Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Flooding Catastrophe in Florida as Tropical Storm Fay Stalls; Barack Obama VP Announcement Expected Soon; U.S. Womens' Beach Volleyball Team Takes Home the Gold; Hartford, Connecticut Orders Curfew on Teens to Cut Down on Crime
Aired August 21, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It's 7:00 straight on here in New York. And here are the top stories this morning.
Breaking news. Historic rainfall totals in parts of Florida where thousands of homes are flooded. Parts of the state under six feet of water. In fact, the governor, Charlie Crist, is describing it this morning as a serious, catastrophic flooding event. Now it's a deadly one claiming its first life in the U.S. A man died from carbon monoxide poisoning as he was trying to test a generator.
Also happening now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on an unannounced trip to Iraq. She's there to press Iraqi leaders to resolve the remaining differences in a security deal that will determine the future of U.S. troops. Rice says that negotiators have made great progress, but reports of a draft deal were "premature."
And he's just one week away from accepting the nomination, but Barack Obama could announce his VP pick sometime today. After a sudden slide in the polls, he's striking back.
We're going to hear from our Jessica Yellin on the campaign trail coming up in just a moment.
ROBERTS: More on our top story right now. Tropical Storm Fay has stalled over Florida's east coast putting thousands of homes under as much as six feet of water now. The National Hurricane Center is warning that parts of the state could get another 10 inches of rain and totals of 30 inches by day's end. Some residents are being warned to look out for gators swimming not in the canals, but in the streets.
Sean Callebs is live for us in St. Augustine Beach. It's just south of Jacksonville, historic area there. What's it looking like this morning, Sean?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., arguably, is the latest to get hit by Tropical Storm Fay. You talked about it just sitting off the coast and that's what we're getting right now. We're being buffeted by winds that are about 40 miles an hour.
We know out there the winds are much higher. They're about 60 miles an hour, and Fay is carrying a great deal of rain. That is what this storm is going to be remembered for. You talked about Florida Governor Charlie Crist worried about what more rain is going to do to his state. He has already contacted FEMA and their employees to act once this storm begins making it ashore.
To show you just how bad it is, we have some pictures that happened overnight in Melbourne, Florida. They had to take airboats, basically going door to door to rescue people who were stranded by rapidly rising water.
Now, this is a scene that's being played out throughout much of Florida. This is -- and would actually be the third time that Fay makes contact with Florida. First the Keys, then down in the Port St. Lucie area. There were hundreds, if perhaps thousands of homes that were affected by floodwaters down in that area.
Yesterday during the day and the day before, authorities doing what they could to try and get people who were simply trapped, again, by the water. Now, it is going to rain here. We don't know exactly when. We are in what is remaining of the northern eye wall.
But Flagler County, a county just to the south of us, got hammered last night. Trees simply overburdened by these winds, snapped and we know crews are out there with chainsaws trying to clear them out of the road. Power crews are trying to restore electricity to the state as well.
As I mentioned, John, we are in this northern eye wall. But the amount of rain that this storm is going to bring to Florida here in the northeastern part of the state is just going to be staggering. We heard, you know, estimates of 30 inches of rain.
We talked about it last hour. Florida is just above sea level. It's good news for the aquifers because like much of the southeast, this is an area that has been suffering from drought. But how about a little at a time rather than just simply getting inundated overnight?
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Exactly, Sean. They could probably use 30 inches of rain, but not all at once.
Sean Callebs for us in St. Augustine Beach. Sean, thanks so much.
CHETRY: And Tropical storm warnings remain for parts of Florida all the way to the edge of South Carolina.
Our Rob Marciano is live at the CNN hurricane headquarters tracking this for us.
And I notice one thing right there on your satellite. It says stationary. And that's the problem. This thing isn't moving over these places that are already soaked.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's been like that for the past several hours, actually from the past half a day. It's pretty much been stationary, straddling the coastline. Officially it's about 20 miles east southeast of Daytona Beach. But that's just far enough offshore to where it's maintaining its intensity.
Winds 60 miles an hour. That, of course, not the big issue although the surf is kicking up pretty good there as you saw from St. Augustine. The rainfall is the bigger issue.
Almost two feet, Cocoa Beach. Moore Haven, 16 inches. Melbourne, portions of over a foot.
Here's the forecast track, but we've got to get it going inland before we start to turn off the spigot. And that's not expected to happen. Well, until it starts to happen.
Right now, it's stationary. The forecast is for it to head to the north and west but until it starts to make that move, well, not a whole lot of confidence.
Swirling rain bands. Check it out. Southern part of the storm has been the most intense as far as rainfall goes. Again, the wind is not the biggest issue, but still we're seeing gusty winds anywhere from 20 to 30 miles an hour.
St. Augustine you're seeing some rain bands coming in. The center of the circulation right about there. Daytona Beach in the clear right now because the rain is mostly to your north and south. We are seeing flash flood warnings right now for Orange and Brevard County. That includes the areas that have been badly flooded. Melbourne, Titusville -- those areas, but the water or at least the rain should begin to taper off in these areas in the next couple of hours.
Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Oh, they're certainly hoping that's the case. Thanks a lot, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: Well, the kite surfer, you may remember this video, who took on Tropical Storm Fay's winds and got hurled into a building, is said to be doing better this morning. This was the unbelievable video that we showed you a couple of days ago.
This is Kevin Kearney slamming first on to the beach and then literally flying into a wall. There you see people rushing to his rescue. At the time no one knew just how badly he was hurt.
The 28-year-old was in critical condition. He had spinal fractures, swelling of the brain, a broken rib and ankle, among other injuries. Well, now, the hospital says that he has been upgraded. His condition going from critical now to serious. His mother says that he cannot remember what happened and that he has not seen the video.
But it sounds like, John, at least he's expected to make a recovery, which after you saw that video, that was not a sure thing.
ROBERTS: You wonder how he could even survive that. Head first into the wall. He had to be going 40 miles an hour in that kind of (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Extraordinary. Lucky fellow.
Turning now to the "Most Politics in the Morning." Right now, the short list is thought to be down to three. Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. But talk of a dream ticket may be heating up again.
CNN's Ed Henry got the latest VP buzz live for us from Washington this morning. And, Ed, here's the latest theory going around the AMERICAN MORNING news room. That the longer this goes on, the greater the likelihood that we're not going to know who the running mate is until Barack Obama walks out on stage in Springfield, Illinois, with Hillary Clinton at his side. What do you think?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I heard that theory yesterday but it was actually from Republicans. They were putting it out there. It made me think that it was wishful thinking on the part of some Republicans.
The idea is that a lot of Republicans in Washington think that Hillary Clinton on the ticket would excite conservatives. Get them to turn out for John McCain especially at a time when John McCain is concerning his conservative base right now, but floating the idea of possibly picking a running mate who supports abortion rights.
But you're right that Joe Biden is still getting a lot of attention. That's mostly though from Democrats outside the campaign. Senior Democrats who have kind of looked at this race, they're fearful that it's closer than they expected. And they think that the reason is, and they could be wrong, but they think the reason is that John McCain has really exploited the question of whether Barack Obama is ready to lead.
And so that if you brought in Joe Biden, if you brought in Evan Bayh who also has national security experience, they could fight it out with John McCain and his running mate on national security, patriotism. Those things we've heard over the last couple of days. But that Barack Obama then could focus more on issue number one, the economy, and talk about a positive agenda there instead of getting mired in the negatives.
But of course, we don't know what Barack Obama is thinking as a gut check for him. And he may decide no, he wants to go in a different direction and underline sort of the change message by picking someone like Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas, or picking someone like Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia rather than a Washington insider, a U.S. senator -- John.
ROBERTS: Well, back to, and I don't mean to obsess about this, Ed. But Senator Clinton, I mean, the numbers are very close now. Poll of polls has got Senator Obama leading McCain by just a single point.
She did have 18 million votes during the primary campaign. She's on the Armed Services Committee. She can go toe to toe with Senator McCain on national security. Is she a dark horse candidate here?
HENRY: Yes. But --
ROBERTS: You know, but --
HENRY: You hear that from the Obama insiders all the time that on paper it makes some sense. But they're concerned not only about chemistry between Clinton and Obama but they're concerned about the other Clinton, Bill Clinton.
ROBERTS: Right.
HENRY: What does he bring? What potential baggage does he bring? And the fact that in recent interviews, as you know, he has not sounded that enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Everyone will be watching what Bill Clinton says in Denver very closely for sure.
So I think Hillary Clinton is a potential dark horse candidate here, but the expectation is that it's highly unlikely she'll get it -- John.
ROBERTS: Well, as Kennedy and Johnson proved in 1960, you don't need chemistry, you just need to win, right?
HENRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: All right. Ed Henry for us this morning from Washington. Ed, thanks so much.
HENRY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, here's what we're working on for you this morning. After his latest knee operation, will Tiger woods be able to swing again like he did before? We're paging Dr. Gupta for more on the superstar's long-term prognosis.
A community overrun by senseless violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a sense of hopelessness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: See the bold plan one American city has enacted to keep its children safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I hear a gunshot, my whole body shivers, shakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Here we go. Checking the business headlines this morning. And food prices expected to rise five to six percent overall this year. That would be the largest increase in almost two decades.
Breakfast may be especially hard to swallow. Prices could jump almost 10 percent for cereal and 14 percent for eggs.
Remember when Amtrak was in some trouble? Now high gas prices have driven people off the road and on to the rails. At least that's one of the theories for why Amtrak is seeing a surge in ridership. It does though present another problem. They now say they just don't have enough trains to accommodate all the new riders.
And after the FDA warned consumers last month not to eat peppers from Mexico because of salmonella, officials say that the peppers are still being sold in America. Big supermarkets have mostly stopped buying them, but Mexican peppers are still turning up in smaller grocery stores and restaurants.
And a big day for women at the Olympics today. Another gold medal for the U.S. CNN's Larry Smith is live in Beijing. And it was beach volleyball in the rain. An incredible performance on both sides. But America pulled it out once again. These girls are incredible.
