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American Morning

Hurricane Wilma Hits Florida; Hurricane Wilma's Effect on Cozumel

Aired October 24, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Of Florida right now, Hollywood, Florida, and his hotel has really taken a battering.
Allan, how's it going there now?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, just two seconds ago a pane of glass just shattered through the front of the lobby here. A huge tree and a pot just went flying through and there is now glass debris all over the lobby of the Holiday Inn here in Hollywood.

The intensity of the wind has picked up again. No question. We felt that we were in the eye of the storm. The wind had calmed down. Now, once again, the wind picking up dramatically and it's moving in, in the opposite direction because now the wind is actually coming from the west, going towards the ocean. Earlier this morning, it was going in the opposite direction.

In front, we've got trees down. One tree did fall one an SUV of one of our cameraman. We have a fire hydrant that is now spewing water out into the streets. The wind really dramatic now and the roof of part of the hotel has now come off. And it's very bizarre. You see chunks of roof just flying around not only in the sky, but also on the beach side. There are pieces of asphalt roof now in the ocean and the waves just whipping them all around. So there's quite significant damage here at the Holiday Inn on Hollywood Pier.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll get back to you very shortly. We're going to the governor now. Let's listen.

GOV. JEB BUSH, FLORIDA: To please hunker down. To stay in their homes until the storm has passed.

Hurricane Wilma made landfall near Cape Romano in southern Collier (ph) County at a category three force strength around 6:30 a.m. this morning. Winds have gusted up to category three all across the state and the storm remains very intense.

Don't be fooled by the lull in the storm as this large eye passes over Palm Beach and Martin Counties. If you have a chance to see get access to television, you'll see that the eye is very large and there will be a lull in the winds. And please don't go outside until the storm has completely passed because the west side of the storm will be as strong and intense or maybe even worse than the first part of the storm that you experienced.

There are reports of significant flooding from storm surge in the portions of the Florida Keys. Onshore winds from the Florida Bay will continue this morning, so water will likely be slow to recede in the Florida Keys and other parts of the state. There have been reports of several tornado touchdowns in central Florida since last night. And the threat for tornadoes across the eastern side of the peninsula will continue for the next few hours.

A tornado watch continues until 11:00 a.m. for most of the peninsula, and a flood warning continues through 11:00 a.m. for most of east central Florida and the Treasure coast. Residences in south Florida and the Keys should continue sheltering in place and remain inside.

We cannot say it enough, it is more dangerous after a storm than it is during the storm. If you look at the deaths that have taken place with the multitude of storms that have hit our state, the day after the storm or the day of the storm, after the storm has passed, is when many people tragically lose their lives.

Please stay off the roads. There are a couple of reasons for that. It's dangerous, number one. And number two, individuals on the roads impede the ability for law enforcement officials to quickly respond to emergencies.

As the storm passes, our number one priority is saving lives and restoring security. The Florida National Guard is on the move. More than 3,000 soldiers and airmen have been mobilized and another 3,000 are on alert. Over the past two hours, a team of special operations from the Fish and Wildlife Commission began their reconnaissance and lead elements of the search and rescue law enforcement units in Tampa are also deployed. Treasure Gallagher (ph) will talk more about that.

Our second priority is meeting the immediate needs for all of our residents. Counties have predetermined locations for food and ice and water and they will let you know those locations when they're open, which will probably be starting tomorrow. As soon as the winds die down and it is safe, you need to know that Florida has 200 trucks of ice, 225 trucks of water, 86,000 meals that we have stored because of the hurricanes and there's significant additional support from FEMA that has been pre-positioned in Jacksonville and in Homestead.

Early reports indicate that at least 2.2, maybe 2.5 million homes are without power. Four thousand in-state utility workers are on standby and 6,500 out of state workers are stationed in south Georgia and south Florida and they're ready to restore power to critical facilities first, hospitals and in other critical facilities, and that homes and businesses as soon as it is safe.

