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Hurricane Fay Heads for Florida; Nearly 200 Air-Lifted from Grand Canyon Flood; Pakistani President Resigns

Aired August 18, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Bracing for Fay. It's not yet a hurricane, but hurricane warnings in effect on the Gulf Coast of Florida. We're live in the Keys.
And for years, this man was the most powerful force in Pakistan. Today his power is gone, and soon he will be, too.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. First let's get to Fay. Florida's governor calls it a lopsided storm that everyone should take seriously. It's swamped Haiti, brushed past Cuba, and may hit the U.S. tonight.

A state of emergency is already in effect in Florida, and people leaving the Keys don't have to pay tolls on the northbound turnpike. Those staying behind are boarding up and stocking up. Schools are closed through tomorrow, and the airport in Key West is shut down, at least for now. Some oil rigs are being evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, rest assured, CNN has the storm covered. John Zarrella in Key West following all the Florida preparations and, of course, meteorologist Jacqui Jeras right behind me, among a number of experts in the severe weather center. She's plotting Fay's possible tracks.

Jacqui, what do you have for us?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wow. Well, you know, we were talking a little earlier, Kyra, you and I, on camera about how Fay has been so fickle. That's the nickname of the storm for this one, because the commuter models have consistently been inconsistent. And there are a lot of forecasting challenges was this particular storm, not just in the track but also in the intensity.

So this is the official forecast track from the National Hurricane Center. We've got winds around 60 miles per hour. We think intensification is going to be likely in the upcoming hours because we're over the open waters now.

But look at how huge this cone of uncertainty is. This pretty much covers just about the entire Florida peninsula. And one of the reasons why it's so tricky is because it's almost pulling parallel to the coastline, and when that happens, particularly when it's so close to the coast, any little wobble or bobble really significantly changes the outcome here. This is the latest run of the computer models. This spaghetti chart, as we call them. And every single one of these lines is representative of a particular computer model and their results of where it's going. Pretty good consensus, coming in here over the Keys. Pretty much everybody has got it making landfall or very near it.

What happens after that? We have more of a consensus pushing in towards Fort Meyers. But look at this. Tampa still in it. And even up towards the Big Bend area.

Now, one new development that we've been seeing, which I think is rather interesting, is we've got what we call a high-pressure ridge which is going to be coming in from the north. And we're worried about that blocking the system out. So some of the computer models are bringing it up here into the southeast, stalling it out and bringing a flood event, while others bring it back over the open water, and then the high blocks it out and pushes it back over towards Florida.

So things are really going to be interesting here, Kyra, over the next couple of days. The hurricane hunters are flying in this storm sampling it right now. They've just found the pressure at the surface has dropped by a millibar, so that's an indication that we're starting to see some strengthening.

We'll bring some more information on this and talk about the rains and tornado threats. We just got a new watch out for tornadoes. That's coming up in just another few minutes.

PHILLIPS: All right. Jacqui, thanks so much.

Well, you remember Wilma? That was 2005, the last time Key West had a serious brush with a hurricane. Well, CNN's John Zarrella, he remembers it very well. He's back there in Key West, and he's waiting for Fay.

Hey, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Wilma was a whole different ball game, hopefully, you know, a Category 3 hurricane. Caused extensive flooding here down in the lower and the middle Keys. So folks here certainly don't want a repeat of that, and chances are we're not going to get a repeat of that, although the storm is certainly beginning to intensify, as Jacqui was saying.

You can see the wave action here has really come up; a lot of heavy rain falling periodically; a lot of waves battering the shoreline here, and the trees really blowing. We actually had our wind meter out a little bit ago, and we recorded a wind gust of 37 miles an hour, just two miles an hour shy of tropical storm force. So we expect that we'll see that continuing to increase throughout the day as Fay moves ever closer to us here in Key West. Now, of course, it is Key West, so as you'd expect, people were a little slow to react and get ready, but they did. We saw a lot of folks out today putting up shutters, boarding up their homes, and going to the grocery store, preparing, buying the flashlights, the batteries, the water, the canned goods, getting everything ready for Fay, just in case the power does go out here.

