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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Flood Blasts Down Door In Texas Home; Nine People Still Missing In Floodwaters. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 28, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield and welcome to LEGAL VIEW. Natural disasters are clobbering big parts of Texas from all directions today. People lucky enough to be far from disastrous flooding, they are now seeing tornadoes across Texas, Oklahoma, and Northern Mexico.

Severe weather has now killed at least 35 people. We have this live picture right now in Wimberley, Texas, where several families are about to speak to reporters about their relatives who are still unaccounted for in those floods.

We're going to go there just as soon as that news conference begins, but in the meantime, I want you to just take a look and listen to this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Just remarkable, no stopping this angry wall of water. Look at the door just blown away. The flood waters rushing in, turning this house into a virtual whirlpool of the furniture and the family's belongings, this was also in Wimberley. The Perez family could only watch horrified from their second floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PEREZ, WATCHED FLOOD BREAK DOWN DOOR (via telephone): Honestly, I didn't even realize I was recording until a couple minutes into it. It was -- it was insane. We watched the water rush in, and we turned the power off, then we smelled, you know, the fire, the electric was burning. So it became very, very real and scary at that moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So this picture you're seeing now is outside of Houston, the emergency nowhere near over. Another couple of inches of rain could restart a flash flood evacuation, rescue, and that recovery cycle, again, all of it having to start all over again.

And the forecast for the next five days, sadly to say it, storms. Storms and more rain expected. How startling is this image? Flood waters in Houston so powerful they dislodged a casket from a cemetery and dropped it right in the middle of a bike trail. And the casket was occupied.

Police officers stood watch until the medical examiner could arrive and then take proper care of it.

So what you're seeing now was the tornado that touched down yesterday in Hemphill County, up on the Texas panhandle and that amazing funnel cloud tore up an oil rig. It also injured three people in the small town called Canadian.

Nine people in Texas are still missing and their whereabouts are unknown since the waters started sweeping away cars and entire homes. Of course, the families of those nine people, absolutely frantic.

Laura McComb and her two children are still missing. The house they were in virtually broke apart as it was being rushed down a river. Laura's husband, the kids' father, was washed several miles downriver. He survived, but he's terribly hurt.

Sue Kerry and her husband, Ralph were in the same home when that flood hit and they too are still missing. We have William Randall Charva. He is the Kerry's son-in-law. William and his 6- year-old son have not been found yet. His wife Michelle, she was found. She died and her body was found in the swollen Blanco River.

I want to get out there now. Our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray is about half way between San Antonio and Austin. She's in Wimberley, Texas, and CNN's Dan Simon is live right now in Houston.

So Jennifer, I want to go live to you first, where you are and what we're expecting any moment now.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we are live at the press conference here. It's about to start any second now. You can see a lot of cameras here, a lot of people anticipating any bit of information that they can get.

You know we're going on day five, and these families have been just waiting to hear. It has been a hard couple of days. The small town has really been embracing each other. They've really been helping out, to clean up areas, clean up campgrounds. We saw houses completely swept away.

And so we will hear from law enforcement. We will hear updates on any developments, we'll hear about current efforts that are going to be made over the next couple of days. And we're also going to hear special remarks from friends and families of the victims.

Of course, the four families that were involved, and you know, they've been through so much over the past couple of days. It takes a lot of courage to get up here.

[12:05:09] It takes a lot of heart and so everyone is anxiously awaiting what they have to say and we'll listen in -- Ashleigh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all for being here today on behalf of flood victim families in Hays County. My name is Laurie Cherno. I'm the public information officer for Hays County. I've been asked to introduce a number of speakers today. Kelly Burke, a friend of the family will be speaking for them.

With us here we have Kristen Carrie Daniel on behalf of the Carrie family. We have Kim and Mary-Ann Charva on behalf of the Charva family. We have Justin McComb on behalf of the McComb family and we have Jeff Schulz on behalf of the Schulz family.

