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Wildfires Hit Brevard County, Florida; Thousands Estimated Dead After Earthquake Hits China; Violent Weather Devastates Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia; Bob Barr Enters Presidential Race
Aired May 12, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm T.J. Holmes at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brianna Keilar at the international desk.
It is 3:00 a.m. in China's Sichuan province, ground zero of today's catastrophic earthquake and 300 plus after shocks. Chinese media estimates 8,700 people dead, and that is a rough estimate in every sense of the word. Soldiers are said to be heading into the worst-hit places on foot since mudslides, landslides have blocked the roads and rain is grounding helicopters.
It is breaking news, and the CNN international desk, really our window to the world. This is where we're getting news from our reporters, from our producers on the ground. We are in the process of getting a reporter into Chengdu that is the capital of Sichuan Province.
Meantime though, let's head to Beijing where our Jaime FlorCruz has the very latest -- Jaime?
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Close to 9,000 people dead, and still counting. The death toll could still rise, because apparently it does not even include the number of casualties in the epicenter of the quake, which has a population of about 110,000 people. The rescue operations now hampered by inclement weather. It's been periodically raining there. The rescue teams led by the Chinese soldiers have tried to send helicopters into the disaster areas, but they have been hampered by the inclement weather, as well as the impassable roads.
The Chinese prime minister leading the effort close to the epicenter, he visited the sites of a collapsed hospital, as well as Chinese schools, where apparently some survivors are trapped under the rubble. He had talked with some of them. He also assured the sobbing relatives that they're trying their best to recover, to save all those who are still trapped in the rubble, he said, a special team are on their way with specialized equipment.
The Chinese acknowledging sympathy messages from the U.S. president, George Bush, as well as the U.N. secretary general. The Chinese Red Cross also appealing for foreign aid. They say that they will welcome cash donations at this point. They say that relief goods are not practical, because they're not able to deliver them to the disaster areas, because of the impassable roads and inclement weather -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Jaime FlorCruz for us in Beijing.
Again, we're at the international desk, this is where the latest information is coming in from our crews, from our reporters out in the field. But meantime, let's head back to T.J. Holmes at the anchor desk. T.J.?
HOLMES: All right, Brianna, we want to turn to a story happening in this country, live picture we're seeing here out of Florida, Orlando, Florida specifically here. Brevard County is what we're keeping an eye on, brush fires that have been causing all kinds of problems, at least four major ones we know of that were going on. We're showing you this live picture, because these are some of the first pictures we're seeing of fires getting dangerously close and scarily close to as many houses there in this particular county.
Sorry, we just lost that live shot but we are keeping an eye, trying to get that back up for you and show you what's going on here. But this is an area where again there are some four fires. Thousands of acres have been burnt in this area. The worst fire has burned at least 2300 acres in Brevard County, is where we're told this is happening, and hundreds and hundreds of firefighters have been called to work this thing out. A high, or hot, dry windy weather. Certainly not a good thing.
Chad Myers, I'll bring you in now. Certainly not a good thing, when we're talking about hot, dry, and windy weather and you're talking about wildfires. It can whip these things all over the place and it can take off. Certainly not a good thing for these homeowners it looks like right now.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The Orlando Executive Airport, 87 degrees, relative humidity 17 percent, and the winds are gusting to 22 miles per hour. At the regular Orlando airport, NCO, gusting to 23. The biggest gust I can find over towards Sanford, a little north and east of Orlando Proper. This is all Brevard County, up towards Volusia County as well. We knew about the fire that closed down I-95 yesterday, winds gusting there to 28 miles per hour.
That's the number, basically 20 to 25, that's the number that can take an ember and move it over a fire line. So even when firefighters are trying to make a fire line to stop it from going any farther, an ember can fly over that, which is basically maybe a 10 to 15 foot wide segment that they burn and make into a burn here, with a dozer or whatever they're going to do. This is going to be out of control for a lot of the day. The winds are now at their peak of the day, they won't start to back off. You won't get slackening winds until about 7:00 tonight.
So you're talking another almost four hours worth of winds here at this level. You can see how close they are to the building. That was one little hot spot right there, right between two houses.
HOLMES: This is always scary for folks to watch and to keep an eye on. It's so much homeowners can do, at this point it's out of their hands. It's up to those winds a lot of times and up to how much the firefighters can do to kind of knock these flames down -- Chad.
MYERS: And it just hasn't rained. It hasn't rained in central Florida in weeks.
