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Panic in Florida After Devastating Storms; Weather Holding Out in Florida
Aired February 03, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom's bed is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, is your mom there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just send an ambulance. I don't know where she is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, hold on a second, ma'am. Hold on. Hold on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Panic in the midst of Florida's devastation after storms tear through homes and tear through lives.
Hello to you all.
I'm T.J. Holmes in the CNN NEWSROOM in Atlanta.
And with me this morning, Soledad O'Brien in Lady Lake, Florida -- hello again to you, Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, T.J. good morning to you.
The weather so far, at least in the last hour or so, has been holding out for us. It's good news for the folks who are trying to do a little bit of cleaning up.
Prisoners have come in. They're from Marion County Jail. Most of these guys have less than 30 days to serve, still. And they've been helping out. And it's really been a huge help.
You also have in here members of local churches who have come in, friends, neighbors, colleagues, co-workers, spouses, etc. all pitching in to try to help the folks who have been really terribly affected move forward -- T.J.
HOLMES: Soledad, thank you so much.
We'll see you here in just a moment.
And, of course, a tornado and other storms ripped through these communities in the dead of night. Most people caught completely off guard. Their cries of terror are just horrifying. Listen now to these desperate calls to 911.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My roof is gone. Oh my god.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen.
Did anybody get injured?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not injured?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just have -- your roof is missing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, my living room and the bedrooms. Well, I'm in the kitchen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
And there is nobody injured, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. But I don't know about my neighbors. It's all old people in here honey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
OK, listen, we've got the calls and we're on the way. We're sending people as fast as possible, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911.
Where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I'm in an 18 wheeler and it's been turned over by a tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're definitely in Volusia County?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What's the last cross street...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in the middle of the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're on 17?
What's the last cross street you remember seeing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, I couldn't tell you. I'm just -- I was trying to get out of the truck.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, listen to me. Listen to me.
Did anybody get hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
My mom's bed is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, is your mom there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just send an ambulance. I don't know where she is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, hold on a second, ma'am. Hold on. Hold on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Boy, you can hear that fear, that terror, that horror in some of those voices desperate to get help, not even knowing really what was happening to them at the time.
And, of course, recovery operations resuming this morning in central Florida. Those deadly storms, including, as we know of, at least one tornado, left destruction along a 70 mile area of Florida, from the city of Lady Lake pretty much to the east coast.
Now, a lot of you may be just joining us. We've been covering this all morning. But for you who may be just joining us, may be just getting up on this Saturday, here is the latest for you.
Emergency officials now say that storm has killed at least 20 people. That number rose by one today. Lake County the hardest hit. Florida's governor has declared a state of emergency in Lake County, Sumter County, Seminole County and Volusia County. The four counties are located north of Orlando.
And real soon, any time now, we are expected to hear more from Florida's governor about the deadly storms.
We're keeping an eye here on Governor Charlie Crist's helicopter. He's been bouncing around the area in his helicopter, checking out some of the devastation. We're expecting him, along with FEMA Director David Paulison, to hold a news conference coming up shortly.
Again, this is a live picture. Expecting that he is heading to that press conference and when that does happen, expecting that -- it is expected at the top of the hour, so some time soon after he arrives, we will bring that to you live.
Of course, the recovery operations resumed in Florida this morning.
And our Soledad O'Brien has been joining us all morning long from Lady Lake -- and, Soledad, I know as the sun came out and daybreak came, more and more people getting out.
Are you starting to see pretty good crowds, people going through a lot of that rubble now?
O'BRIEN: Yes, I think progress, kind of, T.J. is the way to put it this morning. And, you know, you say the sun came out. The rain came out, too. And at one point it was both sunny and rainy, which I think is particular to Florida.
But look, as you can see, they have inmates now from Marion County Jail. Most of these guys have got 30 days or so still yet to serve, extremely low risk inmates, I was told. And they've been helping clean up. And it's a huge help.
There's an elderly couple in their 70s who lived here. We were telling their story, talking to them a little bit earlier today. And what's left of their home is really, fortunately, exactly where they were when the storm hit. They woke up to the noise of their home basically falling apart.
The husband was able to make his way to his wife and basically drag her out of the house. The whole thing is surrounded by -- I mean look at the bricks and inside of there, nails and debris. It's just quite a mess.
You guys go ahead. You -- we'll work around you, don't worry.
And so what you have here, in addition to some of the guys here who are helping out, a lot of the kids from the local church and friends have just come to be really, really helpful. Not only just here. There's Griffinview Drive, which is, oh, I'd say less than a mile straight down that way. And what you're seeing there are already people with chainsaws, making some progress. The utility company has trucks coming in.
Homeowners have come out. They've got the cameras. They're taking pictures of damage because, you know, for example, what you're looking at right there, how are you going to be reimbursed by your insurance company for that?
And Mr. Sugs (ph), who lives here, he said he had, you know, probably six insurance adjusters here yesterday talking to him.
