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Hanna Drenches Southeast; Ike Eyes Cuba and the Gulf

Aired September 06, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN ANCHOR: We just got these pictures in, take a look at this. This is some of the flooding that we've been seeing in Raleigh as Hanna moves up the east coast and inland as well.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A lot happening on the coast, also a bit happening in Florida right now. Storm's not there but it's on the way and people are getting ready. Hurricane Ike is not one to mess around with. It's on its way. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We will start first here with tropical storm Hanna making landfall pretty much in the overnight hours this morning.

WESTHOVEN: It could be just a preview of even worse weather ahead because Hanna is moving up the east coast after coming ashore near the border between North and South Carolina. Power is out to thousands of homes. There are reports of flooding.

HOLMES: CNN's Reynolds Wolf, Dan Lothian on the ground in North Carolina for us this morning, we've been checking in with them. Our affiliate stations also out in force, we've been dipping in and using them as a resource as well. Also our Karen McGinnis there she is in our CNN severe weather center tracking Hanna and the storm that is right behind it. We are talking about Ike. We will start, however, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Christy Lowe is. She is with one of our affiliates there. There she is, Christy, we've been watching some of your reports this morning. You got kind of something going on behind you.

CHRISTY LOWE: I have a little bit going on here, T.J. This is downtown Fayetteville. What you see going on here is Cross Creek. It goes through the downtown area. It has been spilling over its banks since about 2:00 this morning. As you can see the water is still rushing right out of here. Right now where I'm standing it's about 15 inches deep. It gets a little bit deeper out here in the center of the road. The flooding goes on down for a couple of blocks through Linear Park across the street and back into the creek where it goes on out to the (INAUDIBLE) river. This was pretty dangerous this morning when it was dark because cars were coming down that hill and they were hitting this water before they even knew it was here. Now that the storm has passed and the sun has come out, it's not quite so bad. Folks are coming out to take pictures and wade in the water, right along with (INAUDIBLE). Everyone is glad now that the worst of the storm has gone by. Of course it could have been much worse. I am told though that just south of here they are having to do some mandatory evacuations in Hope Mills, North Carolina. There's a mobile home park there where the road is starting to become covered with water much like what we're seeing here and so they are having to tell everyone there to get out before they become trapped in that mobile home park. Like I said, the water is swift. It's definitely not safe for cars to drive through but it could have been a whole lot worse, T.J.

HOLMES: It could have been a whole lot worse. You have a lot going on including to have to deal with the noise of a train back there. But Christy Lowe, we appreciate you this morning bringing us that live picture. Want to head over now to Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina. Our meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has been there for us this morning. And a much different picture folks, but give them here we know he looks like he's on vacation but there actually was a tropical storm that came through there a little while ago.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah I know T.J. Isn't it amazing the difference of what you have here and what you have just a few miles inland, it's an entirely different world. As she was talking about just moments ago, the flooding that you have there almost reminiscent of what they had back in 1999 when you had the dynamic duo of both Dennis and then later on you had another storm that came through that one being Floyd. They both dumped quite a bit of rainfall and with that you had widespread flooding. The good thing about this storm, if you can find a good aspect, is one it never intensified. Never became a major hurricane at least before landfall. In fact, it was just a tropical storm. Another great aspect is that it's going to be a quick mover. If this storm were to just say stall out over say the Carolinas or even over parts of Virginia, you would have widespread flooding but it does appear it's going to continue that march up the coast and eventually veer out into the Atlantic. Right now Wrightsville Beach you can take a look waves are coming in. Way off in the distance you can see the jedi and then right before that you see quite a few surfers out there, they're enjoying the swells but every now and then you don't have just the swells you have some mammoth waves that continue to come in and they have just been spectacular. A lot of people coming out here and enjoying it. But we do anticipate there are going to be more surfers that are going to be making their way to the coast, flocking here if you will.

Something else that's interesting is you have a lot of the universities in the state that actually stopped school on Friday in preparation for the storm to come calling and a lot of those kids made it here to the coast. Go figure. Isn't that a good time? It has been a good time. It's been a beautiful day here on the beach. The storm is going. The problem is you look at the other side of the coin and although Hanna is going to be moving off, we still got Ike and Ike is rumbling full speed ahead. It's a major hurricane. It could be affecting say the Florida Keys not too far from now. We're talking about the evacuation possibility in parts of Florida. Then if that storm moves into the Gulf of Mexico, it's anybody's ball game. There's no telling where that storm is headed. That is going to happen when it happens. But right now Wrightsville Beach is beautiful. The wind, the waves and so long to Hanna. Back to you.

