Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Obama Dealing With Two Emergencies; Oil Dispersants Threaten Ocean Environment; Times Square Car Bomb Investigation Continues; Nashville Flooding Affecting Area Hospitals; Times Square Vendor Hero Speaks

Aired May 02, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New York police say they may have video of a possible suspect in last night's attempt to bomb Times Square. Authorities evacuated the busy intersection after discovering a car bomb in a Nissan Pathfinder abandoned with its engine running and its emergency lights flashing. There are no arrests so far. Police say they are following up on clues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: We're currently examining video that shows a white male in his 40s in Schubert Alley looking back in the direction of West 45th street. He also was seen shedding a dark colored shirt, revealing a red one underneath. He put the darker one into a bag that he was carrying. This happened about a half block from where the vehicle was parked.

Detectives also are en route to a town in Pennsylvania where a tourist believes he may have captured the suspect's image on his video camera.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Here are the other things that we know right now about this investigation. The New York Bomb Squad removed propane tanks, gasoline containers and consumer grade fireworks from the vehicle. They also removed a locked metal box after opening it with an explosive charge that they found what they described as a bird's nest of wires and firecrackers.

The license plate on the car came from a Connecticut auto shop as well. Auto repair shop is what the police commissioner said. He also said there was - there were many bags of fertilizer in that vehicle.

Meantime, President Barack Obama just talked about the car bomb situation. Let's go to Dan Lothian at the White House.

Dan, the president having to tackle a couple things there while he was in a very rainy Venice, Louisiana, there to - to kind of survey the oil slick. He began his press conference by talking about what took place at Times Square.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, two very critical issues that the president's dealing with today. And, as you pointed out, talking about that attempted bombing in New York City and the president saying that earlier in the morning he had spoken with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He wanted to make sure that the federal government and state agencies were coordinating together in the investigation. And also the president again trying to make sure that the American people are reassured that he will do everything possible to make sure that they are safe.

Now, one thing the administration will not do is sort of play that game of right now, pointing a finger at who's behind this. Of course, there's been news out there about the Taliban in Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing, but administration officials saying that they're not buying into that. They're not going to speculate as to what might be the cause or who is behind it, what is the motive behind it, but instead want to wait and see how this investigation plays out.

But, nonetheless, this administration putting all its resources to make sure that this investigation is complete, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And the president reiterating that NYPD and all other localities have the federal government's full support in investigating.

LOTHIAN: That's right, and I think that was the main reason the president really wanted to get out there and not only point out that the administration is focused on that investigation, but also willing to provide whatever resources are needed in order for a suspect to be found. And, as the president pointed out, that suspect be brought to justice.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian at the White House, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

So we heard a bit from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at the top of the hour. We want you to hear now the rest of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY: Our investigators have developed leads that may assist us in identifying the individual responsible for the attempted car bombing in Times Square last night.

We have identified the registered owner of the Nissan Pathfinder, although we are not making his name public at this time. We also have determined that the license plate on the rear of the Pathfinder was registered to a different vehicle. That vehicle is in an auto repair shop in Connecticut where its matching plate was also found.

We are currently examining video that shows a white male in his 40s in Shubert Alley, looking back in the direction of West 45th Street.

This morning, we removed the vehicle itself to the NYPD forensic garage in Queens where it is undergoing extensive examination for fingerprints, for hair, for fibers and other evidence that may help us to identify the individual or individuals responsible. Investigators are in the process of combing through hundreds of hours of surveillance videos from the Times Square area, which may provide additional information.

We ask members of the public, of course, to come forward if they think they have any information about the - the incident, including any video or other images of the vehicle or its driver.

Clearly, it was the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem, to create casualties. We're doing an in-depth analysis now of - of the material that was used, you know, the material that was in the - the gun box. We'll determine what - what that was. But it was - I think it's just a sober reminder that New York is clearly a target of - of people who want to come here and - and do us harm.

