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Midwest Flooding; Natural Disaster Preparedness; CNN Hero: Carolyn LeCroy; Water Threatens 250 Des Moines Homes; Jailbreak in Kandahar; Joe Johns Remembers Tim Russert

Aired June 14, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard a noise and we ran around the house and the foundation of our home went down and under.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Heart-breaking experiences, evacuations, curfews and disaster. Floodwaters changing life as Iowans know it and we're there live.

And remembering Tim Russert, his life, his work, the legacy he left his family, friends, and viewers.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news unfolds live this Saturday, June 14th, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Iowa's catastrophic flooding has hit the capital city of Des Moines. Floodwaters poured into the city overnight after a part of a levee ruptured. National Guard troops tried but failed to build an earthen wall to keep the waters contained.

The story in Cedar Rapids now, utter devastation, just take a look at those images. Hundreds of city blocks remain under water. More than 20,000 people have fled to safe ground and the waters will be around for days to come.

To a lesser degree flooding has hit in Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, and Illinois. The states along the Mississippi River, well, they may be next. Economic losses will be in the billions of dollars, and that includes crop losses amid the rising food prices.

The flooding in Des Moines has triggered mandatory evacuations. CNN's Dan Simons is standing by live from there -- Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. We're dealing with both good news and bad news. Let me show you the bad news. That is what was supposed to fix the levee. That is a temporary levee. You see the sand there and the water just got right through it. It proved no match for the water.

Now to the left of your screen, there are about 250 homes behind the water, and the concern is that that water could intrude that neighborhood and cause some massive flooding. But I have to tell you, we just drove through that neighborhood and we're not seeing any homes under water. And the good news is we believe the water probably won't reach those homes.

Now this happened about 3:00 this morning, there was a levee breach -- about 100-foot levee breach behind a high school. Unfortunately, that high school took in a significant amount of water, a lot of damage there, but in terms of other homes and businesses, we're not seeing a whole lot of damage at this point.

But, of course, it is going to be a very long day for this neighborhood again, 250 homes under a mandatory evacuation order. And it appears that everybody has heeded that warning and has left -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. This is just a sudden blow to so many people there. And in fact, a lot of folks in Des Moines just really never felt like they would be in the middle of a flood. So few people actually have flood insurance, right?

SIMON: That's exactly right, because obviously it doesn't happen here a whole lot. You're talking about a 100-year flood plan, or a 500-year flood plan. They just did not expect to see this happen. Of course, people remember what happened in 1993, Des Moines took in a whole lot of water back then.

So everybody, of course, remembering what happened 15 years ago, and hoping that it doesn't repeat itself -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Simon, thanks so much, from Des Moines, Iowa. Of course, the folks in Iowa and even in that entire region want to know, is there any more rain on the way or might there be a break in the weather system to kind of help them out? Jacqui Jeras is in the Severe Weather center here.

Folks need some good news.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. It's out there. They just have to be a little bit more patient. You know, there are showers and thunderstorms today, most of this, this is going to be in eastern Iowa and this isn't going to be everybody that gets in on the action.

A severe thunderstorm watch just issued for about the southeastern quarter of the state. So this includes Cedar Rapids, this includes the area all along the Mississippi River here, along the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers as they head down into southeastern Iowa.

And we're really just kind of focusing in on one thunderstorm. Now isolated thunderstorms like this do have the potential for putting down maybe an inch of rain per hour. So we're watching that strong thunderstorm heading north of the Marshalltown area right now.

So additional rainfall is going to be likely in the next 24 hours, but much drier weather is expected now as we head through Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. So say 24 hours from now, things are going to be looking a little bit better in terms of a longer-term dry spell. Now that said, take a look at the damage that has already been done. All those purple dots that you see there, that's what we call -- considered an area that's in major flood, the red dots were in what we call moderate flood. Here's the Des Moines area, here's the Des Moines River, and way up here, this is Saylorville Dam, and the dam is open, wide open, so all that water flowing through the area right now.

Dan Simon is right here. This is the Birdland Park Area which has been flooded now, and this is where the levee has been breached. The crest has already arrived here. And we're going to continue to watch this go down. Now this is the Second Avenue area where the river gate is and you can see it crested at 31.7 feet, this was on Friday. And here you can see where we are today. Still at 1:00, well into the major stage category.

Got to go all the way down here in time where you can see flood stage at 23 feet and we don't get there until a week from today. So even though those waters are going down, there's going to be a lot of standing water for a long time.

