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Fargo Braces for Red River Crest; President Obama to Send More Troops to Afghanistan

Aired March 28, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Next in the CNN NEWSROOM, severe weather conditions from the far north to the deep south. Look at all of this, dangerous flooding in North Dakota, an active volcano in Alaska, a rare spring time blizzard in the southwest. What is going on? We have some serious storm damage in the southeast to tell you about as well.

T. J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, the president, you know, he's got a new plan for Afghanistan. He's going to send more troops to Afghanistan. It's being received by folks here in the states, by the citizens, by several members of Congress and what not. But hey, you know who else likes his plan? The president of Afghanistan. You'll be hearing from him this morning from the CNN Center.

This is CNN Saturday morning. We're in the NEWSROOM now.

NGUYEN: We are in the NEWSROOM. It's still a Saturday morning.

HOLMES: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, 10:00 here on the East Coast, 7:00 out in Las Vegas. I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Good morning. Thanks for starting your day with us. We're going to get right to it.

HOLMES: We're going to get to all of this weather that Betty was just mentioning here. We have a lot of stuff going on. We have crews that have been working through the night in Fargo, North Dakota, trying to save that city from flooding. Right now, the Red River is just under 41 feet high. Most of the city's dikes are at 43 feet.

NGUYEN: Check out the twister damage in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Look at that thing. At least two tornadoes were reported in that state as storms swept across the south. Take a look at this snow actual blowing sideways. Where is this? It's the Texas panhandle. A blizzard forced authorities to close several highways there.

Let's circle back to Fargo, residents fear they are going to see that river crest above flood stage and it could cause some severe flooding. Thousands getting out of town as record flooding seems imminent. Nursing homes this hour pretty much empty. Those evacuations are well under way.

But I want you to listen to this, right now it is too cold in Fargo for the snow to melt. HOLMES: That's the good thing. That's buying them some time right now.

NGUYEN: Absolutely, it stalled the flooding for maybe another 24 hours. And that means the Red River is now expected to crest between 42 and 43 feet tomorrow afternoon.

Now, if it's 42 feet, the levees should hold. If it's higher than that, we could see some damage. Real quickly, I want to show you this map to bring everything into perspective for you. You can see Fargo there. The Red River stretches the entire length of the state's border with Minnesota.

But that map only tells part of the story. Want to find out what's happening in Fargo right now.

HOLMES: You get the rest of the story her here. Our Susan Roesgen has been on the scene the past several days. She's been with us here this morning. Where are you now? Set this scene for us one more time.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J. I'm in a neighborhood, the River View neighborhood. Where people want to have the nicest home in town, they often go to the water. And they're here on River Drive, but then when rivers rise, homeowners think, well, maybe we shouldn't be here.

What you're looking at on this side is an earthen levee. They have been putting these up all night. We have been watching the crews pulling this mud up, building it up to about six and a half feet or so. On the other side of that is a single row of homes. Those are the nicest homes in this neighborhood, because they back right up against the Red River. And right beyond them is the primary dike.

This is the secondary dike. They believe that the primary dike in this neighborhood will hold. But if it doesn't, there's a secondary dike to protect the homes on this side. That means the homes between the primary and the secondary are stuck.

If there is some overtopping, the water will have nowhere to go. It would theoretically be blocked here. And then these homes would be flooded.

However, homeowners here don't think that's going to happen. They believe that they're going to be OK here. And they're not moving. We talked a homeowner in this area in the last hour, who said, as far as he knows, though we haven't seen any activity this morning, nobody in the no man's land is actually leaving.

That's the good news. As you mentioned, T.J., because it is cold here and because the snow is not melting so quickly, they believe that when the Red River crests, it may be just at about 42 feet. Hopefully not much higher. And then the city will be OK. But nobody's just standing around waiting for it. We've got work crews all across the city. They've got people still doing some sand bagging, still trying to be prepared. Actually, you could say we're not just reporters out here today, T.J. and Betty, we are part of the actual watch crew that's looking for any sorts of breaches in the dikes. They're going to have two-man teams patrol every two hours, they say, the miles of dikes all across the city, to make sure that there is no substantial leaks.

