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Storms, Floods Hit Southern U.S.; Truck Drivers Hit Hard by Fuel Prices

Aired March 19, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Torrential rains and dangerous winds move eastward after slamming much the heartland. The vicious storms are blamed for four deaths in Missouri, five in Kentucky.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CO-HOST: Two people are missing in Arkansas, swept away in their cars. Emergency crews in Texas still searching for a teenager who was sucked into a drain pipe.

LEMON: And you know what? High water has collapsed sections of road, closed almost 200 of them, and chased hundreds of people from their homes.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in today for Kyra Phillips. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And right out of the gate here in the CNN NEWSROOM, we start with developing news. These are live pictures coming in from Jefferson County, Missouri. This is courtesy of our affiliate KMOV. KMOV is in St. Louis, Missouri. And these pictures are not far away.

You can see that that was a roadway. Wouldn't know it from the water that's crossing it. And those are probably rescue boats going to try to help some people, possibly on the other side of that.

Let's check in now with CNN's Chad Myers.

Chad, lots of flooding everywhere. Who's hit worse? Who's in for it next? We're also getting some bad weather here in Atlanta.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We will get some weather here in Atlanta, as well, yes.

Behind me is a map of what the computers and what the radar picked up yesterday. There are so many areas in red, and follow the key all the way over to six inches or more. From Illinois back to Missouri and Arkansas.

Now we're going to show you pictures, and we're going to talk about towns, because we have pictures in those towns. But I'm going to tell you: we don't -- we don't have pictures from a lot of towns, so we'd like to get your I-Reports. IReport.com. Send it in for us, please.

But where we know there is flooding: we know there is Branson, Missouri. We know there's Springfield, Missouri.

And our T.J. Holmes this afternoon is actually in Ozark, Missouri.

T.J., what are you seeing there?

T.J. HOLMES, CO-HOST: Well, what I'm seeing is actually things get better, Chad, if you can believe that. It hasn't been raining on us. That is a very good thing here in Ozark.

We've been keeping our eye on this river, the Finley River behind me, which is not usually a rushing river. It has been today. But if you take a look at this area right here, this boat launch, as the locals are telling us, that is under water right now. Normally, it is not. That's a place where locals come, and they can launch their boats out.

Well, even though that is under water right now, would you believe that the water was a lot higher when we started out here at 6 a.m. this morning local time? It was all the way up to that green -- the green top of that. So the water is receding, and this river, already, we've seen that just in the past few hours. That is a very, very good thing.

Meantime -- but still, that water is high. You can see, still, a lot of people's backyards are covered -- covered here. They've gotten several inches of rain. The concern was that they would get another five-plus inches or so today, but that hasn't been the case. A very good thing.

Now, there have been all kinds of rescues happening around the state of Missouri. A lot of people not following the advice that officials give time in, time out, when we have floods: do not try to drive through those floodwaters. You don't know how deep that water is. You're going to get washed away. Well, we've seen a lot of that.

And local officials, the water officials here telling us please don't do it. It would help us all out. You're putting yourselves in danger, and you're putting the water patrol in danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN GARY HAUPT, MISSOURI STATE WATER PATROL: It's frustrating for any rescue personnel under those circumstances. You know, our primary mission is protecting human life and public safety issues. But all that can -- most of that can be prevented if people would just take the necessary precautions. This concept of turn around, don't drown, that's what we advocate. And it makes it very difficult for all the rescue personnel in these kind of circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And there you are. You're taking another look at that rushing water here on the Finley. Again, this was described to me earlier as normally being a meandering stream. Certainly not the case right now. If you look a little to the left now, at the bridge itself, the bridge was covered by water. It is still blocked off just in case right now. But it was covered before. So Chad, actually, things here are getting a little bit better here.

People here haven't been impacted as hard as some other areas of the state, Ellington in particular. Piedmont, as well. Couple of deaths in Ellington. And right now, we are being told, Chad, unfortunately, that four people, four now, confirmed to us by state officials, have been killed in flooding around the state.

And also if you swing around here, just one more thing I want to show you here. People aren't used to a lot of stuff happening in this small town. We've been seeing this all day, as well, people stopping by. They're trying to take a peek. They're taking pictures and things like that, Chad. So kind of become a little bit of an attraction down here, as well.

MYERS: There you go. Give them -- talk to them. Give them their own weather forecast for you. The rain is just about done, T.J. So at least you can tell them that.

And in Missouri and Arkansas, the rain is done. A couple of showers but that's really it. Thanks for your report, buddy. Stay safe out there. I don't want you to be one of those people we're counting.

Indianapolis, Louisville, that's where the rain is now, back into Nashville and Atlanta. But where it was so flooded now the rain is ending. The good news is some rivers are going down. The bad news is downstream, those rivers are still going up. So even though I know T.J.'s river's going down where he is, downstream there's still more weather to come.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely. Hey, can we get that shot back up from KMOV? Scott, do we have that?

