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American Morning
California Landslide: 111 Homes Evacuated; Atlantic City Mayor Goes AWOL; Workplace Asthma
Aired October 04, 2007 - 07:59 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): Breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They see daylight for the first time in nearly two days.
CHETRY: The joyous pictures -- thousands of miners making it out alive.
Edge of disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We watched the trees snapping and cracking and more boulders come down to our feet.
CHETRY: Million-dollar dream homes destroyed in a landslide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These houses have already failed. They're in a landslide.
CHETRY: Live with a homeowner who had to make a run for it.
Plus, the man behind the unforgettable image. A pilot still in the cockpit, his plane crashed in pieces around him.
His amazing story of survival and how he is making the most of his second chance at life on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Such an incredible story.
CHETRY: We really are excited to talk to him today because the pictures were astounding.
ROBERTS: And we've got to ask him what was going through his mind when you see that incredible picture where he's sitting there in the seat and the plane had literally disintegrated all around him.
CHETRY: It saved a lot of lives, too, by where he landed.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: We'll have much more on that.
Also, it's Thursday. It's October 4th. Welcome once again. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you.
I'm John Roberts.
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: Our other top story this morning, dozens of dream homes are in danger, being swallowed up by a landslide in the hills outside of San Diego. The collapse left a huge crater across a four-lane road, 15 feet deep, a half a football field across. The city says six houses were damaged or destroyed and it happened just hours after local leaders sent out a written warning to residents.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Chris Lawrence is live for us this morning in La Jolla.
And it's just an amazing scene to look at behind you there, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, it's -- it really is hard to describe. I mean, can you imagine walking out of your front door on your way to work right now and seeing anything like this?
Right now, the major slide is over, but the ground is still sifting slightly. And there is mixed news for the families that live anywhere near this incredible crater.
Some will be allowed to go back in their homes today, but the fire chief told me as they go through and do more inspections, he expects that there could be some more red tags slapped on homes, and that means the owners will be told your home is uninhabitable. Now, it's amazing to look at. Some of the evacuees said they could actually hear the ground buckle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL MOORE, EVACUEE: The street was -- had upheaval. I don't know a better word to describe it, but the asphalt that should be under my feet was eight feet in the air right in front of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Now, this came as a shock, but not necessarily a surprise. The residents had started to see cracks in the pavement as far back as earlier in the summer, and the city had been monitoring this area for weeks, even going so far as to install some above-ground water lines and put emergency crews on standby.
Now, some residents are very upset, saying they were not warned, they were not told that their homes could be in danger of collapsing. The city says the night before the collapse, it went to some specific homes on this street and told the residents it's not safe to sleep in your home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JERRY SANDERS, LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA: We have contacted the most immediately affected people over and over and over again. The city will maintain contact with them. But it's perfectly natural, when you have an incident like this, to be upset. And I wouldn't expect anybody who has been affected not to be upset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Now, some geologists say that the soil here is just inherently unstable. In fact, about 40 years ago, seven homes collapsed even as the neighborhood was being built, collapsed in a landslide. And over the years, there has been other activity.
1989, 1994, as recently as 2005, the area suffered some mudslides. So there is a history of trouble in this neighborhood -- John.
ROBERTS: Chris, is anybody suggesting that that area may be able to be stabilized and those homes could be repaired, or might that particular area be uninhabitable forever?
LAWRENCE: Well, it's definitely -- the area itself will be inhabitable, because you've got million-dollar homes on both sides of this crater. They're not going to go anywhere.
The city says it's too early to think about whether it might be possible for the city to buy some of these homes that would not be able to move back into, but they do believe some of them will be able to be rebuilt right on this same spot.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see. I mean, sometimes when you look at the way they build houses there in California, just hanging them off of hillsides, you don't know how they could ever stay there.
Chris Lawrence for us this morning in San Diego.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Chris, thanks.
(NEWSBREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
Who is in charge? Well, that's the question in Atlantic City after the mayor went AWOL.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho is following this story from the National Update Desk this morning.
Very strange story out of Atlantic City.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a bizarre story, Kiran. Good morning.
You know, and a real mystery. Certainly unusual for a mayor of any city to go AWOL.
But having said that, where exactly is Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy? Few people know and nobody's talking.
