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American Morning
Brownsville, Minnesota Hit Hard by Flooding; China's Toy Factories; Coffee and Fries Chemical: No Link to Breast Cancer
Aired August 23, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Towns swallowed by the rain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't go anywhere in the city of Findlay.
CHETRY: Rising waters and soaring heat. Entire communities cut off.
Plus, risky business. We ride along with rescuers who put their lives on the line to save others.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We've got six jumpers coming out. And we're about to see that package is going to be landing right out here.
CHETRY: And attacked in her sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you are laying in your bedroom and two Pit Bulls are jumping and attacking your dog -- your dogs, you wake up real quick.
CHETRY: She fought back against raging Pit Bulls and lived to tell her tale to us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Wow.
CHETRY: She is certainly a very brave woman.
SANCHEZ: What a story.
CHETRY: Just shocked in the middle of night by these neighbors' dogs. And we're going to be talking to her about how she's doing today.
Welcome once again. It's Thursday, August 23rd.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez, sitting in for John on a very busy day.
CHETRY: That's right. A double whammy of weather once again for people living in the Midwest part of the country.
After the worst flooding in 100 years for towns in Ohio, forecasters say that a sweltering heat wave and more rain is expected in several states. Right now, flood warnings and watches are in nine states from Texas all the way to Ohio.
At least 22 people were killed and thousands more are waking up in shelters this morning, all because of this weather. Entire neighborhoods under water at this hour. They're using canoes and high-riding shuttle buss to go house to house looking for anyone who is still trapped. States of emergency have been declared in nine counties in Ohio.
And not far from Minneapolis, the ground has literally been washed away, creating a precarious situation for homeowners there. Some of these houses are now just perched on a newly created cliff. We're going to talk to one homeowner in the next half hour.
And then there are incredible pictures from Jeffrey Lam (ph). He sent them to us in an I-Report. It's the entire town of Rushford, Minnesota, that is literally under water. You see cars buried in the water, all the way up to the windshields, as well as homes almost to the roof.
Also new pictures in from Brownsville, Minnesota. That's another area hit very hard.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim is there right now.
And boy, the scene -- you are standing in front of what used to be someone's home that literally looks like it's just toppled over like a toy.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It's right on the banks of the Mississippi River, Kiran. As you can see, this is a home that completely toppled, the home of Sharon (ph) and Lynn Partington (ph), as I walk through the mud here. And amazingly, these folks were inside their house with their grandson, and they got through it OK, even though the house moved quite a bit down the hill.
Let's take to you some video a couple states away just for comparison, because in Ohio, there is still plenty of floodwater on the ground, particularly in the northwest part of the state, where you have nine counties that have endured some very tough weather. But here in Minnesota, it's a different story, because the water has generally receded in this part of the state. As we come back live and take a look at this home, you can see how this house has toppled on a boat.
The real issue now, Kiran, is to assess the damage. And that is what FEMA teams are going to be doing today as they go through this part of Minnesota and southern Wisconsin.
The bad news is coming down right now. It's raining again. And that is going to be a big concern as we get through the next couple of days. Another thing I should mention is that a lot of folks in this area don't have flood insurance, or at least don't have the kind of insurance that might protect a situation like the one you see behind me, because, was this caused by a flood? Not exactly, according to the insurers of the Partingtons (ph), because this was a mudslide. So, a lot of people are in trouble and probably very reliant on state or federal aid.
Back to you.
CHETRY: What a mess out there. Keith Oppenheim, thanks.
And the question this morning, is more of this weather on the way, and will it hit areas where it's the last thing they need?
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Talking about triple-digit heat still gripping parts of the country this morning. Right now, some folks in Nashville are being urged to dial down their air-conditioning because of this. The city says the power grid is so overloaded that it sparked a fire at one of the power plants.
Temperatures have been hitting about 100 degree for 13 days in a row. Fifty people have died as a result of this heat in the region.
Let's show you another picture now. This is some of those fires we have been following out in California.
Progress overnight though on a massive wildfire in California. Firefighters in the Santa Barbara area and Ventura County are saying that high humidity is helping them fight the state's second largest fire on record.
So far, it's burned an area bigger than New York City. Right now, crews say it is 81 percent contained.
And far to the South, well, we have been watching the remnants of Hurricane Dean, that is, when it was. It has changed somewhat now, but still a massive amount of rain.
It's what's left of the hurricane, and it's now downgraded, by the way, to a tropical storm, now tropical depression. So it's all the way coming down that ladder.
