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American Morning
Texas Tornado Kills at Least Six People; An Ocean Runs Through It
Aired April 25, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Breaking news, killer storms roll through Texas overnight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Devastating. Just definitely devastating.
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ROBERTS: Lives lost, damage across hundreds of miles.
Plus, an ocean runs through it. The nor'easter busting into pricey beach front. Summer homes cut off from the mainland, nature's power and fury on this AMERICAN MORNING. And good morning to you. It is Wednesday, April the 25th. I'm John Roberts in Washington, DC, this morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: And I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York. We have a lot of stories on our radar this morning. Of course, we're going to be following the latest on the deadly tornado that hit in Texas, but, John, of course, also you remember yesterday we saw that video, it was so hard to see of the little boy, little four-year-old Caden who was hit on the sidelines of a football game, hurt his head. Well his parents and the little guy himself, they're all going to join us a little bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: That's great. He had to get about 30 stitches after that impact as well, but I bet you, I'll just bet you, he's going to join football when he gets into school. He's a tough little kid.
The FDA is beginning to test some human foods, wondering if maybe there is some sort of connection between that and the pet deaths that we saw. Is the same ingredient now in the human food chain? We'll tell you more about that coming up.
Big day in politics as well, the House votes on that supplemental spending bill that they're going to send to the president. General Petraeus is on the Hill, John McCain officially announces he is a candidate for president and remember the hearings on the Hill yesterday Kiran with Pat Tillman's family and Jessica Lynch over what the military actually said about their incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan versus what really happened. Jessica Lynch will be joining us in a few minutes to talk all about that.
CHETRY: Powerful testimony from her, as well as others yesterday. Right now we're going to get to the breaking news overnight. A line of powerful storms hitting across Texas, including at least one tornado and we're hearing that six, but possibly seven people were killed in Eagle Pass, along the Mexico border. An elementary school is gone. More than 20 homes and a sewage treatment plant heavily damaged and there are dozens of people still in hospitals today, some of them critically hurt. The National Guard is going door to door making sure that everyone is accounted for. Eagle Pass, Texas, city councilman Ramsey English Cantu (ph) joins me on the phone right now. He is at the city hall building this morning. Thanks for being with us.
VOICE OF RAMSEY ENGLISH CANTU, EAGLE PASS, TEXAS CITY COUNCIL: Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: I understand there is about 300 or so people that are staying in shelters right now. What is the update?
CANTU: Yes, as of 3:00 a.m., that's the last time that I had the opportunity, of course, we had been here at the city hall as of 6:00 p.m. yesterday. We have more than anything have 350 individuals that have been, are staying in shelters here in our community. They have been, we've opened up recreation centers for them and we're working in a joint effort with the Red Cross, as well.
CHETRY: And we had at least six people killed there, possibly seven. Do you have any updates on the number of people killed and injured?
CANTU: No, as of right now we're still looking at six fatalities. Of course, it is sad to report that five of those six came from one home. It was a house trailer that had been lifted from the high winds of the tornado and slammed into the elementary school. We're looking at around a four to six-year-old little girl had been pulled out from that house trailer along with what could be her parents and either a grandmother or an aunt. We have not fully gotten all that information, but we are aware that it forced (ph) a young child has been killed in this catastrophe with this tornado here in the city of Eagle Pass. We're looking at around 74 total individuals that have been transported to the Ford Duncan regional medical centers here in Eagle Pass. Out of those 74, 32 have already been discharged with minor injuries, four in which have been transferred to San Antonio Texas hospital in very critical condition and, of course, four that had been admitted to our local hospital here.
CHETRY: Wow, so, you know, just a lot of devastation. You guys getting any help right now besides the Red Cross? Any other state and Federal agencies out there trying to help you?
CANTU: Yes, of course, as noted the National Guard is here with us. We have received numerous assistance from our local surrounding communities such as (INAUDIBLE) County, the Del Rio, City of Del Rio, (INAUDIBLE) has come in. We are just receiving an abundance of assistance and we are very pleased at our surrounding areas are truly coming through to assist the community of Eagle Pass. CHETRY: That's good news because you guys are going to need a lot of help after that devastation yesterday. Councilman Cantu, thanks so much for being with us.
CANTU: Thank you.