Well, of course, if this had detonated, in my judgment it would have caused casualties, a significant fireball with - I'm told that the vehicle itself would have at least been cut in half, and you have large numbers of pedestrians in that area. So, yes, we were lucky that it didn't detonate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. On any given Saturday night, Times Square is packed with people.

So here is what some of the witnesses that we caught up with had to say about last night's developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX VON DE BREGGAN, WITNESS: So I was standing outside the Marriott yesterday afternoon and there was a little bit - around a car on the - on the opposite of the Marriott. Next to the bakery was a big mountain of garbage bags.

I was standing there and suddenly I saw a big flashlight in the car. The explosion was not too big. It's like a small - a small hand grenade in the car. The windows stayed in -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. OK.

BREGGAN: -- but it smoked.

STEVEN RAMIREZ, WITNESS: We were walking in toward the bus in 44th by down (ph) Broadway and we heard an explosion sound, and we honestly stopped. We didn't know what to do. And next thing you know we saw everybody else start running and we started running, too.

VICTORIA RODRIGUEZ, WITNESS: Everybody just started being backed up and everybody was being pushed back, and the barriers started going up.

RAMIREZ: We knew something was wrong when we saw the ambulances and the cop cars. Everybody was racing towards the way we were. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, of course, police will be taking into account eyewitness accounts as they continue in their investigation. They're also going to be looking at the more than 80 cameras for that surveillance video in that very area.

Our Josh Levs with us now. This is information that really could be pretty powerful in this investigation.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, and in a minute, I'm going to show you a map of where some of the security cameras are all over Times Square.

But it's very interesting to be talking about it in this context, because one of the places that we've seen this map before is when people were raising questions about everywhere you go, are there eyes watching you? Because times like this you're glad those eyes are there.

Let's do this. I want to first take everyone to the exact spot that we're talking about, to this area, because everyone's familiar with Times Square. Even if you haven't been to New York, you've seen images of the New Year's Eve Celebrations or images of New York.

This is it right here. I just wanted to zoom in to this screen. I'm going to use a Google Street View. This is it right here. We're talking about the corner of 45th and Broadway. And, you know what - the way Google works, basically, they have some images - this is obviously not live, but they have images of what different locations look like.

So, this is it right here. Very, very busy, always packed with people. So when we're hearing about how horrifying it could be if there had been this fireball, as authorities are now saying, obviously, at any given time, even during the night, it is very crowded.

You have a theater here that plays "The Lion King" right out there. And you also have the offices of Viacom not far away, which is why that's been coming up as well.

But, you know, it is New York and it is Times Square. So, you're going to be near a lot of things. That's another reason that authorities are pushing back on any kind of theories right away, saying hold off. We don't know why this person may have selected this exact location, if it was random, if it was planned.

Now, let's talk security cameras. This is so interesting. This morning, at 5:00 A.M. when I was first here, starting to look into this, I wondered how many security cameras are there in that area. And I found this from "The New York Times" in 2002. Hey, Wes, could you zoom way in?

Check it out. Every one of these dots here has a security camera in Times Square, and some of these are from private institutions, some of these are from the government. But each one gets its own image.

And this is from eight years ago. There are even more since then. But this is just - this isn't like a broad stretch of Manhattan.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: We're just talking Times Square. So then - at the time, there is an article that had the headline "You Really are being Watched."

So this, in a way, reminds me of what we're - you hear about all the time and what we can think about when it comes to protecting any democratic society, right? You have this back and forth between the fears about our - lots of eyes watching you, are we losing personal privacy, and the desire to hold on to protection. And today, we're seeing the other side of what is often a tightrope there.

Let's do this. I was just showing you how busy Times Square can be. Now, I want to go to that video. After you've seen that, I want to juxtapose what happened last night, which is historic, because, Fred, you know, Times Square never looks like this, ever. This doesn't happen, that you never see a giant stretch of emptiness at Times Square, and what they had to do was go around and evacuate certain areas.