And we did have an opportunity to speak with one gentleman who was leaving the grocery store a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a reason to be prepared, especially if the hurricane knocks out our power for a day or two. You want to have your little generator working, you know. And, you know, things may be closed for a day or two. That's why we went shopping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: I don't know if you can still hear me over there, Kyra, because I may have lost our IFB, but the rain is beginning to pick up. We're going through another one of these squalls. You can see a heavy sheet of rain out in the distance and the white caps blowing up here, the wind whipping the waves here in front of us.

And that little dock out there where people go to swim when it's calm water is just absolutely bobbing everywhere. The trees, really, the palm trees beginning to blow here as one of these major squall lines moves through here. And again we expect to see these conditions deteriorate even further throughout the course of the day -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking more. John Zarrella there in Key West. Thanks, John.

Well, rescued from the edge of disaster. About 50 tourists plus members of the Havasupai tribe had to be air-lifted out of the Grand Canyon after a dam burst.

CNN's Chris Lawrence tells us it's not over yet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Emergency crews have resumed the search for about 20 people who are still unaccounted for after Sunday's massive rescue operation in which rescue crews safely air- lifted about 170 people out of the Grand Canyon.

Now, this area down in the canyon is home to both an Indian nation and a major tourist area. It only gets about nine inches of rain a year, but a lot of it comes all at once in August. They had had heavy rains Friday, heavy rains Saturday. You had a flash flood. That was then followed by the Redlands Dam bursting, sending another wall of water rushing into the canyon.

At one point the current was so strong it washed out about five rafts that a small group had been using on a boating trip. That left 16 people stranded on a ledge until the helicopters were able to make their way to them and at times, one by one, air-lift them to the other side of the Colorado River.

CEDAR HENNINGS, RESCUED BOATER: We were in a really good spot. We had a nice little rock ledge, pretty big, enough for 16 people to comfortably be under. And you know, we just got the food and water we had together, collected some rain water, and we knew we had to wait the night out. We knew some commercial ships would come by the next day. We could get food and water from them and figure out our plan from there. We figured that the boats would get washed down, somebody else would see them, call out on the SAT phone. You know, at least it would be common knowledge. We didn't think it would be this big of knowledge. But...

LAWRENCE: And they got to you.

HENNINGS: And so, you know, by 7:30 the next morning there was a helicopter there, you know, just checking on us and kind of circling the whole area. But our group is fine. We're in great shape.

LAWRENCE: He's one of about two dozen people who have been resting here at the emergency shelter behind me. They're expecting another 100 people to arrive here at some point later today. The sheriff's deputies stayed in the canyon overnight, trying to monitor the water level before the search and rescue mission could pick up again.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Peach Springs, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And in international news, the price of invading Georgia. Condoleezza Rice says that Russia will pay for more than a week of hostilities with its southern neighbor. Specifics may be determined when the secretary of state meets with NATO allies in Europe.

Russians say that they've begun to pull out of Georgia, but reports on the ground are inconclusive. Accounts from the city of Gori say it's still under Russian occupation. And not far from Gori, big Russian tanks smashed a blockade of Georgian police vehicles. The tank's destination wasn't clear.

Also today, U.S. officials tell CNN that the Russians are moving short-range missile launchers into the separatist region of South Ossetia. The Russians deny it.

And facing near-certain impeachment, U.S. ally Pervez -- U.S. ally, rather, Pervez Musharraf resigned today as president of Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN (through translator): For the sake of country, please accept this resignation. I am not thinking on personal levels but first Pakistan first. So take care of the Pakistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The one-time military ruler has been a supporter of the war on terror while often resisting Washington's plea -- position to take on Islamic militants on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Musharraf's successor isn't clear but one possibility, the husband of the late opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.

We're going to have more just a little later from our State Department correspondent Zain Verjee.

After a week of having the campaign trail to himself, John McCain is again sharing the spotlight with Barack Obama. At a campaign stop this morning in Orlando, Florida, the Republican focused on the war in Iraq in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. McCain has got a fundraiser in Atlanta later this afternoon.

And after a weeklong vacation in Hawaii, the Democrat is spending the day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he talked about the economy in a speech last hour. He's got a town-hall meeting a little later in the day.

Barack Obama and John McCain in their own words. Ahead this hour, we're going to hear what the two men have to say about marriage and abortion.

Also, can Detroit City Council fire the mayor? That's the issue in yet another court hearing involving Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick has been mired in a scandal and legal trouble for a while now. He's facing ten felony charges in two separate cases but refuses to resign. His lawyers say the council doesn't have the power to oust him. The court hearing starts next hour.

