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Florida Storm Destruction; Super Bowl Security; Bird Flu in Great Britain

Aired February 04, 2007 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything we worked for is gone. And worst of all we can replace this you know, but you can't replace your grandmother or your mother.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: High emotions, storm survivors deal with the reality of lives and homes lost. And dangerous cold 54 below zero, parts of the U.S. in a complete whiteout.

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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are more than 160 cameras trained on the stadium inside and out.

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WHITFIELD: Super security. How new technology keeps fans safe at tonight's big game. Hello and welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Help arriving today for Florida storm victims, blankets, food and water are being delivered by the Florida National Guard. FEMA said today it is sending in trailers for people who lost their homes. Also today the National Weather Service confirms that the storms that struck early Friday produced at least three tornadoes. The weather service says the 20 people who died in the storms, included 14 killed in a deathly two minutes. For hundreds of victims now begins the painful process of starting over from scratch. CNN's Rusty Dornin shows us how livelihoods, homes, and loved ones can vanish in a horrible flash.

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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Roger Gantner last saw his grandmother Doris, she was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. His grandparents lived at the family's plant nursery. All was lined up and ready for spring planting. Then the storm hit. He got a call his grandparents were missing.

ROGER GANTNER, JR., TORNADO VICTIM: He says, Roger, don't come down here. I said, I have to find my grandparents, they're here somewhere out here. DORNIN: When Gantner arrived, he was stunned. His grandparents' mobile home was scattered like match sticks. He found his grandfather Albert alive.

GANTNER: It's in front of this porch here, was where the house was. He got thrown from here, and the bed wasn't even here. It was right beside the couch.

DORNIN: His 89-year-old grandfather had been thrown 200 feet. He was still in his medical bed and barely conscious.

GANTNER: When we found him there he was responding to me. I told him I was here. I said, hold on, pop. I'm going to get you out of Here, hold on just a second. I said, can you hear me? He said, yeah.

DORNIN: The ambulance came for his grandfather. Then Gantner was desperate to find his grandmother. Not far from where her husband of 59 years was found was the lifeless body of Doris Gantner.

GANTNER: She was found where those trees coming out right here, those trusses as they make the turn, she was inside of the trusses.

DORNIN: Hs grandmother worried a lot, he said. Gantner said she was probably awake during the storm and nervous about the lightning. Now her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren pick out what few sentimental pieces are salvageable.

GANTNER: You can see all our stock here, all the way around, all the way up.

DORNIN: 50,000 plants, $260,000 worth of crops destroyed.

GANTNER: I don't know if you went through here with a bomb it would make any difference than this. I honestly don't know. I've not seen nothing like this before. If it would make it worse, tell me how.

DORNIN: The only thing insured was the grandparents' mobile home. It took Roger Gantner Sr. 23 years to build his nursery business and in less than 30 seconds it was ready for the trash heap.

GANTNER: That's everything we've worked for, it's gone. And not worst of all, we can replace this, you know. But you can't replace your Grandmother or your mother. That's not the way she should have went. But God has other plans sometimes, you know.

DORNIN: Hopes, dreams and love of a lifetime gone in a flash.

(END OF VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now Rusty Dornin joins us live. So Rusty, what is this family to do?

DORNIN: Well, like so many families Fredricka, what do you do next when you have this mess? They are gathering up some clothes out of the mess. Just to quickly show you what the nurseries look like, those were the nurseries with all their plants. Without that they have no way to rebuild those. The family right now is with FEMA trying to figure out what to do next because apparently, they are -- FEMA has told them that possibly they can't help them because this wasn't their primary source of residence, even though the grandparents lived here. So they may even have a tough time getting help from FEMA. But I quickly also want to show you something that really does get you, this is the medical bed that in my story we were talking about Albert Gantner, 89 years old, he was in this bed alive. He was thrown from all the way over there, that's where the house was. And he was thrown over here, 89 years old, he's still in the hospital. Although he is still in critical condition. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Remarkable. We, of course, wish him and the rest of the family the best. Rusty Dornin, thanks so much. And in the wake of the lost homes and other earthly possessions, they prayed and gave thanks this Sunday in what remains of their church. Pastor Larry Lynn addressed his congregation at the Lady Lake Church of God.

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REV. LARRY LYNN, PASTOR, LADY LAKE CHURCH OF GOD: Last week we spoke to a few hundred in Lady Lake. But this pile of rubble gave us a platform to speak to the world today and we're honored and humbled and blessed because God has turned this disaster into an opportunity.

