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CNN Live Saturday
Escaped Prisoner Eludes Police; Severe Weather in the Southeast
Aired April 08, 2006 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Freed in Gallatin, Tennessee, a town that was torn apart 24 hours ago by a twister tracked right through here. That story is coming up.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gary Tuchman in Marietta, Georgia.
It was an anxiety inducing morning for four million plus people in the Atlanta metropolitan area. We'll have that story, too.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, an old problem with a new face. We are going to take a look at the unlikely victims of domestic violence -- the husbands.
And allegations a major U.S. company is helping the government spy on you.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
I'm Carol Lin.
Let's start with the news you've missed today.
More severe storms strike parts of the South. Tornado-like winds caused widespread damage in suburban Atlanta this morning.
In Tennessee, 12 people were killed.
We'll have a live report in just a moment.
And the Denver Nuggets say Julius Hodge is expected to fully recover from a gunshot wound. Police say the 22-year-old rookie was shot while driving on an interstate north of the city. A vehicle pulled alongside him and a person inside opened fire.
Iranians demonstrate in Tehran against planned talks with Washington. The U.S. and Iran have shown a willingness to enter into talks to stabilize Iraq.
And south of Baghdad today, six people were killed in a bombing at a Shiite mosque. The deadly attack follows yesterday's suicide bombing that killed 81 people at a mosque north of the city.
And eight bodies are found on a farm in Elgin County, Ontario. A police spokesman says that the bodies were discovered in three vehicles. He is calling the case a homicide. All afternoon you have seen this heartbreaking video. And if you haven't, take a look because it's coming into the CNN Center out of central Tennessee. Homes completely demolished and businesses gone. A series of thunderstorms sent rain and tornadoes, which killed at least 12 people. Now, most died in Sumner County, near Nashville. This is where a tornado touched down.
Jonathan Freed is in Gallatin right now -- Jonathan, what is that devastation behind you?
FREED: Well, Carol, it was 24 hours ago that a tornado just tore through this area and everybody here was running for cover. That damage behind me is a result of the tornado that tracked right through there.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
FREED (voice-over): For the second time in less than a week, tornadoes took lives in Tennessee. Three of the dead from this subdivision in Gallatin, about a half hour north of Nashville.
Twisters plowed parallel tracks north and south of Nashville on Friday afternoon, destroying dozens of homes and injuring dozens more people. A block of auto dealerships reduced to a junkyard in just minutes.
CHARLES RUSSELL, AUTO DEALERSHIP EMPLOYEE: So we came out and watched it and it hit an old house that was over here. And when it hit that house, it just got wider. And before we knew it, it was on top of us here.
FREED: Charles Russell works in a dealership garage. He says he and his colleagues had only seconds to try and save their own lives.
(on camera): So you saw it coming from over here and then you ran back inside to one of the dealership buildings here?
RUSSELL: Into our service -- into our service area.
FREED (voice-over): The storm wrecked hundreds of cars, flipping them over, twisting metal. The wind turning a two by four into a missile. And while that was happening outside, Charles Russell was inside, holding on for his life.
RUSSELL: I crouched down behind a big metal toolbox and I grabbed a hold to the bottom of it and it tore the roof off of where I was sitting at.
FREED (on camera): Were you scared?
RUSSELL: To death. It was worse than the earthquake.
FREED: You've been through an earthquake?
RUSSELL: I've been through an earthquake. But when this stuff is happening, there's nowhere that you can go. FREED (voice-over): The day after, time to clear away lost inventory and take stock of what matters most.
(on camera): Nobody was hurt?
RUSSELL: Nobody. The whole dealership. We're just thankful. We know that god is on our side.
FREED: You're a lucky man.
RUSSELL: We must be living right.
FREED: A lucky man.
(voice-over): Living right but lives that will be far from normal for quite a while.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FREED: Well, Carol, it's a day later and the sun is poking through now finally, and I'm seeing a lot more patches of blue, although the cloud cover is still pretty thick, although the wind is moving at rather quickly right now. A day later and still no power, in this part, anyway, of Gallatin, Tennessee -- Carol.
LIN: That's right, Jonathan, I was going to ask you, because I'm talking with someone with the State College there later on. But students and parents have not yet been able to really connect.
Do you know when power is going to be restored and is there phone service?
FREED: Well, that's not -- it's not clear yet. And another thing that isn't clear either is whether or not people are going to get access to their homes. What I'm being told is that people are coming up to roadblocks that have been set up by police. And unless you have some kind of I.D. and you can prove that you live at the particular address, they're not letting you in.
So it's difficult for people to communicate with each other, in some cases, although the cell phones are working. But you can't always get access to your own home -- Carol.
LIN: All right, Jonathan, thank you so much.
