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Storms Hit Eastern Seaboard; Red Cross In Debt

Aired September 06, 2008 - 10:00   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 to you all from the CNN Center, your hurricane headquarters. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM this morning where we've been keeping an eye on a couple major storms. It's September 6th, I'm T.J. Holmes.
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jennifer Westhoven in for Betty Nguyen. It's 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta and along the eastern seaboard, two big stories we're following this morning, Hanna and Ike. Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall early this morning. Lots of flooding, power outages. Tens of thousands of people in the Carolinas are without electricity at this hour. Also happening right now, evacuation orders in effect for parts of Florida with Hurricane Ike on the way. Tourists are being told to leave the Florida Keys, get out and some residents are right behind them.

A new advisory on Hurricane Ike is due about an hour from now. It's currently a category 3 hurricane. Ike appears to be making a beeline for southern Florida. Stores like Home Depot have brought in extra shipments of plywood, gas cans, flashlights, batteries, everything that people need during an emergency. People all along Florida's Atlantic Coast are already filling up sandbags and stocking up on gasoline, food and water and money, too. Don't forget to go out and get some money. Vacationers in the Florida Keys ordered to hit the road, get out. There is an evacuation in effect this morning. State and local officials warn that Ike could turn into a huge headache very soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: Rapidly into a dangerous, powerful storm as you know. And the official forecast has much of the Florida peninsula and panhandle within the five-day cone of error for landfall. There's always uncertainty with these forecast tracks as you're aware but forecasters tell us that Ike could threaten Florida by Tuesday. I urge all Floridians to use the next few days to be prepared. Our ability to prepare now will ensure everyone's safety later. A quick response prior to and following potential landfall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: That was Governor Crist this morning, making those remarks earlier. We do expect him to speak in just about 45 minutes. And we'll bring that news conference to you live when it begins as well.

HOLMES: As we have been reporting, people vacationing in the Florida Keys are being ordered to evacuate immediately. I want to head live now to one of our affiliate reporters, WFOR reporter Ted Scouten. He's in Key West there for us. Ted, good to see you there. A lot of people -- you know the vacationers, they don't mind leaving because they're going to their homes. Some people that live there kind of want to stick around to protect their homes. What are you seeing as far as evacuations go?

TED SCOUTEN, WFOR REPORTER: Well right now what's going on T.J. is that evacuation orders are in effect for tourists as well as residents. Take a look down here on Duval Street. You can see there are still people hanging out here right now but they are ordered to get out right now. That mandatory evacuation order for tourists went into effect just over an hour ago.

Now what these folks are going face as they try and get out of the Keys is they're going to see long gas lines as they try to gas up to drive up the overseas highway and they're going to see heavy traffic because keep in mind right now we're in Key West, which is the lower Keys. To get out of here you have to drive through all of the Keys with one way in and one way out. It gets very crowded especially as people in Marathon, Marada, Key Largo, all start to get on the road this morning to get out and up to the mainland into the Miami area.

Now as we said, what's making the lines even longer as well as the gas lines and the traffic lines is that residents are being asked to leave as well. Their evacuation doesn't officially start until tomorrow. So that's when we can also expect even more heavy traffic. As far as people who have flown in, it's the best idea for them to call their airline right now to find out what the status is because there's not a lot of flights in and out of here.

HOLMES: All right. Our Ted Scouten there for us, affiliate reporter WFOR in Key West as people are starting to make their way out. Ted, we appreciate you.

Ike is expected to reach Florida on Tuesday. That's a few days out. A little bit of warning here, but still not that much time to get ready. Residents in Pompano Beach, just north of Miami, they started filling up the sandbags yesterday. And even if Ike hits to the south, it's such a large storm right now that flooding is still possible over a pretty wide area. People across the region are definitely paying attention to this big sign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY SHIELDS, HOMEOWNER: You know, it just seems like from all of the things I've seen on the news, it just seems like this is the one to prepare for. So I'm going to take it serious and prepare myself according and protect my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: All right, let's go now from Ike to Tropical Storm Hanna. That is the storm we were watching when the morning began. God an early start here for everyone who wants to see the effects of it.

