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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall

Aired August 25, 2005 - 22:00   ET

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

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Katrina is pretty ugly right now. She's robed folks -- about a million of them -- of Florida of electricity tonight and we're going to find out exactly where she is, but back to the issue of Lance Armstrong, there are a number of reasons why he's so different from the rest of us.
It's fascinating. Simply put, his body isn't the standard issue model that most of us are born with. From his lungs to his muscles, he's in a class of his own.

First, though, back to the breaking news from Florida, where Hurricane Katrina made landfall this evening near the Miami-Dade- Broward County line. The storm, unfortunately, has already claimed at least two lives. One man was killed when a large tree fell on his car. Another man, struck by a tree while checking damage to his trailer.

More than five million people are in Katrina's path tonight and many are bracing for some very serious flooding. We begin with David Mattingly in Hollywood, Florida, who's been whipped around pretty good tonight by some pretty strong winds. David?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, this storm is doing exactly what people said it would do. It's moving slowly and it's dumping lots of rain on South Florida right now. A great deal of concern about flooding in some low-lying areas. The Last time they saw a rain event like this was 1999, with another category one hurricane.

Since that time, they've invested a lot of money in pumping stations in different municipalities, trying to take care of all this storm water that they're expecting with this storm. So this storm tonight -- these new systems really getting --

ZAHN: From David Mattingly right now, because of all the electrical problems down there, we're not getting a very clear audio signal from him.

But let's move a little further north up the coast. John Zarrella, who's standing by in Delray Beach, Florida, not far from an area where some of the mandatory evacuations have actually taken place. What are you seeing, John?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, what we are seeing here in Delray Beach as we've had consistent throughout the evening, tropical storm-force winds whipping the area. Power is out all over this area. Southern Palm Beach County, down into all through Broward County and certainly into Miami-Dade County, where they are really getting hammered.

We thought originally the storm would be a little further north up where we are, the eye of the storm, the center of the storm. But at last minute it jogged a little bit to the left before making landfall. Now, as bad as it seems with these heavy rains and with all this wind, it's still just a category one hurricane and the worst of what this storm may bring is in terms of flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): In the Miami suburb of Sweetwater, sandbags are as much a part of hurricane preparation as water and ice. For residents, it's a fact of life here: Rain, lots of it, brings flooding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So the city sits like in a pool. If you were able to look at a city at a plain, it's lower than anything else. It's like a pool. So the residents here are scared. They've gone through many bad times. No-name storm Irene were the most recent ones, that they had two or three feet of water inside their homes.

ZARRELLA: The sandbags will help, but with Katrina, that may not be enough. The storm is expected to drop up to 15 inches of rain, perhaps more in some areas. For local and state officials, water is more of a concern than wind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a hurricane and hurricanes are hurricanes. And they have -- They bring with them the possibility of really severe flooding and wind damage, and so, it's important to take this seriously.

ZARRELLA: Just look back to 1999. Hurricane experts say Irene, a late-season storm, dumped nearly 20 inches of rain on South Florida. The aftermath from Katrina may produce images similar to these: Cows and horses standing in standing water, crops underwater. It was an October surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just really horrible. We never anticipated it. Our power went out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We never expected it to be this bad.

ZARRELLA: Now, most people know what to expect, including the South Florida Water Management District, which controls the flow of water through hundreds of miles of canals.

The district has spent $600 million since Irene to improve flood control. In advance of Katrina, Lake Okeechobee has been lowered by a foot. Massive pumps have already been turned on and floodgates opened to drain water out to the ocean; making room for whatever Katrina brings. The hope is they've made enough room.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ZARRELLA: Now, what officials here don't want to see is a repeat of 1999. During Irene, five young kids were killed when they walked out in standing water. There was a live power line in that. Their mother came out, she was killed as well. Those are the kinds of things that the flood waters can bring, Paula. And that is the potential down the road that we face from Katrina -- Paula?

ZAHN: John Zarrella, thanks for the update. A little bit earlier on we were trying to check in with David Mattingly, who's a little further south down the coast from where you just heard John Zarrella report from.

Right now a million people in Southern Florida are without power. And David was able to file this report before the winds were really kicking up. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): Well, Paula, we're riding through a very angry eastern edge of this storm. It made landfall south of here and since then, we've had some very high winds, some torrential rains; rain so dense it was almost a white out condition.

Actually, before it got dark, you could barely see the ocean, which was less than 100 yards away from here. There was that much rain. There has been reported, one traffic fatality reported and there our light has just gone.

The conditions deteriorated here so quickly that our equipment has been going down faster than we've actually been able to keep it up. So Paula, I'm going to send it back to you right now, but just let you know this storm is packing quite a punch right now.

