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Water Main Breaks in Maryland; Military Families Celebrate the Holidays Long Distance; Team Obama Set to Release Internal Review
Aired December 23, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A water main breaks and instantly transforms a road into a river. Frigid waters, motorists trapped and rescuers struggling to reach them.
Countdown to Christmas. Record breaking snow storms hit from one coast to the other. Will your travel plans be caught in the middle?
And holidays far from home and on the edge of war. We'll talk to a military family about the challenge facing many American families this season.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi COllins. Today is Tuesday, December 23rd. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
An amazing and dangerous rescue still underway in Cabin John, Maryland. Now, that's right outside Washington, D.C., kind of between Bethesda and Potomac. Emergency crews are battling, rushing water. You see it there from a major water main break in order to reach driver's trapped in their vehicles. We saw several people climb into a wire basket dangling from a rescue helicopter. One survivor spoke about her ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, just a gush of water came along with boulders and parts of trees and I tried to turn to get out of it. And that was it, I couldn't. My car just got locked in and the water was going over the top of the car and the fire department finally came and got me out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Wow, can you imagine being inside that. Fire department officials say a dozen or so people have been rescued so far. We will continue to follow this obviously but if you are just joining us just to give you a little background here. We're talking about a 66-inch water main. A four foot wall of water, the call came in about 8:00 this morning to the Maryland State Police and the Montgomery Fire Dept. Park police in this area also working on this situation.
You see the water main break there, obviously still rushing and this perhaps without a doubt was the most dramatic video that we saw. Because when that basket came down from the helicopter you can see that humongous wall of water that was created because of the rotor. They call it rotor wash. And now the people inside tried to steady that basket and get in there and be lifted to safety. We believe the first person inside was perhaps a child, looked to be a small child and then the guardian or parent or someone that was driving that vehicle of course, just barely able to get in there. And the helicopter pilot, Maryland state police performing this particular rescue, got them out. Boy, it was truly incredible pictures.
Again, a dozen rescues similar to that have taken place, both by helicopter and by the swift water boats, flat boats where they actually tended themselves to the shores and it got more people out of those vehicles. That's the scene right now. So again, we will continue to watch this for you. No injuries have been reported at this time but obviously the major struggle as we speak is getting that water main shut off. So that they double check these vehicles to make sure the everyone is brought to safety. Of course, we'll stay on top of the story for you to bring you any new developments as they come our way.
The economy, new measures, new concerns. This morning, we learned the broadest measure of the U.S. economy took a beating over the summer. The gross domestic product fell by a half a percentage point. The GDP is the nation's total U.S. output of business services. It's the biggest drop in seven years.
And now we'll also take a look at the big board today. We are to the positive. So that's nice. Just 46 points or so, Dow Jones Industrial averages. We'll continue to watch those numbers for you as we have the rest of today and then half of tomorrow before the trading week is through because of the holiday.
Maybe nothing is more important to your wallet than your home. Just minutes ago new numbers on the nation's housing crisis came out as well. And CNN's Christine Romans is in New York now to explain more on that. I wish we could be coming to you.
And you could give us some good news before we go into Christmas.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I wish you could too but you know what when I have good news to report, Heidi, I'm going to come on and I'm going report it with bells on. For the time being, I'm going to tell you -- give you the honest truth here about what's happening here in the economy. We know that the housing market has been in trouble and we have more housing data to show that new home sales down more than expected. And existing home sales down 8.6 percent. No real surprise here.
We know that there is an outright crisis in the housing market. We know that your home prices are falling. And we know that the construction of new homes is stalling dramatically, slowing dramatically. And we know that existing home sales -- the ability to sell your house on the open market, we know that that has been pretty rough. So that's some tough news for people who might be trying to sell their home. There's a big backlog of homes out there that need to be sold. And until you can work through that kind of backlog, you still have this trouble with falling home prices and the like. What do we know about the economy? This summer we know that the economy shrank this summer by half a percent. That is the gross domestic product report you talked about. It's from July to September. What's interesting about this is this is before the real guts of the credit crisis hit and Lehman Brothers went down in late September. So before the real worst of it in terms of the credit market, you already saw the economy starting to shrink.
It's very rare, Heidi, for our economy to shrink. Our economy tends to grow and consistently grow. That is the sign of a healthy free market economy. It's not healthy right now.