HOLMES: Any anticipation of rain in the coming days or weeks?
MYERS: No. Just wind.
HOLMES: Just wind.
MYERS: This is the tail end of the cold front that could have made rain, but didn't, because the air was so dry. It's hard to make rain at 18 percent relative humidity.
HOLMES: Chad, we appreciate you.
Not good news there, and we will keep an eye on those fires and keep an eye on this live picture as well as this is happening. Hopefully they can stop those flames before they get any closer to those homes.
We do want to turn to another story we've been watching over the past several days. Violent weather, deadly weather happening in Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia. A stormy path of destruction through those three states. This, in the wake of -- this violent weather, what we have here is devastated towns and some 22 people dead.
Now, for many of the survivors now, what you're seeing here on your screen, just getting started with some of the cleanup that lies ahead after this weekend string of tornado-filled storms.
Our Susan Candiotti is at one of the hardest-hit spots, Picher, Oklahoma, where people fear their small town may never recover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): It is day three after a killer tornado swept through the former mining town of Picher, Oklahoma. Six people were killed. This is a town that has been on the decline for years. You can see one of the mines here in this town over my shoulder. Lead and zinc mining. These mines shut down back in the 1970's. They discovered there was air pollution, even cave-ins. So some of these homes had even been condemned before the tornado hit.
This area was quickly becoming a ghost town. Look at some of the destruction from those tremendous winds that swept through here on Saturday. The twisted sheets of metal, wood strewn all over the place with nails pointing out. And take a look at this home. There's just nothing left of that, to be sure. Authorities are now going around starting to make damage assessments to try to get a handle on how much federal aid they should ask for. And today, someone from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol gave us a summary of the loss of life.
CAPT. CHRIS WEST, OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL: We're standing at a fatality count of six, that's two males and four females. Last night or yesterday afternoon we ended the search. We brought dogs in to go through some of the rubble to determine that everybody had been accounted for.
CANDIOTTI: Here's some exclusive footage obtained by CNN shot in the first case by Wesley Schultz of the killer tornado that swept through this town of Picher. Look how wide that funnel was. He saw it. He grabbed the camera. He was filling up with gas at the time. Piled his family into the car, and got out of harm's way. They were not hurt.
Also, we received some exclusive video from someone by the name of Jeff Judd, a much thinner funnel cloud in that case, but both of these tornadoes, very, very powerful, packing winds of up to 175 miles per hour, enough to strip the bark off trees. So right now people are being allowed back into their homes to try to salvage what they can. As we indicated, damage assessment teams going through town, and people are waiting to hear how much help they will get from the federal government to pick up and move.
They were part of a federal buyout plan to begin with. They want to know whether that will still be in place, or if they're left to ask only for insurance or what kind of help they will get. They hope to receive those answers soon. One thing we can tell you, no one will be rebuilding here.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, in Picher, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, this is tornado season in the Midwest, as well as the south, and the past couple of weeks have been intense. Twisters hit Virginia and other mid Atlantic states in late April. They hit the Mississippi valley in early May with Arkansas suffering heavy damage, and just last week, more tornadoes in the south and southeast. We have some surveillance video as well showing the winds tossing cars around in Alabama.
As you see it there, you see cars in that lot literally being picked up and tossed around. We are keeping our eye on all of the weather situations happening across this country. We do want to go back to another story we're keeping an eye on, what's happening in China, the major earthquake there. Brianna Keilar, my colleague, standing by at our international desk.
KEILAR: That's right, we're at the international desk, where this team of people here coordinates all of our international stories. What we're hearing right now I believe -- is that John Vause?
This is John Vause. He's actually just arrived in Chongqing, which is adjacent to Sichuan Province where this earthquake happened earlier today in China. Just want to give you a sense of some of the things we're monitoring here.
The reason this is so important that John Vause is here, because it's been somewhat difficult to get reporters in. This is somewhat of a remote area. But what we do have for visuals, a lot of our very good visuals actually coming in as i-Reports. For instance, in Chongqing, where John Vause is, you can see this i-Report sent to us. This is a picture of a street area right after the earthquake struck. You can see people flooded out onto the street.
This is very -- this is very much what we saw in many areas in China. You can see as well, if I can get this to work. Here we go. This is a man here on a cell phone. We understand there were some cell phone disruptions. Obviously this happens at times when so many people are on cell phones. They can't get through necessarily.