With Tropical Storm Fay approaching Florida, have we learned any lessons from Hurricane Katrina? Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who helped the Gulf Coast get past the horrors of Katrina, is joining me live.

And he's the gold standard of the Beijing Olympics. Michael Phelps sits down with Larry Smith to talk about his amazing feat.

She's a birthday girl, but this 7-year-old passed up the presents to help sick children. We're going to tell you all about her unselfish act.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, after years of a key ally in the U.S. war on terror, Pervez Musharraf is out today as president of Pakistan. Musharraf announced his resignation under threat of impeachment by the governing coalition elected last winter.

Joining us with U.S. reaction in State Department correspondent Zain Verjee. She's in Brussels, actually, for an important NATO meeting. Zain, what's the reaction?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Good afternoon.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States will support Pakistan, the new Pakistani elective government, and help it fight the war on terror.

In a statement she issued before taking off to Brussels, here's what the secretary said: "We strongly support the democratically- elected civilian government in its desire to modernize Pakistan and build democratic institutions."

She went on to say that Pervez Musharraf really made a critical choice in deciding to fight al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremists. The statement went on to say that "President Musharraf has been a friend to the U.S. and one of the world's most committed partners in the war on terror and extremism. For this he has our deep gratitude."

Kyra, it's important to note that this is what -- this is not a surprise to the United States. A resignation or departure of Musharraf was expected. The United States has, though, been forced to adjust its policy toward Pakistan. It's no longer a one-man approach. There are many more players, powerful ones, on the ground in Pakistan -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So is this new government friendly with the U.S.? What type of relationship exists right now? As you know, there's a lot of controversy that Pervez Musharraf may have had a good relationship with the U.S. but didn't do enough to fight terrorism.

VERJEE: Well, this new government is a coalition government, and, yes, by and large, it is pretty friendly toward the United States. They say they are committed to fighting the war on terror.

But they did get off to a little animosity in the beginning, where both sides didn't really know each other, and the new Pakistani government felt that the U.S. was just too pro-Musharraf. U.S. officials are telling us that now they've met the prime minister. They've talked to some of the players. They feel a lot more comfortable.

One important thing to note here, Kyra, is that the Pakistani government necessarily does not want to be seen as being too close to the U.S. They don't want that perception by the Pakistani people. That was Pervez Musharraf's problem, and the U.S. now realizes that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The U.S. is also putting a lot of money into the military there in Pakistan and expects Pakistan to work with the U.S. to fight terrorism. So you tend to wonder is this the right thing to happen right now for the safety, not only overseas during these wars, but here in the U.S. for all of us? VERJEE: That's exactly right, Kyra. From the U.S.'s point of view, they have been really worried about the kind of political turmoil going on in Pakistan, and they feel that, essentially, it's been a distraction to the war on terror. All eyes have been focused on Pervez Musharraf, how to get rid of him: shall we impeach him, shall we not? The coalition governments have been fighting each other and Musharraf over it. And dropping its eye off the ball on that border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Also stability in Pakistan means that there's less fear of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists. So for the U.S. this is a good development -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: State Department correspondent Zain Verjee. Thanks so much for the perspective.

And in Pakistan's neighbor, Afghanistan, a deadly attack today outside a U.S. military base. At least ten civilians were killed, 13 wounded in the suicide car bombing in the eastern Khost province. U.S. officials say that Afghan security forces prevented a second bombing.

And preparing for the storm. Experts say when it comes to hurricanes, too many homeowners have storm amnesia. We're going to talk with retired general Russel Honore.

Abortion and same-sex marriage. We're going to hear what John McCain and Barack Obama say about those divisive issues at a faith forum over the weekend at a California mega church.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: As you know, our John Zarrella is following the activity that's happening right now in Key West, Florida.

This is live pictures right now from our affiliate, WSVN, out of Miami. Also Jacqui Jeras is following the conditions for us. We'll be talking to her throughout the afternoon.

Also retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore joining us about what folks there should be doing. Most of the tourists got out of Key West, but we're continuing to follow it, obviously, through live pictures and our reporters on the ground.

Well, costs are high and demand is low, and the choice is clear for many foreign airlines flying in and out of Los Angeles International Airport. Cut flights. The L.A. Times reports that Air India, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, Air Lingus and Malaysia airliners, they're all trimming their schedules in the fall, as are United Airlines and Delta.

