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Taliban Fighters Enter Villages in Afghanistan; Midwest Hopes for End to Floods; Amber Alert in South Carolina
Aired June 16, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The water may go down, but huge floods don't go away. They just keep moving downstream.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And that means new threats and desperate preparations along the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers in Iowa and Illinois. Also, points to the south.
Hello, everybody, on this Monday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon over at the severe weather center. Jacqui Jeras working this for us in the severe weather center today.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: First up, the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, a lawless frontier where terrorists and escaped Taliban prisoners may be hiding. Also, the scene of rising tensions today. Afghanistan threatens to send troops in after hundreds of Taliban fighters took over several villages, while Pakistan warns against it.
Joining me now by phone journalist Farhad Peikar. He joins us now in Kabul.
Tell me the situation on the ground at this hour with those Taliban fighters.
FARHAD, PEIKAR, JOURNALIST: Hi, Dee Dee (ph). Yes, as you said, hundreds of Taliban militants have overwhelmed several villages in Kandahar, south of Kandahar (ph) Province in southern Afghanistan.
Police and NATO forces are preparing to redeploy their forces in the area, which is some 16 kilometers north of Kandahar province, in the -- the place of the Taliban and also the stronghold of the Taliban, Mohammed Omar (ph).
Officials in the area say that there are around 400 to 500 Taliban militants have entered these villages. Villages in the area say that there was no resistance against these Taliban who entered and drove into the area by motorbikes and pickup trucks.
And now, penetration (ph) from both sides, the Taliban and the Taliban concentrating their post in that area, and also the Afghan government and NATO allies that there -- and especially Canadian forces in the area. They're also redeploying their forces in the area to -- for a potential operation down in the area to push out those militants who entered last night in the area.
NGUYEN: All right. Farhad Peikar joining me live now with the latest on the fact that hundreds of Taliban fighters have entered several villages near Kandahar, and at the initial onset there was no resistance to that.
Let's get some more information now, Pentagon reaction in fact, to this intense situation from our Barbara Starr.
What does this mean for those NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, they are trying to sort out exactly what is going on at this hour.
We have spoken to NATO, and what they tell us is, yes, there are Canadian and U.S. troops on the move now, as well as Afghan forces, into this region near Kandahar, the Arghandab district, where they believe hundreds of Taliban and other fugitives may have fled after that prison break late last week in Kandahar. Nearly 1,000 total having escaped from that prison.
There's no absolute confirmation about how many villages these people may have gone into, but that is clearly what has got the U.S. and NATO most concerned at this hour.
And this comes, Betty, as tensions and violence have risen consistently over the last several weeks. In fact, earlier today after Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened to send his Afghan troops across the border into Pakistan to chase militants, President Bush had to weigh in and say everybody should sit down and talk about all of this.
But what is happening, the bottom line is the U.S. feels very strongly, U.S. military, that Pakistan is not cracking down on militants on its side of the border. They are crossing over into Afghanistan, contributing to this rising level of attacks.
And just one measure of how serious all of this is, it's going to be very startling when people understand that last month, for the first time, more coalition forces were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Just a measure of what's going on -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That definitely does put it in perspective. Barbara Starr joining us live as we continue to follow this story. Thank you, Barbara -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Betty.
Well, no one in Iowa can remember floodwaters ever being this high or this devastating, to say the least. More than 36,000 people in 26 communities have been forced out of their homes. At least five people have died.
And while the water is starting to recede in places like Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, many rivers are still days away from cresting, and that means more sandbagging. President Bush plans to inspect the damage starting on Thursday.
We're covering this disaster from all angles. Our correspondents are right in the middle of it. Jim Acosta is in Cedar Rapids, and Allan Chernoff in Iowa City. That's just to name two. And, of course, our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, is on duty in our severe weather center.
Let's start now with you, Jim, in Cedar Rapids. A lot of folks are wondering when they can go home. So what's the latest on the flood water situation there -- Jim?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, well, the floodwaters are going down. We're across the Cedar River from downtown Cedar Rapids, which is pretty much dried out, which is good news for the downtown of the second largest city in Iowa.
But many of these communities are still under water, and that is why officials say they have gone ahead and suspended these checkpoints that were set up yesterday to allow many of these evacuees, 24,000 evacuees to be precise, to start going back to their businesses and homes.