Hanna making landfall around 3:30 a.m. today right along the border between North and South Carolina. The high winds and heavy rain caused some immediate flooding problems on the coast and a little bit further inland into North Carolina. You're seeing some pictures here of Fayetteville. We also have been seeing tropical storm warnings all the way up the coast, all the way to Massachusetts. And Hanna moving quickly up the Eastern Seaboard right now.

We're going to watch all the angles on Hanna. Our Reynolds Wolf has been seeing some big waves out there on Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina. We've also got CNN's Dan Lothian in North Carolina's Outer Banks. And our Karen Maginnis is in the Severe Weather Center watching Hanna move north.

All right, we are going to start with Dan Lothian. He is out there along the Outer Banks. Right now Dan is facing the Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Tell us the latest.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, things really have calmed down quite a bit over the past hour or so. We did see some of those bands of rain coming through here heavy at times. And the wind really kicking up. But the rain now has stopped. The wind is still blowing here but certainly not like we saw earlier. What we're seeing now is that folks are really venturing out. Out on the beach here, we saw the lifeguard patrols come by here and they put out the red "no swimming" flag. Certainly dangerous to go out there in the water, although we did see a couple guys trying to boogie board out there. Not something that we would advise because the sea, the ocean is still very rough. So that's not necessarily smart.

And certainly the lifeguards want you to stay out of the water. But folks who stayed behind, some did leave. Some did evacuate yesterday. But those who stayed behind are coming out. They have their cameras taking pictures, hoping that this thing really does pass through here very quickly so they can continue on with their vacations. It does appear as of now that the worst of it might be over. As I mentioned, those folks standing out, this is Percy behind me. And Percy, you are from New York. You were hoping to see Hanna doing a little bit of activity here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit.

LOTHIAN: You've never seen a tropical storm or a hurricane?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never seen a hurricane in my life.

LOTHIAN: Now why didn't you get out of here? Why didn't you leave like some of the other folks that left yesterday?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I wanted to see it.

LOTHIAN: Are you a little disappointed you didn't get a chance?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, very disappointed.

LOTHIAN: Well, there you go. Folks really never expected a whole lot to happen here. In fact, emergency management officials said that they were prepared, that they held a lot of meetings, that they made sure that they had all of the resources in place in case they were needed. But at last check with emergency management, they tell us they have no reports of flooding, no power outage. They say that there are some tree limbs that are down and they do expect some minor flooding in some of these lower lying areas. Those are areas that typically have problems whenever we have a lot of rain. But for now, again it does appear even though we have a little bit of wind picking up here, that the worst of it is over here. Back to you.

WESTHOVEN: All right Dan, thank you so much for the update. And you know as far as Percy goes, I'm sorry that he was disappointed, but we're awfully glad that he's safe, as are you.

LOTHIAN: I am sure people who live here are happy they didn't have problems.

HOLMES: You are absolutely right there, Dan. We're going to head a little way from where he is to Reynolds Wolf who is in Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina this morning. Reynolds, I don't know if you were able to just hear, we heard a gentleman who was visiting that area who was disappointed that he didn't see more from Tropical Storm Hanna. But I'm sure you're probably not going to run into anyone where you are that lives in that area who is disappointed by what this storm has done?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm wondering if that same dude was down here, because I swear that's pretty much been the mindset of a lot of people who have been visiting Wrightsville Beach. They are a little bit disappointed, actually wanted to see more action.

Speaking of action, let me show you something real fast before he walks away. If you look way down the beach, you there are a couple of surfers. There's one guy whose surfboard is not in one piece but rather two. I'm guessing that he caught by one of the waves and actually pitch poled, which in essence is when you catch the wave and you do it kind of in a wrong way and the water actually drives your board down into the sand. Boy, it snapped like a swig and he's walking off dejected, not really the best day for him.

Let me show you something else that we have. The sky is looking fantastic. A few overcast conditions here and there, but the sun is coming through. The day is expected to get a lot better in terms of the sky condition as what is left of Hanna continues to march its way to the north. Raleigh-Durham area, got rocked. They got some serious flooding right in the downtown area, but that is beginning to subside. Just some flash flooding, some issues with traffic over there.

But I'll tell you here at the beach last night it just kind of exploded with all kinds of heavy rain. We had the strong wind. Wind gusts topping 67 miles-per-hour at Wrightsville Beach. But I'll tell you, if anyone went to sleep last night here at this hotel and went to sleep say at 9:00 and woke up just an hour or so ago, they would have missed the entire thing. It was that fast.