Something else we saw in the area, this is an i-Report and from what we can tell, this is a man with an IV going to this woman's arm. That is in the province adjacent to Sichuan Province. However, in Beijing, almost 1,000 miles away, still this earthquake was felt. It was somewhat more of a roaring motion we understand, but you can see here from one of these i-Reports.
Actually video here, this chandelier swaying back and forth. We're also monitoring the Xinhua news agency. This is the state agency. And as you can see on their Web site right now, these are cranes. This is part of the most tragic story of this situation in China. A school that has collapsed. Hundreds of students trapped. Some of them being pulled out of the rubble. Many people dead in this area. We will continue to monitor all of these news sources.
In the meantime, though, T.J., let me send it back to you.
HOLMES: All right Brianna, thank you so much.
Another story we're keeping a close eye on, this live picture is telling you the story right now. This is in Brevard County in Florida where the central Atlantic coast of Florida really, a lot of people have had to leave their homes and get out of there, because of these fires. Several wildfires that are burning. We're keeping an eye on it and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: That earthquake that struck earlier in the day in China, well, the death toll now, according to the Xinhua news agency, the state-run news agency in China, is 8600. New just into the CNN NEWSROOM, we're getting a report from John Vause. He's made his way to Chongqing. You can see him over my shoulder as we're monitoring his feed coming in. He is in Chongqing, which is in the province adjacent to Sichuan Province where this happened.
John, tell us what you see there on the ground.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Brianna, well this is the scene which is now being repeated across this country. Take a look here. There are people just simply sleeping out in the open. Some have tents. Others are under blankets, because quite simply, many people now are just simply too afraid to go back indoors.
There have been at least eight powerful tremors across this country, the first starting at about 20 past 2:00 local time, the first measuring almost 8 magnitude, about 7.8 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Now, most damage though, was about 200 miles from here where the epicenter was in Sichuan Province. In one county there, called the (INAUDIBLE) -- home to about 116,000 people, state media reports that 80 percent of buildings there were destroyed. The death toll there apparently around 7,000.
Not far from the epicenter, about 60 miles out from the epicenter, there are reports that at least six different schools have collapsed. At one of those schools, as many as 900 students have been buried, most of them only eighth and ninth grade. There are reports that some teenagers have managed to struggle free from the debris, others have been heard calling for help. Right now according to state media, there is heavy earth moving equipment on the scene there trying to save as many students as possible.
There have also been reports that in that epicenter area, that quake zone area, two chemical factories have collapsed, hundreds have been trapped beneath that debris, and also 80 tons of liquid ammonia has leaked out and that's caused a further evacuation of some 6,000 people. The Chinese government has ordered a massive response to this sending in thousands of troops and rescue personnel.
But we understand that one of the big issues here is that many of the roads are damaged. This is a mountainous region and those rescue crews are now having a great deal of difficulty getting to those who need the help -- Brianna.
KEILAR: And how equipped John is the Chinese government to respond to this disaster?
VAUSE: Well, the Chinese government does have an emergence reaction plan. That went into place very, very quickly. They mobilized these troops very quickly. Long before the reports started coming in to us of this mounting death toll, the troops were sent in. In fact, the president Hu Jintao ordered the prime minister, a man called (INAUDIBLE) to personally oversee this rescue operation. So the Chinese have been very quick.
They've sent in thousands of troops and other rescue personnel into this area. But the big difficulty will be getting to the people, to get them the help they need to get them tarps to sleep under, to get them drinking water, just to get them out from under the rubble in which many people are now buried -- Brianna.
KEILAR: John can you tell us where you're heading next?
VAUSE: We're going to try and get to that (INAUDIBLE) county which is as you said 200 miles away from here. Not too sure what the roads are like. It's nighttime here, those roads are not good at the best of time, we don't know how badly damaged they've been. We don't know how far we'll get. So we're going to try and get there over the next couple of hours and see the damage for ourselves.
KEILAR: All right. John Vause for us in Chongqing, bringing us a look at what is going on in that devastated area.
Thank you, John.
T.J., over to you.
HOLMES: All right Brianna, thank you.
We will turn our attention and our eyes to Brevard County in Florida. A live picture you're seeing here. You can't see the flames from this picture you're seeing here, but you are seeing a neighborhood there where people are in danger of losing their homes. Several homes had to be evacuated. People had to flee their homes, because several wildfires are burning in this area of Florida.