Unfortunately, for many of those people who were waiting out in the hot sun yesterday -- we have some of that video to show you -- they were lining up around the block sometimes, putting on wrist bands before they went back to their homes to grab whatever they could possibly bring out of their homes to take to their hotel rooms or to a residence house to just tide them over and so they could finally go back to their homes permanently.
We followed one homeowner back to her property, Tracy Murphy, who basically just had minutes to scramble to and from, inside of her house to find whatever she could -- to pull out of her closets and out of her drawers.
She was mainly focusing on getting those family photos that are precious to her, she says. She is concerned about the situation with home, because she didn't have flood insurance on her home. She is worried that her home just might be a total loss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACY MURPHY, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, RESIDENT: Total devastation. My whole entire life is here. It's gone. I don't know what we're going to do. I honestly don't. We have thousands of dollars of clothes, and we got pretty much what we have on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And if you look behind me, you can just see some of the devastation that is left behind, and it's only visible as these floodwaters go down. There's a tractor-trailer that is essentially rammed into the side of this Methodist church.
An Enterprise rental car which is essentially out of business at this point. The sand bags didn't really do the trick there. The water got inside that building. And you can see the water mark just below the Enterprise rental car sign. That shows you just how high the waters got here, Don.
And it is just going to be days, weeks, perhaps months for the people in this community to get back to normal here. Even though these waters are going down, the tensions are running high because so many people want to get back to homes and their businesses. But right now they just simply can't do that. It is not safe enough in many of these communities, Don.
LEMON: Absolutely. Jim Acosta, stressing safety there in Cedar Rapids. We appreciate that, Jim.
And in Iowa City, a bit of encouraging news to tell you about. The river crested early and lower than expected. That is good news. Just how high did the water go?
Allan Chernoff joins me now from a soggy University of Iowa campus.
Allan, just how high did the water go? Looks like it went pretty high. You're standing waist deep right there.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, I'm waist deep, and let me tell you, Don, it gets a lot deeper. You can see behind me. In fact, right behind me, have a look at this sign. Road closed? I don't think we need that sign right there right now.
But you can see they put that sign there a few days ago. It's come all the way up. The stop sign over there.
And then have a look down there. Those are spots for people to cross the road. Do you see those signs there? So we're talking here at the University of Iowa campus water that is probably, I'd say, at least seven to eight feet high.
The Iowa River is a good football field behind me. That gives you a sense of just how much the floodwaters have gone up. We've got 16 buildings here that are flooded right now. So the damage here alone is in the millions of dollars.
And, yes, we do have a bright, sunny day. The forecast also is very good. So the waters have receded a bit, but as you can see, this is basically the river edge right now, and so the ducks are at least enjoying the situation here.
But for homeowners, for business people, it is a complete disaster. We are talking about damage, according to state officials, far exceeding what happened in 1993, and the damage there was more than $2 billion. So, Don, this is an absolute devastating situation for the entire state.
LEMON: Allan Chernoff at the University of Iowa campus. And Allan, will you please be careful? Because you don't know what's under that water. We have been stressing safety on all of our coverage here on CNN. CHERNOFF: Thank you.
LEMON: Allan Chernoff, joining us. Allan, thank you very much for your reporting.
And meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping track of what's happening right now. She's joining us now from the CNN severe weather center.
Jacqui, it's over in some areas, but not over in other areas.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well...
LEMON: And the people downstream from all of this, they're going to really be in trouble. Right?
JERAS: Well, it depends on what you consider over, too, by the way. The crest may be over with.
LEMON: Right.
JERAS: But take a look, for example. OK, we've already had our record flooding up here in Des Moines. Right?
LEMON: Right.
JERAS: We've got Iowa City over here. But we still have the purple dots, meaning it's still in major flood. It's going to take a long time for these rivers to come down.
LEMON: Oh, my gosh.
JERAS: I'm going to telestrate real quick and just show you one thing. So there is the Des Moines River. Here is the Cedar River. Here is the Iowa River. And they all come together here and move down the Mississippi River. So that's going to be the area that we're watching here for continued flooding over the next couple of days, where those rivers are going to continue to rise and reach. Some of them are going to be back at record levels, more than 93.
Iowa City, a couple things, check this out, Don. Right? So here's the Iowa River here. Iowa -- the University of Iowa straddles the side of the river, but most of the flooding is right over here. We're going to zoom in a little bit closer and show you where Allan Chernoff is. There is Kinnick Stadium. Here is Hawkins Drive. This is all completely covered with water. I know there's at least eight feet of water up there where the Hawkeyes play their softball games.