Chad, thank you very much.

It just went away. OK. There's a reporter up now, but that was amazing just to look at that, Chad, to look at how that water just went across the road. And we're going to be expecting a lot of that happening throughout the Midwest today. Correct?

MYERS: Send us your pictures. Yes, iReport.com, please, if you can. Every county that you see in dark green here, that's -- something in that county is out of its banks. There's flooding all the way from Ohio to Texas.

LEMON: Yes. And there are pictures right -- the video that we've been telling you about. Look at that. And dealing with flooding is -- sometimes it's the worst thing you can do. Because there's nothing you can do. There's nowhere to go. Right? The water just goes right in, Chad, and it's over.

MYERS: Yes. And don't go in that water. It's not clean; it's not safe. And it's not even safe -- you know, it's moving. It could wash your car away, you away. Someone was actually killed by walking into a creek. I mean, come on! Be smarter than that.

LEMON: Great. OK. Thank you very much for that, Chad.

KEILAR: And we are not taking any chances here at CNN Center in Atlanta after the tornado damaged our facility here. Just want to show you just off to the left of our set here, this is a tarp. This is a tarp that's actually over...

LEMON: They're just putting -- they're putting it in now.

KEILAR: Right, just put up. And normally these -- this is a row of desks occupied by the morning crew. That's where Heidi Collins and Tony Harris sit and all of their producers and all of their writers. So as we prepare for more bad weather, more rain, just taking precautions here at CNN Center.

LEMON: All of that is because of the damage that came through with the tornado from the bad weather over the weekend. And this was actually covered this weekend. Several times we had to move our studios from this studio, which is our main domestic studio, downstairs to the international studio because there aren't any windows around.

This is obviously, as you can see, this is right under the atrium here.

KEILAR: Right.

LEMON: So they're having it covered up. And as we've been expecting bad weather here, as well.

KEILAR: Yes. And we're not taking chances. The entire city of Atlanta not taking any chances after what happened on Friday night.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is in the middle of tornado-damaged downtown.

Rusty, what's going on there?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this is just about the time we all figured out how to get to and from CNN Center in terms of the streets. Now they are closing off more streets in downtown Atlanta. With this weather coming in and high winds there, they're very worried.

But you can still see a lot of debris here. They're worried about falling debris from the buildings. Now several of the buildings here, of course, have been boarded up, but one that's a big concern is the Westin Hotel.

Now, you're looking at one of the world's tallest hotels. They lost 175 windows there. And what they've been doing actually, because of the high winds, is they've been crashing the windows out onto the street to actually -- so they've been closing the streets down, closing the sidewalks down, so that no one gets hurt. Now, look, we saw the inside of CNN Center. Let's take a look at the outside and the Omni Hotel. You can see most of the hotel rooms appear to be boarded up at this point. There is still a large crane there. And as you said, they are concerned about rain coming in through the roof of CNN Center.

Meantime, the Atlanta Police Department is saying be patient. There are more road closures. They don't want anyone getting hurt with the higher winds and the falling debris and glass. So you may have to figure out a new way to get home -- Brianna.

KEILAR: That's right. A new way to get home and, as I found out this morning, a new way to get to work that requires a little footwork, if you will.

All right. Rusty Dornin, thanks very much.

LEMON: It requires some ingenuity, of course.

And also, they're going to be dealing with the same thing, ingenuity. This is new video from Jefferson County, Missouri. Live pictures, as a matter of fact. Check this out. Let's hope this bus has no one on it, especially school children. This is Jefferson County, Missouri.

You see this bus -- well, they got folks -- the back door is opening, so it looks like we do have some people in that bus. We may be looking at, live here, potentially a rescue.

We have heard from Chad Myers about all of the storms and the floodwaters that have hit the Midwest. Rivers are rising, really, above their peak, rising above their peaks here and flooding over, causing major flooding throughout that area.

But again, a school bus here. Not exactly sure if there are children, if anyone's on this school bus. But we do see them opening up the back door, someone standing outside. So if that does happen, if there is a rescue, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

First we saw the flashes. Then we heard the roar. Where were you when the city of Baghdad exploded on this date five years ago? Well, you could have predicted then -- who could have predicted then that the state of war and the state of Iraq now?

Today almost 160,000 American troops are still in Iraq. Over the past five years, almost 4,000 of those who went did not come home alive. We'll talk a lot today about five years of sacrifice, of progress, and also setbacks, and whether there still will be an Iraq war five years from today.