We don't want any unnecessary deaths, as I said, because of this storm. A lot of people have purchased generators in the last 12 months in our state and, sadly, with Hurricane Katrina, we had the loss of two or three people's lives because of improper use of generators. To put it in perspective, you would never, ever run your car in your living room, turn on the car and just let it sit there, and so you shouldn't use a generator in your home and don't use a generator in your garage, either. Our third priority is to help all Floridians resume their normal lives as quickly as possible. This is one of our strengths as a state is our ability to work together, to show our resiliency and rebound quickly. Commissioner Win (ph) is working to ensure that we can reopen our schools as quickly as possible. Many of the schools serve as shelters, which creates a challenge for our school districts. But most of the school districts have responded to this challenge and realized how important it is for our students and our children to get back to school.

Residents (ph) should continue to monitor the media and heed the warnings of local officials. Local officials will let you know when it's safe to return to your homes. Many people have taken advantage of our shelters for which we are appreciative. Conditions outside continue to be dangerous and they will remain that way even after the storm has passed. Please stay hunkered down and let emergency officials do their jobs.

We've got a response team that is second to none. I'm very proud of the dedicated public servants that do good work day in and day out. But when an emergency comes, when a disaster strikes, they organize themselves in ways that should make all Floridians proud. We will get through this storm and respond quickly.

If you don't mind, I'm going to say a few words in Spanish as well.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Don't be fooled by the lull in the storm, Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaking. Saying, look, just don't go outside until the storm has completely passed. He said that they're anticipating tornadoes over the next few hours. There is that threat.

He also made the point that saying, look, it's much more dangerous after a storm than during the storm, telling people in Florida, just stay off the roads especially for that reason, it's dangerous. And also if you go out on to the roads, it will interfere, he said, with emergency services that will be out there.

He outlined three priorities. Number one, he said, saving lives and restoring security. He emphasized that National Guardsmen have been mobilized and are on alert. He said that the second priority was really meeting the needs of all the residents. He emphasized that there are locations where there will be food, water and ice and indicated that those will likely open tomorrow.

Two-and-a-half million homes, he said, are without power. Utility workers are on standby, the governor said, and ready to restore power. But he said the first thing that they're going to do is really to try and restore power to the critical facilities like hospitals and then will move on to homes and businesses.

The third priority, Governor Bush said, was just to help Floridian resume their normal lives. They're working, he said, to see how fast schools can reopen because, as you know, many of them have been used as shelters. And finally, he just emphasized again, just listen to warnings of local officials. They will tell you when it is safe and when it's OK to return home.

Earlier today a storm hit Havana in Cuba. This is Wilma a little bit earlier, really pounding really hard in Havana and lashing with the rains and, as you can see from these pictures that we're receiving from Cuba, incredibly powerful pictures. Seems as though a number of people have been injured and we will bring you more information when we get that about what's been going on in Cuba.

This is CNN and this is our coverage of Hurricane Wilma that is now a category two hurricane with sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. About four hours ago the center of the storm hit around 6:30 Eastern time near Cape Romano. Jacqui Jeras is at the Weather Center and she joins us now.

Jacqui, where is the storm now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm sorry, Zain, what was the question?

VERJEE: Where is the eye of the storm now?

JERAS: Well, it's about 45 miles to the south and the west of the west Palm Beach area. And check out how large this eye is. The easternmost eye wall is now well offshore and we're in a calm period here. However, don't be fooled by that because the back side of this storm has been extremely brutal and that is going to be blowing through, maybe an hour from now. Some of the bad conditions are down toward Miami into Fort Lauderdale with some heavy rain.

And something else to keep in mind, this is still a category two storm. But when you go up in elevation, the winds are stronger. A lot of people here on the beach live in high-rises and into condo buildings and you need to stay away from windows at this time because the winds are still gusting at hurricane-force strength and they could be blowing out windows. So you need to be seeking shelter and now is not the time to go outside and see what kind of damage you have unless you have any life-threatening repair that you need to make. You need to stay inside and wait until this storm passes. It's moving very quickly. In fact, we think the entire eye should be offshore probably noonish for today.