And at the same time, a few overseas carriers are planning new service at LAX. And renovations to the international terminal, well, they're still under way.

Qantas airlines is flush with embarrassment right now after someone forgot to empty the toilets on a 737. The flight took off from Sydney for Perth but diverted to Adelaide because basically the seven toilets weren't working. Basically, they were too full after the plane's last trip from Honolulu.

Well, a wide variety of industries have suffered in the wake of record high fuel prices. Stephanie Elam on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with the latest retailer to take a hit along with, I guess, some pretty bad news for anyone with a sweet tooth. Leave it to Steph to always talk about the sweet tooth.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why do you always come to me, though, Kyra, with stories like that Qantas story?

PHILLIPS: Like backed-up toilets? Yes, I know. I'm sorry.

ELAM: You don't do that to Susan.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we can get ourselves in trouble. That's why I kind of turned it to the sweet tooth angle. You know.

ELAM: OK. That's good. We'll talk about the sweet stuff first. But let's first talk about what's been going on as far as home improvement retailers are concerned. And it's no surprise that they've been feeling a lot of pressure.

Let's talk about Lowe's. They said their second-quarter profits actually fell by 8 percent, but believe it or not, that beat the street. So that's one thing that people here were surprised to see.

Lowe's is cautious, though, when it comes to the current quarter. We do know that they've been putting up with a lot of difficulties as the overall home improvement market has suffered, mainly because of saturation.

Also homeowners, they say, are hesitant to take on new projects as the economy is sort of soft here. They don't want to take on anything new, because they're looking at their purse strings.

Lowe's does expect those higher fuel and food prices to affect what customers do. And so that may also put pressure on their future profits, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, are those fuel costs taking a toll on another big company? That's so -- that's what I hear, and is this really going to hurt if you're a chocolate lover?

ELAM: Yes. Probably -- you know, I think for people who are real big chocolate lovers, it doesn't matter how much they raise it. They're still going to go out and get their chocolate fix if they need to.

But this is true: Hershey's is raising prices on the wholesale level yet again. Hershey's is saying that they're going to raise prices by 11 percent to offset those fuel prices that they're dealing with. Commodity prices overall have been volatile. If you take a look at cocoa, corn syrup, sugar, peanuts, all those things you would need for some good chocolate, well, they're all up. They're all costing more. Some of them up as much as 45 percent. So that's having an impact.

The company says they expect to spend about $110 million a year on raw materials alone. And if you're really paying attention, you may remember back in January the company raised prices then by nearly 15 percent on a third of its domestic lines. So obviously, we'll be watching that.

And for other people who maybe chocolate is not their thing, maybe they're into cookies. More bad news there. Mrs. Fields has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has 1,200 franchises across the country and has to struggle with a heavy debt load.

Now as far as Wall Street, Hershey shares, they are on the downside by 10 percent. Taking a look at that.

The Dow industrials actually getting pretty much near our session lows here, off 152 points, 11,507. NASDAQ down, as well. So we'll be keeping our eyes on what is going on around here.

And coming up, we'll talk about the Academy Awards. They're actually losing a major sponsor. And I'll tell you which company is skipping the red carpet to save some green, and they do really need to save some green right now. So I'll tell you all about that when we chat next time, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We have to think about what we're going to switch to if we can't have your chocolate, Steph.

ELAM: I'm not touching it.

PHILLIPS: All right. I'll see you in a little bit.

ELAM: All right.

PHILLIPS: OK.

Wars old and new. John McCain's focus today in a visit to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Florida. Over the weekend he and Barack Obama were in California for a faith forum, and both men were asked the same questions by Reverend Rick Warren. Here is some of what McCain had to say about marriage and abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a 25- year pro-life record in the Congress, in the Senate. And as president of the United States I will be a pro-life president, and this presidency will have pro-life policies. That's my commitment. That's my commitment to you.

PASTOR RICK WARREN, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: OK. We don't have to go longer on that one. Define marriage.

MCCAIN: Union -- a union between man and woman, between one man and one woman. That's my definition of marriage.

I am a federalist. I believe in the states making those decisions. In my state I hope we will make that decision -- in another states they have -- to recognize the unique status of marriage between man and woman.

And that means -- that doesn't mean that people can't enter into legal agreements. That doesn't mean that they don't have the rights of all citizens. I'm not saying that. I am saying that we should preserve the unique status of marriage between one man and one woman.