If a war must be quantified, it's done with numbers: the dead and wounded and the number of U.S. -- U.S. fatalities since March of 2003. In 3,000 -- it's 3,990. That's the number. Many times that number of American men and women bear the scars, literally, of the fighting; 29,000-plus are wounded. KEILAR: The commander in chief, President Bush, told a mostly military audience today he has zero misgivings about his decision to invade.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it. The answers are clear to me. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can, and must, win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The president calls the gains in Iraq so far, quote, "fragile and reversible," necessitating a mighty U.S. commitment.

Today's anniversary not a sober and reflective affair everywhere. This is Washington, D.C., where people allied against the war are making their faces seen and their voices heard.

Now on the other coast, crowds are marching on the street car tracks of San Francisco. It is still noon -- before noon there, and police already have arrested several protesters outside the Federal Reserve Bank. And San Francisco's day-long demonstrations are expected to be large, but peaceful.

LEMON: And Brianna, on this fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, the two Democratic presidential candidates are polishing their anti- war credentials. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both have promised to bring the troops home.

Speaking in North Carolina, Obama declared that the war has emboldened terrorists and made Americans less safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The lesson of Iraq is that, when we are making decisions about matters as grave as war, we need a policy rooted in reason and facts, not ideology and politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Clinton brought up the war in Iraq, the remarks to a union group in Detroit today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The soldiers from across this great state need a commander in chief who will end the war in Iraq and bring them home. And they certainly deserve the same voice in choosing that person. That's why I've been saying for some time that the people of Michigan and Florida must have a voice in selecting our nominee for president. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And Clinton is pushing for new presidential primaries in Michigan and in Florida. She won both states in January, but the delegates aren't being counted because the primaries took place earlier than the national party wanted.

Tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," a day with Barack Obama. A look behind the scenes of the presidential campaign. Join Anderson Cooper live from North Carolina. That's at 10 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

KEILAR: Store shelves would be empty without them. America's truck drivers talking to our Rick Sanchez about gas prices and the long haul.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we want to do, Brianna, is talk to regular Americans, the people who are really feeling the brunt of the situation that we're all going through economically.

These are some of them right here. These are gentlemen who drive trucks for a living. They're the ones who take the goods to our grocery stores, and they're having a tough time of it, a real tough time of it. So tough in fact, they're thinking about stopping altogether. That's right. A potential work stoppage. They're going to explain it to us in just a little bit.

Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: And while Baby Boomers look ahead to their golden years, how big a danger is Alzheimer's Disease? Well, a new report may shock you.

LEMON: Let's get you back now to KMOV, those pictures coming out of Jefferson County, Missouri. That bus we showed you, we're glad that no children were on board that. You can see this. It appears to be a boat. And you know, I don't want to speculate here, but there are people on board, not just doing water rescues here. But for some reason, they're loading people off of this boat into dry land.

We'll check on this with our affiliate KMOV in St. Louis to try to get you more information. But definitely, they are in the midst of flooding there. Really at its worst, we hope. We hope it doesn't get worse for them.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Live pictures now. This is the CNN Center. And I haven't really gotten my perspective here. Oh, but this is the tarp on the floor. Is this rain coming into the building? That's what we're looking at. OK. Rain coming into the CNN Center. And you see the workers out there, trying to secure the building.

Obviously, the tourists are being kept back, and you know, everyone who's been watching the news should know that the CNN Center was hit by a freak tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on Friday night, late Friday night about 9:30, quarter to 10. Caused some damage here and threatened to knock us off the air, at least domestically, because our domestic newsroom was damaged. At the time we had to move down to the international newsroom and broadcast from there.

But you see, that's what happening in the CNN Center. That's indicative of what's happening across the country with this rain and all the flooding.

Let's go now to Jefferson County, Missouri, where you see live pictures now. These are people being rescued. This is -- these pictures are courtesy of our affiliate KMOV. We're not exactly sure of the extent of this and exactly what's behind these water rescues, but we know in the last couple of minutes we have seen people being carried onto stretchers. And we're not exactly sure why, because you can imagine, communications there are at a premium right now because -- because of this flooding and because of all the water.

Moments ago we saw a school bus that was in the middle of water about, you know, tire-well-high there. And luckily, there were no children on that school bus.

But Chad, you can see -- Chad Myers joining us now -- some animals. I see two dogs, and I see some people being rescued. What's going on?

MYERS: Well, what you have here is that this road is -- goes down about another, I don't know, maybe four or five feet deep into this water. And there is an entire neighborhood on the other end of this road. And those people are actually cut off, because I guess it's almost like a cul-de-sac road here, so they're not able to get out and you can't drive through this, obviously.

So they're evacuating the people from their homes. They're in -- they're in no danger. They're just going from one basic shore to the other shore. This is the shore they're dropping them off at.

LEMON: OK. We're not -- but again, Chad, this, you said, is a precaution, but we have seen some people on stretchers, and I don't know what that's about. But we're certainly going to check into it.

MYERS: Yes, absolutely.