A main fear now, of course, as we have been suggesting throughout the week, is flooding, which could cause landslides and mudslides in parts of the hilly terrained area in central Mexico.
Kiran, to you.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, rescue workers in Utah today are going to begin drilling their sixth and likely 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 if nothing is found this time, he will seal the mine forever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Murray also responded to charges that he is giving up on the missing miners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That fifth hole reached the mine yesterday. They found nothing but a six-inch space among the rubble.
Also, a close call at Los Angeles International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into an incident last week when two airliners came within 40 feet of crashing into each other. Investigators say that one plane was headed to the terminal, the other for the runway. They did not make contact and no one was hurt.
SANCHEZ: Some new doubt is coming out today about Iraq's government and its prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. According to "The New York Times", the Bush administration is going to be releasing an intelligence report today critical of the prime minister. Al-Maliki was in Syria yesterday, and he warned that if the U.S. doesn't like the way he runs Iraq, he can "find friends elsewhere."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): 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, and Americans have no right to place timetables on it or any other restrictions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: President Bush, though, still publicly, at least, backing the prime minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Prime Minister Maliki is 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: Members of Congress, by the way, have also been turning up the heat on the al-Maliki situation. This, ahead of the military's progress report on Iraq that's due in just a couple of weeks.
Also, that "Made in China" label under fire again this morning. Two hundred and fifty thousand SpongeBob SquarePants address books and journals have been recalled.
An Ohio-based importer says that the spiral metal bindings might contain some dangerous levels of lead paint in them. The books were sold here nationwide between June 2006 and July 2007.
CHETRY: Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
Rick just mentioned the latest recall. And now a first and stunning look inside of Chinese factories where some of the world's most popular toys are made.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho is here now with details for us.
Hi, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran. Good morning.
You know, we've all heard about the millions of toys that have been recalled, including this latest one that you just heard about. Well, some believe that the problems we have seen can be attributed to devastatingly brutal conditions at the Chinese factories where these toys are made.
Now, toys with popular brand names like Disney, Hasbro and Mattel. China Labor Watch, a U.S.-based organization, sent their own investigators to eight Chinese factories over the course of a year. They documented what was going on and what they found was simply stunning.
Filthy working conditions, no safety equipment like masks, long hours with no overtime. No sick or vacation pay, awful living conditions. And in some cases, child labor. All of this in blatant violation of Chinese labor laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): 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: Now, all of the major U.S.-based 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 noncompliance."
Now, the Chinese government has also announced it will be forming a committee to look into all of this, but China Labor Watch says the real problem is that toy companies are looking to pay the lowest price for Chinese products. And in turn, the factories have no choice but to cut costs on its workers.
The bottom line is a big deal. The U.S. toy market is worth some $22 billion. And Kiran, 80 percent of the toys are made in China -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, it certainly is a big problem. We're hearing, it just seems, every day about something new, like this SpongeBob recall today.
Alina, thank you.
Well, the nation's mortgage meltdown has thousands of workers now looking for new jobs this morning.
Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business".
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, good morning.
For some, these layoffs in the subprime mortgage industry continue. Yesterday, we announced that we had seen about 8,600 in the last -- in the first -- you know, in the three days preceding yesterday. Yesterday, again, we had another 3,700 layoffs from Lehman Brothers, 1,200 people there; HSBC; National Bank Holding; Impac Mortgage Holdings; credit home lenders.
What does this mean to you? Well, it means that this machine that's been financing the subprime mortgage industry for so long is now being dismantled, and that means that they're not going to be pushing these subprime loans the way they used to people who had sort of questionable credit or couldn't afford the homes.
And generally speaking, it means that loan are going to get tighter. They're going to get a little harder to get. Your credit score is going to be higher and there's going to be less money available if your credit isn't perfect.
So, this is where the subprime debacle works its way into even that prime market, even for lenders -- even for borrowers who have excellent credit. So, we're not sort of finished with this scene yet, and we'll continue to cover it as it develops -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks. Rick.
SANCHEZ: You may have heard news before about French fries and breast cancer. Well, it turns out that there's a chemical in the fries and in the coffee, and there are new details out this morning about this.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in Atlanta with some -- well, some good news on this.
What are we talking about? What's this chemical?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it is some good news, finally, talking about acrylamyde. And this is a natural byproduct actually found in a lot of foods. You mentioned French fries, but also coffee and lots of starchy foods.
