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American Morning

Northeast Flooding; Senate to Debate Potential Constitutional Amendment to Protect U.S. Flag; Building Collapse in Missouri

Aired June 27, 2006 - 06:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, rescue workers in Clinton, Missouri, have pulled another person from the rubble of a collapsed building. Happening in Clinton, Missouri, as we speak, two people are believed to be trapped inside, still. The building gave way last night amid an Elks Club gathering.
Some trouble with electronic voting machines. A report in this morning's "USA Today" says many of the machines are vulnerable to hackers.

And the Department of Veterans Affairs is asking Congress for more money to help protect vets from ID theft. This, after that theft of a laptop computer containing personal information of millions of veterans.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Conditions ripe today for more flooding in the Northeast. A flood watch remains in effect for several Mid-Atlantic communities. All this rain, of course, disrupting the nation's business. Some government buildings are closed today because of the flooding.

CNN correspondent Kyung Lah joins us with the latest of some of the conditions in D.C. this morning.

Hey, Kyung. Good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I thought I would be OK without my rain gear this early in the morning because I'm actually standing somewhere covered. To give you an idea how rain -- how hard this rain is coming, it's actually coming into our building that's actually covered.

Several federal facilities remain closed. This heavy rain is not good news for them because they're trying to pump out those basements. 9.98 inches of rain has fallen in just the last 48 hours, and I can already tell you, it is going to be a very wet day today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (voice over): The mop-up after drenching rains at the nation's capital continues. The IRS headquarters remains shut down after rainwater flooded the basement. The Department of Justice, the EPA and the National Archives are also closed. Even the first family felt the impact of the storm. Heavy winds knocked down an elm tree on the White House north lawn.

Amtrak and other rail services are back up for the morning commute after a messy Monday morning.

Water overran a major tunnel into D.C., drivers forced to ditch their cars and wade out. More car woes for drivers in northern Virginia. Mud and water covered this entire hotel garage.

TIM SHEEHY, FLOOD VICTIM: And we just couldn't believe how fast and how furious and how absolutely devastating that torrent was.

LAH: Rescue teams raced into action, pulling this man out of floodwaters in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is he out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were swimming in it for a little while.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have lost your mind.

LAH: City systems from Maryland, to Albany, New York, could not handle the rainfall from the tropical weather system stalled over the Northeast. The National Weather Service warns more rain could hit the region again.

Bad news for Delaware and the town of Seaford, where a Wal-Mart looked like an island in a lake and city crews evacuated hundreds of residents. Flashfloods have already overrun two dams.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Now, the federal government is still open for business this morning, but non-essential workers have been told that they can take the day off -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about some of the buildings that house some of the nation's most important archives and documents. I mean, how do they protect things that are so fragile when you're talking about this much rainfall and the obvious flooding that we've seen?

LAH: When you're talking about the National Archives, you're talking about the Bill of Rights. I mean, some documents are really treasured as far as our nation's history. They have a 24-hour jump team that goes into place in case they lose electricity.

In this case, they completely lost power because the basement flooded. So that team, we here, did go into action. We don't know the specifics, if they had to turn on generators, but that -- we have to assume that that has to happen because those documents have to be air-conditioned and kept temperature-controlled -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What a big mess.

Kyung Lah for us this morning.

All right. Go inside and dry off. It's kind of a mess there.

Time to check the forecast with Chad.

Boy, that -- you know, that storm just came right upon Kyung when she was standing there, and clearly blowing right into the building.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. Let me show it to you. It's like -- it's this big.

It's, like, not even as big as D.C., but it just really came right in there. You can see how wet her shoulders got. And that's how fast it happens. When a storm just pops up like and then ends up not moving, it really just piles up rainfall.

We piled up in Lancaster, piled it now up into Allentown, up the Northeast Extension, picking up more rain. And now into the Catskills and the Adirondacks. And that's when you get it -- when you get this much rain into a valley or a hilly area, it all kind of comes down to the bottom and then it starts to rush out. So you have to be careful if you live up here.

And even into Vermont had a lot of rain yesterday and more rain coming today. Actually, heavier amounts of rain today north of D.C. than we've seen the past couple of days.

Most of the rain south of D.C., into North Carolina, there's been flooding here in the Piedmont, to North Carolina, and also on up into the Appalachian trail area there of North Carolina. But now that rain is over.

Atlanta, no more rain for you. It moves farther to the north, and that's where the rain is going to be today, New York City. Atlanta, Georgia, getting out of it, but Albany, New York really into it today. Some spots across parts of the Alleghenies and the Poconos, probably two to three inches of rain easy.