The mayor's office issued a short statement saying, essentially, "Until further notice, Mayor Robert W. Levy will be out on medical leave." But no one will say where he is, what kind of illness he has, or when he plans on coming back. What is clear is, for now, the city's business administrator says he's the acting mayor, but the Mayor Levy will return.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMENIC CAPPELLA, CITY BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR: The thing here, the key question, really, is -- is there a vacant office? There's not. He's out on sick leave. OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now, the city council says not so fast. Members say Domenic Cappella, the man you just heard from, has no authority because nothing is on paper. It was all done verbally. They want the council president to assume power and says Levy should resign immediately.
Now, all of this started last fall, when Levy admitted on Veterans Day that he might have padded his resume and lied about his military record. Though he served in Vietnam, we now know Levy was never an elite Green Beret, something he campaigned on when he ran for mayor.
Now, last week, amid reports the federal government was investigating Levy's military record, he simply disappeared. And it couldn't come at a worse time. Atlantic City, long a gambling destination, is now in turmoil. Casinos there are losing money. Some say the gaming industry there is in desperate need of a facelift.
So Atlantic City needs a leader right now, Kiran, and they don't have one.
Now, one thing we should mention is, missing or not, my producer tells me his photo and his welcome message are on the city's Web page for everyone to see. He is, after all, still the mayor.
CHETRY: I wonder if we'll get more details about that supposed medical condition.
Alina Cho, thank you.
CHO: You bet. (WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: New numbers out this morning show that your workplace may be giving you asthma.
Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at the CNN center with details.
This is great, Elizabeth, because how many times have you heard somebody say, "This building is making me sick"?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You hear it all the time. People say, "My boss is making me sick. I'm allergic to my boss."
What this new study looks at is that some people really are truly not allergic to their work, per se, but allergic to something that is used at work, allergic to a product or a chemical, and that this could affect as many as one in seven people. But it's not happening to people who just work in any old office anywhere. It's happening to people with specific occupations.
So let's take a look at what those are, because we're talking clearly about millions and millions of people.
People who are bakers or pastry makers. Imagine all of that flour that's around there. That could definitely affect your breathing.
Cosmetologists and hairdressers, all those products, all that spray in the air.
Housekeepers and janitors have to work with lots of toxic chemicals. Textile and carpet workers also have to work with certain kinds of chemicals.
And animal handlers, well, I won't go into detail why that might affect your breathing, but in fact it appears that it does.
And this is something that those people need to think about if they are feeling asthma, if they're feeling these symptoms while they are at work. They may actually have occupational asthma.
ROBERTS: So what are you supposed to do if you have got occupational asthma, quit?
COHEN: No, you're not supposed to quit. You're supposed to do first think, do I truly have occupational asthma? And there are some questions you can ask yourself, because you may have asthma caused by the flowers that are outside or asthma caused by something else.
So try to figure out with your doctor, is your job really making you sick? And here are some questions that you can ask.
You can think: Do my symptoms set in and are worse during the work week, compared to the weekend? Did the symptoms begin shortly after I started my new job? And am I even exposed to products and chemicals that can actually cause asthma in the first place?
That is definitely the first thing that you want to think about.
ROBERTS: All right. Good tips.
Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning.
Elizabeth, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: I was thinking all that hairspray can't be good for any of us.
ROBERTS: Yes, no kidding.
CHETRY: Occupational...
ROBERTS: I didn't want to say.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right.
Well, an elementary school on alert after an E. coli outbreak. Kids forced to go on dialysis as their parents were left to watch helplessly. They still haven't figured out what caused this, still looking for answers this morning.
And we're talking to the county medical chief ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
CHETRY: Well, there is news this morning about an outbreak of E. coli in Indiana. Seven children from the same school actually suffered kidney failure and had to have dialysis. Their parents left feeling just helpless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's not doing well. And she is a little 6-year-old girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the outbreak has been traced to an elementary school about 15 miles northwest of Louisville, Kentucky.
Dr. Tom Harris is the public health officer of the Health Department in Floyd County, Indiana, and joins us this morning.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Dr. Harris.
DR. TOM HARRIS, FLOYD COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Good morning.
CHETRY: First of all, do you have an update on the conditions? I believe 10 children were sick and seven seriously enough that they needed dialysis.
How is everyone doing today?
HARRIS: We have no reports of any changes in condition this morning.
CHETRY: What was the previous conditions? Were some of them allowed to go home from the hospital?
HARRIS: Yes. We've actually have discharged from the hospital, and we even have a couple of children who are already back in school from the outbreak.