LEMON: So, OK, Chad Myers, thank you very much for that and thanks for keeping us abreast, Chad, as well. He told us about what was happening here in Atlanta, downtown, with some street closures and what have you.

So again, we're going to continue to following this flooding story and bring it to you right here, live at the CNN NEWSROOM -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Surging gas prices, they're getting some of the blame for the country's economic problems. Today AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is down a tenth of a cent from yesterday to just under $3.28.

No such luck for truck -- for truck drivers, though. Diesel fuel up a penny from yesterday to a record-high of just over $4 a gallon.

Our Rick Sanchez is at a truck stop in Forest Park, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. What are folks telling you there, Rick?

SANCHEZ: I got to tell you, it's -- it's difficult to hear the stories. These are the folks who are in the trenches. These are the guys we don't usually get to talk to. We see them on the highways, driving by us in those big 18-wheelers. But what they're going through, as you hear their story, trying to just make ends meet to survive, is -- is almost heart-wrenching at times.

As a matter of fact, Ali, you run this truck stop. You say three trucks have been repossessed from this lot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. There were three trucks repossessed last week from this lot. And worst thing that we had, three drivers today come here. They're professional owner-operator drivers that work every single day. They did not have money in their pocket to buy food. And they asked...

SANCHEZ: Why? Why is that? Why are trucks being repossessed? Can you make us understand?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't make our payments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't make the payments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all going to the fuel companies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: How much does it take to fill up your tank?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A thousand dollars.

SANCHEZ: A thousand dollars?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

SANCHEZ: On a -- but if you get $1,000 one would think that the people who are paying you to haul the goods would then make up difference and pay you more. Right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Because the rates haven't gone up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, the rates haven't gone up, Rick. And the problem is this: is that the brokers, the shippers, when you get to the point of getting -- if you take a load, Rick...

SANCHEZ: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and this load pays you $1,350, and you go from here to... SANCHEZ: Thirteen hundred dollars?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirteen hundred dollars.

SANCHEZ: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to put $871 for fuel in your tank.

SANCHEZ: So you don't have enough left in end?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have enough left.

SANCHEZ: How frustrating is it, given that the price of gas has gone up that much, to $4? And let me ask you a question. We mentioned a little while ago when we were covering Iraq that the president, at one point, seemed stupefied by the fact that the price was at $4 per gallon, like he didn't know. Is that upsetting to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very upsetting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very much so. Our president has lost touch with our economy in this country right here. The war in Iraq has just taken precedence over all of these issues.

And right here people cannot pay their bills. We can't make our house payments. You see the foreclosures happening left and right. Millions of these foreclosures are truck drivers.

SANCHEZ: But you guys are taking the goods to the grocery stores. A carton of milk, the carton of eggs. Now we've seen those prices go up. If those prices are going up, isn't it being filtered back to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We get hit double. We don't get -- the rates for us are not going up, and then we have to pay the higher rates at Wal-Mart, Publix, and grocery stores.

SANCHEZ: Are some of you actually considering just getting out of the business?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before you really just throw your hands up and get out of the business, what you need to do is enough truck drivers come together and see if you can fix the problem.

SANCHEZ: Talk about coming together. If you organize -- you have all said to me, to a man so far, that you have heard the conversation about a work stoppage. If there were a work stoppage called for tomorrow, raise your hands, would you all -- you would all do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred percent, 100 percent. One hundred percent.

SANCHEZ: To show what? To prove what? To say what? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To show solidarity among the truckers, to let America know that we are tired of being tired. We're tired of all these rates being at the same rate it is.

SANCHEZ: Because at $4 a gallon you can't make it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Fuel is not going to go down, Rick. It's going to continue to go up. So the rates need to go up. They need to be from $1.85 to $2, to $2.05, $2.25, $2.50, $3.

SANCHEZ: We get it.

Gentlemen, you're average Americans. You're explaining to us your situation, what it's like to actually try and make ends meet in your situation. We appreciate that. And I'm sure many people at home do, as well. My thanks to all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: There you have it, Brianna. The situation really, here on the ground, the trenches as it were, for Americans who are having to deal with this economy, "Issue No. 1."

Back to you.

KEILAR: Very interesting. Rick Sanchez for us there. Thanks.

LEMON: That's -- Rick pulled it out of them. Those were great sound bites, Rick. We appreciate that coverage.

We also appreciate the coverage from our affiliate KMOV, happening in Jefferson County, Missouri. We are looking at water rescues. Chad Myers explained it. The road cut off. So people had to be brought to safety on the other side of this flooding water. These are rescue teams that are on the scene now from this flooding that's happening all across the Midwest.

And this isn't it. There's a lot more going on. We've got problems here at the CNN weather center, CNN Center in Atlanta. We've got problems all over the Midwest. We're on top of it right here for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Live pictures. This is the CNN Center. If you've ever been to Atlanta, this is the home of CNN. Atlanta known for CNN. And this is the CNN Center.