Now, there was more storm damage in Charlotte, Tennessee, northwest of Nashville.
A live report from there in just a few minutes.
The same line of thunderstorms moved over northern Georgia. Take a look at this major damage in the suburbs near Atlanta.
Now, some of the worst happened in Marietta, in Cobb County.
That's where we find CNN's Gary Tuchman there right now -- Gary, what's that behind you? Or what was it?
TUCHMAN: Well, Carol, this is very interesting. This is a business that was destroyed when either a tornado or tornado-like winds came through Marietta, Georgia. And what's interesting, you see the bulldozer already clearing the wreckage, which is very interesting considering the fact that in places in Louisiana and Mississippi, seven months later, we haven't seen one bulldozer cleaning many houses or businesses that were destroyed from Katrina or Rita.
Obviously, this isn't as serious of a case. But for the person who owns this business, it's just as serious. And it was a very, very scary early morning here in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Many Atlantans went to sleep last night thinking they had escaped a bullet. Originally, earlier yesterday, the forecast was for this area to be very vulnerable to a lot of tornadoes. As the day went on, the watch boxes moved farther north and you see Tennessee got it very badly. So a lot of people went to bed not expecting anything bad.
At around 4:00 in the morning Eastern time, that's when the weather came through here. People heard sirens. People were very scared. Fortunately, nobody has been seriously hurt, but there have been many houses damaged and many businesses, like this tax preparation office, that was destroyed.
You can see where the path of it was. And we're still not 100 percent sure it was a tornado. That will be figured out soon. But either way, there were very heavy straight line winds, up to 70 miles per hour. And the path was through here.
Up there, you can see that billboard. That's part of the path. That billboard was destroyed.
Now, when you go down underneath the billboard, you see a tree that went down. Now, this is the east. The storm came from this direction and to the west. So that's how the damage moved through. To this side of me and this side of me, there's almost no damage whatsoever.
And now you see one of the issues we're facing -- lots of power lines are down and that's a big problem because we saw firsthand two weeks ago in Kansas, power lines came down and started fires. These 18 different fires became out of control in Reno County, Kansas when power lines went down because of tornadoes.
There are houses that are damaged, there are businesses that are destroyed. But the good news here in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where more than four million people live, is nobody was seriously hurt.
Carol -- back to you.
LIN: Good news, indeed, Gary.
And it looks like the sun is coming out, so that's good for all the cleanup. Let's check in with CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider for the latest on this severe weather -- Bonnie, taking a look at Gary's position, I mean was it anything else but a tornado that would have -- I mean that building looked like it went through a blender.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. The public reported that it was a tornado, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. They have to survey the damage and look at the debris pattern.
But, yes, looking at that, that demolition level certainly is likely to be a tornado.
Speaking of which, we have a new tornado warning. And this includes western Brooks County in south central Georgia and also southeastern Thomas County in south central Georgia. This is a Doppler radar indicated tornado, so it hasn't been spotted yet. But with these thunderstorms, when rotation is detected, you could see a tornado drop down at any time. So if you're in that vicinity until 5:30 p.m. you want to stay inside and stay protected.
We also have a tornado warning that rise for Charleston and Berkeley Counties in South Carolina. And that does include the City of Charleston.
As we take a closer look at what's going on, the big picture shows you the tornado watch boxes extend until 9:00 p.m. for Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville. And here's another update for you that just came in. The tornado watch I was telling you earlier would expire at 5:00 p.m. because the storms have been so severe and we've been getting so much reports of tornadic storms developing, this point watch box has now been extended. And it continues until 9:00 tonight. And that includes the City of Tallahassee. We're getting very strong thunderstorms just on the border here with Georgia and into Florida.
So a good night to stay inside because of all the severe weather that's breaking out in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas at this hour.
Now, just to take a closer look, we had an area, an unconfirmed report of a tornado by a law enforcement officer who said he spotted a tornado in the Laurens area. That's to the north and west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just on the border of North Carolina.
Right now we're getting heavy rain in the Myrtle Beach area and we've been seeing that throughout the evening hours, as well, and we'll continue to see it.
What's happening is we have our storm system coming through. It's still tapping into some very warm, moist air ahead of it, pulling down much cooler and drier air. When we talk about the dew points or the temperatures at which the air becomes saturated down in this region, they are very high. So it's rich, ripe air ready for thunderstorms to develop once we get a disturbance moving through.
We're seeing some heavy rain in the Columbia area, but luckily that is subsiding. And, once again, a strong storm working its way through the Charleston area at this hour, where a tornado warning is about to expire in six minutes for Berkeley and Charleston Counties.
Here's the big picture. The reason we have been seeing so much hail with this storm system is we have cool upper level winds here coming through and warm, moist air ahead of it. So the strong storms will persist for tonight.
