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CNN Live Sunday

Wild Weather Troubles Texas, Oklahoma and California; Bush's Comments to Wounded Troops; Medical and Health Progress in 2005; Baby Noor's First Day in the U.S.

Aired January 01, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Carol Lin. Straight ahead at this hour, were talking fire and rain, flash floods, mudslides and heavy rains take their toll on Northern California. We are live with the latest as more severe weather is headed into that region.
Meanwhile, emergency crews are batting dozens of wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma and conditions are prime for more problems.

And from Baghdad to Atlanta, now the medical journey begins for young Baby Noor, spending her first full day in the United States.

We begin with our big developing story this afternoon. High winds and a winter dry spell are frustrating firefighters in Oklahoma and Texas. We are giving you the latest pictures that we're getting into the CNN Center.

These fires have been burning for nearly a week. There are more than 70 fires burning in Texas, alone. Hundreds of homes and buildings are gone. Fire crews are exhausted and stretched to their limits. What they really need is some of that rain soaking and flooding California right now.

We want to show you, though, some live pictures that we're getting in from Guthrie, Oklahoma, this is in central Oklahoma. You can see how grass fires are breaking out sporadically all over the place. This is north of Oklahoma City, but we have reports that grass fires -- several, about half a dozen grass fires had to be put out within the city limits.

Now in Texas, folks are really busy out there. Fires have been burning there as well for nearly a week. We've got our Ed Lavandera heading towards Eastland County, Texas, right now. He's on the telephone. Ed, give us some perspective as far as where Eastland is in relation to Dallas or some other big populated areas.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Sure. Eastland County is along Interstate 20, west of the Dallas/Ft. Worth region. If you just head straight west from the Dallas/Ft. Worth metropolitan area, you will eventually -- about 75 miles or so west of there is where you'll run into this.

It was interesting -- as I'm making my way out to this scene, which is probably one of the more significant fires that crews in the state are having to battle today, as you come out of Ft. Worth, actually the smell of fires reaches the city. There's kind of like this hazy hue to the skyline as the sun begins to set here in the state. And you can see the haziness coming from the smokes, from the fires.

And this is a rather significant fire as well. I'm not exactly sure as to how large it is, but officials say that there have been several separate grass fires that kind of merged together to form one larger one. So crews are battling that.

In fact, they're having to evacuate more than 200 people from their homes this afternoon, as the high winds push these fires and right now what crews are trying to do is to contain them, to prevent the -- to try to prevent the spread of them as much as possible.

But right now the concern is that some 200 or so homes would be in the path of this particular fire in Eastland County. But crews across the state are battling, from the panhandle up around Amarillo, all the way down to south central Texas, south of the Austin, Texas, area. And as you mentioned, Carol, into Oklahoma, as well. So we're talking about a huge area of territory that crews are having to deal with today.

LIN: Ed, they're on alert in Dallas. What are the chances that this wildfire is going to reach city limits?

LAVANDERA: Oh, I think it would be nearly impossible. You know, 75 miles, interstates that cut across there. We're talking about a lot of terrain. I don't think crews at this point are worried about anything like that happening.

LIN: All right. Still, more than 200 people evacuated. Give us an idea of how the weather changed over the weekend. Because we knew that today, Sunday, was going to be D-Day for firefighters in both states.

LAVANDERA: Right. It's been warm here, 70, 80 degrees. It's been a very pleasant, low humidity. The winds, especially as you start coming out west of the Dallas/Ft. Worth region, the terrain here flattens out quite a bit.

There's really nothing to block the wind. So winds in some areas have been clocked up to about 30 miles-an-hour. The humidity is low. And this is a region that has been, they say, rather dry for the last several months.

So you know they've been battling fires here sporadically since November. But in the last week, as we've been mentioning, seems to really have picked up considerably. And you know, the conditions ripening for an outburst of this kind of fire activity across the region.

LIN: All right, Ed. Ed Lavandera on his way to Eastland County right now where a big fire is burning, one of just several. He's reporting that 200 people have been evacuated so far in that area. Ed, we're going to stay in touch with you. I know you want to get in position, try to get some facts on the ground. We appreciate the time that you're giving us right now.

LAVANDERA: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: In the meantime, Monica McNeal standing by at the CNN Weather Center. Monica, when Ed talks about dry conditions, how dry is dry out there?

MONICA MCNEAL, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Dry out there, Carol, can be in between the humidity of 10-to-15 percent. That's what they are up against right now. When we talk about humidity and we talk about dew point temperature. You may hear meteorologists talking about dew point. That measures the amount of moisture that's in the air.

If it's 100 percent, that means the air is absolutely saturated. But we're talking about dew point temperatures about 21. So about a fourth of that. It is extremely, extremely dry.

