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American Morning

Blizzard Pummels Northeast; Congressional Reports Blast Bush Administration for Hurricane Response

Aired February 13, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
I'm Zain Verjee in for Soledad.

Heavy snow blankets the Northeast. Millions are still digging out this morning. We've got several live reports, including our own Miles O'Brien, out in the cold, ahead, to keep you updated on your area.

Police capture the last two escapees from a Chicago area jail. It ended after a short hostage stand-off. So why is one of the hostages in handcuffs? We're live with the latest.

A hunting accident -- Vice President Dick Cheney shoots a campaign contributor on a ranch in Texas. A live report just ahead.

This house is utterly destroyed in a deadly small plane crash and one teenager who lives there is still missing.

All ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

We're going to get to Miles in Central Park in just a second.

First, though, let's check in with Carol Costello and the news headlines -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It takes a while to get through that deep snow.

Good morning to all of you.

Hey, we'll do it again tomorrow, that's the word from the judge overseeing Saddam Hussein's trial. It got off to another shaky start today. A ticked off Saddam Hussein screaming at the judge earlier, complaining that he was forced to show up. Of course, that may be why he's in an overcoat with a bathrobe underneath. He also shouted, "Down with Bush!" and "Long Live Iraq!"

Saddam Hussein and his lawyers have also been complaining that the new chief judge is biased.

A stand-off between police and some fugitives ended peacefully earlier this morning in Chicago. The two inmates who broke out of the Cook County Jail surrendered to police. They had been holding a woman and her children hostage. Several others had escaped over the weekend, as well, but they are back in custody. It was the jail's third escape in recent months.

At least one person have has been killed in a house fire here in New York City. The two alarm fire broke out less than three hours ago. Firefighters still on the scene there in the Bronx.

In California, at least two people are dead after a small plane crashed into a house. The plane was apparently doing some stunts over the rooftops when it went down over the weekend. Officials now investigating.

A fellow hunter peppered by bird shot fired by Vice President Dick Cheney is said to be doing well this morning. We're expecting to get an official update from the hospital shortly. Vice President Cheney accidentally shot and wounded 78-year-old Harry Whittington during a weekend hunting trip. Cheney is now back in Washington. In fact, we just got pictures of him arriving this morning.

The men were hunting quail and Whittington apparently came up unannounced as Cheney prepared to fire. The incident, at first kept under wraps by the White House, was made public by the owner of the ranch.

All right, Miles has made it through the deep snow. He is in Central Park as we speak -- Miles, how are those 27 inches of snow?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, not quite 27 anymore, Carol. We got the certified CNN security yardstick, which I broke. We'll discuss that later with security. I may not be able to get back in the building. Who knows?

We're talking 13 inches here. But it has compacted quite a bit. It was really, well, a humdinger of a nor'easter, if you will. You know, a lot of people of a certain vintage remember the famous nor'easter, the blizzard of '78. You can probably put it in that category. You might say that we'll lionize this storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love a nor'easter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing like it. Nor'easters.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Old man winter had spent the season in Russia. But he came home over the weekend and he wasn't in a good mood. Blizzard conditions from Maryland to Maine, with high winds, bitter cold and snow measured in feet. A whiteout for the record books.

In New York City, a single storm record -- 26.9 inches in Central Park. In Boston, a foot-and-a-half. In Philadelphia, a foot. Baltimore, two feet. And heavy snow was the only thing flying.

Thousands of flights in and out of the Northeast Corridor were canceled, tens of thousands of passengers stranded. Washington's Reagan National Airport and all three major New York airports closed for a time Sunday. And when JFK reopened, a Turkish Airways jet slid off a runway. Luckily, no one injured.

Trains were better than planes, but not by much. Amtrak rolled on, but many commuter trains were not making tracks.

And automobiles were not so mobile. The plows and the salt trucks hit the slick roads, but couldn't keep up with the frozen deluge. In many places, it was a blizzard -- high winds, low visibility. And where the snow was heavy and wet, the power lines were no match. Two hundred thousand homes in the Northeast in the dark and cold in the wake of the nor'easter of '06, he day old man winter came home, a story to tell and retell for the grandkids some day.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VERJEE: Let's go now to Alan Chertoff, who is live at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

John King is live in Chatham, Massachusetts.

And Brian Todd is on the National Mall in Washington -- Allan, let's get to you first.

How smoothly are things running there this morning?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not very, Zain. Not at all.

In fact, I just heard the final boarding call for the American Airlines 8:00 flight to Charlotte. That tells me the flight won't be leaving on time. But if it is able to leave, it will be the first American Airlines flight out of LaGuardia in more than 24 hours.

Right now outside, there are still more plows than planes. More than 25 inches of snow fell here at LaGuardia. So you can imagine just the effort and the time involved in not only clearing off the runways -- and they are clear now -- but also clearing away the gate areas. That's the critical task at the moment right now.