The problem is the next storm that's brewing out there that may affect parts of South Florida, maybe the Bahamas, maybe even the Gulf Coast by next week, I'm talking about Ike. That is going to be a major storm and one that we are absolutely scared of. That's one we've got to watch very, very carefully. Hanna moving out. But Ike moving back in. Let's send it back to you guys.

We sure will. Hanna moving on and some of the best evidence that Hanna is moving on is that Reynolds has now turned into his beach attire. You appear to have on shorts and you're getting more comfortable on the beach. When we come back to you if you have on a tank top, me and you are going to have some problems. Reynolds, all right, we'll see you again shortly, buddy. Oh, goodness, Reynolds.

All right, let's turn to our Karen Maginnis quickly who is again - kind of some people making light of Hanna, kind of disappointed it didn't do more. And you know what, that's a good thing if this thing is kind of moving on, just kind of a rain event. But Ike is not going to be that kind of party.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WESTHOVEN: And if you're somebody whose watching and you would like to get involved in relief efforts for those affected by the most recent hurricanes, right, we know that Hanna has turned into a tropical storm, but Ike is on its way. There has been a lot of damage in Haiti. Go to CNN.com, "Impact Your World" page. This is your chance to make a difference. You'll find links to all kinds of groups that provide food and shelter to people who are in need, people who have their lost homes, lost loved ones. That is at CNN.com/impact.

HOLMES: Certainly at these times with these disasters the American Red Cross certainly reaches out and helps but how can they help so much if they are in debt? Yes, the Red Cross in debt, a victim of a struggling economy and also a victim of this relentless hurricane season.

WESTHOVEN: Now you can help.

(COMEMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: Tropical Storm Hanna more a nuisance than anything this morning in some areas. But the storm could still bring some flooding as it moves up the Eastern Seaboard moving very quickly dumping a lot of rain. We've seen a little bit of the flooding inland as well. But the beaches seem no worse for the wear right now. There are still tropical warnings stretching all the way from North Carolina to Massachusetts. And of course we always have some concern about rip currents with people who are getting out in the water.

Now Hanna did though hit very hard earlier this week in Haiti. In fact, more than 130 people were killed there. Tens of thousands of others have no place to go. They have no food, no clean water. Now, think about it. The floodwaters from Hanna still haven't receded in some areas. We hear that they have bodies in it, bodies of people and bodies of animals. So it's very unsafe. But what's even worse for Haiti is that coming right behind it, Hurricane Ike, a category 3 storm and it may touch Haiti. HOLMES: Gustav, Hanna, Ike and the season is not over yet. This hurricane season still got a little ways to go. The American Red Cross ready to help the victims, wants to help the victims, but the Red Cross needs some help of its own. The organization has been plagued by a struggling economy and they've been pleading for donations. Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross here with us now, joining from us Washington. Give us an idea of just how bad is it. It seems strange to say but is the Red Cross in debt?

GAIL MCGOVERN, CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: We have supplies. We have people. But we do need help from the American public. We're not in debt. We do have working capital but when we deplete that working capital, we go to lines of credit and that's where we are right now. The reason that we do that is because the American public always comes through for us. And we are relying on them to do that for us now.

HOLMES: And you said you depend on that capital. Are you at a point that you certainly are not comfortable with the capital you have and is that in in danger of running out some time soon?

MCGOVERN: Our disaster relief fund is completely empty. So we could really use the assistance and the generosity of our citizens and we are confident they'll come through for us. But if they could get to redcross.org or 1-800-redcross and come through for us, we'll be able to take care of all of those people who are in need. We still have thousands of people in shelters. We're driving emergency response vehicles around through Louisiana to make sure that we can feed the people that are returning to their homes. And we really could use your viewers' help.

HOLMES: Tell us what happens when the Red Cross goes to a line of credit? Does this affect how you - I know you have operations in place and you don't want to stop them at all. I guess the work can keep going and you go further into debt, but is there a risk that you won't be able to help the way you would like to help because you're on a line of credit now?

MCGOVERN: At this point we are going to be there as these victims of these disasters need us. But we cannot continue along this vein so we really could use the help. But we are not leaving those shelters. We will not abandon the people that are victims of these storms and these storms are extraordinary. We haven't seen anything like this since 2004.