Let's just take a look, a rundown of what's really going on. Now, we've also been dealing with a lack of rainfall over the past couple of weeks. And then there's been a rain deficit over the past couple of months.

So you've got that to factor in with the extreme drought. Keeps the ground very, very dry. Then you have the strong winds. Right now winds are out of Abilene, out of the south and west, they're gusting at about 30 miles-per-hour. So you've got these dry winds driving in.

And then, you've got the very, very low humidity, about 10-to-15 percent. Then on top of that, if you want to add insult to injury, take a look at this surface map. You can certainly see what's going on in terms of the satellite. There are almost no clouds in place. So you've got clear skies, you've got gusty winds, you've got dry conditions. This really is a bad situation.

LIN: This is the worst time of day there, where the winds are kicking up. It's hot on the ground. Monica, so no relief in sight. At least, are the temperatures going to be dropping any time soon?

MCNEAL: No, they are not. We're talking at temperatures right now, Carol, definitely temperatures are extremely warm for this time of year.

Take a look at some of these current temperatures. Let's hop over to Dallas, it is 78 degrees in Dallas right now. In parts of Oklahoma City, we're at temperatures in the seventies at this time of the year. So we're dealing with record warm temperatures. And this warm air continues to surge farther to the north.

So we're looking at this fire danger problem today. And it's going to shift a little bit further to the east on tomorrow. So it will still be a problem for parts of Texas. Not extreme west Texas, like it's happening right now in Abilene, and right around the Big Bend area. But the problem will shift a little bit farther to the east. But the temperatures are still going to be warm.

LIN: All right, Monica, listen in with me right now. MCNEAL: OK.

LIN: Because on router 77, I believe this is still the Guthrie area of Oklahoma. We can hear the wind. Let's listen in. All right, Monica, that's Lubbock, Texas -- Lubbock, Texas. It is so windy out there we're hearing reports of gusts up to what, 50 miles-per-hour?

MCNEAL: Yes, and also some other reports that I have seen in some areas up to about 60 miles-per-hour. You have to remember the maximum sustained winds will stay at a certain speed.

And then you have the gusts which can fluctuate high and low. So right now, I just checked the forecast in Oklahoma City, the winds are out of the southwest at 31, but they're gusting at 40. So it really makes a firefighter's problem, it really creates a big problem for them.

LIN: Yes. Boy, that was pretty dramatic there. Monica, terrific. Thank you very much for that. We're going to be covering this developing story throughout the night.

Right now, 200 people evacuated out of the Eastland County area of Texas. And at least half a dozen grass fires in Oklahoma City proper that had to be put out. This fire, massive grass fire, is on the move, across two states.

All right. Well, the first year, the first day of the year has been wet and muddy and snowy, and pretty frightening out in California. Floods in California's Wine Country. Fires still raging and threatening more homes in Texas and Oklahoma. We have correspondents all over this story in the worst of it. Live reports coming up.

And a remarkable piece of videotape to show you first. Look at this. This is the coastal mountain town of Ukiah, California. Where is the land there? Floodwaters shot up and surprised this woman who's being brought up there by the rescuer out of her car. The Coast Guard rescuers managed to pluck her from the vehicle, just as it sank in the muddy waters. Lucky to be alive.

Now so much for that car, but there are a thousand homes damaged or destroyed by the floods and mudslides in California. That is just a rough estimate right now by emergency officials in northern California. CNN's Kareen Wynter is in Napa County right now. Kareen, are you in the midst of it right now? How is the weather?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's all around me right now, the destruction from yesterday's severe flooding. And this rain, I can tell you, Carol, it's been quite a challenge for residents all day long, really trying to get a handle on yesterday's storm.

On this one street alone, well it's quite obvious -- you can see the mud-soaked areas. People trying to clean out their water-filled garages, their basements. Further down the street you can see some people hauling out the mud from their driveways. And this is what it's been like all day today. And then once you get the debris out, where do you put it? Well, this is what many of the sidewalks here look like. The debris from people's homes are putting it out. The city's supposed to be coming by and picking it all up. And it's going to be -- definitely a challenge for them because there's so much that we're seeing here.

One thing, however, the rain has not impeded -- and this is the good news coming out of Napa, California. And that has to do with the water levels, Carol. They've receded significantly. According to forecasters, they said that with the second storm coming, that the water levels have receded so much, it is no longer a threat.

