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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

High Water Stops Traffic in Texas; More Storms Forecast for Flood-Hit Parts of Texas; Pilots Report Laser Beams from the Ground. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 29, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Really are.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks - thanks so much for joining us "AT THIS HOUR."

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thanks, cousins. LEGAL VIEW with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Texas, we've got some live pictures we want to bring you from Liberty, Texas. We're going to show you what's been going on. A really remarkable scene. If you've been following the flooding, this is another day and another bad story of cars backed up.

This is our shot courtesy of our affiliate down in Texas, KTVT (ph). And if you know Dallas, up in the northeast portion of Dallas and the metroplex there, it's Garland, Texas. And the flooding is so bad in some of the underpasses, this is what it's doing to the freeways there.

We had flash warnings and flash situations all through the morning hours this morning in Garland, Texas, and its northeast communities it's surrounded by. Look at what it is doing to the people who are just trying to get back to normal. How many of those people might be in rescue mode or recovery mode or trying to deal with issues that the earlier flooding this week, we can't tell you, but this is a pretty remarkable scene.

And if you also know traffic in Dallas is heavy at best all throughout the day, but it's not usually like this in Garland, Texas. So just a remarkable scene that's come under - that's come into view for us from the helicopter shot from KTVT.

And then take a look at the left-hand side of your screen, the radar shot, which we're showing you that the problems aren't over for Texas. The water just keeps coming. And if you're just sort of getting up to speed on this story, it has been a deadly story, unfortunately. We've had at least 37 people killed in Texas, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico. And with pictures like these, you can see why. I mean those rivers are no longer definable, necessarily. They have overflowed their banks into entire communities and they have taken out roadways, sometimes in a flash manner. I saw this public service announcement that went out earlier that

showed why you do not drive down into what looks like a big puddle in an underpass or a low-lying area because it only takes a few inches of water, see that, just a few inches of water, and that can sweep your car away. Clearly you can see the cars that are at the forefront of that line of traffic, probably didn't realize how quickly that water was rising and it's a safe bet to say it's rising even as we speak. So those - those cars in the front are really going to have to move out of there. They'll probably have to evacuate those drivers and any passengers who might be there. And I will bet you that they are going to be there for a while.

Our Dan Simon has been reporting on this live and he joins me.

Are you anywhere close to the pictures we were just showing, Dan? I can see you standing in such deep water but are you in a similar location to that Garland problem?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are outside of Houston, Ashleigh. I'm standing on a residential street in the town of Highlands, Texas. This is the San Jacinto River that has spilled over into some of these subdivisions. This is known as the Banana Bend. This area keeps rising. It's basically risen about a foot in the past 24 hours.

I should tell you that the homes in this area are on stilts, so you're not going to see any flooding. They're used to, you know, this area getting inundated with water. But I tell you what, the only way really to get around some of these streets is by boat, Ashleigh. And so it is a difficult period of time, indeed, not only for the folks here, but all throughout Houston. Just when you thought, you know, things were getting better, they really got hit hard this morning with more rain as they're trying to clean up, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Just unbelievable. The second largest state in the union and I was just reporting right before we came to you live, way north of you, north Texas, and you are down in the Houston area and the pictures look almost the same, to have that much rain spend that length of the state and to see so many of the millions of people in Texas in this sort of a circumstance. What is the story of the rescue and the cost and the recovery and FEMA? I mean there's just got to be - there's got to be such a shortage if we have that much space to cover with that much water and those - that many problems.

SIMON: They really just can't catch a break. You know, the rain has been coming down for over a week, you know, really almost every day and so what they're telling folks to do in terms of trying to qualify for FEMA, it's a very important point you brought up, they want people to call the 311 number to report any kind of damage that they have because they have to reach a certain threshold. It's about $37 million before they can qualify for FEMA money. It's obvious that they're going to equality for that, but apparently not everyone is calling that 311 number. So we want to let folks know that that's something they should do, Ashleigh.

[12:05:11] BANFIELD: All right, Dan Simon. As I'm watching your shot, I'm also just getting some information in my ear. I think Sana Syed, the city of Dallas public information officer, I think she might be available to speak with us.

Ms. Syed, can you hear me?

SANA SYED, CITY OF DALLAS PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER (via telephone): Yes, I can.

BANFIELD: So, I'm watching these pictures live. It is the first time I've seen them. And we've put them up, we're broadcasting them on CNN right now of what's happening in Garland, Texas, with the back - sort of the backed up traffic at an underpass that's completely deluged. Is this as a result of those flash flood warnings I was hearing about earlier this morning?

