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Death Toll Rising from Floods in Texas, Oklahoma; What Causes Such Massive Flooding?; World Soccer Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Iraq Fighting to Retake Anbar Province from ISIS. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some homes completely gone. Nothing left but the concrete slab.

[05:58:55] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houses just breaking apart and flowing down the river.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Must have been terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was. It was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and tax evasion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. is making arrests in a corruption case.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: FIFA is not a transparent body at all. This is big.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The battle to retake Ramadi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an issue of leadership, not of will.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: ISIS will not prevail here, because they don't have a message over the course of years that will resonate with the population.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new way of policing in the city of Cleveland.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The new 105-page consent decree calls for the department to retrain and review its officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We make very easy targets, because for the most part, the police officers can't fight back.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira. CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY.

It is Wednesday, May 27, 6 a.m. in the East.

The flooding is overwhelming in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The death toll is growing this morning. At least 18 people now dead, five of them in Houston. Several communities completely destroyed by the rains.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And 13 people still missing, hopes of finding them alive fading. Time is of the essence, because another round of storms is moving into the region.

CNN has complete coverage this morning for you, beginning with Rosa Flores. She's live in Houston, one of the worst hit areas.

Rosa, what are you seeing this morning?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning.

Some residents here telling me that it went from calm to chaos very quickly with the water of Brays Bayou, the bayou you see behind me, raising very quickly then rushing into their homes, not leaving some residents another alternative but to jump on their kitchen counters to stay dry.

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FLORES (voice-over): The catastrophic aftermath of record breaking deadly flood waters in Houston, Texas, revealed this morning. More than 11 inches of rain fell in a matter of hours Monday night into Tuesday. A wall of water rising with frightening speed leaving thousands traveling in their vehicles racing to escape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around, don't drown.

FLORES: Rows of vehicles left abandoned on a Houston highway. Some cars almost completely submerged underwater. Emergency crews scrambling to pull from the flood waters. But for some it was too late. One woman says she witnessed the discovery of a body in a flooded truck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a woman. And it was dead by the time we got there.

FLORES: Thousands of people are now without power.

(on camera): I can see the water, the force of the water is just moving on the power system, on the grid.

(voice-over): The flash floods rushing through thousands of homes. Houston's mayor says at least 4,000 residents may have suffered significant damage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We first were on the couches, then on the table, then on the counters.

FLORES: One Houston resident, her family narrowly escaping the flood, shows me the devastation the rapidly rising tide left behind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water got right up to this lip on the counter.

FLORES: Over a dozen people including children are still missing. And the death toll in both Texas and Oklahoma continues to rise.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, take a look behind me. Take a look closely, because this is Brays Bayou, one of the hardest hit areas. And you see a pipe that crosses from bank-to-bank. Take a look closely. That is the debris that is still left behind.

It gives you an idea of the water level, how much that water level rose and how much, quite frankly, it has receded this morning. But here's the deal: more rain is expected today. Twenty percent chance of rain this morning. That rises to 40 percent this afternoon.

So, Chris, all eyes on this, of course, because the ground is already saturated. And people here tell me we can't take more rain.

CUOMO: And they've already had more than enough. That's for sure. Rosa, thank you very much.

Let's get to meteorologist Jennifer Gray. She's in Wimberley, Texas. Roads there literally became rivers. The stories of people with nowhere to go as the waters were rising just keep coming in, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They sure do, Chris. It's gut wrenching. You know, in the southwest, we had 18 deaths, 13 people are still missing. Here in Hays County, we have three deaths and 11 people are still missing.

They recovered another body last night. They found all three people in the Blanco River. Of course, they identified them as one adult female and two males. They haven't released the names.

It has been so sad here across the area as those flood waters just rose so quickly and people had little time to escape.

