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American Morning
Flooding in Midwest; China's Factories; Mortgage Meltdown; Inside Job
Aired August 23, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme weather.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would have been stuck there all afternoon if it hadn't been for the guys in the boats.
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CHETRY: A double whammy of flooding and deadly heat. Entire towns under water. Homes on the edge of disaster.
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We're just waiting for it to crack and go.
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CHETRY: What would you do if your home was threatened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never know exactly what's coming. So you just have to be prepared.
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CHETRY: Plus, hit parade. One, two, three, 10, 20, 30 runs scored. Baseball's night for the record books on this AMERICAN MORNING.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: That ball's got to be juiced.
CHETRY: Thirty runs.
SANCHEZ: That ball's got to be juiced. They put steroids inside the ball.
CHETRY: Or the field's short, you know. It's easy. Anyone can do it. Even the kiddies.
Well, welcome. It's Thursday, August 23rd. We're glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez, sitting in for John again this morning. A lot of news today. Weather related and also, boy, if you thought things were a little shaky in Iraq, there may be even some more bad news coming there, at least politically, or maybe geopolitically speaking.
CHETRY: Yes, we're going to talk all about that.
First, weather though. A double whammy for folks in the Midwest after the worst flooding in nearly 100 years for some towns in Ohio. Forecasters say that a sweltering heat wave and more rain is expected in several states.
Right now there are flood warnings and watches in nine states from Texas all the way to Ohio. At least 22 people are dead and thousands more on waking up in shelters this morning, not knowing whether or not they have a home to go back to.
Entire neighborhoods are under water still at this hour. Canoes and high-riding shuttle buses are now going house to house looking for anyone who may be trapped. States of emergency have been declared, as well, in nine counties in Ohio.
In Wisconsin, the governor estimating $38 million in damages so far. Streets and parking lots looking like lakes and rivers. Hundreds of aches of farmland under water as well. In fact, one of Wisconsin's biggest organic farmers says the damage could push him out of business, effecting the price of organic products across the country.
And much the same in central Iowa, dealing with widespread flooding after thunderstorms dumped more rain in the already waterlogged region. Hundreds were forced out of a care center after water poured into the basement, threatening the electrical system. Emergency crews are scrambling to repair levees, as well.
Well, not far from Minneapolis, the ground has been washed away, creating a precarious situation for thousands there that are now performed on a new cliff. Just look at the video. These were people who had many, many feet between themselves and a babbling brook. Now they're literally teetering on the edge. Dozens of homes have already been pushed over by the mudslide. And then these are incredible pictures. These come to us from Jeffrey Lamb (ph), one of our i- Reporters. The entire town of Rushford, Minnesota, is under water. And there you see the aftermath.
SANCHEZ: See, yes, look at the cars. All you see is the tops of the cars there.
CHETRY: And in places where the water has receded, you literally see homes just buckled down the middle from the water damage.
SANCHEZ: And eerily, you know what that reminds me of?
CHETRY: It looks a lot like Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans. SANCHEZ: You're absolutely right. Boy, riding through the areas around New Orleans and Katrina. And if you were on a boat, you'd suddenly bump into something. You'd look down and it was somebody's car or the rood of somebody's car that was just beneath you.
CHETRY: And we also have some new pictures and video from Brownsville, Minnesota. One of the other areas hardest hit. Keith Oppenheim is standing by right now.
And, Keith, what's the scene there today?
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, we're turning on our camera lights in the early morning darkness to give you a sense of the enormous power that the heavy rains and flooding can cause.
Take a look at what I see behind me. This is the home of Sharon and Lynn Pardonington (ph). And they were actually in this house when it slid down the hill off its foundation. Their grandson was inside the house with them, in his bedroom. And, fortunately, everyone was OK after this happened.
But having said that, the water in this area has mostly receded. But that's not the case when you look at some of the states just a little bit a ways away from here. Because in Ohio, the flooding is still heavy. And we're going to take you now to the northwest part of the state, Findlay, Ohio, where the damage is pretty severe.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole city of Findlay has been impacted. I mean you can't go anywhere in the city of Findlay and drive through a road, I mean, or a street. I mean, every street and road has got water on it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing that's going to be left is the stuff that's up on the walls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cushions are floating off the couch and water was approximately three to four foot deep in the apartment. So I figure, anything that's that low is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: Back live here in Brownsville, Minnesota. And, once again, take a look at the Pardonington's home. What you're looking at right behind me is the bow of a small boat and the house is sitting on top of that little boat with all this debris here.
A little bit of good news to tell you, Rick and Kiran, and that is that teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be going around today assessing damage like this. And so that could mean some federal disaster relief, maybe some state money coming to folks like this, too.
But the bad news is really twofold. One, that there is still some rain in the forecast. Flash flooding is still a concern, even though the water has mostly gone away here.