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, (R) FLORIDA: Your spirit is absolutely infectious, pastor. And you know, on the day -- it truly is. On the day that the storms hit here in Central Florida, that's when I first had the opportunity and the honor and privilege to meet you. And you said to me, you said well, this is our church and the building may be down but the church lives on. I can see that now more than ever.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And now assessing the material damage, FEMA is ready to start writing those checks. CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Lady Lake with more on that. Susan, have response times sort of changed since hurricane Katrina?

CANDIOTTI: Well this being the sea change I think since Katrina certainly. Insurance adjustors and even FEMA inspectors have been on the ground for at least a day or two. A lot of these insurance adjusters in neighborhoods have been here for a couple of days going from door to door. In some cases, from pile of rubble to pile of rubble. In some of the worst hit neighborhoods this help cannot come soon enough, people who have lost everything. The problem is in some cases people do not have any insurance left because the price in Florida on insurance rates has been skyrocketing over the past couple of years because of all the hurricanes that have hit here. And in other instances, people cannot afford the insurance and here is why.

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LOUISE AEGERTER, TORNADO VICTIM: You know we have no insurance because they told us our trailer was too old and they canceled us two years ago and we were not able to get insurance. And we had just went and talked to some people and they said maybe sometime in February they would let us know if we could be insured.

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CANDIOTTI: But of course it is February and now a tornado has hit. So it's too late for that particular family. On the other hand, FEMA may be able to step in and of course as we said, they are here already. Their top man here in this area has told me they have received only about 80 phone calls so far. But they are accepting them each and every day. They say at this time FEMA does not expect any trailers to be coming to this particular hard-hit area because so far they say the state of Florida tells them that there is enough temporary housing to go around, for example, hotels, when you are written a check you can go there, or to apartments where there is space there. Of course, as trailers may be needed, then they might be brought in. And, of course, Fredricka, the other side of this coin is the number of people that have come forward to take people in. Of course, that, too, is only temporary and these people will be needing permanent solutions. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: And so Susan back to FEMA, are they finding that more people than expected did not have insurance and they're having to distribute a lot more checks to many more homeowners than originally expected?

CANDIOTTI: It's too soon to make that assessment because they have just been on the ground for about a day now. But I'm sure that we'll be finding that out as the days go on. But they thought that 80 phone calls so far was a pretty fair number. And certainly people cannot only call them for help but they can go online to ask for assistance, too.

WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti, thank you so much for that update. And later, CNN's Rob Marciano joins us live from Lady Lake and shows us how tornado experts are reconstructing what happened Friday morning. A lot like detectives do.

And further west severe and scary conditions. Take a look at this. There is nothing wrong with your screen. This is Lansing, Michigan. Residents are dealing with whiteout conditions and dangerously cold weather. Gusty winds could push the wind chill down to 45 below zero in some parts of the state. Minnesota is battling a blast of arctic cold as well with subzero temperatures. People there are warned against going outside without the proper gear.

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WHITFIELD: Total despair and shock in Iraq after the deadliest single bombing since the start of the war. Massive measures to contain a bird flu outbreak before it spreads. And later, protecting the Super Bowl against a terror attack. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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WHITFIELD: So here are some of the most popular stories on cnn.com. A revealing interview from Sandra Day O'Connor. The retired Supreme Court Justice tells "Newsweek" she wanted to stay on the high court for many more years but needed to step down to take care of her husband who has Alzheimer's.

A Missouri man could get up to seven years in prison for shoving a cell phone down his girlfriend's throat. Marlin Gill was convicted of second-degree assault on Saturday. Defense attorneys claimed Gill's girlfriend intentionally swallowed the phone to hide who she had been calling.

A lot of you are interested in the tragedy unfolding in Indonesia's capital. Massive flooding from days of torrential rain has killed at least nine people, about 200,000 are homeless and more rain is in the forecast.

Four U.S. helicopters lost in Iraq since January 20th and today confirmation from the military that ground fire was responsible for the crashes. The downed choppers include two apaches, a Blackhawk and a security contractor's helicopter. In all, 21 Americans were killed.

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MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTI-NATL. FORCE-IRAQ: The investigation of each of those is ongoing but it does appear that they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down.