But it's also pulling down some very cold air. And that is interesting, Carol, because we're getting such cold air that parts of the Southeast, the places where the tornadoes ripped through, will be under frost advisories tonight, because temperatures are dropping so cold.
So quite the change of events with all the weather coming through.
LIN: All right, terrific, Bonnie.
I know you're working on a lot of cool stuff for us, because there's so much bad weather out there. So I want to invite everybody to stay tuned for Bonnie, who is going to be reporting with us throughout the night.
In the meantime, we want to show you some wild weather out West. There has been record rain out there in California and people are bracing for another round of storms. State officials fear heavy rains could bring more flooding and cause levees to fail. Some have already spilled over their banks. People living near levees are urged to be extremely cautious.
Now, we have more incredible video to show you. These pictures, in fact, are from a police car's dashboard camera. But the man you see talking to the police officer is an escaped murderer. In two minutes, I want to show you what happens.
And there's a really surprising story about who's getting battered at home. The men are losing this battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The first time I'm sitting in the courtroom and there's a poster that says, you know, are you a victim of -- of domestic violence? And I kind of looked up at it and I started to read the questions and tears started coming down. And I said damn, I said, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: And our crews are all over the storm damage across the Southeast. We're in Charlotte, Tennessee and then from Gallatin, I'll be talking with someone at the State Community College, where there is no power and no way for students to reach out to their families.
But first, we want you to experience what it was like at the height of the storm in Sumner County.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Numerous warnings out there with very vivid super cell activity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are painting a picture up here of one of the strongest tornadoes I've experienced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I heard a boom. Then I had blocked brick nearly piled on top of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He saw vehicles off the ground, in the air, swirling around, as if they were shingles like debris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please be taking cover immediately.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We just want to bring you back to some of the damage from these big storms.
This is Marietta, Georgia, where you're watching some of the cleanup live. Now, they haven't absolutely determined for sure whether a tornado touched down there. But take a look at that. It looked like that commercial building went through a blender.
Now, fortunately, this storm hit overnight. Nobody was inside that business. We have no reports of any serious injuries. But obviously lots of damage and a couple thousand people without power right now.
We've also got some other headlines making news across America.
The family of a 6-year-old boy who died when a jet skidded off the runway at Chicago's Midway Airport has filed a lawsuit. Jet maker Boeing and Southwest Airlines are named in the suit. The family says both companies' negligence led to the accident.
Denver's transit strike is over. A new labor contract was approved today that was overwhelmingly supported by striking employees. The walkout began Monday. It was the first transit strike in the mile high city since 1982.
And Texas authorities believe a man may have died while trying to protect his property from raging wildfires yesterday. Officials say the man was found a few yards from his bulldozer. Roughly 27,000 acres in the Lone Star State have been charred by the wildfires.
A prison escapee and a police officer face-to-face. Now you would hope the story ends with the bad guy in cuffs and accolades for the officer. Not quite. That, the bad guy? He's still on the loose.
CNN's Susan Roesgen has the story you may have first seen on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Driving along a quiet country road in western Louisiana, a small town policeman spotted a man jogging along the railroad tracks. A convicted killer had escaped from a nearby federal prison. And the Officer Carl Bordelon wanted to know who this guy was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD LEE MCNAIR, ESCAPED PRISONER: I'm at the hotel. We're working on the houses and stuff like that.
CARL BORDELON, BALL POLICE DEPARTMENT: What it is, we've got an escapee.
MCNAIR: Oh.
Where from?
BORDELON: A prison.
MCNAIR: You've got a prison here?
BORDELON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: The man Officer Bordelon stopped gave his man as Robert Jones. In fact, his real name was Richard McNair. McNair had been serving a life sentence for killing a man in Minot, North Dakota, during a burglary back in 1987. He had broken out of prison twice before. And on Wednesday, he escaped in a mail van.
But Bordelon said he had seen only a fuzzy fax of an older picture of McNair. So he calls the dispatcher to ask for a description, and McNair plays along.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORDELON: Hey, this is Carl.
Does the subject wear glasses?
What color eyes you got?
MCNAIR: Green. Well, kind of a turquoise blue.
BORDELON: Turquoise blue?
MCNAIR: Yes.
BORDELON: You want to give me some more?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Officer Bordelon tells McNair that the description matches him and McNair laughs it off, fooling the cop into letting him go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORDELON: When I crossed the tracks down there, I saw you running. I said, well, how lucky can I be?
MCNAIR: Nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm not no prison escapee.
BORDELON: Just call 911, is all you've got to do, and they'll get a hold to us.
MCNAIR: All righty.
BORDELON: That's our quick line there.