The other thing is that most of the folks around here did not have any flood insurance. So that's why a lot of people in this part of Minnesota and Wisconsin are still quite worried.
Back to you.
CHETRY: And that's what I was going to ask, the question on everyone's mind is, how will these people rebuild? Will they be able to afford it? And are they going to be able to get some help?
OPPENHEIM: You know, it's a question that's up in the air. I do know in the case of the Pardoningtons that they had flood insurance. But the damage here is so great that they have decided, I understand, not to build on this spot. But other people don't even have those options because they will be more reliant on getting aid from either the state or the federal government to start their lives over.
CHETRY: What a mess out there.
Keith Oppenheim, thank you.
So is more on the way? Our Reynolds Wolf is in the Severe Weather Center to tell us more.
And I understand we do have some warnings in effect for some of these counties in the areas that have already been extremely hard hit by the rain.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, no question about it, Kiran. All across many parts of the Midwest and the Ohio Valley, we're still seeing many of those watches and warnings. And the problem is, not that we're going to get rain, but that we're getting any rain at all. We don't need a single drop and yet more is on the way, falling right now back in the Cornhusker state of Nebraska.
We're seeing some near -- back near Columbus. Some of these fairly strong. Not severe at this point, but there's that potential later on today that we could see these really begin to fire up a bit more.
In Souix City, some scattered showers. Souix Falls. Just light precipitation.
We're going to take you back to parts of the Midwest and the southern half of the Great Lakes. Chicago, this morning, yet another damp morning for you. And as we ease back a little bit more towards Michigan, we're seeing some rainfall move in from Detroit and Ann Arbor as well. That's going to be an issue for much of the day. So keep the umbrellas handy.
And in New York, not a lot of action yet in Buffalo. But if you're tuning in from Buffalo or Lockport, you can certainly hear the thunder. Before long, you're going to be dealing with the rain.
And in the southeast, switching gears a bit, we're not talking about rain, we're talking about heat and plenty of it. Across much of the southeast, as well as the southern half of the Ohio Valley, a tremendous story for you and tremendous heat, with temperatures going beyond the triple digits in many locations like Athens, Georgia, Tuscaloosa and into Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rick, let's send it back to you.
SANCHEZ: How many states have been affected by this thing? You know, we've been watching this flooding all week long, Reynolds. What, six, seven?
WOLF: I would say at least nine states have been dealing with this on and off. And, remember, this was also a story earlier in the week with the remnants of Erin. Erin no longer an issue for us at this point. But, of course, in Oklahoma, flooding was a big story there as well. So it's been a problem that we've had in the U.S. for quite some time it seems.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk about some of the things that you were just making reference about. First of all the heat. You know, it's hard to get a picture of heat, but that's the best we could do. You can see it's difficult outside. People using umbrellas, grass drying up. Triple digit heat still gripping parts of the country this morning.
Right now some people in Nashville are being urged to dial down their air-conditioning. The city says that the power grid is so overloaded that it sparked a fire in one power plant. Temperatures hitting at least 100 degrees for 13 days in a row. Fifty people have died in that region. That's why we're going to be following that.
Now let's go over here and you can see exactly what's going on with some of the other conditions around the country. And this one has to do with extreme fires. Progress overnight, though, is the good news that we're hearing out of this massive wildfire in California.
Firefighters in Santa Barbara and Venture County say that high humidity is helping them fight the state's second largest fire on record. And there you see them using helicopters to try and bring in some of the areas. And you see the hot shots on the ground trying to put it out.
So far it's burned an area, we're told, as large as New York City. Right now crews say it's about 81 percent contained.
And then, of course, to the south. There's been a massive amount of rain. And, you know, we've been talking about Dean all week long and there you see it. There's a massive situation that people are dealing with. It's what's left of Hurricane Dean. It's downgraded to a tropical storm. The main fear now, though, is flooding and mudslides in central Mexico.
Kiran, over to you.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, rescue workers in Utah today are going to begin drilling a sixth and possibly final hole into the mine where six men were trapped after an explosion and are still missing. Speaking to Anderson Cooper last night, mine owner Bob Murray says that if nothing is found this time, he will seal the mine forever.
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BOB MURRAY, CEO, CRANDALL CANYON MINE: I have no plans to open up any mines in this area. This has been a deadly, evil mountain that is still alive. And I will never go back in to what used to be the Crandall Canyon Mine. Never.
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CHETRY: Well, Murray also responded to charges that he is giving up on the missing miners.
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MURRAY: I have never left these families of these six trapped miners. I came to this mountain within a few hours of when the seismic quake occurred on August 6th and I have never left.
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CHETRY: A fifth hole, by the way, reached the mine yesterday, found nothing but a six-inch space.
A close call at Los Angeles International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board now looking into an incident last week when two airlines came within 40 feet of crashing into one another. Investigators say that one plane was heading to the terminal and the other for the runway. They did make contact and no one was hurt.