CHETRY: We're going to check in with Chad Myers now with more on this. It looks like they did get a warning from the National Weather Service about 15 minutes before that funnel cloud touched down and as we said, it was just devastating. Six people lost their lives.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And three in Mexico, as well, because the storm was on the ground in Mexico, came across the Rio Grande and then into Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass is about 25,000 people, but Piedros Negros (ph) about 125,000 people. I'll take you to the storm here at 7:00 last night as the storm went across the river into Eagle Pass and then it continued actually into southern Texas. It was a righter turner. We call them right turners because they're not going in the main direction of all of the other storms as they were traveling to the northeast. This was actually turning to the right to the southeast and a very classic example of what happens to a rotating super cell thunderstorm and I know this Eagle Pass, you think probably just a small border town. But if you look on Google Earth, it's a large area here and then obviously five times larger over here in the Piedros Negros across the Rio Grande. So kind of a devastating night down there, about 7:00 last night. The lights were still on. It was still daytime a little bit but at least they had about 10 to 15 minutes warning because they knew it.
Now on the other side of this storm, Evergreen, Colorado picks up almost two feet of snow and Conifer at two feet as well, 23 inches there, a classic spring-type storm. You have the cold and the warm clashing. It was over 100 degrees in the Rio Grande Valley yesterday and obviously cold enough to snow in Colorado and that's what caused the clash. Back to you guys.
ROBERTS: Hey, thanks very much Chad. We'll be going back to Eagle Pass by the way in a little while, hear from a woman on the ground there, a reporter from our local affiliate in San Antonio about the amount and the extent of the destruction down there.
From pet food to human food, the Food and Drug Administration announcing it will test imported wheat gluten and corn gluten in human foods. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke with Dr. David Acheson. He is the chief medical officer of the FDA center for food safety and applied nutrition.
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VOICE OF DR. DAVID ACHESON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, FDA CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY & APPLIED NUTRITION: There's no reason, whatsoever, to avoid these products. As I said, there's no indication that any of these are in the human food supply right now. This is purely a proactive approach by us to make sure that we get ahead of something and to simply be reacting to the problem when it arises.
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ROBERTS: Our CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta. Elizabeth, you heard the doctor. He says that there's no evidence that the food chain for humans at least, is contaminated. So why would they go ahead and launch this investigation?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, the simple answer is they just don't know. They found it in pet food. Could melamine be in human food? That's the question they're trying to answer. So the FDA is going to start testing several different kinds of protein products to see if they have this chemical, which is used in various industrial processes. Wheat gluten, corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein, rice bran and rice protein concentrate.
Now why are they honing in on these protein sources? Well, the reason is that when they found the melamine in the pet food, they traced is back to a source in China. Some wheat gluten imported from China contained this chemical. So now they're testing wheat gluten in other products like that to see if perhaps those also contain melamine, as well. It's important to note, nobody even knows if melamine is a threat to human beings, we just don't know. We don't know if it's in the food and we also don't know if it were to be found in food, is it a threat to human health?
An interesting note here is that some hogs were quarantined in several states. What happened was that they were concerned enough about these pets. They said let's look in these states to see if any of these hogs because they were also fed pet food, if perhaps they have melamine in their systems and in fact they did find urine in some of the hogs in some of these states and so now they're going to do more complete testing.
ROBERTS: You know, Elizabeth, melamine is one of those very versatile compounds that could be used to make plastic dishes, but how does it get into the food chain?
COHEN: That's the million dollar question. That's what they're trying to figure out. What some people think might have happened, there is a suspicion that Chinese food companies put it in there intentionally. It makes the product look like it has more protein and that makes the product more valuable economically. So there is that concern. Could it have gotten in some other way? Of course, that is always in consideration.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth, thanks very much for that update. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, thanks John. Well, David Petraeus, the general, top commander in Iraq goes to Capitol Hill today. He's going to be briefing lawmakers on Iraq, as well as the troop build buildup. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not be there. She says she has a scheduling conflict and that she talked with General Petraeus for a half hour on the phone yesterday.
If you didn't think the war of words over the war in Iraq could get any more bitter, then you got to see the latest between Vice President Cheney and Senator Harry Reid. The two are ratcheting up angry rhetoric over the war. CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill right now with more. Hi, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. For the past six years nearly every Tuesday that Congress is in session, the vice president comes here to the Hill. He has lunch with Senate Republicans. He barely makes eye contact with those in the press. In fact, he has never come to the cameras before until now.
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BASH (voice-over): It was an unprecedented moment. The vice president stepped up to the Senate microphones to blast the Democratic majority leader on Iraq.
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: The timetable legislation that he is now pursuing would guarantee defeat. Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election. It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage.
BASH: Dick Cheney stood where Harry Reid usually talks to the press and accused him of inconsistent and irresponsible statements about the war. Moments later, Reid reclaimed his turf and shot right back.
SEN. HARRY REID (D) MAJORITY LEADER: The president sends out his attack dog often. That's also known as Dick Cheney. And he was here again today attacking, not only me, but the Democratic caucus.