We'll take this out a little bit further now. And I want to show you some of the stream gauges, if we could, for Iowa and along the river there, and to show you that, even though it crested Saturday night, look where we're at now. This black line that you see here, that's the record level. Not even within its banks, Don.
So we're talking about Saturday before this below record stage.
LEMON: Gosh.
JERAS: And then we're probably talking a week beyond that before the river is within its banks. So even though the worst is over that way, this water still has to go down.
LEMON: Absolutely. Be careful and the word, of course, we've been saying, can't say it enough: safety, safety, safety. You don't know what's in those waters.
JERAS: Yes. And the road might be washed out underneath on top of all that. You don't know how stable conditions are.
LEMON: Jacqui is working on some other stuff, some information that you need to know about this flooding. We're going to do in a little bit. Just a little bit, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But we want you to know that CNN is your weather headquarters. Keep it tuned right here. We'll have information you need to know throughout the day -- Betty.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, we do have an Amber Alert to tell you about. This just into CNN.
Lexington, South Carolina, authorities have issued this Amber Alert for a missing 4-year-old boy. We understand that the alert was issued after a Florida woman escaped from her ex-boyfriend while he was attempting to abduct both her and the 4-year-old.
Let me tell but that little boy that you just saw. Going to put his picture back. He is Colin Nathaniel Custer, 4 years old, just 3 feet tall, weighs 35 pounds. Has blond hair, hazel eyes. Last seen wearing gray short-sleeved shirt, blue and red stripes, with navy shorts and tan shoes.
Now, his father is his mother's boyfriend, as well. His name is Robert William Custer. We'll put his picture up. He's been driving a white Chevy conversion van with Florida tag. It's Q577ZE, if you happen to see it. It's also pulling a cargo trailer.
Besides that picture right now we can tell you what we know about Custer. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with a design on the front. Also black jogging pants. He's 5'8" feet tall, weighs about 200 pounds, with grayish blond hair and blue eyes. And he is likely heading north. Authorities say that he could be armed and dangerous.
So this Amber Alert has been issued. They're hoping to find the 4-year-old boy and his father, and we'll be watching that very closely for you.
Also this, though, in a matter of hours their big day will come. When the clock ticks 5:01 there, California starts allowing same-sex marriage. Well, many county clerks are staying late to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. The move, though, stems from a ruling last month by the state supreme court.
One backer of same-sex marriage says that's the nature of the issue: legal, personal, but not necessarily biblical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: This is about civil marriages. It's about state marriages, not about religious marriages. We're not telling our churches what to believe on abortion or what to believe on stem-cell research or what to believe on divorce or, for that matter, birth control. We're not going to tell them what to do on the issue of marriages.
Forty plus percent of marriages are performed in places like this, San Francisco City Hall, and city halls around the United States. They're civil marriages. Separation church and state. We're not telling religious institutions what to do. They can continue to do what they've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, opponents of same-sex marriage, though, still putting up a fight. They are pushing a November ballot initiative that would define marriage in California as the union between a man and a woman.
A little bit later in the NEWSROOM, we are going to hear from a strong advocate of same-sex marriage, "Star Trek" actor George Takei. He and his partner will be the first gay couple given a marriage license tomorrow in West Hollywood.
LEMON: So that's happening out west, Betty, but in the Midwest, man, it is misery. The flood of 2008, it makes the flood of 1993 look like a dry spell. But no one was thinking that 15 years ago, the last time historic flooding hit the Midwest. We'll take a look back at that disaster, when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse.
NGUYEN: Plus, this isn't your ordinary litter of puppies. They're cloned from a dog that supposedly could sniff out cancer. Will their sniffers be just as keen?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Leading our political ticker today, Barack Obama in the only state where he didn't appear on the Democratic ballot during primary season. The Democratic nominee-to-be is spending today and tomorrow in Michigan, where today he told reporters he plans to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the November election.
Obama took his name off the Michigan ballot when it scheduled its primary earlier than the DNC allowed. It will be there in the fall, though, with 17 electoral votes at stake.