And of course the other big concern, what's going to be happening downstream here? I want to show you some areas we're concerned about, like Keokuk, Iowa, down into Hannibal, Missouri. Quincy, Illinois, this is all going to be going downstream, and major flooding is going to be expected here, but it looks like it's going to stop just short of the St. Louis area -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, this certainly hurts, but what could potentially happen next really is just salt in the wound, isn't it?

JERAS: Yes, I mean, I don't think we're going to see another Des Moines or another Cedar Rapids over the next couple of day, but this will be significant for many of those communities. Quincy, for example, and also Louisiana could potentially see near record levels.

But a lot of these communities have done a lot of work just like Des Moines to rebuild their levee system and exceed what the floods of '93 did. So hopefully we'll be OK.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

Well, you hear words "levees breaking" and it conjures up images of what happened along the Gulf Coast, particularly after Hurricane Katrina. Well, another person you may remember during Hurricane Katrina, retired Army General Russel Honore. Well, he coordinated the military's relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. People in Iowa saying this is their version of Katrina.

Honore joins us at 3:30 Eastern with a closer look at exactly how to survive these types of disasters even when you live in an area that doesn't usually have a propensity for this kind of severe weather.

The heat, well, it's causing problems in the Northeast. In Philadelphia, the death toll from this week's heat wave has now climbed to 17. The latest two victims are elderly residents found in their homes with no air conditioning. In all, more than 30 heat- related deaths are being reported in several northeastern states. The four-day heat wave broke this past Tuesday.

High winds are fanning several wildfires. In Northern California, the worst threatening the town of Paradise where thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes there. The blaze has already destroyed at least 66 homes and contributed to the death of an elderly woman. Well, she had a heart attack while evacuating her home. The wildfire meantime has already charred more than 36 square miles.

Myanmar facing even more misery now. State media reports that landslides have killed at least 11 people this week. Their homes collapsed along a creek flooded by monsoon rains. Those rains are slowing down efforts to rebuild parts of Myanmar devastated from last month's cyclone. But the government reports about 78,000 people were killed in that storm. More than 50,000 are still missing.

And onto Japan now where rescuers there are searching in the darkness for about a dozen people missing after a major earthquake there. A 7.2 magnitude quake hit near the northern city of Sendai today. Take a look at this surveillance camera, shaking, just as the quake was hitting, at least six people were killed and more than 140 hurt. Entire hillsides came crashing down and roads were seen buckling and bridges collapsing, slowing down rescue efforts at the very least.

Well, here in this country, Discovery's crew is re-adjusting to the feel of gravity. The shuttle touched down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida just hours ago after a successful two-week mission to expand the International Space Station. Astronauts installed a new billion dollar science lab and they also delivered replacement parts for a faulty toilet, a necessity. NASA officials say today's shuttle landing was about as smooth as it gets. And you saw it happen live there on CNN earlier.

Meantime hundreds of Taliban prisoners bust out, many now gone for good, busting out of jail. The brazen suicidal jail break prompts a huge manhunt in southern Afghanistan.

Also ahead, a big loss. A look at Tim Russert's impact on the airwaves coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Prison bust in southern Afghanistan, hundreds of Taliban inmates on the loose after a brazen attack on the main prison in Kandahar. Afghan authorities say militants used a suicide bomber truck loaded with explosives and rockets to storm the building. Norine McDonald is joining us now from Washington. She's the president of a European think tank.

You've spent a lot of time in the southern region of Afghanistan, and you're very familiar with this area and this prison. And we appreciate you being able to come in and talk at length about how this could even happen, Norine.

NORINE MCDONALD, PRES. SENLIS AFGHANISTAN: Well, I have been living and working in southern Afghanistan and Kandahar for the last few years and I am familiar with this prison. It's really remarkable that the Taliban were able to plan and execute this prison break. That prison is in the middle of Kandahar city, they took reportedly several hundred fighters right into the prison and they were able to liberate about...

WHITFIELD: So we're talking about an ambush is the way you're learning from your sources? This was an ambush of folks who came in, forget the fact that you've got NATO and ISAF folks there who have really have been able to secure up until today this prison for a long time.

MCDONALD: Well, in fact, the prison itself was secured by Afghan police. And those were the guards that were killed. To be clear, there are no NATO military forces normally guarding it, but it is near American military bases and NATO military bases.

It was extremely well-planned. I've been talking to a lot of people today about the elements of it, they put a truck bomb in the front, a suicide bomber in the back. There were AKs, PKs, mortars. They took vehicles in there to put their colleagues in and they've reportedly headed for the Pakistani border.