They do say that in the sandbags, you are going to have some wet areas. They're telling homeowners, don't freak out about that. It doesn't mean that there's an actual leak. You're going to have a little bit of water through the spaces in the sandbags. But if you see something serious, they're telling the two-man teams, that are supposed to patrol, mostly the National Guard, or the homeowners, if you see something serious, call us and we'll go out to these places and try to stop anything major.

T.J. and Betty?

HOLMES: Everybody helping out a little bit there. Susan Roesgen for us, we appreciate you this morning from Fargo.

NGUYEN: So across the Red River from Susan and Fargo is Moorhead, Minnesota.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: We'll turn to the situation and the president now. He's keeping an eye on things that are happening in Fargo as well, and talked about it in his weekly address, his weekly radio web address, as it is now. We have got all this stuff going on, but in a time when we have all kinds of natural disasters, our priorities can change in a hurry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond and respond urgently.

For the people of North and South Dakota and Minnesota who live along rivers spilling over their banks, this is one such moment. That's why on Tuesday I granted a major disaster declaration request for the state of North Dakota, and ordered federal support into the region to help state and local officials respond to the flooding.

This was followed by an emergency declaration for the state of Minnesota. And we're also keeping close watch on the situation in South Dakota as it develops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The president also says FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security are on top of this federal response. It's making a lot of headlines because of the unprecedented flooding we're seeing. It really, for the most part, is a quiet, a remote place. You don't hear that much about it. Here's a few facts that you might not know about this North Dakota city: it is the most populous city in the state in 2006. A little more than 90,000 people live there. The city sits on the western bank of the Red River and Red River Valley, as you may have learned by now in all of our coverage. Main sources of employment include food processing, manufacturing, as well as technology.

As the Red River continues to rise, panic and anxiety in the city of Fargo. The mayor addressed those fears in a press conference just a few minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, things seem pretty good, in terms of stable river, response is out. From the morning meetings, there's a million logistics to maintaining the vigilance, the kind of response necessary. This is still at peak point of challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, again, the mayor there (INAUDIBLE). That gentleman you were just speaking to was not the mayor, actually, but still a part of the press conference, giving an update on what's happening there in Fargo. Thousands of people in the area have evacuated. Others planning to ride this thing out. The Red River is now expected to crest at 42, possibly 43 feet tomorrow afternoon. If 42, they think they can hold, 43, we might have a problem.

NGUYEN: Winter isn't giving up in the southern plains. Want you to take a look at this, a nasty storm left several hundred people without power in Oklahoma. The Associated Press says bad weather was a factor in two traffic deaths in that region. The governor has declared a state of emergency for much of the state.

And it actually looked like a scene from "The Wizard of Oz" in North Carolina last night. Look at that twister. This dark cloud hovered over interstate 95 near Hope mills. Actually, people were driving in the direction of the twister. Many of the roads were closed in one part of the county because of accidents and debris on the roadway. That's why you don't drive towards it. You drive away from it.

But in Robinson County, one man, listen to this, could only watch in horror as a tornado tossed his wife into the air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went to the front door and I busted it open. And when I busted it open, I saw her flying in the air and it set her down in the field. And luckily, because where you see that stick sticking up, that box in front landed -- she landed and then that stick landed right next to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: She is one lucky lady. You know what, she did get hurt. Officials say her injuries are not life threatening. The twister did damage several homes in the area.

Can you just imagine that? Being picked up and tossed in the air. You think, OK, I'm alive, I made it through, and then boom, that huge pole, stick, whatever that was lands just inches from you.

HOLMES: We hear those stories sometimes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: The president plans to send more U.S. service members into Afghanistan. That's just one part of his new plan for that country. Well, he's getting the big thumbs up from a very important person there.

NGUYEN: Yes, he is. When it comes to man versus nature, there is an invisible weapon. Could it save the next city threatened by floods? We'll try to answer that question for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: America does have a new plan for fighting extremism from Afghanistan. And that plan is getting a thumbs up from that country's president, Hamid Karzai. Yesterday, President Obama announced plans to send in more troops, on top of the 17,000 he already approved. He also wants more civilians in Afghanistan to help rebuild. Karzai welcomes the new focus on his country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: This is what -- this is better than we were expecting, as a matter of fact. And we back it, and we hope to go for it to a full implementation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: President Obama is getting ready for his first overseas trip in office. But before that, he's going to announce his plan to help save the auto industry. That happens on Monday. Then on Tuesday, he's traveling to London, ahead of the G-20 summit. There the president and other leaders will talk about the global economic crisis.