That it may slow the progress a bit in terms of the water levels going down, but they don't see that as being much of a challenge. But it's little comfort for people here, especially business owners who say they have no idea when they'll be able to get back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER ROSS, NAPA STORE OWNER: The stuff that I can salvage will be refinished and put back into inventory. But at this point I don't know. Some of it's salvageable, but it's going to take a lot of work to save it. And a lot of it's -- a lot of the veneers are buckled up. It's just going to have to be tossed. So, as far as getting back in business here, I don't know. I'll have to wait and see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And this rain may be of more concern to our neighbors to the south in Marin County, where it was absolutely incredible to see what the mudslides did to one resident's home. It took off the entire back half, just completely demolished that back end, as well as a garage that was once standing next to the home. And the home owner told me, Carol, that if he'd been home at the time -- he was actually on vacation and came back to this scene of destruction. He said he doesn't think he would have been able to make it out in time. Carol?

LIN: All right, Kareen, thank you so much. The stuff behind you -- it's amazing how much floated away from people's homes in those flood waters.

Well, up in the Sierras, near Lake Tahoe, they have a similar problem. Too much rain and rivers out of their banks. And now it's beginning to snow. CNN's Sumi Das is in Truckee, California. Sumi, usually snow is good news for all the skiers that are heading past you to Lake Tahoe. But not the case this time.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's true, Carol. And actually, now we're starting to see some rain. It's become decidedly wetter over the last hour. And frankly, we preferred it when it was snowing. Well, strong, potent and intense, that is how the National Weather Service is describing the storm that we are just starting to see signs of.

A winter storm warning will go into effect about an hour from now at 4:00 p.m. local time. It will last for 24 hours. The National Weather Service expects increased snow amounts in eastern California, and western Nevada, especially at the lake level.

Up to a foot of snow is predicted for the Lake Tahoe basin. The National Weather Service is also strongly discouraging travel. And that's partly because gusty winds can blow the snow around and cause whiteouts. Timing of the storm is not great. This week between Christmas and New Year's is typically one of the busiest for the north Lake Tahoe area. Many people are expected to hit the road and head for home after enjoying some time in the mountains.

Now, the Sierra really hasn't had much time to recover from the last storm that rolled through this area. That storm brought a lot of rain to cause a massive mudslide about five miles east of where we are here in Truckee, California. It shut down Interstate 80. There was mud, rocks, debris on the road, about 250,000 cubic yards of debris, in fact.

And the cleanup was basically a nonstop operation. But it has met with success. Earlier today, the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 were reopened. And the California Highway Patrol has said that they expect the westbound lanes to open soon as well. Carol?

LIN: All right, that's good news. Sumi, thank you so much. We also have some better news for a little baby that we've been covering. She had a hard life in a war zone. But after a very long journey, things are looking up for Baby Noor. I'm going to give you the latest on her condition.

Also, a man of God comes home from war. The personal story of a man returning to a well-known town in Texas.

And, what the year holds for another resident of that same Texas town. Issues facing the president in 2006. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: More than 70 fires are burning across the state of Texas right now. You are looking at videotape we just got in of the situation in Lubbock, Texas. Grass fires are being fanned by high temperatures for this time of year, hovering up in the 70s, actually near the Dallas area. Lubbock, Texas, where clearly -- look at that.

A neighborhood, a farm has been destroyed. These fires are quickly moving. We have our Ed Lavandera, who is moving on to Eastland County where 200 people have been evacuated from their homes.

There is no relief in sight from the weather. It looks like the high temperatures as well as winds, which are gusting up to 50 miles- per-hour. Fanning these flames, moving these fire, hopscotching across these rural part of Texas.

Same situation in Oklahoma City, as well. We have got crews covering this story wall-to-wall and we are monitoring our affiliates in the area, too. You take a look at this neighborhood. It just appears that the grass fires completely wiped out this neighborhood. Look, you can see the fire line as it's moving through this grouping of trees.

Mark Ethridge is a public information officer for, I believe, the fire department, in Lubbock, Texas, Mark?

MARK ETHRIDGE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS, LUBBOCK FIRE DEPARTMENT (on phone): Fire department, that's right.

LIN: The fire department. Give us more on this situation. We're looking at these aerials, where it's smoky. The fire still appears to be on the move. We've got people evacuating their animals. Tell us what you know.

ETHRIDGE: Well, I'm not able to see the video that you're looking at there. What we have in Lubbock was today typical west Texas, winds, but not typical temperatures. Temperatures today in the 70s. We have sustained winds in the 40 to 50 mile-an-hour range with gusts that are much higher than that.

We had a grass fire that started. We're still not sure at this time what actually started the fire, but it did move quickly across 30 or 40 acres of open ground, then burned up a couple of -- I'm going to call them agricultural buildings there. Barns and storage areas, things like that.

LIN: How many fires do you think you're fighting right now? Is it just one big one or do you have several?

ETHRIDGE: Well, this one really is really not classified as a big one, if you want to compare it to some of the other fires that are happening around the state. It's a small one.