MCNAIR: You have a good day now.
BORDELON: Be careful, buddy.
MCNAIR: Thank you.
BORDELON: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Now officers armed with machine guns are combing the woods to find the convict who got away. And the local mayor says he made the decision to release this video, as embarrassing as it is, hoping someone might see him.
MAYOR ROY HEBRON, BALL, LOUISIANA: To make sure, no doubt, that if you've seen this individual, our video -- you've seen him on our video, then you knew what he looked like. And that way it helps all of us catch this individual a whole lot quicker.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Hard to believe, but be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
A great story there.
Now, coming up, is one of America's largest companies helping the government sift through your e-mail?
And havoc in the hallways -- hundreds seek shelter at a Tennessee college, but the storm showed little mercy. This is videotape that just came into the CNN Center of Volunteer State College. And I'm going to talk to one of the college officials in just a few minutes about where all the students are now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Are your e-mails as private as you think they are?
Well a civil liberties group claims AT&T is helping the government fish through millions of electronic communications, all in the name of national security.
CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A former employee of AT&T, a 22-year veteran, says that in a San Francisco building owned by the telecom giant is a secret room controlled by the U.S. National Security Agency, containing equipment to sort through huge volumes of e-mail and Internet traffic.
The retired technician, Mark Klein, makes the claim, according to his lawyer, in a sealed statement, with supporting documents, filed in support of a lawsuit brought against AT&T by a civil liberties group called Electronic Freedom Foundation.
KEVIN BANKSTON, ELECTRONIC FREEDOM FOUNDATION: We think, based on the evidence we've submitted under seal this week, that we have a likelihood of succeeding in this case.
ENSOR: The lawsuit charges AT&T helps the NSA with a massive fishing expedition, searching through communications by Americans as part of the battle against terrorism.
BANKSTON: They are intercepting millions of people's communications and then sifting through those to decide whom to target. That is plainly a violation of the statutes and the constitution.
ENSOR: Both the NSA and AT&T declined comment, though the company confirms Klein used to work there. And Bush administration officials have said the surveillance program authorized by the president after the 9/11 attacks only monitors domestic communications when one party is suspected of ties to terror and when one party is outside the country.
Former NSA director, now the nation's number two intelligence officer, General Michael Hayden, has categorically denied that there's any sort of fishing expedition against Americans.
(on camera): This one bears watching because the lawsuit charges broader surveillance than the president's terrorist surveillance program and now there's a former insider helping the plaintiffs.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of the news that affects your security. So stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.
A very scary night at one college campus that opened its doors to shelter hundreds from the storm. I'll get a firsthand account of what happened just ahead.
And why is the FBI interviewing officials in Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish? Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: This is what's happening right now in the news.
Crews are picking up after the big storm. Lots of debris out there after tornadoes tore across several Southern states. Twelve people died and all -- most -- just about all of those are reported in Tennessee. Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama are reporting extensive damage.
And a grizzly discovery in Canada. Eight bodies were found early this morning on a farm near London, Ontario. Police say the bodies were found in three vehicles. They say there may be more victims.
And police say Denver Nuggets player Julius Hodge is in fair condition after being shot earlier today. They say he was driving along Interstate 76 when a person in another car opened fire.
Hard-line Iranian students protested today in Tehran against proposed Iranian talks with the U.S. over Iraq. The Iranian government has accepted the idea of limited talks with the U.S. to solve security and instability problems in Iraq.
Now, some of the worst damage from this weekend's storms is in Gallatin, Tennessee. A tornado tore a 10 mile path of destruction through the suburb northeast of Nashville. Three car dealerships along the main highway were heavily damaged. And also hit hard, Volunteer State Community College. The twister tore the roofs off several buildings.
So it's now closed until further notice.
But joining me on the phone is Eric Melcher.
He is the spokesman for the college.
Eric, taking a look at these pictures, it's just remarkable that no one was injured.
Can you confirm that for us?
ERIC MELCHER, VOLUNTEER STATE COLLEGE SPOKESMAN: Well, there were some minor injuries, but -- but no serious injuries. And, yes, we think it's remarkable, as well.
LIN: And have the students been all accounted for?
MELCHER: Yes. I mean for the most part the campus has been cleared. So everyone is back home. We don't have any residential students here, so everyone is back home. We cleared the campus yesterday. Everybody building has been checked and as far as we know, our good luck, you know, remains. And it was just the minor injuries.
But, of course, our hearts and our prayers are going out to everyone else here in Sumner County that has lost so much. It's just devastating.
LIN: All right, so you don't have students out of state or international students who may still be trying to get a hold of their families?