And when that's over, the president is off to France for a NATO summit on Friday. So it's definitely a busy week.

HOLMES: There is one state in this country that dropped its unemployment rate last month. Where? It was Nebraska. You know who's in Nebraska, Betty? Warren Buffett. Don't know if there's a direct correlation, but I just thought I would make the connection for you. Again, they went from 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent in Nebraska last month. However, every other state saw their unemployment numbers jump. Seven states now report unemployment in the double digits. Michigan the hardest hit, unemployment at 12 percent.

You know what's in Michigan, right Betty? Big automakers. Other states with job rates above 10 percent include California, North and South Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, as well as Nevada.

All right, Disney, usually you start with that, you figure you're going to be seeing something pleasant. No. Disney laying off a big number of employees. This has been done over the past three weeks. Sources inside the company say the salaried workers at Disney World in Florida getting hit the hardest.

Disney there in central Florida is one of the largest employers in that state, central Florida at least. The company not saying exactly how many people are being let go. They do say the theme parks, the cruise line, as well as the vacation clubs will all be affected during this restructuring they're going through.

NGUYEN: Layoffs, but they're not going to tell you how many.

HOLMES: Not how many. Some reports in the hundreds. Certainly in the hundreds, up to 500, 600.

NGUYEN: But in this economy, one is too many.

Republicans are sounding the alarm over the president's budget plan. New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg says the proposal will bankrupt the country. He does the math in the weekly Republican address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JUDD GREGG (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: If you take all the debt of our country run up by all of our presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush, the total debt over all those 200 plus years, since we started as a nation -- it is President Obama's plan to double that debt in just the first five years that he is in office.

He is also planning to spend more on government as a percentage of our economy than at any time since World War II.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: And you may recall Senator Gregg was once President Obama's pick to be Commerce Secretary, but he backed out over differences with the administration's policies.

HOLMES: Isn't that something to hear him now criticize the administration. He was that close to being a member of the administration. Whew, politics.

Stay here with us. We're going to introduce you to a doctor who is saving lives in the emergency room, in surgery, but he's doing something else outside of that emergency room that's saving lives as well. He is a hero you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, so the statistics, they have shocking; 49 percent of all murder victims in the United States are black. And even those who survive a violent assault face a greater risk of receiving another violent injury.

HOLMES: Let's take you now to this week's CNN hero, a trauma surgeon who got tired of seeing this revolving door of violence firsthand, now opening up another door of opportunity instead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARNELL COOPER, SURGEON: As a trauma surgeon, I see significant amounts of violent injuries every year.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been shot twice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually blew my leg off.

COOPER: We take care of them and then they come back again. My colleagues said, there's really nothing we can do in these situations. I knew that wasn't true. And I knew that I could make a difference.

I'm Dr. Carnell Cooper. I'm saving lives by breaking the cycle of violence in Baltimore. When they're here in the hospital, it represents an opportunity.

I want to talk to you about violence intervention.

Maybe for the first time, this individual says, I almost died.

We say, look, we're going to help you get out of the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before I was into shooting people, robbing. This group has changed my life tremendously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all got goals now. We know where we're going at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A GED, job training.

COOPER: You guys all have done great. I'm very proud of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Cooper saved me.

COOPER: Every physician's goal is to save lives. This is another step in that process. In my mind, this is what I should be doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And you can learn much more about Dr. Carnell Cooper's violence intervention program in Baltimore a little bit later on CNN this afternoon.

HOLMES: Dr. Cooper is going to be a guest this afternoon in the CNN NEWSROOM, 3:30 Eastern time. You can catch him right here.

NGUYEN: In the meantime, boy do we have a story for you. A lot of people this is an outrage story. Essentially it's this: a couple gets a call that their mother is actually dying and they need to come quickly, right now, as a matter of fact. But on the way to the hospital, they get pulled over by the cops. And, well, it didn't turn out exactly how they wanted.