Luckily we have some great volunteer fire departments around our area. They came over and helped us out. We had about 62 people out there with 11 different fire engines and attack the fire right away. We're in the mop-up stages now, actually. We're able to get it pretty well under control. We're just trying to get the little spot fires put out.

LIN: How many buildings have been damaged or destroyed? And has there been anybody hurt?

ETHRIDGE: We had one firefighter from one of the volunteer companies that was taken to the hospital and I think that he had very light smoke inhalation. We expect him to be released real soon if he hasn't been already.

As far as the number of structures, it is really kind of hard to tell back in that area. I didn't get a really good close look at it, so I can't tell you the exact number.

LIN: How many people do you think have been evacuated?

ETHRIDGE: I think everybody that left should be back to their homes by now. The ones that were evacuated, I believe they self- evacuated just because of the smoke. There was no actual evacuation order given.

LIN: Now, everybody last week said even though the weather appeared to be cooling down towards the weekend, that Sunday it was going to be really bad. You guys were warned. And it looks like you were prepared.

ETHRIDGE: Well unfortunately, it looks like the weather man hit it right on the nose this time. We're always hoping for moisture of some kind of precipitation, rain or even snow or anything. But we'd like to even have the relative humidities to come on up. That helps with the fire situation. Unfortunately, that's not the case and I don't believe it's looking like that for the near future either.

LIN: No, Mark, frankly there's no moisture in sight. So what are you going to do? What do you think the next few days are going to be like in Lubbock?

ETHRIDGE: Well, we're just cautioning folks to make sure that they don't have any sparks on the outside, any kind of fireworks, any kind of cutting torches or welding. And be careful. Don't throw those cigarettes out. The grasses are so dry and so cured that it's just a tinderbox ready to go at any minute. And when you've got winds like this, it only makes the fires that much worse.

LIN: But see, people have been warned for the last five days. So do you suspect arson in the Lubbock, Texas, fire?

ETHRIDGE: No, ma'am. I couldn't say that at all. I have no idea what might have caused this fire. But I don't believe that our people around Lubbock want fires any more than anybody else does. And we're just continuing to hope that people watch those sparks and control the cigarettes and try to help us keep the fire numbers down.

LIN: All right, Mark Ethridge with the Lubbock, Texas, fire department. And hats off to the 62 people, many of them volunteer firefighters who are out on the fire lines controlling these grass fires. Mark is tells us that right now, they're pretty much winding down, the situation in Lubbock, Texas, but everybody has their eye on the weather.

ETHRIDGE: Thank you.

LIN: All right, 40-to-50 mile-per-hour winds with gusts even greater than that in Lubbock, Texas. So hats off to the fire department there.

Also we've got our Ed Lavandera who is en route right now to Eastland County, Texas, where fires -- one of the biggest fires is burning right now. He says that 200 people have been evacuated from the county. And he's going to give us the very latest as soon as he gets there.

In the meantime, tensions are rising between Russia and Ukraine. And it's over energy prices, but it's really about a power struggle between Russia and a former Soviet state. And the European Union could actually get dragged into this fight. For more details on that and a lot of other big world stories, let's go to Anand Naidoo. He's at the CNN International Desk. Anand, what do you have?

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Carol, thanks a lot. And hello from me. Well Carol, that dispute that you're talking about between Russia and Ukraine over energy prices, that's been building up steam for some time, if you'll excuse the expression.

Today, Russia's gas Gazprom company, that's one of the biggest companies in Russia, began shutting down supplies of natural gas to Ukraine. Now that is after Ukraine officials said they would not pay the increased prices that Russia wants. Gazprom, by the way, supplies about a third of Ukraine's natural gas. That's quite a bit.

It slapped a four-fold price increase on natural gas. Now, as you mentioned, Western Europe is watching these developments with some anxiety. That's because the same pipeline that takes Russia's gas to Ukraine, it moves on to Western Europe. And the last thing the Europeans want, of course, in the middle of winter, is a shortage of natural gas. Of course, they use that natural gas for heating.

Now onto to the Middle East and latest on the health of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Mr. Sharon goes into the hospital this week for a heart procedure. Surgeons will repair a small hole in his heart to prevent future blood clots. The Israeli leader, you will remember, suffered a minor stroke. That was on December 16th -- or rather December 18th. Doctors say blood flow to his brain was restricted for a time. But they also made it very clear that he suffered no lasting brain damage.

In Iraq, another insurgent onslaught. At least 13 bombs went off across the country today, eight of them in Baghdad. But you know what? This time, no one was killed. The blasts in Baghdad injured 13 people. Police said most of the explosions went off near police patrols.