BASH: That intensely personal war of words over Iraq was just part of the day's dizzying back and forth up and down Pennsylvania Avenue over a Democratic bill to fund the war, but force troops to start coming home.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of fashioning a bill I could sign, Democratic leaders chose to further delay funding our troops and they chose to make a political statement.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: This is an ethical issue. This isn't a political issue. I respect where the president is coming from on this. I wish he would respect where we are coming from, which is a reflection of where the American people are coming from.
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BASH: Now, Democrats are going to vote on this plan in the House later today and it's going to be a squeaker, Kiran, because this is going to be very hard for some Democrats in the House to vote for because they say it doesn't go far enough. This bill only has a goal of bringing troops home at the end of -- by this time next year, I should say. Democratic leaders say that they think they have the votes, but it's going to be a long day behind the scenes lobbying, even some arm twisting.
CHETRY: I'm sure and Dana, I'm interested to get your take. Is it a misstep for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to miss this, given how critical she's been of the Iraq war?
BASH: I can tell you already, Kiran, Republicans are jumping on the fact that Nancy Pelosi is not going to be at this all-members briefing with General Petraeus later today. Last night we already got e-mails saying that it is irresponsible for her not to do that. Nancy Pelosi through a spokesman is making clear that she did take the time to show respect for the general, to show respect for what he has to say about the situation on the ground in Iraq because she had a one- on-one conversation by phone yesterday, but this is such a political environment and this is such a political visit by the general later today, because the main thrust, Kiran, of the Republicans' argument is that Democrats are wrong because they're not listening to commanders on the ground. David Petraeus of course is the top commander on the ground.
CHETRY: It's a scheduling conflict. Do we know what she's doing?
BASH: We don't. I actually asked that question of one of her aides last night and as of last night they didn't know what in fact was on her schedule to keep her from going to this briefing, but I can assure you we're going to try to find out.
CHETRY: And we'll know later today, all right, Dana Bash, thanks.
ROBERTS: He says he's not the youngest, but he the most experienced. John McCain will tell that to America today when he officially declares his candidacy for president in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. That's where we find senior political correspondent Candy Crowley this morning at a beautiful setting there in Portsmouth. And Candy, I got a sense of deja vu about all this.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so does he, as a matter of fact. We have seen, actually, a couple of announcements, first on David Letterman. Then we saw the straight talk express, which, John, you'll remember from the year 2000, the bus that John McCain goes around the country and campaigns on. So, we already knew he was running but in this campaign season which starts so early, you get several bites from the apple and if your campaign is been sort of flagging as McCain's has been, you want to go ahead and take as many bites as you can to get the attention, to get the headlines.
Even prior to this, John McCain rolled out three speeches kind of moving up towards this announcement. He talked about domestic policy and most importantly he talked about Iraq calling the war just and necessary. This was all part of an effort to show John McCain's credentials on the campaign trail to contrast them to others. In an excerpt from this speech McCain will say we face formidable challenges, but I am not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them. I am not the youngest candidate, but I am the most experienced. I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better and what it should not do. So over the course of the next couple days as McCain moves from here in New Hampshire to South Carolina to Iowa, we'll hear a lot about his credentials and his experience. John?
ROBERTS: All of the Republican candidates support the war to some degree, but why is it a particular issue with McCain? CROWLEY: Because McCain has really been the face of this war. He has certainly supported the cause, if not always the way the war has been conducted. But as much as George Bush, McCain has been out there. He has been a fierce proponent of this war. He has sort of become the face of it, whereas Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, are not seen as has been out there and in the forefront as McCain has.
ROBERTS: Candy, when you look at his voting record, he's a pretty solid conservative yet conservatives don't rush to embrace him. Why is that?
CROWLEY: He's really stuck here in some ways because conservatives think that John McCain is a bit too much of a maverick. They're upset about the McCain/Feingold or campaign finance reform. Conservatives think it took away some of their voice in campaigns, so, there is that. There is just the feeling that he is little too much of a maverick for them to be able to trust. On the other hand, moderates love that maverick and are kind of wondering where he is now that he's running this main stream campaign. John?
ROBERTS: Candy, when you talk about taking bites of the apple, when it comes to presidential announcements, he has eaten the whole orchard here. But thanks, we look forward to your reporting later on today.
A line of terrifying storms sweeps through Texas overnight. They have spawned at least one tornado, left at least six people dead. The very latest on the breaking story coming up next for you.
Also, Barack Obama says the color of his skin shouldn't matter and it may not to many black voters. A look how candidates are courting the African-American vote, coming up.