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WHITFIELD: Danger in the air and on the ground, Iraqis are still trying to absorb the horror of this weekend's market bombing in Baghdad. The worst single bomb attack since the war began. More now from CNN's Arwa Damon.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What did we do, this man asks? Standing amid the rubble of the deadliest single bombing since the start of the war. It's a question many are asking. Innocent victims shopping when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with one ton of explosives into a crowded marketplace. Entire buildings facades gone. The emotional devastation clear in the survivors' voices. "They're all gone, they're all gone", she says, breaking down into tears. A day after Saturday's blast, frantic efforts to rescue anyone who might still be alive. But workers found only more bodies. Families rummaged through the rubble trying to salvage whatever personal belongings remain. Shop owners tried to save their livelihood as body parts and chunks of flesh were collected. Scenes too gruesome to show. They brought his body with no head, this woman wailed. The sounds of war never far away. Reminders that this could happen again at any time. Deep frustration, some directing their anger at the government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Al Maliki says there will be a new security plan. Where is the security plan? Yeah, right, there will be a security plan. DAMON: This street once again packed, not with wall-to-wall shoppers, but with those trying to find their remains.

(on camera): The magnitude of the (INAUDIBLE) bombing is shocking. Many are viewing it as yet another attack against Baghdad's Shia population intending only to further escalate the already spiraling sectarian violence. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: On Monday President Bush will ask Congress for another $245 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of it for Iraq. As the costs keep rising CNN wanted to look at other domestic concerns that could use the money. Here's Joshua Levs with a reality check.

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JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fighting, responding to terrorism, rebuilding. It's added up to about $400 billion so far. Some studies say the price tag could ultimately top a trillion.

SEN. JIM WEBB, (D) VIRGINIA: The war costs to our nations have been staggering.

LEVS: The costs aren't just financial, but let's look at the money and where it's not being spent. Every year the president vows to push alternative energy sources.

BUSH: To make our air significantly cleaner and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

LEVS: But funding requests for renewable energy programs have remained the same, at about $1.2 billion each year. How about --

BUSH: Reforming our health care system.

LEVS: Forty-four million Americans are uninsured. A major study found covering them would take $48 billion in additional medical spending each year. Let's hit one more topic, the nation's public schools. The administration gives grants to help improve them. The total in 2006, about $30 billion. President Bush says all of these domestic priorities are well-funded and that progress is being made. As for Iraq, he says imagine the costs if Saddam Hussein had let terrorists use Iraq as a base to plot attacks on U.S. soil. He says the funds he's requesting are needed.

BUSH: And my number one priority is to protect this country. We're going to make sure our troops have all the equipment they need to do the job we sent them to do.

LEVS (on camera): It's also important to keep in mind that not all the money simply stops in Iraq. For example, people who get paid to create the war machinery, spend their money here in the United States and pay taxes. That's a fact. However, no one is putting a smiley face on all the money that has been spent in Iraq. And as we've reported in recent days, the government's inspector general for Iraq has found that tens of millions of dollars were wasted and tens of millions of dollars in equipment now can't be found. Joshua Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

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WHITFIELD: And you have the right to take time off for a family emergency but can you afford to do so? Find out how some in Washington are hoping to change things. And later, some influential scientists say global warming is a fact. I'll speak with an environmental activist who has been making that case for years.

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WHITFIELD: News across America. Not a super Sunday for Ryan O'Neal, he's out of jail on $50,000 bond. Malibu Police arrested the 65-year-old actor on charges of assaulting his son with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm. No one was treated for injuries.

What caused this Friday night plane crash near the New Bedford, Massachusetts Airport? Well three people died in the failed landing, including a prominent Pennsylvania lawyer. The attorney's family blames poor lighting on the airport's runway. The FAA is investigating.

And that's your average neighborhood tabby. It's a bobcat and it was caught by a couple of Kansas property owners fed up by a rash of disappearing chickens. Wildlife experts say bobcats aren't uncommon to Kansas but trapping one is. Bobcats like their domestic cousins apparently do have nine lives. This big kitty got relocated to another area instead of being euthanized.

As Congress examines President Bush's proposed budget this week, one program that may be in for some changes, family medical leave. Gary Nurenberg looks at the possible pay offs.

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GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a world where the 6:00 scramble recipe book promises a meal with leftovers in 30 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They give you a recipe every week.

NURENBERG: Working dad Rob Carty knows the value of time. He needed a lot of it when Jennifer hemorrhaged after giving birth to Alana.

