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Dramatic Rescue From Colorado Flood; Flood Waters Rip Through Campus; Seven Inches Of Rain Overnight In Boulder; White House Reacts To Putin's Op-Ed; Interview with Senator Jim Inhofe; Family Sues Six Flags For Coaster Death
Aired September 12, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys, if you're listening to this, a body may pop out. That's why I'm staying wide. They are going to let me stay here as long as I don't show the body. So it might -- one might pop out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody's alive in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that was just incredible, wasn't it? Joining me by phone is Dan Garrett. He is the battalion chief with the Lafayette, Colorado Fire Department. Thank you for joining us, Chief.
DAN GARRETT, LAFAYETTE, COLORADO FIRE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): You bet.
COSTELLO: I got to say as I was watching this play out live last hour, when that SUV again fell into the water with the driver still inside, my heart sank.
GARRETT: I think everybody's heart sank for a minute there and luckily everything turned out OK.
COSTELLO: So I understand why the driver had to put on his life jacket, but if I was in that situation, I would just want to climb out that window right now.
GARRETT: Yes. Well, it's important that if anyone finds themselves in that situation that if they are in contact with rescuers that they listen very carefully to instructions that will absolutely help in a positive outcome.
COSTELLO: So the reason he puts that life jacket on is if you get him out of the car and he falls into the water and these are raging floodwaters he could be carried downstream and you have to take every precaution?
GARRETT: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Tell me who these rescue workers are. Some of them, I understand, are from the Department of Transportation in Colorado.
GARRETT: Well, the whole thing unfolded at about 6:08 this morning. We were toned to 287 in Dillon Road and when our crews got on scene, they found that the road had washed out and the three vehicles were in the creek. Due to the complexity of what was going on, we requested additional resources from North Metro Fire Department and Westminster Fire Department and through a cooperative effort we were able to pull three victims out of all three cars and all three victims were transported to a local hospital.
COSTELLO: Well, you guys did a terrific job. Chief Garrett, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We want to bring in now CNN's Indra Petersons in the CNN Severe Weather Center to tell us how this all transpired?
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, we're really talking about an unbelievably, incredible amount of rainfall in a very short period of time. In fact, Colorado Springs is likely to have broken the record about 4-1/2 inches of rain in a day. We're talking about places seeing 4 inches of rain in for 4 hours. That's exactly what happened around Boulder yesterday evening and the rain hasn't stop since and this is a good 12-hour loop.
You could tell the rain is literally just training or really going heavy over the same period over and over again and that's producing these deadly situations. Let's talk about what we're seeing. In fact, I want to tell you Adams County had six inches of rain in two hours. That's how heavy we're talking about. The big question is why? What makes this situation so unique?
We're looking at is a low here in the west. Remember, winds go counter clockwise around the low. That's important we'll get to that. A high, winds go clockwise around the highs. Those winds strengthen between the two and right to the south is all of this tropical moisture. So what it's doing is pulling all of this moisture into the region and then the cold air from that low is triggering those thunderstorms.
So with that, you know, you have a thunderstorm with all of that moisture that you're getting this heavy, heavy amount of rainfall. Unfortunately, everyone is hoping that the rain is done with. It is not. We're still talking about another three to five inches and another wave of it coming tonight -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. Indra Petersons, thank you so much. So let's head to Boulder, Colorado now where CNN's Ana Cabrera is standing by. So you just Indra, Ana, it's not over yet.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not over. It lightened up for a while, but you can see the rain is falling very hard right now and you see some of the remnants of the flash flooding that hit hardest several hours ago, but you can see still inches of rain just washing over this roadway as that bus and this car are trying to slowly and carefully make their way through that water.
Again, this is one of the main drags here in Boulder. We're at Broadway and Iris for those who may be watching from inside Colorado. This is within the heart of the city. Now some of the exterior parts of Boulder County are seeing much worse. We're seeing debris like these big rocks in my hand littering the streets within the city, but in the county they are seeing walls of mud, debris flows that are coming through the mountainous communities, overturning cars and collapsing homes. At least two people are dead.
COSTELLO: At least two people are dead. The university had to cancel classes in that area because of all of the rain. Ana Cabrera, thanks so much. You be careful out there.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the crisis in Syria, the president of Syria makes headlines over his decision to hand over chemical weapons. Yes, he came out on Russian television today and said, yes, I will hand over my chemical weapons. We'll talk about that.
And a stunning op-ed by President Putin, we'll talk about that too when we come back.