HOLMES: And one last thing. I know there are certainly certain factors that contribute to people just not donating as much these days. I guess one could be the economy certainly. Also Gustav, people assumed that we compare things to Katrina now. This one doesn't seem as bad. Hanna and it's not as bad. And people don't think the need is there.

Talk on those two points but also another of perception still of people remembering what happened after 9/11 when some people were upset that the funds they donated didn't go directly to 9/11 victims, kind of went into a general fund. Do people have assurances if they give money to the Red Cross now that that money is going directly to the storm victim?

MCGOVERN: I can give you every assurance that every dime that we collect for those storms will go to victims of storms. So that is absolutely not an issue. And people do think that we dodged a bullet with Gustav. But there are about 800,000 homes that have no power. There are thousands of victims that need our help, that need food, that need shelter. And we will be there for them because I'm confident that the American public will pull through for us.

HOLMES: Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross, we certainly are glad that you could come on here and make that plea. We know you have been doing good work over the years. And certainly that money is needed to keep you all going. Ma'am, thank you so much and hopefully that money will start coming in. Thank you and good luck to you.

MCGOVERN: Thank you so much, T.J.

WESTHOVEN: And tracking all of the storms, Tropical Storm Hanna moving quickly making landfall this morning, bringing the threat of flooding all of the way up the East Coast. But there's a lot more to wash out for than just that rain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Tropical Storm Hanna on the move now, quickly moving north and that's kind of a good thing. We see these live pictures from one of our affiliates of that flooding. This is some of the effects we're seeing of this storm. Kind of more of a wind and rain event and causing flooding in Fayetteville. Hasn't been widespread but certainly in some pockets, this rain is going to head up the Eastern Seaboard. We've seen some flooding as far as 70 miles inland as you were just seeing there in Fayetteville. But Hanna is not our only issue right now. This one is a couple days off, Hurricane Ike. But it is a major concern because it's a huge storm. It's a Category 3 storm. Could become a Category 4. Mandatory evacuation orders in place right now for tourists in the Florida Keys. That went into effect about an hour and a half ago. And also, we're going to see some other mandatory evacuations of citizens, residents who live there shortly as well.

We are as you see here another live picture of WRAL, our affiliate. We're keeping an eye on all of our affiliates. They're helping us tell this story. We're checking in to bring you some of their best coverage throughout the morning.

WESTHOVEN: All right, we're going to listen in now, we're going to dip into some of that affiliate coverage. This is from WRAL in Raleigh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps the most traumatic video we have seen of the morning has been down in Fayetteville with severe flooding in the Festival Park area. Christi Lowe joins us now with an update on that.

CHRISTI LOWE, WRAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can see, the water has not receded here at all. Cross Creek behind me here continues to just pour out of its banks and through the fence here at Festival Park and into the street. This is Ray Avenue right here completely under water next to the park.

And it goes on down Mason Street. Linear Park across the street is also completely under water as you can see. Flooding is not just a problem here downtown. The fire department tells me they've had to send two swift water rescue boats to a mobile home park near Hope Mills where they are having to evacuate some folks because of the rising water.

I'm told as many as 80 mobile homes there are affected. We have a crew on the way to get some video of their efforts for you as well. And flooding again as bad as it is isn't the only problem that we're seeing right now in Fayetteville. Across town, when the high winds came through a couple hours ago, it knocked a tree right on top of a mobile home and it sent one man to the hospital there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was asleep in his bedroom when the stuff came down. He didn't really get injured. He got a gash on his arm. They took him out to get some sutures, but other than that, he's all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOWE: Now that happened sometime around 6:30 again when we had those really, really heavy winds that came through Fayetteville. As you can see, that tree was completely uprooted.

WESTHOVEN: All right, those are some pictures of trees down, some of the damage we've soon seeing and flooding from Tropical Storm Hanna.

Let's talk a little bit about Gustav though. That storm is gone but the Gulf Coast still dealing with many problems that it left behind. More of the nearly two million evacuees returning to damaged homes and power outages five days after the Category 2 hurricane hit. Almost a third of customers in Louisiana still without power. Going home, refrigerators aren't working, lights aren't working. Officials say it could be weeks before it's all back on. That's causing a lot of political problems down there. The governor are starting to weigh in. Power problems are causing trouble for water treatment plants as well. More than 40 parishes are under boil water advisories and today's football game between LSU and Troy has been postponed until November 15th.