So it gives you a real sense of progress to see all the work that's being done relatively quickly, even in the couple of hours we've been here.
Susan Roesgen is in Volusia County this morning with an update on what's happening there -- hey, Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Soledad. A lot of destruction in this county. No deaths and only minor injuries. But when I am talking about destruction, you can look at the house behind me. This is or was a 135-year-old home, hand built by the great, great grandfather of the current owner; a two story home, 18 rooms, a well-loved home, a well-lived in home. And, in fact, the morning of the hurricane -- the morning of the tornado -- excuse me -- there was a person inside this home, the 21-year-old son of the owner. And he's OK, Soledad.
He was in the back of the house, in a second story bedroom. And the owner told me that, in her words, "god made a tent over him." The tin roof of this house just sort of collapsed in a triangular shape and he was able to crawl out from a second floor bedroom.
So everyone is OK here. But this is the way a tornado works, Soledad. I know you've seen it before. I certainly have, too. Unlike a hurricane, which takes out miles and miles of a broad area, a tornado is like a surgeon's knife -- very precise.
On either side of this house, the homes on either side untouched. Right here, where the tornado came through, this is what you see, the damage here. That's the owner there in blue. That -- this is her church group. They are helping her remove some of the debris. She was ecstatic earlier because she found a family heirloom. It was a bible that was more than 100 years old, wrapped in plastic. And it's OK.
So, she is basically with her church group now, deciding what she is going to do next. She told me she really doesn't know what she's going to do next. She's just trying to save what she can from inside -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Susan.
You know, the church groups, really, I'm thinking we've seen here -- there's a couple of homes back there we've had a chance to see and here, as well, Mr. Sugs' home. Church groups have been out literally hours since the storm struck and were helping clean up. And they've really been making some tremendous progress.
I hope you can still hear me as -- that might be the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coming in. We're waiting for the governor, for his press conference. And we're going to bring that to you when it happens. We're expecting it any moment, actually.
So what you see is a lot of progress and a lot of hard work, of course, that needs still to be done. We're going to throw this back to you, T.J. because we're going to try to move out of this way. We're going to see if we can get out of these guys' way so they can move a little bit more of this stuff and kind of clean up here -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Soledad, thank you so much.
And, yes, indeed, that might be the governor who we're waiting on. Expecting a press conference from Governor Crist as well as the FEMA director, David Paulison, to arrive. When that does happen, we will bring that to you live.
Of course, Florida storm survivors, as we've been seeing all morning, picking up the pieces.
And, meanwhile, they are telling their stories, incredible stories about what they experienced during the storm.
Here is some of what they're saying to us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: This is your room?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We grabbed her from there with the -- our little Chihuahua. We ran and as we were running the stuff was coming -- the whole walls were coming down around us all the way through.
QUESTION: What were you thinking?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't. I was freaking out. All I could think of was god, please let us make it through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wind just picked me up and bounced me down about four times. And each time it bounced me down, I got another bang and a bruise. So, I'm -- I'm all right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were blowing out. The home was blown. I think they found them down at a lake dead, a lady and a man.
QUESTION: You've got a skylight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have one now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard, I said it's a tornado. We've got to get someplace. We got in the closet and there we stood. And he was over me in the closet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My grandbaby. My niece, my nephew. Wonderful. Wonderful. The good lord had his way. And he will -- we will survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, the stories we're hearing, survivor stories from folks out of Florida today.
And, of course, that's one of the major stories we're covering.
The other major story this morning, getting word out of the central Baghdad, where there has been a major bomb attack. We're getting word that dozens of people are dead.
CNN's Arwa Damon is live for us, covering this -- Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J. and that death toll does keep rising, standing right now at actually at least 102 Iraqis killed in that attack, over 215 wounded.
The attack happening when a suicide bomber drove a dump truck into a crowded central Baghdad marketplace. The attack happening at about 4:45 local time, just when the market would be at its busiest.
People here now do tend to go out and do their last minute shopping just before it gets dark.
Iraqi police increasingly concerned that that death toll is only going to rise, as many more people are believed to be trapped underneath the rubble. The entire area, according to the Iraqi police, utterly devastated -- shops, vehicles, buildings destroyed in this massive attack.
And just to give you an idea of its magnitude, if you remember back to the end of November, there was that devastating attack in Sadr City, where six car bombs killed around 200 people. Here we are talking about a single suicide bomber driving a dump truck, killing over 102 Iraqis.
Now, there have been increasing concerns as we have been seeing an increase in suicide bombings, especially in the capital, Baghdad, over the last two weeks.
This coming, of course, as U.S. and Iraqi security forces are gearing up to push forward with the Iraqi prime minister and the U.S. government's new plan to secure the capital -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Arwa, thank you so much, reporting for us out of Baghdad, that huge explosion there.