What's really interesting to me, too, and very New York, very show must go on, I got some information from Broadway today, not a single show was canceled. The shows all went on. In a few cases, they had to evacuate - they had to exit the theaters a little differently than they would have otherwise, and some shows are late.

WHITFIELD: But a lot of the people who were in those theaters, watching shows at that time, had no idea of what was going on outside.

LEVS: No idea.

WHITFIELD: They weren't asked to do anything differently than what they were already doing, which was be inside and get ready for shows to begin.

LEVS: And all the stories that we're getting about what happened last night when that evacuation happened say that people stayed calm. They were organized. They were orderly. They did what the authorities said.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes.

LEVS: We don't have stories about anything, like, awful happening in that area. Even the people that we've talked to, our iReporters - and you heard some sound bites there.

In the end, things were pretty organized and orderly. People seem to have handled it well. So it's another important part of this whole story for the New Yorkers.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, and the public is going to be instrumental in this investigation. We heard that from the police commissioner, too.

LEVS: And all those cameras.

WHITFIELD: That's right.

All right. Thanks so much, Josh. Appreciate that.

Of course, this isn't the only thing happening. There are a lot of things going on today. How about that oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico? It is worsening as well, now encroaching on the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama Coast.

Much more from that region right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM.

Take a look at this. Remember the police commissioner saying that there were two clocks that were attached to a box in the back of the vehicle which was part of the whole car bomb last night? Well, now, we have an image. One of our producers was at that press conference and they revealed an image now of one of those clocks.

You've heard from the police that many of the items were things that you might find in your home, you might enjoy at a picnic barbecue, such as the propane tanks, things that you can find in the store. This is one of the two clocks now, the image of one of the two clocks used in this car bomb that failed to completely detonate but was smoldering and smoking last night, which is why some vendors noticed it and then went to mounted police last night in the middle of the Times Square, just about 6:28 P.M.

And now, this is a full-scale operation, a big investigation that is now spanning many states now as police try to piece together some of the components, some of the information they've gleaned from the vehicle now as well. And here now is just a view of the clock.

I'm sure police will be revealing photographs of other items, because they are looking for the public's help in this investigation.

The other major story we're covering today, a potential catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico from oil that is leaking, continues to leak from that damaged BP well.

Here's what we know right now. President Barack Obama just wrapped up a briefing about the oil spill in Louisiana. He flew to New Orleans today, then made a road trip to the coastal town of Venice with Governor Bobby Jindal.

You're looking at earlier images of the president there standing in the rain as he was talking about all that will be done to help contain this oil spill. Mr. Obama says his administration is preparing for a worst-case scenario, even as they hope for the best. He says his team is going to act aggressively until the leak is stopped at the source and that the oil, hopefully, he says, will be contained and cleaned up.

There's also new concern about the impact of the oil slick on shipping lanes in the Gulf of Mexico. The slick appears to have tripled in size in just the last two days alone.

And BP's chief is now saying that the gushing well could be capped by a dome within six to eight days. Now, remember, it's being said that 5,000 gallons of oil - oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico on a day-to-day basis. So even that still is a pretty unbelievable forecast if eight to nine days before they can try and cap that well.

So BP is defending its safety record today. The company blames the oil spill on a failed piece of equipment. They still can't say when the leaking well will be plugged, except that the chief is forecasting maybe within eight to nine days.

Our Brian Todd is following the investigation into the oil rig explosion and the spill. He's joining us now from Venice, Louisiana - Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, BP officials are clearly defending their safety record as they have been for the last couple of days. One of the questions we've been asking that has been raised in this investigation is, was a backup system that could have prevented the blowout preventer from malfunctioning or could have maybe shut down the well on its own.

This is called an acoustic switch. It's a remote controlled switch that could have shut down the valve on its own even if the blowout preventer had initially failed. That was not on this rig. Other countries require those to be on their rigs. The U.S. doesn't.