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: They really are. 108 consecutive wins. They have now made to get this gold medal and repeating the gold that they won in Athens. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh said earlier today after that big win they had never played in rain like that. They say they played in heat and wind, everything else but not rain like this. But they beat China to get that gold medal.
Now, also the women's indoor volleyball team could go for gold on Saturday. They won their match today over Cuba, three sets to none. And so, they, too, are trying to keep alive their gold medal hopes. They will play again on Saturday.
Now, speaking of the ladies, it is a big night for the ladies here in Beijing. The water polo team going for gold against the Netherlands. That match is under way. USA softball and the final softball game at the moment in the Olympics because it is not on the menu in London in 2012, USA versus Japan. No score there in the third inning as they try to repeat their gold medal that they won in Athens.
And later at 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, it's the women's soccer team in the final versus Brazil, a rematch of the gold medal match won by the U.S. in Athens. So it's ladies night here in Beijing. Let's go back to you.
CHETRY: It sure is. All right. Larry Smith, thanks.
ROBERTS: Plane crash witnesses said it was the closest thing to hell. A jet goes up in flames in Madrid taking more than 150 lives. Today passengers say they saw it burning before it hit the ground.
And breaking this morning, Florida hammered by flooding. Some neighborhoods only reachable by boat as the governor appeals for help. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." A catastrophic flooding event. That's how Florida Governor Charlie Crist is describing Tropical Storm Fay drenching the state for three straight days spinning record rain to some cities. Up to five foot floods in others, and Fay ready to make yet another landfall in the state.
The storm about 20 miles east-southeast of Daytona Beach right now. Let's get an update on what the storm track is going to look like over the next 48 to 72 hours.
Rob Marciano at the hurricane center in Atlanta for us this morning.
Good morning, Rob.
MARCIANO: Good morning, Rob. Luckily the last few hours of satellite imagery will show that it hasn't -- it's not as structured as it was maybe six or 12 hours ago. But the aircraft that have been flying in there is saying, yes, you know what? It's still 60 mile-an- hour winds. So nothing to sneeze out for sure. And really the biggest story with this obviously is a tremendous amount of rainfall.
It will traverse across the state later on today, but we first have to get this thing moving. Somebody's got to give it a ticket, a pass because it just doesn't want to move off the shoreline right now, as you mentioned, about 20 miles east-southeast of Daytona.
But it looks like on this radar imagery it really is straddling the coastline. That's good news. If it was any further offshore into the gulf stream, it would really crank up. So it's just close enough to where it's not really giving too many fits here.
But from Palm Bay to Titusville, we still have a flash flood warning that's in effect for the next 45 minutes. They have seen anywhere from three to five inches just in the last six to seven hours. So the National Weather Center has put out a flash flood watch and warning for Orange and Brevard Counties.
And, again, the wind is not as big of an issue, although when high tide comes ashore the northern part of the state today about 4:00 or 5:00, around noontime, I should say, these winds will push those waves up even more. So beach erosion is going to be a problem on top of the extreme amount of rain that is expected across the northern part of the state.
John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
Let's get a check on what it looks like from the ground level now. Jeff Lenox is a correspondent with WESH TV. He's live in Melbourne, Florida, this morning and joins us. Jeff, what's it looking like there? We're hearing as much as five to six feet of water in some places.
JEFF LENOX, WESH TV CORRESPONDENT: John, that's exactly what we are experiencing this morning here in Melbourne, Brevard County, Florida. From the looks of my live shot, you would think that I'm standing in the middle of a pond here in Brevard County, Florida, but this is actually the front entrance to the Lamplighter Village, a mobile home park with about well over 100 homes here in Melbourne, Florida. And 90 percent of this neighborhood right now is under water. Close to four to five feet of water right now here in Brevard County.
Over the last 24 hours or so, Tropical Storm Fay has dumped close to 30 inches of water, of rain here in this area. And this is not the only neighborhood. There are several neighborhoods throughout Brevard County, Florida and other portions of central Florida that are underwater right now.
Over the last 12 hours or so, we can tell you the National Guard and the local sheriff's department here in Brevard County have been evacuating residents out of this neighborhood. Now, if you can believe this, some residents actually chose to stay behind, if you can believe that, in some of these homes here behind me. The power company actually had to shut off power to this entire neighborhood just as a precautionary measure.
So over the last 12 hours or so, we have seen several boats with the sheriff's department and the National Guard. Also brushfire trucks that have been trekking throughout this neighborhood taking residents outside of their home, getting them to safe ground. And one last note, as if the situation couldn't get any worse, as a rain band is coming through right now we're being told that all of this floodwater is taking alligators and snakes out of their natural habitats and they had been spotted throughout this neighborhood and roads throughout Brevard County and Melbourne, Florida. So a very serious situation unfolding right now here in central Florida.
Back to you guys.
ROBERTS: Jeff, have you seen any of those gators yourself?
LENOX: I actually haven't and that's a good thing. I'm fine with that. I have a couple of dry spots around me staked out right now. So if I do, I'm jumping out of this water. I'm doing just fine near dry land right now.
