Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Oklahoma and Texas Hit with Flooding; Iraqis Surround Ramadi; Baltimore on Edge. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 26, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:01] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you so much. Great to be with you on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with breaking news here. America's fourth largest city is right now under water. Epic rainfall, massive flooding have absolutely swamped Houston like never, ever before. At least two people have lost their lives here, five statewide. Cars entirely submerged. I mean look at this, one after another after another not going anywhere, completely swallowed up. Homes, swallowed. Dozens of vehicles lined up on the side of the road after more than 10 inches of rain swamped the city in less than 24 hours. Highways, they're washed out. Public transportation at a virtual standstill. Multiple school districts have had to shut down. Here's the mayor on the danger still facing the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ANNISE PARKER, HOUSTON: We've got cars littered all over the city. And as the floodwaters go down, that's one of the things we're doing to make sure that no one was trapped in those vehicles.

It's still a dangerous situation along the bayous. They're full of water. They - they - the water's moving very, very rapidly. And a lot of folks want to come down and look. A lot of kids particularly want to come and toss something in the bayous, see what they can - what they can see. It's exciting. Still a very dangerous place to be. So I would urge caution. And if you can, stay home. Please, stay home today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All of these different water rescues have been underway. We talked to someone who was rescued by a Blackhawk helicopter this time yesterday. Joining me now is affiliate reporter Jeff Ehling from KTRK there in Houston.

And, Jeff, I mean, these stories - I mean tell me - tell me where you are, and how much damage to that home.

JEFF EHLING, KTRK REPORTER: Well, it's an absolutely devastating day here in Houston. I'm in southwest Houston. I'm just one block south of Bray's Bayou (ph). That's where the 610 loop makes its turn from going south to east, right on that corner, the southwest corner of the city. And the water came up so quick, Brooke, people just didn't have time to do anything. Let me show you what I'm talking about. This is the high water mark in

this house. It comes right up to my kneecaps. You're looking at about a foot and a half of rain water in this house. And it didn't take very long to get this way.

Now, of course, the lower level of this house is completely destroyed. The furniture's destroyed. I'm here with homeowner Bob Hust.

Bob, earlier you were telling me about the - just how fast this came in, and what it sounded like coming in. Tell us what happened this morning.

BOB HUST, HOME DAMAGED BY HOUSTON FLOODS: Well, as we talked about, it was impressive just the fact that - I had actually done - we'd been watching the radar. And about 1:30 I had done the last perimeter check and there was no flooding at all. We - I thought we were safe. And then within 15 minutes to a half an hour, you could actually hear water running. And so I went and checked and all of a sudden from all corners of the house, not just one area of leak, came rushing in and with a speed to it, not just a trickle coming in and floating.

And you quickly realized you didn't have any option. You couldn't - you couldn't - so we had to just go to the next stop was to try to save what we could and anticipate that it was going to get higher because at that point in time you figure that the bayou had overflown and was flooding and that we were caught. So we just - we just went fortunately upstairs, which was our haven. We took what we could and just realized that we were going to have to sit this out.

EHLING: Yes, and I want to bring in your wife, Cheri. Cheri, you were talking about how -- what a haven that second floor is for you guys, especially in this situation. A lot of folks here don't have that second floor. Tell us about some of the - what happened with your neighbors with this rainfall.

CHERI HUST, HOME DAMAGED IN HOUSTON FLOODS: Well, our next-door neighbor is an elderly woman, was by herself, and we couldn't get out to go get her because the water at one point was higher at the door than it was inside. So we couldn't even get out. And then I had gotten a call from my cousin who said there was a water rescue of a young couple, her cousin, with a newborn baby in the 4900 block of South Breezewood (ph).

EHLING: Right down the street. And tell us a little bit about when you first came in this morning after the sun rose and the power got back on and just kind of your reaction to what your house looks like now.

C. HUST: Well, it's shocking. It's not like losing our lives. It's just - not the way I wanted to remodel, but we'll be OK. We'll be just fine.