Well, John McCain is raising money today at a private event in Texas. But one event that had been on the schedule, it is not anymore. The campaign canceled a fund-raiser at the home of a Texas oilman, Clayton Williams, who made offensive comments about rape during a failed run for governor back in 1990. And if you look online for political news or to share your political views, you are part of a vast movement. A survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finds 46 percent of Americans, almost half of the adult population, is blogging, e- mailing, texting, or simply surfing political Web sites. The survey finds Obama supporters are the most cyber-savvy.
All the latest campaign news is at your fingertips. Just go to CNNpolitics.com. We have analysis from the best political team on television. It is all there: CNNPolitics.com.
LEMON: All right. Of course, the economy is issue No. 1. Saudi Arabia plans to roll out more barrels, but can it reign in a runaway oil market? The world's biggest oil producer tells the U.N. chief it will boost output by 200,000 barrels a day. That's starting next month, following an even bigger increase last month.
But that's not stopping crude oil prices from spiking to another record, nearing $140 a barrel today in future trade -- futures trading. So will the Saudi plan make a difference? Our Poppy Harlow takes a closer look straight ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And gas prices: well, we know they are up, too; food prices, too. Now just flipping your light switch is going to cost you more. Thanks to record fuel costs and plans to build more power plants, utilities across the U.S. have raised rates or are planning to, maybe as much as 29 percent. Can you keep your electric bill from giving you a shock? Our Gerri Willis has some tips for you, starting at the half hour. She'll tell you then.
NGUYEN: All right. Take a look at this.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 15 years ago. Does it look familiar? Iowans are using the flood of 1993 as a marker to measure the current flood. Only now, though, they might need a bigger measuring stick. We're going to take a look back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, the massive flooding in the Midwest is likely to have a ripple effect on consumers all across the country. Stephanie Elam is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with details on the economic impact of this extreme weather.
So how bad is it going to get, Stephanie?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's not a pretty picture at all, Betty. When you take a look at the flooding along the Mississippi and the Midwest, you may think, "That's not going to really affect me so much."
But when you look at shipping, it's really going to be a problem for freight, as far as railroads are concerned, and, you know, barges that go up and down the Mississippi. So we're taking a look at how this could affect our prices for consumers moving forward. Let's start off by taking a look at river freight. "The Wall Street Journal" says that hundreds of barges are getting stuck along the Mississippi. That's causing major problems and delaying shipments all along the way.
The Army Corps of Engineers, they have a list of at least 11 locks that are closed along the river. And get this: on a typical day, over 20,000 tons of cargo actually pass through those locks. So that's a big deal to see that they're actually closing them down.
Move over to the railroads. Take a look at that picture there. You've got disruptions that could be longer lasting than on the waterways. And that's simply because of the fact that things will need to be repaired, like bridges and all those things involved in the rails, getting those cleaned out again.
Floods actually washed out major rail lines in five Midwestern states, those being Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois. So as these tracks are getting repaired and back up and running, customers are being told that delays could be 24 hours, could be 48 hours, or it could just be indefinite at this point.
And, of course, with all of this factoring in, you've got those high oil prices, gasoline prices, that could also mean that consumers may be feeling the hit on this one, Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes. Delays that could be indefinitely? I mean, does this mean that if you actually do find the goods that you want, boy, you're going to pay a pretty penny for it?
ELAM: That's usually how it works. It's such a rough time for the consumer right now in America. I mean, we're talking about all these other expenses going up. People are worried about inflation. And it seems to be the case here. Corn, wheat, I mean a lot of things that we just use in everyday food. Soybean prices have all been soaring.
And so because of that, we could see more of that factoring in here because of crop damage. Think about all that water, all those crops under water. That factors in. If the demand is there, the prices will be higher because there's less supply. We all know how that works. Especially with the delays in shipping.
Let's take a quick look at the numbers here on Wall Street. Got a mixed session today. Right now the Dow on the down side by 39 points, 12,267. NASDAQ is on the upside right now.
And of course, we've been watching oil. They were up close to $4 earlier in the session, but they've since retreated a bit. And so we've seen the markets also kind of move to flat line.
In the next hour we're going to take a look at your electric bill and how it may give you a shock in the next couple months. We'll tell you about some dramatic price changes there, Betty.
NGUYEN: All these prices are giving us a shock. I mean, it's one thing after another, Stephanie.
ELAM: Seriously.
NGUYEN: Thank you.
ELAM: Thanks.
LEMON: So why exactly is that happening? Why is it going to give you a shock? Right? A shock, as Stephanie Elam says.