And if a federal court, if a federal court decided that my state of Arizona had to observe what the state of Massachusetts decided, then I would favor a constitutional amendment. Until then, I believe the states should make the decisions within their own states.

WARREN: OK. All right. Another issue, stem cells. Now, we've had this scientific breakthrough of creating potent stem cells through adult stem cells.

MCCAIN: Yes.

WARREN: So would you favor or oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research since we have this other breakthrough?

MCCAIN: For those of us in the pro-life community, this has been a great struggle and a terrible dilemma, because we're also taught other obligations that we have, as well.

I've come down on the side of stem-cell research, but I am wildly optimistic that skin-cell research, which is coming more and more into focus and practicability, will make this debate an academic one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And we're going to hear what Obama has to say about marriage and abortion later this hour. Next hour, the candidates' thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Well, you're going to want to catch CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 Eastern with Reverend Rick Warren. That will be Larry's guest. He's going to give us the behind-the-scenes look at the faith forum, where he questioned John McCain and Barack Obama on some divisive issues.

Well, in those uncertain hours, having one in the house can be a real real life saver, but do you have the right stuff in yours? Some tips on what to keep in your first aid kit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. 1:31 Eastern time right now. Here are some of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Tropical Storm Fay now battering the Florida Keys. Fay is expected to become a hurricane as it nears the southwestern coast of Florida tomorrow. The National Hurricane Center is urging residents to take steps now to protect life and liberty.

Helicopters are back in the air searching for nearly two dozen people unaccounted for after heavy rain and a breach triggered flooding there at the Grand Canyon. About 170 campers and residents were evacuated from that area yesterday.

Pakistan's embattled president has resigned. Pervez Musharraf says that he made the move to spare the country from a power struggle with opponents vowing to impeach him. Musharraf was a key ally in President Bush's war on terror.

Bracing for Fay -- this tropical storm has already dumped a lot of rain across the Caribbean. At least seven people, possibly many more, are now dead in Haiti, and Cuba was a lot luckier. Florida is next.

What is the story? Jacqui Jeras, what can you tell us?

JERAS: Wow, well things are going downhill fast right now, Kyra.

Actually, I want to go ahead and show you a picture live out of Key West, and it really tells the story. Those winds are picking up. I guess we just lost that shot, but I think we've got it on tape, guys. We have it on tape because this was just five minutes ago. A great shot that just shows the winds whipping through the area and the rain coming down. There you see some pictures of people preparing and getting ready. Monroe County officials, which includes everybody in the Keys, has suspended evacuations now. Basically what that means is that conditions have gotten bad enough that they don't want anybody to leave anymore, it's more dangerous to leave.

There is the picture I was talking about.

Saying it's more dangerous to leave at this time than it would to stay put. Winds right now out of Key West at the observation area there, northeast 35 sustained, 39 makes it tropical storm-force sustained winds, so we're almost there. And the gusts are beyond that, up to 47 miles per hour.

The hurricane hunters are in this storm right now. In fact, two different planes flying around and sampling. We've got the Air Force plane and then we've also got the NOAA plane. This is the track of the Air Force plane that you can see left Biloxi, Mississippi, sampled throughout the storm here. And here you can see the location of it, what the altitude is, what the pressure, what the flight level winds are, and what they're estimating the winds have been at the surface. And of course, you can see how that changes as they move into different parts of the storm and it's that right front quadrant, or the northeastern quadrant, of the storm where we tend to see those stronger winds. And you can see those go up and now they're going down as that plane is moving over into western parts of the storm.

Another threat we're dealing with right now, Kyra, is the threat of tornadoes. At the top of the hour, a tornado watch issued across much of south Florida and throughout the Keys. We did have one warning in the lower Keys. There you can see it looks like it's still in effect right now. It looks like it's going offshore, though, and eventually will be over open waters and you certainly don't want to be out there.

A sampling of some of the sustained winds and look at those as they continue to pick up throughout the afternoon. Our intermediate advisory comes in within the half hour, Kyra. We'll bring that to you as soon as it's available.

PHILLIPS: All right, sounds good. Just give me the heads up.

Thanks, Jacqui.

Three years ago, we were tracking two big storms which devastated New Orleans and a lot of other Gulf Coast communities. You will remember local governments were overwhelmed so U.S. troops went in. You remember, they were led by this man, Lieutenant General Russell Honore.