This is the central Atlantic of central and eastern part of the state. You see some of the flames right there. We don't have much word of any homes being destroyed, however, these flames are getting dangerously close. Hundreds of firefighters have been working to put out at least four wildfires that are going. One up to a few thousand acres having been destroyed.
Our Chad Myers keeping an eye on the weather conditions there for us.
And Chad, I was reading on one wire that one of the fire officials said the weather conditions are ripe for extreme fire behavior. What's going on?
MYERS: Absolutely. You have the winds out to the west, 18 to 20 miles per hour now. And we were seeing there, it was better when I had the wide shot, you could see almost the mother lode fire was well downwind. Then there were these spot fires that were caused by the ashes and the embers blowing downwind. And at 20 miles per hour, the embers can blow a mile or so while they're still hot, and all of the sudden, they're landing on either evergreens or some type of eucalyptus or something and boy, it just really went to town. And I couldn't believe the house right next to it actually stood there.
It must have been some kind of a stucco structure to kind of withstand that kind of heat. Even it looks like the asphalt shingles withstood the heat as well. But here is the video and the smoke is belching, this is near Palm Bay, I-95 runs right through there. We know yesterday the interstate was closed for a while. I guess that wouldn't be unusual for it to happen today when you see choking smoke like this.
HOLMES: This is just their time of the season right now. It's the dry season right now for Florida. You were telling me a minute ago, there hasn't been rain and you don't expect any.
MYERS: Well you would hope that the wet season would start by now. You always do. But unfortunately, it rained a little bit back in March and early, early April. That got things growing and then all of a sudden, there was no more water, no more rain for that growing stuff to go with, and it has since just dried out. I have a house down in Florida, my parents lived in and you have to water the lawns all the time. And then at some point and time they say no more watering and then the water restrictions are going. You wouldn't water this land any way, this is kind of a brush land, but still, you get this close to your house, you have to keep those trees away from your home. Although you want to keep the trees close to your home for shade, you don't want that close to your home.
HOLMES: Look at that. We saw a video there of people as well at their homes, standing there that close to the flames. Flames really next door, literally. You know they've been telling people to evacuate and of course some stick around and try to save what they can, try to save their homes. Firefighters are working the best they can. This is a live picture we're looking at again out of Brevard County, you can see just -- can you imagine being that homeowner right now, having those flames that close to your house and just being helpless right now to be able to do anything to stop it.
MYERS: And way too many hot spots for a firefighter to get there. This fire just started four minutes ago. There's no way to get a firefighter there or a fire truck there, it's already on another fire.
HOLMES: And again, because of the way the winds are blowing right now, we have one particular area here right now that's on fire, but like you said, it can send those embers to other places, and different neighborhoods, other places around this area could spark up and have fires.
MYERS: Wait until you see some of the video we're just getting in now from WJLA up near Washington, D.C. where it is flooding everywhere. We just can't spread the rain out.
HOLMES: All right, Chad Myers, we appreciate you keeping us updated on the conditions there. And again, people we are keeping an eye on what's happening there in Florida with those wildfires.
KEILAR: It's our top story today, panic grips parts of China. A major earthquake with aftershocks continuing. Thousands of people are dead. We have the latest coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: All right, we are monitoring weather here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're dealing with flooding in Maryland, if I can just pull up some information here. Actually --
HOLMES: And on the other side of the screen there we are certainly a juxtaposition of two different stories there. You have too much water in one place, not enough in the other. On the left side of your screen, you're watching what's happening in Brevard County, Florida right now. We're keeping an eye on several brush fires that are taking place there. What you're seeing, people trying to save their homes.
Some of these fires have made their way into neighborhoods and are threatening homes. Haven't gotten reports yet of homes being destroyed but these fires are being fueled by some hot windy and some dry weather going on there. They're in the dry season and they haven't had a lot of rain. They don't expect any anytime soon but these are live pictures we are getting that are showing just what you see there. People trying to do the best to save their homes. Evacuations have been ordered, but as we see so many times in situations like this, looks like literally somebody is dipping water out of an above ground pool and trying to toss it on some of the flames back there.
Surely firefighters do not recommend this. However, you know people are just desperate in times like this and trying to do what they can to save their homes. But we're keeping an eye on this story in Florida.
KEILAR: And what we're also watching, the flooding there in Maryland, this is in the Upper Marlboro area. It's creating as you can see there huge traffic jams on the road. These pictures coming to us from WJLA. What's so interesting about what is going on here, Chad Myers, is that this is part of the weather system that we've seen coming across the nation. Isn't that right?