Now Carol, all this is happening as Iraq continues to suffer a fuel shortage. A major refinery in the country, in the north, has been closed after insurgents threatened oil truck drivers. So, there you have it, Carol. Fuel shortages in a country that has a third, or rather the third-largest oil reserves in the world.

LIN: Boy, that is a sad irony indeed. Anand, thank you very much.

All right, we have also got much more news coming up. You know that we're following these grassfires in Oklahoma and Texas. And also we're talking about, well, a heartwarming story. The latest on Baby Noor and also a homecoming. The story of a national guardsman from Crawford, Texas, and his return from Iraq. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the frontlines. Tonight it's a story that would be routine. A national guardsman coming home from the war in Iraq. Except that he has some famous neighbors back in Texas. Dana Bash explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Down the road from the president's ranch, Pastor Kent Berry unlocks the door to his Crawford church and turns on the lights.

REVEREND KENT BERRY, TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD: Feels very good to -- yes, indeed. Good to be home.

BASH: He's preparing to preach for the first time since returning last month from Iraq. Being from the president's hometown makes Berry's story unique. Dealing with the tough transition from war does not.

K. BERRY: First it's kind of a postpartum thing, you know, that you go through. Either part of you is still very much a part of the people and the work and everything that goes on.

BASH: There, ministering to troops meant frequent travel on treacherous Iraqi roads, preparing every day to die. K. BERRY: I would do things like clip my nails, you know, my toe nails and make sure I had clean clothes on. If you get killed or if you get hurt, you know, they're going to deal with whatever is left.

BASH: Now he's reconnecting with the family we followed since before his National Guard unit deployed 18 months ago, and watched him try to stay engaged from afar.

K. BERRY: Are you still going with the same guy that you were going with last week?

BETHANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: Yes.

BASH: And saw daughter Bethany quietly join in when the war debate came to Crawford this summer, holding a sign in her dad's honor to counter Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protests. Now that he's back, she says war left its mark.

B. BERRY: Dad's a little bit different. He's more quiet, more serious.

BASH: His famous neighbors sent a few letters of encouragement. Being from the Bush's Texas town gave him notoriety.

(on camera): How about a sense of responsibility?

K. BERRY: Oh, yes, in the sense that I hopefully will not say anything particularly just outward -- stupid, you know.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH (voice-over): Berry left for Iraq feeling matter of fact about his mission, but returns supportive and proud.

(on camera): So, your message is going to be, I'm back from Iraq and there's hope? K. BERRY: Yes, absolutely.

BASH: But chaplains are not in the business of justifying war, he says, so he will find his message in scripture.

K. BERRY: Ecclesiastes, where there is truly a time for everything. We go through phases and we have our experiences. But, at the end of the road, we have every reason to be hopeful. Dana Bash, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right, live pictures now in Cimarron City, Oklahoma. There are dozens of grass fires burning across that state. It's a serious situation as homes and businesses are destroyed. Coming up after the break I'm going to be talking with the Oklahoma fire marshal, Robert Doke. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right. Live pictures right now as the sun appears to be setting and it is dusk, but the fires are still burning in the Cimarron City, Oklahoma City area. These are pictures from KWTW. On the telephone with me right now is Oklahoma state fire marshal; he's in Oklahoma City, Robert Doke.

Chief Doke, you've got your hands full out there.

ROBERT DOKE, OKLAHOMA STATE FIRE MARSHAL: We're extremely busy. More so than we had ever expected during this time of the year.

LIN: Well, is it true that a half dozen fires had to be put out in Oklahoma City itself?

DOKE: That is true. We had numerous fires in the Oklahoma City area. Also surrounding counties and counties further out that fires that are not rekindles from previous fires. but are new fires as of today.

LIN: Why has this been so difficult? You know, we've been talking about the dry conditions, we've been talking about the temperatures, but what's igniting these fires?

DOKE: My main suspicion on most of these are down the road ways are discarded cigarettes. There have been times when winds, such as today, have excess of 40 mile-per-hour that the electrical distribution, our electrical power lines will hit each other, arc and the sparks hit the ground and at 15 percent humidity, which is extremely low for this time of year in our area, it just takes that one little spark.

LIN: So 15 percent humidity, give me an idea in just plain talk, if you touch the grass out there, what does it feel like?

DOKE: It is just extremely dry there. It is brittle, it's if you just had a box of matchsticks, and you could just snap them with your fingers. That's how dry the grass is.

LIN: So, how many different fires are you fighting right now?

DOKE: At last report there were about 10 here in Oklahoma as of this afternoon. Now, that's the large ones that were reported in or we can pull up the radar on the National Weather Service and the smoke plumes as radar would come back into the system.

LIN: Wow.

DOKE: And there are several others that are fighting fires right now that we do not know about.