ROB CARTY, NEW PARENT: I actually had to be more of a caregiver because Jen was confined to her bed for several weeks.

NURENBERG: Jennifer took advantage of a 1993 law that allows workers 12 weeks of leave to deal with family and medical needs. But it mandates only unpaid leave. CARTY: I could have taken family medical leave through the Family Medical Leave Act but we couldn't afford it.

NURENBERG: A sponsor of the old law wants to expand it.

SEN. CHRIS DODD, (D) CONNECTICUT: I think it's time to bring paid leave to Americans. At least six weeks of it is our intention with this bill.

NURENBERG: A prospect not welcomed by all employers.

MIKE TANNER, CATO INSTITUTE: There's no such thing as a free lunch. The additional cost that this is going to impose will have to be paid for somehow. They can be paid for by higher taxes, by lower economic growth, by fewer jobs, by lower wages, but in the end they're very likely to be paid by the very workers that this is going to try to help.

NURENBERG: Dodd says he's looking for a formula that would spread the costs among employers, employees, and the government.

(on camera): As Dodd lobbies for congressional support of paid leave the Department of Labor is soliciting comments about the existing Family Medical Leave Act, the FMLA, which it's responsible for enforcing.

DEBRA NESS, NATL. PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES: We're very worried because the business interests have been pushing for a real rewrite of the regulations, making it harder for people to take advantage of FMLA protections.

NURENBERG: A Department of Labor spokesman says that is not a fair worry that regulation reviews are routine. The societal debate is an old one. Begun long before Alana was born, likely to last until she has kids of her own. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Now tracking the deadly twisters. New lessons learned from the path of the tornadoes in Central Florida. And in South Florida, behind the scenes of the Super Bowl, technology designed to keep everyone there safe.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here's what's happening right now in the news.

In what's now an outdoor church, Florida tornado survivors pause and pray. The Lady Lake Church of God was destroyed by Friday's killer storm. Today it was an open-air house worship. The latest from the scene in a live report, straight ahead.

Four American helicopters downed in Iraq over two weeks, 21 Americans killed and today U.S. commanders acknowledged all four were shot down by enemy fire. Police in western Pennsylvania are using bloodhounds in the search for a missing 2-year-old girl. An Amber Alert is in effect for Nya Page who went missing from her bed overnight Friday. Authorities aren't sure whether she wandered away or was abducted.

NASA says two astronauts from the International Space Station have completed the second of three space walks. Mission help install a new central cooling system for the station.

Lake County, Florida was hardest hit by the deadly tornadoes with 20 deaths. CNN's Soledad O'Brien reports on how those losses are now bringing people together.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Amid the drone of chainsaws, the cleanup, 55 prisoners from the Marion county Jail helping to clear downed trees.

ALLYSON SUGGS, LAKE COUNTY RESIDENT: I think that we are very lucky that our house is still standing.

O'BRIEN: Lucky to be alive. We heard it over and over again. It is the paradox of a tornado. Tara's Suggs home is fine but the storm ripped through the Miller's home next door. In spite of the damage Evon Miller is feeling thankful. Three of her boys were asleep in their bedroom when a massive tree fell, 7-year-old Kohl narrowly escaped.

EVON MILLER, LAKE COUNTY RESIDENT: He was in the top bunk. He was the one that got down just minutes before the tree fell in.

O'BRIEN: It was a weekend of progress. Elden Jefferson watched with awe.

ELDEN JEFFERSON, LAKE COUNTY RESIDENT: It is just amazing to me. The response from everybody, every county and anybody who came from out of state.

O'BRIEN: Across the street, Juan Delavese was trying to figure out what to do next. There is a gaping hole in this house. Take a look from the outside, inside it is much worse. Seven year-old Brian and 4- year-old Kame (ph) told me what happened.

The tree Kame (ph) says fell on my bedroom. Along a stretch of Griffin View Drive the trees are snapped off like little sticks. The streets filled with shell-shocked residents and utility workers and insurance adjustors, tree service workers, Red Cross volunteers, and many others like Michael Meeks.

MICHAEL MEEKS, VOLUNTEER: Yes we are going too to door and when there is garbage that needs to be hauled to the roads and cleaned up we are doing it.