EHLING: Thank you so very much. Appreciate it.

And, Brooke, just to let you know, we've been in about four or five houses on Braceheather (ph) Drive and it's the same story, at least eight inches of water, south - on the south side of the street. On the north side of the street, a foot, a foot and a half, two or three feet inside the home. So a lot of people at this hour still trying to just get out of the neighborhood and then, of course, assess what they're going to do going forward. Reporting live, Jeff Ehling. Back to you.

BALDWIN: Jeff, let me - can I - let me - let me ask you just one quick follow-up. I'm just curious. I don't know how long you've been in the Houston area, but, you know, I remember we covered a lot of drought, right, was the big story in parts of Texas and this is, obviously, the polar opposite of that and I'm wondering, the people you've talked to in the homes that are so totally damaged, some of which are destroyed, have people ever had to deal with this problem before?

[14:05:12] EHLING: Brooke, you bring up a fantastic question. I have been here for 16 years. I was here for Tropical Storm Allison. I was here for Hurricane Ike. And I can tell you that this area of town, yes, you might get some water on the street. But in the homes, it just doesn't happen.

Bob, I'm going to ask you about that. Brooke was asking me about how often this kind of thing happens. You've been in this house for more than 20 years. This has never happened before.

B. HUST: Correct, it has never happened.

BALDWIN: Really.

B. HUST: Again, flooding in streets and all, but we've never had water come up into the house. And this was just the - caught us off guard for that very reason. But, again, there was always the possibility. But this - we have never had this happen before.

EHLING: Bob, thanks so much.

And, Brooke, just to let you know, it's the same situation next door, across the street. They got eight inches of water in about 30 minutes' time and the family over there said they have never flooded before. How about that?

BALDWIN: I cannot imagine. Jeff, thank you so much and thank Bob and his wife as well.

And we're just thinking about this entire - all these different communities, huge swaths of Texas affected by all of this.

Let's get more. On the phone with me now, Michael Walter with the Houston Office of Emergency Management.

And, Michael, first, I guess, you know, as we're talking about one - you know, one point talking about homes damaged, but then you have all these water rescues because, listen, this is - this is a flash flood. I mean water comes, boom, out of nowhere. Do you even have any idea how many people could still be unaccounted for?

MICHAEL WALTER, HOUSTON OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): So at this point, you know, one of the big things that we're doing right now is our damage assessment process. We really need to know how many - both residences, but also businesses, how many businesses were affected. So right now the city is engaging in that process. We have damage assessment crews going out throughout the city to get us kind of those accurate count. Unfortunately, it's going to really depend on waiting for that water to recede. We do have a little bit of rain coming in this afternoon. It's not expected to be obviously as significant as yesterday's rainfall, but that really could hamper effort.

BALDWIN: I mean isn't that part of the challenge because you can't even entirely get an accurate account because the water is still in the way of emergency responders so you still can't get to certain businesses. You can't get to certain cars. So you don't totally know.

WALTER: Exactly. And so what we're doing, we're working with all of our regional partners. You know, Houston - the Houston urban area is a very large, sprawling area. And we're making sure that we are working with, you know, our flood control districts here in the county and then, you know, working with all of our city departments to try to get as much information as possible. You know, any of your viewers are from Houston and you have damage in your home, we need you to call 311 because that will help us get a better estimate. If we don't know that your neighborhood was impacted, we won't know to go look there for damage. So, you know, anybody from Houston just please call 311 and get us that information as soon as you can.

BALDWIN: 311.

WALTER: We are working with the Houston Police Department and some of our local towing companies to - to beginning remove those vehicles from the streets that were towed away - or, I'm sorry, that were flooded out as a result of the rain yesterday. So, you know, there's - there's a lot of vehicles that were having to move. We, you know, saw an incredible increase in our 911 activity and our emergency response yesterday.