A BP official told me that those switches don't have as good of track record as those submersible remotely operated vehicles that have been hovering near this well had, trying to cap it for days. Those haven't worked either. But this BP official said those acoustic switches don't have as good a track record.

But still, a question that's being asked, could added layers of safety have been in place here that could have prevented some of this oil from leaking out? That's going to be a focal point of the investigation in the coming days, BP adamantly defending their safety record on that front.

Another key component that was going on today, not only is the weather hampering some of the recovery - I mean, some of the containment efforts along the gulf, but NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has essentially shut down fishing for a huge portion of this region, which is really going to take a toll on the local economy.

We just saw two shrimp boats coming up here, up this inlet off the gulf. You're probably not going to see them go back out for a few days because NOAA has shut down fishing for 10 days from the mouth of the Mississippi River all the way over to Pensacola Bay, because they need to test that seafood and water samples to make sure that it's safe.

But that's going to be a - be a huge hit for an industry that brings in $2.4 billion worth of revenue in this region, Fred. It's a big blow and that's just happened today.

WHITFIELD: So, I wonder, Brian, when the president said from that location, Venice, Louisiana, earlier today, and he said BP is responsible for this leak. BP will pay the bill, might that include the lost industry? The bill of that lost industry?

TODD: You know, that's something that's probably going to be raised. I don't know if there's a way we can answer that question right now, but, you know, the federal officials from the president just a moment ago through Janet Napolitano earlier today and the past couple of days have been hammering at that very point.

BP is going to pay for this. BP is responsible for this. I think that through various legal actions, lawsuits and other things, you're going to see BP compensating for some industry that has been lost here, no doubt.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TODD: How much of that, I think that may play out just over the last - over the next several months.

WHITFIELD: A very sad situation.

All right. Thanks so much. Brian Todd from Venice, Louisiana.

All right, meantime, Alabama's governor, well, he was expected to fly over the Gulf Coast today. He wanted to, to get a better look at the massive oil slick and the containment booms which have been deployed. But today, in many cases, we find that those booms are no longer.

Our Richard Lui is in Dauphin Island, Alabama. So maybe you could tackle a few things for us there, those booms as well as the governor. Did he do that flyover today? Weather is bad.

RICHARD LUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You bet.

Yes, you know, Fred, those booms - first off, take a look right behind me. There used to be booms here. On Friday, they were deployed and then broke apart yesterday, on Saturday, and then bring you to today. You don't see any booms behind me, do you?

They're all gone right now and that's because the wind that has been coming across this part of the island, the eastern side of the island, has lapped over them and unmoored many of them.

The weight of the booms are anchored. They put these 40-pound weights on both sides. So, there's obviously some dynamism going on in terms of the deployment of booms. There's still plenty of them not more than 300 yards from me right here and perhaps they plan on deploying more on Monday.

The governor is supposed to be doing an overhead. The wind has been picking up. You can just look at my hair. It's been a little bit windy here so far today. And then, he will be in Mobile, Alabama, not too far from here.

As that is happening, there are certainly residents that are concerned about what might happen.

I've been telling you the story of Maurice White (ph). I just got off the phone with him about five minutes ago, and I'll get you the update on that very quickly. But he was one of the fishermen actually celebrating today, trying to put a smile on their faces as well as their family's.

But this particular celebration, the Blessing of the Fleet, which happened today, and this normally auspicious moment was a little bit different for him. This is what he told me a little bit earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAURICE RYAN, BAVOU LA BATRE FISHERMAN: I hope it'll change it for me. I hope - you know, I mean, that's why we're here.

You've got to put your trust in someone, and I really feel like with the - the church and the bishop, I got my life in good hands, because BP certainly isn't helping me.

BISHOP THOMAS RODI, ST. MARGARETS CHURCH: It could have widespread effects, but not only the livelihood of people, an entire way of life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: That was the archbishop of Mobile, Alabama speaking.