How does it compare with other pullbacks? Well the third quarter was before the big credit crisis. The fourth quarter -- which we're in right now. We won't know this for another month or so but it is expected to be down maybe six percent, maybe seven percent. So how would that compare with past recessions?
COLLINS: Right.
ROMANS: You can see it puts us in an uncomfortable position because in 20001, that recession the worse was a decline in growth of 1.4 percent. In 1990, the worst was three percent. In 1982, the worst was 6.4 percent. In 1980, 7.8 percent. That's the same recession, '80 to '82. So it looks as though if indeed the fourth quarter economy shrank by six to seven percent as many people are expecting, Heidi, that means what we're feeling right now is as bad as it was at any time since the 1980s. And that, as many people remember, was a painful recession.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. Well, we know you're on top of it for us on this very day. And we'd just like to scoot into Christmas and kind of forget that it's all happening. But not really very possible for most people.
Christine, we sure do appreciate it. Thanks.
I want to get back to the situation that we've been following all morning long, a developing story happening in the state of Maryland between Bethesda and Potomac, to be specific. You're looking at a huge water main break. Several people have been able to get out of their cars with the help of the authorities that are there working this state, local and park police, even the National Guard has kind of been put on stand by in order to use one of their black hawks should they need to continue rescuing people from these vehicles.
We have on the line with us right now Richard Bowers who is with the Montgomery County Fire Department.
Richard, as we continue to look at these pictures that came in earlier today of this rescue that took place, a small child and we believe an adult that got into that basket as this massive wall of water just seemed to overtake them, what is the current situation? Are there still people in those cars?
VOICE OF RICHARD BOWERS, MONTGOMERY CO., MARYLAND FIRE DEPT.: Right now we have fire rescue has made five rescues. And we've got the primary rescues done. The water has slowed down considerably and we're doing what we call a secondary scene search survey to see if there are any other potential victims.
COLLINS: OK. So that's some interesting news. It's really hard for us to tell whether or not that water has slowed. I thought the maybe I saw that when we go directly to the origination of where the water is coming out, where the break is. Sometimes we get a shot of that coming in from our affiliates here. It looked like it slowed a bit to me. But again, it's very hard to tell. So we're glad to hear that. The primary rescues, you say, have been done. Five people taken out of those vehicles?
BOWERS: Yes. Fire rescue units with air support as well as road support and actually on foot made five rescues of people that were trapped in the vehicles.
COLLINS: All right. We're looking at one of them right now. Because they did end up changing their tactic a bit from using the helicopters above to using these boats in order to get people out. So the secondary search, if you will, is going on right now. Any indication at this point as far as you know of the possibility of more people being in there?
BOWERS: Well, we're very hopeful that there are not any other victims. And that's what we're confirming now with our secondary search downstream, if you will.
COLLINS: OK. How difficult has this been? I mean, we show a lot of things like this on the air here at CNN. And I'm just trying to put myself in the situation of either the people inside these vehicles or the rescuers themselves. These are pretty harsh conditions.
BOWERS: Number one, it's an unexpected, obviously, emergency and not your normal time of routine emergency, if you will, that we're usually expecting.
COLLINS: Yes.
BOWERS: And it's very challenging in the fact that the weather conditions, the incline of the road and certainly the unexpected type of incident that we're running.
COLLINS: All right. We have been amazed, every one of us here, watching all of this take place. Really fantastic job by everyone out there who is working with these people. We certainly hope there are no more people trapped in those cars. We know you're checking thoroughly for that. Richard Bowers, we sure do appreciate that, Montgomery County Fire Department, one of the agencies working on this situation in Maryland.
I want to take a moment now to head on over to Rob Marciano who has been working the story with me today.
As we continue to watch this and wait for that water main hopefully to be shut down very, very soon, we did get a chance to talk with those who are in charge of that type of operation, Rob. And they are saying possibly within the hour -- this is the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission who will be handling this. Did they able to get it shut down?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Certainly, not soon enough, Heidi.
COLLINS: I know.
MARCIANO: But you also mentioned that the valve is underwater. So just getting at it obviously is a big of an issue as getting out the people that need to be rescued which we've been broadcasting all morning well. Certainly dramatic pictures and impressive to see these professionals do their job in such extreme conditions.