HOLMES: So long to Hanna. We probably won't be able to see you in your shorts and your beach attire and your flip-flops when Ike hits. A much different storm. But it's nice to know that Hanna kind of came in and did its thing and it's kind of moving on. So good news there. Glad it is a beautiful day on the beach Reynolds. Just giving you a hard time, but its good it is a beautiful day on the beach. We'll see you again soon, buddy.

WOLF: You bet. Talk to you soon.

WESTHOVEN: We're going to go from where Reynolds is to the outer banks of North Carolina where our CNN's Dan Lothian is. He's in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Dan, are you seeing anything similar as the weather starts to move on are people starting to enjoy themselves a little bit more?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh indeed people are coming out. They have their cameras taking pictures of the ocean here. As you can see behind me, folks coming out here as well, trying to get a peek of the aftermath of this storm. It really did move through here quickly as Reynolds Wolf was just talking about that. We only saw probably about an hour and a half to two hours of intensity from this storm when the rain was really sort of pounding us and we saw those wind gusts of over 30 miles per hour. Weather forecasters here saying 40 to 50 miles per hour as well but here we measured over 30 miles per hour. We saw that again only about an hour and a half to a two-hour period and then it really cleared up. We've had little rain bands coming through here but it's been pretty dry now for the past 45 minutes or so. Just wind kicking up from time to time but certainly not anything like what we saw earlier in the day. In terms of damage, we did check in with emergency management officials they told us other than some tree limbs that may have fallen down, no damage at all. Although they are warning residents or visitors in the area here to be careful. Watch out for possible power lines that may have been knocked down. Although we don't have any reports of any power outages.

I can also tell you that the ferry service that runs from the outer banks here to an island has been temporarily suspended and one other note, any time you have hurricanes or tropical storms there's always that threat of tornadoes. There is a tornado watch currently in effect until 1:00 this afternoon. So everyone is getting a chance to get out of their hotel rooms now that things have seemingly calmed down. The worst of this is over thankfully. Folks who prepared for this are glad that it moved through here and didn't cause any significant damage. Jennifer?

WESTHOVEN: Dan, thank you so much you and your team for standing out there in the wind and braving that. It turned out to be ok but who knows how it could have been. You're out there (INAUDIBLE).

LOTHIAN: That's right.

HOLMES: We want to turn now to our camera again that's keeping an eye on a couple of storms. Don't want to just say that tropical storm Hanna is over and done and no big deal but really Ike is going to be a serious issue it appears.

KAREN MAGINNIS: Ike is going to be the troublemaker this one was essentially a glancing blow. That's not to say there were no problems because we did have power outages and there have been some localized flooding. We may have had some wind damage. Although we haven't seen any reports of that. But right now winds with Hanna near 50 miles an hour. It really is kind of decreasing in intensity as it rapidly races off towards that I-95 corridor. Its position now puts it just about 65 miles to the west-southwest of Norfolk, Virginia. I looked at Norfolk, Newport News, Langley, Virginia Beach, everybody pretty much reporting between about 25 to around 45-mile-an-hour wind gusts. For Hanna, right now we're expecting it to move across right around Washington, D.C. later on today. But it's picked up speed so it could be sooner. This is Long Island sound later on tonight. They were saying midnight. I think that will move up. There are delays already at JFK and LaGuardia also in Newark. There could be some lengthy delays. They've got fog and reduced visibility. All right, Ike. We've been waiting to talk about Ike. Not to ignore Hanna but the worst of Hanna I think is over for the most part. Here is Ike and here are Turks and Caicos in the Bahamas and there is Cuba. It looks like Ike is a category 2 but it looks like it's going to increase in intensity to a category 3 at one time it was going to balloon up to a category 4 in a couple of days but now the computer models in pretty good agreement take it just about over central Cuba. It had moved through the Florida straits at least some of the computer models were suggesting that. Now it looks like right across Cuba weakening some as is typical and then moving through the Yucatan strait and into the Gulf of Mexico re-emerging later on in the workweek as a category 3 hurricane. This is going to be -- fits for meteorologists to track this system but the national hurricane center has done an excellent job with their computer models especially when we saw Gustav early on they had it going into that northwestern quadrant of the Gulf of Mexico. Now with this system with very little modification I will say there are always tweaks here and there but they pretty much have it going in to this vicinity. There are hurricane warnings which have already been issued for the Turks and Caicos, for the southeastern Bahamas we're looking at hurricane conditions there and we could see with the winds gusting up over 135 miles an hour we could see quite a bit of damage here. They're saying about 95 to 98 percent of Haiti has been deforested. If we get some of these outer bands moving across that area, we've got massive flooding that could take place. With Hanna, there were 137 fatalities reported. That was a weak weather system. This is a category 2 hurricane right now. Now back to you.