The back side of the storm, let's show you where this thing made landfall, here's down towards Everglade City and there the Cape Romano right there, dry conditions now already, so very intense. But this is a hit and run kind of storm and we do expect to see conditions slowly improve there throughout the day today. Rainfall has been very heavy and some of these outer bands we're talking about one to two inches per hour, so we will have to deal with the flooding on top of some of this.

The storm is ripping up to the north and the east very quickly. And, Miles, we're also concerned about what's going to happen up the coastline. This is going to merge with the low pressure storm system that's going to be moving up to the north and also with what's left of Tropical Depression Alpha. That's all going to come together into one big storm for the northeast and the mid Atlantic states late tonight, throughout much of tomorrow.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Jacqui Jeras.

And welcome to the Wilma coverage. We didn't get a chance to thank Chad. He did a yeoman's work here throughout the night and into the morning. And it's good to have you with us as well.

We are here at the Admiral T. Point condominium. That is this is Paul Scheetz. And Paul is a resident here who has ridden the storm out in his place. And, Paul, we're staying here for a while, aren't we? This is the way in and out and it is now water.

First of all, how was it overnight and into this morning in your apartment? Was it were you concerned at all?

PAUL SCHEETZ, NAPLES RESIDENT: No. I boarded up real well and it was very stable, but now it's banging away. The awning took off and I'm glad I boarded up because the all my windows would have been broken and I fared well in the first floor, which is only 12 feet above sea level. So, you know, it's done well.

MILES O'BRIEN: OK. I don't know if you've had a chance to look in the parking garage. It's flooded out.

SCHEETZ: I haven't looked yet. I'm on the board of directors here, so I just came out to see how much damage. I'm really amazed at how many trees are wrecked but the building is holding up well.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, we were just commenting on the building. It's obviously well built. It's king of got a bunker type approach to building, which is a good thing in these situations. About how many residences do you think rode it out inside?

SCHEETZ: I believe about 20. And we have another building here and there are two there were four people over there.

MILES O'BRIEN: Now in retrospect, do you feel like that was the right call to ride it out?

SCHEETZ: Oh, yes. Yes, I've stayed every hurricane. I probable shouldn't, but I do. Just and I feel that this building is very, very safe and there's areas you can go into that you can stay away from being hurt.

MILES O'BRIEN: How does this compare to a year ago with Charlie?

SCHEETZ: This is a lot worse. Definitely worse. Charlie went by real fast and we didn't get a lot of damage from Charlie. We got flooding but we didn't get a lot of damage.

MILES O'BRIEN: Did you get flooding like this? What we see behind here? That kind of thing?

SCHEETZ: Not quite this bad. It was about two foot. This is at least three, four foot out here in the street.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Looks like a fair amount of storm surge. I hope you have enough provisions for a little while. We might be here for a while.

SCHEETZ: Yes, I didn't know I was trying to find out when the surge actually comes in. Is this part of the surge?

MILES O'BRIEN: Apparently so, yes.

SCHEETZ: OK. Well, that's not so bad. I was expecting 12, 14 feet.

MILES O'BRIEN: Exactly. It's all in expectations, isn't it?

SCHEETZ: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Paul, next time, will you ride it out here?

SCHEETZ: Oh, yes, definitely. I feel very safe in this building. This building.

MILES O'BRIEN: Paul Scheetz is on the condo board here and he rode it out. We're glad everything came out all right for the building at least, pretty much unscathed. Certainly the scene around here is not a pretty scene with a lot of trees down. Going to be a lot of work ahead for folks here at Naples. Good luck to you.