And we're now looking at the worst slump in home sales in 18 years. Find out how you can capitalize on it, next. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Courting the black vote. In a recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, 53 percent of registered black Democrats who were asked said they would nominate Hillary Clinton as their candidate while 36 percent shows Senator Barack Obama. But there are also a number of black elected officials in key states like New York who once solidly backed Clinton but are now on the fence and Roland Martin is a CNN contributor. He's also the host of his own morning show on WVON-AM radio in Chicago and this interview is being simulcast on the air. I can hear it now. Hi, Roland, thanks for being here.
ROLAND MARTIN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Glad to be here, Kiran.
CHETRY: It seems it was once an easy choice about who to back. You know, Clinton, both former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton have enjoyed a lot of widespread support among influential black leaders until Obama gets in the game.
MARTIN: Of course, that's what it boils down to is she did not want to have to compete for the black vote. She wanted to pretty much focus on it. But now she has to do that. Black elected officials are torn because you have the favorite son in many ways, the credible African-American candidate running for president, they don't want to be left, you know, watching this parade go by. So they're really torn as to who to support.
CHETRY: When you say that, it's because there were many back in I believe, in 1988 when a lot of black primary voters actually chose Jesse Jackson, even though influential black leaders were not backing him and they sort of had to back pedal a little bit.
MARTIN: Absolutely. First and foremost, many of them did not come to Jackson's support in 1984, but a number did in '88. You're right, what they don't want to do is be in a position where their constituents are backing Obama and then they're sitting there going, oh, my God, how did we miss this? And so they're torn. Frankly a lot of them to be honest, would prefer Obama not be in the race because they would also have to make a choice. Also, keep in mind, you're talking about people who also wield power within the party. This goes beyond just Obama and Clinton. It's also a matter of terms of how you're able to access power, get your people involved in the DNC or the spot (ph). That's also critically important.
CHETRY: And you also saying there may be some feeling that he didn't come up through the civil rights system and he's somebody who sort of made it without the traditional support, a little bit of jealousy, perhaps?
MARTIN: I wouldn't call it jealousy, but, look, you have people who were not involved in the movement. Right now I'm a part of this post-civil rights movement perspective. I wasn't born when King was alive, Obama was a young child. And so people have to understand, this is a new day. This is a new way we're operating and so, you're going to have to accept the reality you're not going to have people who come from the church, who come from civil rights organizations, who come from a different sort of perspective. That's what's most important and the bottom line is, this guy won. He's a sitting United States senator. So he's not just some guy out there running for president. He brings that sort of cachet to the game, as well.
CHETRY: So there's an easy solution here. It's the Clinton/Obama ticket and no one has to decide.
MARTIN: No. Bottom line is, I doubt very seriously you will see that ticket. Neither one of them would want to have to share the kind of power they would have to. It wouldn't make any sense. Plus he's from Illinois. She's a native of Chicago. You have to look at balance. You have to look at how can you lock up electoral college votes? Forget the popular vote. You got to be able to do that and so I doubt very seriously you'll ever see a Clinton/Obama ticket or as Obama said, an Obama/Clinton ticket.
CHETRY: All right, well, we'll have to wait and see on that one. Roland Martin, great talking to you as always.
MARTIN: Likewise, thanks, Kiran.
ROBERTS: I think both campaigns would say Clinton/Obama in what order?
Another bump in the road for anyone looking to sell their house this year. Home sales are down, the biggest drop in nearly 20 years. What you need to know whether you're a seller or a buyer. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. It's a buyer's market right now, that's what they're saying and it may be a little rough if you're trying to sell your home right now, at least it was in March. Ali Velshi here with a look at the numbers for us. We had home sales pretty low.
VELSHI: Lowest they've been in 18 years. This is a very confusing economy to make sense of. The Dow is near record highs. So are gas prices. Unemployment is at a record low but so are home sales. So if you're confused, you're not alone.
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VELSHI (voice-over): It may be a buyer's market, but that doesn't mean people are rushing to buy.
ANGELA FOX, DENVER REALTOR: It's very tough. There's a lot of homes on the market and I think that's why we're seeing the average days on market up.
VELSHI: According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales posted the sharpest drop in 18 years, down 8.4 percent. Fallout from the risky mortgage failures we've told you about has played some role in keeping people out of the market. A few weeks ago we took you to Denver, a market that has been taking its lumps for a while.
LARRY McGEE, DENVER REALTOR: Certainly we see a lot of foreclosures because we had a lot of first-time home buyers in Denver, a lot of growth over the past decade. When the market contracts, you're going to have a high number of foreclosures.