We now want to head over to Philadelphia. Back here, where we're keeping an eye on another developing story, which is a major fire, or what we're being told is a huge fire. You can see all the smoke coming out of here. We're not exactly sure what this building is. You can make your assumptions about what it looks like there. But the firefighter you can see on the roof here, trying to tackle a pretty major fire. We can see the smoke rising from here, but this is downtown Philadelphia. This is a live picture coming to us via our affiliate, WPVI. But trying to get an idea of what is happening here.
But we've got this live picture and all we know is that this is in downtown Philadelphia, where there has been a fire, a pretty significant fire, called a four alarm fire, a fairly good sized fire, where several engines, at least, have had to respond.
And firefighters are trying to tackle this thing. You see all this white smoke. You can't make out flames and where the flames might be coming from and which one of these buildings precisely might be on fire.
We are keeping an eye on this story, which is certainly affecting the downtown area, with all of that smoke coming out from there. So we're keeping an eye on this, as well.
Meanwhile, the other couple of stories, of course, we've been talking about Baghdad. Also, the other one out of Florida, a major story. We are waiting, expecting -- were expecting at the top of the hour Governor Crist out of Florida to have a press conference, along with the FEMA director, David Paulison.
We're looking at the helicopter here who has -- which has brought, we believe, Governor Crist to the location where the press conference will happen. Expecting to get the very latest from Governor Crist and also the FEMA director about what assistance they are giving folks there in Florida who have been devastated by storms.
As soon as that happens, we will bring that press conference to you live. We are keeping an eye on all of these stories for you here today.
We are going to take a quick break. Don't go away. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We are keeping an eye on several developing -- several major stories this morning.
Up first, I want to direct you to the bottom of your screen there. That picture is out of Philadelphia, our affiliate, WPVI, where we're keeping an eye on a fire, a major fire, a four alarm fire that's happening at a downtown Philadelphia commercial building, is what we're being told now. We don't exactly what kind of work, business is being done there, but a commercial building is now the word we're getting, of a four alarm fire in downtown Philadelphia. We're watching the firefighters work this fire. We have been able to see flames, but you can certainly tell that maybe they are dousing those flames and this smoke is the result. But this smoke -- major, major smoke actually heading into the air in downtown Philadelphia. We're keeping an eye on that situation and we'll bring you the details as they come into us. Also, keeping an eye up top there on your screen, on the right. And on the left. This is out of Florida, where, of course, we've been covering all the coverage of the deadly storms there where at least 20 people died when at least one tornado hit and several powerful storms there.
The press conference that we're expecting from the governor there, Governor Crist, and also the FEMA director, David Paulison, we're expecting now at 11:30. You can see the reporters with all the cameras -- cameraman gathered there for that press conference. We were expecting it at the top of the hour. It has been pushed back now to 11:30.
So we're keeping an eye on all of these major stories for you today.
Also, our Bonnie Schneider here keeping an eye on something else -- the weather. We've been talking about the weather that passed through that was deadly. Also, keeping an eye on Florida because some more weather is passing through, as people try to -- are actually out there trying to recovery, trying to go through some of the rubble and they're getting rained on.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: That's true.
You know, and all their stuff is just completely exposed to the elements, and that's what makes these showers that are coming in now just a nuisance and really an inconvenience at this point. We're not seeing anything dangerous at this time with these storms because some of the more intense storms are now pushing off to see. But we are seeing some heavy downpours. They started coming in off to the Tampa area and then working their way west to east.
They're fast moving thunderstorms, that's for sure, zipping across the state at about 50 miles per hour.
And here's Lady Lake, just about now to get a little burst of rain. And we can see some of the rain now pushing into Volusia County, Seminole County and Orange County, as well. I think we'll see that steady rain on and off, really, through areas like Deland, as well, and into Edgewater, into Volusia County.
Unfortunately, it's going to be a little bit wet out there, as we look toward the region.
You're also looking at real time lightening strikes. And you saw one just pop up there. We had a strong storm working its way across Lake and Orange Counties, but luckily that subsided and pushed a little bit further to the northeast.
Now, the setups today, with the moisture flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico, that continues as it works its way across Florida. But yesterday we had a different setup. We -- the El Nino pattern really enhanced, unfortunately, the disastrous weather we saw yesterday.
Take a closer look at the El Nino pattern. Our southern branch of the jet stream, or subtropical jet, coming in right over the Gulf of Mexico, produced quite a bit of moisture. We've seen -- we're seeing that right now. But yesterday it was different. We had a strong cold front slicing through Florida, tapping into some warm moist air and pulling down colder air behind it.
That combined with that strong jet in the upper levels of the atmosphere really allowed the lift necessary to create some very, very strong thunderstorms called super cells. And that's what happens when you get tornadoes.
So it was just an unfortunate setup, T.J. It happened right in the middle of the night -- back to you.
HOLMES: Yes, certainly an unfortunate setup there and they're still dealing with a little rain and a little stuff there. But certainly nothing as bad as they saw the other night.
Bonnie, thank you so much.