You've become a very important part of our lives when it comes to preparation ever since that happened.

General, it is good to see you.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well we want to repeat those lessons learned and not have a repeat of Katrina. And we see a lot of things going on in Florida right now and it's important that we remind folks, every day folks who are working there, trying to live there, what do they do as they get these storm warnings.

PHILLIPS: Well, and we learned -- you learned a lot of lessons about just the miscommunication and the lack of coordination. And you came in there and you had an even harder job to do because of that. So right now, as you look at what's happening here with Fay, what do -- let's start with local government, because local government has to be proactive. So let's think about the poor people in low-lying areas. You think of Katrina, the ninth ward. Those people were -- they lost their lives, a lot of them.

What do they have to do?

HONORE: Well it's a dilemma. You've got the everyday folks who have a job, mom and dad working, kids at home. What do they do? They're at work right now but they're getting these news reports that a storm is coming. Employees, do they let them go or do they keep them at work?

Those are the decisions that are key for (ph) local government. It's so important that the mayors are very straight up and tell people, hey, let your employees go if they're not essential, like working in hospitals or police or -- PHILLIPS: A lot of schools are closed.

HONORE: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: So families have to be together to prepare --

HONORE: Right.

PHILLIPS: -- for this storm.

HONORE: Absolutely.

Now, the underserved -- who am I talking about the underserved? Talking about the disabled -- they're probably not watching television right now. A lot of information is coming out, and in the poor neighborhoods, they probably don't have cable television. Who we had the most challenge with in Katrina were the poor, the people are underinformed and don't have the money to have the options to leave early.

If I was asked to make a recommendation to the local governments along the coast, I would say go into the poor neighborhoods, make sure everybody knows where the shelter is.

PHILLIPS: So you have to knock on doors.

HONORE: You've got to knock on doors. You have to get neighborhoods organized, you have to have faith-based organizations. But it is important that we act now because tomorrow is going to be too late.

PHILLIPS: OK. What about -- I mean, if you could sit down with the governor, because we know that this is where the lack of communication was. You have the local government, you have the federal government, everybody has to ask for help --

HONORE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: -- in order to be really well-prepared. So it starts with the mayor. What would you say to the governor right now, Governor Crist? This is his first big one he's having to deal with in office.

HONORE: First of all, I'll tell you -- I think they've got a good team in Florida, and they have gotten progressively better since 2004-2005 and so forth.

The challenge is is to penetrate that part of the community that are not informed, which is the poor and the disabled, that do not have the access --

PHILLIPS: And the elderly.

HONORE: -- right -- of information that is being put out by the government now. (INAUDIBLE) to help the local government penetrate those communities, and those people who live in structures that will not stand up to 100-mile-an-hour wind. And there are many small homes in and along the Florida coast, and in low-lying areas, that we know will not stand up to 100-mile-an-hour winds. It's to penetrate those communities now with people on the street knocking on doors -- try to get them to move to a shelter and then to tell people when should you move if you live in Pinellas County, when should you move if you live in -- further down the coast and move to a shelter and get those shelters opened early.

PHILLIPS: Well we mentioned the elderly, which makes me think of the medical side of things. I'm looking -- you're a volunteer with the Red Cross. I know you're a big supporter of the Red Cross.

Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, you're tackling the medical side of things here. Are there certain things that folks should be buying right now or have in their home or -- to prepare for something (ph)?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. The aim is that if folks know that they might be in the path of a hurricane, they really should have these things in their home. If they don't, they should be going out and getting these things as soon as possible. We're talking about a basic first aid kit, plus.

So let me talk about the plus, since I have these things right here. You got to have a flashlight along with some extra batteries, some food that will basically last forever, a battery powered radio. This one, even if the battery poops out, you can just keep going with this, and that will make it run. And also, a supply of wipes, a supply a lot bigger than this. Even just basic baby wipes will do the trick. And these are just some of the things that you really need to have to get you through the tough times.

PHILLIPS: General, during the war those baby wipes, that was our shower during the war. I remember that.

Anything you want to add to that, what Elizabeth was talking about?