ZAHN: David, we're going to at least leave your audio signal up while we try to give people a better sense of how this whole area is getting whacked. There have been some mandatory evacuations called for in Palm Beach County, particularly low-lying areas, but where you are in Hollywood, which we could explain to our audience is sort of halfway between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, no one has been asked to leave their homes, correct?

MATTINGLY: That's right. They asked for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas. This was affecting -- great, our light's come back on, so maybe you can see me now -- This was affecting the coastal area here at Hollywood Beach where we are.

We haven't seen a whole lot of people that have actually left. The hotel that we are near has actually still got quite a few guests in it and they expect to stay here through until tomorrow morning.

But again, the toughest part of this storm, now relentlessly just pounding the coast right here at Hollywood Beach. And I don't know if you saw the tape that we showed -- that we brought in earlier, but there were quite a few trees down when those first waves of tropical storm-force winds came through. The ground was very saturated with all the rainwater that had preceded it. So, there were a lot of trees going down, a lot of people without power. Before all of this happened, there were already 200,000 people, more than that actually, who were sitting in the dark in Broward County alone.

So who knows how many more are affected right now as the real punch of this storm is really just coming into this coastal area here?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: That was David Mattingly reporting from a little bit earlier tonight from Hollywood, Florida.

Max Mayfield is tracking Katrina at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Florida, where they have been hit by the storm as well. The eye of the hurricane just having passed through there. So, you're going to hear some electrical problems as well. But when we talked with him a short time ago, this is exactly what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: So Max, where is Katrina right now?

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Paula, the center of the hurricane is right over the middle of Miami-Dade county. It's moving south, due west and will likely exit the southwest Florida coast early tomorrow morning and then we'll be shifting our focus up into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

And you know, the folks up there in the panhandle and the northeastern portion of the Gulf that went through Ivan and Hurricane Dennis, they may have to go through the drill again, unfortunately.

ZAHN: But you're not as concerned about the high winds tonight as you are about all the rain that could fall. Are you still expecting 15 inches of rain in some places?

MAYFIELD: Well, we are in some isolated areas, but I don't want to minimize that wind either. I mean, we just had a gust to 86 miles per hour here at the Hurricane Center a few minutes ago.

We've had two deaths from trees falling on people up in Broward County. This is not over. Even though the center of the hurricane is moving east here, that southeastern eye wall there has some very, very strong thunderstorms in it with some very strong winds.

And that's still over the populated area. So we've had some damage down here: Some trees are down, a lot of power outages. This is still going to be a long night for Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

ZAHN: Of course it is now we're hearing that some one million folks are without power at this hour, but tell us about your flooding concerns right now.

MAYFIELD: Well, we think that the slow motion here is -- you know, we're going six to 12 inches over a large section of South Florida. And all this rain -- you can see in these rain bands well out to the southeast.

Even when the hurricane goes out into the Gulf of Mexico those rain bands will still be spreading over us all through tonight and tomorrow. So, we've still got some flooding ahead of us and we need to learn some lessons from previous hurricanes. We've had people down here losing their lives by driving into a canal and not knowing where the road ended.

ZAHN: And how is the tide going to affect all this tonight? High tide coming in about midnight Eastern time.

MAYFIELD: That's not a real concern. We don't have too much of a tidal range in southeast Florida. So, that's not a real concern. It will take most of the storm surge, flooding, that's already occurred. And I don't think that was at least life-threatening. We certainly lost -- we had some beach erosion, but the main concern will be the wind and the rain.

ZAHN: Well, Max Mayfield, we wish you luck as you ride out the storm. Thanks so much for your update.

MAYFIELD: Thank you.

ZAHN: And as we said at the top of the hour, at least two deaths are now being tied to Katrina. A Ft. Lauderdale man was killed when a tree fell on his car. Mike Deeson is covering the hurricane for CNN affiliate WTSP. And joins us now from Ft. Lauderdale. What can you tell us about some of the other damage you've seen?

MIKE DEESON, WTSP CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, there's been damage throughout the Ft. Lauderdale area. We're hit with rain that's almost like a sheet of water right now. This gives you an indication of the power of the storm. This tree came down, oh, a couple of hours ago when the wind came through here.

Lots of areas of Ft. Lauderdale are without power. As a matter of fact, there was a hospital with 20 patients on ventilators that not only lost power, but also lost backup power. The Ft. Lauderdale -- the fire department had to come there and put their power on and were prepared to transport all the patients from there.