Flooding going on because our building, our facility here, world headquarters, hit by a tornado on Friday night. A freak tornado. Tornadoes don't usually strike cities, metropolitan cities. And, it did this weekend right here in Atlanta. And we're having a bit of difficulty because it's leaking; the roof is leaking.

But we're not the only building damaged here. Several of our convention centers and our conference centers and office buildings all had damage. Some of them aren't even back up and running now, so that's going to affect business and conventions right here in the Atlanta area. So that's what you're looking at.

So we are bracing for that, and possibly more bad weather, according to our Chad Myers.

And those -- the part of the country that's hit worse by this -- check it out -- Missouri. Jefferson County, Missouri. These pictures, of course, courtesy of our affiliate, KMOV.

KMOV, thank you so much for these pictures. You're showing, really, the world what Missouri and what people in the Midwest are going through.

We have witnessed some water rescues in this area. People who were trapped on one side of a road. They couldn't get through because all of a sudden there is a river where a river shouldn't be.

So KMOV, thank you again. Jefferson County, Missouri, experiencing the worst of this storm.

Captain Ralph Brown is on the phone now.

Are you with Jefferson County, Captain Brown?

CAPTAIN RALPH BROWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY: Yes, that's correct.

LEMON: Tell us what -- we're looking at these pictures here on CNN, and we're seeing water rescues. Explain to us what's going on.

BROWN: Well, currently, we're evacuating six families from a 25- home development near Morris Mill (ph), Missouri, here in Jefferson County.

LEMON: Why are you having to evacuate these families?

BROWN: The floodwater from the big river has inundated parts of that subdivision. One lady called the sheriff's office, stating that she didn't realize the water was rising as fast as it was. She'd looked out, seen it; she contacted us. We contacted the High Ridge Fire Protection District. They brought a boat down, and we began our water rescue.

So far, six families have been removed out of 25 families in that development. And the remainder, we're doing deputies going door-to- door, doing knock-and-talks.

LEMON: Tell us what knock-and-talks are.

BROWN: A knock-and-talk is basically when we make -- try and make contact with the residents, advise them what is -- what is going on, offering them some alternatives to that.

LEMON: OK. What else do you have? Talk to us about injuries, as well. You've got six families here that you've evacuated. You're doing the knock-and-talks. Do you have any injuries in this area that you can report to us?

BROWN: We do not have any injuries reported here in Jefferson County. You know, Hopefully that stands true. I'm also happy to report that the rain has stopped.

LEMON: The rain has stopped. That's good news. Hopefully it won't start back up again. But hey, captain, when you see people talk about the big river, that's a tributary to the Merrimack River, right?

BROWN: That's correct. That runs from Eureka, Missouri, which is in the northern portion of the county, all the way down in parts of the Boothill in Missouri.

LEMON: I know it floods in the Midwest a lot. I'm up against some other breaking news. But real quickly take me back, was it '93, the big flood there?

BROWN: We had 1993, and also 1995 was one not quite as...

LEMON: Have you seen anything like this since those big floods?

BROWN: Yes. You know, I mean any time you get several days of rain where you're getting two to three inches in a 10, 12-hour period, you can expect the lower-lying areas to be impacted. You know, and I just can't seem to get away from this. I was in Atlanta Friday night when the tornado hit downtown. So I tried to get back to Missouri to get away from it, only to find out that we've got primarily the same type weather pattern.

LEMON: So you were here Friday night. And where were you Friday night when it happened?

BROWN: Staying at the Hilton downtown on Courtland.

LEMON: Could you believe it was coming through a major city like that?

BROWN: I could not believe it. I was with a couple Georgia and Florida law enforcement officers. They, too, could not believe what we were seeing. The impact, especially on the Western hotel down there, I got footage of that through camera.

LEMON: You know what? Stay on the phone. We may need some of that from you, Captain Ralph Brown, as we look at these rescue pictures coming in. We certainly appreciate you joining us, because we you know you have your hands full today.

BROWN: I appreciate you guys. Thank you.

KEILAR: Let's head down to Washington D.C. Today a number of events and remembrances going on on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war. This is one of the protests, one of the several protests going on in Washington right now. You can see some people wearing black, walking along the fence. This is the perimeter of the White House, and this is a protest that's being called the march of the dead. Protesters say that their black garb is supposed to symbolize the soldiers and people who have died in the Iraq war. And these people are wearing sort of name placards that have the names of fallen soldiers.

These events, these protests, involving activists, some of them even involving veterans for peace, these have been going on all this morning in Washington D.C., and obviously they are continuing here today. Again, this protest, occurring right outside of the White House.

We're going to continue to monitor these protests.