We also have Reverend Jay Burkhart with the St. Andrews Episcopal Church of Corpus Christi, who will be offering a prayer in just a moment.

Also speaking today will be Task Force One Wimberley director and Wimberley Fire Department person, Lynn Burttschell and with us also here are Mayor Steve Thurbur from the city of Wimberley, Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Conlee and Carly Smith, the Hays County Emergency Management coordinator.

I'm going to turn this over to the reverend in just a second. I want to make it clear that the family has decided not to answer questions in this format after they speak, they'll arrange a different format if they have additional information they want to share. So again, thank you for being here, and I will turn it over to the reverend now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let us pray. Gracious and merciful God, we come to you in great need of comfort, guidance, mercy, and strength. We thank you for the abundance of love being poured out on the family and the friends of Michelle, Laura, Andrew, Layton, Sue, Ralph, Randy, and Will, and Jonathan, the family and friends and even the strangers who are supporting our search efforts.

We continue our prayers to find all of those still missing and to bring to certainty this time filled with the unknown. And our search for answers, we pray you to help each of us to take comfort, that none of these loved ones were ever alone, for you are with us always.

And to take comfort that in our fears, you are present and there is nothing that you can ever separate us from the love of Christ. Please continue to guide the feet of those searching together with their eyes, their ears, and all their senses.

Please help us as we continue to pray for, to support, to love those friends and family who continue in their grief that we can be their strength when they have none, that we can be their light and their darkness.

And that we can keep the hope of our joyful reunion with you when each of us comes into that hour of the full and perfect presence with you.

All of these prayers and those prayers we keep and the depths of our hearts, we offer to you trusting in your abundant love and mercy. As we pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever, amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. And thank you for joining us here today. On behalf of the Carrie, Chavra, McCombs, family we want to extend our appreciation for the support. From family and friends, from members of the Corpus Christi community, the city of Wimberley, Hays and Guadalupe counties and from volunteers who have traveled from across the state to help from the search, recovery, and relief efforts.

[12:10:10] We are strengthened by your support and it's truly a testament to the character of the loved ones we are missing. It's abundantly clear that many people love them very much and for good reason. They are amazing sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers, moms, dads, friends, community members, and more.

Since the tragic flooding that occurred in Wimberley late Saturday night, we have joined in a tremendous search effort to find our nine loved ones who were trapped in the same house on the Blanco River. Many of you have heard accounts of that evening, here's what we know now.

Jonathan McComb is being treated for injuries at a San Antonio Hospital. Physically, he's expected to make a full recovery, though emotionally, he has a long road ahead and will need the love and support of all of us.

At this time, Jonathan's wife, Laura Schulz McComb and their two children, Andrew and Lleyton McComb are still missing. Yesterday afternoon, we received word that the body of Michelle Carrie Charva had been found.

At this time, Michelle's husband, Randy Charva, their son, Will Charva, and parents, Ralph and Sue Carrie are still missing. It's impossible to express in words the tremendous loss, pain, and fear we are feeling.

Still, we find comfort in our faith, and in the support of our family, friends, and community. Over the past few days, we've been absolutely amazed and overwhelmed by the generosity of others, even complete strangers.

At times, when it could be easy to feel cynical about the world around us, this experience has strengthened our faith in God and in humanity. At the same time, we also feel a tremendous sense of responsibility and resolve.

This effort is not over. We are 100 percent committed to finding Laura, Andrew, Lleyton, Randy, Will, Ralph, and Sue. We will need your support to keep this mission and the stories alive in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

We know that our loved ones who have passed are in a better place. Right now, we must focus on finding those who are still missing. And just as importantly, pray for the living whose hearts are broken.

Of course, we also know that we're not the only families who have lost or missing loved ones today. As we follow the weather- related tragedies happening throughout the region, our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected. At this time, Lynn will give an update on county search efforts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. My name is Lynn. I'm a fire department member, Texas Task Force One member, and currently the Wimberley branch director of the search operations. Here to give you a report from the efforts of what Texas Task Force One that's been able to provide for the missing in our region.