There was concern some time ago, Rick, because of some animal studies that there might be an association between acrylamyde and certain cancers, specifically breast cancer. Now a new study, a 20- year study looking at over 100,000 women, following them along, found no increased likelihood of developing breast cancer based on higher dietary intakes of acrylamyde. So, some good news there.
A couple of things I want to point out about this.
It could still be considered a carcinogen based on some of these animal studies. What they found is that the concentration in the animal food products was about 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than we would get in our own diet as human beings. So, possibly a carcinogen, but much higher concentrations.
Also, they did look at other types of cancers as well, including colon, including bladder, including kidney cancer. Found no association there either -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Well, so, what is acrylamyde?
GUPTA: Acrylamyde is -- you know, interestingly, a lot of people think it's a chemical compound, and it is, but it's more of a natural byproduct that's sort of released in the cooking process. If you fry it, you bake it, you roast it, and especially starchy foods, you're going to release this compound into your food. And that seems to be where it comes from.
It's been around for a long time, as far as researchers can tell. So we've been eating it for quite some time. People before us ate it for quite some time. But again, no association, at least in these concentrations, with cancer.
SANCHEZ: Is there a certain set of factors that lead particularly to breast cancer?
GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. Trying to develop a cause and effect relationship with breast cancer is actually pretty difficult, although we do know there's very strong contributing factors to breast cancer.
For example, your family history is a big one. If your -- if a first-degree relative had it, you are more likely to have it.
Your age. They find that eight out of 10 cancers, for example, happen in women over the age of 50.
You can take a look at the list there -- diet, race. White women actually more likely to get it than African-American woman. But African-American women more likely to die from it. Lack of exercise, too much alcohol.
Add to that list as well, Rick, hormone replacement therapy, which we've talked a lot about. High doses of hormone replacement therapy for long periods of time have also been linked to breast cancer.
SANCHEZ: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much for being with us this morning.
GUPTA: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: A diplomatic flare-up to tell you about over a case of a deported mom. Your "Quick Hits" now.
Mexican lawmakers are now taking aim at the U.S. for deporting Elvira Arellano. She is the mom who took the refuge at the Chicago church for the past year. Mexican senators are upset that she had to leave her 8-year-old son behind and never even had access to the Mexican Consulate after her arrest.
Also, a washed-out drug-smuggling effort. Four men are in custody after U.S. Custom agents spotted their submarine sinking off the Mexican coast. A naval ship raced to the scene, arrested the men, and then saved the sub. It was stocked with $350 million of cocaine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, Pit Bulls attack a woman while she sleeps.
SUE ANN GORMAN, SURVIVED PIT BULL ATTACK: Jumping at my arms and tearing my arms. And jumping at my face. And grabbed my arms and just ripped off the skin.
SANCHEZ: Amazingly, she fights off the dogs and escapes. The incredible story of how she managed to get out alive and how the vicious dogs got into her home in the first place.
All next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Some of the best shots of the morning for you now. Intense smoke and heat from the second largest wildfire in California's history in Santa Barbara. Firefighters are now reporting progress after flames had burned an area larger, larger than New York City.
Also, panning the camera over, lighting up the sky over La Crosse, Wisconsin. An electric storm was captured as severe weather moved through in Madison. Three people were killed when the lightning hit a power line.
And look at that. There's the shot that seemed to have captured it with some photographer who was really quick on the draw, right?
Extreme weather also making for an upstream battle for the Johnson brothers of Lehigh. They actually had to hop into a boat after floodwaters overran their street. The family dog decided that he would rather swim.
Dogs don't like canoes. I've learned that from experience.
CHETRY: Well, we have been talking about an incredible survivor. Her name is Sue Gorman. She was sleeping in her bed Tuesday morning when two Pit Bulls woke her up. They ran into her home and they attacked her, as well as her neighbor's Jack Russell Terrier, who was sleeping at her house, and they tried to get her dog as well, and then they turned on her.
Sue Gorman joins us live now from St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, where she is still recovering this morning, along with Misty.
That's your assistance dog, right, a little Sheltie that you have with you this morning?
GORMAN: Yes.
CHETRY: Sue, first of all, how are you doing after this attack?
GORMAN: I'm real achy. I've got some really deep wounds and -- and may need to have skin grafts. And it's painful, but I'm expected to recover full function and, you know, have some scars probably.