We are still contending with the back side of this storm. And while the wind has diminished significantly compared to what it was just a little while ago, it's coming at us from the opposite side. And it's hitting us on the place that we were using as protection for our satellite truck. Frankly, we've been kind of amazed that we've been able to bring back a live signals as much as we have throughout this because, Zain, it's been, for a time, very dicey. As a matter of fact, the only time we went down was when the basically the rain, the thick clouds made it impossible for our signal to punch through. And I guess, as Paul Scheetz just attested to, we must have picked the right building.

Zain.

VERJEE: Picked the right building, that's for sure. Thanks a lot, Miles. You've done a fantastic job.

Wilma also pounding Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for two days before setting its sights on Florida. Some 10,000 tourists from the United States have been stranded in shelters across Mexico. The United States, the State Department saying that no U.S. citizen has been injured at all. But we know that for two days on the Yucatan Peninsula, there's been howling winds and rain, store fronts have been destroyed and the oceans really crashing also into hotel lobbies.

Michael Attardi is in Cozumel in Mexico and he joins us now.

Michael, you're with about a hundred other people from the U.S. and you're stranded in that hotel. Give us a sense of how you're managing.

MICHAEL ATTARDI, STRANDED IN COZUMEL, MEXICO: Well, the sun actually came out and, God, you should have seen everyone's face. It just lit up. It was total but we're in total devastation here. This whole area has been just slammed hard. And, you know, in general, we are just trying to take care of the kids and the women and trying to just take care of things. But basically it's total devastation here.

VERJEE: Do you have enough food and water?

ATTARDI: Food and water has been very it's been rationed here but it's been OK, thank God, because, you know, we can see in the streets that there are people just roaming the streets. I did witness some looting going on across the street. Some of the people taking chairs and trying to find furniture, I guess. You know, I just can't imagine what actually these poor people are like actually facing.

VERJEE: What about the more vulnerable babies, for example, the elderly that may need medical help and assistance and just don't have it. Are you seeing anything that you can tell us about?

ATTARDI: Yes. That's really for that's really the true reason why I'm calling because we need help here. I mean, a lot of help. We have people that want to get out of here only because of the fact that they don't have the right medication. We have a 10-month-old child here. They don't have any more baby food for. We've been trying to help them. And in terms of there are just little children that are under five. We've been trying to keep them busy and occupied. They had to move in about a day before 18 dolphins into our swimming pool here from I believe it's called Dolphin Discovery. And it's just been one crazy scene.

VERJEE: Have you had any contact at all with the U.S. embassy? Are they helping in any way to get you and others out?

ATTARDI: No, I'm sorry. That's been a huge, huge problem. I've been calling now. I spoke to the U.S. embassy for the first time before the hurricane hit us and we were trying to get out on some air flights. Continental had actually canceled us and stranded us here so we had called up the embassy and what happened was the embassy really didn't have any answers except for we were stuck on the island because at that time the ferries had shut down and we were stuck. So we have no contact with the embassy whatsoever.

VERJEE: What about things like power outages, communication facilities that you can tell us about?

ATTARDI: Well, just last night we finally got in water and we were all taking cold showers and thank God, you know, for that. But in terms of electric, we have no electric. It's very humid here. It's very hot. We've been trying to keep the inside, all the kids and stuff, you know, because it really is not the greatest conditions out there.

But, you know, I really can't say anything except for, they have been great here. The staff has been wonderful here at the hotel. Cozumel has been really incredible and they've just been working the whole entire time and so have we. We've been trying to pitch in. But it's great to see, you know, all these people helping, you know?

VERJEE: Michael, were you scared? Are you nervous?

ATTARDI: Yes. In the beginning, I was very scared because of the fact that there was a period that there was a 24-hour period that this hurricane was hovering us for 24 hours at about 140, 155 miles an hour winds. And if you have never been in a hurricane like that, I guess the whole analogy, it sounds like maybe 2,000 screaming cats and it's not the most comforting sound. Plus we had water coming through like buckets. We had people with it was crazy.