MYERS: Yes. This is the rain that moved up from the storms. This is almost the head of the comma. The tail of the comma is where all the tornadoes were. Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, then the Carolinas. The head of the storm now that made all of the rain, this is where it just came on shore, around and around and around. It's been raining for hours up here.
This is up near Upper Marlboro, almost like downtown where the P.G. County Equestrian Track is. That right there, you'll even see where 301 and 4 come together, right there at that intersection if he zooms out. But, boy, the water just coming up here. It's not going to be only in this area. If you're in a low-lying area anywhere in Maryland, Virginia, although Virginia getting out of it a little bit.
But back up into to Pocono's, Adirondack, up into New England, you'll have to watch that water level because the rain has been going for so long, that we certainly could be seeing flooding in all major or minor rivers, creeks and streams there, and certainly you're seeing those cars trying to drive through that water in the street. We highly don't recommend that.
KEILAR: That's right. That's not the smart thing to do, because then you end up having to get rescued. Very bad situation.
MYERS: Turn around, don't drown they say.
KEILAR: Turn around don't drown. Very good advice Chad. Thanks very much.
HOLMES: All right, and also to Myanmar now, and finally the government there is letting a U.S. planeload of supplies into that country. Plenty more relief where that came from, the big question though, will Myanmar's government let the world in to continue to help?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: And again, taking you to a live picture, a picture that is filled with smoke and you can't make out much of this neighborhood right now because of the conditions there, but we're watching wildfires that have broken out there in the state of Florida, really in the central Atlantic coast of Florida. We're watching this from Brevard County where fires have broken out, several wildfires being flamed and fueled by hot, dry, windy conditions. We have been watching these pictures, hoping we would not see one of these and here we go, a home, apparently here on fire in Brevard County. Again, this is what they were trying to avoid.
People have been evacuated from several neighborhoods, hundreds of people. But we've been watching these live pictures from the past half hour or so watching firefighters, watching homeowners trying to keep these flames away from their homes and here we are now, sure enough somebody is losing a home as we speak here right now.
Again, as Chad Myers was describing and as we've seen in so many fires, sometimes the windy conditions can carry embers into other neighbors and land on homes and start fires. So it doesn't necessarily mean that this fire crept up on the home. Something could have blown over and landed on the roof and started this fire. We just don't know, but just a mess.
And the governor there of Florida now has declared a major disaster and a state of emergency because of the wildfires that are now threatening the entire state of Florida. So that has happened now. So a serious situation there and just a horrible -- it's always heart-wrenching to do these stories and watch these and to watch someone's home like this go up in flames. But you see just how intense and fully-engulfed this home is, in particular here now. We saw just a short time ago, people literally at their homes, feet away from the flames, dumping water on those flames themselves, dumping water out of their swimming pool with buckets, trying to toss the water on to the homes and on to the fire.
Again, not something firefighters recommend, but people in desperate times try to do all they can to save their home. Nothing could be done apparently in this situation to save this home, but hundreds have been evacuated.
Again, we're talking about pretty good wind gusts. We're talking about dry conditions, hot conditions, an area that is not getting rain, has not seen rain and should not expect rain anytime soon. We're keeping an eye on the situation and the fires happening there in Brevard county and other parts of the central Atlantic coast of Florida. But just heart-wrenching to see, to have to watch someone's home go up in flames like this.
KEILAR: Here's the latest on that earthquake that rattled most of China. The Chinese government is trying to rush help to the worst- hit areas, but a number of roads are blocked. The official death toll has passed 8,600. That is according to state-run Chinese news. Within the past hour, the U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.9, not 7.8 as reported before, 7.9. Of course, this is a major, major earthquake that we're talking about. With more now for us from Hong Kong, CNN's Kyung Lah -- Kyung.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, we are hearing about the power of this earthquake now from eyewitness reports on the ground. We're hearing the very latest on an interview on a Chinese television station from a police captain. We've been talking about how long it's been taking for them to get to the epicenter, relief workers trying to reach the epicenter that's populated by about 112,000 residents.
Well, that police captain says that they are now 40 miles away. The reason it's been taking so long? Roads are completely cut off. They're now walking. There are mountain landslides, rain and aftershocks. So certainly very slow going getting to that epicenter, one of the hardest-hit areas and the Chinese government has already braced the public to say that they do expect that that death toll of about 8600 will likely rise.