SYED: Yes, this is - actually this is happening in Dallas and this is at Route 12 and I-30 and it is, as you can see, an insane backup. So what's happened here is that we had a significant amount of rainfall fall over an extended period of time. So this is not an issue about rivers overflowing. This is - this is strictly just the amount of rain over the time period that we got it. So the traffic jam that you're lacking at, that started sometime around rush hour. We're thinking around 6:00 in the morning. The weird thinking (ph) this had been going on for about five hours right now.

We have a lot of moving parts in place. The Texas Department of Transportation - this is a state highway, so Tex DOT actually has cranes that they are sending in right now to move concrete barriers to help recede - to help this water recede. We've also - our office of emergency management has asked the Red Cross to send a canteen in there so that these people who have been stuck there for hours have some water and some snacks while we're trying to get the situation - help get the situation resolved.

The Dallas Police Department is working on the back end of the traffic jam to help move the drivers out from the back end and then we're also looking into getting pumps into this area to pump out some of this water.

So, again, lots of moving parts that that - I mean there's a lot that's going on right now to help relieve this area and the people who are stuck there

BANFIELD: So, Sana, look, I lived in Dallas for four and a half years and people take flood warnings and severe weather so incredibly seriously in your city, and Garland just a suburb northeast of Dallas, the pictures that you're seeing on the right. And, Sana, as we're talking, I just want to let viewers know, you're also seeing Liberty, Texas, down south near Houston, on the left-hand side of your screen. But I want to direct attention to the right-hand side of the screen.

This - this just looks to me like people were caught completely off guard to have that much traffic out at 6:00 in the morning knowing full well there were these flood warnings but just - was it more severe than anyone expected? SYED: What caught everyone off guard was the - it was not just the

amount of rain, it was how long the rain came down and that's what got us. And the other issue that we're dealing with here is that people started driving when the sun was not out. So it was dark out and that's how, you know, this mess really started. So right now it's simply a matter of trying to get these people out of there and also trying to get that water to either recede or to pump it out. So as long as people understand that we are doing everything that we can to help them.

BANFIELD: Sana, I just want to ask you, I'm getting information as I'm speaking to you, so I apologize if I'm, you know, performing this non- sequitur here right now. But to the left of our TV screen, there is a bright sort of a - well, an olive green or a lime green section of Texas and Oklahoma and Arkansas. I mean there's just - it's remarkable how - and Kansas. I mean I can just see this flood threat that spans such an enormous district.

Are you working - I know you're Dallas, but are you working in concert with all of these other communities to sort of see where the water's coming, how they're responding and how you can coordinate some of the relief efforts and the warnings and everything else that you need to do to make sure that people stay safe?

SYED: Absolutely. We actually just had a call with organizations from around the state around 10:00. So we're in touch with surrounding cities, in touch with the state because, you know, we -- our flow affects the folks down south, the people north of us, that affects us here in Dallas. So this is a team effort for all of us here in north Texas without a doubt.

I mean, and, honestly, I mean, this is a significant amount of rainfall. I mean we have shattered a 2010 record, which was one of our worst years for flooding. And so, you know, with - with a little bit more of May left to go, there's no telling how much more - how much more rain we're expecting to see. But really what hurts us the most is when we get such severe rainfall over an extended period of time, that is what causes all this flooding and has caused us the situation that you're looking at right now.

[12:10:02] BANFIELD: Right. And these days just seem to be complete deluge after deluge. And I want to make sure that people are aware of the color coding on the left-hand side. When you look at those states, the neon green that's sort of spotty and toward the southern part of Texas, those are the flood warnings, and the lime green, which is the big blanket that goes all the way up into Kansas, that is flood threats.

But, you know, for the purposes of dealing with people, I'm just wondering, Sana, how are you coping with warning the people of Dallas? That is a massive metroplex. Dallas, Ft. Worth, the mid-cities, there are millions of people right in the center of that flood threat area. How do you prosecute normal daytime business but still make sure that these kinds of things don't happen that we're seeing on the screen when you're going in and out of warnings and threats, it seems, just within a matter of miles? SYED: Well, one of the biggest issues that we had was that when, you

know, this is not something that has just happened in the last day or two or even here in the last week. I mean this has been going on since the beginning of May. We have been working on our messaging to the public, even letting them know that, hey, when you see a flood warning sign, please take it seriously. When you see a barricade, please don't ignore it.

I mean and just last week, we were, you know, having to tweet out to the public, please do not ignore our barricades because, literally, city stop would put out a barricade and then we would see people cycling past it to get on to a trail or drive past it and completely ignoring it. You know, we are putting things in place in areas that are flood propose and this is going on in cities all over north Texas. And so we are - you know, this is an honest plea with people, when you see these (INAUDIBLE) signs, when you see a barricade, please don't ignore it. Those are there for your safety. We're not putting them up for show.