There is a lot of damage along the beach from sand, which came across when the hurricane first came ashore. We shot some video earlier of that. And the sand actually was very painful as the wind blew up and there gusts of wind of 97 miles an hour. And people were surprised by the strength of the storm because being a category 1 it was supposed to be a milder storm here.

Lots of debris on the streets. A lot of live power wires are there. And the electrical company is out there trying to do some work as best they can in weather like this, which is just miserable condition. But the biggest danger is the trees. A lot of trees down.

A lot of trees, and surprisingly folks are out in this weather driving around. We saw a lot of folks driving around, as we were doing our story.

And an overpass south of here, closer to Miami International Airport, had a collapse within the past hour. We don't think there are any injuries on that, but somehow the storm forced that to collapse, a little overpass near the airport.

We expect more conditions like this for about another two hours or so, and then the storm will pass on and apparently is moving a little bit southwest of the original track that it was supposed to have.

But it's a pretty miserable night. And it will continue to be a miserable day here in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow -- Paula.

ZAHN: Mike, the one thing we haven't had a chance to talk about is any evidence of flooding there yet.

DEESON: There are areas of flooding. Throughout the low-lying areas and along the beaches, you can see the water moving in. I saw some cars that had parked in a public parking lot that all of a sudden the water was rising up there. And they expect that to be some of the worst damage tomorrow.

Also, I want to tell you there were some insurance adjusters down here already trying to assess the damage. Because it moved through slowly, they expect it to be worse than initially anticipated on a category 1.

ZAHN: Mike Deeson, you gave us an excellent idea of what close to 5 million folks in the southern part of the country are up against tonight. Really appreciate that live report.

Let's quickly go to Jason Carroll, who's standing by in Deerfield Beach. That's just north of Ft. Lauderdale, where we just checked in with Mike Deeson. Let's find out from him what is going on.

We can see from the billowing clothes it's blowing like mad there as well.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's been like that all day. But actually, Paula, if you can believe it, things are actually a little bit better now -- actually, a lot better now than what they like earlier today.

In fact, I was speaking to some people out here and they were telling me even though it this was a category 1 the winds in Deerfield Beach were so intense it surprised a lot of people who were expected -- since they thought it was a category one, they weren't expecting the winds to be as strong as they were. Between 5:00 and 8:00, Paula, the winds were relentless. Wind gusts out here, 50 miles per hour.

This is a lot of what we've seen around in the area here. Downed trees such as this. We took a drive throughout the area and this is what we've been seeing. I remember, earlier today this tree used to be about ten yards up the way this way. We are without power in Deerfield Beach, like many residents. Many of the buildings up here are looking just like this, without power. It's going to be a long night for the people out here, Paula. It's going to be candles and flashlights.

We haven't experienced as much rain so much, and I know that some forecasters were expecting anywhere between 6 and 15 inches. Also talk of flooding. That's not what we really saw here in Deerfield. In Deerfield Beach, which was, again, surprising to many people, was the level of wind, the ferocity of the wind that existed here during the day, that continues to exist.

But again, nowhere near what we experienced earlier today in terms of what we're experiencing right now.

ZAHN: And Jason, it's hard to believe this, but David Mattingly was telling us that the folks there got a little bit of a break for once in that high tide doesn't happen for a couple of hours. And so the bulk of the rain, I guess, that's falling in some parts of this area hit by Katrina won't be so much affected by the tide, which I guess is pretty good news.

CARROLL: Absolutely. I mean, everyone here is desperately waiting for any sort of good news. We just lost a light. There we go, we got it back again.

But again, we were expecting a lot more rain, actually, and not expecting so much wind. And I think that's why it's surprising to a lot of residents who have been through a lot of hurricanes to get just the opposite here in this area.

Now, we still have a lot more to go before this hurricane is through this area. So, we're going to have to wait to see what happens in the next couple hours. If we end up getting more rain as some of these bands continue to come through here. So, we'll have to see.

ZAHN: We're going to let you find a little security now, maybe find something to lean up against, because you're getting blown around pretty good out there. Stay safe. Thanks so much, Jason Carroll.

And a reminder for all of you out there, CNN is your headquarters for hurricane coverage. It's going to be a very long night. And we're going to stick with the story as long as it takes.

Also coming up on the program, tonight the cruise of a lifetime and why it could be deadly.

But first, at just about 16 minutes past the hour, time for the other news of the day and Erica Hill in Atlanta. Hi, Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi. Thanks, Paula.

We start off with an Associated Press report now that the CIA watchdog has recommended disciplinary reviews for those who were involved in intelligence failures prior to the 9/11 attacks. Now, the highly classified review, which was delivered to Congress this week, reportedly harshly criticizes a number of the agency's current and former senior staff. It's up to CIA director Porter Goss now to decide whether disciplinary proceedings will go ahead.