NGUYEN: That's what people are asking.
LEMON: Turning on your lights is going to cost you more. Maybe a lot more she said, and it might put some of you, some people in the dark. You know that happens in the winter, because energy prices go up.
NGUYEN: Right.
LEMON: And people can't afford to heat their home. Get ready for some high voltage. We'll tell you about that, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First up, we do have an Amber Alert to tell you about out of Lexington, South Carolina.
Here is what we know. This alert has been issued after a Florida woman escaped from her ex-boyfriend while he was attempting to abduct her and her 4-year-old child. You see that little boy right there. His name is Collin Nathaniel Custer (ph). He's three feet tall, weights 35 pounds, has blond hair, hazel eyes.
Police are searching for that boy's father, his name is Robert William Custer II. He's 45-years-old, 5'8 tall, weighs about 200 pounds, and has grayish-blond hair with blue eyes. Authorities say that he's likely heading north in a white Chevy conversion van with Florida plates. And they do say that he could be armed. So an Amber Alert has been issued for this 4-year-old boy and his father, who authorities are searching for at this hour, Don.
LEMON: All right, Betty. Thanks very much.
An entire neighborhood, blocks of businesses, even a university under water. The floodwaters in Iowa have spared little as they move toward the mighty Mississippi. The waters are going down ever so slowly in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, revealing what can only be called a catastrophe. But Iowans say they will make it through and start anew.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) VOICE OF MAYOR REGENIA BAILEY, IOWA CITY, IOWA: There's standing water all over. It's -- mercifully the sun is shining today, so I think that that has an effect on all of our moods. But getting around the city is difficult. People are still out of their homes. As I understand it, the water will begin to recede, but that will happen so slowly that I think it will be at least a week before we're back to the '93 flood stage.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: Wow. CNN just now confirming at least six people killed in Iowa because of this devastating flooding. Just now you, you just heard the mayor mention the flood of 1993 there. It was, of course, devastating. It was costly, to say the least, and it is a marker against which people across the Midwest are measuring the current flood.
And of course, CNN was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VOICE OF MIKE CAPPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The back breaking work of sandbagging flood-prone areas was begun in Iowa. Already, rising water from a swollen Mississippi River is making its way into neighborhood and downtown streets in Davenport. The National Guard has been called in to aid in sand-bagging, and most of eastern Iowa has been declared a disaster area because of the high water.
JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Record rain fall has forced the Mississippi over its banks causing the worst flooding since 1965.
(on camera): To date, more than a dozen counties in Iowa alone have been declared disaster areas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mighty Mississippi, I'm not afraid of it, but you've got to respect it.
FORTIN: Some 100 businesses are under water as residents wait for the river to crest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Already the damage to livestock and land and the crops that didn't grow, or won't now, will likely top $1 billion. It will be hard to tell until the water goes away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: It's Davenport that suffered the most extensive urban damage, $100 million to date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Floating down Sycamore Street (ph) in Hannibal, Missouri, you can already see the damage. The river crested once here at 28 feet, and there is concern that there could be another crest which could bring them even more trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Cleanup efforts are out of the question until the water recedes. So for now, residents can do little more than watch, wait, and worry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time we do this, we think it's the last. But this is a reminder just how powerful mother nature is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is joining us now. She's keeping track of it all.
We've been talking about 1993. I know I lived there in the Midwest, and -- that's a marker for everything. You go into a restaurant and business, anything, it's like what is that?
That's where the flood -- how high the waters got back in 1993.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.
And for the most part, those markers are much higher, absolutely. But it's really hard, Don, to compare some of this, too, because so many things have changed since '93 to try and protect these areas. So there's been a lot of new levees built to higher standards, and so cities like Des Moines, for example, reworked their whole levee system. So even though the record level was higher this time around, the city got off a lot easier this time because the new levee definitely saved them, particularly the water plain conditions.
Got a map I want to show you. Check this out. This is a precip total. This is compared to what you would normally see in an average year. The one on your left-hand side, over here, that's today. This is what happened during 2008. And I want you to notice this light blue area in here, across Iowa, across southwestern Wisconsin -- 200 percent of normal. That's how much rain that they've had there.
Now, this map over here onto the right-hand side, this is from 1993. And so the rainfall between the period of April 1 to June 10, much, much less. But again, it's kind of hard to compare this a little bit because we had a lot of flooding up into the Dakotas and the Red River Valley and then came down stream.