So it was an extremely sophisticated attack right inside a major city. There's a real question about what that tells us Taliban control and psychological control, because not only were they able to take that many men, that type of force with that type of weaponry into the city, but none of the information about this made into the intelligence network.

So there was no forewarning of this. We linked this to another attack seven weeks ago in Kabul city against President Karzai. Once again, there was no forewarning of that, so a failure of the intelligence networks to pick up on this type of thing.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, failure of the intelligence network is one thing, but can it also mean or underscore an infiltration of the Afghan police as well so that there is this kind of clandestine chatter and operation and planning in order to carry out an attack so brazen like this?

MCDONALD: Well, you're correct about that. But it would be a mistake to think this indicates support for the Taliban amongst the Afghan people. It does indicate psychological control, that people are not willing to defy them and turn them into the authorities.

And I think the locals, certainly based on my experience of the situation is they're just very concerned about Taliban repercussions. It doesn't indicate a political sympathy that they're able to operate that that way. But at the moment, the locals in Kandahar, they don't know which way this going to go.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

MCDONALD: We certainly believe that it's not a military shortcoming, it's a question of a shortage of military troops on the ground from the NATO countries in the south and a need to really re- engineer our approach in southern Afghanistan and the architecture that we're using to deal with the resurgent Taliban.

WHITFIELD: How interesting. Now when you talk about the psychological impact that this has on the citizen there, I wonder about the psychological impact if you can speak to that when it comes down to the Karzai administration because his stock, so to speak, his popularity has dwindled in the past year, particularly Hamid Karzai. And so now this is a potential pretty severe blow to what it is that he's trying to do in terms of weakening what's left of the Taliban.

MCDONALD: That's true, but President Karzai is not responsible for a shortage of NATO troops in southern Afghanistan, to deal with this. I mean, there's a limit...

WHITFIELD: So his hands are tied, you're saying?

MCDONALD: To a certain extent that's correct. But we've certainly seen on the ground in southern Afghanistan that the military that are there are doing a really great job in very difficult circumstance up against a homegrown insurgency. The international community is not contributing enough troops to meet the reality of the situation, but also we've not dealt with a need for straight up aid, development to deal with the counter-narcotics problems.

And that's why we're saying it's symbolic and it's symptomatic of a need to really re-engineer an approach. We can't have these kind of large-scale attacks happening every month without understanding that there's a message there for us.

WHITFIELD: And quickly, I know we've got to go, before you go, do you think that these prisoners will go back, resume to whatever Taliban activities there may have been beforehand, or would they be perfect recruits for -- to help strengthen al Qaeda or are they different these days?

MCDONALD: Well, they're going to be heroes. And obviously this is a big boost tour Taliban-al Qaeda morale. It will be almost impossible for NATO and the Karzai government to catch these guys in that type of rural environment, especially if they're heading for the border of Pakistan.

WHITFIELD: All right. Norine McDonald, president of a European think tank, senseless (ph) -- I hope I'm saying that correctly.

(LAUGHTER)

MCDONALD: SENLIS Council.

WHITFIELD: SENLIS Council, thanks very much, I really appreciate your insight.

MCDONALD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Iowa, inundated, in some towns, floodwaters as far as the eye can see. We'll have a live report coming up.

And talk about a class act. Tributes pouring in for the late Tim Russert. That's next in the NEWSROOM.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America lost a really fine citizen yesterday when Tim Russert passed away. I've had the privilege of being interviewed by Tim Russert. I found him to be a hard-working, thorough, decent man. And Tim Russert loved his country, he loved his family and he loved his job a lot. And we're going to miss him all. And we send our deepest sympathies to Maureen, his wife, and Luke, his son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: NBC newsman Tim Russert died yesterday after suffering a heart attack at work. He was highly respected by the newsmakers that he interviewed, and many journalists, including Joe Johns, who worked with Russert at NBC, considered him a role model. And Joe is with us now on the phone.

Joe, Tim was considered a mentor to so many, to you, he helped bring you from local news in Washington into network news at NBC. He was a mentor for me as well when I was a correspondent for NBC. Give me an idea of exactly what kind of relationship you had with him and an unexpected one, so to speak.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's true Fredricka. It was interesting with Tim. He was always sort of there for the big stuff. And as you said, he brought me into network news. And sort of in the milestones of my life for 10 years while I worked for him, he really -- he was always there.