And, you know, and to be quite honest, there are areas that are prone to flooding. And in this particular case, we also ask people to take it easy this morning, if you're going to work late because we were waiting for the water levels to recede.

So, I mean, a lot is at play here. We do get a lot of rain, but, you know, for the past five years, we haven't had this much. So right now that is - that is what we are asking people is to please, when the rain falls, take it easy, give it some time to let the water recede. If you see a barricade, do not ignore it. It's there for your safety.

BANFIELD: Yes, I hear you, do not ignore it. There's just no better way to illustrate that than the pictures that are on your screen. This is Dallas, Texas. It's a metroplex. I mean it is virtually a riverbed itself at this point. Northeast Dallas has been one of the toughest hit areas today. This where you've been seeing all these helicopter shots from KTVT, our affiliate in Dallas, Texas. And, you know, traffic is absolutely at a standstill.

On I-30 you saw those pictures of five hours-worth of traffic stopped because the water is just too deep and people know well enough in Texas don't drive into it because not only is it deeper than it looks, it only takes an inch or two and you can be swept away if that water is moving. Hard to see from these shots but you can see people out of their cars. They've been there a long time. They either have to just wait for that to recede or wait to get rescued. But a heck of a story that's developing with these flash floods in Dallas.

And the water goes all the way south to Houston. Millions of people virtually affected by these floods in Texas. We're going to continue to cover this story after the break. But in the meantime, if you're watching on television, if you're watching via periscope, I want to let you know, there are ways that you can help out, cnn.com/impact is a vetted website. We have a collection of different places where you can help out your fellow Americans who are in need. And we're back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:17:35] BANFIELD: I want to update you on one of the breaking stories we're working on here at CNN and it involves virtually the entire state of Texas. It is rare that the same story in Dallas is affecting those in Houston, but that is the story today. Floodwaters that virtually span not only that state, but also all the surrounding states as well.

A quick map to the color codes here. The fluorescent green, the lighter spotted green, those are warnings, flood warnings. The blanket of lime green, those are flood threats. And look how many states affected. It's just remarkable the extent of these rains and this terrible weather and how much it is affecting people.

But we've been looking at pictures both in Dallas and the metroplex in Dallas and this is Liberty, courtesy of our friends at KPRC in Houston. Liberty is in the Houston area and the pictures are as remarkable as they are in north Texas. Virtual cities under a blanket of water. Rivers that before now were a lot smaller than that, bursting their banks and flooding communities all throughout, you know, these very highly populated areas.

Luckily you're getting the helicopter shot so you can see the extent of it. But when you're on the ground, it sort of looks like everything is just part of the river and that's a big problem when people are driving. And there is the result. When you're driving, and you come to a low-lying area or an underpass and you spot what looks like a big puddle, you stop because that big puddle gets bigger and bigger real fast in a flash flood situation and that is what Dallas has been dealing with since early this morning. Those flash warnings went out early this morning and these people that you see parked at the forefront of that mess, they have been there for roughly five hours.

That's on the I-30 area in northeast Dallas. If you know Dallas, it's Garland, Texas. LeAnn Rimes hails from Garland, Texas. It is a busy part of that metroplex. And those people are going nowhere fast.

It's hard to tell if the water is receding at this point or if it's still actually flooding in. It's going up slowly. I'm being told that the actual levels are going up still. They're probably going to try to get a lot of those people out of there in some way.

But the helicopter shots we were seeing before, and I apologize folks, this is KTVT, our affiliate, and we were not in control of this helicopter camera. But when they pan back, and they took a nice wide sweep of how bad that traffic problem is, it goes for miles. Everybody parked on those freeways for miles.

[12:20:01] I want to go to Dan Simon. He's standing by in Highlands, Texas. That's, again, all the way south.

I still can't believe I'm hopscotching, Dan, between Dallas and where you are in Highlands, Texas, which is in the Houston area. You're northeast of Houston and the pictures look virtually the same. There is literally water everywhere in Texas. SIMON: And, Ashleigh, we saw almost the identical situation play out

in Houston in terms of what we saw in Dallas this morning where a few days ago hundreds of people in their cars in Houston on the interstate just abandoned their vehicles as a wall of water came rushing on the interstate. They just left their cars there. Fortunately, that got cleaned up pretty quickly and you had, you know, tow trucks coming there and getting all those cars off the interstate. I would imagine the same thing will occur in Dallas. They have a pretty good infrastructure set up there as well.