Rick.
SANCHEZ: Well there's a new doubt coming out today about Iraq's government and its prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. According to "The New York Times," the Bush administration is going to release an intelligent report today critical of the prime minister. That would be a change. Al-Maliki was in Syria yesterday. He warned that if the U.S. doesn't like the way he runs Iraq, he can, "find friends elsewhere."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: The American administration is full of contrast and petty politics. We see that from recent criticisms and undiplomatic statements about us, which don't show proper respect. Our government is legal. The Iraqis chose it. The Americans have no right to place timetables on it or any other restrictions.
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SANCHEZ: Well, President Bush is still publicly, at least, backing the prime minister. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, a good man, with a difficult job and I support him. And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C. to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes. But as Maliki himself, now making a veiled threat with his reference about finding other friends, could he possibly be intimating support through Iran? Members of Congress have been turning up the heat on al-Maliki ahead of the military's progress report on Iraq. It's due in just a couple of weeks.
Well, the Pentagon says that it expects to deliver 1,500 mine- proof armored vehicles to Iraq by the end of the year. A spokesperson says that the government could line up enough vendors to meet its goal of delivering 3,500 MRAM vehicles. They're designed to deflect explosions, offering greater protection against roadside bombs than Humvees.
For a record, the Asian markets this morning setting a new one. A rally on Wall Street yesterday helped propel China's Shanghai index above 5,000 for the very first time. Japan's Nikkei also up sharply. And more of the same in Europe. Markets there also doing well this morning.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning. And we've talked a lot about the recall of thousands even millions of Chinese made toys. Well now a stunning first look inside of Chinese factories where some of the worlds most popular toys are made. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho joins us now with details.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
You know, we've heard about the millions of toys that have been recalled, including those 250,000 SpongeBob SquarePants address books, which were recalled yesterday. Well some believe that the problems we've seen can be attributed to devastatingly brutal conditions at the Chinese factories where these toys are made. Toys, by the way, with popular brand names like Disney, Hasbro and Mattel.
Now China Labor Watch, a U.S. based organization, went inside these factories. Sending their own investigators to eight Chinese factories over the course of the year. And what they found was simply stunning.
Take a look at these photos. What they found were horrible working conditions, no overtime, no sick or vacation pay, no safety equipment for the workers. Also living conditions in dormitories and, in some cases, child labor. All of this in blatant violation of Chinese labor laws.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was shocked at the conditions of the factories. Workers are working like machines, continuously producing seven days a week, up to 14 hours a day, using dangerous chemicals. More than 10 workers are forced to live in one dormitory room with barely enough food to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: China Labor Watch, in part, blames the U.S. based toy companies, saying that they've turned a blind eye to safety. All of the major toy companies sent statements to CNN, including Hasbro, which said, "Hasbro takes the report from China Labor Watch seriously and we will conduct a thorough investigation into the areas of non- compliance."
Now the Chinese government, by the way, has also announced it will be forming a committee to look into this. But China Labor Watch says the real problem is that the toy companies are looking to pay the lowest price for Chinese products. And, in turn, the factories simply have no choice but to cut costs on to its workers. It is a big business. The U.S. toy market is worth $22 billion. And, Kiran, 80 percent of those toys are made in China.
CHETRY: It makes you wonder, what's the incentive to, you know, to help these people when, as you said, they're looking to pay the lowest price and, unfortunately, it looks like the people that are laboring in these factories are the ones that suffer.
CHO: That's right. They're paying the price.
CHETRY: Alina Cho, thank you very much.
Well, a second company now laying off people. Fallout this morning from the mortgage crisis. Ali Velshi watching it.
We're talking about Lehman Brothers this morning? A big investment bank.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, it depend on how you want to look at this. I can actually tell you another five companies.
Yesterday, this time this morning, I was telling you about First Magnus closing down and laying off people. Then, as we were on air, I told you about HSBC laying off 600 people. Then we have Lehman Brothers. This is all in the sub prime mortgage division, laying off 1,200 people.
Accredited Home Lenders shutting down pretty much all of its retail operation, or at least selling its retail operation, laying off some 1,600 people. National Bank Holdings, 541. Impac Mortgage Holdings, 350 people. Yesterday morning we had a subtotal of 8,400 people laid off in three days in the mortgage business. Add 3,700 to that. We now have more than 12,000 people laid off in the sub prime mortgage business or in the mortgage business in the last four days and it doesn't look like it's over yet.
This credit crisis continues. All of this, of course, is going to affect your availability of mortgages and how much you pay for a mortgage, even if you have prime credit. Even if your credit rating is good.
So we're not out of the woods yet. The combination of the credit crunch and the housing markets are combining to create some pretty serious uncertainty, even though as Rick was saying a few minutes ago, Asian markets, European markets are up this morning. We'll keep you post on that as the morning continues.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi, thanks so much.
Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right. Just how well do you know the person who's working right next to you? There's new concerns this morning about insiders. People planning terror attacks from the inside.
Also, if rising floods forced you suddenly out of your home, would you know what to do? Would you be prepared to do something like that? Three critical steps to protects yourself and your property as well, right here ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, some of the best shots of the morning in our "Quick Hits" now.
Intense smoke and heat from the second largest wildfire in California's history. Firefighters are now reporting some progress after flames burned an area larger than New York City. This is in Ventura County.
Lighting up the sky over LaCrosse, Wisconsin. This electric storm captured as severe weather moved in. Look at that. That was just -- you have to really just snap your camera at the exact right time to get that flash of lightning. Pretty intense.
SANCHEZ: Or take like 52 pictures all in three seconds.
CHETRY: Either or. It depends on how good your digital camera is.
An upstream battle for people in Ohio just to get to their homes. Waste deep water covering a town in one of the hardest hit areas of the state. Findlay, Ohio, in a lot of trouble this morning. SANCHEZ: Now to our terror watch and a new focus on insiders. People already working at companies or airports using their inside knowledge to help plot an attack. CNN's Kelli Arena is in our Washington bureau with more on this FBI concern.
What are they talking about, Kelli?
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, you know, the FBI sent out a bulletin basically laying out how insiders have been used before in a variety of terror plots to gain access to either the target or to conduct surveillance. Now the best example of this involves a disrupted plot to attack London's Heathrow Airport. It involved one man who got a job at a hotel to allegedly learn how to disable fire and security systems. And another person involved in this plot owned a commercial garage to allegedly help dispose of cars, to help obtain tires and gas canisters, which law enforcement officials say were very essential to that plot.
So what should you be on the lookout for? Well, FBI says someone who tries to enter restricted areas in the workplace without having proper credentials. Someone who copies a lot of work files, particularly blueprints. To look out for that. And the FBI says it's also smart to be on alert for someone who wants to work those crazy shifts when it's likely that they'll be left alone in the facility. And, of course, these are things, Rick, that both employers and workers would notice.
SANCHEZ: Is this a working theory, like some of the other reports that we've heard about in the past, or is there actual intelligence that goes along with this report?
ARENA: Well, no, there's no intelligence. But the FBI sends out these bulletins to its state and local partners to educate them. You know, point out trends that it's uncovered. Agents say that reminders like this are helpful, especially now when officials believe that we're in a high threat phase. So this is just based on prior knowledge, but no evidence to indicate that anything like this is underway right now.
SANCHEZ: Kelli Arena.
ARENA: Could be. Keep an eye out.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we get it.
Kelli Arena, thanks so much. We appreciate it.
ARENA: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: Kiran, over to you.
CHETRY: Well, it's the first time it's happened in 110 years. Last night, the Texas Rangers put a hurting on the Baltimore Orioles. How about this for a score, 30 to three. The Rangers became the first team to score 30 runs in a game since the Chicago Colts . . .
SANCHEZ: Wow. Who are the Chicago Colts, right?
CHETRY: Right. Thirty-six back in the 19th century, 1897, to be exact. That was the last time that happened. Final score, 30 to three.
SANCHEZ: I'm telling you, they injected the ball with steroids.
CHETRY: Ouch.
Well, stress in kids. Your "Quick Hits" now. A new poll says that they feel just as much pressure as adults. Maybe even more. The survey by the AP and MTV says it's even worse for girls and young women compared to boys. Girls are also less likely to feel secure in school, in certain neighborhoods or from a terror attack.
MySpace and MTV teaming up for a series of one-on-one conversations between the leading presidential candidates and America's generation y. The candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, all will sit down and have a live talk -- talk with a live audience and take questions that have been sent by Instant Messenger, e-mail or text messages.
And a political consultant is resigning over a threatening phone call to the father of New York's Governor Eliot Spitzer. It's the latest in a high stakes feud between New York's power brokers. We're going to have more on that story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A quick check off weather around the world.
Well, it was once a category five. Dean is now a tropical depression. But still a monster, triggering mudslides in central Mexico after hitting the country a second time. Mexican authorities say they're especially worried about these mudslides in the mountains of Veracruz, where many villagers live.
Also, seven states across the Midwest under more water this morning. Miles of roads filled in Ohio. The state's worst flooding in 100 years in some of these towns. Forecasters are expecting another three inches across the heartland by tomorrow. We're going to get an update from Reynolds Wolf in the CNN Weather Center in just a moment.
Also, if you're looking for a way to help impact your world by logging on to cnn.com/impact, you can click on natural disasters and learn how you can be part of the solution.
SANCHEZ: What is this, something about a water fight that we're hearing about?