Look behind me. This is an example. We are on a campsite here right along the Blanco River just downstream of where we were all day yesterday. And you can see the destruction. Trees littered all across the area. And you can see that home or cabin is just looks like it was swept away and now it's just hanging off on that embankment.

So we are hearing more about the people, as well, in those final moments. Laura McComb called her sister just moments before she was swept away. Here's what she told Anderson last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JULIE SHIELDS, SISTER MISSING IN FLOODS: She called me and said,

"I just want you to know the ceiling has caved in, and the boat -- the house is floating down the water. And tell Mom and Dad that I love them. I love you. And pray.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAY: And, Michaela, we are bracing for more rain; expected to get about an inch of rain between now and Sunday. So folks are urged to just listen to those flood warnings, seek higher ground and definitely do not get in your vehicles if you see those waters rising, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we certainly hope people heed those warnings. We should point out Joe McComb, whose daughter-in-law and his two grandchildren are missing, he's going to join us a little later. We're going to get the latest on the search for them.

Jennifer, thank you.

[06:05:06] All of this now begs the question: What exactly is it that causes this type of massive flooding in such a short amount of time? We turn to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, who's here with us to explain the science, I guess, of flooding.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we have a lot of humidity in the air. That humidity came from the Gulf of Mexico. And that's the fuel that these storms used.

What caused Houston's flooding was something called a train. One storm behind another behind another. So here's the setup. A lot of Gulf moisture all the way from Oklahoma down into Texas. That's what we had. And we have that every spring. But it's the training effect that we saw that put down these numbers.

Everywhere that's pink, that's 10 inches of rain this month. There are some spots in Oklahoma that have had 20 inches of rain. Back you up to 6 p.m. People are getting ready to go to a basketball game or watch one in Houston. It's not even raining yet. By 9 p.m., though, it starts to rain. And then these storms driving right down I-10 -- that's the train track -- one storm after another.

Eleven o'clock, it's still raining. One o'clock a.m., it is still raining. Three a.m. another storm comes in, makes another 2- inch rainfall. So by 3 a.m. in the morning, from 9 a.m. to 3 some spots had picked up now 10 inches of rainfall. No one, not any city in America, can handle that kind of rain. Whether you're Houston or Denver, it doesn't matter. There's going to be flooding. So the Houston area back down to Sugarland, that's where it was the worst.

And take a look at this gauge right through here at the bayou of the White Oak. We went from 8 feet to two hours later that water was 36 feet deep. So you all of a sudden go 28 feet from bottom to top and then now it's all the way back down, but that's a flash flood.

CAMEROTA: Oh, it sure is. That's so scary. Thanks for explaining it to us, Chad.

Well, San Marcos, Texas, is one of the hardest hit cities by those devastating floods. More than 1,200 homes there damaged. Joining us by phone to give us the latest on the ground is the mayor of San Marcos, Daniel Guerrero.

Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us this morning.

MAYOR DANIEL GUERRERO, SAN MARCOS (via phone): Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Give us a status report on San Marcos. What's your biggest concern at this hour?

GUERRERO: Oh, gosh, the biggest concern right now is just making sure people have the resources that they need to begin cleanup efforts and to make sure they're prepared to go ahead and start putting together their homes. Putting together their lives as well. The outpouring of community support, neighbors, friends, faith-based organizations, churches, businesses throughout the community have been amazing. And with that comes coordination efforts. The United Say has been involved. Mentioned church efforts have been involved, our school districts been involved, Texas State University has been involved.

And so trying to get all that coordinated, communicated, making sure you've got people in different places throughout is being planned, coordinated, executed. And so at the same time, working with the state agencies that should be arriving throughout the day to begin assistance and providing relief to a lot of the responders and people that have been doing so much good work over the last few days.

CAMEROTA: Yes. The pictures are breathtaking that we're looking at right now. As we mentioned your town has had 1,200 homes damaged. Where are all those people?