HOLMES: Category 2 but this is going to be serious sucker it appears. Again, Hurricane Ike. Karen we appreciate all you've done for us this morning. We're talking about Florida is getting ready for that hurricane. They're stocking up on storm supplies in Miami. Tourists in the Florida Keys again have been ordered to get out. People who actually live in the Florida Keys expected to be given that mandatory evacuation orders for tomorrow. Florida Governor Charlie Crist spoke with reporters a couple of hours ago and you saw it here live on CNN. Here's what he had to say for his citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, FLORIDA: Ike has grown rapidly into a dangerous, powerful storm as you know. 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 OF VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: If and when Ike hits the United States it's going to be part of a one, two, three punch that started with Gustav, right, G- H-I. Five days after Gustav hit Louisiana, nearly a third of the state's power customers remain in the dark and residents of 47 counties which in Louisiana of course are called parishes are still being warned to boil their water. In Baton Rouge there's an overnight curfew that remains in effect. That's Louisiana's capital city.

Gustav was no hurricane Katrina but the Red Cross said it hit hard and it's going to cost the relief agency at least $70 million in aid. So far the agency says it has only received $5 million in donations for Gustav relief. So right now it is using borrowed money to help. The Red Cross is providing shelter to some, hot meals to others. People who have no power to cook at home. If you want to help, you can donate by calling 1-800-redcross or you can go to redcross.org.

HOLMES: It's been a tough start in life for one little boy. Weeks after surviving a devastating tornado, the young man has had another brush with death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: We continue to keep a close watch on tropical storm Hanna as it heads up the east coast. This is a live picture from Oak Island, North Carolina. That is just east of where Hanna came ashore about eight hours ago at 3:20 a.m. There were reports of power outages and some flooding, some trees down. So far though, no reports of any deaths, injuries or serious damage.

HOLMES: I don't know how many brushes with death you may have had in your life but let's introduce you now to a young man. I say young man but he's just a few months old. He's already had two scrapes with death. We'll get the story now from WMUR reporter Kimberly Boone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIMBERLY BOONE, WMUR (voice-over): When (INAUDIBLE) market installed these new surveillance cameras this week, the owners didn't expect to catch anything so soon. But take a look at the minivan they did capture around 7:00.

J.R. JACOBS: She came down the hill. Her brakes failed. She swerved glanced off the building and then hit a transformer that's right in front of our building.

BOONE: The tape keeps rolling as a woman jumps out and immediately pulls a baby and small toddler from the back seat. Drivers on route 27 stop to help.

BILL MACLEOD: It was a miracle she made it around that corner and that nobody really got hurt. BOONE: Lucky yes. But a miracle? Turns out that's true, too. You see the 3-month-old baby boy in the back had escaped death just a month before.

JACOBS: It was the baby that was saved by the grandmother who was killed in the tornado in Deerfield.

BOONE: Little John Paul Stevens seen here with scrapes fresh from July's terrifying tornado. This time he wasn't hurt at all.

JACOBS: It seems like the odds are one in a million of two things happening like that in the life of such a young child in such a short period of time.

BOONE: Witnesses at the scene say the baby's mother Lindsey Daneen said exactly that. Commenting about how much this infant has already lived through.

MACLEOD: Either the baby has an angel on its shoulders or a dark cloud following him around. Not sure which.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It's one or the other. Something is going on. If you see that kid coming, you might want to get away from him. Actually the store workers there say the baby's mom just had the brakes repaired. Now I'm no mechanic, but I understand something pretty important there is to add brake fluid and that is something that the mechanic apparently forgot to do.