You know, I just got off the phone five minutes ago, because, Fred, right before we went on air, I wanted to get an update from Maurice White (ph) who you can see there. He's decorated his boat. He went out to the river and was showing us where they would have the procession of the Blessing of the Fleet.

He actually has won the contest - came in third, I should say, which is pretty good. He spent the last two days - I've been following him, calling him yesterday, today and throughout the morning. He came in number three in terms of the best decorations for his boat.

And he said he's feeling quite good about the situation, despite the fact this is normally the start of the season and he cannot go fishing, he cannot go boating tomorrow. So he's still staying very optimistic, and he's a winner.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, he's trying to remain optimistic even though there's going to be no fishing -

LUI: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: -- as far as he know, what? For at least 10 days, maybe even more. Richard Lui, thanks so much, Dauphin Island. Appreciate that.

Meantime, another big thing we continue to cover, widespread flooding in Tennessee and now Kentucky being threatened as well. Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center. Jacqui, what do you have?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We've got an amazing storm system that's brought everything from tornadoes to that widespread flooding.

It's the same system that's causing the problems in the gulf and bringing those choppy conditions in the waters, up to nine foot seas today. And look at the thunderstorms. They've been intensified here across parts of the northern gulf. You can see them moving across Plaquemines Parish, on up towards Biloxi, so we could see some really heavy downpours.

Winds have been gusting with 40 miles per hour, but they could reach 60-plus miles per hour, we think, in some of these thunderstorms as they push on through.

Now, the forecast originally was that maybe we'd get some of this oil towards the shore of Mississippi by today. That didn't happen. So we're looking at earliest by tomorrow -

Keep in mind, when you look at this forecast map, it doesn't mean it's going to inundate this area. It just means that some of the oil could possibly start to breach and move into some of these areas, especially now that some of those booms are starting to get washed away.

So we're going to watch the slick very closely over the next couple of days and continue to monitor the progress. But these are the only areas so far, including some of these outlying islands, that have actually seen oil on them at this time.

Now, let's talk more about the showers and thunderstorms, and, boy, it has just been incredible, the major flooding that's been underway across parts of the mid-South from Northern Mississippi through much of Tennessee into Kentucky and now pushing into Indiana.

I don't know if you - if we have the aerials available to show you, but two of the cities being hardest hit here include Memphis and Nashville. And these are pictures along I-24 from yesterday.

WHITFIELD: No.

JERAS: No, these are Millington? Is this really Millington?

Wow. This looks like a lot like the same situation that was happening there on Nashville yesterday. This, I know, is outside of the Memphis area, some of the aerials that we've been seeing, widespread flooding here. At least 10 inches of rain has fallen in the Memphis area.

We've got bridges out. We've got roads closed. We've got people who have been rescued, and officials are advising people to stay home because you can't get anywhere. People are getting cut off by these rising waters.

The rain continues to come down across Central and Eastern Tennessee, and we're going to watch this threat spread now into the central Appalachians and eventually make its way into the northeast. This is a slow moving system, Fredricka. We also have the threat of wind damage with some of these thunderstorms today.

WHITFIELD: Wow. That is - that is really extraordinary, Jacqui. And something tells me that's still kind of the tip of the iceberg because we're only seeing what the cameras are able to see right now. There are a lot of areas that you just can't get to in a quick way.

JERAS: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jacqui, appreciate that.

All right. The oil spill, Times Square car bomb - real tests for the Obama administration. Exactly what is at stake? Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser will be joining us momentarily.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An oil spill threatening five gulf states, a car bomb scare in New York. These are two emergencies on the president's plate in one weekend.

Paul Steinhauser is CNN's deputy political director. He joins us now from Washington.

All right. So, Paul, a lot of people are watching to see just how the president handles this. Exactly what is on the line?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: So much on the line, and a very busy weekend for the president and his national security team, Fred.

I guess job number one for any White House, keeping Americans, keeping the country safe from acts of terror.