CHETRY: OK. The last person to test positive for this E. coli was back on September 24th. Are you guys reasonably sure that you're in the clear, or could more potentially infected people come forward?
HARRIS: We've had a few secondary cases of family members of the affected children. The last confirmed positive from the school became symptomatic on the 24th. At this point, we're cautiously optimistic that we've seen the worst of this.
CHETRY: And you're still trying to figure out the cause of the outbreak, because it has not been determined. But what is your best guess, or what are you guys looking for at this point?
HARRIS: Well, we've confirmed that it's E. coli 0157, or the (INAUDIBLE) form of the E. coli virus. It causes cramping and bloody diarrhea.
We're looking, you know, statistically at food sources. We've had great cooperation with the state and also federal health agencies in trying to run this down. We've discovered no food sources at this point that can be identified as the source.
It can also be from contact with animals. And we're looking at the area around the school, as well as trying to take a questionnaire or an epidemiological search tool form both the victims and also from control groups, trying to see where this is coming from. So far we don't have a source identified.
CHETRY: OK. And do you think you ever will?
HARRIS: The odds are in our favor, but there is a chance -- usually the epidemiologists tell me 10 to 20 percent that -- where the primary source is never identified.
CHETRY: You know, there has been some criticism that the school wasn't closed down after the first person tested positive. Should the health department have shut down the school as a precaution?
HARRIS: No, ma'am. We looked at this quite extensively. We had discussions with the state and local agencies and also the school board.
The primary reason to close a school or any type of venue is to prevent the ongoing transmission of disease. Outside the initial cluster, the only transition has been among family members. So every day that goes by without new cases, you know, basically reaffirms that decision to close the school -- not to close the school was a correct one.
CHETRY: OK. And a way to prevent the spread of this, frequent hand washing is pretty much the only thing that can guarantee you won't pass it along?
HARRIS: Yes. Just good hand washing hygiene is quite effective in preventing the transmission of disease.
CHETRY: OK. And you believe all these kids will make a full recovery? No one has to be on dialysis for any long period of time?
HARRIS: With previous outbreaks that's been the case. By far, the vast majority of children who require transfusions and also require dialysis is found to be temporary conditions.
CHETRY: All right.
Dr. Tom Harris with the Floyd County Health Department.
Thank you.
HARRIS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. And still ahead, Democrats push the president to fix the mortgage meltdown. Will he listen?
Gerri Willis with the latest just ahead.
And imagine stepping out of your house and seeing a giant hole about half the size of a football field in front of it. What caused it and were warning signs missed? And have million-dollar homes now essentially been written off?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Top Democrats in Congress are pressuring President Bush to help fix the mortgage meltdown. They say that the president has been slow to address the situation that is costing millions of Americans their homes.
CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis here now with more.
Good morning, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning, John. Good to see you. It was an interesting press conference yesterday. The Democrats, as you say, calling on the president to do more to help people out of the mortgage meltdown.
Let's listen to what the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: That's why Democrats demand the president join us in a few simple procedures we think will help a lot -- increase funding to prevent foreclosures, modernizing the FHA to create more options for subprime borrowers looking to refinance, temporarily lifting portfolio caps on Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac to fuel the mortgage market. And finally, appointing a federal coordinator to oversee the federal government's response to this crisis, just as he did in response to Hurricane Katrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIS: All right. So there you have it, the list from the Democrats of what they want.
I've got to tell you, some of the interesting stuff here, of course, we have a bailout on the table potentially. Hillary Clinton wants to give a billion dollars to consumers through the states to help bail them out. Senator Schumer wants to do the same, giving the money to consumer groups.
I have to tell you, cnnmoney.com, hundreds of e-mails from people like you out there saying don't bail out consumers. There's a really strong response to that. But this is just one of the many kinds of issues out there, ideas that are floating around.
You heard Reid say, how about a mortgage czar out there to bring everything together, modernization of the FHA. And one interesting proposal out there, why not let bankruptcy judges decide to do with that mortgage debt, reduce it, get rid of it. And I think you can expect the bankers out there to say, no way.
ROBERTS: Bottom line is, though, it's going to take an awfully long time to get this stuff worked out.
WILLIS: Oh, it is. I think it will take a long time. And I think you can bet that there will be one bill, possibly Barney Frank's bill out of the House, that will probably take precedence here.