CHETRY: Apparently. It's the story coming up that you can't miss. It's a first look at Stephen Colbert, you know 'The Colbert Report." A water fight that took place between the host and billionaire Richard Branson. SANCHEZ: Oh, what they do over on that channel. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Sir Richard, thank you so much for . . .
RICHARD BRANSON: I came on here to plug my airline Virgin America (ph).
COLBERT: Did we not just plug his airline?
BRANSON: Has he ever talked about my airline, Virgin America.
COLBERT: OK. Let's talk about your airline. I understand . . .
BRANSON: Well, (INAUDIBLE) Virgin America, like it's, starting tomorrow, we're taking on the big guys. We're taking on the big guys. And all he talks about is his airline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That had to be produced.
CHETRY: I think it caught Stephen Colbert by surprise. Well, we'll see. We'll see. You be the judge, because we're going to show you what his response was to that little tossing of the cup when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
SANCHEZ: Only gets better, huh?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A beautiful shot of my alma mater this morning, University of Maryland, College Park. There it is. I was telling you off camera, Rick, when I first came there, I didn't realize all the buildings were red brick with white columns. I told my dad, "Meet me at registration. It's the red brick building with white columns."
SANCHEZ: So your dad would be the guy walking around in circles?
CHETRY: Brings back memories.
SANCHEZ: Looking for his daughter. So you're a tert. A turtle.
CHETRY: That's right. I'm a slow moving, persistent turtle. However, you're a University of Minnesota grad.
SANCHEZ: Which would make me a Golden Gopher.
CHETRY: Those are two odd, but nonetheless, wonderful mascots. The University of Maryland was kind enough to send me some swag, if you will.
SANCHEZ: Oh, cool.
CHETRY: You're not going to be happy wearing that hat, right?
SANCHEZ: I think that's kind of cool actually. It might be too small for me.
CHETRY: How about this? This will wake you up in the morning.
SANCHEZ: There you go.
CHETRY: There it is. Go Terps. Or, fear the turtle. There you have it.
SANCHEZ: Slow moving, but persistent.
CHETRY: That hat looks great on you, by the way.
SANCHEZ: Well, thank you very much.
CHETRY: There we have. A shout out to the University of Maryland and maybe we'll get your team in tomorrow. Golden Gophers.
SANCHEZ: All right. Murphy Hall School of Journalism, good place.
CHETRY: Thanks for joining us once again. Thursday, August 23rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez, sitting in for John. There's the cap.
CHETRY: The top story, as has been all week, is severe weather. This time we're dealing with many, many towns throughout the Midwest flooded. And we expect more downpours today. The last thing people need in parts of the Midwest as they head out to see what's left in their water-logged homes in the small town of Rushford -- actually, this is Mansfield, Ohio. Officials say every business off of the main street was destroyed. 350 homes were badly damaged. No one was killed in the areas but one man says he narrowly survived a collision with a wall of water.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CAMPBELL, FLOOD VICTIM: No warning at all, hardly. As soon as I came around the corner, it seemed like within 20 feet, the road was gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Look at the damage from these cars. This was all done by the flooding and the water that poured into a lot of these towns. Many cars were completely submerged across Ohio. Roads turned into rivers and many people said there was no way out.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole city of Findlay has been impacted. I mean, you can't get go anywhere in the city of Findlay and drive through a road. I mean -- or a street. I mean, every street and road has got water on it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing that's going to be left is the stuff that is up on the walls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cushions are floating off the couch and water was approximately three to four feet deep in the apartment. So I figure anything that's that low is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the governor has declared states of emergency in nine counties with rivers already over flood stage and more rain is expected today.
SANCHEZ: Extreme sadness today for military families, after the deadliest day for troops in Iraq since January. The Pentagon says 14 soldiers died when a Blackhawk went down in northern Iraq. The military says it was mechanical failure that caused the crash. One fallen soldier's aunt says he was supposed to come home in a couple of weeks. Another family tells the Associated Press that that the crash killed their second son of the war.
For the first time this morning, we're hearing from the widow of Marine Pat Tillman -- talked at the University of Arkansas, her first public comments since her husband was killed in Afghanistan. She avoided the controversy around his death, but did issue a call for better leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MS. TILLMAN, WIDOW OF PAT TILLMAN: We are in need of authentic leadership on many levels -- social, economic and political.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The former NFL star died more than three years ago now. The military knew within hours that he was killed from friendly fire, but took more than a month to actually come out and admit to that.
CHETRY: Fifty pit bulls that were saved from Michael Vick's home could now die if no one comes to claim them. Federal prosecutors set today as the deadline for people to come forward before the dogs are euthanized, and so far, no one has. Even PETA acknowledges that dogs trained to kill other dogs may not be suitable pets. One spokesperson described them as, quote, "a ticking time bomb."
Well, it was a chance to become A-Rod in a single shot. But no one won last night's $250 million Power Ball jackpot. Now the prize jumps to $300 million. There hasn't been a top winner in the game since June 27th. So the next drawing, set for Saturday.