VELSHI: Nationally the median price for an existing home, that's the price at which half of all homes sell for more and half sell for less, has been dropping for eight months. Home builders are feeling the pinch. Fewer homes are being built, even fewer are being planned. The home builders are hoping to flush out the seven-month backlog of homes still on the market.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: The effect of all this is that it gets tougher to get a mortgage if you have less than perfect credit and it's going to be tough to sell your house if you're having trouble meeting your mortgage payments, which means more homes on the market which means even lower prices. If you're a buyer, great market, particularly if you have good credit. If you're a seller, sit it out.
CHETRY: So you're saying sit it out.
VELSHI: Now remember, these are median prices across country. There are places like New York where if you're a seller, you're can still sell. But yes, the point is, you never take that loss if you don't sell your house. Most people buy a house to live in it for a little while. It's this business of moving around and selling a house every couple years, that's where you get burned.
CHETRY: But is it so low that you think you would take a very big hit on your investment?
VELSHI: Depending on where you are in the country, you can take a very big hit, depending on where you bought in the cycle. If you sell it now, you could have a substantial hit in parts of the country where the economy has shifted, people have moved out and factories and jobs have moved out. Major centers, you're still OK.
CHETRY: So if you can hold off, just sit tight. Ali, thank you. John.
ROBERTS: Thank you. A line of terrifying storms sweeps through Texas, at least six dead after a tornado touches down. The National Guard going door to door right now looking for more victims.
Plus from beach to breach. The sea now pouring through the middle of some pricey beach front property in Massachusetts. The amazing pictures and what homeowners are doing about it now.
And former POW Jessica Lynch is going to join us live. There she is in West Virginia. It's the morning after some dramatic testimony about how the military spun her story. We'll talk with her next on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
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KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Devastating day, deadly storms, possible tornadoes, tear across Texas. At least six people killed and rescuer workers are now combing through the rubble looking for other victims and trying to help the survivors this morning. Still more extreme weather is expected today on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And it's Wednesday, April 25th, I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: And I'm John Roberts here in Washington, DC. We're going to have lots more about those deadly tornadoes down in Texas coming up this morning and other things on the radar, as well. An emotional day yesterday on Capitol Hill, the family of Pat Tillman as well as former POW Jessica Lynch, testifying before Congress that the military spun their story, that didn't really have much of a sense of reality to it, certain circumstances, at least, after the military got through with it. Jessica Lynch is standing in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. She's going to join us live, Kiran, in just a couple minutes.
CHETRY: Looking forward to that.
Speaking of the military, our children of war series continues and today we're going to be talking with a young mother who is raising a baby. Her husband is deployed in Iraq and she is actually starring and opening up the "Drowsy Chaperon" on Broadway and so a busy life and all of that while her husband is away and missing some of those precious first moments, the first steps, the first words, the first teeth. So we're going to talk and feature them today.
ROBERTS: A few child care issues for her I would imagine, as well.
And you've probably seen this video. It's been seen 2.6 million times on youtube, Nora the piano playing cat. We're not going to show you the old video of Nora the piano-playing cat. We have managed to get the world exclusive on Nora two before it hits youtube. We got that coming up for you in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. Looking forward to seeing that.
CHETRY: I guess we call her encore recital then of Nora the cat.
ROBERTS: I guess so.
CHETRY: All right. We look forward to seeing that.
We want to get right to our breaking news though overnight. A line of powerful storms across Texas, including at least one tornado, we got word, confirmation today at least six people killed in Eagle Pass on the Mexico border. An elementary school there wiped out. More than 20 homes, as well as a sewage treatment plant all heavily damaged and there were dozens of people injured in this, some of them critically. The National Guard helping out going door to door making sure everyone is accounted for. There are also hundreds of people who are in shelters today. Lela (ph) Walsh with our affiliate WOAI in San Antonio has the very latest from Eagle Pass.
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LELA WASH, WOAI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is all that is left of one home here behind us. You can see the toilet there and some pipes, but that is about it. The rest of the home here is in pieces. Six people died in this storm, including a three-year-old child. We're told one family was actually in their mobile home when the tornado moved through. The winds picked up that mobile home and sent it flying across a dirt road and into an elementary school that was being used as a shelter. Crews recovered the bodies of four people in the debris at that elementary school. 81 people here were hurt. They were taken to a number of hospitals throughout the region. Unfortunately, because of the high winds, they weren't able to be taken in helicopter to those hospitals. They had to travel on the ground in ambulances, so that took a bit more time. Right now, rescue crews are still on the ground. They are looking for anyone who may still be trapped in the debris. Reporting from Eagle Pass, Lela Walsh for CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: We are going to hear the forecast from Chad Myers coming up. We got word that at 6:51 p.m. yesterday, it was about 15 minutes before the funnel cloud touched down that the National Weather Service did issue a warning. Unfortunately, for some of the people there in Eagle Pass, that was not sufficient enough for them. John?