It's just coming into shape, from what I hear from my sources in Washington. They say that he may assign limited liability to Wall Street for some of this stuff.
So stay tuned. It's going to be interesting.
ROBERTS: No shortage of ideas.
WILLIS: Right. ROBERTS: Gerri, thanks.
And be sure to catch Gerri on "OPEN HOUSE". It's this Saturday, 9:30 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, coming up, a story that you can't miss. Crash landing, literally.
The video was astounding when you saw this pilot that miraculously emerged from the wreckage.
ROBERTS: Look at that.
CHETRY: There is he after the crash, literally shell-shocked after the plane crumbled around him on the highway. He's going to join us.
ROBERTS: Yes. And he's also going to join us with a little bit of a surprise as well.
We'll tell you all about that when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Just crossing the half hour now. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks so much for being with us on this Thursday, the 4th of October, I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
New this morning -- more than 100 dream homes now in danger of being swallowed up after a massive landslide literally buckled an area in the hills outside of San Diego. There you see the collapse from a chopper shot. A huge crater across a four-lane road. It's 15 feet deep and half a football field across. The city is saying that $6 million houses were damaged or destroyed. It happened just hours after local law enforcement sent our written warning to some residents.
We also have some breaking news out of South Africa. The rescue efforts underway right now to free trapped gold miners. So far, about 2,000 workers are out and safe after the accident happened yesterday morning. They've been continuing these evacuations all morning. More than a thousand are still under, more than a mile underground. They became stuck when an air pipe snapped and damaged an elevator. The workers are being taken out through a smaller cage in another shaft.
And breaking right now. A plane comes crashing down in the Congo and according to the Associated Press, police there are saying that at least five people have been killed. Congo's humanitarian affairs minister says the plane was carrying 17 people when it crashed in the capital directly into a marketplace, in a crowded and poor neighborhood. Congo has bad history of plane crashes, at least 24 since last year along. ROBERTS: Also new this morning, top secret U.S. documents that show the CIA worked a very fine line between interrogation and torture. According to "The New York Times," at the same time the Justice Department gave public reassurances that it did not condone torture, it secretly released opinions about questioning terror suspects. Those opinions endorsed the harshest techniques. All OK'd by then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. They also reportedly gave the green light for the CIA to use painful physical and psychological tactics on terror suspects. Head slapping, simulated drowning and exposure to frigid temperatures, apparently were all fair game. The techniques were not considered cruel, inhuman and degrading and within the standards set by Congress.
New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici is retiring for health reasons. Domenici is 75 years old. He is announcing his retirement today and revealing that he is suffering from a degenerative brain disorder that is a form of dementia. Domenici has been an influential Republican voice on budget issues and, of course, he now retiring will add one more state to the slate of states in 2008 that could see a real battle for the democrats trying to increase their hold on Congress. Kiran.
Well, it's 33 minutes after the hour right now. Rob Marciano is here in New York with us. What are you taking a look at? A system that is forming right now in the gulf.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: A couple of systems we want to keep our eyes on this. We have been for the past couple of days but it really hasn't amounted to much. It's an upper level system we really need to get it to the surface to tap the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We don't really need it. We don't really want a tropical storm or hurricane at least. The folks in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana don't. That's where this thing is likely to track.
But as you can see from the satellite picture, it's not doing a whole lot. Yesterday they canceled the flight to investigate this. Hopefully, it will remain unorganized. A bigger batch of cloudiness over the Bahamas probably of greater concern. And they have a tentative flight scheduled into this later on this afternoon. This could track into the Gulf of Mexico where the waters are 80, 45 degrees there and in some cases higher. Some of this moisture from that Bahamas system and that gulf system kind of getting together and getting into the South Carolina coast line and some of these areas saw three, four, inches of rainfall yesterday.
But it's not quite getting to where we need to get the water to. I was at Lake Altoona a couple of days and it's just northwest of Atlanta where it's desperately dry. Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama all extreme drought. You can see most of the heavier rain highlighted in the greens and brighter yellows. They're not in the areas where we need it the most so that is not good news.
Further to the north, we got, well near record-breaking warm temperatures expected again today. it has been unusually warm the past couple of days in the northeast area. We have warmed up to a degree at 70. In New York City, you typically average 67, 68 degrees. We're already above that and it's not even 9:00 in the morning. High humidity, kind of soupy out there. In some cases, there's low visibility because of the fog. Hard to believe guys that it's the first week of October. It still feels like July or August.