One time I went to him with this crazy idea about going to law school. And you know, in our business when you're on and off of planes, while you're working, I was working for the "TODAY" show, it was something that any other news executive would have said, it's impossible. Tim said, it's a good idea, go ahead, it will be good for you.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he saw it as an enhancement. And I mean, given, he had the background too where he had gotten a law degree and it helped best prepare him, he'll always tell you about how he was able to be such a good moderator on "MEET THE PRESS."

JOHNS: Very true. And when you look at the interviews, you really come away with a sense of a prosecutor at work, the way he sort of put together questions in the form of a cross-examination, especially for the most important interviews -- I was going to almost say witnesses.

And it was very thorough, very well thought out, it was clear he had always done his homework and he sort of set the standard for a lot of us who were coming up in the business at that time because at the end of the day, you watch that program and you say now that's the way to do an interview.

And you always learned something. That was the great thing about Tim Russert, on every show, you would always learn something.

WHITFIELD: And you know, another great thing, I mean, there's so many, because he was a consummate professional and that you're underscoring. But what a lot of people don't realize is that he was just a good guy, just very much a teddy bear is the way I'd like to describe him, someone when you wanted to talk about those personal milestones, as you first mentioned, I mean, he would go at it at the very core just like he would any tough story.

JOHNS: It's amazing. When I think about it, he was the first person to send me a wedding present. He was the first person to send my son a gift when my son was born. And I guess my son was about -- Logan was about 3 or 6 months old, I took him to see Tim and it was amazing how he (INAUDIBLE) up, and it showed me what I already knew, Tim Russert was great with kids.

And it underscored the -- sort of the nature of Tim Russert himself, which was a real family man, someone who cared dearly about Luke, and dearly about making sure that families were OK. That was one of the things that I really liked about Tim. He made it very personal and he was very loyal to you in the way a family member was.

WHITFIELD: He really did. That is so true. And you speak about family, I mean, when you talk about the first, that he was the first to send you a wedding gift and congratulate you on your first child born.

You know, I was hospitalized shortly after leaving NBC News and that was a tough decision, he was one who helped me talk through the choice of leaving NBC News and joining CNN. And when I was hospitalized, he was the first person -- one of the first people to send me the most beautiful handwritten note about getting well and his prayers being with me, and that is definitely just another example of underscoring what a great guy he was, Joe.

JOHNS: True. When I look at this thing, I'm still sort of in disbelief, because I thought Tim Russert was going to be around for years and years and years. I mean, he told me in one of our many conversations he planned on spending the rest of his life at NBC, and he did.

But he was the type of guy who made that decision that this is where I'm going to be, this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to be right here, a lot of other people may want to change jobs or whatever, as you and I did, but Tim was sort of a rock. And it's just so hard to believe that he's not going to be there on "MEET THE PRESS" tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: It really is hard to believe. It's going to be a difficult Sunday for everybody. Joe Johns, thank you so much for helping to remember a wonderful newsman, a wonderful friend and mentor to so many. Tim Russert, dead at the age 58 yesterday. So many of us are still mourning and grieving.

Well, Josh Levs has been taking in a lot of images throughout the day of Tim Russert, the Tim Russert many of us never got a chance to know. He's going to be joining us momentarily. In fact, there he is right now.

Are you ready to do this right now?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, let's do this.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, let's talk a little bit about some of the images you've been able to retrieve of the Tim Russert so many people are just now getting to know.

LEVS: Absolutely. Yes, you know, Fred, I mean, the truth is it's really powerful to hear your stories and the stories of so many people in our industry who were personally touched by him.

In the end what we do here is for the viewers. And so one thing we've been doing through iReports today is having this opportunity to hear from viewers all over the country how much they cared about him, what he meant to them.

Right now, what we're going to focus on is what we're hearing from his hometown of Buffalo, where he really is a hero. I want to show you, let's start with these pictures we have here of a wooden statue that you guys are going to (INAUDIBLE). There you go.

This wooden statue of him is in Buffalo. What happened there, we received this iReport there from Cynthia Dwyer, when there was a big storm in Buffalo and they lost a lot of trees, it was public arts project where people said, make carvings out of wood. His high school sponsored that and now there's a plaque with it. Two people actually, we're told, have gone and visited it. It's very popular. He really is a hero there.

I also want to take you to the next set of photos we've gotten as well. You saw a couple just now. They are from the Lalley family. There you go. Now there's a story behind these. That's his dad, whom we know to be "Big Russ." This is a popular Irish bar in Buffalo called Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub. And when Tim was in town there, signing pictures of his -- signing copies of his book, he had all these people who gathered at the bar because they really wanted to see him. And we're hearing from a lot of iReporters with their stories.