SANCHEZ: Taking you now to Ohio. This is the worst flooding they have seen there, according to some officials, in 100 years. More than 20 people have died across the Midwest. Hundreds of people have been forced out of their homes. One of the hardest hit areas was in the northwest part of Ohio. It's in Findlay. Mayor Tony Iriti is joining us now to give us a sense of what's going on there.
This must have taken you by surprise, huh?
TONY IRITI, MAYOR OF FINDLAY, OHIO: Well, it did. The magnitude of the flooding took us by surprise. But typically when it rains very hard south of here, that's when we have our heaviest flooding.
SANCHEZ: There's an awful lot of -- that's more than a puddle there behind you, isn't it?
IRITI: That's for sure. This ended up -- the National Weather Service told us yesterday that we matched our worst flood in history, which occurred back in 1913. And that was about at 18.5 feet, which is about 7.5 feet above flood stage.
SANCHEZ: Suffice it to say today, most of your infrastructure is not going to be working. Schools closed?
IRITI: Schools have not opened yet, so that's kind of a good thing. Even the university doesn't start until next week. But everything is still closed until the water recedes far enough so we can assess some damages. And we're trying to keep people out of their homes yet until we can make that happen.
SANCHEZ: You know, things like this, you know, happen from time to time. Short of moving your town to another place, is there anything you can do to avoid this in the future?
IRITI: Well, there are short-term solutions that we have undertaken since the first of the year. We have smaller events back in December and January. We've taken some steps in that respect. We've tried to get with the Army Corps of Engineers in order to do a long-term solution, which is probably about a $100 million solution.
SANCHEZ: Like what? What would you have them do? Could you raise the banks or something?
IRITI: Yeah, exactly. The thing that we would have to do would be levees or flood walls or things of that nature. In some locations, our banks are only about four feet high. So where flood stages are -- in most cases about where our water level reached today. You know, we're at 11 feet and it just -- it makes it very different.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk about the people in your town, the residents there. What's being done for them?
IRITI: The Red Cross along with other folks have created an evacuation shelter. I think in the first evening we rescued about 100 people from their homes. The most difficult part is they don't want to leave their homes. But we were able to convince them, put them in the shelters, which are still operating. Then the governor declaring acknowledge emergency yesterday for us helps because now they'll be able to get state and federal assistance. SANCHEZ: We wish you the beset of luck, sir. And thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share some of that situation for us. Mayor Tony Iriti, thanks again.
CHETRY: There's a new twist in a feud among New York State's top leaders. Reports this morning that a top Republican political consultant in New York State is resigning over a threatening phone call to the father of New York's Democratic Governor Elliott Spitzer. Here is part of the call recorded on an answering machine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: There is not a God [bleep] thing your phony, psycho piece of [bleep] son can do about it. Bernie, your phony loans are about to catch up with you. You will be forced to tell the truth. And the fact that your son's a pathological liar will be known to all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Like we said, it's getting ugly Albany. The consultant, Roger Stone, is denying he made that call. Stone works for New York's Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Meantime, the Spitzer administration is facing allegations of using the state police to spy on Bruno.
"Quick Hits" now and more air quality concerns at Ground Zero. These are from a deadly fire last weekend at an abandon high rise near the World Trade Center site. Two New York City firefighters died in that blaze. The Department of Environmental Protection says the samples tested positive for metals that included lead on Saturday. And they were below target levels and gone by Sunday.
A popular evangelist who preaches about women's empowerment was found badly beaten in a parking lot. Her estranged husband accused of doing it. Police say Juanita Bynum was battered and had bruises along her neck and chest. It happened at a hotel parking lot around 4:00 a.m. near Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. Police say her husband left the scene. So far, no charges have been filed.
Many people in the Midwest have been forced from their flooded homes. Would you know what to do if you suddenly had to flee the weather? There are three critical steps you should know. We're going to tell you what they are, up next on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. There's a museum now dedicated to the two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions -- you know the rest?
SANCHEZ: Uh, huh.
CHETRY: On a sesame seed bun.
SANCHEZ: Got it. CHETRY: The Big Mac Hall of Fame is opening in western Pennsylvania, not too far from where the burger made its debut 40 years ago. It cost 45 cents back then. The first 100 visitors will get a free Big Mac every wee for a year. How about that? They're lining up already.
A scaly discovery in Fort Myers, Florida. A maintenance worker stumbled on an eight-foot python in an apartment complex. You can see the snake there in the corner. He grabbed the reptile, placed it in a garbage can until a wildlife trapper could get there. The trapper says the exotic animal is probably someone's pet and he's going to try and find a home for it or keep it.
From an eight-foot python to a one-legged chicken. This is Lily. Her owners in England have spent more some $4,000 on seven operations, including the amputation of the chicken's leg. They had to take out a loan to pay for most of it. Lily got hurt when she got her leg stuck in a barbed wire fence. Physically, she's doing well, but she's apparently diagnosed with depression. You can't make this stuff up.