Overall, the president has pretty good ratings when you look at the polls. Our most recent numbers suggested a slight majority approved of how he's handling terrorism.

But, you know, there has been some criticisms of this White House, of his team. You just go back to Christmas Day, that attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner. There was some criticism of how they handled that. Also, there was some pushback against the administration when they tried to close to detention facility in Guantanamo Bay and tried to try some of those 9/11 suspects in federal rather than military tribunals. But you heard the president today just about an hour ago, Fred, say that he'll see that justice is done in the New York case of that car bombing and he was very clear pointing out that federal authorities, his national security team, dealing with the state and the City of New York City to try to get this done, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, I wonder how much of a difference it would make for this presidency, whether it was a homegrown terrorist, somebody who has been here for a while, living here, or whether this car bombing would be - whether those people responsible or the person responsible would be - would be from elsewhere?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. And we're not there yet, obviously, anywhere close to knowing where and who is responsible for this.

WHITFIELD: Right.

STEINHAUSER: But - but that I think, either way, the idea here of keeping this country safe, job number one for this White House. And you're going to see them aggressively pointing out that the president and his team are - are combating the situation, just like you're seeing the White House being very aggressive now, not only with the car bomb situation but also with the oil spill in Louisiana, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Are we hearing the president kind of, you know, bring some distance between how the federal government responded to the oil spill and how BP should be held accountable for this oil spill?

STEINHAUSER: You were just talking about that not long ago with Dan Lothian earlier this hour. Yes, you heard the president at that news conference down in Louisiana in the rain, pointing out that BP is to blame, BP will pay for this clean-up. But at the same time, though, you also heard the president use words like "relentless response," We will spare no resource to clean up whatever damage is caused, because, you know, there has been some criticism by some on the right in the last couple days that this maybe was Barack Obama, President Obama's Katrina.

I think the White House is very cognizant of what happened to President Bush five years ago with the -- what was perceived to be a pretty slow response to Hurricane Katrina. It was damaging for that White House. It was damaging for the Republican Party in the two following elections. This White House aware of that, and they're going to show as much as they can that they're on top of things. That's why he sent cabinet officials down to the area and that's why you've seen the president today and the past days talking about the oil spill.

WHITFIELD: OK, deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, thanks so much, from Washington.

We're not done talking about the oil spill. We're going to talk to a toxicologist, a marine toxicologist, who's going to kind of break down for us the oil dispersants. Will they work? Will it hamper efforts? Is it medicine that is worse than the disease, as we heard from one environmentalist yesterday? Riki Ott -- we're going to talk with her right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, back to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The president toured the area today and also talked about BP being responsible for this spill, BP being responsible for the clean- up. But the federal government was going to try in the best supportive role as it can to reduce the crisis.

So we're going to talk right now with a marine toxicologist, Riki Ott. She's coming out of Denver. And we know that dispersants are being used -- BP is using dispersants to try to soak up some of that oil. I want to talk to you a little bit about that in a moment.

But first, talk to us about this oil slick. It is growing. We understand it is closely encroaching further on the Louisiana coast, Alabama, Mississippi coasts. And while there are booms that have been put in place, they're not holding the oil. But talk to us about why you say the oil on the surface is not the biggest problem, but that there is a cloud, the oil has depth, and that getting to that is a huge challenge.

RIKI OTT, MARINE TOXICOLOGIST: This is Louisiana sweet crude, and it's got a lot of what's called "light ends," which evaporate very quickly into the air and also dissolve very readily into the water column. So what you see on the surface is like the tip of the iceberg. Really, there is -- imagine a big cumulus cloud of dissolved and dispersed oil under the slick, wherever it is. And that...

WHITFIELD: And we have a graphic to kind of demonstrate what you're talking about, this cloud beneath the surface. Continue.

