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Hurricane Dolly Battering the South Texas Coastline; Toyota Worldwide Sales Overtook General Motors
Aired July 23, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
You'll see events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Wednesday morning, July 23rd.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Hurricane at the door. Dolly busting ashore today in south Texas. Its strong winds and stinging rain being felt right now.
HARRIS: Will Rio Grande levees hold? We have three reporters covering Dolly plus updates from our Severe Weather Center, in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Want to get you started this morning with the very latest. Southern Texas already feeling the effects of Hurricane Dolly. The biggest concern right now, flooding.
As much as a foot of rain could fall as the storm moves closer to the coast. Thousands of people have moved into hurricane shelters in Texas and Mexico. An immigration detention center in Port Isabelle, Texas has been cleared out. Detainees were sent to other centers around the state. More than 1,200 Texas Army National Guard troops are on stand-by.
We are covering the hurricane from all angles. Our Reynolds Wolf is on South Padre Island in Texas. Ed Lavandera is in Brownsville, right along the Texas-Mexico border, and CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano tracking the storm in the Severe Weather Center.
We want to begin with South Padre Island, an unprotected strip of land off the Texas coast. A big destination for vacationers.
Reynolds Wolf has been taking quite a beating this morning. He joins us now live from the island.
Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I'll tell you, Heidi, we had a little bit of a break in the action in terms of the rainfall. It's now starting to go back in, the wind, no let-up whatsoever. In fact, since we started here just a few hours ago -- we started here a few hours ago, it was maybe around 40, maybe a few gusts to 50.
But I can tell you, as the storm has been edging ever closer to the coastline, the intensity has begun to pick up.
Here we go, a little bit of a breather.
Also, a side note for those of you returning from home, every now and then during this broadcast on and off throughout the day you might hear something that sounds like a train whistle, a piercing whistle. What we have up on the roof of a building, you can't see, is a little piece of metal.
And as the wind goes underneath this, it's almost -- it looks like it's about to lift that metal and take it right off the building, you've been hearing that piercing noise. So if it happens, be advised.
I'm sure that kind of scene just pulling up and down this island. And keep in mind that South Padre Island is just a little sliver of sand that separates the Gulf of Mexico from the mainland of Texas.
We are isolated on this island. The bridges that connect this island to the mainland were actually shut down last night. When the wind exceeds 39-mile-per-hour, tropical storm force, they sealed the island. So we are going to be stuck here for the duration.
Now being on this island, obviously, we're surrounded by water. Take a look at -- just over my shoulder. You can see the waves, plenty of wave action. Yesterday there was a decent beach. Now there's not much of a beach at all.
You'll see dunes covered with the saw grass in the water coming in, much of it just white water at this point. It is an amazing thing to see all blown by this heavy, heavy rainfall.
Now, Heidi, you nailed the fact earlier. You're talking about the big threat here. It's not just the wind, of course, but the flooding. The flooding is going to be the key thing.
Let's give you some numbers in terms of what we can anticipate here on the island. On the island, we could see, say, anywhere, say, from four to six inches of rainfall, maybe some isolated places you get inland could really exceed that, maybe even up to ten, maybe even over a foot of rainfall in spots like Brownsville, Texas.
That is a huge concern. In fact, Texas, who we've all always had great memories, can hearken back to 1967 when Hurricane Beulah made land fall south of this point and brought over three feet rain, three feet of rainfall over to parts of Brownsville.
Now the big worry today is that back then had you 58 people that lost their lives. The concern has to do with the levees in the area of Brownsville, because there are many that believe that those levees really can't hold back another three feet of water, even a foot or so of water. So that's a tremendous concern. They've been working around the clock trying to reinforce these barriers with sandbags. So that is something they're keeping their fingers crossed on.
Let's send it back to you in the studio.
COLLINS: Hey, Reynolds, I know it's kind of tough to talk because of the wind that's blowing so hard, but if it's possible, remind me what you said about the bridge. You said they close down a bridge and so everyone there, where you are now, has to stay put?
WOLF: Absolutely. We're staying put. We have to. The bridge, the artery, that goes back to the mainland, they closed it down when the winds exceed 39 miles per hour. That's the standard operating procedure here. And that happened last night.
As soon as that happened, if you happened to be on the island, you're not going anywhere. You're staying put. That's obviously the story for the crew here. We're in a two-story building that we secured just yesterday. This is going to be, I guess you could say, the South Padre Island bureau for the time being.
This is going to be home for us for a couple of days as we watch the storm come on through. It is a scary to think about. Obviously Governor Rick Perry of Texas certainly agrees. He's already declared 14 counties disaster areas.
The National Guard already has staging areas in Austin, San Antonio...
COLLINS: Yes.
WOLF: ... and in Houston. So they're certainly preparing for the worst.
COLLINS: All right, so...