ROBERTS: The Pentagon is trying to shake off a blistering attack this morning facing new allegations that it lied to the American public. Former POW Jessica Lynch testifying that the story of her capture was embellished. The brother of Pat Tillman most harsh, called the military's handling of his brother's death in Afghanistan a campaign of lies and cover ups.
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KEVIN TILLMAN, PAT TILLMAN's BROTHER: The least this country can do for him in return is to uncover who is responsible for his death, who lied and covered it up and who instigated those lies and benefited from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Joining us now is Private Jessica Lynch. She is in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. Thanks very much for joining us, Jessica. Good to see you.
JESSICA LYNCH, PVT, U.S. ARMY (RET): Hi, thank you, good morning.
ROBERTS: What was wrong about the way that the military told your story?
LYNCH: Just the inaccuracy, the untrue story. You know, it just wasn't, it wasn't facts and kind of, it did bother me, at first, but now, you know, four years later, there's bigger issues out there that, you know, I would rather see them kind of get with the Tillmans and find out the answers to their questions.
ROBERTS: But in terms of telling your story, they initially had told, or somebody had told the story about you sort of fighting until you ran out of ammunition and that's not exactly happened, was it?
LYNCH: Not at all. I was actually knocked unconscious and before that though my weapon had jammed so I couldn't even fire off a shot.
ROBERTS: I couldn't imagine what it would be. I have been to Iraq and was there during the invasion and actually came through Nasiriya the day after you were captured. I just can't imagine what you went through. But do you think that these stories were deliberately mis-told to create heroes, to help sell the war?
LYNCH: Yeah, in a way, I do. My story, especially, you know, I was one of the first POWs rescued and I think that beginning of the war, three days into the war they needed a story, needed some hope to kind of tell the American public that this war was going to be OK and that, you know, it was going down the right path and it wasn't.
ROBERTS: You sat there yesterday during the Congressional hearing beside Pat Tillman's mother and his brother, Kevin. What was your impression of the story that they were telling to Congress?
LYNCH: Oh it was just sad and heart felt. They need answers, they really do. So many questions that they have unanswered that really do need answered of why their son's story was completely fabricated and just spun out of control.
ROBERTS: Just to refresh people's memory, the military had said that Pat Tillman was killed in a firefight with the enemy and turned out that he was killed by friendly fire after screaming at them over the radio that I'm Pat Tillman. Stop shooting at me. The word that came up yesterday very very often in this hearing was the word disservice. Do you think a disservice was done to you and to Pat Tillman and to other people whose stories were mis-told or is the disserve to the military and to the country?
LYNCH: A little bit of both, you know, because, well, for me especially, you know, I was just a soldier. I didn't see myself as no big hero, no big elaborate GI Jane that was Rambo killing machine, so, I wanted them to tell the truth about me. You know, Pat, he was already a hero to so many because of his football playing days, you know, he was a big star. So, they did need to tell the truth and get it out there and set the record straight.
ROBERTS: One quick question I want to run by you. I talked with former military people who said that they wouldn't give a second thought to concocting a story about how someone was killed to protect the family, but what would that do to a family?
LYNCH: You know, I disagree because -- the family deserves the truth. They do. No matter how horrible or you know, horrific the situation is, they deserve the truth.
ROBERTS: Jessica, it's always good to see you. Glad you're doing well, thanks very much for being with us. We appreciate it.
LYNCH: Thank you. Kiran.
LYNCH: Thank you so much.
CHETRY: Great job, thanks a lot, John.
We've been asking people to send in questions they want answered and Ali Velshi is here to answer one of them for us this morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I really like this one from Nancy. E-mail came in from Nancy asking, I would like to know what happened to all the people who lost their pensions with Enron. Enron was once number seven on the "Fortune" 500 list but it all started to come apart in 2001 when revelations started to surface about wrongdoing at the highest levels of that company. Most of Enron's employees used 401k plans, not pension plans. They were also able to buy Enron stock at a discount. As a result, the average Enron worker had 62 percent of their retirement savings in Enron stock. That stock was worth about $90 in the summer of 2000, but a few months before the bankruptcy in 2001, it had dropped to around $35.
Now, workers largely held on to their stock the whole time because Enron executives kept saying things would be OK. And here's the worst part. By the time it became obvious that things weren't OK, they couldn't sell their stock because Enron was in the process of changing 401k administrators. Now, days before the bankruptcy the stock was worth 50 cents. It was too late to sell. The average Enron worker got $16,500 in severance. They lost their health insurance benefits and for all that stock that they held, the best guess is that former Enron workers will get a little less than 30 cents back for every dollar they invested.