MELCHER: I don't think so. I mean, we have a small number of international students. But as I say, no one is here on campus and in terms of people contacting folks, we haven't heard of any problems with anyone having any trouble doing that.
LIN: OK.
We just want to assure the folks out there, because these pictures are going to be shown around the world, and I know that there are going to be a lot of worried people out there, wondering what happened to their loved ones.
Eric, were you there when the tornado struck?
MELCHER: Yes, I was. It was, you know, one of those days where the media had been very good about warning us that this was going to be a very dangerous day. And so I had the TV in the office turned on and we had been watching the reports. And periodically we would get updates over the intercom about, you know, what we should be counting on, you know, when the -- there was a tornado warning.
And just about the time that they warned us that we should take cover, one of the meteorologists here was saying we see a tornado now and it is moving on the ground up Highway 31. And he goes and I think it's headed toward Volunteer State Community College. And so that put a little extra kick in our step. And we high tailed it out of the office and into a hallway.
LIN: And then when the tornado actually struck, what did it sound like?
What did it feel like?
MELCHER: At first we didn't think it was really going to happen. Because when you live here in the South, it happens so often that there are tornadoes near you, that you don't think it's really going to be you. But we had someone come running in from the parking lot, and she said, my God, it's over there in the parking lot and it's coming this way, and by the time she slammed the door shut from the hallway, one of the emergency doors, we all sat down and we heard the classic train sound.
And, um, that only lasted about 20 seconds and then it was like a bomb went off. And debris went shooting down the hallway next to us, and thank God, where we were, we were kind of in the middle of an H and on either side of us, the stuff goes shooting past, and the next thing you know, we were breathing dirt and it was pretty chaotic, but everyone stayed really calm. I was -- I was quite impressed with how everyone held it together.
LIN: Either natural calm and good smarts or just pure shock, I don't think anybody expects in tornado country to have a tornado hit the bulling that they are standing in. Thank goodness you are all safe, and it's good to hear you, Eric, and just taking a look at the devastation, it's so wonderful and fortunate that everybody is still alive. Thank you.
MELCHER: Thank you.
LIN: Well, west of Nashville, tornadoes produced astonishing damage, and harrowing tales of survival. And with that story, CNN's Amanda Rosseter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANDA ROSSETER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Charlotte, Tennessee, about 40 miles due west of Nashville, the storms hit hard, and the damage is extensive. Homeowners here spent the morning assessing what's left and picking through the debris, and there is plenty of that. This man's trailer was demolished and he saw two funnel clouds crisscross just above him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like - it had trees in it, and a lot of debris and tin and stuff, and it was just like a -- and it wasn't dark. It was bright. It was like a light gray cloud. The one that came over. Now, the other one that came, it was dark. But this one that come over the house, here, you can see all the trees, it pulled trees up out of the ground. It was light. And it touched down right there.
ROSSETER: And at R.A. Duke's, a landmark and a favorite local store, nothing is left but an incredible story of survival from the family, as they headed to the basement with customers, the tornado picked up the store and took their mother with it. Miraculously, she survived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got here fast. And it come in down on top of us. My mother went flying. And bless his heart, Brian, I can't think of his last name right now -- grabbed her and -- if he hadn't grabbed her, she would have been dead. She would have been gone. They were swirling in the air and ended up underneath all this stuff right here. And it just sucked them up. We was going down -- we were down in the basement. He was right behind. Mother was coming. And all of a sudden, they were gone. The roof was gone.
ROSSETER: The Duke family says they will rebuild with the outpouring of help from this community. A community that tonight is in pieces. Amanda Rosseter, CNN, in Charlotte, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: And this bad weather is not over yet, in fact Bonnie Schneider has been working the story from the CNN Weather Center. Bonnie?
SCHNEIDER: Carol, just about 30 seconds ago we have a tornado warning that expired, but we're still getting very strong storms in the area, and that's for Western Brooks and southeastern Thomas County in south central Georgia right here. That includes the city of Thomasville.
So even though the tornado warning expired and it also expired for Charleston and Berkeley counties in South Carolina, watch out, because you are still under the gun for a threat of more tornadoes. Here's the reason why. The tornado watches continue all the way until 9:00 tonight. And you can see them outlined in red here, and it includes the cities of Savannah, Charleston, down through Jacksonville, Florida. And back to the west, Tallahassee, Florida, as well.
The tornado watch that was a little further north, that's expired, but the one that's kind of hugging the coast there and the coastal waters surrounding the panhandle of Florida in the more central sections, definitely will continue until 9:00, because the threat of severe weather has been continuing. We're also seeing many reports of very large-size hail. Yesterday, we had reports of golf ball and baseball-size hail, and today we're getting reports of ping- pong-size hail, that can do a lot of damage and very strong winds as well.