CHETRY: Well, you know, as cut up as you look right now, you're lucky that you were able to get these two dogs off of you.
Can you sort of walk us through what happened? You were sleeping. And when did you first notice that these dogs had gotten into your house?
GORMAN: Yes, I was sleeping, and -- and the Jack Russell Terrier is a very good friend of Misty's, and of mine, too. He was very sweet.
He was sleeping on my bed. He had come over earlier, early in the morning, maybe 5:00 or something like that, like he frequently did, and comes through the pet door. And so Misty and the Jack Russell Terrier were sleeping on my bed with me, and all of a sudden the Pit Bull -- the two Pit Bulls were jumping -- jumped on my bed. I have a water bed. Jumped on my bed and were attacking the dogs.
CHETRY: And unfortunately, Romeo, you tried to save the Jack Russell, your neighbor's Jack Russell. They killed that dog. And then how did Misty survive?
GORMAN: I think -- it happened so fast, but I think Misty got out of the house right away.
CHETRY: So she was able to run?
GORMAN: And I think that they -- yes.
CHETRY: And when...
GORMAN: She -- she was the target.
CHETRY: I was just going to say, when the dogs -- OK. So they were trying to go after her. Then they turned on you.
How were you able to get these two enormous, snarling, biting animals off of you?
GORMAN: They actually -- I flew out of bed, and I was trying to protect the neighbor's dog, because it was horrible. I mean, they were -- they were awful to him. And -- and I was trying to protect the Jack Russell Terrier.
CHETRY: Right. You actually got a gun. You actually had a gun near your bed.
GORMAN: Yes.
CHETRY: And what happened when you tried to fire the gun?
GORMAN: I had the gun cocked, but it has a safety on. And it was underneath my bed stand. And I pulled it out and I took off the safety, but my gun wouldn't fire.
CHETRY: So, eventually, you were able to get yourself out of the house. You got yourself to the hospital at that point.
What do you think should happen?
GORMAN: I did.
CHETRY: What do you think should happen to these two dogs?
GORMAN: I think they should kill them. I mean, I -- they're too vicious to be safe in our society. I think that the two dogs should be euthanized, which is what I understand they are planning to do.
CHETRY: And this isn't the first time these dogs were cited by local authorities either for...
GORMAN: No.
CHETRY: ... for I guess concerns that they were attacking or would attack.
GORMAN: Well, I have called 911 on them twice, and the neighbors, I understand, have a few times, too.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, at this point, there have not been charges filed yet, but they're considering felony charges. Do you think the owners of these dogs should face felony charges?
GORMAN: Yes.
CHETRY: All right.
GORMAN: Yes. It wasn't like they weren't warned.
CHETRY: Sue Gorman survived an unthinkable attack by two Pit Bulls.
We are glad that you are OK this morning. We're sad for the loss of your neighbor's dog, Romeo, but we're glad Misty made it -- made it unharmed as well.
Sue Ann, thanks for being with us.
GORMAN: All right.
SANCHEZ: Staying with the pet theme, there's a brand new pet food recall that's topping our "Quick Hits".
Crysdale (ph) dry gravy dog food is what you need to look out for, according to officials. They're saying that it could possibly contain some contaminated salmonella.
The dog food is made by the Mars Petcare Company. It's sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and also parts of Pennsylvania.
Deadly poisoning scare in Thailand. Fifteen people are dead, more than 100 hospitalized, from eating a poisonous puffer fish. That's what it looks like. You've seen them if you've ever been down in the South around the beaches. Apparently, some stores are selling puffer fish that's disguised as salmon.
Uh-oh.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on some new reports about the benefits of gastric bypass surgery.
What have you got?
GUPTA: Hey, good morning.
We are investigating bariatric surgery. That's gastric stapling or gastric bypass. It's been around for some time now, so lots of data on it.
Could it -- in addition to losing weight, could it also reduce your risk of developing diabetes? Other diseases? And maybe even dying?
Some interesting new findings out there. We're going to have that for you coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, we have certainly looked forward to this all morning, a story coming up that you can't miss. Rick went out yesterday and rode along -- we talked all week about these amazing helicopter rescues that have been taking place because of the flooding.
SANCHEZ: And some really ugly ones, too.
CHETRY: Well...
SANCHEZ: People falling off helicopters.
CHETRY: Yes. And desperate times call forever desperate measures. Sometimes things don't go like the textbook.
But you went out there to see exactly how they train for this.