Of course, we hear from Bonnie to get some of the specifics on the rain and the weather moving through. And we had another indication that rain was moving through. Our Soledad O'Brien had to pull out the hat a little earlier.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: She's there. Has been covering things for us all morning and got rained on a bit. And we saw that hat come out -- so, hello to you, again, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and, you know, Bonnie just said that Lake County, and where we are, Lady Lake, is going to get a little bit of rain soon. And that means in about five minutes I'm expecting it to start pouring again, because that's the way it's been.
Nobody stops working, though, when that happens. All the people who are working behind us -- and you have chain saws going and there are a lots of trucks coming by -- nobody stops working. There's a lot of work to do here.
We're talking to John Ricks. He is a physician with the Village Regional Hospital here at Lady Lake.
And you're head of the emergency services, so you've seen all of the injuries, more or less, that have come in through your hospital.
Give me a description of what you saw.
DR. JOHN RICKS, VILLAGES REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Moistly shrapnel type injuries. A lot of people that were injured with flying glass, flying tree branches, flying chairs. And on man who came dangerously close to being finished by a flying vehicle.
O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh.
You know, when you look at the amount of the debris and not just here, but down the road as you go toward The Villages, etc. are you surprised that -- that some of the folks, like the guy who lived here, was able to get out of his home and survive?
RICKS: Yes, very surprised. And talking to the people, the stories that they told were just amazing. And it is shocking that we didn't have more loss of life than we did.
O'BRIEN: Do you have people who are still hospitalized because of their injuries right now?
RICKS: Yes. I think from the ones we admitted yesterday, I think eight are still in the hospital.
O'BRIEN: But only eight?
I mean we have numbers of -- hundreds of homes have sustained some kind of damage.
RICKS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: So that's pretty good news. You must feel pretty good about that.
RICKS: It's amazing.
O'BRIEN: I would imagine there is another round that could be a concern next, which is this work. There's a lot of nails out there. I mean I stepped on one earlier, but luckily I've got thick boots on, so I didn't get really injured.
RICKS: We had a newscaster in last night who had tripped on debris and fell. So there's a lot of potential injuries out here.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I would imagine that's a big...
RICKS: People have to be careful.
O'BRIEN: ... that's a big problem as people cut down trees, etc. etc.
Does this surprise you, the number that -- or the lack of severe injuries?
I mean, I know the death toll across this county especially is quite high, 20. But beyond that, the number of injuries is -- is -- doesn't sound so bad.
RICKS: No. I've been in other disasters before and it's really amazing how resilient the human body is. People can take a lot of trauma and still go out walking. But the thing that surprised me the most here is the people's attitude. People are just thankful to be alive and picking up and moving on.
O'BRIEN: There was a guy who said to me, we don't need FEMA, we've got Floridians. And I mean I think that's a pretty good indication of the attitude. Psychologically, though, in a lot of the older people -- I mean, The Villages especially, maybe, you know, they seem very shaken up. And -- are you providing any kind of -- or pointing them to any kind of psychological help?
RICKS: Well, mostly it's group discussions and group support. And I was surprised yesterday even the people who were fairly seriously injured were getting support and giving support to their neighbors and to the people on the stretchers next to them.
The Villages is really kind of a remarkable community and they...
O'BRIEN: How so?
RICKS: ... they've pulled together. They are from every part of the country and other countries, as well. But they're all here for the same thing, and that is to grab life by the throat and squeeze every last drop of it they can get out of it.
O'BRIEN: Well, they had a lot of close calls, so I'm sure a lot of those people are not ready to meet their maker quite yet. And -- but here cleaning up and picking up.
Dr. Ricks, nice to see you.
Thank you for talking with us.
RICKS: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: We certainly appreciate it.
It's good news, eight people, more or less, left in the hospital because of some kind of injuries.
And, you know, Bonnie called it and here comes the rain. Sadly, Bonnie is always right.
RICKS: Bonnie is right.
O'BRIEN: But one other note I want to give you, T.J. which is that Verizon has actually set up a center where they're allowing people to make phone calls for free. It's not very far from where we are, but it's allowing the people here in Lake County, if they have lost their homes -- and there's a lot of homes that have had some damage and a lot of homes that have enough damage that they have to be out of the home.
Well, if they need to make a phone call, they can come right down here to Griffinview Drive. And they set up this big center for free calls, which is some great news. And it's all part of the progress as people come out here.
Also, these prisoners are going to wrap up here and the guy who is managing them has said that they're going to move them down closer toward the mobile homes. Some of the people in the mobile homes were complaining. They said, well, the TV cameras aren't there, so that's why we're not seeing any of the prisoners helping us.
What I've been told is they have started back there, they moved their way here and they're going to be moving toward those mobile homes, helping everybody do a little bit of cleaning up -- T.J.
HOLMES: So everybody is going to get a little bit of help. And, like you said, who needs FEMA, you've got Floridians.
You can certainly see why some people might say that.
Soledad, thank you once again.