As we take a look closely right here at the Carolina border, we also had an unconfirmed of a tornado in Loris, that's in South Carolina to the northwest of Myrtle Beach. And we're getting heavy rain not just in Myrtle Beach but up towards Wilmington in North Carolina. And some of the storms are kind of skirting the coastline and producing the frequent lightning strikes and gusty winds.
Here's a look at the storm picture today for the storm that's working its way through the entire weekend and bringing a tremendous amount of damage. Our upper level system working its way to the east, and this will actually bring beneficial rain to Florida for tomorrow. But for the present, the risk for severe weather continues tonight for this section right here, including the central areas of the Florida Panhandle for the threat of tornadoes. We have some much cooler and drier air interacting with warm, moist air ahead of it right up from the Gulf of Mexico, and it's really, really, that contrast and the strong storm in the upper levels of the atmosphere that allows the lift and the instability to develop and that's why we see such powerful storms as they work their way through.
This storm system is so strong that it's pulling down much colder air in its wake. Look the lows in Chicago and St. Louis, this is all part of the same weather that's bringing down the chilly conditions for the forecast overnight.
Now for tomorrow, many of you are cleaning up from the damage from the tornadoes that ran through Tennessee and the wind damage reported in Georgia. At least you will have better weather for tomorrow. High pressure builds and it will bring in some very nice conditions for Sunday.
And as we look ahead towards Monday and Tuesday, we're looking at better weather emerging. The next chance of rain is for Florida, but this will be beneficial, because Florida has been very dry this past month, so the rain will be good there. And it looks like the threat of severe weather is so much less for today and tonight. Carol? LIN: Good news. But still danger until 9:00 tonight, right?
SCNEIDER: Absolutely.
LIN: All right, thanks, Bonnie.
Now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we're trying to keep local and state and federal officials honest. Today, our focus is on one parish outside of New Orleans. The FBI is examining several public contracts in St. Bernard Parish, one worth more than $300 million. CNN's Susan Roesgen has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right after the hurricane, most local communities waited for federal help. Not St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, even before the water went down, just days after Katrina, this blue-collar community outside of New Orleans started to pick itself up. St. Bernard Parish leaders ordered thousands of travel trailers for people who lost their homes. And they lined up a contractor to haul away Katrina debris. A $700 million deal.
But the parish didn't wait for FEMA approval, which local governments are supposed to get. And now parish officials confirm that the FBI has started an investigation into those contracts and the potential for fraud.
(on camera): The FBI won't comment on the investigation, and neither will FEMA. But a contractor who did not get the deal to haul away garbage says what the parish did was wrong.
BILL MURPHY, CONTRACTOR: I had no idea why we didn't get the contract. None.
ROESGEN (voice-over): Bill Murphy says his company's bid was $137 million less than the one the parish accepted. But parish leaders say in an emergency situation, they weren't required to take the lowest bid.
LARRY INGARGIOLA, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHIEF: We were trying to get the parish up and running, try to save lives. Sometimes you take shortcuts to do things. It may not be exactly legal, but at the time it was right. It was the moral thing to do, to try to save people's lives as much as possible and save property.
ROESGEN: Parish emergency management chief Larry Ingargiola says FBI agents questioned him a few days ago, and he says he expects the scrutiny. So does parish president Junior Rodriguez.
HENRY "JUNIOR" RODRIGUEZ, PARISH PRESIDENT: You got to understand, when you get this kind of money flowing down, you're going to have this kind of federal officials, FBI, everybody looking at it, because you always got somebody that's, you know, going to be tempted.
ROESGEN: In fact, state auditors are also looking at the garbage contract and others, trying to make sure that the parish isn't asking for reimbursement for things the government shouldn't pay for. But parish leaders say they don't regret any contract signed during the crisis. And Ingargiola says the FBI won't find any wrongdoing on his part.
INGARGIOLA: Because, believe me, if you look at my checking account, there's no profit in it. I can't understand what they are really looking for. They are on a fishing expedition, and this fish is not biting.
ROESGEN: Susan Rosegen, CNN, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
LIN: Coming up, what happens when men are the victims of domestic violence? You'll hear from some of those who carry the scars of this painful battle at home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We're working on the world roundup of stories. That will be ready in about five minutes, but that gives us a chance to show you a story that at first might make you laugh, until you realize how serious the problem is. CNN's Ted Rowlands investigated the most unlikely victim of domestic violence, the men.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Darlene Hilker and her husband were married on Valentine's Day in 1999. But over the years, according to Darlene, the arguments started to get out of control.
DARLENE HILKER, ASSAULTED HUSBAND: Anger was building up so much in my husband and I.
ROWLANDS: Before the seven-year marriage ended in divorce, it became violent. But it was Darlene, not her husband, who ended up in jail.