CHETRY: There's no possibility that legally they could recoup some money?
VELSHI: The government and the SEC are trying to recoup as much as they can from asset sales, from fines and things like that. It's not all settled, but in fact 30 cents is about the average. People don't generally do better than that in any of these scandals. That's what you end up with because after you get the settlement and the expenses and the fees and all of that happens and you divide the pot up, that's what it comes out to and I does seem -- 27 cents is about the number, the estimates for Enron workers.
CHETRY: It has got to make a lot of people mad all over again.
VELSHI: The stress, all of that. The amount of money you invest, not the money that even gains so very sad story.
CHETRY: Ali, thank you. If you have a question about some of the stories that we've covered or how we cover them, please e-mail us am@cnn.com. We're going to be picking some of them. We're going to be finding out more, getting answers for you, as Ali just did for us about the Enron case and we're going to give them to you here on our show throughout the morning.
And still to come, children of war. This morning we meet an actor making her star turn on Broadway. She's also raising her little baby girl while her husband is away at war.
Also, live from Cape Cod, Rob Marciano is showing us the devastation that the nor'easter left behind. Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Kiran. That nor'easter is one of many storms that have come here throughout the decade. A battle between the ocean and the beaches have been going on for years. A beautiful morning today, but that nor'easter came through last week and punched a huge hole in the peninsula that protects not just summer homes, but people who live here year round and their houses may very well be in jeopardy. A live report is coming up.
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ROBERTS: Forty six minutes after the hour now. Terrible weather in Texas overnight. Chad Myers at the severe weather center in Atlanta tracking what's going on today. What can we expect, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We still have tornado watches out John for the Houston area and some of those storms are rotating, but no warnings, nothing printing out saying, yes, we have rotation. But this was on the ground yesterday, 7:00 Central daylight time last night. There is Eagle Pass, a border town. That is Mexico, clearly, clear echo, I mean a classic formation of a super cell rotating thunderstorm.
Here's how it started out yesterday, last night some clearing skies. Temperatures were almost 100 degrees in northern Mexico there and then all of a sudden, one storm popped. We always look for that one. If it's in a line, you're OK. You're going to get a squall line. You may get some hail, you get some wind, but we never like to see just one and that was the big dog yesterday as it rolled across Piedros Negros (ph) and then all of a sudden at night you could see it bubbling up and ut continued all the way into south central Texas and you could really even see some of the texture of the cell right there. That's the overshooting top, as we call it, the bubbling nature of the storm.
It has still moved off to the east. We are expecting severe weather into Louisiana, Alexandria, all the way down towards Lake Charles and there's one big storm right there, that one right there. We're still watching that one to move into south Houston towards Galveston as well. That was one that was rotating earlier. If there's any warnings, we'll break in right away. John.
ROBERTS: Chad, thanks very much. This morning, the effects of last week's nor'easter could be seen right on the beaches of Cape Cod. Take a look at this. The ocean punched a huge hole right through some very expensive beach front property. CNN's Rob Marciano is in Orleans, Massachusetts. That's on the elbow of the cape, about 30 miles to the east of Hyannis and Rob, a whole new island community created there.
MARCIANO: Yeah, folks who have summer cottages there are stranded. There's no way to get to those houses now except by boat. But I'll tell you what, it would be a nice place to have a little place here or even live here year round. It's a beautiful morning on the cape. We are at low water right now. So later on this afternoon, the water will be up to here, maybe even a little bit higher. The problem is the water over the year has been eating away at this beach, beach erosion three, four feet a year at times. In spots it's a lot more than that. When storms come they just cut away at these sand dunes. On the other side of these dunes they try to put up snow fences which are meant to catch some of the sand and rebuild some of these dunes and they have the natural sand dune grasses that help as well, but it seems to be a losing battle year after year and when you have storms like last week come in, they do even more damage. Pounding surf and last week's storm took a huge chunk of this coastline right out to sea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): A massive breach here in Nauset (ph) beach in Chatham. It's a huge hole for the ocean to pour through and eat away at even more shoreline. How much is the coastline actually changing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I think, I've been here close to 20 years and I've seen it change tremendously.
MARCIANO: From the air the changes are easy to see. Streams of sand fan out to the bay. Evident storm swells and waves blasted through the beach. Even on this calm day a gentle surf constantly churns the sand along the shore. For those who live on the coast of Nantucket, the sand is eroding at up to 12 feet a year. Homes well off the beach a decade ago are now teetering on the brink. Some have already succumbed to the sea. So is erosion bad?