ROBERTS: I'll take it any time.
MARCIANO: No complaints. I like that. Good to see you guys.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
A high school English teacher in Oregon is suing her school district for the ability to be able to carry a concealed weapon to class. It's not because of recent school shootings in the news. 43- year-old Shirley Katz says she is afraid of her ex-husband. They were divorced last year. He also has a concealed weapon permit. She has had two restraining orders against him the last of which expired last month. She says that she missed a deadline to renew it. Her husband say that its all a ploy to limit visitation rights with their 5-year- old daughter. Well, we want to know what you think about all of this. Should Katz be able to bring a concealed weapon to school? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am right now. It's actually pretty close. 46 percent of you say yes. 54 percent say no.
CHETRY: One of our closest votes so far.
ROBERTS: Yes, I thought it would be overwhelm against but I think some people are seeing the merits of it.
CHETRY: Really?
Well, your "Quick Hits" now. A new study says there is a good reason why kids have been doing better in Math than Reading in recent years. The study looked at tests that were given under the no child left behind program and found that the math tests were harder than the reading tests and setting the bar harder in math forcing the kids to study more.
Another case of people's personal information landing in the wrong hands. This happened in Massachusetts. The state sending out information on people who had applied for a professional license, people like nurses and engineers. The computer glitch allowed their social security numbers to be included on disks that were provided to marketing companies. All but two of the disks have been returned.
How could anyone experience this plane crash and then live to tell about it? Well, miraculously, the pilot, Bob Robertson did and he has some even better news to share with us coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: San Diego's mayor declaring a state of emergency after a landslide forced the evacuation of 111 homes in the upscale La Jolla area. The next guest escaped the landslide but his home is red-tagged meaning no one is allowed in. Ross Clark joins us from La Jolla, California this morning. Ross, thanks for being with us. ROSS CLARK, HOME IN LANDSLIDE DANGER: Good morning.
CHETRY: Now, the red tag designation is that temporary or are you going to be able to get back in your home?
CLARK: We hope so. We have not been told if we will be able to get back into the home. We certainly hope we will be able to get back in the house but we don't know at this time. There was damage --
CHETRY: Go ahead.
CLARK: Go ahead. It's all you.
CHETRY: Well, we are seeing these pictures and we see that tremendous thing called 15 feet deep, they said about a half a football field across. How close was your home in relation to where all of that was happening some?
CLARK: Well, our house is directly below it. Yesterday morning about 8:45, my son, myself and my wife were standing in front of the house and we were looking at the road where it had buckled up overnight. And we heard trees falling. All of the pine cones dropping off the trees. Dogs were going crazy. The ground actually started to lift up in front of us and one of the senior geologist down on the sight or the engineers told us to run. He ran the other direction and we started running. As we turn around, we saw the whole bank just swept across our street and took out our wall, part of the pool. It just totally demolished our next door neighbor's house and we just kept going. So, we don't know how bad our house was damaged. We know it was damaged but we don't know to what extent at this time.
CHETRY: Is this something that came upon you guys as a surprise or have there been questions about whether or not that area was at risk for this happening?
CLARK: I would say it definitely was a surprise. We were told by Mr. Hawk, who I believe is the senior geologist for the city of San Diego, obviously, there was a problem. He wouldn't exactly say why because, obviously, he works with the city and so he didn't want to expose the city to liability.
But there was water coming out of the ground in front of our house for the last 4 1/2 days and it was coming up and going right back into the ground. So we kept calling and calling and calling. He was on the scene a lot trying to get the water utilities to come out and shut it off. He was getting a little frustrated with that from what I can tell. Obviously, it didn't get the water off. There was a lot of water underneath our house and our neighbor's house as well. And we don't know if that originated from up here or down below. The road has been buckling up in front of our house for weeks. They had, I believe, four broken water mains up here since July. The water has been going back down into the ground.
So we were told that if it ever did come down, it would be a very slow process, very gradual slide and it would not come across the street towards our house. But that changed yesterday. So we were not warned. Basically, we just ran. I grabbed my son. We ran as it was coming across. Fortunately, our next door neighbor who has three little girls who is just standing in the spot where it came across right through her house about four minutes prior to that. So she was lucky she had to take her kids to school and just missed out on that, which is a very fortunate thing.