O'BRIEN: A moment of joy for Ann Tooley when pictures of her grandchildren were found. She told us how she climbed out of bed barefoot and in a nightgown over the glass and splintered wood, nails, and pieces of metal to get to safety. Across the street, her neighbor wasn't as lucky. Residents told us that the slab wiped clean where Pat Boyle's mobile home use to sit.

BRIAN MILSTEAD, VOLUNTEER: Her trailer came across the street and behind these trailers and landed right here. That's her trailer.

O'BRIEN: She was crushed under the debris. Further east around Paisley, the biggest death toll, and 13 people killed in these rural neighborhoods. Three people were killed here when a storm ran through. There is a theory that goes like this. They think that an empty slab up there actually blew right across the street. The home that was on it and rammed into their home. One of the things that supports that theory is that maybe the van back there that is kind of crumpled, it started up on the roadway.

For the unfortunate ones, no place to hide during the storm. For the survivors, a time to count their blessings and begin the cleanup.

Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Lake County, Florida.

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WHITFIELD: Causing all of this destruction, well meteorologists say that three tornadoes may have hit Florida. They know that after spotting certain signs and markings. CNN's meteorologist Rob Marciano has more on this team of investigators.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka when you look at the swath of the damage and all of the rubble that we have shown over the television the past couple of days, it is hard to decipher, you know, what happened and exactly how strong and how wide the tornado was. There are a team of meteorologists that specialize in doing just that. Forensic type of weather guides, CSI types that come in to the scene and analyze the damage to determine how big the storm was and where it came from and where it went to and how strong those winds were.

Jim Ladue is one of those guys and is from Norman, Oklahoma. The storm prediction center area out there in the hot bed of tornadoes, not used to seeing this kind of strong tornado in Florida but low and behold we had not one but three. I went out with him earlier today to see and take a look at some of the things he looks at.

JIM LADUE, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: That chain-link fence, all this stuff here, came from about 300 feet away. The other side there is a chain link fence right here. You can see the strength of the wind actually not only grabbed the chain link fence around but also pulled it. You can literally see that it has been stretched, and that's a sign of a very strong tornado.

MARCIANO: How strong? He's estimating an ef-3. A strong one, which becomes it on the scale of zero to five, winds of over 160 miles an hour. He said at that spot that we were standing, the vortex was at least 1,000 feet wide and at its strongest point there. He has 28 indicators that he looks at, things like the damage to certain kind of homes that are built, mobile homes, light poles, trees, like this one. This is a palm tree that was snapped in half and things that have been lodged into trees.

This is a piece of what was a coffee table that just got embedded in this tree. Much like a missile. We saw things like that all over the place up there. There's a team of researchers that are doing some studies to figure out just how we can make our homes stronger and, obviously, those studies succeed, we get better building codes we might not see this sort of devastation that we have seen here in Florida the past couple of days. We will have that report for you later on tonight.

WHITFIELD: All right. Yes. The idea is to try to learn something from this disaster so that perhaps there's better preparedness next time. Rob Marciano thanks so much from Lady Lake, Florida.

How about that bird flu? Is it on the move? Why the outbreak in England could be the start of something much bigger.

Plus a dramatic rescue down under. That's straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

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WHITFIELD: Time to go global with headlines from around the world. A top U.S. diplomat refusing comment on reports that North Korea is trying to bargain away its nuclear program. A Japanese newspaper says Jung Yang (ph) wants half a million tons of fuel oil annually in exchange for freezing some of its nuclear facilities.

In Queens land, Australia, a dramatic save. Rescuers swoop in to grab this man perched above a flooded stream after his small boat sank. He managed to grab a tree and hang on for about a half an hour. An amazing rescue.

One person has been killed in a large gas explosion in Chile. Eleven others were injured. The blast sparked a massive fire that caused extensive damage over a three-block area.

British health officials are slaughtering about 160,000 turkeys to try to contain an outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu. More now from CNN's Paula Hancocks.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials are hoping that they have successfully contained Britain's first outbreak of the deadly h5n1 strain of bird flu. But it is too soon for them to know for sure. They have to wait at least 21 days before they can get the all clear. At this farm here in east England and immediately after they discovered that it was bird flu, they created an exclusion zone of three kilometers. As well they also had a ten kilometer where all poultry, all domestic birds have to be kept inside. They have to make sure domestic birds and poultry get into any contamination from wild birds. They are trying to keep them very separate.