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad.

MYERS: Sure, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The gates at Abu Ghraib prison swung open today for about 450 inmates. The prisoner release part of the Iraqi government's national reconciliation plan. We're told those released so far have not been convicted of violent crimes like murder, kidnapping or detonating roadside bombs. So far the Iraqi government has set free about 2,000 prisoners, part of a bid to end the insurgent violence there.

The U.S. Senate will continue to debate a potential constitutional amendment that will protect the United States flag, the so-called flag burning amendment. The Senate will debate today and could vote by the end of the week. Another issue with a strong hint of election-year politics.

Dana Bash is our congressional correspondent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The House has passed a flag desecration amendment six times in the past decade, most recently last summer, but the Senate never has. This week, however, supporters believe it actually could pass. They believe they're one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution.

Now, this effort began just after 1989, when the Supreme Court ruled that any law banning flag desecration is unconstitutional because, the court said, it violates the First Amendment. Since then, Republicans and some veterans groups have been working towards this constitutional amendment to overcome that decision.

Now, they note that this measure wouldn't actually ban anything. This amendment simply says that Congress should have the power to prohibit desecration.

Now, more than a dozen Democrats are expected to actually vote for this constitutional amendment. Despite that, they say that the Republicans bringing this up at this time, four months before the election, is nothing more than a political ploy to reach out to their base when they should be focusing on other issues that are more pressing before this country.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" this morning, a desperate rescue effort at a collapsed building in central Missouri to tell you about. A three-story building caved in last night, trapping 10 people. As of this morning, two people still believed to be trapped inside that rubble.

In Austin, Texas, a possible hostage standoff ended without any shots fired. A S.W.A.T. team surrounded a home yesterday afternoon. Officials say the standoff was part of an illegal immigrant smuggling operation. At least one person in custody this morning.

Preparing for potential terrorism in southern Idaho. Some 130 emergency and health officials responding to a fake report of possible contamination from a mysterious White powder. Hazmat teams washed down shoppers and carried off the wounded people. The second half of the drill is set for Thursday.

In Alaska, aftershocks from a 6.0 earthquake struck about 1,400 miles south of Anchorage. No reports of any damage.

And hundreds of people evacuated near Sedona, Arizona, return home today. A 4,200-acre fire more than 65 percent contained. And officials say it should be fully under control by tomorrow. Some of the firefighters who have been battling that fire more than a week are heading home today.

Florida police are asking for help in catching a burglar. Take a look at this surveillance videotape.

See, that's the guy who crashes right through the store's roof. Boom, there he goes. OK, then gets up, puts a hood on his face and takes a thousand dollars from the counter.

Anybody with any information on this guy is asked to call the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: He might have wanted to put the hood on before he came in view. Just a thought, if you're going to be protecting...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that. Hopefully they'll see him and nab him.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, hopefully so.

The Bush administration taking aim at "The New York Times." Did the paper make us less safe by divulging details of a secret anti- terrorist spying effort? We'll take a look at both sides.

S. O'BRIEN: Then the Army's new incentive plan to keep more officers from leaving after their required service is up. We'll take a look at that.

M. O'BRIEN: And why some favorite childhood games are being banned from the playground.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Nic Robertson in Baghdad.

Today, the Iraqi government released about 450 detainees from the Abu Ghraib prison facility. They say that this is part of their reconciliation plan and amnesty, according to a government official there, for prisoners who had been arrested on suspicions of security violations. But he said none of them had been convicted of killing Americans or Iraqi security forces or even, he said, Iraqi civilians.

The prisoners themselves appeared happy but said that there wouldn't be proper full reconciliation until all prisoners were released. They said the vast majority of those inside jails in Iraq were innocent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem. Palestinian militants are offering information on the kidnapped Israel soldier in return for the release of all Palestinian women and children from Israel prisons. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused, saying he will not negotiate. Hundreds of Israel troops, including armored vehicles and tanks, are still on the Gaza-Israel border waiting for the green light from the leaders for a major operation in Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is still negotiating behind the scenes, trying to secure the safe release of the Israel soldier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: For more on these stories or any of our top stories, you can go right to our Web site, CNN.com.

Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, the Army's new incentive plan and how it's trying to keep some of its best and brightest in the service just a little bit longer.

The later, a developing story we're following for you this morning, that desperate search for survivors in a building collapse in Missouri. An update is just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN. We've been updating you on that Missouri building collapse, a three-story building where the roof caved in, bringing down the other floors as well.

Don Eaton joins us by phone. He was pulled out of the building around midnight.

Mr. Eaton, thanks for talking with us this morning.

