on the evacuations as zero hour approaches.

And Wilma has already laid waste to some of Mexico's most popular resorts. Now the Red Cross moves in to pick up the pieces.

And a live report from Naples, Florida, in the crosshairs of a gathering storm.

You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Well, as we wait for Wilma, information from the storm continues to filter into the CNN weather center. There you are seeing the hurricane warnings that are posted. Pretty much the entire southern half of the Florida peninsula and hurricane warnings mean that hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours both on the west side of the peninsula and on the east side all the way up to Titusville as this storm is really moving and when it makes landfall it will not lose a whole lot of intensity.

Let's bring in Chad Myers, our CNN weather expert in the CNN weather center. It's actually intensified a little bit in the last couple of hours, hasn't it Chad, and do you see more, even more organization with this thing?

MYERS: It went from 105 to 110, Rob and we're have to see, for it to organize and get stronger now we're going to have to watch the eye wall get smaller. It's a pretty large eye and that's - we use this ice skating thing so often but it just tells the story. If the ice skater has one foot on the ground and arms out and spinning around, they don't go very fast, but as soon as they bring their arms in they get the very, very fast spin.

We're going to have to wait for the storm to bring its arms in for the wind speeds to actually pick up and it looks now, Rob, this thing has really picked up some speed. I know the latest advisory said 15. It may be almost up to 20 at this point. This thing is now racing toward the west coast of Florida, racing toward Key West and now on the very, very bottom of the screen you can see the brightest colors of the eastern eye wall there probably 70 miles west of the Dry Tortugas at this point and just really, really picking up that forward momentum. Winds at 110, Category 2.

There we go. At 2:00 in the morning, still not onshore, but I don't think it's going to wait for daybreak for this to fall onshore. It will be between probably midnight and somewhere around 5:00 a.m., depending on where you are. It will hit Key West, obviously, first, because Key West sticks out there 90 miles. Rob?

MARCIANO: So what do you - give me a timing as far as when you expect it to hit Key West and do you think the eye itself will hit Key West or just the right side of the eye wall.

MYERS: It's very well possible. I don't think the eye will go over it. I don't think they're going to get center of the eye, look up and sea stars, but they could easily get eye wall itself here and especially the southern and western part of - and eastern part of the eye wall as it comes right up here kind of almost like filling in the Florida Bay from Naples right on through Key West in I would say less than five hours, Rob.

The weather is going to go so far downhill so quickly in Key West, people are going to be maybe outside, they're going to go, Oh my God, I'd better get inside now. That's how quick it's going to go down.

MARCIANO: Well, hopefully there are some residents of Key West who didn't evacuate that are watching you tonight. Thanks, Chad. Chad Myers in the CNN weather center with that advice. Going to go downhill in a hurry, especially on Key West, Carol, he says, as soon as five hours from now the eye wall could be approaching Key West.

LIN: Yes.

MARCIANO: And as I say that the winds are picking up here in Ft. Myers and the rain is starting to come down as we're getting another spiral band to kick through. LIN: Yes. Things are going to change very quickly on the ground and we want to let people know what help is available to them if they're not evacuating.

Red Cross staff members are on the ground in Mexico helping victims struck earlier by Wilma and they've set up shelters in Florida, too. Today on CNN's LATE EDITION, Red Cross president Marty Evans said this year's busy hurricane center is taking a toll on the agency's operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTY EVANS, RED CROSS DIRECTOR: 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 and Rita. We haven't added on Wilma, because we don't know what that's going to mean for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well the focus now, according, to Marty Evans is that the winds have to die down and that Red Cross emergency operations for hurricane victims so other non-profits can actually take over the long term recovery efforts. The Red Cross just wants to get in there, get out, move on, have the other non-profits come in and take care of people, house them long term, Rob.

MARCIANO: You know, Carol, that's a good point and the local officials here, the state government as well saying you've got to - if you are hanging around, if you're not evacuating, if you're going to be in an area that will not have power possible for several days, maybe weeks, you need to have at least three days of supplies to live on before FEMA or the Red Cross or any of the charities out there can possibly get to you.

So that's the situation we're dealing with here in Florida tonight.

Let's go down the road now to Naples, Florida, Jeanne Meserve. Jeanne, it seems like you've been reporting from there all week. What are some of the differences you're seeing there tonight weather-wise as opposed to, say, last night?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you, right now it's a lovely evening. We have a soft breeze blowing. We have some surf out there. The only hint that something strong is on the way, some incredible lightning that we've seen out on the horizon, but we understand the storm is coming, and as we've heard over and over again, it's coming fast.

An urgent appeal tonight from Collier County officials for people who live in mobile homes anywhere in Collier County. Evacuations or not, to get to a hardened structure or at least get to an interior room. They are very concerned about tornadic activity associated with this hurricane. They thing it's going to be bad because of this cold front that's coming down from the north and meeting the hurricane. They think there is going to be a larger zone of activity here, so urging people to get to a hardened structure, to get to an interior room.