SANCHEZ: Yes. These guys are Air Force guys. They're cool. They have been trained to do just that, as a matter of fact, go out and actually perform rescues.
And this is how tough they are. They're trained to perform rescues while they're being shot at in combat. And so many of them deployed overseas.
So we gave them a call and said, look, take us along, because we would like to actually see what these things are supposed to work like, especially after seeing some of the ones in Oklahoma that didn't work.
Are you laughing at me?
CHETRY: Well, at the bottom of the screen it says "Rick to the Rescue".
Do you actually save any lives here?
SANCHEZ: No. I wouldn't be capable...
CHETRY: You just ride along.
SANCHEZ: ... of saving anybody's life. CHETRY: You just ride along.
SANCHEZ: I'm just there to show how great these guys are. And possibly get in the way from time to time, which is exactly what I'll do.
But we're going to show it to you. It's pretty cool.
CHETRY: Yes. I can't wait to see it, coming up, when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
SANCHEZ: A lot of falling down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: There it is. A shot from Birmingham, Alabama, courtesy of WVTM, 77 degrees there today. That's about as good as it's going to get. We're looking at a high of 103 as this triple digit heat hits many states in the south today and they're expecting some really high heat as well in the Midwest.
SANCHEZ: But what's the feels like weather there? I mean if it's really 105 degrees, what's it going to feel like when you add the humidity, the weather guys are always talking about that. The feel like weather today will be --
CHETRY: Or the heat index. We'll find out from Reynolds Wolf I'm sure in just a few moments. Welcome back once again, it's Thursday, August 23rd, I'm Kiran Chetry.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez sitting in for John, good to be here.
CHETRY: Well we're learning more today about the U.S. troops killed in Iraq yesterday, the deadliest day for troops there since January. The pentagon saying that 14 soldiers were killed when a black hawk went down in northern Iraq and they did indeed confirm that it was mechanical failure that caused that crash. We also learned overnight from the military that the two pilots and two of the passengers were based in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Ten of the troops were based in Hawaii.
The widow of Pat Tillman speaking out for the first time since her husband was killed in Afghanistan. Marie Tillman spoke last night at an event at the University of Arkansas, she avoided the controversy around her husband's death, but did issue a call for better leadership in the country.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MARIE TILLMAN: We are in need of authentic leadership on many levels, social, economic and political.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
CHETRY: The former NFL star died more than three years ago now. The military knew within hours that he was killed by friendly fire but took more than a month before they made that news public.
SANCHEZ: Thousands of people are waking up in shelters across the plains and the Midwest this morning because of horrible conditions there. Entire neighborhoods still under water right now. In Ohio, rescue teams are saying it's a flood you see once every 100 years. Right now flood warnings and watches remain in nine states from Texas to Ohio. Melissa Andrews is with our affiliate WTVG, she's live for us in Findlay, Ohio following these floods. And boy we can see a lot of it behind you there. Describe the scene for us, if you would, Melissa.
MELISSA ANDREWS, WTVG: Absolutely, Rick. Well we are about one block away from downtown. We are still in the downtown area. As you can see, the water here, if I can safely lift it up here, is up to my knees. If you could take a look behind me, the reason that we wanted to show you this is just so you can see how deep this flooding is. In the downtown area we have a truck there and two cars behind it, almost completely submerged in water right now. And there's a building behind it, off in the distance a bit, you can see the water mark on the building where the water used to be. Now the good news this morning is the sheriff's department here in Hancock County does tell me the water does appear to be receding, that is at least in this downtown area. The sheriff's department does say that the outlying areas, the county roads, that is where the majority of the flooding remains this morning. Now, we are still under a level three flood emergency. That means if anyone goes on the roads, either walks on the roads or drives on the roads, they could be arrested. Not only is it dangerous but at this point it is against the law. Last night around 11:00 we were up in the downtown area, and we saw two kids -- two teenagers walking through this area. And sure enough, they were arrested by police. Now we did talk with the Red Cross this morning. They say that 200 people remain in an emergency shelter there. They are getting food, water and clothing. They do say a bit of good news is that one family was able to go home last night because floodwaters had receded. But the worst may not be over. We are keeping our eye on the Blanchard River which could crest today. Rick?
SANCHEZ: Just to give us a sense, quickly Melissa before we let you go, how much of the town looks like the area that you are in now?