Women at the nation's most prestigious military academy face hostile attitudes, harassment and assault. Those findings from a nine-month investigation. A Pentagon report says West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy do not provide a safe nor professional environment for women. Although it does praise the schools for the preventive action that they've taken, it says serious problems do persist.

Some civil rights groups who speak for African-Americans and Hispanics have come out in support of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. The groups praised Roberts' commitment to the constitution and criticized civil rights groups on the left for claiming to speak for them.

And Martha Stewart's court-issued electronic ankle bracelet will soon become so last season. The lifestyle mogul unveiled plans for two new television shows beginning when house arrest is behind her. That anklet, by the way, comes off on August 31. Probably not a day too soon for her, Paula.

ZAHN: Can't you imagine the party?

HILL: Oh, it's going to be a party all right. And fantastic food.

ZAHN: Somehow I don't think we've been on the invite list yet.

HILL: I haven't gotten mine.

ZAHN: Yeah. Me neither. Thanks.

Much more ahead on the program tonight. Updates on Hurricane Katrina. And a storm of controversy over this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN (voice-over) This senator wants you to pay private companies for the weather forecast.

PHIL BOYER, AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSOCIATION: We strongly oppose anything that's going to take a taxpayer-paid service and then resell it back to those same taxpayers.

ZAHN: Guess whose state is home to these private companies?

SHANNON NOWLAN, BROTHER LOST AT SEA: We're not talking about cattle here, we're talking about my brother.

ZAHN: Her brother went on a cruise and never came home.

JAMES WALKER, MARITIME ATTORNEY: They don't warn the public because of course they're in the business of selling dream vacations.

ZAHN: Men and women overboard. What's being done to prevent it?

Later, allegations aside, what a body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy's a superhero.

ZAHN: What makes Lance Armstrong's body different from just about any body on the planet?

And speaking of anybody, the science and art of everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he's done is really amazing.

ZAHN: And even more amazing, taking this amazing voyage could save your life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These aren't dramatizations. You know, this is reality.

ZAHN: And this is NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Our big story tonight -- Hurricane Katrina. The 11th named storm of the season is making its way across southeastern Florida tonight, with winds of up to 92 miles per hour. We're going to quickly check in now with Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Weather Center Atlanta for the very latest. Still packing a pretty powerful punch, isn't she?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, it really is. And it has been doing that over the last number of hours. In fact, this thing made landfall about 6:00, and we've been seeing some very heavy rains and some flooding and winds ever since then.

There you can see the center of circulation. It's right over the Everglades at this time, now about 15 miles away from Homestead. And although we have those wind gusts, as you mentioned, up to 92 miles per hour -- we had 95 at Key Biscayne -- it's the flooding that's the big problem.

Take a look at these bright reds on this radar picture here. That is some of the very heavy rains that are coming down on the rate of one to three inches per hour.

I'm going to switch over from our live radar source and show you how Doppler radar can estimate rainfall. In this orangeish area here near Coral Gables, up toward South Miami Beach, there's about three to five inches of rain here. But look at some of these reds over Key Biscayne. We have confirmation of seven to nine inches of rain, which has fallen here, and Doppler radar down near Cutler Ridge is estimating somewhere between seven and 13 inches of rain. And that's just been over the last handful of hours or so.

So this is becoming a very serious situation with the flooding. There is a flash flood warning in effect for Miami-Dade County and a flood watch, as you can see, in effect for much of Southern Florida. This rain is going to be continuing throughout the night tonight and into tomorrow.

The storm is dropping down to the southwest. It's kind of west- southwest right now, actually a little farther down than we thought originally as it tracked across the Florida peninsula. However, that's not necessarily good news, because that means it's going to be over land a shorter period of time.

There, you can see the forecast, becoming a tropical storm, and then likely back to hurricane strength as it moves over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, it could become a rather strong hurricane before making its second landfall. We expect that will probably happen sometime late Sunday or into the early morning hours of Monday. Everybody that lives into the northeastern coast needs to be paying attention.

And Paula, you even need to pay attention to the storm as well, everybody who lives in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states, because we think eventually this storm will be moving up the spine of the Appalachians, and bring some very heavy rain to parts of the mid- Atlantic and Northeast -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, frankly, we're all praying she just falls apart, so the rest of the folks don't have to worry about it the way 5 million Floridians have tonight.

JERAS: Paula, I apologize. I can't hear you.

ZAHN: That's OK. But we will be coming back to you a little bit later for the latest on Katrina. Really appreciate Jacqui Jeras' update.