WOLF: Let's send it back to you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So we want you to stay safe, obviously. But the other people who are on the island, everybody's gone, everybody's off, because that bridge is closed? I believe so.
OK. All right, Reynolds, we will check back with you later. Stay safe. Thank you.
HARRIS: Brownsville, Texas is bracing for those feared floods. People using sandbags to try to protect their homes.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us in Brownsville this morning.
And, Ed, you know it is a question that we just can't answer yet -- will the Rio Grande levees hold today?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, that's going to take some time to determine. I think, Tony, the initial intensity, the intense rains and winds starting to be felt now in the Brownsville area.
We're about 25 miles inland from where Reynolds is so we have quite a bit of a buffer and a protection in terms of the intensity so far. But as Hurricane Dolly continues to move inland and move on shore, of course, the winds and the rain will begin to intensify here in the coming hours.
But, of course, it's a slow-moving storm so that means the longer this storm lingers over this portion of the Rio Grande Valley, those -- these rains continue to fall here on the area, and the floodwaters will continue to rise and the Rio Grande will continue to rise as Reynolds briefly mentioned.
There is some concern that portions of the levee throughout this part of the Rio Grande valley might not be able to hold back all of the water. The question will become whether or not this floodwaters will spill out into farmlands or into residential areas.
So many of the county officials throughout this region on high alert and to be able to watch out for that they've urged many residents in some of these low-lying areas to evacuate. We've heard several numbers, close to like 100, 200 people have taken advantage of the shelters throughout the various cities here in the Rio Grande Valley.
So we'll continue to monitor that. But this is one of these effects that probably won't be seen until later in the day at the earliest. As you know, you spend a lot of time, a lot of rain has to fall on here for these floodwaters and the flooding to begin.
So even though the storm might pass here in the coming hours they're still going to be watching that as everything that is falling upstream from where we are here on the river has to come back downstream. So they'll be watching that closely -- Tony?
HARRIS: And you'll be watching it for us.
Ed Lavandera for us in Brownsville, Texas.
Ed, appreciate it, thank you.
COLLINS: Rob Marciano standing by now in the Weather Center. We know Dolly is currently a Category 1 hurricane, winds at 85 miles per hour. Obviously, this could all change and the flooding situation, Rob, put it in perspective for us.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the thing is hitting the brakes and it's getting to an area where, you know -- between what's going on in Mexico as far as hills go and the drainage into the Rio Grande. When you talk about 10, 15 inches of rainfall, that's going to be a big problem.
But that's later today and into tomorrow so we won't to have to deal with it. A more immediate concern is this developing eye, an eye wall. Hurricane Hunter aircraft have been in and out of this thing on a 20 to 30-minute basis. And the latest indications are that the winds are now 95 miles an hour at the surface.
They are saying that there is a little bit of breaking apart of the southern eye wall but other than that, this is a well put-together system, and only about 30 miles to the east-south-southeast of Brownsville.
There he is, all these rain bands very well attached and spiraling around this system. This is a classic hurricane structure and it is over waters that are still 80-plus degrees so strengthening is still possible over the limited real estate that it has to work with before it makes land fall.
Tropical storm warnings north of Corpus Christi, south of Corpus Christi. We've got hurricane warnings and we've already seen winds to almost hurricane strength in southern Texas.
Port Isabelle reporting a 72-mile-an-hour wind gust. And down the south into parts of Mexico, 55-mile-an-hour wind gust. Brownsville proper, 50-plus knot wind gust there.
So we're starting to feel the effects of this certainly beyond tropical storm force winds. And I would suspect that hurricane force winds will start to pepper the coastline. That would include where our Reynolds Wolf is, as the northwestern eye wall begins to make its way on shore.
Hurricane winds extend 25 miles out in all directions so it's pretty tightly packed. But tropical storm force winds out, over 120, 140 miles an hour in either direction.
We got to remember, we have the (INAUDIBLE) tornado, tornado watch box in effect until 11:00 this -- morning especially in the northern part of this storm. That's where the most action, that's where the strongest part of the storm typically is.
You combine this movement with the winds, the spiraling motion, and also the forward motion of the storm itself, and this is what we call the bad side or the dirty side of the storm and folks who live Corpus -- or from South Padre Island northward are going to feel the brunt of this. But still the southern part of the eye looks like -- it looks to be reforming just a little bit.
Our rainfall, as you mentioned, big time throughout the next 48 hours. So that's going to be an ongoing problem. Wind -- our wave action and storm surge as well.
If we have that shot from Corpus Christi, let's take a look at it. They're not going to see nearly the wind but they will see battering waves all the way up towards Houston. You can kind of see the way those swells are moving, we are looking towards the northwest, no swells are moving from north to south.
Giving you an idea of what kind of -- what the wind direction is up around Corpus Christi. It is likely around due north to south, which is typical with this type of situation. Again, 95-mile-an-hour winds. We bump that up by one mile an hour and we get a Category 2 storm. And that's very, very possible the next couple of hours.