ROBERTS: Never a good thing when you're hip deep in water and you see a gator.
Jeff Lenox for us from WESH TV. Jeff, we'll let you get dry. Thanks very much for that.
CHETRY: A community overrun by senseless violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a sense of hopelessness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: See the bold plan one American city has enacted to keep its children safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time I hear a gunshot, my whole body shivers, shakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, now to an effort to cut a small city's big murder rate. After a summer crime spree, Hartford, Connecticut, is taking some drastic measures, ordering all teenagers to stay indoors after 9:00 at night.
Jason Carroll is here with more on the story. They really felt that they had to do something drastic to help cut this murder rate.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And it's not just Hartford. In order to deal with violent crime, cities like Helena, Arkansas, and Washington, D.C. have adopted curfews. Now, Hartford is doing the same and so far police say it is working.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): The sounds of sirens. Police on the run. Crime tape twisted around another street corner.
This is Hartford, Connecticut. A city on the small side. Population, about 125,000. A murder rate almost four times the national average.
CHIEF DARYL ROBERTS, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT POLICE: These young people equate manhood with using a firearm.
CARROLL: Hartford's police chief grew up on these streets and thought he'd seen everything until two weekends ago when the city's West Indian Day parade ended in more gunfire.
D. ROBERTS: Eleven shootings. All under the age of 21. One homicide and two kids under the age of 10 that were shot.
CARROLL: The city decided something needed to be done right away. So a curfew was put into place. No one under the age of 18 allowed out after 9:00 p.m. without a parent or guardian.
D. ROBERTS: Normally shootings happen between the times of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 in the morning. And most of these are young men between the ages of 13 and 25.
CARROLL: These women agree. They say most shootings are done by teenagers here. All three of their sons were victims.
Carmen Rodriguez's 16-year-old Carlos was gunned down in front of her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I get flash backs. Every time I hear a gunshot, my whole body shivers, shakes. Can't sleep. I think about what happened to my son.
CARROLL: Pamela Joyner's (ph) son, Jumar (ph), was killed this past May. Shot, she says, during an argument with a friend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what hurt me the most. Losing my child, but from losing it to someone that was in my house that went to church with me.
CARROLL: They joined a support group called Mothers United Against Violence. They are not convinced the city's curfew will help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some kids don't listen. They don't care about curfew. I got kids of my own. And I'd be telling my daughter, my son. They don't care.
CARROLL: The curfew has been in place for several nights now, and the city's mayor says the streets are calmer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our first job is to keep citizens safe and that's all we're doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Police say since the curfew went into effect on Thursday, August 14th, there have been no shootings. As of yesterday, police have given out more than 60 warnings for those breaking their curfew, and that curfew will remain in effect for the next 30 days.
CHETRY: So what are they going to do after the 30 days?
CARROLL: What they're going to do is they're going to reevaluate. And police say from the beginning this was not meant to be a long-term solution, meant to be a short-term fix. But obviously there are some folks out there who are looking for the long-term solution to this very bad problem.
CHETRY: Very interesting.
CARROLL: Yes.
CHETRY: Good to see you, Jason, thanks.
CARROLL: All right.
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 27 minutes after the hour. Barack Obama slipping in the polls just narrowly ahead of John McCain now. What does he need to do to regain the momentum? Paul Begala joins us live on the "Most News in the Morning."
CHETRY: He's one of the biggest athletes in the world. Millions riding on his swing. And his knees. So should fans be worried about Tiger Woods' long recovery from knee surgery?
Sanjay Gupta goes in depth on the injury and the road back. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, many are eagerly awaiting Barack Obama and John McCain's vice presidential picks as the race between the two candidates continues to tighten. In fact, the latest CNN poll of polls showing only one percentage point separating the two candidates. And now there are more calls for the so-called dream ticket of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Joining us now to discuss the race is Paul Begala, who is a strategist for the Clinton-Gore campaign.
Paul, great to see you this morning.
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: We heard the dream ticket stuff sort of die down for a while there. Now we've seen some of the polls tightening, and more and more political analysts, bloggers, are saying he needs Hillary. What do you think?
BEGALA: Well, he may need Hillary, but he's not going to pick Hillary. I think that dream died quite some time ago. By the way, from Hillary's perspective, I don't know that this would be the best deal in the world for her either. You know, she is a powerful senator from a large state. She's got her own power base now. 18 million voters all around the country. I'm not sure she wants to go back to the days where she has derivative authority in the White House the way she did when she was first lady or the way that most vice presidents are.
CHETRY: How are you so sure that he's not going to pick Hillary Clinton. Tell us why you're really confident about ruling that out.
BEGALA: It's just human nature. You keep picking up these vibrations that you know, that he's worried, the senator, or his team is worried really that the chemistry is not quite right. That the primary was too divisive. And you keep hearing that. And I take them at their word. I mean, you keep getting these constant leaks about, particularly Senator Biden. I think Senator Biden's stock has risen dramatically. I think that's probably the much more likely choice. By the way, I think most, if not all, most democrats would say Biden would be a terrific choice. I mean, all the people who voted for Hillary would be thrilled to see Joe Biden on that ticket as well.