But you're right, you know, the situation where we are in Highlands, the water just, just rushed, coming from the San Jacinto River. This is an area known as Banana Bend. And even since we've been here, you know, in the few hours this morning, we've seen the water level rise. It's slowly creeping up. And that's a concern not only here but in other communities.

We've been talking about Wharton, Texas, this morning. That's an area that has 300 homes under a voluntary evacuation order. They live along the Colorado River and that's rising. Also more water could cause problems in Wimberley, Texas. We've been talking about that area all week. That's where we saw so much tragedy with all those deaths. And there are still searchers out there at this moment looking for bodies. You can only imagine how difficult that situation is going to come as the weather deteriorates even more.

So it's just a mess. Just when you thought things were looking better, apparently, you know, we're still going through this in Texas.

BANFIELD: Oh, it makes for a remarkable picture and an incredible scene from where you're reporting in Highlands in the Houston area, Dan, but, you know, we still have missing people. I mean that family, that group of families in that one home in Wimberley that was washed virtually down a river and those people are still missing. So it's a crisis situation. It's been going on all week and it seems to just be getting worse.

Dan Simon, keep us posted. Again, Impact Your World, folks, cnn.com/impact. There's just no better way that you can reach out and help those people who are so terribly affected. And we didn't even begin to show you the resulting damage from some many of those flash floods that went and took homes, hundreds and hundreds of homes, off their foundations and washed them away.

We have another story that we're following. If you were on board five different planes today, you might not have known how much danger you were in because your pilots could not see. They were virtually blinded by people playing with lasers on the ground. This is a big problem. You might have heard it once or twice, but it's happening thousands of times and it is so bad it can cause crashes. We're going to give you the latest on what we've seen today and what the response has been to it in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:26:42] BANFIELD: I am about to show you how to get arrested, how to be charged with a felony and how to go to jail for a pretty long time and how to potentially cause an airline pilot to have trouble flying a plane. You're going to need a $5 gadget from a novelty store and you're going to have to do something really stupid with it. I'm talking about those laser pointers that we hear so much about. Sorry for sounding like a bit of a mom here, but those things are not toys. And if you shine one in the wrong direction, I don't know, say at an airplane that's in flight, the police and the FBI would like to have a word with you. Correct that, stern word with you.

The FAA says that this happens almost 4,000 times just in the last year, somebody shining a laser beam at planes or at helicopters that are in flight and it happened last night five times in one spot out on Long Island, New York. Five commercial airline pilots called down and said that they were being hit by a green laser from the ground. And here's what it sounded like when they called it in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PILOT: I thought it was just a rogue laser, but they were - they were definitely aiming for us a couple times because we saw it a couple of times into the cockpit.

ATC: I've got two aircraft right over where you are got struck by a green laser. American 185, you see any green, be careful. Green laser might be in your vicinity right now.

PILOT: American 185, we were just - we just had a laser strike, left side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Not the kind of thing you want to be hearing certainly if you're in a cockpit and nothing you want to hear if you're on that plane. So a lot of people might say, what's the big deal? You shine up a souped (ph) up flashlight at an airplane, a teeny, tiny little pointer. It turns out it's a huge deal. And I'm about to talk to some pilots who are going to explain why.

But first, CNN's Rene Marsh is in Washington, D.C.

So, listen, I think a lot of people might say it's just a dumb thing to do and the truth is, this is a felony and it will put you in federal prison.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: You hit the nail on the head. I mean this is a dangerous midair distraction. I mean, sure, it looks like a tiny pin light, but that light expands and it's very problematic for the pilot. It can disorient the pilot, even temporarily blind the pilot.

So what happened? We know that last night five commercial passenger planes were struck with lasers. This was near Farmingdale, New York, over Long Island. Most of the aircraft were about at 8,000 feet and at that level you're either coming in for a landing or you're recently perhaps took off from the airport. And those are critical points of flight because that's the point when the pilot needs to be very focused.

Just imagine this, you're in a very dark car and someone flashes a camera flash. You understand that your eyes have to adjust to that. The consequences, as you said, Ashleigh, really could be deadly. These lasers can even cause damage to the pilot's eyes. We've seen in other cases pilots have been hospitalized with burned corneas.

But as you mentioned, sadly, we see this happen thousands of times nationwide. We know the FBI is now investigating who's responsible. But I have to say, it is very tough to track down the individuals responsible for shining this one laser. That said, police have had success before and, as you mentioned off the top, it's a felony. So not only could you do time behind bars, but also expect to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

[12:30:11] BANFIELD: OK. Rene Marsh, thank you for that.