GUERRERO: Well, the homes are all along the Blanco River. Many of them are single family homes, they're apartments, they're businesses. Our essential fire station is one of those. A lot of different damage throughout that Blanco River corridor area. The people that inhabited those homes many of them have now located to friends, family. We still have a few folks, I believe, that may still be at our activity center. And throughout today we'll have resources coming in from AmeriCorps. I know that Red Cross has been stationed in San Marcos throughout this event as well, the Salvation Army as well. So a lot of those folks have been able to find refuge with other people within the community. Just find a good place to be able to rest to kind of get their plans together, touch base with insurance agents.

CAMEROTA: Of course. And we know that you're advising people to stay off the roads. Do not attempt your own rescues: Leave that to the professionals.

Mayor Daniel Guerrero, thanks so much for the status report. We'll be checking back in with you.

GUERRERO: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. We have big overnight breaking news. A huge international scandal brewing in the sports world. Not one but two corruption investigations against FIFA. That's soccer's worldwide governing body. A list of top officials arrested in raids in Switzerland, raids on FIFA officials.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez is here with the breaking details.

When have we ever heard about something like this?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is an extraordinary scene. This is a luxury hotel in Zurich, where members of FIFA's board were gathering for the election this Friday, which is basically going to crown Sepp Blatter, a long-time leader of FIFA, with another term.

[06:10:04] And instead, Swiss police, working with the FBI and the IRS, came in and arrested up to -- seven people are now arrested, top members of FIFA's board. And it -- they include Jeffrey Webb, who's the FIFA vice president. Former vice president of FIFA Jack Warner is also among those who's now charged. Fourteen people in all are going to be charged today in Brooklyn, Chris.

And this is an investigation that, according to the Justice Department, spans a couple of decades. And according to them, FIFA was being run as a criminal enterprise. So that's not something you usually hear about world soccer.

According to them, $150 million in bribes were being paid to these officials, including a U.S. sportswear company that paid money to sponsor the Brazilian Soccer Federation. So there's a lot here going on, including a separate investigation now being done by the Swiss.

CUOMO: From a Swiss Ritz to Brooklyn, you know that's a big change.

Now, the irony here is, as you know, Evan, this has been part of the mythology of FIFA. People always saying it's a dirty organization. Nothing was done. How does this affect the U.S. interests?

PEREZ: Well, there's a couple of different ways. The U.S. was up for the 2022 World Cup, and it lost to Qatar in a bid -- in a bidding process that is widely believed to have been corrupt. That is now being investigated by the Swiss authorities. The FBI looked into it and hasn't been able to bring any charges.

You'll notice one name that is not in the list of charges is Sepp Blatter, who's the leader of FIFA. He's going for his fifth term on Friday.

CAMEROTA: So how did investigators crack this? Did they get a tip or something? PEREZ: Well, you know, they had the help of an insider, Chuck

Blazer, who's an American who led FIFA -- one of the FIFA organizations and was a top executive there, actually wore a wire during some of this investigation by the FBI and the IRS. So he helped them. He had meetings with them and recorded some of this.

Of course, now FIFA says in a press conference earlier today in Zurich that they're the victim in this whole thing.

PEREIRA: I likely suspect that this is going to change the elections on Friday, is it not?

PEREZ: It looks like it is. But you know, some of these people who are being arrested are supposed to be showing up to vote on Friday, Michaela.

PEREIRA: My goodness.

CUOMO: It's incredible. It can't not change the elections. The interesting part is that the head of the organization isn't affected by this.

PEREZ: Everybody around him is.

CAMEROTA: Funny how that works. Evan, thanks so much. We'll check back in with you.

All right. Now to the Middle East. Iraq's sweeping offensive to retake Ramadi and the Anbar province from ISIS underway again this morning. But how close are fighters from reversing that enormous military setback?

Let's get right to senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She is monitoring developments live from Baghdad.

What are you seeing, Arwa?