And if you want to get the latest official forecast, rain or shine, you can surf to the National Weather Service Web site. It's free, with no pop-up ads or spam.

Sounds good? Well, there is now a bill in Congress that would take that away from you. Why? In part because a powerful U.S. senator believes that private companies ought to have a monopoly on much of that business. Private companies that happen to be based in his state. Here's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The weather, like death and taxes, is always with us. Washington is arguing these days about how we should learn about the weather. Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum, whose state is home to more than a dozen commercial weather companies, maybe 1,000 jobs at stake, has introduced a bill saying that except for the preparation and issuance of severe weather forecasts and warnings designed for the protection of life and property of the general public, the National Weather Service should not provide any service that is or could be provided by the private sector. Why, says Santorum, should the government compete against private industry? The industry agrees.

STEVEN ROOT, COMMERCIAL WEATHER SERVICES ASSOCIATION: Other companies in the oceanographic areas are losing business because the National Weather Service is addressing specific needs, individual user needs, that they shouldn't be doing.

MORTON: But about 6 million people a day, amateur pilots, farmers, others, get weather information from Web sites run by the Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hey, they say, taxpayers paid for this, why can't we see it?

PHIL BOYER, AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Well, we strongly oppose anything that's going to take a taxpayer-paid service, and then resell it back to those same taxpayers.

MORTON: Internet sites like this one provide pilots with vital information as they plan a flight, giving them details of their root weather pattern.

BOYER: Our history has shown that once you start charging for as critical as this, a pilot will make a go-no decision on basically, well, maybe I'd better not pay for this one, it isn't -- it doesn't look bad outside.

MORTON: The argument started when the government moved away from old guidelines last year over concerns that the government's new weather forecasting technology would compete with the commercial companies supplying weather displays to newspapers, TV, and so on. CNN and CNN.com both use commercial weather companies.

Everyone agrees Santorum's bill isn't going anywhere this year. But next year, hey, you can't even predict the weather that far ahead.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And just ahead -- what's being done to prevent you from falling overboard on a cruise and what isn't.

And America's best-known mother is back in Crawford, Texas. What is Cindy Sheehan saying about the president now? Around the country and the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Hurricane Katrina still battering southeastern Florida at this hour. Let's check back in with Rob Marciano in Hollywood, Florida. He's on the phone, because, as you can guess, it's a little hard to get pictures out of the area tonight. Describe to us what you're seeing -- actually, we are catching a glimpse of you now. Rob, what are you seeing?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi (sic). Well, we've pretty much seen the center of this storm make landfall just to the south of us. And what that's done for us is we've gotten winds in all sorts of directions. And it's been very difficult to maintain a live shot without getting all this equipment wet. So what's happened in the last couple of hours is the microphone went dead, and now we're talking to you on a cell phone.

At first, the winds were offshore as the storm approached. As the storm got a little bit closer to us, they started coming out of the north and the northeast, and then eventually they came onshore, as the storm passed to our south.

Now, because it passed to our south, we were in one of the strongest areas of the storm, and there was some damaging results. Aside from the two fatalities that were likely reported earlier on this program, according to emergency managers here in Broward County, there were three mobile homes that nearly were completely devastated. And there's also a tractor-trailer on I-75 that was blown over from these winds. That guy at least was able to walk away.

Anyway, it's a reminder to us all that a hurricane's a hurricane. You know, I don't care what the category is. You get winds of 75, 80 miles an hour, there's going to be some damage, and we're just going to have to see what exactly kind of damage there will be, there was, when we get up tomorrow morning.

That has been the most surprising part of the storm according to the emergency managers, (INAUDIBLE) telling everyone (INAUDIBLE) category one storm. But it's done some damage, and we'll have to see. And it's not over yet, Heidi (sic).

Now, we've got winds that are coming out of the south. So that means the storm itself, the center of it, is to our southwest by about 35 miles, and from what Jacqui Jeras told me earlier, it's still very close to hurricane strength (INAUDIBLE) throughout the night, a tremendous amount of rain has fallen. I'm sure Jacqui mentioned that flooding is going to be a threat here for the next couple of -- next day. And of course, the Panhandle of Florida the next target after that.

That's the latest from here, Heidi (sic).

ZAHN: Rob, I know the communication has been so bad, you didn't even know we had rotating anchors here tonight. It's Paula Zahn.

One quick question for you, how much more of a storm is going to bear down on you there?

MARCIANO: Are you still -- are you still (INAUDIBLE)?