Now let's go ahead and show you a little bit more about who is going to see worse than '93 compared to --
LEMON: That's the concern now.
JERAS: Compared to now.
So here we go. We've got all the stream gauges on there. The areas that we're looking at now for the next round of flooding is going to be around Burlington, Kiakuk (ph) and extending on southward. So we'll zoom into the Burlington area. Here is the river gauge. Here is where we are right now 24.42 feet. It's expected to crest -- right there you can see -- at 25.6. And that black line, for example, that's the record stage. So we're going above.
You go down river and you head into the Kiakuk area, we're expecting to see record levels there as well. That's going to be cresting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
And then head downstream a little bit further and we'll take you into Quincy, Illinois. And look at that -- it's going to be really, really close to that record. Everybody south of Quincy, you're going to see some major flooding here, don't get me wrong, but you're not going to exceed 1993.
LEMON: OK. And you know what? I said this is the new information here, and this just kind of puts it in perspective. Because people say, well, that's a lot of flood coverage. Well, this is really unprecedented. We have just learned six people died.
And here is how it happened. Some people were swept away, Jacqui. Others were hit by cars. And one person struck by lightning. So you really can't be too careful when it comes to this floodwater.
JERAS: Absolutely.
And I think that's a lot of the reason why the authorities aren't letting people out there back into their homes so quickly. There's so many different hazards out there, from electrocution, from weather to the flooding. The power of water, Don, it's so amazing. If water is moving at like two to five miles per hour, that's the equivalent of wind speeds almost like hurricane force.
LEMON: Appreciate your perspective. I learned a lot. And, of course, we know who may be hit next and maybe they can take some safety as well.
Jacqui Jeras, appreciate it.
JERAS: Sure.
NGUYEN: Opening up your electric bill, well, that can really give you a shock these days. Soaring food and gas prices are bad enough, we know that. But now, it's going to cost you more to turn on your lights as utilities raise rates across the nation.
So, we need our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, more than ever these days.
I'm almost afraid to ask, but how high are the electricity bills expected to go?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, in some cases, Betty, as much as 29 percent.
And I've got to tell you, that comes on the backs of other increases along the way. Of course it depends on where you live because these electricity prices are local, they're developed regionally by the utilities. You just have to wait to get that letter in the mail.
Here is what's going on though. The utility companies are experiencing their own rising energy prices. They need energy to make energy, typically coal and natural gas, and those prices have doubled in the last year. So you can see they're facing the same kind of vise grip of prices that we are.
NGUYEN: So when we look at the summer and try to figure out how this thing is going to play out, what are you seeing?
WILLIS: Well, the Farmer's Almanac, for example, one source says this is going to be a really tough summer. And I know a lot of folks out there, Betty, they thought I had a hard time paying the bills to heat my home, but maybe I will get a little break this summer. Well it doesn't look like that's going to happen because we're going to have a tough summer and prices are rising so quickly across the country -- Betty.
NGUYEN: So really, you have to do what you can.
And the question now is, what can people do to lower their energy bills?
WILLIS: Well, I know you know about all the obvious stuff, Betty, like making sure your drapes are closed in the summer when you're using AC so the sun doesn't stream into your home and heat it up.
But there are other things that may be a little less obvious that you'll want to check out. For example, make sure that you use your air conditioning wisely. Install air conditioning units on the shady side of the house. You can make those units 10 percent more effective. If you've got central AC, you will want to think about getting a programmable thermostat. That can save you as much as 10 percent on your emergency bill.
Now here is something that's a little less obvious -- landscaping. If you plant trees on the sunny side of your house, those leaves of the trees actually block the heat coming into your house from the sun in the summer and then they allow the sun to come through in the winter after the leaves fall. That allows your house to get warmer. So it's a great way, really, to insulate your home just a little bit from the summer rays.
Also, think about asking for a time shift usage. Big commercial outfits out there, they have the advantage of using power when it's cheapest. They actually time shift their usage. Some utilities are making these programs available to consumers now so that you can say, well, I'm going to do my laundry maybe at 10:00 tonight because I know nobody is going to be using power then and I'm going to pay less.
So, definitely need to ask your utility out there if they're making these kind of programs available in your area. But it's something to think about if you're really struggling with these high prices -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That's a really good idea, that time shift usage there. I think a lot of people may not be familiar that you could actually do that and use the electricity at a cheaper rate.