And I said earlier, you basically witnessed a flash flood occurring and the ensuing flash flood rescue which typically happens in very difficult terrain in the middle of the mountains, somewhere out west, when you get a thunderstorm or an ice dam or debris that breaks and let's water to free. But you are able to see it in almost an urban setting, performed by these professionals from different departments in that area and do it pretty impressively.
So the dangers of a flash flood, although this one being a man- made flash flood, Heidi, and then the ensuing rescue was certainly impressive. Also impressive is the fact that it's 23 degrees right now. And it was even colder when this whole thing started. So you can imagine with the water being sprayed on you, trying to rescue those folks and those folks who didn't have any protective gear, the people in the car, what they were dealing with.
MARCIANO: All right. The good news is that the snows that are moving into this cold air, still several hundred miles away from the D.C. areas as they begin to mop this situation up, the weather is not going to be too terribly much of an issue. St. Louis to Chicago up through Sheboygan, Madison, Wisconsin, back through Minneapolis, we've seen some snow. It is piling up.
And Chicago you're going to get another moderate pulse of precip heading into your area. And it will scoot across parts of Lake Michigan. It does turn into more mixed bag of precip as you head down the Mississippi. I think we got a live shot of St. Louis, do we?
There you go. KMOV, a little cloudy there. Temps right around the freezing mark. So freezing rain advisory has been issued for this area, and just be careful as you travel to and from your holiday destinations. Here is the pink on the map. Never a good thing in the winter time. Typically means a wintry mix of sleet, freezing rain and ice that could accumulate up to a quarter of an inch. And this is through out the day today. This is all moving towards the East Coast. But the East Coast will begin to warm before this precip gets to the I-95 corridor.
Check out some of the high temperatures tomorrow. 47 degrees in New York City, 51 in D.C. It will be 45 in Boston. Meanwhile, back behind the front, Chicago -- Chicago, you go from snow to freezing rain later today to potentially some rain tonight, back to snow as the front comes through. And the next pulse of precip comes through the area. But here is tomorrow's forecast weather map, as that storm ejection, the Colorado Rockies another one-two punch for the western Great Lakes.
Also, point out for folks waking on the West Coast, a historic event across Portland and Seattle area, over 10 inches of snow in Portland. I haven't seen this since I think 1968 or something like that. And they get snow on Christmas very rarely. Only two times since they've been keeping record, Heidi, have they had snow on the ground measuring more than an inch. So trying to spin some positive good news with this winter weather, it is Christmas time. And you know, a little white never hurts.
COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. And you're on Santa watch coming up very soon, right?
MARCIANO: Oh, yes. We got to get the Santa track. Let's get that thing out of the closet, and get it crank.
COLLINS: All right. That will definitely spread the cheer. Rob, we'll be waiting for that. Thank you so much.
Meanwhile, I want to update you very quickly on the story that we've been following throughout the morning here on CNN. Unbelievable pictures, Potomac, Maryland, Bethesda, right around that area, there has been a major water main break. 66 inch water main, four foot wall of water. About a dozen cars involved.
The updated information is that five people were successfully rescued. They're now doing a secondary search of all those vehicles, meaning that they have stabilized the situation and gotten to everyone that they were aware of out of those cars and to safety. Very cold temperatures there as you've been hearing from Rob, obviously complicating rescue efforts there. They used both those helicopters that you see and the boats in order to get people out.
Once again, we are continuing to follow this story. Right now just wondering when the water main will be able to be shut off, because that valve, we've been told, is actually under water and pretty difficult and could be dangerous to get to. Again, this story coming to us out of the state of Maryland.
We're following it right here. Quick break now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again everybody.
We have been watching this story that you're seeing pictures come in from our affiliate WJLA there in Montgomery County, Bethesda and Potomac, Maryland area, of an incredible water rescue because of a water main break. We have been told, the updated information is that five people have been rescued and rescued successfully. We have not gotten any reports of injuries, at least as of yet. I'm sure those medical evaluations are still going on. But the problem is, as you can see there, these live pictures coming in from our other affiliate in the area, WUSA, that water main has not been shut off yet. So there are potentially still some dangerous circumstances going on there for the people in the area and, of course, those rescuers.
State, local and park police all in this area are trying to help out with the situation that happened so quickly and very unexpected, obviously. Rob Marciano has been working the story with me and likening this to a flash flood that kind of just comes out of nowhere. But again those incredible images that we have seen come in, people being rescued from their cars by helicopters, by boats, really, really incredible story. We will continue to watch.