WESTHOVEN: That's a heck of a thing to forget.

All right, we have a heart wrenching scene in suburban Denver. Police say a speeding SUV broadsided a truck and that sent the truck barreling into an ice cream shop. The force of the crash knocked a 2- year-old boy from his window seat onto the sidewalk. He died along with two women in the truck. The SUV driver sped off but police caught up with him a few hours later. He is facing three counts of vehicular homicide.

Take a look at this. This is a 1958 Ferrari. Value up to $5 million. It was stolen in Spain in 1993. A Connecticut man bought it seven years later for a cool half million dollars. Police don't think that he knew the car was hot. The original owner is hoping to get his Ferrari back. The police say for now the investigation goes on. Apparently he did not take the insurance payment because he knew that car was so special it would show up.

HOLMES: Really. That's an interesting way to do it. It's hot but he didn't know it was that kind of hot.

We were talking about something else, a pretty hot topic. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yeah. A bailout, is Jen?

WESTHOVEN: Help? Shoring it up. HOLMES: Shoring it up, all right. We've got some movement with the possible government and a possible shoring up or bailing out. However you want to talk about it. But Gerri Willis and our own business correspondent helping out this weekend. Jen Westhoven we'll get into that. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: A financial bombshell as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a number of sources and reports are saying that the federal government will basically takeover the mortgage giants by shoring them up. A rescue could happen as early as tomorrow. Fannie and Freddie are crucial players in the entire mortgage market. Together they hold or they back almost half of the nation's mortgages that is worth more than $5 trillion. Any rescue here could cost taxpayers, right, that could be you and me, untold billions. Fannie and Freddie stockholders would likely lose most of their investment although the stock has fallen so much lately I don't know how much they have left.

Just five weeks ago President Bush signed a law that gives federal authorities the authority to bail out these companies and the thinking is the markets would calm down with the federal government behind the reigns. That was the thinking. It hasn't necessarily happened. The companies have still been in trouble. Joining me by phone is CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis, working hard for us this morning, covering this story, doing Open House. Gerri, what does this government rescue plan mean and why is it happening right now?

VOICE OF GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey there Jennifer. This is essential that something happen now. Here's why. These two companies have suffered $12 billion in losses since just last summer. So big-time losses as you mentioned, the stock prices are down substantially. What this could mean is a rescue for really the credit markets but not the housing markets. This is not going to play into housing prices in the slide that we've seen there. But it goes a long way to helping mortgages become more available and that market ease which would be a very big thing for homeowners out there.

WESTHOVEN: How does this necessarily square with -- in general, the White House has had a philosophy of not intervening in the free market. Yet this is being called one of the most sweeping interventions in United States financial history.

WILLIS: I think you have to ask the question what's the option? If the government does nothing, what happens then? I think that what you would see is essentially the entire housing market seizing up eventually. That would be the impact because you wouldn't be able to make housing loans. As you said before, Fannie and Freddie own or back $5 trillion in mortgage debt. That's half the mortgage market. Right now the FHA, that's another federal agency that's in the market making loans. But it doesn't come any where near close to the kind of activity we've seen over the past five or six years in terms of loan making ability. What the government is trying very hard to do is to get this mechanism working again. What is this mechanism and what is it that Fannie and Freddie do that's so important? They buy mortgage loans from banks and savings and loans all over the country. They package them and then they resell them to investors and when that stopped, when that market slowed down that was the credit crunch.

WESTHOVEN: In a way it was the encouraging of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take on so many high risk mortgages to try and get people into homes, to get them to have affordable housing that really led us down the path that these companies are in the position that they're in right now.

WILLIS: Absolutely true Jennifer. We've talked a lot on this network about the kinds of loans that were made and how they were bad not just for investors but certainly for homeowners. So many folks that -- we just had reports this week that a proportion of mortgages that are in late payments and late by a month or in foreclosure, 9.16 percent of mortgages are overdue. That is a record. And that is what is creating so many problems at the heart really of so many problems in this economy today.