Many people had to sleep overnight here at LaGuardia Airport. Airport workers put up 176 cots and they were all filled as I walked into the airport early this morning. I saw many people trying to sleep, not very successful. The cots are all gone now and people are just wandering around the airport, waiting for their flight to finally depart.

But, of course, tremendous delays here and the delays spreading all across the nation and even worldwide. People simply unable to get into New York City -- Zain.

VERJEE: Alan Chertoff reporting from LaGuardia.

Thanks, Alan. We want to get up now to Massachusetts, where just over a foot of snow covering parts of Boston this morning. But more than that fell in some other areas around the state.

Our chief national correspondent, John King, is in Chatham, Massachusetts -- John, give us a sense of what's going on there.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Zain.

Good morning to you.

I'm on South Beach (AUDIO GAP).

Well, today there are no accumulations on the ground on the beach here. But it's a spectacular day. If you look over here to my right, this is the Chatham fish pier. When we were here yesterday, there was moderate flooding. And that was the big concern (AUDIO GAP).

VERJEE: I hate it when that happens.

John King, we appear to have lost our audio connection with him.

Let's go down, then, to Washington, where snow plows are still trying just to get around the area. The drivers there being warned to watch out for some of those icy patches that they struggle with in their morning commute.

CNN's Brian Todd never struggling.

He joins us now in Washington with a bit more -- Brian, tell us what's happening.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, the real advantage here, if there was any advantage to this snowstorm, is that it got here in the middle of the weekend, starting on Saturday. It's now about more than 24 hours since the snow stopped. It's given crews plenty of time to clear the roads. Most of the roads around here are clear. Traffic is very light. You've got a shot here of 3rd Street Northwest right behind me, just at the foot of the Capitol. Normally a very congested street at this time of the morning. And, clearly, you can see, the traffic is moving along just fine.

Part of that is because the U.S. government had a liberal leave policy this morning, meaning if you feel that you can't make it and you work for the government, you feel you can't make it to work, you call in, you don't come to work, that usually means a lot of people don't go to work on mornings like this.

But the roads are very clear. The main problem this morning are power outages. At their peak, the company that services Maryland and Washington, D.C. told us just a few minutes ago, at the peak, 61,000 people were without power.

Right now, Maryland, Virginia and D.C. less than 13,000 customers are without power. Those numbers are dwindling literally by the minute. We speak to these people every 10 minutes and they are restoring power, just literally by the minute, to people. They say that most of the customers will be back on line by today. Some may have to wait until tomorrow. But it is getting back on line very quickly -- Zain.

VERJEE: Brian Todd reporting to us from Washington.

Thanks, Brian.

Let's go to Central Park and to Miles O'Brien, who's having a good time there in the snow -- right, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Yes, Zain.

VERJEE: You've been enjoying the cold.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

VERJEE: It's pretty.

O'BRIEN: We are. We are. The equipment is not enjoying it so much, but that's how things work.

Take a look. This is Central Park, Central Park West. And people are walking to work ever so gingerly. Not a snow day for everybody.

Check out the scene here at the newsstand. Let's see, "New York Post" -- "White Out!" "Big Shot" -- oh, that's another story. "City Digs Out From Record 26.9 Inch Snowfall."

We've got -- what happened to the "Daily News" there? There it is. "Dig, We Must." "Dig, We Must."

You want that? Is that for you? Oh. "El Diario": "A Echar Pala," en espanol, right?

There you go.

Have a good day. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, it's "A Echar Pala" -- Chad Myers in Atlanta.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is deep out there, Miles. It's like -- they're actually going to charge you for that broken yardstick, because I don't even know where you can buy one of those now. You can probably get that on eBay for 35 bucks.

Here you go now...

O'BRIEN: Probably.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That's not a bad idea. MYERS: Some snow now for Grand Rapids, Michigan...

O'BRIEN: I like that idea.

MYERS: ... back into Detroit, into Travers City, seeing some snow. The biggest snow, though, was Central Park -- 26.9, a brand new record. Chinatown had 24-and-a-half inches there.

Talk about downtown, think about all the way to where the roads are so skinny and the buildings are so close. Where are you going to put that? Are you just going to throw it in the street, I guess? Because if you shovel it from the street, all you're going to do is shovel it on the sidewalk then somebody's going to shovel it back.

Fairfield, Connecticut, 30 inches there. Danbury, Connecticut in the mix at two feet of snow.

So everybody is shoveling today. It is still heavy snow. Lighter snow up in Boston, lighter in the way of weight. But you still have to be very careful in Maryland, in Columbia and Owings Mills. Temperatures there warm enough to make very heavy, wet, dense snow, that heart attack type snow, as we call it. Even King of Prussia at 18 inches.