BALDWIN: I imagine, too, Michael, and I'm sure, you know, all the emergency responders are doing a phenomenal job given the restraints that they're facing. But, I mean, the issue with flash flooding is, you know, you can't predict necessarily where all the water will go. So you can't cordon off certain streets until sometimes it's too late.

WALTER: Exactly. You know, what we always tell everybody in Houston here is, we built our city on a system of bayous, which means that at any point, any part of the city is subject to flooding. So it's something that we have, you know, since the early 1800s, it's something that Houstonians had to deal with. So that's why we always recommend that folks have adequate flood insurance. You know like our motto for hurricane season is, it only takes one. It only takes one storm to cause catastrophic damage. That accounts for hurricanes, but that can also account for these types of storms, as well.

So preparedness is the key. Making sure you have enough insurance. Obviously we are working - our mayor, Annise Parker, has declared a disaster here in the city and has forwarded that to Governor Abbot. And we are hoping that we will get the necessary resources from the state of Texas and possibly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help our residents get back on their feet.

BALDWIN: Michael Walter, Houston Office of Emergency Management, thank you so much, sir, for taking the time with me. I really appreciate it. You know, and when we talk about this devastation -

WALTER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

This devastation is widespread throughout Houston. Several communities will need help with recovery and search efforts. Today the president of the United States said federal workers are already there on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our prayers are with the families and the communities that have been affected by some of these devastating, record-breaking floods.

[14:10:04] I assured Governor Abbot that he could count on the help of the federal government. We have FEMA personnel already on the ground. They are coordinating with Texas Emergency Management authorities. And I will anticipate that there will be some significant requests made to Washington. May pledge to him is that we will expedite those requests to make sure that both search and rescue operations, where necessary, but also recovery operations occur as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to take you to a different part of Texas that was hit incredibly hard as well. My colleague, our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, is in Wimberley, Texas.

And, I mean, just looking at all this and talking to people, Jennifer, it is gut-wrenching.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is. And when you hear the stories on top of it, it's one thing to see it and then you add the emotion when you talk to the families. It is unreal. Pure devastation.

We are standing on a bluff just up from the Blanco River. And this rose above my head. And as we zoom - or pan over this way, you can see how high we're talking. The gauge broke at 43 feet, so we really don't know how high it actually rose.

But this is normally a calm river. And you can see, it has gone down dramatically but still just raging across. Parts of it looks more like white water rapids. And we are looking at some trees. You see the water line by where the trees are bent over. You can see how high it was.

And you can only imagine the fear in people as this water rose so quickly, and it was going at such a high rate of speed. In fact, this house behind me is just one example of basically what this entire street looks like. And you can see the house just washed off the foundation, completely destroyed. In fact, we had to move back a little bit because we heard it creaking and we think it has the potential of possibly falling in completely. But it does have a green sticker with an x on there and we hope that that is good news, that the people in this home got out safely and they evacuated or either weren't in town.

But it is a sad, sad scene across all of Wimberley. All of this water, Brooke, rushed downstream and that just added insult to injury when it reaches the Houston area and then you add eight or nine inches on top of that and then you get flooding in that area as well. So it is a sad story across all the hill country of Texas and southeast Texas, as well.

BALDWIN: The power of the water and the damage it has done. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much, in Wimberley.

And I know you want to help these folks in Texas. You can. Go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a list of charities, aid organizations we hear at CNN have vetted. Cnnimpact.com.

Meantime, ISIS is surrounded on all sides, so says Iraq, which just launched an operation to recapture the city of Ramadi. Is this sudden move a direct reaction to the defense secretary's words?

And new protests erupting both in Baltimore and Cleveland as violence spikes in Baltimore. Is crime on the rise because police are holding back? We'll have a big discussion there.

And breaking news, an American accused of trying to join ISIS is tricked into returning to the United States. We'll tell you how.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:05] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN.