WESTHOVEN: All right, Gerri Willis joining us on the phone from New York. Thank you so much and of course what's going to be really interesting is Monday morning how are the markets going to react to this. We know that on Friday, get this, this is a little ominous. One of the traders who I read a lot and listen to, he said when he was looking at all of the things coming toward financial markets and how bad things have gotten, he said something wicked this week comes.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

WESTHOVEN: So it's getting ugly.

HOLMES: It's going to be a rough day on Monday, we will keep an eye on that.

WESTHOVEN: Maybe with this news it won't be so bad. There's been a lot of concern lately.

HOLMES: Jennifer thank you so much. Thanks to our Gerri Willis as well. Another business story here. Boeing workers they are on strike now, they're back on the picket line after two days of around the clock talks came up empty. Workers rejected a financial package. The main sticking points include job security, outsourcing and health care benefits. The walkout will delay delivery of the fuel efficient 787 dreamliner jets that are in demand by the airlines. Boeing could lose an estimated $100 million a day because of this strike. If I lose a 20 on the way home I'll be upset.

Now the conventions we know are over now. The candidates are hitting the road. They are campaigning. We'll hear what they're saying in their own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up on 11:30 on the east coast. We'll show you what's happening across the country and what's happening on the east side of the country right now. Tropical storm Hanna working its way up the east coast after making landfall early this morning. Made landfall near the border of North and South Carolina. No reports of deaths or injuries or any serious damage. Certainly good news.

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN ANCHOR: Right behind Hanna of course though comes hurricane Ike. Now it's weakened to a category 2 storm but Florida residents are still taking it very seriously. You can see here we've got pictures, long lines for gas as the storm closes in. Ike could threaten Florida by Tuesday.

HOLMES: The presidential candidates competing for the senior vote today. Barack Obama addressed an AARP meeting via satellite this morning. Meanwhile, John McCain is scheduled to do the same thing coming up in about an hour.

WESTHOVEN: Now back to our coverage of tropical storm Hanna which made landfall near the border between North and South Carolina at 3:20 a.m. east coast time. CNN's Kathleen Koch has been with us all this morning from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She joins us now. Hi Kathleen, how is it looking, better?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's looking better. As you can see the sun is out. It's a beautiful day here in Myrtle Beach. The damage was really minimal. We drove around for almost two hours. We saw some fallen branches. One tree down across a road. There was some standing water. We also saw from the roughly five inches of rain that Hanna dumped on the Myrtle Beach area. Now north of here in Wilmington, North Carolina, there is a pretty big power outage. Some 60,000 customers without power. But in this area really no power outages. No serious ones to speak of. We saw a couple power crews repairing some traffic lights that had been loosened by Hanna's roughly 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts that we saw here. We talked to one longtime resident who said residents here really weren't too worried about Hanna.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could have been a lot worse. We were fortunate that we didn't have any damage. I say we didn't have any damage, I haven't been out in the yard yet. But all I've got here is just a lot of little small limbs on the ground. A lot of debris to clean up.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: So things are really quickly getting back to normal. We were driving down the main thoroughfare here and saw that one restaurant was advertising a post-Hanna breakfast. People started flowing onto the beaches first thing this morning even the emergency operations center shut down at 9:30. They also closed the two shelters that were open where just over 150 people sought shelter during the storm. It's really a gorgeous day. You would never even believe that a tropical storm had passed through here early this morning. Jennifer, I think it's safe to say you could get a pretty good deal on a hotel room in Myrtle Beach about now. A lot of tourists left for fear that the storm might be worse than it was. They are looking for some visitors right now.

WESTHOVEN: Kathleen, that's something I was thinking about asking you about. Thankfully the damage isn't so big but I guess there's so much of the business there is completely shut down because of the fear.

KOCH: This storm did take quite a toll on the tourism industry here. It's certainly the life blood of this community. They had expected 100,000 to 150,000 visitors this weekend and they really did empty out. Our hotel went from 80 percent occupancy to 30 percent because of the storm. But again, it's so lovely here today. They are hopeful that people will come flowing right back in.

WESTHOVEN: All right Kathleen, thank you so much for standing out there. Glad you're in some nice weather this morning.