VERJEE: Michael Attardi in Cozumel in Mexico. Thank you so much for joining us and giving us a sense of what's going on there. We wish you the best of luck and hope that you, your family, your friends and others get the help they need and get out soon. Thank you.

We want to take you now back to Miles in Naples.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, I've got to say, that's a first, Zain. I've heard freight trains. I've heard jet engines for what hurricanes sound like. Two thousand screaming cats is a first. There's no question about that.

As Wilma continues her path outward and that eye is really still over the east coast of Florida, there's still a lot of concern there as you heard the governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, a little while ago telling people to shelter in place. In other words, stay where they are. This, in fact, is the most dangerous time. This is when people try to peek out and see how much damage has been done and end up suffering injuries or perhaps fatalities as a result.

Let's check in on the east coast just a little bit south of Hollywood. Aventura, Florida, is the location. Jacey Birch joining us from our affiliate WPLG.

Jacey, just tell us what's going on there right now?

JACEY BIRCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. First I want to tell you where we're at. We're in the northern Miami area. Now, as you look out, you're looking towards the west. So this is where the storm came in. And right now we're feeling the effects of the tail of the storm, so to speak.

As you look out towards your southwest, you notice that cars are being battered by the sea wall as that storm surge comes in. Then what you'll also notice is in this area, we're on Williams Island, the entire area has lost power. We are in a 31 story high-rise. We lost power hours ago. As we take you a little further, we've noticed boats, yachts just become toys out in the open intercostal waterways. Many have the ropes have loosened. They've just run into one another as they've been out there.

You'll notice that the palm trees just bend with the wind like they're rubber and bending very easily. Some boats are safe in this harbor over here, but the big concern is, look at the construction. If you look a little bit toward your northeast construction is always prevalent in Miami, especially in this high-rise boating community. And we've been watching those cranes as they ebb and flow with the wind to see if they will be safe. So far they have been OK.

As we pan down a little bit further, you'll notice the tennis courts have just taken a beating in this area. There are about a dozen courts. Nets have gone flying and you can see that the tarps and the screens are torn apart all over the area, especially for playgrounds as well.

These trees down to our closest area, they have gone down on top of these roofs over towards our left. Also signs have been down all over the area, stop sign, the do not enter signs, caution signs. Even the gates into this condominium where we are stay have gone down. Pools and fountains have overflowed. We have really seen the effects mostly because of the wind in this area.

We're starting to see some of the rainfall into come into the area. You can see it, I'm sure, by the white caps on the intercostal water ways. But for the most part, this has been a rain event and we have seen all kinds of debris flying in the area along as these winds have come out of the southwest and they've pushed over towards the northeast. So north Miami of course we've been south of the eye of the storm but we've really, really seen the effects of the system.

We're live in north Miami and I'm Jacey Birch from CNN.

MILES O'BRIEN: Jacey Birch is with our affiliate WPLG and we thank WPLG and all our other affiliates for helping us provide the most comprehensive coverage of any hurricane by any news organization.

Among the CNN people who we have stationed along the west coast is CNN's John King, who has managed to get his way into Everglades City, which was a place that people were very concerned about in advance of this storm. And given where the storm came ashore, perhaps that concern was well warranted.

John, what are you seeing there?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we were fortunate to be among the first people in here. I believe the first reporters in here this morning. And I have to say, we're also among the fortunate to have just made our way out of the center of town, back here to the outskirts. I say fortunate because there's some good news and bad news here.

You can tell by the light above me, and we can switch our shot, I think, show you a live shot of the street in front of me from the vehicle here. It's beginning to clear here. It's still windy. A little bit of rain still but it is clear the storm has almost passed here.

The bad news is, that in the hour and a half or so, maybe two hours now since we've been in Everglades City, the flooding has increased dramatically. We're going to show you some pictures of our drive into town. When we first arrived into town, if we opened the door of our vehicle, you saw the water, it was running maybe six inches in some places, maybe a foot in places.