Now, also on Chinese media, survivor was interviewed talking about Beichua (ph) County. He said that it was a scene of horror, that the entire area was razed to the ground. Other reports we're hearings is that that area has about 80 percent damage to all of its structures. As far as U.S. involvement Brianna, we are hearing from President Bush. He says that the U.S. will help in any way possible. But so far, a top U.S. aide says that Beijing has not formally requested any help -- Brianna.
KEILAR: And Kyung, one of the most tragic parts of this whole story is the schools, the schools where some students are trapped. What can you tell us about that?
LAH: That school that you're talking about is about 900 students. We have heard about this hours ago, have been watching the progress of it. The very latest is that the news has pretty much been the same. The students were in school. It was 2:30 in the afternoon when the earthquake hit and the building just collapsed on them. It was a high school. All the students and 900 of them reportedly were inside.
So far, rescuers have pulled about 50 bodies from the rubble. As far as how many of them survived, we just don't have any good reporting on that yet, Brianna.
KEILAR: All right. We'll stay tuned for that. Kyung Lah for us out of Hong Kong, thank you.
HOLMES: About an hour ago, we heard from a student in the city of Chongqing. I-reporter Colin Jones gave us the feel of the city, which was very close to the epicenter of this earthquake.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VOICE OF COLIN JONES, CNN i-REPORTER: There's a lot of people in shock around here. The school where I go to, the entire soccer field and the track area is full of people right now. They're sleeping outside. Some people are sleeping inside their homes tonight, but a lot of people have decided to stay outside tonight. They're kind of afraid to go back in their homes, although nothing's really been said about not going back into your home. Just people decided to stay out tonight.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HOLMES: Again, that was Colin Jones who spoke to us about 2:30 a.m. local time. That was about 12 hours after the quake hit.
KEILAR: The U.S. is offering another $13 million in aid to Myanmar. This announcement follows the first U.S. aid flight into that cyclone-battered country.
CNN's Sara Sidner reports this may be just the beginning of American help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military loaded up its C-130 plane in Thailand for a mission it has been waiting to execute for more than a week. After long negotiations, Myanmar's military government agreed to accept help from the United States. This is the first U.S. aid flight into cyclone-racked Myanmar. Two pallets of mosquito netting, two pallets of water and one pallet of blankets. That is all that's going on to the C-130 into Myanmar.
But the U.S. military is hoping that this will be a mission that builds trust so that much more aid can be brought in to help the people of Myanmar.
LT. COL. DOUG POWELL, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It's not a whole lot of stuff, but it's the first step. Today one flight, tomorrow two flights, and the hope is that this -- what we're doing today, what we're doing tomorrow will allow us to do more.
SIDNER: The U.S. military says it can supply as much as 200,000 pounds of aid per day and fast, if it gets permission from Myanmar's generals. The first U.S. aid flight left (INAUDIBLE) Thailand and arrived in Myanmar about an hour later. This is exclusive CNN video of the arrival in Myanmar. The U.S. hopes the aid will reach the desperate victims of the storm still waiting for clean water, shelter and food. While relief supplies are getting to some of the storm survivors, the United Nations says it is nowhere near enough.
RICHARD HORSEY, U.N. OFFICE OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: The authorities of the country need to open up to an international relief effort. There aren't enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the country to run the relief effort of the scale we need. So it's urgent that the authorities do open themselves up, not just by allowing goods into the country, not just by expediting visas, but also allowing these logistical assets to come in.
SIDNER: American officials say with the assets the U.S. military has in neighboring Thailand, the U.S. has the capability to help get aid to remote, hard-hit areas. Other nations and aid agencies have been unloading supplies into Myanmar for days now. But the junta has imposed major restrictions.
British aid agency (INAUDIBLE) warns that without immediate and massive aid operations, more than 1 million people could be affected by a wider humanitarian crisis. For now, the struggle to survive continues. But as the monsoon season looms, the situation could easily deteriorate even further.
Sara Sidner, (INAUDIBLE) Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And we know that you may want to help. At CNN.com, we have a special page on the devastation in Myanmar. It is complete with links to reputable aid agencies that are organizing help for this region. This is a chance for you to impact your world, to let us be your guide.
HOLMES: As we know, nothing is really guaranteed in politics, but you might want to put your money on Hillary Clinton tomorrow at least in the West Virginia primary. It appears that one is pretty much a done deal for her. Whether it will matter though is another matter entirely.