And we are watching what could become an all-out battle for the city of Ramadi. Right now, Iraqi forces have flanked ISIS terrorists, surrounding Ramadi from three different sides, chocking off this city and forcing ISIS out of Anbar province would cut off the terrorists' supply route to a major oil refinery. And, of course, this is also the first step to protecting any advance on the capital city of Baghdad, just about 80 miles to the east there.

But ISIS is not going down without a fight. Now rushing in reinforcements, more terrorist fighters to help fight back those Iraqi forces. I have Jason Beardsley joining me now, special operations adviser for Concerned Veterans for America, and former U.S. Army and Navy officer and led an Army special operations and joint special operations task force deployment to Iraq specifically.

So, Jason, thanks for joining me.

JASON BEARDSLEY, SPECIAL OPERATIONS ADVISER, CONCERNED VETERANS FOR AMERICA: Thank you for having me, Brooke. I appreciate it.

BALDWIN: Let's - just beginning with the notion of Anbar province, we know the Iraqi prime minister says the liberation of Anbar is imminent, his word. If the Iraqi military saying they will -- they're surrounding Ramadi, this offensive is happening, they want Ramadi back, given the fact that they lost it, how will they regain it?

BEARDSLEY: Well, this is going to be a tough fight, let's make no mistakes about it. The secretary of defense points out that a lot of these troops, maybe they have the stomach to start this, but it's finishing the fight and staying in it that's going to be hard.

Now, one, I'm glad that the prime minister is on board. We want to see that - those guts. We - this is a tough fight, so it's going to take a little bit more than words. He's going to have to get in there. We're going to have to get down with those troops and figure out what this - what the criticality of this city is to them. And we're watching right now. We're watching this grand strategy. It's about ideology pitted against ideology. The Maliki government is invested in this. Other governments are invested in this too.

BALDWIN: Al-Abadi.

BEARDSLEY: So the United States need to kind of lead this. Uh-huh.

BALDWIN: Al-Abadi government.

BEARDSLEY: I'm sorry?

BALDWIN: Just the current - the current prime minister.

BEARDSLEY: Oh, yes.

[14:19:59] BALDWIN: So, you know, you mentioned what Ash Carter told our Barbara Starr -

BEARDSLEY: Right.

BALDWIN: About the notion that he was saying the Iraqi military doesn't have the will to fight, which is incredibly significant and we parsed through all those words yesterday. My question to you then would be, is what's happening there on the ground, the surrounding of Ramadi, do you think that is a direct reaction to the Sec Def's words?

BEARDSLEY: Number one, they want to hold this city. So whether this was secretary of defense's words or not, they're in there to try to win this. But, again, this is a difficult fight and it's got to take more than just words. We've watched this time and time again and U.S. soldiers that have spent time and capital invested in the Iraqi army, we see the resolve. We've seen it disappear.

What really helps them is that we're side by side with them leading them. It takes real guts to do this. And having that sort of - the words on paper don't mean anything. It's the blood in the sand. These guys have to be willing to stand and fight for that terrain. And they don't - they're not going to do that just by kind of reacting here and there.

ISIS has an ideology. They've got a big idea. They're recruiting on this grand idea. So if we don't come against that with something, whether it's our government or other governments, regional partners, gulf state allies like the Saudi Arabians, the Jordanians, we need to have a grand strategy, we need to have a plan that's resourced by Congress backed and we need to have leadership from our administration that gets out there and says clearly, this is what we're going to do. Right now we're hoping - we're hoping for gains, we're hoping to keep the ground, we're hoping that the Iraqis can do this, but hope is not a plan.

BALDWIN: You know, I was talking to a general who's very familiar with Iraq yesterday and he was saying to me some of these groups, some of these Iraqi fighters, are just exhausted. They have been fighting for, you know, 18 straight months. Also pointing at the lack of leadership. This is what we also heard in an interview with one of these Iraqi fighters who said, we wanted to keep fighting. What needs to happen with the leadership here of ISF?