That's the scene right now. Those couple of cars there, those are the ones that we actually saw people come out of and be taken away by the rescuers. So they are doing that secondary search right now, just double-checking and making sure that there is no one left in those cars. There's about a dozen or so down this area which again just to remind you is not a river, it's not a waterway. It's a road.
But it is called River Road which is pretty ironic in all of this. Again, the area between Potomac and Bethesda, Maryland near Congressional Country Club is if you happen to know the area. We will continue to watch that and let you know when and if that water main gets shut off.
A report detailing any contact between President-elect Obama's aides and embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is expected at 4:30 p.m. Eastern today. Top Democratic officials say the report by Obama's transition office will exonerate his team.
CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry reports now from Hawaii.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Today is the day that Team Obama plans to release its long awaited internal investigation into what contact it had with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his staff. This matter of course, some lingering questions about what, if any role Obama aide like Rahm Emanuel had in the so-called pay-to-play scandal in Illinois, specifically these allegations that the governor essentially tried to auction off the former U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama.
You will not be surprised to learn that two Democratic officials tell me that this report will largely exonerate Team Obama. Specifically, one Democratic official saying about the whole controversy, "this is a lot about nothing."
These two Democratic officials basically say the report will suggest that Rahm Emanuel may have had limited contact with the Illinois governor, a little more with the governor's former chief of staff. But bottom line, there was no wrongdoing in these conversations, certainly no criminal wrongdoing in the phone calls. What's interesting though is critics will raise questions about why, if there was no wrongdoing, did Team Obama wait until Christmas week when not a lot of people are paying attention to finally release the report. I can tell you a Democratic official insisted the timing was only dictated by the prosecutor in this case, Patrick Fitzgerald, that he basically did not want an earlier release of this report to hamper his own on-going criminal investigation.
COLLINS: And a new poll by CNN Opinion Research Corporation suggests public opinion is split on any contact Obama aides may have had with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. According to the survey, 12 percent of those questioned say the president-elect's aides did something illegal. 36 percent feel his aides did not commit a crime but feel they did something unethical. 43 percent say his aids did not do anything wrong.
An important warning now about diet pills. What's in them? Some brands could do more harm than good.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back everybody. 10:25 Eastern time. A very busy news day. We continue to watch pictures coming in from an area in the state of Maryland, between Potomac and Bethesda, Maryland. These are pictures coming in a little bit earlier of the rescue attempts that had been taking place because of a huge water main break on River Road if you happen to know that area near Congressional Country Club, and again just north of the beltway there. Unbelievable, really dramatic pictures because of how fast that water has been rushing.
We're talking about a four-foot wall of water, a 66-inch water main. And apparently, according to the Montgomery County Fire Department, we just spoke with a gentleman there who gave us an update. And the most recent information is that five people have been rescued, about a dozen cars though were involved.
When you look on that road -- because again, it looks like a river. But it's not. It's a road. There are about a dozen cars sort of littered up and down the street there. Using helicopters and boats to get them to safety, we have not had any report of injuries. I'm sure those medical evaluations are on going. Because it is so cold there, temperatures in the morning just in the teens according to Rob Marciano.
So rescuers and some of the victims there really dealing with the possible effects of hypothermia. So we are hoping that has not taken place. Again, the latest information, the only thing that we're lacking I guess is when they're going to be able to get the water shut off. Because those live pictures show obviously still rushing waters there.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is working on that. The valve though is underwater. So it's kind of difficult and potentially dangerous to get to it. It's not a computerized system in this area where they just punch a button and you know it all shuts off. So still a situation that they are monitoring. We will do the same right here.
The FDA warning Americans to stay away from 28 different brands of weight loss pills because of possible health risks. Some of these brands are often sold on the internet.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now with more on this.
Elizabeth, that's a lot, is it not, 28 different brands here? What do you make of this?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. This is incredible. I have to say that rarely does the FDA do something like that, tell people to stop taking 28 different brands of supplements. Let's talk about why they're doing this and taking such an extreme measure. Look at what's in some of these things.
Some of these pills -- again you can buy some in stores, some over the Internet. Some of them have Meridia which is a prescription drug and often these supplements have Meridia in much higher doses than any doctor would ever prescribe. Some of them have rimonabont, which isn't even approved in the United States. It's another diet drug. Some of them have a drug called phenytoin, which is an anti- seizure medication, and of some of them have a chemical compound, it's not even a drug, a chemical called phenylphtholein, which is a suspected carcinogen and that is why the FDA says that these pills pose a great risk to public health.