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes, it looks like it from where we're seeing, where Reynolds is standing, certainly.
HARRIS: Got a quick question. Should we take care of a little housekeeping here? You know what, Rob? Can you explain -- help us explain -- we're squeezing back the picture a little bit. And we've got all kinds of information.
Can you help us sort of understand what we're doing here?
MARCIANO: Yes. I mean what you see there on the -- I guess, the right side of your screen there is just rolling information, very specific as it comes in to...
HARRIS: Very good.
MARCIANO: ... the hurricane headquarters from the reconnaissance aircraft and the National Hurricane Center and any other information that we can throw in there given wind speeds and temperatures and the direction of it.
HARRIS: Sure.
MARCIANO: And that's all going to be highlighted even when we're not -- when we're showing you other news throughout the morning. So even when we're giving you the other news of the day, we'll have the hurricane information here from hurricane headquarters.
HARRIS: Very good.
COLLINS: Perfect.
All right, Rob. Thank you.
MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE)
HARRIS: You know it makes sense today -- it certainly does -- when the weather becomes the news, as it is today, at the top, the bottom, the middle of this newscast, to be sure, remember to send us your iReports. Just go to ireporter.com or type ireporter@CNN.com in your cell phone.
As always, we remind you here to be safe.
COLLINS: Quickly want to give this information out to you. President Bush says he will sign a bill designed to help hurting homeowners.
Our Elaine Quijano is covering this story for us this morning, joining us now live from the White House.
Boy, this is pretty interesting news.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is interesting news, Heidi.
President Bush has essentially changed his mind on a housing bill that is aimed at restoring confidence in the housing market amid concerns about further instability in those markets.
The bill would allow the U.S. government to essentially bolster the mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by extending them a line of credit.
Now, initially, the Bush administration adamantly opposed a provision in the bill calling for $4 billion for grants saying, look, these grants are aimed at helping not ordinary people who are in trouble financially, homeowners, but bankers and lenders.
Well, now, in announcing the switch to reporters just a short time ago on the phone, White House press secretary Dana Perino explained the situation this way, saying that officials believe now is not the time for a prolonged veto fight. The risk of not having a bill until September is not a risk worth taking in the current environment.
And, Heidi, the House is expected to vote on this bill today. But again, this is big news considering the Bush administration has staunchly opposed that $4 billion provision, now saying, look, considering the current environment we do not want to wait. We'll go ahead and the president will, in fact, go ahead and sign that legislation -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, and in the press conference about this, I believe it was last week, the president sort of made a stipulation saying -- regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that, you know, it's not what a lot of people think. The fact is that these companies will still be privately owned.
Is that still how this is going to go?
QUIJANO: You know we're still looking for details but, of course, that is what the president's position has been, that amid criticism, that, look, this amounts to a bailout, it could cost taxpayers untold billions of dollars.
The president is adamant in saying this is a privately-held company that we will not necessarily have to actually extend the credit. But the idea being that the help is there if needed.
And with that would hopefully come confidence from the administration's perspective so people wouldn't feel so jittery about the housing market knowing that these giants, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, do, in fact, have backing of the government if need be. And that's what the administration's argument has been all along.
That kind of guarantee of help will essentially, they feel, be enough to calm things down in the housing market -- Heidi? COLLINS: All right. A lot more details to come out on this, I'm certain of that, and we will come back to you when you have them.
Elaine Quijano, thank you.
HARRIS: Mideast peace -- the focus of Barack Obama's international tour today. His latest stops, Israel and the West Bank.
CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley joins us now from Sderot, Israel.
Candy, Barack Obama -- and I got to tell you, we've said this each day of this trip -- is walking a fine line in this visit, particularly today trying to balance the interests of Israel and the Palestinians.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Of the places that we are going, he's headed to Europe, of course, after this.
Israel is, by far, the trickiest for Obama. It has proven so already on the U.S. campaign trail. He made remarks about Jerusalem that were taken very badly by Palestinians here. And he actually has three audiences. There are the Palestinians, the Israeli leaders, and U.S. voters at home.
This is why you're not going to see anything -- any bold initiatives, anything that could even be seen as controversial. What Barack Obama wants to do is to be able to leave Israel with pictures of him meeting with nearly every political leader in Israel, in Ramallah, meeting with Palestinian leaders.
He has those pictures. He is going here -- coming here to Sderot as we've said. So what he wants are these pictures at these iconic places for Israel, a quick visit into Ramallah, and then to leave here without making a major mistake.
So, again, you're not going to hear some big bold new initiative or anything that you might think is controversial -- Tony?
HARRIS: Candy, Sderot, appreciate the correction on the pronunciation. I've had four different ones so far today.