BEARDSLEY: Well, again, our leadership, along with their leadership, need to have clear goals and they need to state those goals on paper. We've watched these tribes, we've watched tribal leaders move from one side to the next. And, remember, at a very tactile level, on the ground, these Sunni tribe leader, even the Shia tribe leaders, they want to know who's going to be here in the long run. Who's going to stay around when the fight is over?

So once this fight concludes, they need to know, we're there for the long haul. The Iraqi government will back them, as well. So resources, the plans, but it takes the verbal leadership to get out there and have the confidence. Again, this is the greatest country in the world. America can help lead this by stating deliberately and clearly what it is we're need to do and how we're going to back our partners there. We can't do it with just special operations forces. We need to get in there with overwhelming military force, clear and hold and let our partners --

BALDWIN: That's not what - that's not what the administration wants.

BEARDSLEY: It is a challenging thing. This is, again, a question of whether we want to fight and win, or whether we want to cede this ground. Following letting someone else lead this, we're going to see this fight back and forth. And it's not going to end any time soon. This is a generational conflict. Our service members know it. Those who are following us know it, too.

If we want to engage, if we want to have a global role in the Middle East, we need to be clear about what it is we're going to do to support that role. Right now our allies are looking for support. When the United States cedes leadership by saying we're going to follow from behind, that is an untenable situation.

BALDWIN: Jason Beardsley, thank you.

BEARDSLEY: Thank you. BALDWIN: Coming up, more developing news here in the fight against

ISIS. A Texas man accused of heading to Syria to fight in support of the terror group. Wait until you hear how he was tricked back to the U.S. where the federal government was waiting for him.

But coming up next, traffic in Baltimore briefly brought to a halt this morning here as protesters, they're pushing back on a controversial plan to spend money on a new juvenile jail or spend money on city schools, and that is just a piece of this whole story there, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:57] BALDWIN: Today, protesters in Baltimore blocked traffic, voicing their frustrations not just about city policing but state funding. Here's the thing. They say they're upset by this "Baltimore Sun" report that indicates Maryland is going to fund a $30 million juvenile jail while cutting $11 million from Baltimore City Schools. The demonstration is capping off a violent and bloody Memorial Day weekend there. Just some numbers for you, 28 people shot across the city, seven of them died. And that ends what is likely to be the most deadly month in Baltimore in almost eight years.

One officer we spoke with explained why this is happening. He says officers facing major outcry after the death of an unarmed man, Freddie Gray, in police custody, he says officers are pulling back. He kept his identity concealed when he spoke with my colleague there, Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: Officers stop being proactive.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not patrolling?

OFFICER: Not patrolling, just stop being proactive.

MARQUEZ: Not talking to the community?

OFFICER: Not talking - stop being proactive. I believe it's a direct result from officers holding back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about this with CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill and CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck.

And, Harry, I was watching you. I mean you were nodding with him. Tell me - help us understand how these officers are feeling.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, let me tell you what not being proactive means.

BALDWIN: OK.

HOUCK: All right. It's not that they're not answering calls. They're not going that extra step in law enforcement.

BALDWIN: What's the extra step?

HOUCK: Well, the extra step, you see somebody who's suspicious, might have a gun, let them go. You know, it's not a call, all right. A couple of suspicious people here or there, something like that, stopped that car it looked suspicious. You know, they're not doing it. And I know for - I've been talking to Baltimore police officers. I've been talking to police officers all over the country since I started coming to work here at CNN and this is the frustration that police officers have. They're afraid that if they take some kind of proactive action, all right, that they might be susceptible to something like this happening.

BALDWIN: Like criminally charged in the case with Freddie Gray.

HOUCK: Right. Right. And, you know, and police officers aren't, you know, really worried so much about the criminal charges. You know, they're worried about the rhetoric that comes from the politicians, you know, pretty much saying that police officers are guilty right off the bat, right? Police officers want -

[14:30:08] BALDWIN: We know that's not the case.

HOUCK: Because - well, police officers want the benefit of the doubt because of the job we have.