CHETRY: Yes, a lot of people did get lucky. The question is what is next? Will you be planning to rebuild or repair your house in that neighborhood, knowing the vulnerability of that area to these landslides?
CLARK: No. I mean, now, we were unaware of all that. We saw the pictures last night at the town hall meeting of the slide they had originally. We never saw those pictures before. If I had seen those, we never would bought, one, and two, we would have sold it a long time ago. I couldn't live there again with my 10-year-old son and sleep well at night knowing what could happen.
CHETRY: What a nightmare. Thank goodness everybody did get out OK. Best of luck. I know you haven't been able to get back there to check out your house right now.
CLARK: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Ross Clark whose home was hit by that landslide. Thanks for being with us.
CLARK: Thank you.
ROBERTS: What a tough situation for him and all of those homeowners there. Just having it literally comes out from underneath you. Incredible.
CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning to you, John. That's right, we're going to be talking more about that story, in fact, in the NEWSROOM rundown.
Landslide more than a 100 families out of their homes this morning in the San Diego area.
Rescuers are slowly getting South African gold miners as well to the surface today. A power outage trapped more than 3,000 thousand workers. We'll have the very latest on that story. And a man who lost his leg to an accident has lost it again. This time to a Halloween entrepreneur charging admission to see it. All of the day's bizarre news, breaking news, too. We are in the NEWSROOM top of the hour, on CNN. Don't miss it, John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it, Heidi. Thanks very much.
COLLINS: You bet. ROBERTS: Lawmakers look to ban lead in children's toys. That tops your "Quick Hits." Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced bills that would virtually eliminate lead from toys and other products for kids. They accuse the consumer product safety commission of failing to do enough to protect children. Mattel and other companies have recalled millions of Chinese made toys due to dangerous level of lead paint but there was no specific ban on lead in toys.
Speaking of toys. You'll want to do your Christmas shopping early this year. Many of the most popular toys this season could be sold out weeks before Christmas, according to industry experts. Increased product testing caused by a wave of recalls could limit the flow of toys to store shelves.
They were simply amazing pictures. A pilot sitting in the cockpit of his plane. Dazed and confused. The plane reduced to rubble around him. So, how does an experience like that change someone? We're going to find out when we talk to the pilot, Bob Robertson, live. He's got some surprises for us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 49 minutes after the hour. The pictures are unbelievable. Pilot Bob Robertson crashing his small plane right beside i-95 in Ft. Lauderdale. Bob survived the crash and still strapped into his seat. As you can see the pictures there, he is just kind of looking at like what happened? So what is one of the first things that he did when he found out that he had a second chance at life? We're going to find out this morning. Bob Robertson and his fiance Pamela Martin join us now from Wilton Manors, Florida. Bob, thanks very much for coming out. We've been trying to get you for a few days. It's great to have you on. Let's just take you back to September 21st. You had taken just taken off from Ft. Lauderdale Airport, twin-engine plane bound for the Bahamas on a typical cargo run. What happened?
BOB ROBERTSON, PILOT WHO SURVIVED CRASH: Well, like I was saying before, it's -- it was a very normal day. Taxied out. I didn't foresee any problems. You know, I've done a bunch of flights like this. And got out on the runway and as I was getting out, I got cleared immediately for takeoff and didn't foresee any delays. There was no weather problems. Got airborne and almost immediately started having trouble.
ROBERTS: Why what happened? An engine went out?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I lost the right side completely.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. The plane obviously started losing lift. You came down on the side of i-95 there. As you knew that you were in trouble, you saw the plane going down. I-95 was right below you. What went through your mind?
ROBERTSON: Well, there was a lot below me. My choices were kind of limited to streets and cars and big buildings, bad. And then there was i-95 and one little patch of green and I managed to, I managed to eyeball that patch of green and I kept that in my sights as I was going through my checklist.
ROBERTS: Now, some of your first statements after the crash, we heard earlier this week. You said you thought the crash was going to kill you so you were really thinking about trying to save lives on the ground?
ROBERTSON: That's a pilot's tenet really, I mean...
ROBERTS: Wow.
ROBERTSON: You've got two important things to kind of focus on during the flight, you know? Number one being the overall safety of the flight. Number two is, you know, what happens when that fails and, you know, how can you -- how can you -- how can you keep from hurting people/
ROBERTS: Right.
ROBERTSON: You know, in the plane above.