ZAHN: Yeah, I think this is -- I don't think this is going to work too well. Rob's not going to be able to hear me, given the strength of that wind. But in some places in Florida tonight, they're saying that some 2 or 3 million folks can expect another couple of hours of battering winds and an awful lot of rain.

Once again, emergency management people are telling us in many ways, they're much more concerned about flooding at this hour, in spite of the winds being pretty strong, because 15 inches of rain might fall in some areas.

That was Rob Marciano reporting from Hollywood, directly above where the storm first made landfall.

Now, we move on to something completely different. This is literally a one-in-a-million story. Many people fall overboard on ocean cruises, but probably more than you think. And it's not something the cruise industry likes to talk about, or, say the critics, do something about. Here's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was on top of the world when his cruise ship pulled out of Miami last July. Chris Caldwell, a disc jockey raising three kids, was off to the Caribbean with his girlfriend. He had called his sister Shannon to tell her he had just gotten engaged.

SHANNON NOWLAN, BROTHER LOST AT SEA: What? Really? Well, call me after the cruise so we can talk about this.

FEYERICK: But it would be the last time she would ever hear his voice. On the final night of his cruise, just 14 miles off the Florida coast, Chris Caldwell vanished.

(on camera): Is it crazy for you that here's somebody who was so full of life, and now he just disappeared, he just vanished, and there are no answers?

NOWLAN: There's no answers. And you know, it's really amazing.

FEYERICK (voice-over): No answers. And the thing is, it happens more often than you might think.

The trade group that represents major cruise lines says 10 to 12 people have gone overboard in the last year and a half.

MICHAEL CRYE, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF CRUISE LINES: I think you need to keep this in perspective. Ten to 12 people out of maybe 15 million who cruised in that same timeframe is something less than one person goes missing for every million people.

FEYERICK: But for Shannon and others going through the same thing, that's not the point.

NOWLAN: That's not very high statistically. But we're not talking about cattle here. We're talking about my brother. We're talking about somebody's sister. We're talking about somebody's mom and dad, niece, nephew, uncle, aunt.

FEYERICK: No one saw Chris Caldwell fall overboard, and investigators have few few clues. Part of the reason: No surveillance cameras monitoring the railings. Cruise ships aren't required by law to have them.

CRYE: I can tell you that it would be -- require an investment of literally millions of dollars to have those types of security cameras installed and monitored. And is it a significant enough problem to justify that kind of an expense?

FEYERICK: The cruise industry is a $25 billion business. Lawyer James Walker says some of that money should be spent on cameras to alert the crew when someone falls overboard. And his concerns go further than just surveillance.

JAMES WALKER, ATTORNEY: They don't warn the public. They don't want the public to know that there are risks in going on a cruise, because of course they're in the business of selling dream vacations.

FEYERICK: Walker represents people who say they were hurt or victimized on ships. He says most people don't even realize cruise ships are not governed by U.S. law.

WALKER: They set themselves up in foreign countries in order to escape any type of regulation by the United States. They're not subject to wage and labor laws. They try to isolate themselves from paying any type of income tax.

FEYERICK: But cruise spokesman Michael Crye says it's because ships flying the stars and stripes must be built in America and staffed entirely by Americans. Crye says the cruise industry is not responsible for keeping track of the number of passengers lost at sea. And while he sympathizes with families, the number of people disappearing is not significant enough to warrant changes in security.

CRYE: The record of the cruise industry is one of the best in the entire -- in the entire world. It is the safest form of transportation that there is in the United States.

FEYERICK: Yet when people do vanish in or near U.S. waters, search and rescue teams are called to help.

(on camera): When you're doing 14 miles, are the chances pretty good you're going to find somebody, or does it really depend?

LT. KIM GUEDRY, COAST GUARD: It's really dependent on the time that we receive the report until the time we start searching, given that information.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Fourteen miles. That's how far Chris Caldwell was from shore when he vanished. His fiancee didn't immediately realize he was missing. And then it took three hours for the crew to search the ship. Only then, as is procedure, did the captain alert the Coast Guard.

Lieutenant Kim Guedry, who handles search and rescue, says that kind of delay can be frustrating.

GUEDRY: It expands our search area, basically, is what it does.

FEYERICK: A search area that ultimately spread 3,000 miles and lasted a day. NOWLAN: On Saturday evening, the Coast Guard called me and told me that they were calling off the search, and that basically that no one could have survived as long as they had been looking in the water, so that he was presumed dead at that point.

FEYERICK: So what happened to Chris Caldwell? A bartender who spoke to authorities said Caldwell was in the casino acting loud and drunk. That description has haunted Shannon and her family.

NOWLAN: If a bartender reported to someone that he was belligerent and very, you know, heavily drinking, then why didn't they escort him back to his room?