HOLMES: She is in the home of Karen Maginnis our meteorologist who is standing by with us today. That's your hometown do I have that right?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's crushing to see any kind of storm threaten the South Carolina coast. Hurricane Hugo, 1989. September a terrible time for the South Carolina coast. Isabelle coastal North Carolina that was in 2003. And Floyd was in 1999. This wasn't anything close to any of those hurricanes that I just mentioned. It came ashore around 3:20 in the morning right along the border between North and South Carolina. Here's some of the wind gusts that we had. The wind is picking up in that Baltimore- Washington, D.C. area. But Hanna is really kind of shrinking and kind of weakening as you would expect as it interacts with land. Here's the latest information. Winds near 50 miles an hour. Now in its wake three to six inches of rain still possible. There still is this tornado watch which is in effect until 1:00 p.m. There you can see there's dry air moving on in and then we have this line that's going to wrap in right around that. We could see some pretty strong storms. It's not over yet but it's not been a hurricane either. All right. This is what we anticipate.

It looks like it's going to head up that I-95 corridor. Already in New York City they are looking at delays from about noontime so less than half an hour from now from noon until midnight lengthy ground delays at JFK and LaGuardia, also in Newark. It surprises me that we're not seeing delays out of Washington, D.C. because their visibility has been as bad if not worse than in New York. And by the way, in New York they have a big tennis tournament taking place there, the U.S. Open. And it looks like some of those venues are going to change and maybe some of the times are going to change as well. Then there is Ike. Been waiting to tell you about Ike since it looks like the worst of tropical storm Hanna is over. Ike is different. We haven't seen the worst of this yet. There are hurricane warnings through the Turks and Caicos and through the southeastern Bahamas. It looks like it's going to move over Cuba, weaken to a category 1, re- emerge into the Gulf of Mexico and it looks like it will strengthen to a category 3. The computer models from the National Hurricane Center have been amazing especially with Gustav. We saw just how fairly accurate. There is always some tweaking to do but it was remarkably good. There you see it moving right across the Florida straits and maybe across Cuba emerging in the Gulf of Mexico. T.J. and Jennifer, beyond that, we can't really say. This is still water temperature here in the mid to upper 80s. A lot of energy to work off of there.

HOLMES: Don't like to hear that. But yeah, all eyes on Ike right now. Your hometown there Myrtle Beach appears to have been spared for the most part.

MAGINNIS: Have to watch it, yeah.

HOLMES: Thank you so much Karen.

WESTHOVEN: Maybe not a lot of damage but Karen was just telling us it sounds like a lot of travelers could be in for it. But even though Hanna is relatively tame today, it was a killer in Haiti. 163 people are now confirmed dead there so far. That includes 119 around the city of Gonaives. And despite flooded streets and roads, more than 10,000 people managed to flee that city. Workers are using helicopters to try and get food into that area. But there is a possibility of a lot more bad weather coming, that's with hurricane Ike approaching so a tropical storm watch is in effect for Gonaives and other parts of Haiti. Plenty of concern there.

HOLMES: Weather was waking up people overnight on the east coast but on the west coast a little shake rattling and rolling with an earthquake. This was around Oakland last night. A magnitude 4 earthquake. It was about 10 miles underground. The people that live there say they felt a bit of a sharp jolt and saw plants swaying, heard some dishes rattling around. No reports however of any major damage or injuries.