CNN's Sean Callebs previews the contest and the issues that matter to West Virginia voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He may be looking more and more like the Democratic nominee, but in West Virginia, it is Barack Obama who is playing catch-up.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe in our ability to perfect this nation.
CALLEBS: Here in this labor intensive blue collar state, Hillary Clinton's message plays well.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to get rid of any provision in the tax code that gives a penny to anybody who exports a job out of West Virginia.
CALLEBS: And at the American Legion lodge in Huntington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a fighter.
CALLEBS: You'll find a group who may not agree on issues, but all want to see the next president help stimulate their state's economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: West Virginia has a lot of assets. We educate our people, and then we export them because we don't have jobs here.
CALLEBS: The latest census figures show West Virginia ranks 48th in household income, ahead of only Mississippi and Louisiana. Steel, coal and other industries have seen jobs erode here. The population is dwindling as well. But they say bills just keep going up. RED DAWSON, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: The cost of health care is -- is out of sight, just like gasoline.
CALLEBS: In West Virginia, gas tops $3.85 a gallon. The plea from candidates for people like Charity Conner find a way to put more money in her pocket.
CHARITY CONNER, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: This is not good. I'm a stay at home mother of two children and my husband provides is the only income and this is very hard on us. Gasoline - and not just gasoline -- groceries, clothing, everything's went up.
CALLEBS: And as you may imagine from guys who gather at the American Legion, America's armed forces are on their minds.
JONATHAN BROWN, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: I think the problems of West Virginians are the problems that we have all over the country and that we're trying to build a nation overseas in Iraq when we ought to be trying to build this nation, rebuild this nation.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, Huntington, West Virginia.
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HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break, but we'll tell you what we're working on and the information we'll bring you after the break. This is a live look at fires happening in Brevard County, Florida, where several homes have been threatened and now several homes are being destroyed.
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KEILAR: Well, graduation is right around the corner and Ali Velshi has tips to help pay down those student loans.
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ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Graduation is close for many college seniors and the prospect of paying off college loans can be daunting.
HILARY KRAMER, AOL MONEY COACH: The most important objective is to pay down your loans. You want to make sure that you don't have that interest that's compounding. One of the ways to do it is just apply as much money as possible to pay off the loan, to pay off the principal. You can also consolidate. Look for a credible organization, credit card company or bank that will allow you to do that.
VELSHI: If your student loans are with one lender, you are required to consolidate with that lender. But if you have loans with more than one lender, you have more options. Check out the Federal direct consolidation information center at www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov. And whether you consolidate or not, be sure to keep up with your payments. KRAMER: The key is to not have it hanging over your head because if you get behind in any of your debt payments, it will affect your long-term credit rating, which means you will ultimately pay more when you go for a mortgage or loan for a car.
VELSHI: And that's this week's "Right on Your Money."
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HOLMES: Once again, we want to tell you that we're keeping an eye on wildfires that are happening in Brevard County, this is the one you're looking at, Brevard County, Florida. You can see there one home being destroyed. We're on top of this story. We'll have more after the break.
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HOLMES: And we thought we were supposed to be narrowing the field, but less than six months to Election Day, the race widens. Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, we recognize that face. He has announced today that he is running for president as a Libertarian. He joins me now from Washington, D.C.
Congressman, thank you for being here. There's been plenty of talk out there that some were pressuring you not to do this.
Are you getting pressure from the GOP, anybody from the GOP not to run?
BOB BARR (L) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, not anymore. We made it official today that I am a candidate for the presidency of the United States on the libertarian ticket. But certainly there were some Republican operatives that spoke to me prior to my decision today over the last month or so since I formed an exploratory committee.
HOLMES: Do you understand their concerns, why they don't want you to run, feel like you're going to take maybe some support from John McCain?
BARR: Well, I understand their concerns. What's been most interesting about virtually every one of these people that's talked to me is they all indicated that they understood why I would be running. Many of them indicated they would be supportive of me if I did run, but they would prefer for me not to, because it could throw the proverbial monkey wrench into the electoral equation.
HOLMES: Do you understand that argument and even for you, suppose you do take some votes away from John McCain, a Democrat ends up in the White House. Isn't that counterproductive to what you would really like to happen?
BARR: Well, it's never counterproductive if you get into an electoral race for the right reasons at the right time and present a positive message to the American people of smaller government, lower taxes, tax reform for example, which is precisely our platform. The opposition from some Republicans really stems from the arrogance of believing that the Republican Party and the Democrat Party are the only parties that can field candidates.