HOLMES: Certainly a long road home for a lot of Gulf Coast evacuees after that hurricane, after Hurricane Gustav. You can see this line of cars in Louisiana. This is in one spot yesterday. The first day residents were allowed to return home. That's what they were returning home to.

Some had to wait in line at home improvement stores. Almost a couple of hours to buy supplies for their rebuilding. But the rebuilding is under way. A train carrying evacuees from Memphis, Tennessee, back home to Louisiana also arrived yesterday. People returning to the Gulf Coast are getting a look at the damage left by Gustav. Not as severe relatively speaking to Katrina but still a lot of damage and a lot of help needed in that area.

WESTHOVEN: A lot to deal with. When the hurricane evacuation order comes, look it's not enough to get in your car and speed off.

HOLMES: There are certain things you should do to get ready before you get out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: Good morning and welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING where are keeping track of a couple of major storms for you this morning.

HOLMES: They go by the name of Hanna and Ike. One is a tropical storm. The other a major hurricane. The major hurricane we're talking about is Ike. It's a Category 3, packing some pretty dangerous wind as it's moving closer to Florida. People in Florida already packing up, they're boarding up, they're getting out.

Tropical Storm Hanna on the other hand made landfall in the Carolinas early this morning. Now it's quickly moving north. It is bringing the threat of flooding, but not the kind of destruction from wind that we could have seen if it was a major, major hurricane. Our Karen Maginnis in our Severe Weather Center, our hurricane center, keeping an eye on both of those for us. We're going to check in with her in just a moment. She's going to bring us the latest as she tracks it.

WESTHOVEN: And there's a good chance that Hurricane Ike will hit Florida next week and because of that, Governor Charlie Crist has already declared a state of emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRIST: these storms have a mind of their own. There are no rules. So what we have to do is be prepared and be smart and be vigilant and alert and make sure that we're following where these storms are going so that we can adapt, adjust and survive. That's the most important thing we can do, remain calm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: And of course that was Governor Crist having an early news conference this morning. He's monitoring Ike. If he has another media briefing, we will bring it to you.

HOLMES: And we'll get a weather briefing now from our Karen Maginnis, again keeping an eye on all of these storms for us. And like he said, these storms have a mind of their own sometime. We can show that cone of uncertainty all day long, but if this sucker wants to turn, it will turn.

(WEATHER REPORT) WESTHOVEN: As we've been telling you, last minute preps for Hurricane Ike happening right now in Florida. Residents are scrambling to secure their homes, their businesses. So we want to get you out to Key West. Ted Scouten, who is with our affiliate WFOR. Ted, what are you seeing this morning?

SCOUTEN: Well Jennifer, the newspaper headline for the local paper it says that, "all are ordered out." That includes both tourists and people who live here in the Florida Keys.

What's going on right now is a mandatory tourist evacuation has been in effect for about an hour and a half now. And for people who are going to leave here, they should take a good tip and leave as soon as possible because they're going to face some long lines for gas between here and the mainland as well as a lot of traffic getting out of here. It's about 150 miles to get up to Miami. And you can imagine, as the entire Florida Keys evacuates, those lines are going to get pretty long. And if people are flying out, they should make sure they call the airlines to see if they have a seat on that flight.

WESTHOVEN: All right Ted, I've been to Key West a couple of times. People down there have a lot of character. They don't always like the government telling them what to do. What do you think about that? Are a lot of people really planning to take that seriously tomorrow? Are they going to hit the road or a lot of people do you think are going to stay?

SCOUTEN: The tourists, they pretty much have to go. A lot of the hotels tell them they have to get out. So they have no choice. As far as people that live here, you're right, a lot of them do like to stay and ride out the storms. They've been urging them to get out because this is a larger storm than they normally have in this area. They've had a few brushes lately but nothing extreme and major. So hopefully they're going to listen to those warnings and get out.

WESTHOVEN: All right Ted, thank you so much.