Let's take you now to Baghdad. We used to call it the Green Zone, then it was the International Zone. But either way it is the prime chunk of territory in Baghdad where we find Kyra Phillips.

Hi, Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. And you know, there was a time where going live right here in the International Zone would be completely impossible. There were mortars that came into this area at least twice a day. So the fact that we are live five years into this war right here in the International Zone, an area that has the U.S. embassy, the minister of defense, the minister of interior, those two entities in charge of the Iraqi police, the Iraqi army. You have U.S. military bases here and a number of Iraqis and U.S. citizens that live in this city within a city.

And right behind me you can see Saddam's crossed swords. That was something he built years ago after the Iran-Iraq war. He said it was a victory symbol, that he, Iraq, won that war against Iran. Obviously there's controversy about that. Iran takes credit. Others say it was a stalemate.

The fact we are here looking at something that's still standing after the fall of Saddam Hussein and going live in this spot is just a sign that shows a little bit of progress.

It was just moments ago, too, I was able to talk to the top commander here in Iraq, General David Petraeus and I asked him about the challenges he's been facing. He talked a lot about the progress, but in particular I wanted to talk about the challenges. Of course we had to talk about Iran. Here's the listen -- take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR. MULTI-NATL. FORCE-IRAQ: In recent weeks we have picked up a number of weapons caches that included the explosively formed project aisles, rockets and mortars that clearly have come from Iran. In fact today we did communicate with some of our Iraqi partners and asked them to contact our counterparts and share that information with them, that in fact the promise by President Ahmadinejad and the other senior leaders of Iran have obviously not been kept by certain elements of the Iranian structure.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Five years into this war, Iran still a tremendous challenge. You heard it right there from General David Petraeus, the concerns about the bombs and the weapons that's feeding the insurgency here.

Of course, I want to get a reaction from the Iraqis government. Joining me, Ali Dabbagh, head spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki.

Sir, you heard what General Petraeus told me just moments ago. The Iranian president here in Iraq just within the last two weeks. A lot of Americans say, "Wow, that was a slap in the face to America," because they are here trying to work with you to rebuild this country and here's someone that's been known to supply the insurgency.

Your reaction to that?

ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: We have no choice. We have to be in good relation with our neighbor.

We would like a good relation on a common interest for both our people, but we do also tell them that this interest should not allow them to have an internal interference in the Iraqi affairs.

This basis and this is the principles and basics which everybody here in Iraq looks at Iran. Iran is important and playing a major role in the region. We don't want to have, like the past, the bloody past which we had with Iran. There are a lot of future and good future which we had together with them.

We have to live in peace, we have no choice, irrespect of the relation of the United States with them and their relation with the United States. We don't want to be a shadow of the relation of either United States or Iran.

But at the end, Iran is Iran. Iran is looking for their interest. And we are against allow them to have any interference with our issues in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: And isn't it ironic, Mr. Dabbagh, here we are standing where Saddam Hussein once stood, and he built these crossed swords to commemorate that war that he said he won against Iran, now, all these decades later, you and I are talking about Iran again and the threat of Iran?

And is it possible to avoid a war with Iran, whether it be Iraq- Iran, U.S.-Iran? Do you truly believe, does the prime minister truly believe that you can talk with this president?

AL-DABBAGH: We are paying the price of some of adversaries with Iran. Iran is have a problem with the Arabs. We are paying (INAUDIBLE) to Iran. We have problem between United States and Iraq -- and Iran. Iraq is paying for that.

We are calling (ph) the two countries, Iraq could provide a platform of (INAUDIBLE). We want Iraq to be a point of understanding and friendship with all adversaries and we would not like Iraq to be a conflict between the adversaries. That is what we are providing, and we are calling Arabs that the relation with Iran -- a good relation with Iran is for the benefit of Iraq. I think that if we come out from the ideological understanding, we come to economical. Iraq could provide that platform with Iran and even with the Arab countries.

AL-DABBAGH: I think we could come out. It's a good future for all the people of the region.

We have a 500 years of struggle between Iran when being converted from -- to Shia -- to Shiasm with the empire -- with the Ottoman Empire. We were paying in Iraq because they have a problem, clashes. Now we are paying also the problem of Saudi Arabia relation -- bad relation with Iraq. That's coming here in Iraq. We want to avoid that.

PHILLIPS: You bring up a very interesting point, talking about the history and the culture. It goes back hundreds of years.

AL-DABBAGH: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Now here you are trying to build a democracy -- you, the prime minister, all the other parties.

How are you moving forward? Do you see progress?

There are all these different voices that want to be heard. And there's been accusations of corruption, there have been critics saying there is no way this government can work, that this government is in the hands of the Americans. Tell me how you and the prime minister feel at this point, five years in, about this government.

AL-DABBAGH: We are much better. We had lived in tyranny and a brutal government and it was decayed of corruption in Iraq.