LIN: That you don't even know about. So do you think -- could you give me an idea in terms of the breadth of these fire, how many square miles have been damaged?

DOKE: As of last month, there were at least 250,000 acres that will go up after the reports start coming in early tomorrow morning. We've had several fire departments that their equipment just due to the fatigue not only of their firefighters but the equipment itself has broke down, so we have fires and not have the people nor the equipment to respond to the fires. So we're setting our priorities, is it open field, hay, barns or such.

LIN: Oh, chief, I've been hearing stories about firefighters walking on hot coals for 15 hours fighting flames 35 feet high up in the air. I know those guys are working really hard out there. And we want to wish you the very best and hope for cooler temperatures. Robert Doke, the Oklahoma state fire marshal.

All right, well he just described the dry conditions out there. Let's check in with Monica McNeal. She's at the CNN Weather Center.

Monica, when you talk about 15 percent humidity the chief just gave us a real life example he said it's just, you pick up the grass, it's dry, it's brittle.

MCNEAL: Right. It literally just crumbles up in your hand. I used to live in San Angelo, Texas for a while and I understand. I know exactly what they're up against. It was extremely dry, very -- a lot of pine straw and the conditions continue to be dry especially when you have these very gusty winds and you've got these southwest winds driving in from the south and west. It really lowers that relative humidity. I heard him talk about the relative humidity at about 15 percent.

Carol, picture this. If you have 100 percent humidity, that means the air is absolutely saturated, you have an abundance of moisture, but if you take 15 percent of 100, you get very, very small. So, that's what they are up against. And you have to factor in the fact that there hasn't been rain for a very long time. A lack of sufficient rainfall creates...

LIN: All right, I think we've lost Monica's microphone. It's a lack of sufficient battery power, I think. So, when she gets a new battery, we'll get her back.

In the meantime, we've CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Eastland County, Texas. Is he life right now? Because he was en route. All right, he's still on the telephone right now.

Ed, I was just talking about the state fire marshal in Oklahoma. He says the conditions out there are so extremely dry, they're now fighting some 10 different fires over something like 250,000 acres. What's the situation in Texas?

LAVANDERA: Well, I finally made it here into Eastland County and you can just see this, as the sun is setting, just a cloudy haze that is kind of blown away from where this fire is in the Eastland County area. But it's kind of left a cloudy haze over much of this region, and you know, the firefighters continuing to battle those tough conditions, rather high winds, 30 miles-per-hour in some cases. The extremely dry situations as we've been talking about, as well.

We just spoke a short while ago with one the fire officials here in Eastland County who said the situation here is not under control yet and they do not have the situation under control and they suspect it will get worse before it gets better. They're talking about an area of up to 14 square miles that they believe is burning right now. They've got crews from four different counties in this area trying to battle this particular blaze. Some 200 homes have had to be evacuated or they're still in the process of trying to get those people evacuated and the word out. And this is in a little area about four miles southwest of a tiny town called (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Texas which in Eastland County just east of Interstate 20, and to give people a better idea of where we are, we're about 85, 90 miles west of the Dallas/Ft. Worth region, somewhere between Ft. Worth and Abilene, Texas, if you're familiar with the region.

So, as the situation, as the sun sets, many firefighters still working in particular grassfire, and I can back up what the fire marshal from Oklahoma was saying, as you drive along the interstate here, the grass along the side of the roads is yellow. You can tell it's got that brittle, and a crunchy look to it. And in many places where you see along the way there have been small patches of grass where you can tell that there have been little small fires popping up sporadically and quite intensely over the last week or so. These are fires that probably won't register, as the fire marshal was saying that many of them they don't know about, but you can see there are little pockets of burnt grass in many places along the interstate. And you can suspect that's true in other parts of the county, as well.

LIN: Right, Ed. Ed Lavandera who's just arrived in Eastland County, Texas, where a big fire is burning right now, as Ed was just reporting, 200 homes evacuated in a very dry and dangerous situation.

We have continuing coverage throughout that region tonight. And we're also talking about a political hot potato for President Bush. I've got CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider coming up talking about what the president said today about the NSA wire tapping of American civilians. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Still covering those fires in Oklahoma and Texas, so stay with us for continuing coverage. But in the meantime, we want to take a look at, well, politics and trouble for President Bush, and some interesting remarks he made to troops today in San Antonio. President Bush is back at the White House after a New Year's stopover there in that city. He was there to visit wounded troops and give out Purple Hearts. CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fresh off a week at his Crawford ranch, President Bush began the New Year meeting visiting privately in San Antonio with 51 wounded U.S. troops and awarding nine Purple Hearts.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't think of a better way to start 2006 than here at this fantastic hospital.