Meanwhile, our viewers have been sending us some incredible I- Report images of the Florida storms and the aftermath. We will share some of those with you after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARYANNE HORNER, NEIGHBOR: When we came around the corner, it was devastating. And we kept saying, has anybody seen Gene?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Shocking survivor accounts to tell you about and bring to you. Neighbors helping neighbors in the moments after the storm. Stay with us. We're covering this all for you this morning. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As often is the case when eve vents happen around the country, even around the world, our CNN I-Reporters jump into action. It's certainly the case here with the deadly storm that hit central Florida.
And our Veronica de la Cruz joining us now with the pictures of the storm through your eyes -- good morning to you, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, T.J.
Yes, we've received a lot of pictures from The Villages, which is a retirement community in central Florida.
These photos were sent into us by Susan St. Amour. Susan is from New Hampshire. She's been visiting her father. Take a look. This is the Mallory Hill Country Club at The Villages. Susan was also able to take some photos of the nearby homes. Let's take a look at this. It really, really gives you a good idea of what people are dealing with this morning, T.J. as they try to clean up what's left of their homes and, of course, move on with their lives.
Now, this next photo was sent in by Alex Woods and his mother Debbie. He took this picture while they walked around their neighborhood in Deland, Florida. Alex says that, luckily, their home was not damaged, but these are images of what happened just down the street. This is a picture of a boat that got squeezed into a camper, if you take a look closely.
And this next picture is also from their neighborhood. It shows what the storm did to the trees and then in return what the trees did to the houses.
And, T.J. take a look at this next image -- a massive oak tree uprooted, literally lifted up out of the ground and just -- just pushed over. I mean it really gives you a sense of how strong this storm was.
We'd like to thank Alex and Debbie Woods for their I-Reporting.
Coming up around 4:00 Eastern, we're going to talk with them live, hear their story in their own words.
Now, in the meantime, if you have photos or videos that you'd like to send us, you can log onto cnn.com/ireport and send us what you've got. We're going to share some of those throughout the day -- T.J.
HOLMES: Veronica, thank you so much.
Oftentimes those I-Reporters are some of the first people on the scene, beat us to the scene, oftentimes. So it's certainly good to have their pictures -- some of the best we get on some stories.
And, of course, this story here -- stories of survival coming from Florida just unbelievable, really. People trapped under the rubble of their homes and they're able to climb out and sometimes crawl out to safety.
CNN's Rusty Dornin talked to one of those.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GENE BARTHAUER, SURVIVED TORNADO: I see one of my jackets.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was no place to hide, no safe place to go in Gene Barthauer's mobile home. So when the tornado struck, he stayed right where he was.
(on camera): So where were you when this happened?
BARTHAUER: That's my bed right there.
DORNIN: Oh my God.
(voice-over): And there 86-year-old Barthauer stayed, huddled for 20 minutes, until neighbors came with flashlights.
His friends Rich (ph) and Maryanne Horner lived around the corner. When they discovered their house was OK, they came running. MARYANNE HORNER, NEIGHBOR: We didn't know what happened to gene. When we came around the corner, it was devastating and we kept saying, has anybody seen Gene?
DORNIN: When they got to the remains of this mobile home, Gene wasn't there. He'd walked down to the clubhouse of the Lady Lake mobile home park. From the air it appears flattened. From the ground, it's not much better. Sheet metal wrapped around trees like paper decorations. (INAUDIBLE) clock marks the hour when his life here blew apart. Across the street, the only thing left from his neighbor's place is sand and a concrete pad along with her couch and some other belongings.
GENE BARTHAUER, SURVIVED TORNADO: The whole place just blew right over the top of mine, along with her, took it right across over.
DORNIN: And they found her --
BARTHAUER: found her out in the field over there.
DORNIN: One of two residents here believed to have died in the storm. Barthauer has no insurance. It was canceled by the company last year. He says he never filed a claim for anything and they didn't give him a reason. Now out of this mess he only wants to find one thing.
BARTHAUER: I'm looking for a Michigan jacket that my daughter bought me last Christmas.
DORNIN: So with hammer and crowbar, they set to work. Soon search and rescue crews come through looking for survivors.
BARTHAUER: So these were all accounted for all the way down the end. Does that look blue over there?
DORNIN: Then they struck pay dirt, the closet.
BARTHAUER: There it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see it?
BARTHAUER: Right underneath.
DORNIN: Just on the closet rack and --
BARTHAUER: Yeah.
DORNIN: And then there was the handy Andy doll his granddaughter gave him, but not much else.
BARTHAUER: I think my life here is gone. I wouldn't -- I don't think I would rebuild here. I got a place in Michigan on a lake.
DORNIN: A man with a place to go, but not much to take with him. Rusty Dornin, CNN, Lady Lake, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And we are expecting to get the very latest on the situation in Florida and those deadly storms. When we hear from the governor, Governor Crist, expecting a live press conference with him expected at the bottom of the hour here. He'll be there with the FEMA Director David Paulison, expecting to get the very latest, possibly updated numbers on what's happening. They have been touring that area of the state. Stay here with CNN. When that happens, we will bring it to you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now in the news, a 20th death confirmed today in Florida, four counties under now a state of emergency and waiting for Federal disaster assistance following the tornado. By one count the storms took out more than a thousand homes. We are continuing to monitor that developing story.