But now you could see, we had earning only $3 a month; now each -- the minimum salaries are $200 for each citizen. Now we have a democracy. Anybody is free, is liberal. There is a freedom.

At the time of Saddam, we had lost horrific casualties, millions of the people being killed. But now, even though we have a problem -- I don't deny we had lot of problem from terrorism, from militias, from the gangs, from all this -- we have no choice in Iraq only to succeed and to fix this problems.

So, we are looking for the future -- future for Iraq. Definitely, we are much better condition now. The corruption been reduced. I don't deny that still there is a corruption, but dramatically in 2007 has been reduced compared with 2005 and 2006, even.

And it's improving it year. We have a war against corruption this year, especially 2008, which has been called a year of reconstruction and the services. And at the same time, we have to fight the corruption.

We have no choice. Even though with all the problems which we have in Iraq, Iraqi shows the brave -- Iraqis are brave people. And they are going to improve. And definitely we will have a better democracy, especially in the future when we have a good election, we have a more income, we could improve the standard of the life for the Iraqis.

PHILLIPS: Ali Dabbagh, thank you so much.

AL-DABBAGH: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: It's always good to have both sides of the story.

AL-DABBAGH: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Five years in Iraqi -- Operation Iraqi Freedom. There's one thing that Iraqis and U.S. military will agree on, Brianna, and that is there is some progress, but still such a long way to go.

KEILAR: All right, Kyra Phillips there for us in Baghdad, thanks, Kyra.

LEMON: All right, look, we want to get back now to our breaking news, and that is the weather situation, and this is Missouri. Check that out, a school bus. Luckily, no children were on that school bus, but we have seen some families, Brianna, being rescued here out of the water.

We'll tell you about it in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is a very busy day in the CNN NEWSROOM and a very trying time for us here at CNN. Take a look, this is the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta being inundated by water. All of this because of a freak tornado that hit the CNN Center on Friday night and now, the rain from the storm that's coming through is coming down into the CNN Center. We are taking precautions. Also, several streets have been closed in the area and parts of downtown evacuated.

This is Jefferson County, Missouri. We have been looking at water rescues on the right-hand side of your screen. People there, of course, inundated by water. The rivers overflowing their banks. We heard a police lieutenant or a police person come on just moments ago saying they had to rescue six families because they were cut off by the raging water.

Now, we go to Chicago where there has been an incident and sadly, at least seven people have been injured here. This was at the Tri- State Auto Auction of Chicago which is a very, very busy event. It is on Karlov Avenue in Crestwood, if you're familiar with the area.

But reportedly, one of the cars there went out of control, striking at least seven people. The vehicle came to a stop after striking a wall and another car and we are told by our affiliate there, WLS, the driver fled the auction. Again, several people injured. The extent of their injuries not known. We're on top of all three of these stories today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: Every 71 seconds, someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease. A new report contains shocking new numbers about how many Americans will be stricken in the coming decades and CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now to explain.

And Elizabeth, how many baby boomers can expect to deal with this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, as many baby boomers as in other years. The disease hasn't changed, if you will, the disease isn't more virulent or anything like that, it's just that there are so many baby boomers now who are moving into becoming senior citizens. And that means we're going to have more and more people with Alzheimer's disease. One out of every eight baby boomers can expect to get Alzheimer's disease.

And let's look at these numbers, how they're going to grow through the years. Right now, five million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. In 2030, it's going to be eight million. By 2050, it's going to be 11 million to 16 million. You can just see those numbers going up and up and up. And so, the big concern is are we ready for this, to take care of this many people with Alzheimer's disease. The concern is, no.

KEILAR: And this is something -- I mean, the entire family deals with this, so it makes a person wonder what's being done to prepare for the increase.

COHEN: Right, for these huge numbers. Well, one thing that's being done is there's a lot of drug research going on. So, doctors are trying to find drugs, not necessarily to cure Alzheimer's, that's a bit pie in the sky, but even to just delay it by five years would be a huge gift.

However, again, the concern is that the caregivers aren't there, the kind of assisted living that people with Alzheimer's disease need isn't there, and that there's not a lot of money in place to get those things going in the decades to come.

KEILAR: And you're going to have more on this tomorrow. Can you just give us a sneak preview of that?

COHEN: Right, with the increasing number of people with Alzheimer's disease, there are going to be more and more people who are looking to help their loved ones at home. When someone gets sick with Alzheimer's or anything else, it helps to have someone at home. So tomorrow, our "Empowered Patient's" going to be finding care online for an elderly loved one. People are doing it more and more online and with some really pretty good results.

KEILAR: It's so hard for those families out there. I think some of them feel like they're reinventing the wheel here. So, this is some really good information for them that we're going to stay tuned for tomorrow.