HILKER: It's not just husbands -- you know, husbands beating up wives. It's not that. Women can fly off, too.
ROWLAND: Darlene was convicted of assaulting her spouse, part of what some law enforcement agencies and analysts say is a developing trend, women physically abusing men.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm seeing an increase in my male victims with female offenders.
ROWLANDS: Mary Thorman (ph) is a detective in Northport, Florida, and she says about 25 percent of domestic violence calls to her department now involve female abusers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Typically it's a lot of throwing of objects. It's a lot of scratching. You see a lot of facial scratching and neck scratching, even chest.
ROWLANDS: As part of her criminal sentence for attacking her husband, Darlene was sent to domestic abuse shelter homes or DASH, a Sarasota County organization that counsels women who abuse and the men who are victims.
HILKER: I grabbed my husbands genitals. And that was what I was arrested for. He did his screaming and hollering, you know, jumped back.
ROWLANDS: Was he surprised?
HILKER: Very.
ROWLANDS: The woman next to Darlene who doesn't want to be identified, was arrested for stabbing her live-in boyfriend after a family dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was going out the door and I just picked myself up from the floor and I grabbed a knife, and I was going after him, and his mother, she started screaming, "no, no, no." And he turned around, and I just -- I just swept it, swept it like a credit card.
ROWLANDS: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On his stomach.
DONNA LECLERC, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DASH: You do see a lot of knife use by women in what we're doing, but, more importantly, we see objects being thrown. Pushing, shoving, hitting, biting.
ROWLANDS: Donna Leclerc, the executive director of DASH, says women get away with abuse, because many men are too embarrassed to report it and because many police officers still assume the man is at fault.
LECLERC: Officers still today make an assumption based on size and gender. The large man, the little woman. And even sometimes when the man is the one that's bleeding from the head, they still are stereotyping that the man is the abuser and the woman is not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether it happened or not she signs that affidavit, you're on your way to jail. Right then and there, you're on your way to jail. No investigation, no anything.
ROWLANDS: These three men, Leo, Paul and Tom, all say they've lived with abusive women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She would throw things. She would absolutely throw things. One time she did grab me by the throat, and she was screaming in my face.
ROWLANDS: Leo says his live-in girlfriend started attacking him after he stopped working following a heart transplant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She pulled a knife out. I mean, she pulled a knife out, and I'm looking at the knife and I'm looking at her, and I did try to reach for the knife, and she did swing the knife. I don't know if she was trying to actually cut me. I don't think that she was, I think she was just trying to scare me with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My hands were so clawed by her at work a day later, you know, I'm writing something down, and somebody looked at me and said, oh, you must have a mean cat. I said, what do you mean? He said, look at the back of your hands, and I said, oh, yeah, mean cat. You know, what am I going to say with all my employees at work?
ROWLANDS: Tom's wife was arrested nine years ago while they were living in Michigan. The police report says she admitted to officers that she, quote, "blew up and threw a bucket and a glass at him." She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. Tom says he came to a realization during his divorce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first time I'm sitting in the courtroom, and there are posters that says, you know, are you a victim of domestic violence? And I kind of looked up at it, and I started reading the questions and tears started coming down, and I said, damn, I said, yep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She come around like me like a wild animal, both hands and arms swinging. I think she had her eyes closed even half the time, just so mad at me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul says his ex-wife attacked him dozens of times, but he was the one that went to jail. CNN's efforts to contact Paul's ex-wife were unsuccessful. A police report says he attacked his wife and threatened to kill her, but he says that's a lie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She came running with me at a knife, and I end up doing six months over it.
ROWLANDS: So why do men stay in these relationships?
LECLERC: For a man to leave an abusive relationship, means, still today, there's a good likelihood that he will not have time with his children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My kids meant more than anything to me, and take all the abuse that you can give me if it, you know, means being with my kids.
ROWLANDS: Paul came to Florida to work for a friend's cement business with help from DASH, he's trying to prove that he can raise his children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to teach them all that I can, and just be there for them. Anything that they ever need. I love them more than if -- life itself.
ROWLANDS: The Department of Justice says domestic violence against women dropped about 40 percent from 1993 to 2001.
LECLERC: Men have gotten the point, it's not OK to do those things, but somehow that's turned around, and now it's OK for women to do those things.
HILKER: There's a lot of women out there with a lot of anger and they are letting it go.
ROWLANDS: Many people believe when it comes to domestic violence, more and more women will be going to jail in the years to come. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Sarasota, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now, experts say that there are very few resources for men. Now, that report first aired on CNN's PAULA ZAHN NOW, so be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and 5:00 Pacific.