HOLMES: Yes, a sad story, getting a lot of reaction to that. Has everybody debating here in the NEWSROOM, everywhere. People have been talking about this story.

NGUYEN: Did the officer do the right thing? I don't know. We'll see.

HOLMES: Full story and that dash cam video coming up.

Also, the next time there's a major flood, will there be a solution that's more advanced than sandbags? It's an answer you've almost got to see to believe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back to everybody. This is the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get back to a lot of this weather that we are watching this morning. Take a look at what we have got for you here. This is North Dakota, in the top left of your screen. People there bracing themselves for that Red River crest we keep watching for. Only then will we know how much flooding will actually affect that city.

NGUYEN: In the top right hand corner of the screen, Alaska, where five eruptions from a volcano have occurred in the past 24 hours. But we are being told that the volcano seems to be stable now. And in your lower left-hand corner, a rare spring time blizzard hits the southwest.

HOLMES: Head to the southeast, which you see in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, showing you some of the damage there. Again, a powerful look at what's been happening. There were a lot of storms around the country in the past couple of days.

NGUYEN: We want to get you back to that flooding in the Red River Valley. We have talked to both the mayor of Fargo and the governor of North Dakota this morning. Both are very hopeful that the worst has passed and that the river's rise is done. Still though, they are asking people who have stayed to help watch the levees for weak spots. Volunteers have played a major part in trying to keep these floodwaters at bay.

We want to turn to CNN radio's Steve Kastenbaum. He joins us by phone from Fargo this morning. Steve, how are those volunteers holding up? Because they have been working for days, hours on end.

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: They are incredible. Every time the call goes out for a need for a bunch of volunteers to react quickly to a small leak in the dike, within a half an hour, it's not unusual to see 150, 200 people there in a line passing sandbags. They have been doing this for a week straight now. Their backs, their arms are aching. Yet they still keep at it, because they realize they are the first and the best defense against these river waters that are sort of, by the way, stabilized today.

I have been monitoring the river gauge on an hourly basis here. And it's sticking around 40.82 feet right now. So folks are happy about that, because they were expecting it to be higher than that today.

NGUYEN: And as we look at the river rising and the threat that poses, should there need to be more volunteer efforts as we go on through these coming days, because essentially what we have been told by both the mayor and the governor is that once this thing crests, this thing is not over. It could last for up to eight days.

KASTENBAUM: Absolutely. They are going to need those volunteers in reserve for the entire week. The wholesale sandbagging effort, that is no longer going on. They have a lot of sandbags in reserve. We heard them talk in their morning meeting and in their press conference about having created 3.5 million sandbags. They say that's never been done before here during any flood. So they're really proud of that.

But they need those volunteers to stick around, to listen to the radio for the calls for help, because if there is a breach or a minor leak somewhere, they want to cake care of those as quickly as possible before it gets out of hand.

Can you believe this? They're now talking about more snow falling here on Monday night and Tuesday as well. Then the temperatures will warm up after that. So they know they're going to be dealing with more water in the Red River down the road.

NGUYEN: That is not what they need. Steve Kastenbaum joining you live by phone. Thank you for that, Steve. T.J.?

HOLMES: As Betty mentioned a moment ago, we talked to the governor of North Dakota, as well, John Hoeven. We talked to him last hour. We talked about all the work that goes into getting ready for possibly the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HOEVEN (R), GOVERNOR OF NORTH DAKOTA: Everybody is doing all they can on the flood protection. Local officials, state officials, federal officials, a tremendous number of volunteers; 48 miles of levees, dikes, sandbag barriers. Now it's being monitored. We have on the order of 1,700 to 1,800 National Guardsmen in here, helping our citizens monitor the dikes, man pumps. We have quick response teams in case of a breach develops.

Then, at the same time, as you mentioned at the outset, we have also put things in place not only to evacuate some people already, some of our vulnerable populations, for example, nursing homes, hospitals, the housing authority, developmentally disabled, as well as people in low-lying areas, certain neighborhoods and so forth. And then we have transportation assets positioned just west of town. We have a staging area in town. the Red River Valley Fairgrounds, to help people that may need help getting out, if they have a problem in their neighborhood.