CHETRY: I want to ask you though about this NBC-Wall Street poll that came out last night showing that just 52 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters say they're going vote for Obama. And at this point, 21 percent say they're voting for McCain and 27 percent, pretty large chunk there, saying they're undecided or possibly voting elsewhere. Is that a major concern right now for Barack Obama's camp?
BEGALA: It is. He's got his work cut out for him. He's going to have to have a good convention. I think he will have one. I think they're putting all the pieces in place. But a big part is, you know, a divided organization is united by the identification of an external threat. Right, so democrats are divided between the Hillary people and the Barack people. The way to unite them is not simply kumbaya and make nice, it is to show them the external threat. In other words, attack McCain. And if you saw Senator Obama yesterday in North Carolina, in Virginia, he's starting to do that. But he needs to get hard on the offense against John McCain. That'll bring those Hillary Clinton voters to him much faster than anything else.
CHETRY: And McCain's doing the same thing on the other side. In fact, he seems to be using Hillary Clinton's strategy from the primaries which is to paint Obama as weak on national security, the 3:00 a.m. ad, of course. But in a recent poll more voters do think that McCain is the right one when it comes to experience. This is an "L.A. Times"-Bloomberg poll showing that the right experience to be president, Obama 44 percent, McCain 80 percent. Now, you were talking about Joe Biden and why you think that he would be a good pick for vice president for Barack Obama. What does Barack Obama need at this point to show that he is ready with the experience to lead?
BEGALA: Well, I think picking somebody like Biden would show an enormous amount of strength. And I think that's a question some voters may have had about Senator Obama. When you pick somebody who is so vastly senior in the senate, who's got such great experience all around the world, I think it would show a lot of strength and I think it would suggest to people that in the places where Senator Obama may be and soon to be president Obama he would like to think, has a lack, lacks experience, he can always draw on more experience. And I think that would be a very good sign to democrats. Also to a lot of independents. Also Biden is a very, very well respected person, especially on foreign policy. And I think the Russian invasion of Georgia helped move Biden's stock up tremendously.
CHETRY: All right. Paul Begala for us. Thanks for talking to us today. Good to have you with us.
BEGALA: Thanks, Kiran.
ROBERTS: 34 minutes after the hour. And here are this morning's top stories. Homeland security hack. To call the middle east. A FEMA spokesman says someone broke into its telephone system and made $12,000 in phone calls to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. The department put out a warning that this could happen. Now, warning came out five years ago.
New information on what happened on a plane that went up in a ball of fire. Passengers said they saw flames and then heard an explosion moments before a Spanair jet crashed on takeoff in Madrid. 153 people died in that accident. Just 19 people survived including two infants.
And breaking this morning. A six-foot flood in parts of Florida. Thousands of homes under water as tropical storm Fay stalls and it keeps on pouring. At the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, Fay has produced more rain than two 2004 hurricanes, Francis and Jean, and ten more inches of rain could fall by the time this day is over.
Rob Marciano is live at the CNN headquarters, hurricane headquarters in Atlanta.
For some reason I wanted to say Miami. You're not all the way down there, Rob.
MARCIANO: That's where the big boys play. For sure, but -
ROBERTS: How long is this thing going to remain stalled?
MARCIANO: That's tough to say. I mean, we really have to wait for what's going on. Actually, across the northeastern third of the country to kind of sink down and shove it west. Until that happens, we've got flooding issues. A couple of i-reports for you, mostly across central and eastern Florida. Check out some of these.
First off from Craig Boileau, iReport video. There you go. Or at least the picture there. You can see the palm fawns blowing in the wind. He was born and raise in Melbourne. He says as far as rain goes, it's about as bad as he's ever seen. Over three feet of water in spots there.
Also, in Port St. Lucie, where some of it Brad (INAUDIBLE). He says this is by far more water damage than we've ever got from any other hurricanes. And I tell you, the folk who is live in southeast Texas are saying, Allison '01, same deal. Doesn't have to be a hurricane to cause headaches. Even though this looks like a hurricane, not quite that strong.
We just got a message from the hurricane hunter aircraft in there. It seems to have weakened as far as winds go just a little bit. But again, that's not the big story with this. It's the rainfall. And it seems like the rain across the southern plank of the system has been the worst. The circulation just offshore of Daytona Beach, not really moving all that much. So again, we've got to get it on shore and get it out of here before it really begins to weaken.
Until then, heavy rain is going to be in the forecast until further notice. So does not have to be a hurricane. And the number one danger with hurricane - any tropical system really, John, is once it makes land fall is inland flooding. That's where we see the most deaths with this. This certainly bodes watching for sure. Hopefully folks are heeding the warnings.
ROBERTS: Yes. Thankfully there aren't any hills in Florida so we're not going to see any mud slides or anything like that. But certainly enough misery to go around there this morning. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: You got it.