ANDREWS: Oh, the entire downtown area. I was actually doing some live shots there earlier this morning and all of the businesses there are flooded out. In fact, this downtown is a pretty small area. This is a town of about 45,000 people. It's a small downtown with some historic buildings. And we saw about maybe 1,000 feet or so of this one road that is flooded. But as you can see, we are off the beaten path just a block or two and we are in knee-high water. The water there is about two or three feet. But again, the majority of this flooding that is at its worst right now is in those outlying county areas.
SANCHEZ: Melissa Andrews, with WTVG, we thank you for taking us through that. Kiran?
CHETRY; What about those who are trying to survive inside of the flood zone? Cheryl Kirk used to live beside a beautiful brook, now her home teeters on a new cliff after floodwaters swept away 60 feet of her backyard. There is a look right now at what it looks like. Cheryl joins us now from her home in Minnesota City. Cheryl, thanks for being with us this morning.
CHERYL KIRK, HOMEOWNER: You're welcome.
CHETRY: So you're standing on the edge of a cliff. It used to be your backyard. Did this happen all at once or was this something gradual that happened with the round of weather you guys got?
KIRK: This happened over a period of about two and a half hours.
CHETRY: Two and a half hours you lost 60 feet. What did they tell you? What did the authorities tell you about whether or not your home is now considered safe?
KIRK: For now I have not yet been condemned. There are six houses from next door to me over, the six houses that have been condemned and they cannot rebuild. They have to come down. I'm fortunate, my house is still here. I'm lucky.
CHETRY: I know that you --
KIRK; I have not yet been condemned.
CHETRY: You feel very strongly about wanting to keep that house. It was built in the 1800s. Your family, your children, everyone has been calling you to tell to you leave and you're wanting to stay. Tell us why.
KIRK: I've -- this house is wonderful. It has character, Minnesota City was founded in 1854, the house was built in 1856. It's a gorgeous house. I'm close to retirement. And I -- I plan on staying here until I'm gone from the world, you know, I'm deceased. I wanted to live here the rest of my life. This was my settlement. This was where I was going to retire from and everything. And the house is gorgeous. We have been refurbishing it, jacking up floors, because she's old and she needs a lot of care. We've resided, put new windows in. We've put a lot of work in the house. I love this house. It's a great neighborhood. It's just wonderful and it's just devastating to sit for days and wait for this -- more rain to come in that can just wash away what's left of what I have and then I'll be condemned and won't be able to live here anymore either. This was my settlement. This was my home.
CHETRY: It is just devastating when you see you're one of 4,000 who have been affected in some way just in that small area alone. A lot of your neighbors have left. Are you risking your life though by staying Cheryl?
KIRK: No, I don't think at this -- I am risking my life by staying. Probably the most risk I had to my life was earlier when everything was coming through. We were standing on the edge of the property, about four feet away from where it was and we were chatting. We took about three steps back and about four to five foot of where we were standing just dropped down. Just fell right off of the property. CHETRY: It's unbelievable.
KIRK: It was horrifying. It was devastating.
CHETRY: I'm just wondering, how can you make sure that's not going to keep happening? What made it stop where it stopped?
KIRK: The river started -- the creek -- river, looked like a raging river when I seen it. Started to recede and now it has receded down. It's not up against the bank anymore. And I'm -- I'm thinking that if -- if we bring in some backfill and put a retaining wall back there and it would save what I have. Right now my septic is not damaged. I have no water damage in the house. But if we get more rain and more of this comes in, my septic will be exposed, and then I will have to be evacuated also. So I would like to -- we are going to do today, since the rain is coming in, we're going to put a tarp over the face of it hoping to save it. I really don't know what to do. All I can think of is a retainer wall and bring in rock and build it up so that if this happens again, god forbid, I can save what I have.
CHETRY: Wow, a tough situation. Cheryl, our thoughts are with you. I know you've been saying a lot of prayers that mother nature will cooperate and hold off for you. Thanks for sharing your story with us this morning.
KIRK: Thank you and you have a good day.
CHETRY: You, too.
SANCHEZ; That's a tough situation for her, isn't it?
CHETRY: Most of her neighbors have been evacuated. She was saying that you know it's just teetering on the edge of not only the house on the cliff but whether or not her house will be condemned and they have no choice but to leave.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, and they may have to.