ROBERTS: We have showed these incredible pictures several times a week. And (inaudible) looking one more time. Of you sitting there in the pilot seat still in your seat belt with the plane literally disintegrated around you. And we're all wondering what was going through your mind when you suddenly became aware of your surroundings?
ROBERTSON: Well, it seemed, in my mind, I came to immediately but I think it took a couple of minutes because when I finally did come around, the crews were starting to kind of filter in.
ROBERTS: Right.
ROBERTSON: And I -- I was in shock. There was no pain but like I immediately knew what had happened. Like I was aware and I could kind of see the breadth of my injuries.
ROBERTS: Wow.
ROBERTSON: Lucky enough, I had crews there telling me what to do because I was about to start doing something dumb like trying to get out of the airplane.
ROBERTS: We were all wondering if maybe you're sitting there saying am I dead? Is this what heaven looks like? It looks a lot like Florida.
ROBERTSON: It looks a lot like a destroyed airplane.
ROBERTS: Hey, you were put into a medically-induced coma to help you recover from some of your injuries and they're pretty extensive too. I mean, you really shattered your lower left leg and broke your left arm in a couple of places. Lots of lacerations as well. What is one of the first things you did when you woke up from that medically induced coma?
ROBERTSON: I did a real job on myself. When I woke up, they, they've got procedure, of course, about what needs to be, what needs to be, what you need to be --
ROBERTS: Right. What I'm getting at though, Bob, is the woman sitting beside you wasn't your fiance before you woke up from the coma.
ROBERTSON: That's true. She wasn't. It didn't take me but till Thursday of that same week to come to a full realization that she needs to be part of my life.
ROBERTS: So why did you propose there in the hospital? I mean, had your live kind of changed, after going through this?
ROBERTSON: Well, a person like me, when that comes to your mind and when the importance comes to such a head, I couldn't wait.
ROBERTS: Right. Well, it's great to see you. Pam, are you going to let him fly again?
PAMELA MARK (ph): Absolutely. He loves to fly.
ROBERTS: All right. Wow. Be careful. Bob Robertson and Pam Mark, thanks for being with us this morning. Just an incredible story. Appreciate you coming on.
ROBERTSON: Thanks.
CHETRY: Wow. What a wonderful story. He has such a good attitude about it.
ROBERTS: Just incredible to look at those pictures.
CHETRY: Congratulations to the two of them. I know. The pictures are unbelievable.
Well, just a quick reminder by the way, we usually do our house call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta today. He is on assignment though but his mailbag is still on call. Go to cnn.com/am, e-mail your questions and Sanjay will answer them when he opens up his mailbag tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
In the meantime, here's a quick look at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. Landslide in suburban San Diego. More than a hundred homes evacuated this morning.
Rescuers bringing South African gold miners to the surface in small groups today. Several hundred workers remain below ground following a power outage.
A brain condition forcing six-term Republican Senator Pete Domenici to announce his retirement today.
And two men fight over custody of a human leg. NEWSROOM just minutes away at the top of the hour, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: It's another day out of the office for Pete Nye. It should be an adult eagle or two. "The Eagle Guy." I tagged along as the "The New York State Wildlife" officer made his rounds on the Hudson River, 60 miles north of New York City. The main mission here, raccoon proofing a tree.
They go after eggs or young. They've been known to kill eagles in the nest.
PETE NYE: 40 years ago, DDT was the problem. The insecticide made eagle eggs too thin and fragile and the population collapse. Banning DDT was a big part of the fix along with putting the eagle on the endangered species list. But Pete believed the eagles needed a jump start. So he spearheaded the drive to import eaglets from Alaska back in the 70s and 80s. The goal to get 40 nesting pairs in New York.
O'BRIEN: We're in 2007 and you have how many?
PETE NYE: About 125 pairs this year.
O'BRIEN: The national symbol is now off the endangered list.
PETE NYE: It's a beautiful sight to see them, isn't it some.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Do you ever get blaise about it?
PETE NYE: Not yet, I haven't.
O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien, CNN, (inaudible) New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And before we leave you on this AMERICAN MORNING. The final results of our "QuickVote." Should a teacher be able to bring a concealed weapon to school? She fears a possible attack by her ex- husband. 50-50 is the final vote for today.
Thanks so much for logging on to cnn.com and giving us your opinion.
ROBERTS: Amazing how close that was. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We will see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: That's right. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.
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