CHETRY: Let's check in now with Gerri Willis. She is following the latest business for us this morning including an unfortunate spike in food prices. Hey, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. Dinner is getting more expensive. So is breakfast and lunch. Coming up next, the lowdown on high grocery prices.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 39 minutes after the hour. Montreal is the new board walk. The Canadian City was voted the top spot on the new Monopoly World Edition. Latvia's capital city of Riga is going to take over the other coveted dark blue spot. Park Place would be it. Vancouver and Toronto also made the list. New York was the only U.S. city that made it on to the board. More than five million people worldwide vote in this World Edition.
CHETRY: If we had known about that we could have got a campaign together. But now it's too late.
ROBERTS: We missed that one.
WILLIS: Darn. It's all about Canada.
CHETRY: It sure is.
ROBERTS: Blame Canada.
CHETRY: We blame Canada for those spiking food prices?
ROBERTS: Blame them for anything.
WILLIS: All right. Well, they try.
CHETRY: They're higher than we've seen in decades.
WILLIS: This is terrible. The worst in 20 years. It doesn't matter what you're buying in the grocery store. It is going to cost you more money. Let's look at some broad categories here first. These numbers from the U.S.D.A., the department of agriculture. Food prices overall up five to six percent, that is, this year, 2008. It will continue rising in 2009. Break it down to meat, poultry and fish, another bump, two to three percent. Fruits and vegetables, 4.5 percent to 5.5. percent. And just a quick mention here, I think this is why a lot of people are growing their own vegetables now. Burpee says the purchase of seeds, that business has tripled this year. I'm growing my own tomatoes.
CHETRY: You are.
WILLIS: Yes.
CHETRY: Bring some in, please.
WILLIS: They're about to come in.
CHETRY: A little olive oil, some fresh basil.
WILLIS: We want to drill down real quickly. I just want to give you a few more numbers here. Because what really matters to you is probably how much it costs to buy a gallon of milk, or a carton of egg or ground beef. And those numbers are up and up, pretty handily, too.
So each and everyday that you go to the grocery store, these are the kind of price increases you're seeing. 14 percent for some of these categories. It's really scary. And if you're out there eating your breakfast cereal this morning, up 9.5 percent. And more next year. And, of course, it's all about higher gas prices.
ROBERTS: Which is why I always get the two for one special whenever it's on at the local drugstore.
WILLIS: You're a smart shopper.
CHETRY: See that.
ROBERTS: So you're growing your own vegetables. What about your own milk? Not yet.
WILLIS: Sorry not that. Just tomatoes. Come on, don't push me.
CHETRY: I'm growing my own baby back ribs right in the backyard.
WILLIS: Those seeds though are huge.
ROBERTS: Make sure you get Gary, our cameraman to smoke them for you. He does a great job with that.
CHETRY: Gerri, thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: See if I can get us out of this.
John McCain asked if he'll pick a pro-choice running mate. Find out what kind of candidate he has in mind. You're watching the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: To give you a clearer picture of where the candidates stand on all the major issues, we're running unedited clips of both John McCain and Barack Obama. We're calling it "What they're saying." Now John McCain on one hot button topic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a rumor that your - you're going to pick a pro-life VP. Is that true?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. We're going through the process. I said on Saturday night that I have a proud pro-life record in Congress. And I am proud of that. I respect the views of others. But I also happen to believe that the noblest words ever written in history were those that said, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all of us are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights among these are life. I think liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that life applies to those that are not born as well as those that are born.
And so we're not talking about the process of the vice presidential situation, except that I would remind you that the vice president of the United States really only has two duties, when you think about it. One is in case there's a tie vote in the Senate, he comes to the - he or she comes to the floor of the Senate and casts the tie-breaking vote. That's the constitutional duty. The other duty of the vice president of the United States is to inquire daily as to the health of the president. So that will obviously make my pick very important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And a little bit later on we're going to be bringing you Barack Obama in his own words on the situation in Iraq.
CHETRY: And we're also waiting on word about Barack Obama's vice presidential pick which could come this morning. In just a few minutes we're going to talk to one of the top contenders, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and his thoughts on what he can bring to the run for the White House.
ROBERTS: And we're watching Fay. Waiting for her third strike on Florida. Already the storm has dropped up to 25 inches of rain in some parts. And the state's governor is now calling it a catastrophic event.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Tiger Woods recovering from knee surgery. Now, he says he's not going to be swinging a golf club for a while. Is this temporary or could his surgery be a career ender for Tiger? We are happy to say, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here in the house with us this morning. Good to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes.
CHETRY: What is his prognosis for this surgery that he had?
GUPTA: Well, it's a bit surprising because he released some information on his blog where he said he's, as you said, not probably going to even swing a club until next year. I think that was a little surprising to a lot of people, myself included. So we decided to take a closer look to figure out exactly what he had done, what his prognosis is likely going to be and to talk to some of the experts about it. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): A Tiger Woods' championship swing is anything but typical. He's forceful with the right arm, while his left leg stays perfectly straight. His knee pivots with every hit. That puts a lot of wear and tear on his left knee. Since 1994, Woods has had several operations. The most aggressive procedure was also the most recent. On June 24th to repair the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL.