WILLIS: But not everywhere. I just want to warn folks. It's only in certain areas. You have to check it out, as usual, for the details.
NGUYEN: Got you. Gerri Willis, those are some really good tips, thank you.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
NGUYEN: And your gas bill, your food bill, your electric bill -- the CNN economic team shows you how to keep them in check these days. It's weekdays at 12:00 Eastern and all throughout the CNN NEWSROOM.
It's your money, we're focusing on it, because it's issue No. 1.
LEMON: Also coming up Betty, a story you really don't want to miss. Check this out. A nose for disease. These pups are said to be cloned from a cancer-sniffing dog. Will they be able to smell the signs as well?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It's time now to tell you about a couple stories we're working on for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Amber Alert -- an urgent search right now for this 4-year-old South Carolina boy. Police suspect Collin Custer's father kidnapped him and the boy's mother. The mother managed to escape, though.
Six deaths in Iowa have now been linked to the record flooding there. Mississippi River communities in Illinois are bracing for the worst. President Bush plans to visit the flood-ravaged Midwest on Thursday.
Same-sex couples in California getting ready to say, I do. Just hours from now, California officially becomes the second state to make gay marriage legal. Now, some county workers plan to stay late to accommodate first in line couples.
NGUYEN: Take a look at this. They are adorable, curious, and possibly, get this, the latest allies in the fight against cancer. Four little puppies said to be cloned from a dog famous for sniffing out cancer cells.
Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.
Elizabeth, this would really be remarkable if those puppies could be trained to sniff out cancer like their mother.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and that is the big if, Betty. That's the big if.
NGUYEN: It's not genetic? It's something --
COHEN: It's not 100 percent genetic. To some extent it probably is, but a dog's ability to sniff out cancer cells is probably dependent on a whole bunch of things.
Are you going to train them exactly the same way? Are they going to be brought up in the same environment? Are they of the same mindset so to speak? I think we all know identical twins who have the exact same DNA, but they're not exactly the same. One may have artistic talent, and the other one might not. One may be athletic, and one might not be athletic. So there's no saying that these clones are going to be as great at sniffing out cancer as their mom.
NGUYEN: So how does it really work? Can a dog truly sniff out cancer?
COHEN: There has been a suggestion in several studies that dogs can sniff out cancer. There is no hard evidence that dogs can sniff out cancer. For example, I did a story about a year-and-a-half ago with a dog named Kobe (ph) in California. And his owner said that you could lay out samples, you see them there, lay out samples of tissue, human tissue, and some of it was cancerous -- one of the samples was cancerous. And I did see that time after time, he sat down at the cancer sample, not at the normal sample.
But is that absolute evidence that this dog could pick up cancer in a living, breathing human being? Not so much. It's something that researchers are interested in, but there's not absolute proof.
NGUYEN: But if it is the case, my goodness, what a great break through. Just another method of trying to figure this out.
COHEN: Right. It's definitely intriguing. There's no question.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.
COHEN: OK, thanks.
LEMON: All right, this is coming up. A rescue effort that's so dangerous it puts the rescuers at risk. We'll show you what happened after a canoe trip went horribly wrong.
NGUYEN: And he was at the heart of an international custody battle. Remember that little boy? Well, the U.S. versus Cuba, now he is making news again. An update on the now teenaged Elian Gonzalez is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. Imagine this, 10 people holding on for dear lives in a raging, flood-swollen river. Now rescuers have to put themselves in harm's way just to save them.
Nick Bohr, from our Milwaukee affiliate WISN, picks up the story from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK BOHR, WISN REPORTER (voice-over): Emergency crews quickly mobilized along the flood-swollen Milwaukee River near Newberg, and came up with a plan to rescue the 10 people still stranded in the river, after one man was able to swim for shore to get help. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to get the boat out and she just wanted to go down. Finally we got one man across, and -- with a rope, and then we pulled the rope back and forth. But it was very critical.
BOHR: Newberg's fire chief has lived here his entire life and has never seen the Milwaukee River look like this.
(on camera): How was it for your guys trying to get them out of there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very difficult -- very, very difficult. Not only that, we're risking our lives also. And that's a part of our job, but they shouldn't have been out there.
BOHR (voice-over): Back on dry land, the 11 victims, five adults and six children as young as 7-years-old, were treated for possible hypothermia and bumps and bruises, but were otherwise fine.