And in addition to that, there is a 2,000-kilometer zone where they are monitoring all of those birds that are kept within that area. The grueling task of killing 160,000 turkeys is continuing. It started Saturday night. The birds are being gassed on site here we understand. They are being taken to another facility to be incinerated. We understand there are 22 of these particular phlox behind us. Only one of those contains contaminated birds. They have to kill all of them to make sure that this was not going to go anywhere else outside this farm.

At this point the question still has to be answered, how did these birds become contaminated. Was it from a wild bird that managed to get into one of these buildings behind us? Did somebody bring it in? Did they have the virus on their feet or shoes? They need to find out very soon exactly how it came in to discover if there is a worry about certain wild birds in the country still being contaminated and still at large.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, southeastern England.

WHITFIELD: Some of the world's leading scientists say it is official. Humans are responsible for global warming. But is the debate over? You are IN THE NEWSROOM.

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WHITFIELD: Now the loudest warning yet about global climate change. Friday some of the worlds leading scientists declared the debate is over. The U.N. Panel said it is crystal clear now that Earth is getting warmer and it is not because of a natural cycle but the actions of human beings. The scientists called for urgent efforts to limit global warmings most harmful effects but said the process cannot be reversed for centuries.

Still to come among those praising the report is Laurie David. She's an environmental activist and the producer of Al Gore's movie about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." I talked to her about the problem and what we as individuals can do to help.

This is U.N. report sealing the deal, as you say, to say that humans are to blame for the kind of global warming that we are experiencing is this exactly what you hoped to hear?

LAURIE DAVID, PRODUCER, "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH:" Well I mean the best news possibly is that the globe is not warming. We have to face facts; we have to face the truth of the situation. We have been in denial for a really long time. So I think what's so momentous about this report is how clearly the scientists are saying it. They are saying the globe is definitely warming. Humans are definitely causing it. You can't get -- you can't get more consensus than that. The question now is what are we going to do about it? Also just the urgency with which the words in this report have, I mean, they are saying this is urgent and we need the face it. We need to hear that loud and clear.

WHITFIELD: So while there is this consensus with the scientists, we are still hearing from a number of folks, from meteorologists, to congressional leaders who are saying this is the natural ebb and flow of climate change or it is El Nino. What's do you say to them? What do you believe this report is now saying to them? DAVID: It is not just what I say to them. It is what the world scientists say to them. OK. They are very, very small minority right now. They are wrong, I mean, the science is fact. And the facts are showing us that the globe is warming and there's nothing natural about this. And we really have to get now -- you have to move forward on this issue, we have to focus all of the debate on solutions. We have to stop debating whether or not it is happening. It is happening. The world scientists, the world experts will be studying this issue for 30 years, and are in complete agreement. There is more agreement on this than the fact that smoking tobacco causes cancer. We have to move forward now.

WHITFIELD: Let's listen to what Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe said just earlier this week about this very topic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES INHOFE, (R) OKLAHOMA: My favorite quote of all the people who were on the side of saying man-made gas caused global warming was a socialist in France. He is a geophysicist named Cloto Legre (ph). He is a member of both the French and the American Academy of Science and he says that the cause of global warming is unknown. The proponents of man made catastrophic global warm are being motivated by listen to this now Miles, money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Why is this being disputed like this? What is at stake here?

DAVID: Listen -- listen. Everyone pretty much is in agreement. That's number one. Number two, Senator Inhofe; he's funded by the oil industry and other industries that have a self-interest here. Really, you know, he's one person with self interest, an agenda against the world scientists, the world experts and you know what? The media actually has to stop giving these guys equal weight. Because you have this one person, one Senator a lone Senator, and you have the world's experts, world leaders all saying this thing is happening and we really have to start facing it. We have to start facing it now. There is a window of less than ten years to slow this thing down or we will see life, as we know it change rapidly.

WHITFIELD: How do we face it? What does it mean for you and me about how we have to change our behavior and habits or the products that we use? What do we do to help slow down this global warming?

DAVID: Well this is the exciting thing about this problem. Everything we need to start slowing this down already exists. There are things we can do as individuals and there are things that obviously we have to do as a country.

WHITFIELD: Like what?

DAVID: Well, for example, as individuals, we have to start thinking about what we are doing in the course of our day, what we are wasting. We have to start, if we can just start conserving some of the energy that we don't need. That would be a long way to get there. A "New York Times" report that said in 15 years with energy efficiency, we can reduce our energy consumption by 50 percent.