HOLMES: You know, it sounds great to have beachfront property. That's a wonderful thing. Not sometimes in situations like this when we talk about beach erosion. Our Josh Levs has been keeping an eye on a few pictures and some before and after pictures that really show the risk here and how risky it can be to build on the water's edge. Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. I mean the truth is we do hear a lot about this property and it looks terrific but what we want to do today is we've been thinking a lot about this with Hanna coming. There are some concerns even if it's not as scary a storm as some of us thought it might be. There can still be beach erosion. It's a big thing that affects the United States.

I want to show you one striking picture that's behind me here and then we'll be able to put it up for you in a graphic. This is from 2003 after Hurricane Isabel. Let's go to our first graphic. You can see it even better. This comes to us from Outer Banks. Look at that. I mean, look at that. That was originally one continuous stretch of land. That's a great example of beach erosion. Let's also go to a couple more photos that we have here. This is from 2004 after Hurricane Jeanne came through. And what you can see on these are the before and after pictures. You can tell here, Floradin Beach, basically there's a house there the arrow's pointing to and then it's just gone. And what's supposed to be the beach has worked its way up.

Let's go through a few more of these. You look at the before and after as we go. I will tell you some things that I learned today. This is according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Close to half of United States beaches are experiencing significant erosion problems.

Now, it's not just because of major storms but this is one of the big reasons it happens. This has serious economic impact and environmental impact that affects aqua culture, wildlife habitats, in addition to obviously these towns losing property value, sometimes losing crops in some areas. So it can be a serious problem with this beach erosion.

Now I want to come back on the board behind me really quick to let you know a couple more things we have going for you online. We're going to keep an eye on whether there is beach erosion from what happens here. And one way we're doing that is with our weather people, they are continuously updating both Hanna and Ike on CNN.com. so if you're not right near a TV, you can just go on this page, let's scroll in for a minute with this camera here. And you will be able to see at all times what's happening with the storm, where it goes to and what the latest is.

Also, if you are in one of these areas and you see maybe some water gushing onto a beach near you, you can send us an i-Report. You can just go to here, it's the iReport.com. We receive photos and videos from throughout the day. Let us know as you are preparing for Ike and based on what's happened in Hanna or other storms, what kind of thing you're seeing in your area. We want to share that with our viewers. Really easy to do, photos, videos, stories, all at iReport.com. And T.J., we're going to continue to bring them to you right here and obviously in the coming days as Ike, which looks a lot scarier, is on its way.

HOLMES: Yeah, we've got more i-reports unfortunately of probably some bad weather. We do appreciate it as always, Josh. We'll see you again soon.

LEVS: You got it, thanks.

WESTHOVEN: And Florida residents being urged to get ready as Hurricane Ike threatens them. So what should you do to protect yourself and your family? So joining us with some advice is CNN contributor and retired lieutenant general Russel Honore. General, so what kinds of preparations right now do you think people should be making as Hurricane Ike approaches?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the basics is what the Red Cross teaches. Have a plan to evacuate and determine when you're going to evacuate. Right now you have about 72 hours before you start getting some of the strong effects from this storm. It could come earlier than that. So stay aware. Have your plan on where you're going to go and when you're going to go.

The next thing is to have a three-day supply of food and water on hand so when Governor Crist down there telling you there's a shelter in place, you're prepared to live without power for two or three days or without the ability to go to stores.

As we've seen with the storms like with Gustav, it came in as a Category 2 and weakened to a two and then moved in and went inland, 60-mile-an-hour winds can knock power lines down and it will generate flooding up to 10 to 12 inches which will create localized flooding.

So you need to be able to remain in your home and then stay informed and the key of staying informed is having a weather radio. One of those that you get from the Red Cross or go to Red Cross Web site. It will remind you of all of the things you need to do while you can now and then take care of those people in your community who don't have the ability to take care of themselves.

WESTHOVEN: During the New York blackout right everybody was gathered around the people who had the radios because it was a crucial important part of your information line in a crisis. We've been talking, we've been focusing mostly on the Florida Keys this morning. I think that's where we talk about evacuation. But when you talk about these plans, these hurricanes can move around. How far up the coast, do you know, how many miles away should people really be concerned to be making plans?

HONORE: As we've seen in many of these hurricanes and one of the things you want to remind the people in the Keys about and I know the governor of Florida and National Guard have spent a lot of time preparing along with FEMA and all the federal partners and the emergency response that they have from the other states, but the key thing is family readiness.