Now, in our world wrap, a warning from the Palestinian Authority president. Mahmoud Abbas warns there could be another war in 10 years if Israel unilaterally sets boarders in the west bank. Meanwhile, Israel's leaders say they will not negotiate with Abbas as long as Hamas refuses to recognize Israel.
Some towns in northern Germany look like they are in the middle of a lake after massive flooding. Melting snow has caused the Elbe River to rise to record levels. Thousands of soldiers are putting sandbags along that river.
Thousands of people in Pakistan are packing up and heading home. Six months after the region's devastating earthquake. The October quake killed move 73,000 people and left millions homeless. Many evacuees stayed in relief camps make it through the harsh winter.
The Rolling Stones made their China debut at a packed stadium in Shanghai today. Mick Jagger and company kicked off the concert with the classic "Start Me Up." censors banned five other songs deemed too sexually explicit. Well, a bit of dissatisfaction there, I suppose.
They are creepy and they are crawly. Next, we're going to take you to a town that's nearly overrun with prehistoric-looking reptiles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: All right, let's take a look at some of the most popular stories on cnn.com's Web site. You voted for these. British newspapers report Prince Harry celebrated the end of his military training with a visit to a strip club. The 21-year-old Harry reportedly spent several hours at a spot called the Spearmint Rhino.
And French court sentences a man to 25 years in prison for setting a teenage girl on fire, burning her to death. The 2002 killings sparked huge rallies by women across France. Click on to cnn.com for more details.
All right, first people in Florida have to learn how to co-exist with a burgeoning alligator population. But now many are having to worry about close encounters with another kind of reptile. CNN's John Zarrella shows us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Relaxing on a rock. Perched on a chain-link fence. Slithering under a house. Sometimes road kill. Spiny-tail iguanas, miniature near carbon copies of the infamous "Jurassic Park" raptors seem to be everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's another one over there.
ZARRELLA: And over there. And over there. They've been in Boca Grande, a wealthy island community just off of Florida's west coast, at least 20 years. And with no natural enemies, their numbers have exploded. To an estimated 10,000 now. Compared to just 600 people. And they are showing no signs of slowing down.
JERRY JACKSON, BIOLOGIST: I think their populations are just getting started, that they can continue to grow.
ZARRELLA: hey are driving everyone here crazy, plus, people fear they are a health threat. They can carry salmonella and tests are being to done to see if they carry the west Nile virus.
JACKSON: They could be a reservoir for it. They could be a reservoir for other diseases. They could be a source for other diseases getting into wildlife populations and ultimately people.
ZARRELLA: And they are destroying native species, eating bird eggs and gopher tortoise eggs. They also love nesting in the sands, ruing the island's dunes, the first line of defense against hurricanes.
(ON CAMERA): All these little trails you see up and down on the dunes, a lot of them are beat-down paths made by the iguanas?
JACKSON: Those dunes are riddled, they are hollow with spiny- tail iguana burrows.
ZARRELLA: So they are basically hollowed out.
JACKSON: They are.
ZARRELLA: And if you had a hurricane come in ...
JACKSON: They'll wash away.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): People want to want to do away with it, but they can't agree how to pay for it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The county wants us to pay for it.
ZARRELLA: Is there a problem with that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there's a big problem with it.
ZARRELLA: Put Len Tatko (ph) says, some people say just do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people say I don't care if I have to pay extra taxes, just get rid of the problem and I'll send you a check.
ZARRELLA: The other problem is no one has figured out to get rid of them.
SCOTT TREBETOWSKI, COUNTY ANINAL CONTROL: They need to be euthanized because there's no place to take them. You can't reintroduce them somewhere else, you'll just spread the problem.
ZARRELLA: And it's tough just catching them, and they are nasty and fast, and once you've got them ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh!
ZARRELLA: They are just as hard to hold on to. John Zarella, CNN, Boca Grande, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: There's still much more ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Bob Villa is going to join me to show you how to weatherproof your home against the exact type of violent storms we're reporting on today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: This is CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Carol Lin. Straight ahead in this hour. Take a look at this. A tornado heading right for them, at least 10 miles long, almost 200 yards wide and it smashed down right in the middle of Tennessee. Next, complete coverage of the severe storm that killed 12 people and devastated the Southeast all in the last 24 hours.
But first a look at also what's making news right now.
Wildfires are threatening dozens of homes in the Texas Hill Country. The fires have killed one man and injured two firefighters.
Six people are dead in another mosque bombing south of Baghdad. The deadly attack follows yesterday's suicide bombing that killed 81 people at a mosque north of the city.
For the second straight day, Israel targets Palestinian militants. Israeli aircraft fired on a car in Gaza, killing two members of the al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. Later, at least six militants died in an Israeli strike on militant training camps.
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