First, how are you feeling? How are you doing?

DON EATON, PULLED OUT OF BUILDING COLLAPSE: I'm doing as good as can be expected under the circumstances, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Can you describe for me what happened?

EATON: Well, it was our typical Monday night meeting at night. And we gather -- all the gentlemen gather somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00, and then at 7:00 we eat, and then, of course, at 8:00, we have our lodge meeting.

So we had all met, and we were -- about 7:00, started eating. And we're all sitting in the dining area, which is on the second floor of the bulling. It's a three-story building. And so we're on the second floor in the dining room, and we're all eating, and I'm sitting with my back basically to the -- well, the west wall.

And all of a sudden, there was a loud noise, and I turned to see what it was. And the floor had disappeared. And so, as I turned back around, before I had a chance to move, the floor underneath me caved in and myself and nine other members of the Elks Lodge, dropped with the floor down, halfway between the first floor and the second floor, with the third floor and the roof caving in on top of us.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh my goodness.

EATON: So, it all happened so fast, but yet it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. That's basically what happened.

S. O'BRIEN: Now, were you pinned under debris? Were you in a space because of the way things fell that you sort of had a pocket of air or space to move around? What was that like?

EATON: Yes, we were in a -- in a large pocket -- excuse me. We were in a large pocket. There was two of the nine gentlemen that was in this area with us, which was basically, I'm just kind of guessing, about 25-foot square, and there were two of them that were pinned in underneath tables and chairs and debris that had fallen in. But the other seven of us were basically somewhat free. We weren't pinned in by debris, necessarily.

S. O'BRIEN: How were you able to get out? The rescuers obviously came immediately to the scene and started digging you guys out.

EATON: Yes, we were -- we were blessed there that over 300 emergency evacuation people, and EMTs, and so forth, came from communities within an hour, two hours away, including the disaster team from the Whiteman Air Force Base. They flew in a bunch of gentlemen and women, too, and the process began immediately.

But this -- it happened, like, 7:15, 7:30 in the evening, and it was probably somewhere around 10:30 when the rescuers finally were able to shore up the building to where they could enter. And then they dropped a flashlight to us and some things like that, while they kind of checked out the area, and then made more, oh, attempts to shore the walls that were about to cave in so they could get in and do the work.

And it was around 12:15, 12:30 in the morning when they finally started pulling us out. And it was remarkable this happened. And to my knowledge, I don't know for sure there's been any deaths, but it's just amazing that any of us got out of there.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. We're looking at the pictures of this rubble, and you're exactly right. I mean, that second floor just chipped away in some of the wider shots that we can see.

That last update that we got at 6:00 Eastern Time indicated that two people were still trapped, one who officials were in contact with, but another one, somebody who they believe was on the third floor or heading up to the third floor. So the highest point, they cannot reach.

EATON: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Can you tell me a little bit about that?

EATON: Yes. When -- when they, of course, took out of our group of nine that were, you know -- that we were there in that area, that pocket, when they took the -- I'm thinking of my numbers here -- when they took seven of us out, there was one that had a pretty severe head wound that was able to get out on his own with the help of the rescue team. And then another one that was an older gentleman that had had some health problems, they went ahead and life-flighted him to Kansas City as a precaution.

But there were two gentlemen that were still pinned in the rubble, but they had to remove us so that we could make room for the rescuers to then go in and do their job, to dig them out. And then we found out there was a third gentleman that had been missing that was indeed on the third floor getting ready for the initiation meeting that we were having that night. And he was upstairs, and nobody had heard of him.

So, there were still three people in the building when they rescued the seven other people there.

S. O'BRIEN: The update we're getting this morning is now that they've pulled one of those people out. So there are two people still inside...

EATON: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... one they've been in contact with, and one, that gentlemen on the third floor.

Clinton, Missouri, not a big town that you're in. This must just be devastating for it to happen right in the main drag in such a small community.

EATON: Right. Clinton is a very quaint little community that is -- it's just a wonderful place to live. And the community cares for each other.

And there was the whole -- it looked like the whole town had showed up, and it was there on the square. And the whole community was praying for us, pastors from all different churches were there. It was kind of a collective effort.

And what was really funny was one of the gentleman -- it wasn't funny, it was reassuring, basically, was one of our gentleman was in the building. His cell phone rung, and his son, who lives in London, or who was in London, had been watching CNN and saw the report and called his dad on his cell phone. And it was just kind of one of those incredible how we're in such a small world type of thing.

But the community has just -- has really rallied around this. And we're just a few days short of what we call our Old Glory Day celebration, which is a three-day thing where the whole downtown square basically is converted into a large carnival with singing acts from different genres here. It's just a wonderful period.