The people in the Keys need to remember the storm of 1935. It put an 18-foot surge into Key West. Now, the average elevation of Key West is only about four feet. So when the government say it's time to get out, it's time to get out and now is the time because of that one road that exits the Keys.

So those people who are most affected, the elderly, those that require medical care, they should be leaving now, those that can leave on their own. I know the state of Florida will do everything they can to get people out of there but people that can leave should leave now because that road will be constantly trafficked between now and Monday evening.

WESTHOVEN: All right, thank you so much. Plenty of experience you got with storms. I think that's the kind of advice that people should really be taking to heart and making their plans.

HONORE: And a note, that storm in 1935 came in at a Cat 5, the 18 foot. So the thing about surge and people need to remember is that surge can go in eight miles inland with a Category 3 storm. So beware and beware of the surge including the people in Miami and southern Florida.

WESTHOVEN: All right, thank you so much.

HOLMES: All right, General Honore, always good to see him, good to have him around. But you know when he's here, there's probably some disaster going on. But good to have him as a resource here. Also another question, we'll move to some financial news now. What would happen if a mortgage giant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed? Well, the government doesn't want to find out what would happen. We have word this morning the government may be ready to take some action.

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HOLMES: Your hurricane headquarters, but we've got a tropical storm to tell you about. And take a look at these pictures, some of the new ones we're getting. I saw some of that flooding. Tropical Storm Hanna is what we're talking about. It's making its way north. Left a little damage in its wake, some flooding. This is actually Myrtle Beach we're looking at in particular here along the coast.

You can expect a lot of that all up and down the Eastern Seaboard but again a lot of people saying and thinking we kind of dodged a major bullet here, no major widespread damage. Some flooding expected, however.

The other big problem we're keeping an eye on is Hurricane Ike, that's a Category 3 storm that really makes Hanna look like a little bitty nothing in some ways. It could become a Category 4. That means winds would e around 150 miles-an-hour. There are mandatory evacuation orders in place for tourists right now in the Florida Keys. Also expecting to have mandatory evacuations for some of the residents in the Keys to take place at some point this weekend as well.

WESTHOVEN: All right, of course we've got you completely covered on the weather this morning and the economy, issue number one. The Treasury Department is reportedly finalizing plans to save Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two mortgage giants. That's what the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning, several other newspapers.

We don't have too many details right now but we are hearing that the government will basically take them over gradually in hopes of protecting the mortgage market from the failure. The two companies get this, they either hold or they guarantee their behind half of the nation's mortgages. So these are huge players in the mortgage industry. There's a lot of concern about what might happen if they continue to deteriorate. Basically we were scheduled to get an update on the finances coming up soon and I think the concern was that it was going to be so horrible there might be some kind of a big market reaction to that and when I say market reaction, I mean one we would not like to see.

HOLMES: When will we get official word? When possibly again, no words, no reports right now, but when possibly are we going to get official word if the government is in fact going to do this?

WESTHOVEN: Well, I mean, it's over the weekend right now. It sounds like what happens is that the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met with the heads of these two companies and because part of the plan according to these reports is that they would lose their jobs, wanted to brief them first. It seems like that's how this is starting to filter out. And sometimes you have to wonder if people involved might want to prepare people for what will be happening on Monday morning.

But a huge criticism that the two guys who have been running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that got us into this problem, they are sitting at the wheel. How are they going to get us out of this problem? So that's something to look for. But they are apparently going to be held responsible.

HOLMES: What has happened as well, the government kind of - I don't want to say changed its tune, but at first we were hearing, you know, we're just going to back it. We're just going to let you know that we will be here for you if you need us. Well do they need us or is it $25 billion or something that was supposed to be just in place in case you might need it. Now it looks like they're going to take it over?

WESTHOVEN: There was a famous quote, right, this is not bailout. Many people said yes, it is. That's exactly a bailout. So there's been a lot of fighting, a lot of different opinions about what this is. And if you look at this one, too, it's also not exactly a bailout. They are going to do cash infusions every quarter to see how it goes.

But this is essentially a takeover. These two companies are going to be put under the retainership basically of the government agency and this is one of the most sweeping interventions that we've seen between Washington and Wall Street in years, maybe even the course of our history. So this is a huge deal. And what you don't hear about right now, we don't have dollars assigned to this but this is probably going to be billions and billions of dollars because there's been a lot of pressure on these companies to take up a lot of the risky mortgages because that helped a lot of people getting loans.