WHITFIELD: That also means, I think, to a lot of folks it means I have to have money to invest in changing some products in my household, getting more energy efficient. Washer and dryers, I have to buy a hybrid vehicle. If I can't afford to take these kinds of measures, what can I do?

DAVID: Here's the thing. We cannot afford not to take these measures. It comes down to the simplest thing, changing a light bulb. If every American household changes five old light bulbs that they currently have in their home to the new energy efficient, 75 percent more efficient energy light bulbs, equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road for a year. That's so doable. You change them in your house and then you change them at your church, or your temple, at your school, in your business. All of a sudden we are like on our way. That's just one thing that we can do, I mean there's 100 things we can do.

WHITFIELD: Laurie David thanks so much. Very outspoken environmentalist and also the producer of "The Inconvenient Truth." And congratulations on the many accolades and nominations that project has been getting.

DAVID: Thank you so much. I urge everyone to get the DVD and watch it.

WHITFIELD: Who's keeping watch as the crowds gather in South Florida? We will take you to the Super Bowl for a security check. Coming up next.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Jaqui Jeras from the CNN Weather Center with today's cold and flu reports. A number of cases of flu becoming more widespread across the country, in the last week now eight states reporting widespread reports of flu. Just in the last week 7 percent of all deaths in the U.S. attributed to influenza and Ammonia. So try and stay healthy and cover your cough. More NEWSROOM right after this.

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JOEL DAVIS: This is Joel Davis in Iraq, Second BCT 82nd Airborne. Giving the Super Bowl a shout out to the Colts about to smash the Bears. Go Colts!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. I'm from Chicago, Illinois. Glad to give a shout out to my family in Chicago. I would like to say go Bears.

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WHITFIELD: All right. They are pumped up abroad and here at home. Fans are certainly psyched. Super Bowl 41 is set to begin in just about 90 minutes. Miami's Dolphins Stadium is hosting the NFL championship. But even if you have a ticket, getting in the door will not be a breeze. For more on that, here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.

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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): To keep football fans not only smiling but also safe, Super Bowl gets the highest rating. Homeland Security's level one. Protecting these youngsters with the same amount of anti-terror planning as a presidential inauguration.

JULIE TORRES, ATF: When it comes to planning and terrorism and everything post 9/11, it definitely has changed the way that law enforcement does business.

CANDIOTTI: There is a ten-mile no-fly zone over the stadium monitored by military and DHS air power. Every employee passed the background check before getting required badges. Fans clear magnetometers. There isn't much you are allowed to take in with you, besides your wallet.

MILT AHLERICH, NFL V.P. OF SECURITY: We though of everything Susan, I mean we brainstormed an awful lot. What if ourselves until it becomes absurd, I think, to a degree? As to types of problems we might come across.

CANDIOTTI: Explosives experts, human and canine, are on hand. The same x-ray machines used by customs at U.S. ports are screening every truck making a delivery at the stadium. Players including Colts tight end Justin Snow say they are worried about the game, not their safety.

JUSTIN SNOW, COLTS TIGHT END: They said we were a level one at the Super Bowl. I hadn't put too much thought into it.

CANDIOTTI: The NFL has thought about it. Spending $6 million on security. There are more than 160 cameras trained on the stadium inside and out so that even if you are walking in a crowd, they will be able to find you, authorities say, with pinpoint accuracy. They want to make sure everything is safe. The bank of TV screens is monitored and manipulated from one of the stadium boxes.

NICK LOWRY, DOLPHIN SECURITY: You want to try to give the police and law enforce many and the public safety officials as much intelligence information as you can. It gives us real-time. If an incident does occur we can go back and track the history and look at a particular section. Any time you get intelligence data, it is valuable to public safety.

TOM CASH, KROLL INC: You will see it will go off without a hitch. The only thing to be afraid of is sunburn if you don't wear a hat.

CANDIOTTI: Let the game begin. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Sounds of hope in one of Florida's hardest hit areas.

Contrast that with sounds of the war in Iraq. Total despair as the death toll rises in a gruesome market massacre.

Atomic ambitions our Christiane Amanpour tours one of Iran's nuclear plants.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. You are in THE NEWSROOM.

Help arriving today for Florida storm victims, blankets, food, and water are being delivered by the Florida National Guard. FEMA said today it is sending trailers for people that lost their homes.

Also, today, the National Weather Service confirms that the storms that struck early Friday produced at least three tornados.

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