So all those things are going on right now. And with this crest, this flooding, it's not a one or two-day event. This will go on or continue to go on for a number of days. So we have to continue to deal with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: As much as we would like them to, our cameras can't see everything. And that's why our iReporters come in and they help us tell the story and go to places that we can't be. Let's take Fargo for example. Here's some pictures that have been sent to us by Peter Fry. The wooden levee in front of Peter's home right there, well, it gave way. The house is a total loss.

The family rode out the emergency on the roof, waiting for the rescue helicopter which you saw a little bit earlier. But it had to stop and pick up others along the way. So they are suffering nonetheless.

And flooding isn't limited to the Fargo area. Thunderstorms and heavy rains in the south are causing flooding in parts of Alabama and Mississippi. On the Gulf coast, the emergency management officials say steady rain has made about 100 roads impassable, including the main route into Biloxi, Mississippi. Officials say people have had to be rescued from stalled cars and flooded homes. So far there are no injuries.

HOLMES: Well, Texas getting hit by some strong storms. And we showed you that blinding blizzard in the panhandle.

Yes, take a look at this too. This is a little closer to the center of the state. iReport here from J.K. Washington in Pflugerville (ph), Texas. That's just outside of Austin. And what you are seeing there, hail. Don't know if it's quite the size of a golf ball, but if we're comparing it to anything close to a golf ball, you should probably duck and cover if this stuff is coming down.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: A situation that didn't work out so well at all. Listen to this story, many of you may be outraged by it. Here's how it happened: a husband and a wife get the call from the hospital saying that your mother is dying; you need to come now if you want to say goodbye. But that final moment did not work out the way that the family had expected it would.

HOLMES: Yes, when they were -- finally got to the hospital, they had to actually get stopped by a police officer. The officer's name, Robert Powell, actually stopped them for I believe it was running a red light. But they were stopped by a police officer. They were in a hurry trying to get to the hospital. CNN's Ed Lavandera picks up the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is police officer Robert Powell's View chasing down an SUV that he just saw slowly pass through a red light. The car has flashing hazard lights turned on, and inside is NFL running back Ryan Moats, who's racing to the hospital to see his dying mother-in-law.

When Moats pulls into a parking space, police say Powell draws his gun and the confrontation quickly gets heated.

ROBERT POWELL, POLICE OFFICER: Get in there. Get in there.

RYAN MOATS, NFL RUNNING BACK: Excuse me.

POWELL: Get in there. Let me see your hands. Get in there. Put your hands on the car.

MOATS: My mom's dying.

POWELL: Do you understand?

LAVANDERA: From the officer's dashboard video camera, you can hear Moats try to explain the urgency of the moment. His wife and another relative ignore the officer and go inside. The officer asked for Moats' insurance and says he is being ticketed for running a red light.

POWELL: I need your insurance.

MOATS: I don't have insurance.

POWELL: You don't have insurance?

MOATS: Give me a ticket or whatever.

POWELL: If I can't verify you have insurance ...

MOATS: My mother-in-law is dying right now. You're wasting my time.

POWELL: If I can't verify that you have insurance, I'm going to tow the car. You either find it or I'm going to tow the car. Stop talking. Stop talking. You can either set it up, cooperate, or I can take you to jail.

MOATS: What are you asking for?

(CROSSTALK)

POWELL: Shut your mouth.

MOATS: There you go. POWELL: Shut your mouth, shut your mouth. You can cooperate and settle down, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light. Is that what you want to do? I can screw you over. I would rather not do that. Your attitude will dictate everything that happens. And right now, your attitude sucks.

MOATS: Yes, sir.

POWELL: OK, I turned my red and blues on as you were going over the bridge. Why didn't you stop?

MOATS: You think I'm going to stop when my wife's mother is dying?

POWELL: You are required to stop. What you are doing does not matter.

MOATS: Yes, sir.

LAVANDERA: Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle ripped his officer's handling of the situation. Powell has been put on paid leave until an internal investigation is complete. He could be fired.