We just visited down the street with a gentleman who rode out the storm here. He has a cafe. He also stone crabs and he sells the stone crabs here. He has $20,000 worth of inventory in his shop, one of the reasons he stayed. Just in the time we stayed with him, the water rose more than a foot outside of his shop and in the center of town here.

As we were driving back out, our vehicle skidded and slowed a little. But thanks to the excellent driving of David Ross (ph) and thanks to the excellent technical work of David Ross and Mark Beloani (ph), we have quite a vehicle here. We've been able to bring you these pictures as we drive through. And the flooding is the major concern here. Some structural damage. Some roof damage. A lot of the windows and the dressings of the windows and fences blowing around. A lot of metal and lawn chairs blowing around.

But in terms of serious structural damage to the building, I would say it is minimal to moderate. But they have a significant storm surge issue here, Miles, although the gentleman we just spoke to down the street says he has seen the water this bad in the past just after tropical depressions. In his view, it will be gone in a couple of days. Most of it, he said, by the end of today or tomorrow. And he believes the power will be back on within a day or two.

That is one of the challenges here. It's a small community. Only about 600 people live here. Most of them luckily evacuated. But again, in terms of structural damage, we think Everglade City came away from Wilma in pretty good shape but they will have this water to deal with, power outages, and other I would say minimal to moderate damage for quite some time.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, John, was he able to save the stone crabs?

KING: The best question asked today, Miles. He has about 20,000 pounds of ice. He has the stone crabs on ice. We'll show you some of the pictures later. He picked a few up in the handful. We're all quite hungry now. And I took his card. When I get home and he's back up in business, guess what's being FedExed to the King residence? You're more than welcome, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: There's no finer treat than a stone crab. And I can see why he would want to stay and preserve that inventory. CNN's John King, the first team in there, along with photojournalist Dave Ross (ph), the best in the business there in Everglades City, giving you a sense of what appears to be a bullet dodged, which is we say that very tentatively because we still have yet to really assess the damage in the wake of Wilma.

John King was moving toward the Everglades City. We've got Jason Carroll driving cross the state. We'll be checking in with him shortly. He's in Hurricane One. David Mattingly, when last we checked with him, was in Hollywood, Florida. He is headed south toward Boca Raton, on the east coast of Florida. And we have been getting reports of fairly significant damage there. He's seen it firsthand.

David, tell us what you saw.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm standing on the beach in Boca right now looking at a very high and powerful surf. We've spoken to some of the people who live here and they say they have never seen the waves this high, crashing this hard on the beach here in Boca. It looks like the storm is coming in here as opposed to exiting on the Atlantic side. But again, very strong storm conditions here as this storm system moves across the state.

As we were making our way here up 95, we passed a tractor trailer rig that had been blown over. There were no emergency vehicles on at the time. The lights of the vehicles were still on. We got out of car right at the height of some of the winds here and went to check and see. The driver had gotten out and was nowhere around.

But as we were out, we had a great deal of difficulty getting back into our vehicle. We were getting hit with probably 80 to 90 miles per hour gusts of wind at the time that made it very, very dicey for us to be out in the elements that short time we were out there. But here on the beach, we actually experiencing part of the eye and the conditions now are beginning to deteriorate again. A lot of residences came out to enjoy the lull in the storm. They've all headed back inside and that's where we're going as well.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, David Mattingly, what you're saying is, you couldn't even open the car door at times, that's how windy it was?

MATTINGLY: We were able to open the car door to get out. Getting back in was the difficult problem. Once we did open the door to the driver's side, which is where I was, the wind was so strong we couldn't pull the door back closed. And I'm somewhere between 160, 175 pounds on any given day and I was having a great deal of difficulty just walking the 10 feet back to our vehicle from the tractor trailer road (ph) where we had gone to investigate.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I took a spill myself. The wind literally knocked me off my feet. I'm about 185 pounds. Actually in my dreams, I'm about 185 pounds. That's what I'm headed toward anyhow.

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