The American people more and more are not so wedded to the two parties and really I think this cycle in particular are looking for and would be amenable to a third party candidate that presents a solid, positive message for them.
HOLMES: And sir, you talk there about the Democrat, the Republican Party, this idea that these are the two only two that can field candidates. But right now, is it reasonable to say that they are the only two parties that can field the candidates that can win. Are you in this to win it? Do you really believe you can win or do you know that you're getting into this to try and send some kind of a message?
BARR: No, I'm not interested in being a spoiler. I'm interested in being a competitor, which I've been all my life. I believe that there is a dramatic change that we need to make in our political and economic system to reduce government power and control over peoples' lives. I think has a message that resonates with more and more Americans and I think there is a real chance that with myself as the candidate for the Libertarian Party, presenting that positive message, that there's a real opportunity to dramatically change the dynamics and possibly win this race.
HOLMES: And, before you do that and get to that point, you still have another major hurdle, which is the Libertarian convention, the convention happening in Denver later on this month, because there is another name on the ticket there, Mike Gravel, former senator who is also running as a Libertarian. So you still have a fight on your hands there.
BARR: Absolutely and nothing ever comes free in politics and that's fine with me. We're very confident that we will get the Libertarian Party nomination over the Memorial Day weekend, but that's not something we take for granted. We're working very hard to ensure that that happens.
HOLMES: All right, former congressman from Georgia here, Bob Barr and now a presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party. We appreciate you giving us some time. We'll see you on the, I guess the short campaign trail for you right now heading into the convention, but possibly see you on the trail after that. Thank you so much, sir.
BARR: Look forward to it.
KEILAR: Wildfires in Florida are threatening homes there. We're talking about east central Florida. You're looking at pictures here coming to us from WESH. This is Brevard County. Several fires we're talking about, but this one in particular is giving firefighters quite a bit of trouble. This is the biggest one, 2300 acres. We will have more after a short break.
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KEILAR: We've got wildfires in Florida to tell you about, threatening homes. You can see right here, just moments ago, a home in Florida, this I believe is in Brevard County, going up in flames. We're talking east/central Florida here folks. We've got hot, dry, windy weather. This could fan several fires that are burning in the area, four blazes, in fact scorching more than 3,000 acres in two counties. Hundreds of people have had to flee their homes. If you're a firefighter here, what you want is rain and you want these winds to die down.
Chad Myers in the CNN weather center.
Any chance of either here?
MYERS: Well, the winds die down around 8:00 tonight at sunset. It's called decoupling the atmosphere, the winds aloft decoupled from the surface and then these gusts that we're getting now up to 28 miles per hour, they go away. We'll still get winds, five to 10 miles per hour, but that's not a wind that will cause sparks and embers to jump ahead of the fire line. And although right now I don't see a fire line at all. This is 100 percent completely out of control.
The firefighters -- there are too many hot spots for them to get a hold of any of them at this point. Right now I'm looking at Melbourne, you're 87 degrees. Your relative humidity is 20 percent. Your winds are out of the west, gusting to 26 miles per hour -- Brianna.
KEILAR: All right, not good news at least for right now. Chad, thanks very much. And the closing bell is about to ring here on Wall Street.
HOLMES: So our good friend Stephanie Elam standing by with the final look at the trading day.
It's the end of the day and I'm finally getting to say hello to you Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, better late than never, right at this point. Hey, T.J. and Brianna.
That's right. We've got a nice rally here on Wall Street today, a nearly $2 drop in oil prices and the strength in the dollar actually helped spur Wall Street to the green side of the scale.
Also we do have this news coming. There's a report out, "Wall Street Journal" reported that perhaps Hewlett-Packard is reportedly close to a deal to buy Electronic Data Systems for more than $12 billion. We're looking to probably hear on that after the bell. So we'll be keeping our eyes on it.
As for the markets over all, looking pretty good here. We've got more than 1 percent gains across the market. Techs really did help out the markets here today and that was a big jump there. The Dow up 131 points, 12,877. NASDAQ up over 1.5 percent at 2,486.
Don --
See, I'm trained. T.J. and Brianna, have a good afternoon.
HOLMES: Of all people --
ELAM: I'm never going to hear the end of that.
HOLMES: Of all people, Stephanie. That was terrible.
KEILAR: That's OK. We're going to forgive her.
HOLMES: All right. We're now going to head over to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.
Good afternoon, sir.