GUPTA (on-camera): During that operation, what doctors did was they removed that old anterior cruciate ligament. The one that was damaged. Then drove a hole in the top, above the knee and another hole in the bone below the knee and then you take a ligament from in front of the knee cap or a cadaver ligament and then tunnel that ligament from the bottom the top. And what that does is serve to stabilize the knee, again.
GUPTA (voice-over): But post-op Woods' golfing fate is uncertain. He tells fans via his blog, I don't know what doctors are going to tell me about playing golf down the road. He said he is not planning on even swinging a club until at least next year. So why the long recovery? Some speculate Woods had more damage to the knee than we knew of, resulting in a longer healing time. But there's also the fear of redamaging the knee.
Orthopedic surgeon and doctor to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, Dr. Michael Bernot explains.
DR. MICHAEL BERNOT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS: Once he starts swinging, he's not going to be able to control the force on that leg. He is just going to have to swing without thinking about it. So he could re-tear the graft and then he could be right back where he started.
GUPTA: But Woods said he is making progress in rehab. He is starting to ride a stationary bike several times a day.
BERNOT: Most pro-athletes are going to be careful not to risk coming back too soon because there's too much on the line. He doesn't want to limit how he swings.
GUPTA: And neither do his fans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Keep in mind, ACL ruptures are pretty common among athletes but fairly rare among golfers. But Kiran, he is no ordinary golfer, the amount of torque on that left leg and left knee is pretty remarkable. Watch it for that when you watch that swing.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. And you can really see it and he's been in this game since he was practically a baby.
GUPTA: I know.
CHETRY: So what do you think, will he ever be like he was before?
GUPTA: I talked to so many people about this and they say, you know, look, he's not even going to swing until next year. This is already August. That's going to change him, I think, a little bit for sure. Like you said, he has been golfing his whole life. He may have to modify his swing a little bit. His left knee will probably never be the same. Whether he can put that same amount of torque on that knee every time he swings, that may have to change. Also, the first week of tournament, I think, is the first week of February. So, we already know that he's probably going to start to be out for at least some of the tournaments for next year as well.
CHETRY: Wow.
GUPTA: It's amazing.
CHETRY: It really is amazing, so hopefully a full recovery for Tiger.
GUPTA: Yes.
CHETRY: Fabulous golfer.
GUPTA: We're praying for him.
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Plus, under six feet of water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have the boat, if we need to get out, the cars are up at the end of the street.
CHETRY: Tropical storm Fay stalls over the space coast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We road out Charlie and Francis here and they don't even compare.
CHETRY: WNBA defector.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a basketball game. You know, I still love my country. Born in the U.S.A., wearing the red, white and no blue. The all-star that could sink the winning shot for Russia today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 54 minutes after the hour and to the most politics in the morning now. Barack Obama expected to announce his running mate in the next 48 hours and experts continue to buzz over the top contenders. One of those contenders Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. He joins me now live from Richmond this morning. Governor Kaine, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
GOV. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: John, glad to be with you today.
ROBERTS: You know, Governor Kaine, we have been trying to get in touch with all of the potential contenders and everybody has kind of gone underground. You know, Joe Biden's even running around his pick up truck avoiding people. The very fact that you're sitting here this morning, speaking to us, does that mean we can take your name off the list?
KAINE: You know what, you're just going to have to hear from the campaign and they'll make the announcement when you're ready.
ROBERTS: As far as you know though, are you still on the list?
KAINE: Again, I'll go back to that answer. I'll just call that the taking the fifth or something. Hear from the campaign, John. They'll let us all know when they want to.
ROBERTS: But you're going to deny this morning that at least gone through the vetting process.
KAINE: Well, again, I'm just going to stick with the first answer. It's been flattering to be mentioned though. I tell you my mom in Kansas City just loves it every time somebody talks about me as VP. So, I mean, I just want to encourage that. At least to keep her happy.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, let me throw this question at you, Governor. If not you, then who? You know, Joe Biden's name comes up a lot and some people are even wondering if Hillary Clinton is still a dark horse candidate. Who do you think will best serve Senator Obama's needs at this point?
KAINE: Well, John, I'm not going to give the campaign advice on it. I think that they have done a great job of making decisions all through this campaign, or they wouldn't be where they are. They have to weigh a lot of different factors and my sense is that they're going to make a very good pick, however they choose, they'll make a very wise pick.
ROBERTS: You have any sense on what the timing is going to be? Governor, do you have any sense of what the timing will be? He seems to have been - this has been a morning where literally everything that can possibly go wrong, has gone wrong. Governor, are you still with us? No, unfortunately, he hasn't heard me. He doesn't seem to be saying much himself, which seem to indicate that the satellite has gone down. Our apologies on that.
A program reminder for you, though. And we promise that this is going to make it to air because we've got full facilities there in Denver. We are going to be bringing you every step of the democratic convention beginning Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Breaking this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making a surprise visit to Baghdad this morning. Rice arrived just a few hours ago meeting with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Rice is discussing details of a new troop withdrawal deal but she says this morning's reports that an agreement has been reached "very premature."