One more thing before I go, I want to show you, because talk about the Tim Russert you never knew, let's take a look at this last thing, if we have it here in the control room, it's a picture of his college yearbook shot. There you go, look at that, Fred. I know I bet you never saw him looking like that.

WHITFIELD: No. That's a first.

LEVS: We all did a double take when they saw this first. This was from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Fred. And we'll have more throughout the day. WHITFIELD: Oh, I love it. That's wonderful, can't get enough because he is really an incredible giant.

LEVS: Yes, and it's a loss to all of us.

WHITFIELD: It really is. Thanks so much, Josh.

Well, Tim Russert, he was 58 years old, and he leaves behind his beloved wife, writer Maureen Orth, and his son, Luke.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Iowa's catastrophic flooding has hit the capital city of Des Moines. Floodwaters poured into the city overnight after part of a levee ruptured. National Guard troops tried, but failed, to build an earthen wall to keep the waters contained. About 270 homes are under mandatory evacuation, now.

And the story in Cedar Rapid, utter devastation. Hundreds of city blocks remain underwater, more than 20,000 people have fled to safe ground and waters will be around for days to come, now.

Our Sean Callebs just filed this report from Cedar Rapids. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The water is slowly pulling back here in Cedar Rapids but what a mess the downtown remains. At the height, during the crest of the river, about 400 city blocks were simply uninundated. Look at it now, you can see a parking lot, it's kicking up rapids, debris, gathering at the bottom of light poles and other areas, which is going to be big problem. They expect that it's going to be days before they can begin pumping water out of this area.

I want it take you to some pictures in another neighborhood. This, the southwest section of Cedar Rapids, 24,000 people, out of a city of about 120,000, had been evacuated, many of them from this blue collar, working class area. We caught up with Tina flishbacker who had to leave with just a moment's notice and basically walked out with nothing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA FLEISCHACKER, FLOOD VICTIM: Your life is there. We didn't think it would get this high. We moved everything upstairs, and -- it's gone. It's gone. We left with the clothes on our backs. And luckily, where I work, they -- I got food and a few pieces of clothes for us and our kid, and -- because we had not even a toothbrush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Perhaps a silver lining, somewhat for Tina. Look at these rescue crews as they make their way into her home, they're looking for her cat, "Sugar." Well, they ended up finding "Sugar," but the cat after being locked up in the house for a couple of days was somewhat agitated, we'll say. She scratched and bit the rescue teams, but they were able to get her out, put her safely into a plastic container and reunite her with Tina. So, one happy story, there.

I want to give you an example of how much the water is slowly receding, here. If you look at the side of that building, look at the water line, it's dropped down close to four feet in just a matter of hours. However, drinking water remains a concern. There is a mandatory warning going out to citizens here in Cedar Rapids, don't use water for anything except drinking, no showers, no washing clothes and certainly no watering lawns or washing cars. That's how bad the situation remains here in this Midwest town.

Sean Callebs, CNN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And sadly, it's going to be quite some time before people feel like any resumption of normalcy just might happen in that area -- in any of those areas of Iowa. Jacqui Jeras is in the severe weather center. Jacqui, not just because it takes a long time for the waters to recede, but there's more moisture, potentially, on the way?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, there is. Right now, we don't think it's consequential enough that it's going to have much of an impact on the area rivers. We've got isolated cells out there that could putting down some heavy rain, but the length of time that this water is going to be sitting there is going to cause all kinds of problems. You know, we saw that level come down there in Sean's report, that's quite a bit, but if you look below that, did you see how fast that water was moving? Just the power of water is incredible. And then, once the water is out of there, you have to worry about mold problems and what kind of damage that powerful water caused to any of those structures.

We do have a severe thunderstorm watch which has been issued for about the southeastern quadrant of the state of Iowa. We've been tracking this cell here just north of the I-80 corridor. It could be moving through the Cedar Rapids area maybe an hour or so from now. Doppler Radar is estimating it put down about an inch-and-a-quarter of rain in the last hour, as it moved through northern Harden County, and it's also putting out some good hail, about three quarters of an inch in diameter.

And do we have some breaking information there, Sarah? We've got a tornado warning for that same cell, that same cell we were talking, so Marshall and Tema counties showing, showing some rotation now on Doppler Radar. The tornadoes near Marshalltown Airport are about 36 mile southwest of Waterloo, moving to the east at 32 miles-per-hour. So this cell really -- look at this thing, as it just blew up here.

Here's Marshalltown, and so the tornado somewhere on this side, on the east side of town, near where the airport is, so make sure that you're seeking shelter, as well.