The adults didn't want to explain why they took the chance as they left for home from the Newberg Fire Department.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was really moving. It was difficult to keep the boat in the water.
BOHR: The rescuers didn't know why either.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea, but for a family to take kids out in a canoe like that, it's just so foolish. Why take such a chance, you know? They could have lost half their family out there today. It's just -- people have to use common sense when the water is this high. There's absolutely no reason for that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thanks to Nick Bohr from our Milwaukee affiliate, that's affiliate WISN.
At least five Wisconsin counties have been declared federal disaster areas because of this flooding.
And it's not just streets that are submerged in the Midwest. Doesn't look like streets -- it looks more like rivers. Betty saw it up close, we're going to talk to her about that in a little bit. But train tracks are submerged as well, and that's forcing Amtrak to cut a big chunk of its Midwest service for now. It's suspending service between Chicago and cities to the north and west like St. Paul and Denver. Amtrak is offering alternative bus service to some spots, but not to cities in flood ravaged areas.
NGUYEN: Well, another natural disaster is happening right now in southern China. Take a look. It's some of the worst flooding in decades. Rising waters have forced more than a million people from their homes, nearly 60 people have died. Nine provinces have been hit hard after days of torrential rains, and it is not over yet. No major break in the wet weather is expected for at least 10 days. And monsoon rains in Myanmar are making it harder to help survivors of last month's cyclone. More than 77,000 people have already died in the secretive southeast Asian country since that storm. Another 55,000 are still missing, while as many as 600,000 need new homes. UNICEF says they're pleased to finally have gotten government permission to deliver humanitarian supplies by helicopter, but making the delivers means battling strong winds and rain.
LEMON: That is insult to injury, isn't it?
OK. The custody dispute that set off a heated battle beyond his family. Eight years later, remember Elian Gonzalez? Well he seems more at home in Cuba than ever. The story now from CNN's Shasta Darlington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember the little kid at the center of a bitter U.S./Cuban custody battle?
Well he's not so little anymore. Eight years after returning to his father in Cuba, Elian Gonzalez has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. During a ceremony over the weekend, he was presented with a union card and vowed he would always follow the examples of Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, Cuba's new president.
Elian is now 14, but he was just 6-years-old when his mother was killed when a boat smuggling them to the United States flipped over. He was found clinging to an intertube and handed over to relatives in south Florida. Fidel Castro himself led the ideological battle to bring Gonzalez back to Cuba and his father.
"Little Elian will return to his homeland, to his family, to his school," he said.
And after months of huge marches and heated speeches, Castro claimed victory. In many ways, Elian Gonzalez's future was written the day he returned to Cuba. Over the last eight years, his family has had front row seats at Castro's rallies. At an early age, Gonzalez himself started to assume a public role, speaking at political rallies like this one.
"It's been five years since I was able to return with my dad, and it was possible thanks to my family and the Cuban people and Commander Fidel," he said.
Castro and Gonzalez also had a personal relationship. The aging president attended the young boy's birthday on more than one occasion. At this party he helped him blow out the candles.
(on camera): For most Cubans, it comes as no surprise that Elian Gonzalez joined the ranks of those young people most committed to Fidel Castro's revolution. But what remains to be seen is if he'll play a bigger role in politics in the future.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Havana. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, a Pennsylvania teen has just snapped up a Rubik's Cube world record. We've got all the twists and turns ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, food prices are going the way of gas prices, and that's way up. So why are some people paying $15 for a cup of coffee?
In Vancouver, Washington, they tell you it's not just your average cup of joe. Customers are gulping Panama Esmeralda; its' a rare brew that's billed as the world's best coffee. Coffee connoisseurs say it's worth it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE ROTHROCK, COFFEE LOVER: This one has a sort of tropical fruit taste that is coming there, 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)
NGUYEN: OK. That stuff better be good because a half-pound of bean will set you back $100.
Listen to this story. He wasn't even born when the Rubik's Cube first came out. But, Dan Cohen is a quick study. The 18-year-old from Pennsylvania just set a world record in the four by four Rubik's Cube. He finished the puzzle in 46.03 seconds, and he didn't peel one sticker off. That's the way I solve them. Cohen's only been cubing for a year and a half now. He says he's not generally all that fast, but everything came together in his record setting run. Look at that.
The next hour in the NEWSROOM starts right now.