QUIJANO: Afterward, the president reprised his staunch defense of secret domestic surveillance program he authorized after 9/11. Mr. Bush reiterated his argument that the use of the program is legal and necessary.

BUSH: If somebody from Al Qaeda's calling you, we'd like to know why. In the meantime, this program is conscious of people's civil liberties, as am I. This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and I repeat, limited.

QUIJANO: Limited, the White House says, to international communications to and from the United States. But critics say the use of electronic surveillance on Americans without a court issued warrant threatens privacy rights and civil liberties. The republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, plans to hold hearings on the issue. And a democratic committee member says he wants to hear a full discussion about the administration's actions.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: I hope the White House won't hide behind saying, "oh, executive privilege, we can't discuss this." That's the wrong attitude. A discussion, perhaps a change in the law, those are all legitimate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: President Bush says the disclosure of the classified program's existence has hurt national security. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into how information about the program was leaked to the media -- Carol.

LIN: All right, Elaine, thank you very much.

We've got more on this story. In fact, the "New York Times" is still running with this story and in a report today, they're saying that there was actually internal resistance to the controversial program. The "Times" says that one Justice Department deputy was so concerned about its legality that he refused to extend it into 2004. Now, President Bush today said in San Antonio that the NSA program is important for Americans' protection. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, as you saw in Elaine's piece, of New York, is calling for a hearing on the matter.

Now, the president says he has big plans for 2006, but this controversy over domestic spying is just one issue threatening to overshadow his agenda. So, let's turn to senior political analyst Bill Schneider who joins me to talk about the president and the year ahead.

Bill, first of all, happy New Year.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy New Year to you, Carol.

LIN: So, President Bush is saying to the American public, if Al Qaeda is not calling you then -- or if Al Qaeda is calling you, then we want to know why and the inference is if Al Qaeda is not calling you, then you don't have anything to worry about. How do you think the American public is going to take his remarks, given that he's saying that this investigation, all this information being made public, is -- could be damaging to national security?

SCHNEIDER: I think the public and the Congress both have the same question. Why? was it necessary for the president to assume this controversial authority, which a lot of people believe goes outside the constitution and the law. He claims it was a matter of necessity. But we have not yet heard a full explanation from the White House as to why this was necessary. And the president doesn't seem inclined to give one. He's just trying to get Americans to agree, it's necessary, I believe it's necessary for American security. The fact is it was very easy to get warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to undertake domestic wiretapping and it could even be done retroactively, if the president had to -- if the White House had to act fast on a tip, you could do so, and then go back to the court to get retroactive authority. So it's not entirely clear why this authority was necessary and that's what Congress intends to investigate.

LIN: So, do you think President Bush could avoid a congressional investigation if he were to come out and give specific examples, look, we monitored these conversations and we made these arrests, or we prevented this terrorist attack from happening?

SCHNEIDER: I'm not sure he can avoid it. Of course, that depends on the committees in Congress. Senator Specter seems intent on having the hearings, but the president could certainly deflect a lot of the concern, a lot of the attention from those hearings if he gave the kind of adequate explanation for why this was necessary beforehand.

LIN: So, what do you think is going to be the first test of President Bush's presidency in 2006?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there are two tests that he has to pass and he has to pass them quickly. One is Judge Alito, his nominee to the Supreme Court. This nomination is not going to be nearly as easy as Judge Roberts was. Judge Roberts got half the democrats in the senate to support him. That will not happen with Judge Alito. This nomination is going to be far tougher. And the president wants it in place within -- by the end of this month. Second of all, he's got to get renewal of the Patriot Act, another big test. That was a very big embarrassment to the president when Congress refused to pass it in part because of concern about this wiretapping controversy. So he's got to pass those two tests and pass them quickly to get a good start to New Year.

LIN: All right, Bill Schneider, always a pleasure to have you. Thank you very much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

LIN: Well, breaking those bad habits. A look at how women in particular fared last year at stomping out those cigarettes. That's just ahead in our "Health Watch."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: This past year has seen progress in the battle to get women to improve their diets and give up smoking, but that goes for men as well. Those are among the advances cited by "Health" magazine in its annual survey. Samantha Heller is here with more details. Happy New Year, Samantha.

SAMANTHA HELLER, "HEALTH" MAGAZINE: Happy New Year. Nice to see you.

LIN: Nice to see you too. I hope it's a healthy one. And I include men in that introduction because I don't want to scare anyone away from this segment because it applies to people -- many people in general. So, let's start with some of the more interesting things on your list. You actually talk about an anti-tobacco treaty. I mean, a big move to ban smoking in public places.