JIM O'CONNELL, GEOLOGIST: I guess I'd say from a natural process, it's a very good and beneficial process.
MARCIANO: Geologist Jim O'Connell at the coastal research facility in Wood's Hole explains how it all works.
O'CONNELL: Same process, that forces that created that opening and that barrier beach there also affected the entire shoreline.
MARCIANO: Just where does all this disappearing sand go? Most of it settles somewhere else along the shore, building up beaches in other spots. As sand builds the beach where people don't live, the seals have moved in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: It is an ever-changing coastline, that is for sure, with currents and storms lapping away and eating away at this coast here on Cape Cod. It is an ongoing problem. Twenty, 30 years ago, dunes here would be 30, 40 feet high and go out 200 to 300 yards and now look at it. This beach is literally disappearing and the residents here have been in a constant form of retreat. But the homes that were stranded with this past storm, with that hole that has been put into this peninsula and now homes that are year-round homes, not just summer homes are exposed to the open ocean. The geologists we spoke to yesterday says that that hole should be patched, he thinks naturally with the currents over the next few weeks. But if it's not, much like a hole that was made in a similar storm 20 years ago, homes that are year-round homes protected by this peninsula will no longer be so and the area around those homes will be eroding away and those homes, eventually, will be in the ocean. It's a beautiful sight here, Kiran. It would be a great spot to live, but there's always a price to pay when you live this close to Mother Nature. Back to you.
CHETRY: It really is a spectacular sight and hopefully that hole will fill on its own. Thanks, Rob.
A mother's star turn on Broadway and a father who missed his baby's first steps. Our special series children of war looks at how love and war is changing their lives. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. All week we've been bringing you stories, how children of war cope while their moms and dads are fighting overseas. And I recently met with a family. Dad is with the 82nd airborne in Iraq and mom is back home juggling a 13- month-old, as well as a Broadway career.
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CHETRY (voice-over): Art imitated life last week when actress Janine Lamanna stepped into the role of Janet Vandergraph (ph) in "The Drowsy Chaperone" on Broadway.
JANINE LAMANNA, HUSBAND SERVING IN IRAQ: She's an actress who is leaving show business to get married. And she's grappling with whether she wants to stay with show business or become a housewife.
CHETRY: Two years ago Lamanna met and fell in love with Captain Michael McDermott of the 82nd Airborne. Lamanna decided to put her career on hold and move to Ft. Bragg to be with her new husband.
LAMANNA: How does the cow go?
CHETRY: Thirteen -month-old Mia is the latest addition to the family but she hasn't really had the chance to get to know her father. When Mia was four months old, Captain McDermott was deployed to Iraq. What has it been like for your fairly young marriage to have this separation and a new baby?
LAMANNA: I know yeah. I miss sharing all of her experiences with him. That's the sad, saddest part about it.
CHETRY: Captain McDermott has missed a lot of Mia's firsts. First teeth, first steps, first happy birthday. How are you making memories for Mia so that she remembers her daddy?
LAMANNA: She basically listens to him on the phone. She'll really listens to his voice. So we're trying to do that and photo albums, it's really all you can do. Who's that? Who's that?
CHETRY: What does he say about having to give that up and having to miss out on his baby's life?
LAMANNA: It's his duty and he's extremely dedicated to it. You need to clap for mommy when she sings and dances.
CHETRY: Her singing and dancing has meant a return to New York and the job she does best.
LAMANNA: With the deployments it's been easy to back and forth and continue doing what I do and he's so supportive of what I do, that it makes it easy for me to do that. He says I have to get home so I can see it.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHETRY: Janine is hoping that her husband will be home in time to see her performance in "The Drowsy Chaperone." She'll be in the play through the end of July and she talked about that support. She also says how hard it is, John, to watch the news and she tries not to because any time she hears of an attack or something that's happened, she has to wonder until she hears from him, was it her husband and he's with the 82nd Airborne out of Ft. Bragg.
ROBERTS: So I imagine that the last couple days have been very tough for her because of that attack on a company of 82nd Airborne soldiers who were up there in Diyala province. Nine of them were killed on Monday.
CHETRY: And that's the type of thing that she says, you know, is her biggest fears. At the same time she just can't watch it every single day and worry. She has to go on with her life, as well. So, it's really tough and my hat's off to her. She's doing a wonderful job raising that adorable baby, as well.
ROBERTS: That story is repeated all across the country, as well.
Coming up, a line of storms sweeps across Texas spawning at least one tornado. It left several people dead. The very latest on this breaking story coming up at the top of the hour.
Plus, one tough kid. Remember this video? Look at this. Into the end zone and, pow! The four-year-old football fan who survived this end zone crash and his parents join us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
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