SANCHEZ: Diagnosed with depression.
CHETRY: Hi, what do you do? I'm a chicken psychologist.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, they have to bring in a big psychologist now.
Hundreds of people in Ohio are trying to get back to their flooded homes this morning. As many as 500 people evacuated.
Would you know what to do if you had to evacuate your home, I mean, in a hurry? "AMERICAN MORNING's" Greg Hunter is in Rockville Center, New York, now to fill us in.
I guess it's a lot like the hurricane preps that people do all along the coastal areas, right?
GREG HUNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Rick, this wild weather proves without a doubt that disaster can strike anywhere at any time. Do you know what to do if you need to shut your house down in a hurry, if need be? Here is how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER (voice-over): Earthquakes in Hawaii and Peru, parts of Ohio under water, tornadoes ripping through the Midwest, a Category 5 hurricane slams into Mexico -- all have one thing in common. People need to evacuate and shut down their homes, fast.
GLENN DERENE, "POPULAR MECHANICS": Storms are more unpredictable and can be stronger. Since you never know exactly what's coming to you, you have to be prepared.
HUNTER: "Popular Mechanics'" Glenn Derene shows us how to protect your property.
DERENE: I think we'll start with one of the ones that's most dangerous.
HUNTER: A gas leak can be explosive. Knowing where and how to shut your gas off is key. But practicing shutting your gas line off is not advised because it can throw off your meter.
DERENE: It's a quarter-turn valve. It's not like a water valve. You don't need to keep twisting. One pull down and done.
HUNTER (on camera): Gas is first. What's next?
DERENE: Power.
HUNTER (voice-over): In an evacuation, Derene recommends shutting off power, one by one, so as not to damage appliances. But if you need to do it in a hurry, just flip the main breaker.
DERENE: If there's standing water in the basement, you want to make sure there's no power going into it.
HUNTER: Last item to shut down -- your water.
DERENE: You just want to make sure your own water supply doesn't flood your house. There's also external contamination in the main water supply outside. If you have city water, could come in and contaminate your own house.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: First of all, if you do leave and shut your house down, then you need a ready bag. This is a waterproof bag. Our friends at "Popular Mechanics" put it together. I can't tell you about every single thing that's in it, but I'll hit the basics. Number one, water and food is in it, any of these energy bars, any of these High-energy Nature Valley energy bars, this kind of stuff is always good to have in a bag. Water, of course, your medication, First-Aid kit, that's self-explanatory. Your documents, insurance documents, car titles, your passport, your Social Security card should be in there, also, matches or a lighter. This is not only matches, but they are waterproof matches and in a waterproof container, always good. A flashlight -- this is a $20 mag light. It's one of my favorite flashlights. It puts out a lot of light. One of my favorite new items is an LED light that puts out a lot of light and really conserves batteries. And last, but not least, the hand-pump radio. Everybody has heard about this, right? But you can also get attachments that can charge a cell phone.
And one final thing. See this right here? This is a blanket. And everybody should have one of these in case of a giant emergency. Can you believe that? That blanket fits right in here. Now for a complete list of things you need to put in your ready bag or your car, log on to cnn.com. Back to you guys.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it. What's interesting is we'll be talking to some of the people who have been affected by some of these flooding. Maybe we'll be able to ask them how prepared they were and whether they were caught off guard. Appreciate it, man. HUNTER: Sure.
SANCHEZ: OK, here we go. When we come back, we're going to be showing something -- you know I went out yesterday, right?
CHETRY: I heard tales.
SANCHEZ: Well, because we've been seeing all these rescues from the flooding in the last couple of weeks. We've seen the good, bad and ugly when it comes to helicopter rescues. So we wanted to see what a real rescue is supposed to look like. So we went out with some of the Air Force guys yesterday and they showed us how they train to do rescues, even in combat. But it was rough conditions out there. Do you want to see?
CHETRY: I'm very excited to see it.
SANCHEZ: All right, we'll laugh at me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Believe it or not, everything you've seen up to now has been the preparation for the rescue. The actual rescue itself -- believe it or not --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: ... foot swells.
CHETRY: So that chopper behind you is the one that's going to come down and rescue you guys?
SANCHEZ: Actually, it's going to do a lot of other things, like -- there are people coming out of that chopper who are landing in the water next to us. And then they'll be harnessing people out of the water. It's amazing the way they do it. But they're pros. They know how to do it. They were the ones who were called, by the way -- they were in Katrina. They were also the ones who did the perfect storm.
CHETRY: Very interesting. I can't wait to see it.
SANCHEZ: All right. Good. We'll be back.