HONORE: Remember water. Water is a life sustaining -- takes about a gallon a day. And you are probably going to be without electricity, think 24 to 36 hours from now, you don't have electricity. How are you going to flush that toilet? If you're told (INAUDIBLE)

No. 2, enough water to drink. At least a gallon per person per day. You know, you can reduce your calorie intake and be OK, but you cannot reduce that water intake. The other people I'm most concerned about are the elderly and those who have chronic illnesses, such as sugar diabetes, because they have their medicines they have to take care of. Those people should move to shelters.

PHILLIPS: And stock up on your medicines, right?

HONORE: Absolutely.

COHEN: Absolutely, and have them in one place in a bag that you can grab and take with you. You don't want to be searching around for all these things.

PHILLIPS: Right, absolutely.

COHEN: And on ready.gov, I know you're familiar with that Web site --

HONORE: Absolutely.

COHEN: -- they have a terrific checklist of all the things that we have been mentioning, plus more.

PHILLIPS: Now you are coming back in the 3:00 hour. We're going to talk about --

HONORE: 3:00.

PHILLIPS: -- radios and things like that to have.

HONORE: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: And then you're coming back also. What are you going to have for us?

COHEN: I'm going to be talking about West Nile Virus and home foreclosures. I know they sound like they're not connected, but they really are. So that's what we're talking about --

PHILLIPS: My gosh, we're covering it all here.

From the general to the medical correspondent, thanks you guys, appreciate it so much.

Well talk about a really thoughtful gift. Not for the birthday girl, but actually the gift that came from her. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Store security video is pretty chilling. A guy walks in, casually gets a drink, then he pulls a gun on the clerk, Mindy Daffern, and forces her outside. It happened Friday in north Texas. And by Saturday police had their suspect and he had led them to the woman's body. Wallace Bowman Junior is a convicted sex offender who failed to register with the state. He's being held for aggravated robbery and kidnapping with a capital murder charge expected as well.

A tragic end to the search for a Texas family and their missing plane. A hiker in the Rocky Mountains spotted some wreckage yesterday. Authorities have confirmed it's the cessna that they were looking for. Thomas Jacomini was an experienced pilot, but he, his wife, Susana, and their two young children were killed in that crash. They had taken off from Colorado on Friday headed home to the Houston area. Now, the NTSB is investigating the crash.

Is he the greatest swimmer ever? If not, he's at least won the most Olympic gold medals. You're going to hear what Michael Phelps has to say about his extraordinary achievement. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's hope if you were in Key West you have taken off by now because it's picking up, the rain, the winds, as the tropical storm is gearing up and heading through. This is a live picture from our affiliate out in Miami, WSVN. Right smack on North Roosevelt Street in Key West, that's the Niles Dealership actually there you see in that live shot just getting hammered by those conditions. When we talked to John Zarrella about an hour ago it was pretty calm, but now you can see the force is definitely pushing through there. We'll have a live report from there, coming up at the top of the hour.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is on the trail again after his vacation in Hawaii. Right now, he's focusing on economic issues as he campaigned in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over the weekend, Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain, were in California for a Faith Forum and both men were asked the same questions by the Reverend Rick Warren. Here is some of what Obama had to say about marriage and abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am pro-choice. I believe in Roe versus Wade. And I come to that conclusion not because I'm pro-abortion, but because, ultimately, I don't think women make these decisions casually. I think they wrestle with these things in profound ways, in consultation with their pastors or their spouses or their doctors and their family members. And so for me the goal right now should be, and this is where I think we can find common ground, and by the way, I have now inserted this into the Democratic Party platform, is how do we reduce the number of abortions? Because the fact is is that although we have had a president who is opposed to abortion over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down.

WARREN: Define marriage.

OBAMA: I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian -- for me as a Christian it's also a sacred union. God is in the mix. But --

WARREN: Would you support a constitutional amendment with that definition?

OBAMA: No I would not.

WARREN: Why not?

OBAMA: Because historically, we have not defined marriage in our Constitution. It's been a matter of state law. That has been our tradition.

I mean, let's break it down. The reason that people think there needs to be a constitutional amendment, some people believe, is because of the concern that -- about same sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions, I do believe that we should not -- that for gay partners to want to visit each other in a hospital for the state to say, you know what, that's all right, I don't think that in any way inhibits my core beliefs about what marriage are. I think my faith is strong enough and my marriage is strong enough that I can afford those civil rights to others, even if I have a different perspective or a different view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now in our next hour, we're going to hear what Obama and McCain had to say about the U.S. Supreme Court.