COLLINS: Now wait a minutes, they're just now getting the opportunity to find out what's in these pills? And they're saying, oh we didn't know what was in there or -
COHEN: Right. They didn't know it was in there. Because unfortunately, the way that regulations work in this country, if you want to sell something by prescription, there's FDA, people expecting you there's all sorts of rules and regulations. You want to sell something over the counter or certainly over the Internet, there really aren't a whole lot of rules.
You can sneak stuff in and not label it and get away with it as we've seen here. I mean these people got away with it. These pills, some of them may have been on the market for years. We don't know. The FDA isn't saying. But obviously these pills aren't labeled with this stuff. It's just you would have no way of knowing that these pills are in there. And some people say that they've been complaining for years that regulations just aren't tough enough.
COLLINS: I mean, yes. Another warning, because it sounds like we need it, people really should be aware of what they're putting in their bodies.
COHEN: Right. Absolutely. Don't assume that I got it off the Internet or I got it from my local store, everything in here must be fine. Not necessarily.
COLLINS: All right. A big report coming out from the FDA. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Elizabeth, thanks for that.
Quickly, I want to go back to the story that we have been following all morning long. Apparently it began about 8:00 this morning for first responders going out to this situation that we're looking at now, an incredibly improved situation I must add, because as we followed this water main break that we're talking about in the state of Maryland, unbelievable rescue pictures that came out of this.
Five people have been rescued, a couple of them by helicopter, a couple by boat, just a massive rush of water. We understand the water main is about 66 inches and that the wall of water ended up being about four feet high or so. So we are still trying to get information as to when they may be able to shut off that water main. Getting a little better picture of it now. Again, these pictures coming in to us live from our affiliate there in the area, WJLA.
That looks to be sort of the origination of where the main broke. And they have been working very, very hard in order to shut that water off. But we have been told by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, who controls all of this, that because the valve is under water, they have to be careful about how they go in there and shut it off, because again, it is not a computerized system.
So, thankfully so far, to our knowledge, as we've been following this story, we've not had any injuries reported. And we will continue to follow it for you right here. River Road in between Potomac and Bethesda, Maryland. We'll be back right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Developing story today. It is happening in Maryland, just north of the Beltway. We're talking about in between -- Montgomery County in particular, but in between Potomac and Bethesda, Maryland.
There has been a major water main break, and it is causing all kinds of havoc. You can see sort of the aftermath here. That water continues to rush, but we do believe that those cars are empty because we have been watching the rescue take place.
There have been five people taken out of those cars, again either by helicopter or by boats. Incredible work done by the park police, Maryland State Police and also the Montgomery County Fire Department involved in this.
Really having a pretty difficult time, too, because when they use the helicopters from above, as I'm sure you're familiar, the rotor creates such an incredible wave that they really had to be careful with getting people out. And that's when we believe they went to the boats. But again, five people rescued. No injuries reported at this time. And we will stay on top of that story for you, let you know once they get that water main shut off completely.
Get ready for more snow and ice along with some brutal cold. The northern part of the country is getting slammed again. The worry for many people? How to get home for the holidays. Other people worrying about getting out their front door.
In Geneva, Ohio, the snow is blowing so hard you can barely see. And in Bangor, Maine, imagine having to dig your inventory out of the snow every day, as if selling cars wasn't tough enough at this point.
Wow. In Alden, New York, i-reporter Kevin Burns tried driving through the snow, tried being the operative word here. His pickup truck got stuck in the snow, as you would imagine. And, he had to leave it on the side of the road for a while. When he came back, he said it was completely snowed in. Up to 18 inches fell there on Sunday.
Remember, you can share your weather pictures with us. Just go to ireport.com. Rob Marciano joining us now.
Rob, I imagine we're getting a lot of them in because so much of the country has been affected by this.
MARCIANO: Yes, and not only all of North America. Just reading a stat that may very well come true. Entire country of Canada may be -- may have a white Christmas. The first time that's happened since the early '70s, so...
COLLINS: Really?
MARCIANO: ... a little tidbit. You know, take that home to your eggnog party there. Twenty-four degrees in New York, 25 degrees in D.C. Obviously, we've got weather at the bottom, at the right-hand corner of your screen. We'll be rolling this tomorrow as well, so as you have your holiday travel.