Doctor Sanjay Gupta is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING with some new findings on gastric bypass surgery. Now, isn't this an extremely controversial procedure? Is it kind of being accepted now?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is still controversial, mainly in terms of who should get it, exactly what the criteria are. But you know the interesting thing about bariatric surgery or gastric bypass and stomach stapling, is that we have a lot more data on it than we ever did before. We know that it helps people lose weight. But it might also have some other benefits. We have been investigating that all morning and I'm going to bring those to you when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. As we swing across the big wall, I'm Rick Sanchez. Good morning everyone. There's a new study on gastric bypass surgery, it suggests that it not only helps people lose weight, it could also significantly reduce the risk of death from heart attacks, diabetes and cancer. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is putting all of this together for us and he's joining us now with this update. Good morning Dr. Gupta.
GUPTA: Good morning, Rick. Fascinating stuff coming out about gastric bypass surgery. A lot of people still sort of categorize this into the realm of not that common or maybe not that necessary but obviously it's changed. A lot more people are getting it as compared to ever before, about 200,000, about 175,000 people got it last year. All types of bariatric surgery. The question is, what can it do for you in addition to making you lose weight, which it does very well. At least according to most of the studies we looked at. About 40 percent chance of dying overall. You just saw some numbers they popped up there, 56 percent lower risk of coronary artery disease, 92 percent lower risk of dying from diabetes, and 60 percent less chance of dying from cancer. That all sounds pretty good. In fact, they went on to say that it can actually cure you of diabetes about 80 percent of the time. Couple of caveats I want to give you here. We -- like I said, we've been looking into this. The way that this works Rick, you go to your doctor, you say I want the surgery. If you are actually too sick, you won't be able to have the surgery. The problem is when you do a study like this, the people who get the surgery are often healthier than the people who don't. Those numbers may be a little damped by that. Those people who didn't get the surgery were sicker in the first place. And also remember, there are some serious complications of getting any kind of surgery including bariatric surgery. There can be problems with the operation itself, there can be leaks in your abdominal compartment as a result of the surgery and you don't absorb vitamins and some of the nutrients as well as you used to. So you really have to sort of put a couple caveats in there as you're thinking about whether or not to have the operation.
SANCHEZ: Well even with the risk of undergoing gastric bypass, when you say there's a 92 percent less risk of dying because of your diabetes, people are going to want to jump on this. Who -- I imagine there's -- this isn't for everybody, right?
GUPTA: It certainly is not for everybody. That's an important point as well. There are certain people who sort of meet the criteria, if you will. Those are typically people who are at least 100 pounds overweight or have a body mass index of around 40, if you measure that sort of thing. Or people who are about 75 pounds overweight but have some other significant obesity-related disease. These are also people Rick who have tried to change the medications, change their life, they've tried to exercise. None of that stuff seems to work. Oftentimes insurance companies will ask that people meet with a counselor of some sort as well beforehand to make sure that they actually do want to undergo this pretty big undertaking.
SANCHEZ; So I'm about, what, 10, 15 pounds overweight, on television that comes out to about 40 pounds overweight. I shouldn't go out and do this.
GUPTA: He's really very skinny in real life.
SANCHEZ: But guys like me, we shouldn't ever consider anything like this.
GUPTA: Right. I'm mean you're obviously not a candidate and I think that's an important point. One thing I want to show you really quickly, if I can Rick. Because this was interesting to me as a doctor. Is that if you take a look at some of the -- I think we have some animation of what gastric bypass surgery looks like. What they have found, you're actually bypassing the upper part of your stomach and you're actually bypassing a lot of your small intestine and diverting the food straight to there, as you can see that. What was so interesting is that the -- the sort of result in terms of diabetes actually happened just a few weeks after the surgery. It wasn't as a result of the weight loss. Something else is happening as a result of this operation that is fixing people of their diabetes. Don't know exactly what. It was some hormones that are no longer being released in the stomach or the intestine. But it does seem to have a significant impact on diabetes.
SANCHEZ: Whatever it is, it's a good thing, and leave it alone. Right?
GUPTA: We give some good news potentially.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, appreciate it Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Kiran?
CHETRY: Your quick hits now. The 50 pit bulls that were taken 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. Problem is, these were dogs that were bred to fight, and so even PETA acknowledges that when dogs are trained to kill other dogs, chances are they do not make suitable pets.
Also, a new power struggle of sorts in Iraq. Government officials say that armed militias are now controlling many electrical power stations. They hoard electricity and that then leads to nationwide blackouts.