FEYERICK: That begs the question, who is ultimately responsible when someone is lost at sea?

CRYE: You can't treat adults as children. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt. You cannot tell them what to do and guard against any eventuality. So otherwise, you would be taking away from the experience of the cruise itself.

FEYERICK: When her brother disappeared, Shannon was eight months pregnant.

(on camera): He knew you were having this baby, and he'll never got a chance to meet that baby.

NOWLAN: That's really hard. Because she's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me, and I'd really like to share that with him.

FEYERICK (voice-over): A small number lost at sea, but a number to those who love them no less significant.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Still to come tonight, we will of course keep an eye on South Florida, where Hurricane Katrina is lingering and bearing down and causing lots of problems. A million people without power at this hour.

Also, doping. Controversy aside, what makes Lance Armstrong tick? Inside perhaps the most impressive piece of human machinery on the planet.

And later, what is the picture of the day? The storm? Or something else? That's all I'm going to tell you. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And we're back. Check out the power of this Hurricane Katrina as she continues to whip through southeastern Florida. Actually, the picture isn't as dramatic as some of the things we saw from our correspondents a little bit earlier. 80-mile-an-hour winds, 15 inches of rain falling in some places. And the bad news is now the warnings are going up for the west coast of Florida as the storm, while moving slow, is starting to turn left and head west.

Now on to the issue of Lance Armstrong. Tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" he once again denied using performance enhancing drugs. This after a report in a French sports daily, alleging the seven-time Tour de France winner used a blood-boosting medicine back in 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, CYCLIST: I've said it for seven years -- I've said it for longer than seven years, I have never doped. I can say it again. But I've said it for seven years. It doesn't help. But the fact of the matter is I haven't.

And if you consider my situation, a guy who comes back from arguably, you know, a death sentence, why would I then enter into a sport and dope myself up and risk my life again? That's crazy. I would never do that. No way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So whether or not he put something in his body he shouldn't have, and answer to that is we just don't know, it is still an incredible body. To explain why, perhaps unique. To explain why, here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's possibly the best endurance athlete in the world. Most of us know Lance Armstrong's name, but few know how he does it.

It all starts with his genes. Edward Coil is director of the Human Performance Lab at the University of Texas in Austin. World record holders, Olympic medalists and promising elite athletes all come here to increase their performance. At the young age of 21, Lance Armstrong was one of them. Coil evaluated his physiology regularly for seven years.

EDWARD COYLE, DIR. HUMAN PERFORMANCE LAB: We found that even at a young age, because of his intense training, he had a big engine, a big heart and was able to consume large amounts of oxygen. Probably less than 1 percent of the population would have as much of a genetic head start as Armstrong has.

GUPTA: Lance Armstrong's physiology characteristics are nothing short of astounding. His heart, it can pump nine gallons of blood per minute, working at his hardest, compared to only five gallons per minute for the average person. In one minute of maximum exertion, Armstrong's heart can beat twice that of a normal person.

His lungs. He gets almost double the amount of oxygen out of every breath that a healthy 20-year-old would. Everyone takes in the same breath, but Armstrong uses his two times more efficiently. He also has more red blood cells to deliver oxygen to his body, meaning he can breathe better at higher altitudes. And that's a key in the treacherous Pyrenees and Alps mountains along the route of the Tour de France.

His muscles. Lance's muscles produce less lactic acid than most people, which means his muscles can go longer and harder without major fatigue.

COYLE: An average person, when going to exhaustion, would have to stay stopped, or wouldn't be able to move for -- you know, for 10, 15 minutes. While Armstrong's able to recover within just a couple of minutes, within one or two, and then go right back up to maximum. You know, that's why you'll see him repeatedly trying to break away and then eventually succeeding.

GUPTA: While Lance may have the genetics and condition of a world-class athlete, he has also had cancer lingering in his genes. He was diagnosed with the disease before ever winning the Tour de France.

COYLE: Lance visited the laboratory eight months after finishing chemo, and essentially we found nothing wrong with his body. And that really helped him in giving him the confidence that he could pick up right where he left off.

GUPTA: All of this can ultimately make many people think Armstrong is superhuman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy's a superhero.

GUPTA: And that's a question his mother has heard many times before.

LINDA ARMSTRONG KELLY, LANCE ARMSTRONG'S MOTHER: Is Lance superhuman? That's a question everyone has asked. He didn't get that way sitting on the couch eating potato chips. So lots of hard work, a lot of dedication.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Seemingly a genetic head start, if you will, Paula, but lots of dedication as well. Overcoming cancer and, worth pointing out again, that he's been studied for a long time, since the age of about 21, showing these unique, if you will, genetic attributes, Paula.