That is a town where you are right now that really has been at the center of some of the violence between Palestinians and Israelis, hasn't it?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And I must tell you, I got the pronunciation from our crack staff here in Jerusalem and in...
HARRIS: Well, thank you.
CROWLEY: But let me show you something. We are at a police station in Sderot, which -- what you're looking at here on camera are the remnants of rockets and mortar fire that have come into Sderot. And they've marked them each with the date. I am told that since Israel pulled out of Gaza, there have been more than 5,000 mortar and rocket hits in Sderot, which is only about a mile or so from Gaza. So this sort of typifies for the Israelis, and it's a sort of must-come spot for U.S. politicians, because it gives you a visual image of why there is such a need for security here, why the Israelis do live under a certain amount of tension.
And this is sort of living proof, just when you see the distance. We went up and looked at Gaza before we came here. I mean the distance is so short and you can tell because rockets can come in here, mortar fire comes in here, and this is the city, Sderot, that typifies that.
HARRIS: And Candy, Barack Obama scheduled to hold a news conference there at that location next hour?
CROWLEY: Right.
HARRIS: OK, Candy Crowley.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. Well, at least if he's not running late.
HARRIS: Yes. All right, Candy. Appreciate it. Thank you.
COLLINS: Town hall talk for John McCain. He's rallying voters in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania this morning. Then he will talk to reporters so we'll bring you live updates. And then later today McCain heads to New Orleans. He will meet with Louisiana governor and possible running mate Bobby Jindal.
HARRIS: Battering the south Texas coastline right now. Hurricane Dolly coming ashore today with damaging winds and fears of flooding. We will get a live update from Texas. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters.
HARRIS: Well, Texas governor Rick Perry already declaring a disaster in 14 counties. He's also ordered the Texas Army National Guards to be on stand-by.
Joining us now on the phone to talk about preparations is Colonel William Meehan, public affairs officer for the Texas military forces.
Colonel, thanks for your time this morning.
COL. WILLIAM D. MEEHAN, TEXAS MILITARY FORCES: Absolutely, Tony. Good morning.
HARRIS: Hey, good morning. Got to ask you, are you part of the Texas Task Force One Team?
MEEHAN: The Texas Task Force One Team is a search and rescue team that is an agency of the state of Texas. We support those. Those are fine rescue operations. HARRIS: Gotcha.
MEEHAN: So we support them.
HARRIS: OK. We talk about preparations all of the time. But tell us how your team prepares for, well, unfortunately, a day like it looks you're in store for today?
MEEHAN: Well, absolutely. And we have been preparing for this particular type of event for well over a year, especially down in the low-lying areas of what we call the Rio Grande Valley.
HARRIS: Yes.
MEEHAN: Very important, high-populated area and very important.
HARRIS: How concerned are you about, I guess, the Rio Grande levees holding today and what, if anything, can you do to give additional support to those levees?
MEEHAN: Well, specifically for the guard, we don't really focus at that kind of an issue.
HARRIS: Gotcha.
MEEHAN: In other words, the -- those levees. Where we're really focused at is supporting the first responders who are buckling down as the storm goes over them.
HARRIS: OK.
MEEHAN: So we -- go ahead.
HARRIS: No, I was just wondering, so give me a little more detail on what you are prepared to do and how you will assist those first responders.
MEEHAN: Sure. The governor called up 1,200 Texas military forces and so we have 700 who are on board now and it is pretty standard way of doing business. And we can call up to 1,200 as needed. We already have -- most of those folks have been arriving for the past two days.
And so we kind of look at these things, Tony, that they can go over a number of period, a number of days. So we can continue to draw on troops all the way up to -- you know for Katrina we had over 5,000. So...
HARRIS: And is it specifically sort of getting people out when they're in trouble, making sure that folks are aware of the evacuation orders, getting them supplies if they need them? Those kinds of areas of assistance?
MEEHAN: Well, the kind of missions that we're tasked to do are definitely after the storm passes, search and rescue, both ground teams and aviation teams. We can transport equipment, materials, supplies.
We have medical teams and shelter support teams all throughout that lower valley stationed right now. And so we're there as that storm passes over.
HARRIS: And, Colonel, do you feel like you're ready?
MEEHAN: Absolutely.
HARRIS: All right, Colonel William Meehan with us this morning, public affairs officer for the Texas Military Forces.
Thank you, sir.
COLLINS: Treating depression but suffering sexual side effects. Now new hope for women found in a little blue pill.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Covering the angles, uncovering the details, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: The little blue pill has done wonders for the sex lives of millions of men. And now researchers say it could help some women, too.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here now to talk more about this.
All right, what is this little blue pill?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the same blue pill, it's Viagra.
COLLINS: It's Viagra, yes.
GUPTA: It's the same blue pill that we're talking about here. What's interesting is that, men and women who take antidepressants, about half of them actually have significant sexual dysfunction, so profound, as a result of taking the medication that they want to stop taking the antidepressants.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: Which is, obviously, a bad idea. That's exactly who researchers are sort of targeting. They were looking around 100 women, so a small study, and it was funded by Pfizer, as well, I should point out.