Today, everything is really very mild. It is cold, but temperatures are at least about where we should be this time of year. Right now, the wind chill factor in New York City is 20; Buffalo 15. It is cold all the way to the South. Atlanta, it feels like 16 degrees there -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Chad Myers.

I'm here with Fran Harvey (ph).

She's from Louisiana visiting, having a little bonus day here in New York City.

You don't get snowfall like this in Louisiana. You get other problems in Louisiana. We know an awful lot about that.

What's this been like for you her?

FRAN HARVEY: Oh, it's wonderful. I mean, to be snowed in on Central Park, 29 inches, is probably once in a lifetime for us.

O'BRIEN: What's your thinking about getting out of here? I hear -- Chad was just saying maybe you shouldn't go to the airport today.

What are you thinking?

HARVEY: Oh, I think we'll be fine. We have a 7:00 flight, so we'll...

O'BRIEN: Oh, 7:00 p.m. you'll be all right.

HARVEY: Yes. We will. O'BRIEN: In the meantime, have you got some good pictures there?

HARVEY: Oh, yes.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Got good souvenirs to bring back to Louisiana.

HARVEY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Fran Harvey, have a safe journey back.

HARVEY: OK.

O'BRIEN: All right...

HARVEY: Keep up the good work.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you.

HARVEY: All right.

O'BRIEN: Let's get back to Zain, who is right up there -- Zain.

VERJEE: And nice and cozy and warm.

Coming up, Michelle Kwan calls it quits in Torino. The figure skating star pulls out of the Winter Games because of injury. What does it mean for her teammates? We're live in Torino.

Also, another church fire in Alabama. We'll bring you the latest on the investigation and find out who authorities think may be responsible.

And who's to blame for the relief failures after hurricane Katrina? Congress has a new report out. One of the congressmen who helped with the investigation joins us live. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Warnings about hurricane Katrina totally ignored by the White House. That's basically the conclusion of a Congressional report, parts of which were leaked over the weekend. The report claiming the government was in a state of organizational paralysis in the storm's wake.

Republican Congressman Chris Shays joins us now from Stanford, Connecticut.

Thank you for joining us.

Can you give us more specifics about exactly what the factors are here, what the report says?

REP. CHRIS SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: Well, in essence, it says we had hurricane pain (ph) as a tabletop exercise. Even before that, we had September 11th. All of this was a strong indication that we had serious communication problems. We seemed to ignore both 9/11 and this tabletop exercise that predicted almost everything that would happen. Mr. Chertoff, who is head of the Department of Homeland Security, was -- was basically, and surprisingly, detached. And Mr. Brown was -- was basically clueless and negligent.

And so, you know, the whole system just broke down.

VERJEE: How much blame does this report lay on Secretary Chertoff specifically?

SHAYS: Well, I mean, I think it, rightfully, puts significant blame on him. He just simply was detached. I mean Mr. Brown was saying let FEMA be FEMA and unfortunately we did. And FEMA just wasn't up to the task.

Now, I want to say that all of us in -- who did this report know that this was a storm of biblical proportions. But when you have the head of the Weather Service call the governors, both governors, of Mississippi and Louisiana, and the mayor of New Orleans, and say this is a category five storm, get your people out, and they didn't do that immediately, you know, that was regretful.

VERJEE: How much blame, then, does this report specifically put on Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, for the reasons that -- some of which you've just pointed out? But how far does it go?

SHAYS: Well, I mean I think it rightfully points out that both failed to take the actions they needed to take. The mayor of New Orleans actually contributed to a tremendous amount of misinformation. He'd hear a rumor and he would pass it on. And then the media would report it as if a government official had given credibility to it, and that was obviously not helpful.

VERJEE: In your opinion, according to recommendations in this report, where do you think that the critical changes need to be made?

SHAYS: Well, they need to be made with the Department of Homeland Security. They need to be, obviously, more involved. They need to do the things that we -- they were told to do in -- after 9/11 and Hurricane Pam.

VERJEE: Like what?

SHAYS: Well, I mean, one clearly is just better communication, making sure that you don't have layers of bureaucracy that get in the way.

VERJEE: Should FEMA be a part or come under Homeland Security or do you think it ought to be an entity in and of itself? Mike Brown has made that argument.

SHAYS: Well, I mean, Mike Brown is making that argument as an excuse. In any way, we let FEMA be independent. We didn't get involved in the ways we should have in the Department of Homeland Security. So I would argue that, unfortunately, we didn't have the right person heading FEMA. But he was given a lot of leeway and simply didn't measure up.

VERJEE: Democrats boycotted the investigation. They essentially argued, saying look, you know, this whole thing is a partisan whitewash.

Do you think that your efforts, that this report will finally allay those accusations?