COHEN: Oh right, it's this horrible emotional time, your parent is suffering and you're expected to figure out how to care for them. It's very hard to do.

KEILAR: Yes, suffering a loss and dealing with the logistics always very difficult.

COHEN: Right, exactly.

KEILAR: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: Weather is a big news here today in the CNN NEWSROOM. The South is being inundated with rain and in Missouri, we're seeing folks there under water. At least six people we're told in this one county alone had to be evacuated. So far, six families I should say, are there others? We'll tell you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, several breaking news stories in to the CNN NEWSROOM. Most of them involve weather today.

This is live pictures of the CNN Center. And we're just being inundated with rain here. Our roof is leaking, we are crippled -- the building -- because of a freak tornado that hit downtown. And you can see that the folks downtown, the repairmen are on the scene. They are trying to at least get us back into order and to take care of the atrium where thousands of tourists travel, go in and out of every single day into this building from all over the world. The CNN Center hit by rain today because the roof is damaged from that tornado on Friday.

Let's take you now to live pictures from Missouri, Jefferson County, Missouri, as a matter of fact. I think this is new video just in. Right there to the right of your screen, the big river we were told by one of the county officers there went over its banks and trapped several people, at least 25 families, in a subdivision there. Six of those families had to be rescued and they're going back, doing door-knocks to try to talk to other families to see if they need rescuing as well.

Then, we also have a story coming out of Chicago. This one is a tragic story. Not sure of the extent of the amount -- the extent of the injuries of people there. But we're told at least seven people injured. This is at the south suburban -- the Tri-State Auto Auction in south suburban Chicago.

Here's what reportedly happened from our affiliate there WLS. We're told that a car reportedly went out of control, striking at least seven people. The vehicle came to a stop after striking a wall and another car. The driver fled the auction. Again, not sure the extent of the injuries. We're on top of all of these developing stories today. KEILAR: Years of war drove Iraqis to the four corners of the world fleeing persecution, seeking security and futures for their families. Many of them landed right here in the United States. But so far, the government's promises have missed their marks.

Let's bring in CNN's State Department correspondent Zain Verjee now with the latest on this.

Hi, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna.

It's been described as the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today. Only a fraction of Iraqis that want to come to the United States have actually been allowed in. We were able to catch up with one of those refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): This man wants to keep his face in shadow, even in suburban America. He's fearful his family, back in Iraq, could be targeted. In Baghdad, he says he worked for a U.S. company, and paid a price.

(on camera): Were you threatened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started to face the facts and the facts were there was no hope.

VERJEE (voice-over): From Iraq, he fled to Jordan, waited there for a year, and then finally arrived in the United States last September. Those links to a U.S. company may have helped his refugee case. That got pushed through while others still wait. He's building a new life here now.

(on camera): What do you miss about Iraq?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you remember the good times, and sometimes we show tears.

VERJEE (voice-over): About two million Iraqis have fled, going to neighboring countries of Jordan and Syria. An additional two million are uprooted inside Iraq. The Bush administration says it has an obligation to help Iraqi refugees, but look at the resettlement numbers. Last year, the U.S. goal was to resettle 7,000 Iraqi refugees. Only a fraction of that, 1,608 were admitted. This year, the goal is 12,000 by September. But so far, only 1,876 have arrived in the U.S.

Ambassador James Foley, the State Department's point man on this, is upbeat, saying the U.S. untangled the bureaucracy and can meet that goal.

AMBASSADOR JAMES FOLEY, STATE DEPARTMENT: Well, I think that you'll see that it's going to pick up considerably.

VERJEE: But the U.S. is banking on another scenario.

FOLEY: It is our goal that those who are refugees now -- and there are about two million -- be able to go back home. We believe that's what they want to do.

VERJEE (on camera): When you wake up in the morning and you realize you're in the United States, what is it that you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like sometimes when I wake up and me and my wife, we say like, are we dreaming?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Now, the U.S. has a separate program, Brianna, to bring in Iraqis that have worked either as interpreters or translators for the United States on the ground in Iraq, and that number is 500. But many members of Congress are saying that's too little and they want it increased -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Zain Verjee for us there in Washington, thanks.

LEMON: All right, we're going to get you -- talk to about this weather. This weather is really, really hitting the Midwest. Harton (ph), you can see that from our pictures there, the Midwest being inundated with floodwaters.

Our Chad Myers working hard in the CNN severe weather center trying to put it all in perspective for us. He's going to give us an update just on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The waters rising and the rain still falling from the Southern Plains to the Northern Appalachians. Several people are dead, more are stranded, millions are in harm's way.

KEILAR: The war in Iraq is five-years-old today. Almost 4,000 U.S. troops died, hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars spent. Where do we go from here?

LEMON: President Bush and the Democrats who want to replace him have lots of ideas and all are speaking out. We'll hear from everybody, including you in a new CNN poll.

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