CHIEF DAVID KUNKLE, DALLAS POLICE: I want to issue a personal apology and also an apology on behalf of the Dallas Police department to the family of Jeanetta Collingsworth (ph). I'm embarrassed and disappointed by the behavior of one our police officers, Officer Robert Powell.

LAVANDERA: And listen as another police officer and even a hospital nurse try to help get Moats inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, that's the nurse. She says the mom is dying right now. He needs to get up there before she does.

POWELL: I'm almost done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

LAVANDERA: After almost 15 minutes, Ryan Moats finally is allowed to walk away, not in time to say good-bye to his mother-in- law. She died as Officer Powell finished writing the ticket.

(on camera): After all of that, the ticket has been dismissed. Dallas police leaders say that in their initial conversations with Officer Powell that he insists that he did everything right and acted appropriately.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: That is such a tough one. The officer says he acted appropriately, but the ticket was dismissed. The family was trying to explain that the mother was dying. They pulled into a hospital. They had their hazards on. HOLMES: But the officer -- on the other side of that, the officer didn't know. He's doing his job. And he's trying to stop somebody. If he doesn't know why they're not stopping -- but they essential keep going. You know, those officers when they pull people over, they have split seconds to make a lot of decision sometimes. Every time, their life could be in danger when they pull somebody over. It's unfortunate this had to happen.

NGUYEN: Some people are really taking issue with the fact that the security guard came out and said, yes, her mother is dying. And then the nurse came out. And yet, the officer still took time to write that ticket. Granted, he's got to do his job. But -- anyway, we are getting your comments on this. A lot of people are weighing in.

I want to take you right now to my Facebook page, where Keith says "The cop was being a cop. As for taking his time to write the ticket, that cop was wrong. The sad truth is, the cop probably hears the whole my mom is dying excuse 100 times a day."

Let's go over to my Twitter page. D. Lawrence64 says "People are responsible for their actions. I believe the officer acted appropriately up to their arrival at the hospital."

But this other person writes, "I can screw you over quote says it all. The powers we grant officers for protecting society, not screwing it over at will."

HOLMES: And a couple more here, a quick Twitter comment I got here from a lady named Michelle. She says "I heard he wasn't just speeding. He ran a red light on his way to the hospital, could have hurt or killed another motorist." We get a lot of you all saying that.

But this one might sum this up the best. Robin Robertson is her name, on my Facebook page, just sent this in. She says, "Police officers should be making decisions based upon the law. However, they need to be humans first. Every situation is different. They need to have the skill to take the best action in response to each situation. He has made the wrong decision. Hopefully he's sorry, realized the impact he left of the family of a dying woman. Maybe we should all now have a little more compassion for our neighbors."

So summed up really well there by Robin.

NGUYEN: We do appreciate your response today to both our Facebook, Twitter, Weekends@CNN.com, all these different outlets. We do want to hear from you. And we'll have much more in the coming weekends. We'll probably have another question for you tomorrow. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be back with much more. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, bad weather out there, putting a damper on those travel plans of you. We have seen a bit of that this week. NGUYEN: Absolutely, but a little extra preparation, that can make things a whole lot easier, especially in a emergency. Richelle Carey has ways to handle the unknown on the go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Severe weather, medical emergencies, getting lost; travelers need to be prepared for anything.

SARAH KANTROWITZ, TRAVEL + LEISURE: There are many unexpected things that can happen when you're traveling, in particular in regards to the weather. Travel insurance will help reimburse you for your expenses and help to bring you home.

CAREY: You should take extra care when traveling overseas.

KANTROWITZ: Many people worry about losing their passport when they're traveling. A great tip is to make a color copy of your passport and leave it in your hotel safe. This way, if you lose your passport, you'll be able to prove your citizenship at the U.S. embassy with less hassle.

CAREY: Make sure you can get cash when you need it.

KANTROWITZ: Before you leave for a trip abroad, change your ATM pin to a four digit code. Most foreign ATM's only accept four digit codes and this will help if you need cash while you're traveling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We want to get you back to the Fargo flooding real quickly. And I want to show you this map to just put all of it into perspective for you. You can see Fargo there. Well, the Red River stretches the entire length of the state's border with Minnesota. And it's been about 12 years since Fargo has had flooding anywhere close to what is going on right now.