Now, how much rainfall are we talking about? General amounts in the next 24 to 36 hours, here, across Iowa going to be about a quarter of an inch. We could see some heavier amounts across southwestern and south central parts of the state. This has become the big bull's eye that most of the computer models are putting out, right now. But keep in mind, any of those individual thunderstorms, like the one we were just talking about in Marshall and Tema counties, could put out heavier amounts of over an inch or so. And that's certainly not some good news, there. But once we get through tomorrow, we'll be seeing significantly better weather and most of the rain is going to stay off to the south and the east once we get through Sunday. And it looks like, Fredericka, at least three, possibly as many as five days of much drier weather across the state of Iowa.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, well that's encouraginging, but to hear your mention of tornado warnings is just boy, does it end? Just one thing after the other in that state.

JERAS: It's been a rough spring, I tell you.

WHITFIELD: It really has been. All right, thanks so much, Jacqui.

Well, what they're going through the Midwest, certainly isn't a first or the last. Natural disaster does happen and it has been a very rough year. And as things seem to keep churning out, whether it's tornadoes or whether it's flooding, all of this depends on your survival technique, sometimes we don't quite know exactly what to do and we need some tips because we maybe are not living in an area with a propensity of flooding, et cetera. Well, to help us prepare, to get a better idea of exactly what to do before it happens, joining us now with some insights, someone who really was a figure that we got used to seeing during Hurricane Katrina, the recovery of -- retired Army Lieutenant General Russell Honore with us now.

Good to see you. Nice to meet you in person. Boy, you've been very busy now, not only just impressing upon people, this is what you do when disaster strikes, but now you really are talking about, this is what you do before disaster strikes.

LT GEN RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET): Absolutely. And in collaboration with the American Red Cross, what we've tried to do is work to the left side of the disaster, to be Red Cross ready. Family ready, have a plan, have a kit and stay informed. And hats off to the people of the Midwest and the first responders, who have done a great job in evacuating people and taking care of them. I mean it's been to the tune of about 50 million hours of Red Cross will commit to take care of folks, there, and to get folks to volunteer and donate to the Red Cross.

That being said, the future is now, and the future events, just as we saw the thunderstorm warning. That thunderstorm warning, you may have minutes or you may have hours if you're down range from that thunderstorm, because each thunderstorm has a potential of shooting out a tornado. So what we should first worry about is outside exposed events, like picnics that are going on and the thunderstorm is three or four miles to the west, get out of there. Because any... WHITFIELD: Because at lot of people take thunderstorm warnings for granted. They think, oh, a little bit of rain, a little bit of thunder, no big deal. They don't think about the potential calamity.

HONORE: Well, we've become very precise too, in our information reliability, that now we have a weather radio and we have one on site at the camp. Everybody says, when he get the tornado warning...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: ...either a battery operated or this one is a hand crank.

HONORE: Absolutely. Do you are one?

WHITFIELD: I don't, and that's terrible because I've been saying for months now: I got to get one, I got to get one, because...

HONORE: Well, here's a Red Cross radio for you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, thank you.

HONORE: and the only deal now is you have to get one and give it to someone who don't have one.

WHITFIELD: I can do that.Yeah, that a good deal.

HONORE: But the challenge in Iowa in the coming days, and other areas that are flooded, will be for people to have patience, they're going to want to get back to their home after listening to the first responders and to the government to be very dangerous, we're going back to an area that's been flooded, a lot of agricultural products, wires on the ground, have to show a lot of patience in the coming days and maybe even week before they go back into their homes. And people down range from this flooding, they have days now and some of them have days, hours, or maybe minutes. And our plan needs to be based on what am I going to do if it looks like it's going to flood here in three days...

WHITFIELD: And what should that plan, because I know someone lives along a waterway, but honestly I don't know what I'd except that I'm going do is pull out my waders and perhaps I'll use that old baby inflatable tub and use that to put my toddler, if we really -- but, honestly, what are the things I need to do?

HONORE: Let me give you an example, here. Hurricane Rita was coming, some of the ranchers out in Cameron Parish, they actually moved their cows out three or four days before and...

WHITFIELD: You can't do that in a hurry.

HONORE: You can't do that in a hurry, so you need to do preparation. In the farm country, you need to move your harvesting equipment out of the floodplain. The question is, how do I know if I'll live in a floodplain. Let me tell you something, if you can throw a rock to water where you live, if you're that close to the water, you're in a floodplain.