Iraqi officials say that deal calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities by late June of next year by restricting them to bases and the deal will remove all troops by 2011. A U.S. source says there are no firm dates in the agreement describing June 2009 as a conditions-permitting goal. President Bush and Iraqi lawmakers must still sign off on the deal.
And we've got this, just in to AMERICAN MORNING, airline officials now saying the plane that crashed in Madrid experienced overheating in its air intake valve. The jet crashed shortly after takeoff in Madrid killing 153 people, 19 survived and are now in critical condition. A Spanair official also says another MD-82 jet made an emergency landing on Saturday and it was not yet known if it was the same plane in yesterday's crash.
Well back here at home, tropical storm Fay is about to make landfall on the coast of Florida for a third time now. The center of the storm now about 20 miles east, southeast of Daytona Beach. Governor Charlie Crist says Fay is becoming a "catastrophic flooding event." How bad is it? Melbourne has already seen 25 inches of rain and people there are now being warned that alligators may have come up out of the canals that are now roaming the streets of that city.
Well, he's the governor of my state, where I live, we had to get him back here. Governor Kaine, you with me, can you hear me again?
KAINE: I am. When you ask that third question about VP, I just pulled out all the cords out down here.
ROBERTS: That's a great way to deal with it. Listen, regardless of who the running mate is going to be. This is still about Senator Obama and the other day we had former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown on who is one of these nervous democrats who's thinking oh my goodness, is the magic going to continue? And yesterday on CNN.com David Gergen, who you know well, wrote an interesting column in which he said "from my perspective, Obama needs to introduce a game changer and fast before public opinion starts to gel around the notion that he is a phenom who deserves great respect but is not seasoned enough and would we too much of a risk in the Oval Office."
Do you agree that the Senator needs a game changer and now is the time going into this convention that he needs it.
KAINE: Well, here's what I would say, John. There are a lot of people who are wringing their hands but Barack is still ahead. I mean, the polls I'm seeing largely still have him ahead in this race and they had an underdog mentality about this race since the day they got in. If they have to climb a very steep mountain to win. And that's been one of the reasons they've been so successful. So, and look at Virginia as an example. Virginia hadn't been competitive in presidential politics for a very long time. And the polls in Virginia are a dead heat and we're seeing tremendous enthusiasm for the Obama camp.
I don't have any doubt that it's going to be close. I always thought this race would be a very close one. But I think Senator Obama is going to do just fine. If he can take a state like Virginia, which has been non-competitive for 44 years and put it in play -- and we feel like we got a great chance of winning here, I think he's going to be our next president.
Sure, I think that next week at the convention is real important. And I suspect that it will go out very, very well and he'll come out of it with a real tail wind as people start to really pay attention to this race after Labor Day.
ROBERTS: Would Virginia be even more competitive if you were the running mate? Could you, as Lyndon Johnson did in 1960, deliver Texas for President Kennedy? Could you deliver Virginia?
KAINE: Well, let me tell you this. I'm not going to make the case for myself because I'm not running for anything. Virginia gave Barack Obama nearly a 30 point edge in the February primary, his polling is very strong.
Let me tell you about Virginians. We are deeply about the economy. We've been named the most business friendly state in American, the last three years by forbes.com. We are very discouraged about we've seen out of Washington, in managing the economy. And we want a better partner. We want a partner who is going to know that the success of the economy is how the middle class are doing, not how the upper class and biggest businesses are doing.
ROBERTS: Which bring --
KAINE: I understand that -- go ahead.
ROBERTS: Which brings me to this point. Is that there is a tremendous amount of discontent with this Bush administration. And yet, even though Barack Obama is still slightly ahead, John McCain seems to be doing very well in the polls.
So, are you surprised at that given the track record of the Bush administration and people's discontent with it? And what does Senator Obama need to do to kind of reclaim the mojo here?
KAINE: Well, no. I'm not surprised that folks feel favorable toward John McCain. But, as I think they start to look at the direction they want to take the nation, feeling favorably about him as a public servant and what he's done in the past is one thing. But, embracing somebody who has been part of the Bush economic strategy and whose basic proposal for the economy is to focus on how the wealthy are doing.
I understand that Senator McCain was asked yesterday, this question: How many houses do you own and he couldn't answer that question. He couldn't count high enough, apparently, to even know how many houses he owns.
We've got Americans who are struggling with foreclosures, skyrocketing in Virginia, and elsewhere. Gas prices, jobs slowing down, the deficit at a record level. We've got to have somebody who can change the direction of this economy. John McCain won't do it. But, Barack Obama understands the new economy and he will.
ROBERTS: Yes, I got that e-mail on the houses just this morning. So, definitely we'll be hearing a lot more about that from the Obama campaign today.
Governor Kaine, thanks very much for being with us this morning. Sorry about the technical glitch. Don't raise my taxes because of it.
KAINE: John, get back to Virginia, we miss you.
ROBERTS: All right, thanks. See you out in Denver, by the way -- Kiran.