Texas task force one was called in during the initial operation under a rescue mode and has continued in rescue and search procedures since that time deployed an asset of 60 Task Force One members, 30 Texas military force members, and nine k9 units.

We've been divided into squads consisting of eight to ten individuals in those squads. Complexity of the search area has included heavy timber, large debris fields, several strainers, a trapped debris, and investigating trees and strainers that might entangle a trapped victim.

The search has included boat operations from Texas search and wildlife, Austin EMS, Task Force One, Wimberley Fire Department, Kyle Fire Department, and other private entities along the way.

We've had aerial flights from Texas parks and wildlife, video capabilities, and air search. We've had Texas Department of Public Safety with clear operations and visual search. The Texas military forces available are the same.

We've had several private entities as well with visual searching in the area. We've got ongoing searches in boundary department such as Blanco Fire Department. We have Kyle Fire Department and through the San Marcos area searching the entire Blanco River.

[12:15:11] We've got ongoing search efforts that continue at this time. We are still in search and rescue mode for our area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to give an update on some of the ways that we're asking for the community to continue to support our families. Every day since Sunday morning, hundreds of people have gathered near Wimberley at the First Baptist Church as part of our friends and family search effort.

Today, they remain an active search mode as 20 search team compromise of more than 250 of our friends and family and are working closely with state and county agencies to canvass the area for signs of our loved ones.

On Tuesday, our search teams covered a broad area looking for debris and other helpful signs. Yesterday, based on the findings, we turned our focus to more specific areas and today we will focus even more.

We're taking a safe, slow, and deliberate approach to searching the areas where we see the greatest promise. Many people have expressed interest in supporting our efforts, and here are several ways to help.

We're still recruiting volunteers to join our search and recovery team. We're meeting each morning at the First Baptist Church at Wimberley at 8:00 a.m. If you like to volunteer, please be aware of the extremely difficult conditions, including heat, rain, and rough terrain. Safety must come first.

If you'd like to make a financial contribution as an individual, you can go and do so through the official gofundme page established by the family, and we will be able to distribute that address following this conference.

If you'd like to make a financial contribution as a corporation or business entity, please contact Wendy Sutherland at 512-947-9771 for details.

Lastly, we've learned that some local residents are burning debris piles in an effort to clear their land. We ask that you please do not burn any debris or brush until we have located and recovered every missing person. And at this time, we will answer any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, again I'm Carly Smith, the emergency management coordinator for Hays County, I'll be happy to take any questions unrelated to the family's statement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is expected to affect search efforts. We have a 40 percent chance of rain this evening into tomorrow. We're not expecting another surge of the river, but it is going to shift debris piles and affect the already searched areas that they have previously completed. Also, the safety of the first responders in the areas is a top priority. So any concern for thunderstorms is a concern in that effort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Long area that you guys are search manager miles down the river from the house of the families were, are you focusing on any specific areas that you think show promise?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have collaborated with air support operations and large, in some areas that have larger amounts of debris and focused on those areas, but we do have additional departments and services throughout the stretch of the river that are aiding in the search.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number of total people that were --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We still have eight, eight confirmed missing, and four fatalities, three of which have been identified and one that is pending identification.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, actually the county and local authorities have established a volunteer registration centers. That's where we're asking that volunteers go to see the different needs that are in our area in the Wimberley area, the volunteer registration area is the Cypress Creek Church. And in San Marcus, the center is at the old fish hatchery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) concern about additional flooding?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We haven't received any information at this time that there is a concern for added flooding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of there are plans in place, yes, ma'am. As far as contacting volunteers, contacting first responders, making sure our residents are aware of the search, yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you got an advanced warning?