ZAHN: So despite what this doctor has just said about what seems to be his genetic superiority, the fact is he still has these allegations coming at him that he allegedly used a performance- enhancing drug called EPO. What exactly is that? And how does it help athletes if they use it?

GUPTA: Yes. EPO stands for erythrhopoyetin. The name's not that important. But essentially it's a blood stimulator. What it does, it makes more blood cells in your body that carry oxygen so you can carry a lot more oxygen than the average person. Why is that beneficial? Well, if you're at altitude, for example, you don't have enough oxygen up there. When your body has EPO in, it's more efficient at those altitudes. Also, just in terms of endurance athleticism, it can make you a better athlete as well.

Now, it's important to note that when he had cancer, when you get chemotherapy, it shrinks the number of red blood cells in your body. So EPO is a medication that's given for a legitimate purpose at that point, to increase the red blood cells back to normal. And he admits having taken it during his chemotherapy.

But again, the EPO right now is what's in dispute as to whether or not those were actually positive in his '99 samples, Paula.

ZAHN: Yeah. That's the critical date, 1999. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for clearing that all up.

And just ahead, we're going to head back to Florida for the very latest on Hurricane Katrina.

CARROLL: Well, hurricane Katrina is not done with south Florida yet, not by a longshot. Especially not here in Deerfield Beach. We'll have an update coming up for you as NEWSNIGHT continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And we're back in a moment. A late check on Hurricane Katrina. But first, at just about nine minutes before the hour, once again, time to check in on the headlines with Erica Hill in Atlanta. Hi, Erica.

HILL: Hi again, Paula.

We start off with a story we've been covering for it seems like a long time there. Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan now saying she will follow President Bush back to Washington when he returns to the capital following his five-week vacation. Sheehan, who is now back in Crawford after visiting her sick mother, says she and her supporters will begin a vigil in Washington on September 24th.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is definitely now on the critical list. A high-level commission backing the Defense Department's plan to close the historic medical facility which treated Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower and General Douglas MacArthur, as well as the countless victims of foreign wars.

And about half a million people in and around Los Angeles lost power for a while today. Southern California Edison imposing rolling blackouts because of problems with its 2,800-megawatt transmission line from Oregon. Full power, though, was restored, Paula, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Erica, for that update. I just want to remind you all, we'll have the very latest for you on CNN throughout the night on Hurricane Katrina as she bears down on the southeast coast of Florida, taking a turn a little bit to the north and to the west, which means she's expected to whack the west coast of Florida, later on in the storm cycle. CNN is your hurricane headquarters, and we're going to check back in with Jason Carroll in southeastern Florida, along the coast, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Hurricane Katrina making a mess of things in Southern Florida tonight, leaving two people dead in her wake. Let's go back to Jason Carroll in Deerfield Beach, just north of Ft. Lauderdale. How bad is it there now?

CARROLL: Well, the wind is letting up just a little bit. Not as bad as what it was like out here certainly earlier today between 3:00 and 5:00. The wind was relentless, Paula. It's the only way to describe it. Standing out here, trying to deliver a live shot was nearly impossible, even just trying to speak. The result of the 50- mile-per-hour gusts, things like this that we've been seeing all around here, downed trees, limbs, branches.

What we try to do is when we are doing stories like this, we look for visual sort of images of what the wind looks like. You can look at our clothing, you can see how it sort of blows around.

We also try to look for visual landmarks, like those signs out there. Something like that might translate for you, when you see that "do not enter" sign, how it's flapping in the wind.

Power obviously a concern for people out here; 200,000 people without power. Very long night for the people in South Florida -- Paula.

ZAHN: We wish them the best, because there's still some more punch in that storm left.

Coming up next, the picture of the day, and the only clue I'm going to give you tonight is it's not the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This week in history, Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana. More than 125,000 people were left without homes. Andrew is the costliest natural disaster ever to hit the U.S.

In 1989, the Major League Baseball permanently banned Pete Rose for gambling on baseball games. Though Rose initially denied the claims, 15 years later, he admitted to betting on the team he managed, the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1911, "The Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris. Two years later, the painting was recovered. It now sits protected behind the thick box of triplex glass.

And that is this week in history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And I want to leave you all with our picture of the day. These are some young women getting ready for their "American Idol" tryouts, as the tryouts sort of criss-cross the country. Austin, Texas, the second stop along the way. Serious business there.

And we want to thank you all for joining us for NEWSNIGHT tonight. Hope you have a good rest of the night, and the folks in Florida do OK down there.

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