Also this developing story out of Philadelphia where there is a four-alarm fire in the old city section of Philadelphia. This fire started around 9:30 this morning. First responders got there and realized that quickly they needed to call in reinforcements, now a four-alarm fire. We're being told this is at a commercial building. And as of about a half hour ago, firefighters said they still did not have this under control, not exactly sure what type of building is exactly on fire. We have our eye on that story and will bring you the latest as we get it.
Also, President Bush addressing a Democratic retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia last hour. He asked Democrats to give his health care and energy proposals a serious look. The president took questions on Iraq. But the Q and A part of this was closed to reporters.
In Baghdad, a suicide truck bomber striking hard today at a crowded market. More than 100 people killed, more than 200 wounded. That attack took place in a diverse neighborhood in Baghdad, home to Sunnis, Shiites as well as Kurds.
And bird flu confirmed today in Great Britain and it is the deadliest strain that can infect humans. The virus killed here 2500 turkeys. Health authorities set up a two-mile protection zone around the farm and thousands of turkeys will have to now be slaughtered.
Our live coverage of the Florida storm aftermath continues now. Soledad O'Brien who has been there for us all morning in Lady Lake, Florida. She joins us again. Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Hey T.J., listen, the cleanup continues. They're making a little progress. The sound of progress I guess could best be described as the sound of chain saws. They're trying to take down some of these big trees that fell. But you're also seeing here, remember we were out here earlier this morning and I was showing you this home where the walls were up. And we got the story from the guy who lived here about the bedroom that he was in and how it sort of collapsed around him. He was able to crawl through and grab his wife. She was in bed. He was able to lift the debris off him. Those are the pictures before. Now take a look at the pictures after. I'm going to move this way because I don't want to get hit by any flying debris here, but you can see what's left.
They have actually made a lot of progress. Bonnie and Chad often talk about the safest place in a home to be. Look at the effort and the energy it's taking to try to get into this part of the house. This is why they tell you to hide in the bathroom. This is why they tell you to hide in sort of well-structured parts of the home because this is what's holding up and these guys have been out here actually for a little bit of time trying to bring this down. It's not that easy. This structure here is what saved the couple that lived here. And now they're trying to take it down, bring it out, clean out all the debris here and make progress here and then we're told these inmates from the Marion County jail who have been helping out today, make their way down to the mobile home park and continue down this way to help people who were trying to clean up.
I'm going to move because it's getting a little risky for me and John. John, there's a lot of nails behind you so stop right there OK. If we can do a shot right over here to where some of these trees are down, there's a lot to do. This shot here just a big mess. That's essentially what we see, whether it's over here or back here or the neighbors behind. We've got guys out, they've been cutting down the trees. Verizon set up a phone center so people can make free phone calls, get in touch with their family members and you're beginning to see a little bit of progress, people trying to clean up.
Unfortunately, the weather, as Bonnie has been telling you, it's not so great. It's been raining intermittently. I guess it could always be worse right, but it could be better too. It's over cast. It's a little bit cold and it's been raining every so often. But no one stops. They've got a lot of work to do and they've got a long number of long days and weeks ahead of them. T.J..
HOLMES: All right, so certainly, Soledad, it looks like from here we've been watching, seeing your reports all morning and seeing more people show up. You can hear things happening, hear things going on. So certainly progress is the word?
O'BRIEN: Yeah. There's no question about it. What I found really remarkable T.J. is you got these prisoners from the Marion County jail here and then you got some of these kids who are neighbors and friends and from church groups. You heard the same thing from Susan Roesgen. A lot of the church groups immediately after the storm gathered together, brought food, brought supplies. There are homes - it's hard to see behind this row of trees, where they are all there, just packing up peoples' belongings and helping them clear out. It's a pretty remarkable thing and people talk about the attitude, the number of people who've said, this is great news. I'm alive. My family is alive. This is great news, kind of a remarkable thing to hear. T.J..
HOLMES: Absolutely. People who have gone through so much and lost so much, still escaped with their lives. That's something to be thankful for. Soledad, we thank you again for helping us out and for your report this morning.
Meanwhile, we are keeping our eye on Florida for another reason here or another area here on the left there, waiting for a live press conference from the governor, Governor Charlie Crist, as well as the FEMA Director David Paulison, have been expecting their press conference, had to be pushed back, expecting it to the bottom of the hour, which is 11:30, but certainly a few minutes past due there. We're looking at the helicopter there on the right that we saw a short time ago, that actually we believe was bringing Governor Crist to that press conference but expecting the very latest from the governor on the situation there in his state and also from the FEMA director about what kind of assistance FEMA is giving and can be giving and will be giving to the folks there in Florida who have been devastated by these storms. Stick with CNN. When that press conference happens, we will bring it to you live. Stay here. We're just going to take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We're coming to you from Lady Lake in Florida, in central Florida. It's kind of bizarre weather- wise. The sun was coming out about 10 seconds ago and it then you can see it sort of went away. There's been a little bit of a drizzle. A little bit of progress, though. We were here earlier this morning where there was much more of this inner structure of the home. It's really all that withstood the storm and it's what saved the lives of the older gentleman and his wife who live here.