[12:20:04] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did have an accurate account of what numbers, what land lines were contacted, what registered cell phones were contacted utilizing our geo fencing capabilities.

Correct. So the local reverse 911 system contacts landlines or any residents that have previously registered their cell phone. So in an effort to capture local visitors to our area that may not have cell phones registered on our data base, we use the coding for our cell phone notification as well.

Then again with door to door searches, I'm sorry, door to door identifications from law enforcement officials. I don't know that number offhand. No, sir.

We utilize not only the sheriff's office, the fire department, the constable's officers. There is a large number that concentrated on all the homes along the river.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's not really a mechanism on the cell phone notification to indicate what phone calls were answered that were not answered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to reevaluate our flood plain area and are in collaboration with out county officials and state officials on what areas they are going to be allowed to rebuild, yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you use more federal, ask for federal assistance funding?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe that it is by now. I believe that they are anticipating asking for that. I can't speak to their behalf, but they are in discussions for that, yes, sir. One more question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, sir, we're not really asking for anything specific. We're not going to turn away donations, whether they are family assistance donations or monetary donations. We need the help that we can receive at this time in need. We want to help our citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The strength of this family is what we, is what we do our job for. We know the pain that they must be going through, we feel the pain as first responders, it drives us day in and day out to do the job we do to put in the hours that we do.

I can't imagine ever feeling the loss that they must be feeling right now. And that that drives us. I really can't until we have more identification on the individual that was located.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We appreciate it, we'll let you know when the next press conference is.

BANFIELD: A couple of things that are noteworthy. We weren't sure whether this was going to be an update on any of the missing being found, but one thing we do know for sure, they are not stopping the search. In fact, they have called it a search and rescue.

It continues to be a search and rescue. It has not changed into a recovery. This is one of the things that is so sensitive and tender at this time. When you are looking for those missing in the days listen to.

It is difficult to establish that the change in the nature of the change in the search at some point has to take place. It is also noteworthy to explain what those officials were talking about with the technique of searching.

The water has been rushing very, very quickly, and has been rushing a lot of debris into small areas, of course it collects, and if you can imagine, it collects into something that is crisscross with the branches, trees, debris, but water still gets through in a factor.

They called that -- they call that strainers, like a strainer formation. And what they're doing in the search efforts now is trying to break up those strainers, the crisscrossed formations of debris because as the officials said in the news conference, that can trap a victim.

Another noteworthy element of the news conference is that they appeal to those in this area, do not burn these piles of debris until all of those who are missing can be accounted for. So that is a very significant element that they wanted to make public.

That those families at that news conference, you can only imagine how heartsick they are in still looking for their lost loved ones. The only thing we can tell you is that Michelle Carrie Charva was found yesterday. Her body was found in the Blanco River where the others were washed away.

[12:25:04] Seven people from that group of four families, still affected, still missing, two others also missing, the total of those still missing in Texas, nine, and the death toll in the United States, 21, six of them in Oklahoma, 15 in Texas, and in Mexico, 14 dead as well.

So this is just a -- so this is just a catastrophic series of weather patterns that have affected a lot of places. If you want to help, we have a list, an aggregated list of ways for you to help those affected by the deadly flooding.

You can visit our website, CNN.com/impact, again, CNN.com/impact. And we will continue to update you as to the efforts of those searchers, and whether they are able to come up with something.

Amazing that they have over 250 people, friends and family, gathering at the church in Wimberley daily to go out on the search missions and I hope they are able to find something.

Coming up next in other news that we are following today, the variable blueprint for a mass shooting, we're going to take you inside the mind of the movie theater gunman through the disturbing words and the cryptic drawings, and the diagrams in those pages of James Holmes' personal notebook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: One of the darkest and most disturbing pieces of evidence has just been introduced in the Colorado movie theater shooting trial. And it comes in the form of a notebook. I have a copy of it here. It's been under wraps for a long time, 29 pages of it, and believe me when I tell you, it is bone chilling content.