Twenty-six in Portland. I want to show you this quick shot of a weather colleague of mine, Dave Sweeney (ph) out in Portland, just south of Portland, showed this shot outside of his deck. Twenty inches of snow on the picnic table. I mean, Portland, you know, four or five inches for the entire year maybe. And they've got 20 in one storm. That is historical, my friends.
All right, let's talk about other weather that's happening. We've got a situation underway across the Mississippi River Valley. Rain, sleet, freezing rain, some snow as well. In Chicago, boy, it's a nightmare getting in and out of that airport today, so be aware of that.
Cincinnati also has some weather issues. Newark, 45-minute delays at this point, but not because of weather, most likely volume. Here's the snow and the rain and the freezing rain in between. We've got a number of advisories that area posted.
Snow anywhere from 2 to 4, maybe 5 or 6 inches at some point. We have winter weather advisories up for the western Great Lakes south where it turns to freezing rain across parts of St. Louis and just north of Memphis. So, this is where it's going to be a slick go today.
And mentioned the probabilities of white chromosphere. Marquette, Michigan, that's lake-effect country. One hundred percent. They get one every year. Montpelier, Vermont, 93 percent of seeing a white Christmas. There's Bismarck. Minneapolis, good chance there. Denver, 50/50 shot.
Chicago, 40 percent. They're probably going to see one. And New York City, a 10 percent chance of seeing a white Christmas. What about the chances of this one?
Well, you had some snow. The question is, is it going to stick around for Christmas? Forty-seven degrees in New York for a high tomorrow, so warming up dramatically, and then a little bit of rain. So, going to be a touchy situation. It will be depending on where you live in the New York metropolitan area whether or not Santa and Rudolph are going to have a little bit of a slick runway there on the rooftop. We'll see.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, we know that you are staying on top of it. And quickly just reminding everybody you have on the side of the screen there some of the airport delays and everything. Want to make sure people are able to check that out in the middle of all this weather.
All right. Rob Marciano, appreciate that. We'll bring you back up in just a little while here so people can know what they're getting into when they go traveling today.
Also, we have someone else standing by to let us know what we're getting into by way of our wallets. Because this is a holiday season that everybody has been pretty worried about as far as shopping and trying to save money, all at the same time.
We are also checking the big board right now to the positive 65 or so, Dow Jones Industrial Averages. So at least it's to the positive, which is a nice thing before the trading week is through this holiday week. We've got a half day tomorrow, a full day today, and then it will all be over.
Susan Lisovicz standing by to talk -- there you are, Susan -- to talk a little more about this, because the shopping days are winding down.
And I think as we've been saying for a while here, everybody's wallets are a little bit drier than usual.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: It's unbelievable. I mean, you really have seen this economy penetrate everybody's psyche. And now we have some hard numbers that go with it, because we're in the moment of reckoning now with just one day before Christmas Eve.
And we've had crummy weather, too, just to compound problems. You know, Rob is talking about the weather that's delaying lots of flights. Well, think about last weekend, where we just had arctic temperatures and precipitation in many parts of the country.
In any case, the hard numbers, let me tell you, online spending, $24 billion the first 49 days of the holiday shopping season -- or the last 49 days I should say. That is down 1 percent from last year. One percent may not sound like a lot, but when you think about how online spending has really ramped up both from the retail side as well as consumers, that's telling.
Also, brick and mortar stores also feeling it. 38 percent of Americans shopped last weekend. That is down significantly. It's the lowest turnout in six years. Bad weather may have had something to do with it. But when you -- you have to remember, everybody talks about Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The final weekend before Christmas rivals it. No question about it. A lot of consumers, even in good economies sometimes hang out, wait for the retailers to blink and drop prices even more. And certainly in this economy we've been seeing that happen -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. That's for sure. I don't know. I usually wait until the end and hopefully the deals are going to work in my favor.
LISOVICZ: They're out there, Heidi. They are out there.
COLLINS: All right, Susan Lisovicz. We'll check back with you a little bit later on.
Meanwhile, we want to get back to the situation that we've been following all morning long. In Maryland, a very tight shot for you there. That water that's rushing out of the water main that has broken on River Road -- isn't that funny, that is the name of it. Only funny now because we have learned that of the rescues that had to take place because people plain got trapped in their cars in all this.