WESTHOVEN: The conventions are over and now the candidates hit the campaign trail. Hear what they're talking about this weekend in their own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're trying to help you become a more informed voter. We're playing more of what the presidential candidates are saying and we're playing it in their own words. AARP members, you know they tend to show up at the polls so the candidates are showing up today for AARP's national life at 50 plus event and expo. I'm going to end up attending that one day. Earlier this morning democrat Barack Obama warned members there will have to be some adjustments to the social security system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we stabilize our budget, we're less likely to raid the social security trust fund. Now, even if we do that because the population is aging and we've got fewer workers per retiree, we're going to have to make some modifications to the system. I believe that it is the wrong approach if we are increasing the retirement age. I believe it is the wrong approach to cut benefits. I don't want to raise the payroll tax on all workers because people are already struggling right now. The average worker pays a big sum on their social security payroll tax. But there are people like my friend Warren Buffett in Omaha who is worth $56 billion so when the social security tax is capped at a little over $100,000, that's less than 100th of a cent for him. Those folks can afford to pay a little bit more. It will not close the entire gap but it goes a long way to closing the gap. And then we can work with the republicans, other members of congress who may have other ideas to close the gap entirely. But my commitment and my pledge is that anybody who is investing in social security, they are going to get their full benefit. They're not going to get 75 cents on the dollar. They're not going to get 80 cents on the dollar, they are going to get a dollar's worth of benefit for the contributions they make under social security. One of the things I want to do as president is on a regular basis starting the moment after I'm inaugurated and actually starting before during transition is to invite leadership of the other party along with leaders, democratic congressional leaders, to regular meetings, weekly or every other week to sit down and tackle big problems. And to recognize that they're going to have to be some compromises. We're not going to all get our way. But that we have a set of problems that this country is facing. The jobless rate is the highest in five years. We have more housing foreclosures than any time since the great depression. 47 million people without health insurance. Social security and Medicare on financially very rocky ground. So we're going to have to tackle these problems as a country. And a president I think can begin that process by saying I'm going to listen to the other side. I'm going to take ideas that make sense.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: AARP members are going to hear from Senator John McCain next hour. Yesterday in Michigan McCain promised to trim the pork.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know I've been called a maverick. That's somebody who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it's meant as a compliment and sometimes not. I was not elected Ms. Congeniality in the U.S. congress again this year. What it really means is that I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you. I will continue to work for you. I've fought corruption and it didn't matter if the conference was democrats or republicans. I fought the big spenders in both parties who waste your money on things you neither need nor want. I want to tell you right now the first big spending earmark pork barrel bill that comes across my desk, I'll veto it, you'll know their names. I'll make them famous. Never again will we spend $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue but we're not going to do it anymore, my friends. We're going to stop it. You know what? You know what? When we were going to spend $200 million of your money on a bridge to an island in Alaska with 50 people on it, this person, this great governor said we don't need it and if we do, we'll build it ourselves. While you are struggling to buy groceries, fill your gas tank and make your mortgage payments, I stood up and instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. It's going to stop. My friends we're going to have energy independence and we're going to have it in 10 years. We're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. It's going to stop.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WESTHOVEN: You can hear more from the candidates this weekend. CNN's "Ballot Bowl" is back. We'll have extended excerpts from the campaign trail, the candidates unfiltered in their own words just like you were there so you can make the most informed choice. "Ballot Bowl" starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern time today only on CNN.

HOLMES: Any time these storms, these hurricanes, tropical storms, whatever may be, these natural disasters, it's so important to get supplies to devastated areas quickly. We will introduce you now to one of our CNN heroes who has come up with a way to get that aid there a whole lot faster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: We've all seen pictures of the kind of devastation that natural disasters can leave. Our hero today has helped hundreds of thousands of people with food, water, shelter. Meet Tom Henderson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

This is "CNN Heroes."

As we speak around the world, there are thousands, sometimes millions of people displaced by disasters and war. There will be no power, no buildings of course, very little water. So that the whole situation of disaster means that people have been overwhelmed. My name's Tom Henderson. I created a product called shelter box. It's to help victims of disasters around the world. We're thinking of the whole package, mosquito nets, blankets, cooking pots and pans, or a 10 person tent. Shelter box is designed to be small enough so that two people can carry it but it has to be large enough to get enough equipment in for 10 people. It's a simple package of aid delivered to the most needy people in the shortest amount of time. A huge cyclone struck Myanmar in May of 2008. It was the largest recorded disaster in that country. Millions of people left homeless, over 130,000 people were killed. We were one of the first aid agencies into the country delivering our shelter boxes. We want this to last for years to come, not just to get them through that disaster perhaps for a springboard for moving forward. The people have lost everything, why should they lose their dignity as well. So we were very keen as well as delivering aid to give people back their dignity. Put about them back in control.

Get involved, cnn.com/heroes.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WESTHOVEN: Do you want to get involved, go to cnn.com/heroes. The most outstanding CNN Heroes will be honored at an all-star tribute, that's thanksgiving night on CNN.

HOLMES: All right. It's one of our favorite parts of the morning. WESTHOVEN: Yeah.

HOLMES: We get to say good morning to Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Don't forget you're looking at the clock that's why.