They wanted to find women who were depressed, who are taking antidepressants, and then who wanted a boost with their sexual function. And what they found was that they gave them Viagra as well, and had a significant improvement, overall, in sexual function as compared to just taking a sugar pill or a placebo.
Now a couple of caveat, as you might imagine. One is that there are side effects from Viagra, the same side effects in men apply to women. So they get headaches, they get indigestion, they get flushing. And also, it doesn't impact sexual desire at all. These are two different things.
It improves sexual function but did not change sexual desire at all. This -- that's the same sort of effect it has on men.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. Well, does this really mean then that women should just be running out and asking their doctor for Viagra?
GUPTA: Well, you know, here's the thing. It's not FDA approved for that yet. And this was an early, small study. So most doctors will say, look, this is just FDA approved for men.
But some of the doctors we talk to do say, look, if I have a woman who's depressed, taking antidepressants, and having significant side effects sexually because of those, Viagra might be an option. And that's called off-label use.
But there are lots of different other medications that could potentially causing a problem as well so it's important for the doctor...
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: ... to sort of go through those medications and find out if there is another culprit in there.
COLLINS: Definitely. Whenever you're adding another medication you always wonder about...
GUPTA: That's right.
COLLINS: ... you know, mixing them.
GUPTA: Exactly. But whoever comes up with that Viagra for women, blockbuster, just a hunch.
COLLINS: Really, Sanjay Gupta. Giggle, giggle.
All right, thank you. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: All right. Thanks. Sure.
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm -- you didn't leave, did you? I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.
We are keeping an eye, of course, on Hurricane Dolly as the storm moves ashore along the Texas coast. We are also keeping an eye on the New York Stock Exchange. We believe that bell will be ringing any moment. And, boy, to call it a wild ride is probably a whole big understatement. But, yesterday, as well I'm sure you know, the Dow closed up significantly. At least for what's been happening over the last few days, weeks, I should say, up 135 points and will open at 11602 as we are waiting, waiting, wondering when that bell will go.
HARRIS: Well, we're wondering what might impact the markets...
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: ... what might move the markets today. Now we just learned a couple moments ago that the president has dropped his opposition to the housing bill that's been working its way, some would say, languishing in Congress. So the president will sign it. That vote that take place today in the House, then it goes to the Senate and there was (INAUDIBLE) out and...
COLLINS: Oil prices, too.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
COLLINS: Down, what is this, six days straight?
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: So we'll see what they're going to do with that. Obviously, has had a huge impact on what happens with the stock exchange and trading and all of those good things.
So there you have it, the opening bell. The clapping begins. I'm sure we'll hear the bell at any moment.
HARRIS: But if you're -- I think the piece that could actually impact the market today on the housing bill is that fact that there is a provision in that bill -- Heidi, you were just talking about that with Elaine just a moment ago.
There we go -- to provide a cash infusion if necessary for the mortgage giants Freddie and Fannie. So that could actually impact where we go at the open this morning.
Tracking Hurricane Dolly. We are watching the storm as it batters the coast of Texas and Mexico could face severe flooding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Working very hard over the weather center there. You can see, obviously, because of Hurricane Dolly hitting the Texas Coast now. You can see the leading edge of the storm over South Texas, the so-called beater bands bringing heavy winds and lots of rain and the threat of tornadoes.
Flood watches also in effect. Thousands of people in Mexico and Texas are staying in shelters now. Texas Governor Rick Perry already declared more than a dozen counties disaster areas. Corpus Christi, Texas on the northern edge of the warnings. They could get hit by the powerful eastern bands of the storm. Joining us on the phone now is Randy Sijansky, the emergency management director for Corpus Christi.
Randy, thanks for coming back on the show again today. Things look a little bit different than they did yesterday?
VOICE OF: RANDY SIJANSKY, CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR: Well, yes, they do. We started the outer rain bands starting about 4:00 Central Time. and so far, until the current time, we had around one inch of rain. We still have possibility of tropical funnels and brief tornadoes in this area and a possibility of one to three inches throughout the day.
COLLINS: Wow. So, obviously, you are worried about flooding there as well?
SIJANSKY: Well, that and also some of the winds that we're on the outer bands, tropical storm force winds up to maybe 30, gusting up to 50 at most. But, right now, we haven't experienced that yet.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, obviously you have to get through the front end of this thing first.
SIJANSKY: But all our beaches along the coast here around Corpus are impacted. The water is up to the dune. It is one to two foot above normal.
COLLINS: All right. So, what are you telling people in your area right now? What should they be doing?
SIJANSKY: Well, they should just be monitoring the news. Be careful. If they're driving to their destination throughout the city, watch for areas that are known to flood and just be careful.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we appreciate that. Randy, keep us updated, would you?