That crush of water there. Have been successful. Five people have been rescued. About a dozen cars were involved in all this. It took a lot of rescuers and a lot of coordination to get them out safety.
In fact, Brian Todd, our correspondent is standing by now to tell us a little bit more about this.
Brian, first tell us exactly where are you? Can you see where the water main break is?
VOICE OF BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we can, Heidi. We're a just few feet from it.
The water is still gushing out, just sending this huge pouring of water, about 600 to 800 feet down River Road. The -- the part of the problem here is that the water main break happened right at the top of the -- a hill and water just kept gushing downhill, about four feet deep we're told at its worst point. The water is not quite that deep now. But it is still really rushing downhill.
The problem here now is that the water valve seems to be under water, and they can't quite get to it to shut it off yet. They're not quite sure how long it's going to take to stop this. But five victims have been rescued from the scene. And we're told they're all fine. COLLINS: They are all fine. OK, because there was some concern, as you would imagine, and I'm sure you can feel it from where you are, Brian. It's pretty darn cold out there. I guess in the morning temperatures were well below freezing, in the teens. So, they were concerned about hypothermia. But there have been no reports of that?
TODD: That's right. That was a big concern. And it was in the teens and low twenties here when this occurred this morning.
And there were also problems getting these rescue baskets from the helicopters to the victims because it was windy this morning. There were trees obstructing the baskets as they tried to lower them down to where the victims were in the cars. They had to pull all five victims from vehicles, we're told, and the vehicles were in certain places where it was very difficult to get the baskets to. And we just talked to one of the captains of the local fire and rescue. He was just talking to us about how problematic that really was. They were really anxious there for a little while.
COLLINS: I can't imagine. We saw a lot of it live right here on our program, Brian. And I just can't imagine having to make that leap of faith from the vehicle into one of those baskets that was not only dangling there but really just blowing around like crazy from the rotor wash that comes up when you have a helicopter rescue like that. Really added I'm sure to the conditions. And then they did end up using the boats with some of the other victims.
So, we sure do appreciate your reporting, as well. And let us know, Brian, if you learn any more about how much longer it's going to be before that water main can be shut off.
Brian Todd reporting for us from right there at the scene of this water main break near Bethesda and Potomac, Maryland.
Meanwhile, far from home. We're going to be talking to a military family about the sacrifices that come with the holidays for them. That's coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Homecoming in the heart land. I never get through these things very well. Kansas city, Missouri and families celebrating the return of their loved ones in uniform.
For the past year, members of the Army Reserve's 445th Medical Detachment have been serving in Afghanistan. And now they are back home just in time for the holidays. Good for them.
But for tens of thousands of military families, these holidays will be a little less joyful. Their loved ones are serving far from home and sometimes in the line of danger.
Army Colonel Sylvester Cotton has spent many holidays away from his family. And this year, he and his wife Elizabeth will spend Christmas without their daughter, who is awaiting deployment to Iraq. Good morning to the both of you. We sure do appreciate you being here, especially at a time where I know that you're concerned about your daughter, you know what she's facing. Tell us a little bit about Larissa.
SYLVESTER COTTON, ARMY COLONEL: Hi, Heidi. Good to be here.
She's a high speed first lieutenant. She's in the Medical Service Corps in the United States Army. She's currently in Kuwait, Camp Veering, awaiting to move forward to (INAUDIBLE) Iraq, very high speed. She's going to do well there. I know it's a tough time of the year; the holiday season is upon us. But she's going to do fine.
COLLINS: The both of you actually -- I know that you were a colonel and Elizabeth, you were also in the military. So, was it any surprise that your daughter went this direction, as well?
ELIZABETH COTTON, MOTHER: No, not really. It's not a surprise. She did ROTC in high school. And she's doing well.
COLLINS: She's doing well. I know this is going to be a tough holiday season for you, though. How will you get through? And what do you have to say to other family members who may be experiencing this for the first time?
S. COTTON: It, it -- it will be fine. The men and women in uniform serving overseas, they really understand why they're there. The holiday season at times becomes a little difficult because this is the time of year, you know, you want to celebrate with family and friends and the ones that you really care about and love.
But they understand the mission. They'll be a very festive dinner prepared for them once they're in theater. And if there's any celebrities in town, they will stop by and say hi to the troops. But it's a tough time of the year. But they -- the soldiers will do fine.