DAMON: Good morning. Well, it's very slow and tough going. It seems that the Iraqi government strategy is to try to initially cut off key logistical supply routes and recapture some of the patchwork of territory that ISIS does control.

This operation taking place in two provinces, Anbar, where Ramadi is located, and Salahuddin. We were at one of these front lines between those two key areas.

One of these Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary forces, their commander was very scathing of the United States, saying that Iran was their only true ally. We did, in fact, see Iranian advisers on the ground, although we were not allowed to speak or film them.

Around Ramadi, the Iraqi government massing forces that include both the army and the military, as well as these Iranian-backed paramilitary units and the Sunni tribal fighters. According to state television, Ramadi now surrounded on all sides. But ISIS is demonstrating its ability to strike back. Just a

short while ago, three suicide bombers targeted Iraqi Army combat outposts also located in Anbar province. And, Michaela, they did kill at least 30, according to initial reports.

PEREIRA: Shows you how quickly things change there on the ground. Thank you for the update, Arwa. We appreciate that.

Now to some other news, the FBI and the Los Angeles police bomb squad giving the all-clear after a bomb threat was called in on a flight from Taiwan to L.A. Nothing dangerous was found aboard EVA Air Flight 12 after bags were rescreened and bomb sniffing dogs swept the plane at LAX. The search, though, is now on for the person or group responsible for making the threat. It's unclear if that incident is related to threats made against flights on Memorial Day.

CUOMO: Cleveland is being forced to shake up its police department in response to what federal officials said was a pattern of excessive force, civil rights violations. There will now be a host of changes, including court-supervised monitoring of the police.

Under the agreement, every time an officer even removes their weapon from the holster, it needs to be documented. The Justice Department review found Cleveland officers used stun guns inappropriately, punched and kicked unarmed people, and shot at people who posed no threat.

[06:15:04] CAMEROTA: Immigration update for you. A federal appeals court siding with Texas and against President Obama on immigration. The court denying a request from the Justice Department lawyers to allow the president's controversial executive actions to go into effect. The decision is a victory for Texas and 25 other states challenging the administration's actions.

PEREIRA: Quite a blow to the president, though.

CUOMO: Oh, yes.

So we now know that Iraq's forces are on the attack. They are confident they'll retake Ramadi from ISIS. Are they too confident? And is their will to fight an issue or not? We're going to get you answers once and for all.

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CUOMO: As I speak, Iraqi military and Shiite militiamen are fighting to reclaim territory, particularly the city of Ramadi. Now, that fell to ISIS just last week when Iraqi forces appeared to just walk off the battlefield. There's been a lot of fallout from that. So let's look at what's going on right now and what it means for what happens next.

Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a CNN military analyst who served as commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe and the 7th Army. Thank you very much for joining us, General. [06:20:04] Let's deal with the immediacy of what's going on right

now. You've said many times before it is not if but when the forces take back Ramadi. What do you think is going on on the ground right now? How will they accomplish it?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You've got a couple things going on, Chris. The Iraqi security forces and coalition continue to work throughout the country, especially the northern areas. You've got fights going on in Talafar, along the Hamrin Mountains in Tikrit. That's become a secondary effort as they push out of Tikrit to regain Baiji.

And all reports I'm seeing right now saying they have a large percentage of the town of Baiji under Iraqi Security Force control right now.

But the main effort, and that's a military term, the main effort is in Ramadi. The government of Iraq has pushed -- pushed everything they can possible can kludge together not only to retake the main city of Ramadi but also the small towns around it.

CUOMO: So Baiji is important because of the refineries there. It also has an optic value for them. And this all goes on under this cloud of the will to fight. What is your best intelligence on whether or not that is a fair basis for criticism?

HERTLING: Well, I'll give you my personal experiences from Iraq, Chris. I -- the Iraqi soldiers are very good. They are very courageous when led well. And when they are led well, they will do the things they're asked to do.