SIJANSKY: Sure will. Thank you.
COLLINS: Great. Coming to us from Corpus Christi, Texas emergency management director there. Thanks.
HARRIS: You know, many of the hurricane evacuations taking place just across the Texas border, Mexico.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck is live in Matamoros, Mexico this morning.
Harris, good to see you. If you would, where is Matamoros? How far south in relation to say Brownsville? And if you would, describe your conditions?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Matamoros is literally right across the border from Brownsville, Texas. This is a border city and it shares that line with the City of Brownsville across the border on the Mexican side.
Since yesterday, the authorities, federal (INAUDIBLE) authorities, have been urging people to go into shelters. There are no mandatory evacuation orders in place but about 23,000 people received a strong suggestion that they move from low-lying areas and from several fishing villages on the coast on the Gulf of Mexico to move into shelters.
The main concern, here, as it is north of the border is the fact that the storm is moving so slowly and it can bring a lot of rain and flooding to this area. This part of Northern Mexico is normally very, very dry. The land is not prepared to absorb a lot of water. So, the possibility of lots of flooding here is quite real.
The authorities, however, say they've taken all necessary precautions. As you can see it started to rain. The winds haven't picked up yet. The (INAUDIBLE) is out. People are out going about their normal business, but there is concern that these streets will be flooded in just a few hours.
Tony?
HARRIS: Harris, just a quick question. We are hearing a high degree of confidence from Texas officials and they are ready for Dolly. Are you hearing the same level of confidence that emergency officials in Mexico are ready for this storm?
WHITBECK: They say they are ready. And again, this part of the south of the border is not as populated as the southern part of Texas. So, that's obviously an important point.
The other issue, however, is that infrastructure on the southern part of the border is not as solid, if you will, as it is in Texas. So, that's why, when it comes to dealing with flooding or dealing with any damage, they might be a bit more difficult on this side of the border.
Tony, I've always said and I've covered hurricanes in Latin America for quite some time. Category One in the U.S. is a Category Two elsewhere just because of the infrastructure and the ability to respond to.
HARRIS: Interesting point. OK, Harris Whitbeck for us in Matamoros, Mexico. Harris, thank you.
COLLINS: Wow. Great point there.
Rob Marciano is in the weather center now. As we have said, currently, Dolly is Category One. But boy, it won't take much to go into Category Two.
Right, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. And you know, we get these great nuggets of information directly from the airplanes that are flying in to the system. It's just wild to me how we just get them like that.
The latest is while they've measured now. It is 965 millibars and match wind at 86 knots. At a slight level. That's in the northeast quadrant of this thing. That's down just a smidge, just a smidge from the last message that we received about 30 minutes ago. So, it has been strengthening. It is now a very, very strong Category One, almost Category Two with winds of 95 miles an hour. You've seen the eye pop here in the last couple of hours of this satellite loop imagery and getting very, very close to the shorelines of extreme southeast Texas.
Radar picking it up real well. You see these feeder bands all wrapping around. A well-defined circulation. I mean, this thing is just as define and put together in the southern quadrant as it is in the northern quadrant, if not, more. Nonetheless, the dirty side of the system because it has some momentum with the forward motion.
We tend to see the strongest winds there, the strongest surge, and the surge now we'll see anywhere from four to eight feet South Padre Island northward, almost towards Corpus Christi. A lot of wave action here as well. Although, the waves won't be huge because the way that the symmetry is of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm surge will be nothing to sneeze at here.
Hurricane warnings posted Corpus Christi down to Brownsville. Tropical storm warnings posted north of there. We still have the threat for tornadoes as well. Tornado watch box in effect until 11:00 later on this morning for the potential of seeing them spin off from this.
All right, just one more glance at this. Eye is 20 nautical miles wide. Hurricane winds extend out 25 miles in either direction in that. So, the coastline is probably right about now getting hurricane-force sustained winds right about where Reynolds Wolf is. He's going to get the southern eye wall. He may get into the center of the eye as well.
Actually, let me switch gears if I could. I don't know how much time I got left here. But this is pretty cool imagery here. I want to show you this.
Radar, 2D, we're going to go a little bit 3D on you. And you can see the well-define eye wall here. If that eye gets to where Reynolds is, right over him, he'll be able to likely see some sunshine. It will certainly stop raining. It will certainly stop being so windy. And you know, the birds might even come out and check it out. But nonetheless, you can see just how well-define that eye wall is.
Can you imagine a hurricane hunter aircraft punching through that eye wall, and just flying around and see that stadium effect of those clouds just all around you? Quite a sight to see. And some of the remarks that we've gotten from the hurricane hunter aircraft is how well-define the spiral bands are and at times how well-define that eye wall is as well.
COLLINS: The animation is terrific, too. Well, it gives you an idea.