HOLMES: The damage was so bad back then that Fargo was ready to try something that few cities have even heard about. It's called an invisible flood wall. Time to find out how this things works. Josh Levs checking it out.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Our coverage of the flooding has brought attention to something a lot of people aren't familiar with. It's called the invisible flood control wall. I want to tell you about this website. First, let's take a look at this iReport from Rick Hurts.

You are seeing the one there that's in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. We actually have some video as well for you of invisible flood control wall that was set up in Fargo several years ago.

Here's the basic idea, you have a concrete and metal base for it. But the horizontal slabs that you're seeing along the way lift out. That's why they call it invisible, because during the year, you have an unobstructed view. If it's believed the flood could come, they're able to take those aluminum slats, put them in there, layer them up and protect, to some extent, from the flooding.

Now obviously, as we've been seeing this week, it's not always enough. But it can at times help protect. In fact, the Army Corps of Engineers has approved it for use in several projects. Zoom in on the board, because there's several places around the nation that actually use this.

This is the Web site about it, FloodControlAmerica.com, tells you about it. Take a look here at this map, shows you several places in the country, not just in this section, but also over here in the north east, over in the west, that have been using these. And we are told that more and more places are taking advantage of these these days.

We're going to keep an eye on this and see how good a job it does in various parts of the country. Also, other new technology that could, in the future, work in similar ways to help protect from floods.

NGUYEN: The Red River is expected to crest tomorrow. And if it does, it could be Wednesday before the water starts to recede.

HOLMES: Moving on here and taking a bit of a turn, one of the biggest stars in the music industry, biggest stars on the planet, he found out yesterday he's going to jail. And he found out how long he's going to jail. We're talking about T.I. here. I sat down in one of his last interviews before his sentencing date, talking to him about everything from being a role model to his family, and what it's going to be like for a year without him. That's coming up. You'll hear more from T.I. Stay with us.

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NGUYEN: In this tough economy, we're all trying to tighten our belts a little bit more these days. And here at CNN, we're trying to share some of those success stories with you, people who are making ends meet.

HOLMES: Yes. And's CNN's Deborah Feyerick now reports for some, saving money has become a family affair.

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DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Amy Platt decided to quit her part time job as an accountant to build her parenting web business, the mother of two knew it would be a big change.

(on camera): Is this the first time you and your husband have really had to put together a budget?

AMY PLATT, MOTHER: Yes, absolutely.

FEYERICK: Is that crazy a little bit?

PLATT: Yes. Almost everything in our daily life, we now figure the cost. Whereas before, we were like, we can go out to lunch, we can go out to dinner.

FEYERICK (voice-over): She and her husband stopped using debit cards, started cutting coupons, switched to a cheaper SUV, even gave up their full time baby sitter.

PLATT: It's a big adjustment for people who never really were on a strict budget before.

FEYERICK: Moms and dads across the nation are making recession driven choices. A survey by MomCentral.com found money alone is not the issue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've also been wrestling with how to explain the current economic environment to kids, from mortgage payments, to losing jobs, to financial stability for a family, to just saying no to younger kids that they can't have the toy in the store.

FEYERICK: Even six-year-old Aaron Platt is learning about cutting back, taking extra care of his birthday money.

AARON PLATT, SIX-YEAR-OLD: I put it in my wallet and I put my wallet in my secret drawer.

FEYERICK (on camera): What is it you are trying to teach your kids? What are you trying to instill in them.

PLATT: Just not to be wasteful, to really think about purchases that you're making. He seems to get it. He has more of a responsibility with money I think than a six-year-old would.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is definitely a silver lining because we have engaged kids in a dialogue that we have, up 'til now, sequestered them from.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Now, Amy's helping other moms make cuts. Her Long Island parenting Web site offers advice and discounts on kid- friendly activities.

(on camera): Given the changes that you've made, do you find yourself saving a little bit of money, or are you ...

PLATT: No.

FEYERICK: You're not?

PLATT: We're not saving. But we're paying everything that needs to be paid.

FEYERICK: As long as you can cover your bills, you're happy.

PLATT: Yes, for sure.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Long Island.

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