SANCHEZ: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the challenges of water rescues. On a day like this, if you're looking for somebody who's out here in the middle of the ocean, wow, one of the most difficult things to deal with is these waves. Swells of seven to ten feet. That means if you're at their level, you can't see where they are. An inside look at what it takes to perform a successful water rescue.
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SANCHEZ: All right. We've been watching these images all week long. When the waters rise sometimes the only help for those trapped comes from the sky. In Oklahoma and in Ohio we saw just how difficult some of these can be. This is how it's not supposed to be done. Watch this woman. She's about to fall into the water. You may have seen it before. But those are the helicopter rescues that don't work. These are the ones, as they do work. Now these are the ones that we have seen in places like Katrina. How does someone train for a life- saving mission like this? I went out with the 106th rescue wing of the New York Air National Guard. These are the guys who actually have to do things like this not just with civilians they actually go and save people while they're being shot at in combat. They teach us how it works.
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SANCHEZ (voice-over): The seas are unusually rough with 10 to 15-foot swells as I head a mile and a half off the coast of West Hampton, Long Island. With major John McElroy and Lieutenant Glenn Weir, of the 106th Rescue Wing.
MAJ. JOHN MCELROY, 106TH RESCUE WING: You would all have troubles and need rescue on a calm, nice, beautiful day. It's days like this are even worse that we're called into action.
SANCHEZ: How difficult does it make the operation?
MCELROY: Extremely difficult. That's why we train every day for this type of rescue.
SANCHEZ: For the first drill, para rescue men, also called PJ's, jump out of a C-130 aircraft along with a package that contains an inflatable boat. You have six jumpers coming out. We're about to see that package is going to be landing right out here.
MCELROY: These guys have to release, get out of their chutes. They have to intercept that package.
SANCHEZ: There's a problem. When the package hits the water, the chutes don't release. P.J.'s have to chase the boat down.
Because it was moving, because the parachute was stuck to it, right?
PARARESCUEMAN JULES ROY, 106TH RESCUE WING: Yeah, well trying to chase down a big package with a parachute on it in the water can be an exercise in futility to say the least.
SANCHEZ: So it was tough.
ROY: Yeah, absolutely.
SANCHEZ: More problems. Parajumpers have trouble starting the boat which shows why these rescues can be so challenging.
What happens if you get a rip in this thing?
ROY: Get a new one.
SANCHEZ: Talk about grueling. We have to recover the chutes quickly to make room for this, another jump, from a (INAUDIBLE) hawk helicopter where they practice hoisting a victim out of the water with equipment that's called a horse collar. MCELROY: They will send down two horse collars at the same time. One for the PJ, the pararescueman, and one for the survivor.
SANCHEZ: So that giant green mark on the -- what is that?
MCELROY: That's called sea dive. It's a marked position, turn around, fly away and then come back to it and be able to find it again.
SANCHEZ: The helicopter circles, giving them time to prep the victim. Then it returns and hoists. Now the gurney drill, using a device called a stokes litter.
MCELROY: They'll go out with the stokes litter, put a survivor in the stokes litter, and then the helicopter will lower the cable. Then we'll hook it up to the stokes litter and hoist them back out.
SANCHEZ: Once the gurney is hoisted, the day's training mission is complete.
MCELROY: Thanks for your help.
SANCHEZ: We head back to shore but the 106th rescue wing will be at it again tomorrow, and tomorrow it may not be just a drill.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: God those guys are good.
CHETRY: Good stuff.
SANCHEZ: They're tough as nails, I'm telling you. You learn so much dealing with them. You know what you learn, too? You learn that if they don't train, and they don't do constant training, they won't be able to do this when they're stuck in real conditions. When things go wrong, I have to tell you -- yesterday was horrible conditions. There were 15-foot swells out there. It was cold, it was windy, it was rough. And that's why they say this is good. This is what we want to be in this. Hey, a shout out by the way to Fred and Tony, our crew out there.
CHETRY: Did they like it?
SANCHEZ: Well, Tony --
CHETRY: I know Tony, she's a trooper, what happened?
SANCHEZ: Tony got a little sick. Let's just say it got a little rocky out there.
CHETRY: It's not for everyone. Both in the chopper and in the boat. Recipe for disaster, but hey, hats off. Incredible job.
SANCHEZ: It's important to be able to show that to people, because those folks work hard. CHETRY: Coming up, how to survive in a flood zone. Thousands are at risk right now across the country from drowning to disease. The risks and how to stay safe. Three tips that you should know and have in your back pocket in case anything like this happens, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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