Unfortunately, what we've seen recently is a continued problem with leadership throughout the battle space, particularly in the strategic environment. And what I'm talking about there is directly Baghdad. Are they pushing Iraqi Security Forces, the manned and trained and equipped forces that are supposed to be doing these things? Or are they consolidating a bunch of different organizations in a very uncoordinated manner to take over ground? That's what they're doing right now.

But it's truthfully the only thing they can do. They don't have the forces to take back the ground, so they're relying a lot on the Shia militias and the sons of the various tribes, specifically, in Anbar the Sunni tribes.

CUOMO: So you're saying it's not so much about the heart of the men on the field. It's about the heads of the people who are telling them what to do. That that's what...

HERTLING: Yes, that's exactly right. And it's tough circumstances out there. You know, anyone that says the Iraqi forces threw down their weapons and ran away from Ramadi really don't know what they're talking about. It's been a tough fight out there for the last 12 to 18 months.

The fight with ISIS coming in to Ramadi, I think we're going to see the after-action report showing that they -- ISIS used a lot of different kinds of tactics, a lot more suicide bombs, snipers. They got off social media for the few days before the attack so the Iraqi intelligence, which monitors that, were not seeing what was going on. And ISIS kind of was judging their enemy.

So in fact, in the weeks leading up to the main assault by ISIS into Ramadi, you're talking about ISIS adapting to their foes. What's got to happen now is the Iraqi security forces have to adapt back. That's the key to warfare. If you can adapt faster than your enemy to changing conditions.

CUOMO: General Hertling, thank you very much, as always. We'll be following this one very closely.

PEREIRA: Yes, we certainly will. As this story we're following, Oklahoma and Texas swamped. Raging floodwaters causing epic destruction. Is the worst finally over, or is more rain on the way?

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[06:27:54] Tragic aftermath this morning in Texas and Oklahoma. Powerful storms leaving at least 18 people dead, and communities in both states left to pick up the pieces. Houston was especially hard hit with five killed, two missing and thousands of homes with serious damage. More than a dozen still missing in Texas with another line of storms approaching.

Let's get to CNN's meteorologist, Chad Myers, with more. What are you seeing, Chad?

MYERS: Alisyn, what I'm seeing with this next line of storms is that it may move across in a horizontal fashion. And as it moves across this way, it keeps moving, making 1- to 2-inch rainfalls. Not the 8- to 10-inch rainfalls that we saw over Houston, not the training type rainfall that we had.

So, yes, rain all the way from New York all the way back down to Texas.

But the biggest bulls-eye for the next seven days is over Oklahoma. And that's two to four inches. I know it's saturated, you can take that as long as it's slow. Slow rain showers moving over the area, finally passing on by.

It's going to be hot across the northeast. D.C., 90 degrees or above about every single day for the rest of this week. And the heat is on across the southeast, as well. It will be the beginning of summer is what I'm predicting right now.

PEREIRA: All right, Chad, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.

Breaking overnight, an international soccer scandal rocks the world. Top soccer officials arrested in Switzerland, including the vice president of FIFA, the sport's governing body. Two corruption investigations are now unfolding. FIFA's president not among those charged; however, he is being investigated.

CAMEROTA: Well, another American accused of trying to join ISIS. Twenty-year-old Asher Abid Khan faces a judge in Texas today, charged with providing material support to the terrorists. According to a criminal complaint, Khan and a friend made it to Turkey on their way to Syria to join ISIS. But Khan's family lured him back to Texas with a made-up story about the health of his mother. Khan's friend made it all the way to Syria.

CUOMO: A hundred thousand of us taxpayers had our information stolen from the IRS. The hackers exploited the IRS online "get transcript" feature, where people get old tax returns, and used the data to steal identities and claim fraudulent returns.

Now, this isn't a new thing. This is just the latest scheme to target tax returns. The IRS estimates it paid -- get ready for this -- almost $6 billion in phony returns in just 2013.