CHETRY: Meantime, a dramatic rescue caught on...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Can you believe this? It's a fight that breaks out on the floor -- no, it's not Taiwan this time. It's the Bolivian Congress. These guys take their politics personal. This fistfight between lawmakers happened during a debate over whether four judges should face corruption charges. Opposition leaders say yes. Those in line with the President Evo Morales' government says -- wait, he's about to kick him. There you go. They say no. A lot of hand fighting, huh?
CHETRY: There you go.
SANCHEZ: It's amazing to watch.
CHETRY: And now from fight we go to loving.
It's one of my favorite movies that Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swazey, Kellerman's Mountain resort in the Catskills -- you know," Dirty Dancing," a coming of age movie from back in the 90s. Remember the classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner"? It seems a lot of people have picked up on the line and they're using it, which apparently breaks the trademark. The studio behind the film, Lionsgate," says at least 15 companies have stolen the line so they're taking them to court. The line was voted in the top 100 most memorable quotes from a movie. So you can't say, "Say hello to my little friend," either? You'll get in trouble? Is that copyrighted?
SANCHEZ: Oh, really? Because it's copyrighted, right?
CHETRY: I don't know. I didn't know putting...
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's nonsense. You get to make money off of people using to the movie and making that line popular, but then no one can use it. I don't buy that.
CHETRY: But no one puts Ali Velshi in a corner.
VELSHI: No body puts Ali Velshi in a corner.
CHETRY: Except maybe in the mortgage market.
VELSHI: And no one puts Countrywide Financial in a corner. You know, Countrywide started this whole mess. Let's me take that back. Countrywide is at the center of the whole mortgage mess on August 9th when it says it was going to have some trouble. Then it was downgraded and the stock went down. Well, Bank of America, which is the largest retail banking institution in the country, has now invested $2 billion in Countrywide, giving it some much-needed cash. That stock is up in pre-market trading. What that means is that could stem some of the layoffs that we've been seeing, some of the action that we've been seeing in this industry. We have reported just earlier that, in the last four days, we've seen 12,000 people laid off in the subprime mortgage industry amongst major companies.
The other thing is that we are hearing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation about late mortgages. Take a look at this. The number of late loans in the second quarter of this year -- the second six months of this year, $66.9 billion. That's up 36 percent. That is the biggest increase in late mortgages since 1990. That's a bit of a problem. The number of mortgages that are late then becomes -- those mortgages can go into delinquency. People end up losing their houses. Someone gets caught holding the bag because the house that even the bank repossesses, it could sometimes be less than what the house is worth. So this is real.
Remember that if you own a house and the property value goes down, but you're not selling it, your property value could come back up. If your house is repossessed or you have to sell it in a bad market, that loss is now written in stone forever. So it's a bit of an issue.
CHETRY: What a mess.
VELSHI: We'll keep reporting on it.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
Well, Bill Murray -- how's this for irony -- could be facing drunk driving charges in Sweden after he was caught cruising around downtown Stockholm in a golf cart. He's the star of "Caddie Shack." He's the gopher-chasing caddie in that movie. How's that for irony? He refused a breath test, they say. And police are saying that he smelled like alcohol when he was pulled over. Swedish authorities are waiting for the results of a blood test and, if it's positive, Murray could face a fine.
SANCHEZ: Well, she woke up in the middle of the night as two pit bulls were trying to literally tear her limb from limb. But somehow she was able to fight them off and live to tell about it. Well, today she's here. She's going to be sharing her story on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the news isn't real on this show -- not this show, but the show we're about to show you. Our news is real. It was a real fight, though, between Richard Branson and Steven Colbert of "The Colbert Report." Was it staged? You check it out, see for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BRANSON: We're taking on the big guys. We're taking on the big guys. And all he talks about is his airline.
STEVEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Well, Sir Richard, thank you so much for being my guest.
BRANSON: Thank you so much for having us.
COLBERT: Richard Branson. We'll be right back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Boy, you could really ruin a good suit that way.
CHETRY: Steven Colbert doesn't look too happy. You think it was staged?
SANCHEZ: You know, I can't tell. I can't tell either way. I can never tell with him anyway. I can't read that guy.
CHETRY: That's right. I think that's the way he wants it.
Anyway, Branson was apparently upset because he didn't get to plug his airline. Like he needs the money. Anyway, the P.R. people at "The Colbert Report" say it was all in good fun.
SANCHEZ: Um-mm.
CHETRY: I don't know if I buy it though.
SANCHEZ: Here's a look now at all the other stories that are coming up that you just can't miss.
Is there something in french fries or perhaps some coffee that could breast cancer? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be coming up in a -- well, if you eat that many french fries, I imagine you would get all kinds of diseases. We'll have that's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Have you ever seen a bigger plate of french fries?
CHETRY: It looks pretty good to me.
He's also going to be answering some questions out of your mail bag. So all of that is coming up. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
Towns swallowed by the rains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't go anywhere in the city of Findlay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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