WHITFIELD: Even if they tell you don't need flood insurance, you need to get it.

HONORE: If there is a high ground between you and your home and a river, you're a floodplain, you're in a natural floodplain. Mother Nature uses that ground to take the excess water out to the Gulf of Mexico. And if you're wondering, look to your left and your right. If you see water to the right, you see a hill to the left, you're in a floodplain, folks, get over it. Mother Nature...

WHITFIELD: And prepare.

HONORE: And prepare.

WHITFIELD: So, you have a backpack.

HONORE: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And there's some goodies in that backpack, which really will help convey -- this is what every household, perhaps, should have especially if you live near this stone throws away from water.

HONORE: Yes, because you and me only have minutes to evacuate. The other things you want to have in here...

WHITFIELD: This is a three day preparedness.

HONORE: Yeah -- is important papers, you want to make sure that you have, if you live in the flood-prone area, a backup of special days like family papers that you've been keeping, pictures, you want to put those in water sealed containers, so if you have hours, you may even be able to evacuate. If you have hours before a floods you may want to elevate, turn the electricity off. Elevate your appliances, turn your electricity off, move that old cupboard that came on the back of a wagon train, get it out of there. And friends, it will help you store it, but you need to think about evacuation and be Red Cross ready.

WHITFIELD: So you have a first aid kit that's in there.

HONORE: Yeah, absolutely.

WHITFIELD: And what else?

HONORE: This is a radio.

WHITFIELD: OK, another radio. You might as well take it with you.

HONORE: Right. I've got some simulated important papers, here. Deeds to the property, because you have to remember when you evacuate, you need to leave with the intent that you may never make it back to that home again. WHITFIELD: And remember to bring your driver's license. I can't tell you how many times I've covered disasters and people leave, but then they don't have their driver's license. They have no way to show I.D. when FEMA...

HONORE: Right. So shelter -- temporary shelter. This as much about survival.

(CROSSTALK)

Water storage. And you can be innovative with your water storage, a you can use those 2 liter Coke bottles once you get though using them at the picnic, take them, fill them with water, and they're ready to go.

This is food. Not something you want to eat on Saturday night for a snack, if you got hungry...

WHITFIELD: Where am I getting that?

HONORE: That is in the bag.

WHITFIELD: Freeze dried food. So, where am I getting this bag?

HONORE: This bag is available -- Red Cross, www.redcross, American Red Cross, and you can order it online.

WHITFIELD: Really?

HONORE: Look, you're probably wondering what you're going to give dad or grandpa for Father's Day. You haven't gotten your gift yet, I can tell.

WHITFIELD: Do I look guilty?

HONORE: Go online, you can buy him a weather radio, your grandpa, as opposed to giving him one of these $80 silk ties, give him a weather radio. He won't wear it anyhow. Give him a weather radio. Give him a backpack. You missed Mother's Day, so now you can make up for that, you can do it online. You can also give him, if he was a sportsman and he liked to go out, small version of a weather radio. And the one I presented to you. So...

WHITFIELD: And then your freeze dried, I guess these are rations.

HONORE: We got water, here. This is ready to go.

WHITFIELD: And so how much does this whole pack cost?

HONORE: This is about between $60, $70.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK, that's big. It saves your life, your family's life...

HONORE: We're coming back in another week, in collaboration with my Red Cross fans, and we're going to build one here on stage. We're going to show you how to make one and put it in a Rubbermaid box, so it's ready to go. How you can put it in an old Army rucksack that you have, have it prepared. Because, don't confuse your evacuations kit with your three day supply of food and water and eventually lose power and you have to shelter in place.

And look, folks, let's talk a little bit about shelter in place. If you're going to shelter in place, ensure that you have a place you can go underground in the strongest building possible in the community. That is very important, because these thunderstorm and tornadoes will tear down the average building.

On the way back home into flooded areas, remember, 12 inches of water will float a SUVs, so be careful moving around into this water...

WHITFIELD: And a lot of this water moves. Just like we saw in Jacqui's live shot, so it's dangerous, you don't even want to wade through it if you don't think you have a sturdy grip.

HONORE: Absolutely, and if you've been sitting bored this weekend, you can go to Red Cross online. There's a class there for fourth and sixth graders, it can be a family activity and the family can do it together.

WHITFIELD: Everyone needs to be involved.

HONORE: That's right. Get the entire family and go through this module. You can be self-taught online. It could be a great family activity for the whole family because you could be facing a flood in the next few days.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, and you got to know what to do.