HARRIS: Yes.
MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Look, we don't have anything more important, more pressing than what you're talking about. So, no, take your time. No question. Take your time. Give us all the animation. All the stuff that you have over there. Give us all you got, Rob!
MARCIANO: It is, you know -- it's just a fascinating thing to watch these things come on shore. And we get caught here between excitement and fear.
COLLINS: Right, exactly.
MARCIANO: In the end, folks' lives are turned upside down. If we get this to nudge a little bit farther to the north, we'll get it into an area that is not nearly as populated.
You go north of about here, from here to Corpus Christi, that's a lot of farmland here.
COLLINS: Right.
MARCIANO: And that part of Padre Island is really more of a refuge --wildlife refuge than it is a beach resort. So, this thing just doesn't want to move north, far north enough and that eye wall is just about to scrape the coastline. So, not the best scenario for the folks who live in Brownsville and South Padre Island.
HARRIS: Hopefully, they're on the move.
COLLINS: Yes, definitely. Certainly, let us know if we need to come back to you, Rob. Appreciate it.
MARCIANO: All right. You got it.
COLLINS: And now, your money, your concerns and the latest headlines of the nation's economy. The price of oil continues to slide down almost $20 a barrel now since last week. Those savings are trickling out of gas pump. AAA reporting the average for regular unleaded down more than a penny this morning to $4.04 a gallon. It is the sixth straight day of decline. So, some good news there.
Also, today on Capitol Hill, the House could vote on a mass of housing bill that would give an unlimited credit line to troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Also, more affordable mortgages for homeowners caught in the credit crisis a minute ago. We did just hear the White House announcing President Bush would sign that bill.
HARRIS: Last year, GM managed to hold on to the title of the world's leading automaker. Are things now changing?
Stephanie Elam, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Stephanie, you have some new figures for us?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Tony, I do. And it is getting to be a really close battle. At least, maybe, if you take a look at the latest information. It is not good news for GM.
Toyota, looks like their sales, worldwide sales overtook GM in the first half of this year. We're talking about selling 4.8 million vehicles. Toyota did between January and June of this year, whereas GM sold 4.5 million vehicles.
Now, if you compare Toyota's numbers to a year ago, we're talking about a gain of two percent. While for GM it was a loss of three percent. Some analysts think this widening gap here is going to continue. It is looking like it is in Toyota's favor to become the largest worldwide automaker at this point.
But, obviously, the economic pressures, the desire for Americans to get away from those gas guzzling SUVs, all of that hurting GM. At the same time demand out of emerging markets like China, Brazil, Russia where Toyota is building these plants. That's helping them to out pace them there on that. So, we should be hearing more about GM's second quarter results later on today. But that is where things stand right now.
Now, one thing you were just talking about that I have to mention, oil prices sliding. Now, we're down close to $18 from the high that we hit on July 14th. That was our all-time high. Oil still sliding again. Yesterday, off about $3.09 and continuing to go on to the downside today as well. So, we'll be keeping our eyes on light sweet crude. There you go. Nice little graphic. But, yes, continue to the downside.
HARRIS: We love it. All right, Stephanie. Good to see you.
ELAM: Good to see you, too. Thanks.
COLLINS: "BLACK IN AMERICA." The progress made, the challenges that remain, and the lives that hang in the balance. The differences and the disparities of health care.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Tonight CNN presents the first part of "BLACK IN AMERICA." A four-hour documentary examining successes and struggles 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Vast disparities remain between white and black America. And nowhere is it more evident than in the health care that sometimes separates life and death.
CNN's special correspondent Soledad O'Brien takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ambulance, a stretcher, an emergency room. For far too many blacks, this is health care in America.
Ms. Sabra Abdullah (ph) is 60 years old. For her, Harlem Hospital Center is all too familiar. Like so many others who are black, sick and poor, the ER is often their only access to health care. Injections, IVs, EKGs, dizziness, chest pain and tears.
It's a real struggle for you. Isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Are you all right? It's OK. It's all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been struggling to breathe.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: We thought you had a heart attack and a heart failure.
O'BRIEN: Dr. Icilma Fergus is the head of cardiology at Harlem Hospital Center. She sees it, the devastating impact of stress, poverty and sometimes accidents. Dr. Fergus believes all are key factors in explaining why blacks face a number of health disparities when compared to whites. Blacks are more likely than whites to die from cancer, strokes, asthma and heart disease.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN's special correspondent Soledad O'Brien joins us.
And, you know what? I'm not going to ask you what I was initially going to ask you, because in our little preset monitor, I had an opportunity to watch you watching that piece. And it just occurred to me, what do you think?
You have lived with this for what? 18 months now, working on this? And to be fair, you have done, as far as I can tell, all of the interviews for this special.
What do you think when you watch it on the day that it rolls out for everyone in the country to see?