And we're so blessed and so happy that in three days there would very easily be 200 or 300 people in there instead of 45 or 50, including a lot of small children. And so, we're so blessed that if this was going to happen, it happened tonight, and not -- we just celebrated our 100th anniversary Thursday night, and had well over 100, 150 people upstairs observing our 100th anniversary. And it could have happened then just as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Forgive me for coughing. Let me ask you a final question before we let you go.

EATON: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: You must look at these pictures and say, "How did I get out of there alive?"

EATON: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: How did - I mean, right now, it looks as if there are just two people of the 55 who are yet to be pulled out. Do you look at that -- those pictures, and are you amazed that you even made it?

EATON: Extremely. And basically, we all feel this way. It's by the grace of god.

You know, it was almost as if god sent his angels there to protect us and to keep us from harm's way. And it's a life-changing experience. It truly is.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow. I bet it is.

Well, we are certainly praying and hoping for the very best word on the two people who are believed still inside that building, that rescuers will be able to get to them and we'll get some good news very soon.

That's Don Eaton joining us by phone. He's one of the survivors pulled out just after midnight this morning from that building collapse in Missouri.

A short break. When we come back in just a moment, Alina Cho joins us. She's talking about Army incentives and how they're trying to keep the best and brightest from leaving the service.

That's ahead. Stay with us.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The Army needs a few good men and women to re-up for another tour of duty. Apparently the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are thinning the ranks of some of the best and brightest in uniform, and now the Pentagon is trying to plug a brain drain.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho is here with the Army's plan to reverse this trend.

Good morning, Alina. ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

It's an enticing offer. You know, if you think about it, the Army, and all branches of the military, for that matter, had no problems recruiting just after September 11th. Well, that was nearly five years ago.

Times have changed, we're still at war, the Army is restructuring, more officers are leaving. And that's created a big problem, but it's one the Army is facing head on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step forward and move down the hall.

CHO (voice over): The first day at West Point is, in a word, brutal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not stand one foot behind my line. Do not stand six inches behind my line. Do not stand not one inch behind my line. Right up to my line.

CHO: The training is grueling, but these new cadets, like Michael Dardin (ph) from Boise, Idaho, are eager to serve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to be a career soldier like my dad.

CHO: The problem is many serve the minimum requirement, then return to civilian ranks. That's exactly what the Army is trying to change. More than a third of West Point's class of 2000 left after five years, including Mike Kilty (ph), who said he loved the Army but wanted a change of pace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just wanted to pursue a law career and maybe a political career some day.

CHO: Kilty (ph) served in Iraq and Kuwait, he left a captain, exactly the kind of soldier the Army is now trying to keep, especially now at a time of war.

This year, it came up with some new incentives: sign on for three more years of service and the Army will pay for graduate school or give officers their pick of home base or branch of service, like aviation. It's working. More than a third of all graduating officers, including 40 percent of West Point grads, have signed up.

LT. GEN. ROBERT VAN ANTWERP, U.S. ARMY: We hit a homerun here. We hit something that a young person says, I am willing to give you more time in service if you'll give me that. I think that's a win- win.

CHO: Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp is in charge of recruiting for the Army. He graduated from West Point in 1972. This summer he'll mark 34 years of service. Still, he realizes not everyone wants to spend their life in the Army.

VAN ANTWERP: I have a classmates today that are running America's businesses.

CHO: He hopes the new incentives will keep these cadets in the Army just a little bit longer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd probably take it. It makes sense.

CHO: For now...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is your left. Go to your right.

CHO: ... the officers in training just want to make it through the day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to have a long, long summer. Do you understand me, new cadets?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes, Sergeant.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Those poor new cadets.

Now, to be clear, the Army needs 7,800 new officers by next year. That's nearly 8,000. That's an ambitious goal, but it's one they hope to meet with these new incentives.

And, Miles, every single West Point cadet that we encountered, the new ones, said they would take advantage of this offer.

M. O'BRIEN: They're saying that now. We'll see how that goes.

CHO: You're right. Four long years.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. It's a long four years there at West Point.

CHO: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Alina. Thank you very much.

CHO: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: The next hour of CNN's AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.

A desperate search under way in Missouri. One man still trapped, another missing after a building collapse there. You'll be amazed at how many people got out, however.

S. O'BRIEN: Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners go free this morning. The prime minister's plan opens the gates to Abu Ghraib.

M. O'BRIEN: A well-publicized family feud taking an unexpected turn. Did a multimillionaire shooting victim write his own recipe for disaster?

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