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COSTELLO: Syria's president says threats of a U.S. attack are not working. Bashar Al-Assad told a Russian TV station he's giving up his chemical weapons as a result of a Russian proposal and not because of a possible U.S. military strike. That news comes hours after the Russian President Vladimir Putin took his message directly to you, to the American people.
In a stunning op-ed in today's "New York Times," Putin says, quote, "From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for it is own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law."
Now former Secretary of State Leon Panetta says Putin's op-ed is all part of a strategy.
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LEON PANETTA, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think it's pretty clear that the whole purpose of that was to try to weaken our resolve and to try to make sure that we would not fulfill our pledge to conduct military action if we have to. So I think he was trying to, in his own way, weaken the United States and the effort to negotiate these issues.
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COSTELLO: Joining me now is Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma. Welcome, Senator.
SENATOR JIM INHOFE (R), OKLAHOMA: Thank you, Carol. It's nice to be with you.
COSTELLO: Thank you for being with us.
INHOFE: I do somewhat agree with Leon Panetta on this although I think it goes further than that. You know, this morning, you know, I'm sure you've been covering this. Putin was lecturing to the United States. You know, I could hear Reagan turning over in his grave as this was going on. I think when you look at the combination of Russia and Syria considering that Russia has been the one sending them all of the equipment and military and armaments that they need. For them to come forward and say all of a sudden, we're going to take care of that, I'm not sure how many people believe that and I'm not sure how it's going to really impact the outcome.
COSTELLO: Senator, I want to read to you another part of the op-ed because I believe this is the part where most Americans, let's say, they raise their eyebrows. This is what Putin wrote in the "New York Times." Quote, "I would rather disagree with the case President Obama made on American exceptionalism stating that the United States policy is what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional. It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional whatever the motivation."
And Senator John McCain just tweeted that Putin's "New York Times" op- ed is an insult to intelligence of every American. Do you agree?
INHOFE: Well, sure. I mean, the whole idea that's what I was referring to when I said he was lecturing to us. But read further in there and he talks about if something should happen, if those who are wanting to join the president in this military intervention, that there would be responses and I think it's terribly naive of someone to think that we could send a few cruise missiles in there and that they would not respond.
Most people now are looking at that and saying that would probably cause a greater use of chemical weapons. So now we've got John Kerry in Geneva talking about what are we going to do together? When he's actually communicating and talking and negotiating with the very person who has been giving all of the resources to Syria in the first place.
I hope that some time people will pay attention to the real problem with intervention at this time is that we have a degraded military now. Nobody understands this. No one believes it and yet I've been saying it now for 4-1/2 years. In his first budget, Carol, he did away with our only fifth generation fighter, future combat system, the ground base interceptor.
That was just one budget. Since then, he's taken on his extended budget $487 billion out of the military. So I'm not the only one who knows that that is the big problem that we cannot get involved in a war in the Middle East.
COSTELLO: Well, most Americans don't want us to get involved in a war in the Middle East and that's not what the president would say he's talking about. He's talking about the limited military strike. General Dempsey, he thinks that the U.S. military can handle Syria just fine.
INHOFE: Well, sure. They can handle -- if you're talking about sending 30 cruise missiles in, that's easy. That doesn't cost anything. That's a very easy thing to do. What I'm saying is that you don't do that without -- as they say, that would be an act of war in the Middle East. Let me read you one quote. This is from General Dempsey, the chairman of Joints Chief of Staff who agrees with me.
He says, "Our military force is so degraded, so unready, it would be immoral to use force." Now I have to disagree with you, Carol. I think you send something over there, you're using force and there's going to be repercussions and you have to remember that the chief threat in that whole part of the world is not Syria. It's Iran.
And our intelligence has told us since 2007 that by 2015, a year and a half from now, they are going to have the weapon and the delivery system that would actually reach the eastern part of the United States. It's a serious thing.
COSTELLO: So Senator, like you said, Russia and the United States are negotiating in Geneva right now and the military option is very much on the table from the United States' point of view. Russia, of course, wants the United States to take that option away. So in light of Putin's op-ed today, should the United States go along with Mr. Putin?
INHOFE: No. You know, I never liked Mr. Putin. In fact, Obama never liked him until last Tuesday when he came and bailed him out. So I think that's not the strategy we should be using coming from Russia.
COSTELLO: So you think the military option should remain on the table while these --
INHOFE: No. I'm saying I've opposed the military option. I was the first one that came out opposed to that military option. I'm just saying that if we think that we're going to be able to have -- maintain our credibility in that part of the world by being bailed out, it's not going to work. Besides, I don't trust those guys and I don't think anyone who's really been watching Russia and Syria and what they have been doing should have a great faith and trust in them.