HOLMES: We're just happy to see you Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: I know, I know how you really feel about it all. Any way, good to see you both. We've got lots straight ahead. Of course we're going to keep our eyes on the weather situation. We're talking about tropical storm Hanna. Kind of whipping the mid-Atlantic now. And Ike is out there wreaking havoc perhaps to the Caribbean as well as South Florida. Our General Russel Honore will be joining us to talk about preparedness. What you need to do. I know a lot of you are fatigued about this whole weather system out there but you don't need to let your guard down. He'll be talking to us about how to stay ready and on your toes. And our legal guys, Richard and Avery will be joining us in the noon hour as well talking about all of the outrageous legal stories out there, including that raid of the Maryland mayor's home a couple of months back. What makes it much more outrageous to the family members is that they had an investigation launched, an internal investigation for the sheriff's department as well as the federal investigators, the sheriff's department came back and said, justified and it was justified to kill their dogs as well. So the mayor's outraged of course. He's hoping against hope against the federal investigators to perhaps bring some justice. Our legal guys are going to be explaining how this really affects a lot of folks because folks are feeling like if this can happen to the mayor's home, what about my home.

WESTHOVEN: Yeah, it's scary.

HOLMES: And the mayor's not mincing words.

WHITFIELD: No he's not.

HOLMES: He's coming out and talking about it. So we looking forward to hearing your legal guys and I know that a lot weather is going on.

WHITFIELD: Oh yeah. I know you're feeling a little weather fatigued, I'm seeing it right now. You're feeling a little battered just like the east coast, maybe.

HOLMES: Not as bad as them but still we started an hour early this morning but yeah it was important to do so.

WHITFIELD: You all did a great job.

HOLMES: But I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We will see you shortly Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you. HOLMES: Well, fathers to be out there, some of you are getting into tip top shape. There's a daddy boot camp out there for the dads in training. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WESTHOVEN: What is this? Grown men playing with dolls.

HOLMES: Yeah, it doesn't sound right. But this is actually daddy boot camp. This is a 90-minute class that gives dads to be a rundown of the basics. Teaches them how to breast feed -- I'm just kidding, bottle feed, I'm kidding. It also deals with the lack of sleep and of course it deals with the diaper changes.

WESTHOVEN: Daddy boot camp is the brainchild of Las Vegas pediatrician Blair Duddy, yep, that's it, D-u-d-d-y. But in the all guy zone he's known as Dr. Daddy.

HOLMES: I wonder how many people are signing up for that I'm sure the would-be or soon to be moms are signing the guys up.

WESTHOVEN: The moms are signing them up, yeah, exactly.

HOLMES: We're turning to a Pittsburgh soldier now who is home from Afghanistan but has a new mission now.

WESTHOVEN: A mission of marriage. Here is reporter Sally Wiggin with affiliate WTAE.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALLY WIGGIN, WTAE (voice-over): There were kisses and hugs, wives greeting husband, girlfriends greeting boyfriends. But technical sergeant Seth Zora had more in mind for Mandy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have plans today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah actually I do have one more thing.

WIGGIN: The card said there is still one thing I need to know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you marry me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surprised?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she say yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she did.

PATTIE OUTMAN, MANDIE OUTMAN'S MOTHER: I've known for a couple of weeks that she was going to get asked. I didn't know this was going to happen, though. This was a complete surprise.

TECH SGT. SETH ZORA, AIRLIFT WING: We knew that we wanted to get married and we kind of went through the ideas of what type of ring and everything else but when I was overseas, my mom played a large part in being able to get the ring.

KARIN NOVAK, ZORA'S MOTHER: We had a plan. He was going to hand me his book bag and I in the interim of things I was going to slip the ring in his pocket and that's what I did.

WIGGIN: And Mandie Outman's reaction.

MANDIE OUTMAN: A little overwhelmed right now, yes.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WESTHOVEN: I love that his mom was in on it. That means that she's going to have to have a lot of respect for her mother-in-law.

HOLMES: Absolutely. To help him pull that off and congratulations to them.

WESTHOVEN: The newlyweds-to-be just closed on a new home.

HOLMES: Uh-oh.

WESTHOVEN: I hope that they have a fixed rate mortgage, guys.

HOLMES: Well now they're working on a date for that wedding. Fredricka, with all we've been talking about this morning, nice we can end on an upbeat and a happy note to hand it off to you.