Lieutenant General Russell Honore, a wealth of information. Thank you so much. And I can't wait for you to come back, too, to help us build your own, especially if you can't afford the $300- something-odd dollars to get this from American Red Cross.

HONORE: It won't cost that much. But remember, grandpa or father, you hadn't gotten that gift yet, get him a weather radio. That's the life saver.

WHITFIELD: Americanredcross.com or org?

HONORE: Dot org. Absolutely. And give money, volunteer and give blood.

WHITFIELD: Perfect. I like it. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

HONORE: God bless you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, when parents go to prison, shifting gears big- time here, their kids especially do time, as well. Our latest CNN hero tries to make that split a little less painful. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: When a man or woman are sent to jail, innocent victims are often left behind, their children. With Father's Day coming this weekend, meet CNN "Hero" Carolyn LeCroy, she helps repair the bond between parent and child that prison threatens to take away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Cameron, this is your father.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jay Jay, it's mommy. I love you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy misses you.

CAROLYN LECROY, THE MESSAGES PROJECT ORGANIZER: The children of an incarcerated parent are the silent victims of the parent's crime. These children get forgotten sometimes. My name is Carolyn LeCroy and I started The Messages Project so that incarcerated parents can keep in touch with their kids.

Door, please. Thank you.

In 1994, I was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. I was very fortunate; my children came to see me all the time. And there would be women who never got visits and I would look at them and if they were this unhappy, what about the children?

(BEGIN GRAPHIC)

An estimated 1.5 million children have an incarcerated parent.

(END GRAPHIC)

LECROY: I know how important it is for my children to see me. When I got out, I took a bad situation and I made something good of it.

Just talk from your heart, that's what this is about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Caleb, this daddy, buddy, I love you and I hope you enjoy this.

LECROY: They know they've made mistake, but they're still human beings and they have children and they all love them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is from your daddy, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two books, here. I hope you enjoy it. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish.

(BEGIN GRAPHIC)

Since 1999, Carolyn LeCroy's "The Messages Project" has recorded approximately 3,000 video messages for the children and families of inmates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one has a little star, this one has a little car. Say, what a lot of fish they are.

LECROY: We have found, with videos, for many, it's reestablishing a bond that got broken. It's hard when a parent is in prison, so I think that makes all those children heroes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, that was certainly impactful. Well, it was a CNN viewer just like you who actually told us about Carolyn LeCroy. In fact this year all of our CNN "Heroes" are extraordinary people you have nominated on our Web site. So, if you want it hear more go to cnn.com/heroes, right now. And if you know someone who deserves to be a CNN "Hero," and you want to tell the world about them, you need to go to that Web site. You never know, you could see your hero right here on CNN.

Older, wiser and now a high school graduate, a great grandma dons cap and gown 70 years after she last walked the halls. Her story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: After hitting the $4 mark last weekend, gasoline price continue to rise. The AAA Motor Club says the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is now a record $4.073. That's up 7/10ths of a penny just from yesterday. Bottom line, it's over $4. That hurts.

Well, food price are going the way of gas prices, way up. So, why are some people paying $15 for a cup of coffee? In Vancouver, Washington, they'll tell you it's that not your average cup of Joe. Customers are gulping Panama Esmeralda, a rare brew that's billed as the world's best coffee. Good to the last 15 bucks. These coffee connoisseurs say it really is worth it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE ROTHROCK, COFFEE LOVER: This one has, a sort of some tropical fruit thing coming through, there are notes of pineapple and a little bit of mango.

MELISSA LAYMAN, COFFEE SHOP OWNER: You spend a lot of money on a four ounce glass of wine and you're getting an eight ounce cup of coffee, so -- and you can drive legally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Woe, "tropical notes," I haven't heard that before. That is a coffee connoisseur. Well, guess what, there's also take-out. You can take-out that $15 cup of coffee and hopefully drink it while it's still hot. Well, a half pound of the bean will set you back $100.

All right, well, tune in each weekday for a full hour of news about your money and how best to spend it. Watch CNN's ISSUE No. 1, Monday through Friday, Noon Eastern Time. Something tells me they won't be encouraging to you buy $15 cup of coffee.

Well, a New Jersey great grandmother is reminding us that you're never too old to go after exactly what you want. Alice Thompson finally got her high school diploma nearly 70 years after she actually left school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICE THOMPSON, RECEIVED GED: I'm free, I'm free, I finally got my GED.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So sweet. Thompson's family says she has always stressed the need for a good education. And now that she's got her diploma, Thompson plans to take on computers next.

Our next hour of the NEWSROOM starts right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)