They've been taking that down. That's sheriff's inmates, sorry, inmates from the Marion County jail rather who have been trying to take it down, helping the homeowners here. It has been pretty remarkable when you look at how bad some of the damage is and then you see that people survived. Carol Costello had a chance to talk to some members of the search and rescue teams who tell that same story over and over again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It swept through the night, uprooting homes, stealing lives. A teenager died in her bed in Lake County, leaving friends in sadness and guilt behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brittany's family, I'm so sorry, I really am.
WESH REPORTER: Was she the 17-year-old?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she was
REPORTER: Did you know her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I walked to the bus stop with her in the morning. We waited on the bus every day together. It makes me sad.
REPORTER: Was her dad OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My whole family is OK.
REPORTER: But her dad is OK, too?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. I haven't heard anything.
COSTELLO: An announcement came from local officials saying two teenagers were killed and another orphaned, the only survivor in a family of four. Chaos on Volusia County's interstate 4 too. The wind caused five tractor trailers to topple, leaving drivers stunned to be alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stuff was blowing all over the road and it all happened so fast. It's a miracle that more people didn't get hurt.
COSTELLO: But others weren't so lucky. Many were trapped beneath what was once safe and warm, their homes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See the little tiny feet..
BAY NEWS 9 REPORTER: Two little feet sticking out were sticking out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was conscious and she was saying, I'm OK, I'm OK, I just can't get out. I just can't get out. And there was a piece of plywood, a couple pieces of 2 x 4 over laying over the top of her. We just pulled that stuff off and then lifted up the plywood and she was under there and then we helped her up and grabbed her in a blanket and we walked her all the way down to the clubhouse.
COSTELLO: Amazingly, she survived, but the Lady Lake Church of God did not. In a place built to withstand 150 miles per hour winds, prayer did not save it, but faith will rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know the purpose. But it will go back. It will be built back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bigger and better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During hurricanes this is where people come and stayed.
REPORTER: This was a shelter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building was rated for 150 miles an hour winds. So, evidently, we exceeded 150 miles per hour or something happened. But, anyway, it -- it's gone and it didn't stand and I'm glad there was nobody here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess God had a reason for it. We'll build it back bigger and better.
COSTELLO: One of many stories of horror and hope now on a day that wind brought death to central Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: As you can see, that story of people who really feel in some ways that there was no real reason why they survived except for their faith, except that they were saved by God. Truly we've heard that story many, many times today. We talked to a woman whose sons were in a bunk bed. The little boy, the eight-year-old got out of the bunk bed to get a drink of water and suddenly the tree crashed through their ceiling. A lot of the debris from the ceiling landed right on that top bunk bed. Those stories again and again after a while you start thinking, wow, it was faith that saved them.
Listen, I want to update you on some of the things that are happening. Not very far from where we are is a mobile command center. We know that they are utility trucks there. They're going to start spread out to try to do some of the repairs that are really needed to bring power back to the areas where power is down. There are downed power lines everywhere, no surprise with all the trees that are down. You can see some progress being made. The inmates here, along with church members, not only here but really across Lake County have been helping out in these devastated areas. They've been just kind of jumping in because of course the way tornadoes work you can have a home like that one back there that's fine. And then you come up to a space like this and it's devastated. We're waiting to hear from the governor Charlie Crist, who's on the ground. We saw his Blackhawk helicopter land. He's going to be holding a press conference with the director of FEMA David Paulison. We're expecting that any minute as well. We're going to bring that to you live when that happens, too.
And so we have Verizon setting up a mobile call center. That way people in the area who have lost their phone service can make phone calls, let their loved ones know that they're OK. And you've got the sound of chain saws everywhere because people are trying to cut down the trees, get them off power lines, cut out a lot of the debris and just clean up. It really is, despite of the increment weather, a day to move forward and move along. T.J..