COSTELLO: So if Vladimir Putin is writing op-eds in "The New York Times" sort of poking America, what does the United States do?
INHOFE: First of all, I think we ought to maybe right a few op-eds, too, and respond to it. I don't think silence is what we need to do at this point in time. Maybe Putin feels that he's in the driver's seat to the point we will respond. Well, we will, in terms of verbally responding. I'm not surprised to see him do it. I think he would have been smarter not to do it.
COSTELLO: Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
INHOFE: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
President Putin's op-ed is not sitting well with some members of the president's party either. Senator Menendez said he almost threw up. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I was at dinner and I almost wanted to vomit. The reality is, I worry when someone who came up to the KGB tells us what is in our national interest and what is not. And, you know, it really raises the questions of how serious this Russian proposal is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Our senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is at the White House this morning so any response?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There is a response when you talk with White House officials here, Carol. They say it's irrelevant and I think their point is upsetting as it is, it is irrelevant, and this is why they say it is. They say, of course, you know, the idea here I think that Assad -- this is what Putin is saying, that Assad may not be responsible to the use of chemical weapons. That's pretty fascinating, carol, because I think that's something that many members of this administration have pointed as an immorally outrageous opinion.
So I think that is something obviously -- that sort of -- the administration doesn't agree with, but instead they are focusing not on that. They are focusing instead on the fact they say this is just part of the big part of the picture of Putin being very invested in this. He's the one who's put forward this proposal, they say, and in the words of one administration official, they say he owns this.
So they are kind of trying to look at the positive part of this, but I know that that's really difficult, especially when you hear what someone like Senator Menendez says because what Putin is saying here is really inflammatory to many U.S. officials and many Americans.
COSTELLO: Senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar reporting live this morning. Thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, one of the steepest roller coasters in the world sued after a woman falls out and plunges to her death. But in a few days that ride will reopen. We'll talk about that lawsuit when we come back.
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COSTELLO: If you're afraid of heights, this is your worst nightmare, being thrown out one of the world's steepest roller coasters. That's what happened in July to Rosa Esparza, a 52-year-old mother. Now her family is suing Six Flags for $1 million claiming Six Flags ignored safety precautions on the Texas Giant, which will reopen this coming weekend.
The lawsuit vividly describes the horror saying, quote, "As far as his daughter heard screaming and yelling, saw her mother in the process of being thrown out of the car, struggling in an upside down position, attempting to hold on for dear life and then she catapulted many feet below. Six Flags employees initially refused to believe that anyone had been thrown from the train and then the lawsuit goes on.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is following the story. Good morning, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDET: Good morning, Carol. Well, just a few hours after the Esparza family filed that lawsuit. Six Flags announced that the Texas Giant roller coaster will reopen this weekend, nearly two months after the horrific accident. In a statement Six Flags says that there will be changes made to the rides that include a redesigned restraint bar pad, new seat belts in each of the seats and also a coaster seat outside of the ride so people can see how they fit into the ride and determine whether or not they want to ride it.
So beyond that, the company also said that they had finished an investigation as to what happened and they only simply said that there was no evidence of a mechanical failure that caused this tragedy, but Six Flags says because of the lawsuit they will not make any other further comments.
In that lawsuit, the Esparza family attorney goes on to talk about the negligence that they say Six Flags is responsible for here and alleges that there were inconsistencies in the locking position of the coaster's safety bars, failures in safety bar lighting system and defective switch in the victim's seat.
The lawsuit says that the green light that's supposed to go on to make sure that all of the bars are in the proper place gives the park employees a false sense security that everything is OK. So obviously, Carol, this is headed to the courts and we'll see how it plays out in the months ahead.
COSTELLO: Yes, it will. Ed Lavandera is reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the crisis in Syria is testing President Obama's role as commander in chief and one top Republican senator says he doesn't think the president is up to the job. We'll talk about that next.
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COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seems to be very uncomfortable being commander in chief of this nation.
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COSTELLO: Sharp criticism of President Obama by one of the few Republicans who's been willing to work with him. Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't think it was much of a relationship, to be honest. I was standing up there and I noticed that when they were exchanging their vows, Jordan wasn't -- never once looked at Cody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A young bride admits to pushing her husband off a cliff days after their wedding. Why she says she should be released from jail?
And forget about your major, it's all about your alma mater. We'll tell you which colleges are now turning out the top paid grads. CNN NEWSROOM continues now.