COLLINS: And it's not mom's food. Right, Elizabeth?
S. COTTON: Not at all.
COLLINS: You know what we do have Larissa on the line. She is coming to us from Kuwait, as you said, on her way to another area in Iraq.
And Lieutenant Cotton, if you can hear me, say hello to your mom and dad.
LT. LARISSA COTTON, U.S. ARMY: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can hear you. Hello. Hey mom, hey dad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Larissa.
S. COTTON: I know there is a time difference there. But you sound enthused there.
COLLINS: What's going to be happening for you, Larissa? How are things going? And how exactly are you going to spend the holiday?
L. COTTON: Things are going very well here. The soldiers and I are enjoying our time here and we'll be spending the holidays --
COLLINS: Oops, I hope that we didn't lose you.
Can you still hear me? Larissa, can you still hear me?
Well -- well we are going to work on that.
I'm going to talk to you Colonel and Mrs. Cotton, if you wouldn't mind. I have actually in my notes here, Colonel Cotton, that Larissa is daddy's little girl.
S. COTTON: She is. She's -- during her 17 years we moved about eight times in those 17 years. And she went to seven different schools, and she never complained once.
COLLINS: Wow. What about your son?
S. COTTON: He's -- same thing. He's a supertrooper. He was in the military for a short spurt. He's out now and he's doing well.
COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth, what do you make of all of this? I'm sorry that unfortunately that call from Kuwait is having a little bit of technical difficulty. We are continuing to work on that as we have you here. I know you want to talk with your daughter.
In fact, how often do you get to speak with her?
E. COTTON: Well she left just a short time ago, and we've heard from her probably three times through e-mail and she called a couple times. So we know she's doing fine.
COLLINS: You know she's doing fine.
Well, to the three of you, we certainly do appreciate your service, and your son's as well. During this holiday time we feel for you and the many hundreds of other families who are going through the separation at the holiday season.
Thanks so much. Colonel Sylvester Cotton and his wife, Elizabeth. Thanks, guys.
S. COTTON: Thank you.
E. COTTON: Thank you.
COLLINS: Quickly want to get back to the situation we've been telling you about all morning long coming out of Maryland now. Five people have been rescued in this massive water main break. 66 inches, a four foot wall of water. And boy, what dramatic rescues, challenging rescues they have been. Excellent work by all of the authorities there, from park police, to state and local responders.
We continue to stay on top of this story as we're waiting for that water main to be shut down. Because that water is still coming out furiously. And we'll wait to bring that information to you just as soon as it happens.
Quick break here.
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COLLINS: Just checking to see if there's anything new that we can share with you regarding the situation in the state of Maryland, in between Potomac and Bethesda there, just north of the beltway. There's been a massive water main break. Just in case you're joining us now, five people have had to be rescued. You see one of those rescues taking place a little bit earlier today.
They used those boats for a couple of the rescues. There was one person taken out of that black car, one person taken out of the white car there and then a couple of other people that were lifted out of their vehicles by helicopter, which was a really precarious situation, obviously, as you can see by this.
With the helicopters, they had to deal with what we call the rotor wash, which creates a whole other wall of water from the rotor from the spin that creates really a scary situation whether you are the rescuer or the person being rescued.
So once again, five people successfully rescued. We are told -- the updated information is that all of them are fine. There were some concerns about hypothermia because of the cold, cold temperatures there that they're having to deal with as well.
Water main still on though. And that is the situation that they're having to deal with, trying to get to that valve that is under water in order to get the water shut off.
So we will bring that information to you just as soon as we learn it. It shouldn't be too much longer now from what we're hearing from authorities there.
We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A secret Santa gets kicked out of a Wal-mart in Connecticut for sharing the Christmas spirit. Barry Goldberg says he was asked to leave for giving out gift cards he bought inside the store.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY GOLDBERG, TRIED TO BE SECRET SANTA INSIDE WAL-MART: They asked me, well, where did get these cards? I bought them from your store 20 minutes ago. Well, what are you doing? I said I'm giving out gift cards,it's the holidays. It's -- the right thing to do is to give, isn't it?
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: Thought so. Goldberg says he was contacted by Target and was told he could bring the cards to a Target store and swap them out and pass them out there.
I'm Heidi Collins. I'll see you again next week after the holidays.
For now, though, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.