HOLMES: All right, Soledad, thank you so much this morning. Again, we are keeping an eye on the press conference, expecting it to start really at any moment. But Governor Crist on the ground there in a location where we're expecting that press conference to happen. We're keeping on eye on that, along with the FEMA Director David Paulison giving us an update. We want to get an update now on the weather. We're going to check in again with Bonnie Schneider who's in the weather center for us. Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are looking at some wet weather. We see Soledad unfortunately getting wet and so are the people that are working there to recover what they have left. Unfortunately it's going to be a little bit more wet weather in the forecast today for much of central Florida. You can see some of the heavier storms luckily now are pushing off into the Atlantic. But the big picture shows the moisture streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico. It's that same el Nino pattern we've been speaking of. Luckily today, we don't have all the same factors in place that we had in place yesterday morning with the sharp cold front dropping down from the north and that strong upper level jet. Right now we're seeing the moisture though streaming in. It will keep the temperatures down, won't be too cold though. It should stay into the upper 60s for most of the day, but we will look at that cloud coverage and on and off showers. Now some of them could be heavy at times. You may even see some lightning associated with them. But when you look at this picture, what you'll find is some heavier rain more towards Orlando and then further off towards the Atlantic. Now the storms that are coming on shore along the west coast of Florida are not as intense as what we were watching earlier this morning. So that is some good news. Some of the intensity is dying down here through the Tampa area. And as we travel towards Lake County, you will still see some rain northward as well and here's Lady Lake. You can see the showers just passing through the region. Luckily though, they are diminishing, so that little burst of rain that we're experiencing there is kind of dwindling down. But be on the look out. There will be more rain pretty much on and off throughout the day but I think the intensity will die down. So some good news there, T.J..
HOLMES: Well, we will certainly take it. I'm sure they'll take it there in Florida as well. Bonnie, thank you so much. Meanwhile in Florida, we're keeping an eye on of course the situation there and the developments and the new news coming out of there as people begin to dig through the rubble and put their lives back together on this day after those deadly storms. We are keeping an eye on a live picture here where we're expecting a press conference, an update from the governor, Governor Crist there. You see him on your left along with the FEMA Director David Paulison, expecting that press conference to start at any moment. Looks like they're making their way there. We're going to try to take a quick break. We will bring those comments and the update at a press conference when it happens. Stick with CNN. You're watching the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Coming to you live from Lady lake, Florida. I'm going to ask you to bear with me with the noise of the generator that's behind me. As you can see, they're pumping out the pool because it's full of debris (INAUDIBLE) . It's just a big mess. They're trying to really just clean up. Mr. Suggs' (ph) home. He's in his 70s and he narrowly escaped death in his home. Now let me show you here the slab where you see his tractor and all that. That actually used to be a house. No house, they actually cannot find any part of the structure at this point. Behind there is another shed. That's not the sheds that belongs to the slab at all. The shed that belongs to the slab, little house, well, they can't locate it.
Come over here. You can see the damage from the trees. This is such a common scene, not just here on this property but everywhere. You see trees uprooted, trees that are much bigger than these here just yanked right out of the ground, a good indication of the power of the storm. We've got a lot of the inmates have moved on. They've move off to this home. We were showing you pictures of them a little bit earlier as they were helping out with the cleaning up and we'll show you the progress that they were able to make. John, be careful. I think you're in (INAUDIBLE) debris here. We don't want to step on any nails because there's a lot. But if you come up here, earlier we showed you that this was just a mess, just full of what was left of the dining room and the kitchen and the family room. Well, they've made a lot of progress. They cleaned it out. They're going to try and clear the slab. Mr. Suggs says he plans to rebuild. What's been ironically tricky is knocking down this structure. A couple of guys were taking a whack at that for a while and they weren't able to bring it down. It's really secure. It's truly what was able to save Mr. Suggs' life. And look at this, this brick wall. This is a solid house. It's just a mess. He's got a lot of work ahead of him. But I'm going to tell you, they've made a ton of progress. And T.J., not just here where we have spent the morning, but even as we've driven around, they really are coming out, cleaning up, restoring electricity, cutting up the trees (INAUDIBLE) the chain saw that you hear behind me, making some progress. And the peoples' attitudes here, excellent. Really most of them, almost everybody feels like they're going to rebuild. T.J., I'm going to send it back to you. I will see you back here on "American Morning" on Monday. Thanks T.J..
HOLMES: On Monday, Soledad, thank you so much. You can come back here and hang out with us any time you would like. You can catch Soledad O'Brien as well as Miles O'Brien on "American Morning" weekdays at 6:00 a.m. But we do thank you this weekend with your report from Florida.
Meanwhile, another developing story, a major breaking story out of Baghdad we want to update you about, which is the huge suicide car bombing that happened at a busy Baghdad market today, this afternoon in Baghdad. Some 121 people killed, 200 injured. These are some of the first pictures we're getting of the aftermath at the hospital where the injured are being brought in. But a huge suicide truck bomber detonated in a busy market where a lot of people were getting their food for their evening meal. A mixed area of Sunni, Shiite and Kurds in this area, but 121 dead, just a huge, huge blast with a huge death toll.
Also we want to let you know that in Florida, we are keeping an eye of course, all the developments happening out of Florida and the recovery there. We are expecting any moment now a press conference from the governor, Governor Crist who has arrived in his helicopter there at the location where we're expecting that press conference, along with David Paulison, the FEMA director. Stay here with CNN for all the latest developments. We will bring that press conference to you when it happens. Stay here. Don't go away. Quick break.
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