HOLMES: When you say billions and billions, those are taxpayer billions.

WESTHOVEN: Those are your dollars, my dollars.

HOLMES: Well Jennifer, good to have you here on this. If you didn't know, she's one of our esteemed business correspondents so you know this well. So it's good to have you here to be able to walk us and talk us through this stuff this weekend.

But we have another bank failure to tell you about. This is Nevada's Silver State Bank. It will reopen on Monday as the Nevada - wait a minute, it's the what now? It's going reopen, still going to be the Nevada State Bank it appears it will be. This is what we are hearing. But this one, Silver State Bank is going to now be the Nevada State Bank. That's my bad. WESTHOVEN: All right, so state banking regulators shut down the institution yesterday. That means it's the 11th bank nationwide to fail this year. So the bank, the FDIC is going to take over the bank's $1.7 billion in deposits. So they are saying that customers can still access their money, they can still write their checks. But of course this is something to keep in mind. We've heard so many analysts say there is going to be a lot more than 11 before this year is over.

HOLMES: Again, that is the Nevada State Bank, it will be reopens the former Silver State Bank.

All right, well an overnight strike against Boeing. More than 27,000 Boeing machinists went on strike just after midnight as they were unable to come to terms on a new deal. This means now assembly of new airplanes is on hold. That will probably delay the delivery of Boeing's new fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner jet. So yes, a lot going on in the business world.

WESTHOVEN: Oh yeah, all right, the conventions are over and that means full speed ahead for the campaigns. Right, they're probably starting the daily countdown.

HOLMES: Oh, they are. We should have that up on the screen now. We don't have that read to go. The candidates are taking their messages back out on the trail. We'll let you listen in to what they're saying out there and how they're getting their supporters fired up.

WESTHOVEN: Fifty-nine days.

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HOLMES: All right. We have gotten past the conventions. Now we know the players. We've got O'Biden and McPalin if you will on each side. The race for the White House is 59 days away until Election Day.

WESTHOVEN: All right, John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are campaigning in Colorado and New Mexico today. That's after they stopped in Wisconsin and Michigan yesterday. In accepting his party's presidential nomination, McCain touted his experience and here he is in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANIDATE: We face many dangerous threats in this dangerous world. But I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them. I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better and what it shouldn't do. I know how the world works. I know the good and evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer and safer and more prosperous world and how to stand up to those who don't. I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed by such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me and I cannot forget it. I will fight for her as long as I draw breath so help me God. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: Barack Obama will be on the trail in Indiana today after focusing on the economy and unemployment yesterday. At a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania, Obama blamed the Republicans for the string of job losses in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you -- 605,000 jobs have been lost. Unemployment rate just jumped up to 6.1 percent. The highest that it's been in five years. We've had eight consecutive months of job loss. And so part of what I want to talk about is how do we create more shot glass operations all across America? How do we create jobs in America at a time when it seems like plants are closing all across the country? Everywhere you go people are working harder and harder just to get by. It's harder to save. It's harder to retire. Incomes and wages have not gone up since George Bush took office in any substantial way. When Bill Clinton was president, the average family income went up $7,500. Since George Bush has been in office, the average family income has gone down $2,000. And so people just don't have as much money at the same time as the cost for everything from gas to food to health care have all skyrocketed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You can hear a whole lot more from the candidates this weekend with the return of our "BALLOT BOWL." That's where you can find extended excerpts from the campaign trail. The candidates there unfiltered in their own words. Our "BALLOT BOWL" starts at 2:00 Eastern today only right here on CNN.

WESTHOVEN: And from the campaign trail to the storm tracks, Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall early this morning but it's being followed closely by a bigger, meaner storm. Of course, we're talking about Hurricane Ike.

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HOLMES: A lot of people are starting to get out of the way of Hurricane Ike. It's heading closer and closer to the Florida Keys. We're seeing, like you're seeing here, some of these long gas lines with people gassing up and heeding the warnings and getting out because there are mandatory evacuations already in place. We'll have more about Hurricane Ike just ahead.

WESTHOVEN: Well coming up at noon, we're going to take a look at how you are helping us to tell the big stories. We're talking about the great i-Reports coming from the path of the storms. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.