O'BRIEN: We really wanted to tell the story of a lot of people's lives, not just the kind of what we often get in TV news about black people. So, one of the reasons I was smiling while I was watching that was that later in that documentary, I get to go back and see Ms. Abdullah (ph) when she's back at home. And she walks me through her neighborhood.
And she points out how easily 30 blocks for her to go get a fresh tomato, like a good tomato -- you know, always want to pick out and eat -- and she describes how the bus that she has to take, and then she's got to switch and go downtown, and her apartments in the middle of Harlem, in the middle of New York City. And you think here's a woman -- she's not in the greatest of shape, but so much better when she get out of the hospital. I think it's so hard for her to just go get a tomato.
HARRIS: Right.
So, for, you know -- I didn't do all the interviews. I did 99 percent of them. And, you know, it feels like we were able to tell a wide range of stories. Black people are not just rappers and basketball players.
HARRIS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We are doctors and lawyers and CEOs and rappers and basketball players and sometimes drug dealers and sometimes teachers. We're everything and we really wanted to show that scope in this documentary.
HARRIS: Well, that's interesting because that gets to why this documentary, why now. Because as you know some have suggested that it's because of the candidacy of Barack Obama running for president.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's been interesting coming, but not --
HARRIS: What do you think?
O'BRIEN: Yes, we didn't tie to that at all. Actually, we pre- dated his entry into the race by a lot. We started working on this project about 18 months ago when I left the morning show and started working on it.
And so, we really we're timing it to the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. And so, we ran the first part of that documentary on the day of the assassination. And then, for that, we thought -- well, obviously, you need to follow it. How are things today, 40 years later, where do we stand?
So, that was really the impetus, at the same time, some guy who is a senator in Illinois decided to get into a presidential race, and that was very interesting timing for us because, of course, it meant that there are a lot of conversations about race that were going on around him that had people discussing race, which was of course useful for us because we were interested in talking about race in this country today.
HARRIS: Let me ask -- it sounds tricky on the face of it, maybe it isn't. I'm sure you faced it in doing your reporting over the last 18 months on this. I've heard from folks, some black folks the suggestion that this documentary is really for white folks to get a sense of what --
O'BRIEN: That's so interesting. You know, and I've heard the exact opposite thing, which is -- well, you know, white people aren't going to watch this.
HARRIS: Is that what you heard? O'BRIEN: I guess I've done my work. No, you know, it's for everybody. I mean, as you well know, I don't have to tell you, a good story is a good story about human being and you connect through people. I mean, nobody looks at hoop dreams, that documentary, and says -- oh, that's a black story for black people. You say, that's a great story about a young man with a dream.
HARRIS: Right.
O'BRIEN: He happens to be black and plays basketball. So, that was really our goal. It was great stories, compelling characters, people who we wanted to hear from. It's so funny because I've heard all things, which as they, it must mean you're doing your job right if everybody is in disagreement about it.
HARRIS: Exactly. And if I could, just have you tee up tonight. We're talking about four hours. Tonight and tomorrow night.
O'BRIEN: Two hours tonight. So, tonight, we look at the black women and family. And then, tomorrow night, we take a look at the black man. So, 9:00 p.m. Eastern is when it airs.
Obviously, black man are part of the black family clearly, but we felt that there were some issues that we wanted to flesh out even more fully in the next two hours. So, two hours on the black women and family, two hours on the black men on Thursday.
HARRIS: All right. Soledad, great to see you.
O'BRIEN: Tony, always. Thank you.
HARRIS: Well, I've seen so much of it, but I can't wait to see it tonight with family and friends.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you. Tell them before they come to your house to turn their TVs on and then drive to your house.
HARRIS: Absolutely. Soledad, good to see you. Thanks for the time. Oh, boy.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Tony. Thank you.
HARRIS: Be sure to watch a special hour of "BLACK IN AMERICA." Your reaction tomorrow at noon Eastern, stream live, on CNN.com. Soledad gets you reaction to her special documentary and she will share some of your iReports. It's a special hour, stream live, tomorrow, noon Eastern right here on CNN.
COLLINS: Back to the news of the day. We're watching Hurricane Dolly and so are our iReporters. We're going to show you what they've found in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: It would help if I waited for folks to turn the mike on before I -- all right, you already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 a.m. until noon Eastern. But did you know you can take us anywhere? Of course, you know it by now. You can take us anywhere on our iPod. The CNN NEWSROOM daily podcast, available to you 24/7, right on you iPod.
COLLINS: Battering the South Texas coastline right now. Hurricane Dolly coming ashore today with damaging winds and fears of flooding.
HARRIS: And lots to cover on the political front this morning. Barack Obama is scheduled to hold a news conference in Israel. John McCain is live in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for a town hall meeting. We are checking in on those events for you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the run down.
Dolly battering down on South Texas. Hurricane force winds already being felt. The storm could get even stronger before land fall.