HELLER: Yeah, by the World Health Organization. In fact, they have 100 countries that have signed up for this now, it started now, 2005, which is now last year. And they're really encouraging now -- the countries who signed the pact, they're going to reduce or limit smoking in public areas, decrease advertising, increase taxes. You know, we would like to reduce the five most preventable deaths of year that come from smoking. So, if we can encourage to quit smoking worldwide or curb tobacco use, that would be great. And in fact, just this past week the World Health Organization said they wouldn't hire people who smoked.

LIN: Wow. All right, that is a breakthrough. Omega-3 fatty acids. All right, we hear a lot about this, of course, I think, salmon, but they also have Omega-3 fatty acids supplements now. This is a really big deal in terms of maintaining our health and preventing disease.

HELLER: Omega-3 fatty acids are not just if fish, they're in soy, canola oil, walnuts and things like and Omega-3 fatty acids can help us stay healthy, keep our arteries clean, reduce triglycerides, help us manage our weight in certain ways and so they're really -- the research is so compelling and positive, now there are pharmaceutical preparations that you can get for people who can't actually consume with food as much of the fat -- Omega-3 fatty acids that they need and this is called Omacor (ph) and it's working pretty well, it's by prescription.

LIN: You know, it seemed ages ago that the whole discussion about eat whole wheat bread versus white bread was taking place. So, why did whole wheat make your health breakthrough list.

HELLER: Well, it's not just whole wheat but it's whole grains. The reason is that finally the USDA added whole grains to its recommendation of the brand new 2005 pyramid. With that recommendation all the food companies from pasta and bread and energy bars and cereals are adding whole grains. And what consumers can do now is look for a stamp on these food business the Whole Grains Council which is a nonprofit organization so that they know that they're getting a half or whole serving of whole grains. And we know that whole grains help prevent disease and with weight management, and they're really good for us.

LIN: Right. Samantha, we're going have to leave it there, but it was also good to see some breakthroughs in diabetes treatment instead of injections, you can use an inhalant.

HELLER: Inhaleable (ph), they're not approved yet. But they will be, also great breakthroughs for breast cancer, and breast cancer survivors. So those are some really wonderful thing.

LIN: All right, terrific. Have a terrific 2006. I know we're going to be speaking to you again on some other matters.

HELLER: Thank you. Take care. Happy New Year.

LIN: Happy New Year. Well, just ahead, we're going to update you on Baby Noor. You know, it was her first full day right here in the United States and you are going to meet the people who are making this journey possible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, she was plucked from a war zone and she got a ton of media attention. The Iraqi girl known as Baby Noor is in Atlanta for a lifesaving operation. And doctors say the outlook is great. Our Christopher King has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A celebration for Baby Noor and a solemn hope of the people who played a role in her potentially lifesaving trip to the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pray that you might help her stand as a sign and a symbol for us. KING: Members of the Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church, just outside Atlanta, said special prayers for the little girl from Iraq. It was one of their members, Lieutenant Jeff Morgan from the Georgia National Guard, who first saw Baby Noor during a raid for insurgents in Abu Ghraib. He and the rest of his company felt compelled to help the family. An e-mail plea went out from Morgan to his friend and fellow church member Debbie Stone.

DEBBIE STONE, PARISHIONER: We all saw this, I think, as an opportunity for us to truly make a difference in a family and in a community in Iraq.

(APPLAUSE)

KING: Stone contacted a nonprofit organization, and now an Atlanta hospital and doctor are preparing for life saving surgery. Noor has spina bifida, a life threatening birth defect in which her spinal cord never completely closed. Doctors in Iraq had given her just 45 days to live, but the 3-month-old has already defied those odds. On Saturday, Baby Noor, her grandmother and father, landed in Atlanta. The long diplomatic push to get her here is over. Now, the real battle begins. Doctors here say the little girl is in good condition now. Without surgery, they say, she would have died. They believe if Baby Noor is treated in time, she has a good chance of survival. Dr. Roger Hudgens, who specializes in spina bifida, will perform the surgery on Baby Noor for free.

ROGER HUDGENS, NEUROSURGEON: My hope is that this child will No. 1, be intellectually and cognitively normal.

KING (on camera): The outlook for Baby Noor is unclear. Doctors are evaluating her to see when she'll be stable enough for surgery. The operation could take about three hours, but the benefits, if she's lucky, they say, could pay off for a lifetime.

Christopher King, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: There's much more ahead on CNN this evening. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern, on our own -- our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a firsthand look at the quake zone in Pakistan and the struggle to survive.

At 8:00, "CNN Presents: Voices from the Tsunami," stories of survivors, the people who went to help, and the journalists who covered the story.

At 9:00 eastern, "Larry King Live," remembering rock idol Rick Nelson 20 years later. Members of Nelson's family join Larry.

And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern tonight and have the hour's headlines when I come back and then "CNN Presents."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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