SHAYS: Well, I mean, it's very tough on the president. It's very tough on the Department of Homeland Security. It's a blistering report. But I think it's fair. And, regretfully, the only partisanship, I think, was the failure of Nancy Pelosi to assign 10 of the 21 members to this committee. I mean they were missing in action, frankly. And to the credit of a number of Democrats, they just attended in spite of the disappointment of Nancy Pelosi, that they participated.

VERJEE: Republican Congressman Chris Shays speaking to us from Stanford in Connecticut.

Thank you so much.

SHAYS: Thank you.

VERJEE: We appreciate it.

Coming up, a Texas attorney is in the hospital after being shot and wounded by the vice president, Dick Cheney, in a hunting accident. We're going to bring you a live update on his condition.

And later, who's behind that string of church fires in Alabama? Authorities think they have an idea.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: If you think congressional criticism of the administration was harsh over Katrina, you should have been in New Orleans over the weekend. Visitors to The Big Easy treated to a taste of Mardi Gras flavored with distaste for the government's failings.

We get more on that from Davis Brister of our affiliate, WDSU.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVIS BRISTER, WDSU CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's here, the first sounds from Mardi Gras 2006. For the thousands of people attending the crudahue (ph) parade, nothing has sounded this sweet in quite a while.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so happy to see everybody out. This is my old neighborhood and I love it. BRISTER: As usual, the central attractions were creative, taking on everything storm related. The parade's theme was "C'est la Vie." It took shots at Governor Blanco to Mayor Nagin to the Army Corps of Engineers, putting its own spin on the low levee failures. For a couple of hours, anyway, the creativity worked. The people who have gone through so much and were watching could forget about it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once you get out here into the flavor of our people, it's all gone again. It makes it all worthwhile.

BRISTER: Cold weather couldn't stop the crowd from enjoying themselves, and neither could FEMA. Many even gave the crudahue (ph) FEMA reps a warm welcome. They all got a good laugh at a plea to France's president to buy New Orleans back.

But it was more than just bands and floats and beads this year. It was a chance to put the past where it belongs, to remove all those negatives that came with Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's something different to do besides picking up trash, you know? It's something new.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

O'BRIEN: That report came from Davis Brister of affiliate WDSU.

Good to see there's still a shred of a sense of humor in The Big Easy -- Zain.

VERJEE: Miles, two escaped inmates surrendered near Chicago overnight and the hostages they were holding are safe. They are the last of six men who broke out of a maximum security jail around midnight on Saturday. The jail break and hostage crisis began and ended in the Chicago suburb of Cicero.

Keith Oppenheim is live in Cicero -- Keith, what happened?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what happened was that there were three prisoners, actually, who came to this house behind me. One gave up around midnight. The last two held up until three in the morning. And we've got a picture of those two individuals. They are Eric Bernard and Tyrone Everhart.

The third guy, Francisco Romero, he apparently brought the three of them here because he was friends with the woman who lived in the house. She had five children. The five children were dramatically released during the stand-off that happened here in the middle of the night.

Police say the woman at the end of the stand-off was taken away in handcuffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN PROFT, SPOKESMAN, CITY OF CICERO: When she also came out of the apartment, she was taken into custody because right now it's unclear what, if any, role she had in harboring these fugitives or aiding and abetting them, as opposed to being held against her will. And that's something that investigators are going to determine through the questioning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: The breakout from the Cook County Jail happened on Saturday night when six prisoners got out. What happened, in a nutshell, is that there was an inmate who was allowed to take a shower with only one guard present. Police say that that inmate took some hot soapy water, threw it at the guard, held the guard at knifepoint and then pressed a button to open up the jail cells for six inmates who got out.

They have all been captured, but this is the third escape from the Cook County Jail since June, so a lot of big questions -- Zain.

VERJEE: Well, yes, absolutely.

You said if it's the third jail break at this county jail, what does that say about this jail's security?

OPPENHEIM: Well, first of all, there hadn't been any escapes from this jail, where they house about 10,000 inmates, for about 10 years prior to last June. But now there are questions about whether there appropriate staffing in certain places and whether guards are following proper procedures.

So that's going to be part of the investigation now, particularly since all of the six have been captured.

And in the previous two escapes, I should point out, those prisoners, those escaped prisoners were also captured.

VERJEE: Keith Oppenheim reporting from Cicero.

Thanks, Keith -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Coming up, we'll go live to Torino...

VERJEE: Pardon, Torino.

O'BRIEN: Or Turin, if you prefer it.

Torino. You've got to use your hands -- for an Olympic update. Of course, figure skater Michelle Kwan, probably the classiest act in Olympic sports we know of, pulls out of the Games. We'll look at what this means to the rest of the U.S. team, and, in particular, one very probably happy skater who is slightly delayed by weather, but will be there soon.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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