And you'll want to catch CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 Eastern with the Reverend Rick Warren as Larry's guest. He is going to give us a behind the scenes look at the Faith Forum where he questioned Barack Obama and John McCain on some pretty divisive issues.

Well in case you somehow missed it, hope you didn't, I think everybody was pretty much watching across the U.S., and around the world, Michael Phelps completed one of the most amazing fetes in Olympic history, winning eight swimming gold medals in Beijing. That pushed him past Mark Spitz as the most decorated athlete in a single Olympics. His seventh was the most dramatic, winning the 100-meter butterfly by .001 of a second. That is the smallest margin measured in swimming, by the way.

This morning, our Larry Smith got to catch up with Phelps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PHELPS, U.S. OLYMPIC RECORD-HOLDER: I have always had the kind of mind frame where anything is possible. No matter what it is, if you put your mind to it, you can do it. And I have been able to do that through my career, so coming into here, I thought anything was possible. And it's just fun for me to, you know, to have people say it's not possible and be able to come out and do it. It makes it 10 times better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: If you have a question for Phelps, just go to ireport.com right now and submit your own video question. And then catch him live on CNN.com tomorrow, that's starting at 8:30 a.m. Eastern only at CNN.com/live.

Well, Michael Phelps run is over, but the quest for gold, silver and bronze is still fast and furious. Here is the latest medal count, the U.S. remains on top in total medals, 72 actually, including 22 gold, host China is second with 67, and a whopping 39 gold, and Russia is third with a total of 36 medals. Rounding out to the top five, Australia has 33 and France 28.

Straight ahead, a friendly pooch lured into danger by his own curiosity. What happened? We're going to tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Lots of men like to go fishing with their dogs, but for Cody, the trip was to the dock. It was followed by a hasty trip to the vet too for emergency surgery. Cody swallowed a three-pronged fishing hook which can be deadly, as you know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED PAULEY, CODY'S OWNER: He's just like a member of the family. If you got children you got to take care of them. If you got a dog, you got to take care of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Ed Pauley says that after this scare, he's going to keep his fishing hooks far away from Cody.

Off the coast of Sydney, Australia, a baby humpback whale may be having an identity crisis. That whale calf has adopted a yacht as it's mommy. It was spotted nuzzling the boat and trying to suckle it. The yacht was then used to lure the whale, estimated to be one or two months old, wanted to bring it back out to sea. Rescuers say that the baby whale's condition has now deteriorated and they just hope that it finds its real mother, or another pod of whales soon so it can get fed.

Well, lots of kids approach birthdays with that gimme-gimme (ph) attitude, right? But as one girl's party in Ohio was this weekend -- well there was a plot twist. Instead of wrapping paper to rip off, she wanted paperbacks to pass on. More now from Julie O'Neill from our affiliate, WCPO.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE O'NEILL, WCPO REPORTER: Every kid wants to make a splash at their birthday party. But it didn't surprise neighbors in Pleasant Ridge that Rosie Solis would be that rare 7-year-old to pass on presents for the greater good.

RUSSELL SMITH, NEIGHBOR: That fits for this family. Rosie is a really terrific gal and she's got really great parents.

O'NEILL: While planning this year's party, Rosie told her parents she would rather collect money for the kids at Children's, than get gifts.

ROSIE SOLIS, 7-YEARS-OLD: But then my mom called the Children's Hospital and asked them what they mostly need and then they said books. And they said there are 450 kids there so then I said I need 450 books.

SARA SOLIS, ROSIE'S MOM: And I said, honey, you're only having 10 kids at your party, that's 10 books. That's a lot. Well, they all need books, got to get 450 books.

Go Rosie, go Rosie, go Rosie. O'NEILL: The race was on and the determined Rosie maneuvered the obstacle course with focus, writing and sending e-mails out and drafting a later.

S. SOLIS: She walked them around this entire neighborhood, each and every house, just determined to get to her 450. And right away, that first day, the books started coming in.

O'NEILL: And more came in, and more. Perfect strangers even sent the Solis's money for the cause. Rosie would more than double her goal by her birthday.

S. SOLIS: Yesterday I said, why is this so important to you? And it was so simple, she said the kids in the hospital are sick and I'm not. It's that simple.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Happy birthday dear Rosie, happy birthday to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make a wish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And many more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow. Rosie will deliver the books to Children's Hospital next week.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.