Now, right now the sheriff's department says 12 shelters are up and running in Collier County, about 6,200 people in those at this point in time. Obviously those can be expanded if need be.

The Red Cross advising people that if they are going to a shelter there is one additional step they should take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER TEAHEN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Call a family member outside of the affected area. Tell them where you're at, what your plans are and tell them you'll contact them after the storm has passed.

We saw thousands of families separated in the last several hurricanes. We're trying to minimize that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: No firm estimates on how many people heeded the orders to evacuate in Collier County, clearly though it isn't 100 percent and that storm is coming and coming fast.

Rob, back to you.

MARCIANO: All right, Jeanne. Enjoy that nice weather. We're starting to see another squall come through here in Ft. Myers. That's Jeanne Meserve live for us just south of Ft. Myers in Naples, Florida. Closer to where that storm may very well make landfall tomorrow morning.

We'll have much more on Hurricane Wilma as the storm approaches the southwest corner of Florida throughout the night. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: And we are back live from Ft. Myers Beach here in the southwestern coastline of Florida and the winds have picked up, the rain has picked up and we have got another squall moving through, likely heading up the coastline as the last one did, heading towards the Tampa area and maybe farther north of that.

We do go up in that general direction towards Venice and we're going to bring in the mayor of Venice. It's Mayor Dean Calamaras who is obviously one of the many mayors and local officials preparing for the storm. Good evening, mayor. How are you doing tonight?

DEAN CALAMARAS, MAYOR OF VENICE, FLORIDA (on phone): Good evening. We're just preparing for the storm, I guess, as everybody else is along the coast.

MARCIANO: What are some of the things you're doing? Some folks might say the latest track takes the storm a little bit farther south of you. What are some of the things you're doing even though you may not be in the full fury of this storm?

CALAMARAS: Well, we've already declared the Venice area and emergency so we can put into effect our emergency plan and in doing that we've already called for the mandatory evacuation of all the mobile home parks in the area and a voluntary evacuation of low-lying - people that live in flood-prone areas, low-lying areas. We've stationed and staged all of our firemen. We had crews standing by that will be able to get out on the road quickly to clear roads as soon as the storm passes.

We're expecting some severe thunderstorms, a lot of heavy, gusty winds, that's probably later on this evening, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning we expect the winds to get up to 70 miles per hour ...

MARCIANO: Mayor Calamaras, let's talk a little bit about Hurricane Charley. You're pretty close to Punta Gorda. No doubt there was some action last year when Charley came through. What are some of the things you learned from the Charley experience that maybe you're putting to use tonight?

CALAMARAS: Well, we've had a lot of practice getting ready for all of these various hurricanes. Charley was a real eye-opener for us. It came through 20 miles just below us and severely damaging the Punta Gorda area so we have staged - we know that we have to have the emergency crews on hand to get out immediately to clear roads. That's one of the big problems that they had down there is getting things cleared so that you can get emergency crews in.

So we have our utility crews stand by, they know that as soon as the storm passes they know they can get out on the road and start doing what they have to do, doing the surveys of the city to see what's damaged, what has to be done.

So we're - go ahead.

MARCIANO: In a nutshell, what are some of the conference calls like? Do you get together with the other mayors? Are you dealing with only county officials? Are you talking to the governor's office? Tell me what a mayor in the State of Florida does when a hurricane is approaching?

CALAMARAS: Well, our plan is tied to the county plan. We have a county emergency operations center as well as a city operations center. We have - our city center is our police station which is a hurricane-proof building, it's a shelter and it's the center of all of our communications and in fact, during Hurricane Charley we were actually the communications center for the City of Northport and dispatch down to Punta Gorda and some of the other cities that were severely damaged. Our fire crews and utility crews were actually dispatched down to help with the cleanup down there as well right after the storm.

So we deal county-wide with the county service mainly. We - our plans are all kind of tied together. We all work together in the county itself.

MARCIANO: Well, Sarasota County, Charlotte County, Collier County, Lee County, Monroe County, they are counties that are in the brunt of it and there's lots of mayors out there, I'm sure, that are working overtime tonight. We appreciate your help in explaining it, exactly what goes on there and best of luck to you, Mayor Calamaras ...

CALAMARAS: OK.

MARCIANO: ... as Wilma approaches. Thanks so much.

CALAMARAS: Thank you.

MARCIANO: Carol, a lot of planning obviously goes on during these things and the State of Florida, unfortunately, has a lot of practice, so they've got their stuff in a pile, no doubt about that.

Back to you.

LIN: You bet. Yes, the mayor sounded pretty calm, all things considered.

MARCIANO: Yes.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Chad.

We're going to stay on our special hurricane watch right now as Hurricane Wilma is barreling towards the State of Florida. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: As you know, CNN is your hurricane headquarters. All night and through the day tomorrow as Hurricane Wilma barrels towards the State of Florida. We're going to be here through the night with our special coverage of this killer storm. We have correspondents all over the hurricane zone and we're going to bring you live reports throughout the night.

Back straight ahead, a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE with Anderson Cooper.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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