OTT: And that cloud is extremely toxic to everything in the water column -- shellfish, eggs and embryos -- so shrimp eggs and young life forms that are in the water column, young fish. And so what you're going to see, what the president is talking about -- British Petroleum will pay for damages. You're not even going to see the damages for a -- until a couple of generations out. Yes, fisheries will be closed right now, but what about the year class, this year class that should materialize? On down the line, when they're not there, will BP be there to pay for that?

WHITFIELD: Everything that is nesting right now, whether it be in the seagrass area, everything that is laying its eggs, like you mention, the shrimp eggs at the bottom -- well talk to me -- all of that in jeopardy. Talk to me now about these dispersants and how they work. We've heard generally how these dispersants kind of attach themselves to the oil. It gets heavy, absorbed, and it goes down to the bottom. But the bottom of the gulf is vital in the reproductivity of marine life.

OTT: OK. A couple of things. The only proper place for dispersants, if they're used at all, is in open ocean water, where there's a huge volume of water to dilute, literally dilute the toxin. And everybody could do an experiment in their own kitchen on how dispersants work. You just put -- fill up your dish -- kitchen sink. Put some grease on the surface. You'll see that the grease floats. Sprinkle in some Joy soap or some other dish soap, and you'll see that, instantly, the surface sheen looks like it disappears.

It doesn't disappear. What it does is it breaks into little, tiny droplets like rain, and it instantly goes into the water column. So the thing to remember here is like a lesson from early high school chemistry. Like dissolves like. So oil, by nature, is not based on water, so we have to use solvents to dissolve it. And those solvents are also very toxic. Using dispersants, then, is a trade-off.

WHITFIELD: So...

OTT: And the desperate choice...

WHITFIELD: Go ahead.

OTT: The desperate choice here is to try to minimize the amount of oil that gets -- that makes landfall. That's the choice.

WHITFIELD: And how do you do that?

OTT: We're -- well, the choice that the industry is using right now is to try to disperse it. And what that's doing is it's making a toxic hit of everything in the water column that's in that invisible cloud. So you're killing all the wildlife, all the sea life in the water column. Plus, dispersants are not 100 percent effective. So you're still going to have a portion of that oil get ashore. It's inevitable.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Yes, so not just the marine life, but the birds that dive into the water. There's pelicans that try to fish and they get covered with oil, and they can't possibly take flight, either, after that. Riki Ott, marine toxicologist, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.

OTT: Thank you for covering this important issue.

WHITFIELD: We'll have much more on the oil spill, on the car bomb in New York, as well as massive flooding, bad weather in so many parts of the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Back now to the intensifying investigation of that Times Square car bomb. CNN's Mary Snow is in Times Square now. Mary, what more do you know?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, there have been so many developments throughout the day, Fredricka. We want to bring you up to speed on that actual vehicle that investigators have been looking at. Susan Candiotti, our colleague, reports that a federal law enforcement source has said that investigators have now been able to determine that that vehicle was not from either New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.

That vehicle, of course, was here last night at around 6:30. And police say inside that vehicle, propane tanks, gasoline containers, alarm clocks that they've been able to retrieve, but this afternoon also saying that they also found at least eight bags of material that may be fertilizer. It is being analyzed now.

As for who may be behind this, police say they are looking for a man believed to be in his 40s, a white man. He was seen on a surveillance tape that was near the scene of this vehicle last night. Police say that he was seen changing his shirt. They say it could be coincidental, but they are taking a closer look at him. And also, they're trying to make contact or trying to get a videotape from a tourist from Pennsylvania who was rolling a videotape at the time.

As for what may have happened, the police commissioner said that had those explosives been detonated, there would have been a significant fireball, and that would at least have cut that car in half. He said there would have been casualties. And he said the intent was clear that there was the intent to cause mayhem.

Now, this all happening around 6:30, spotted by a vendor, a T- shirt vendor, who saw smoke coming from that car and alerted police. As you can probably see behind me, you know, this is one of the busiest times in Times Square because Broadway shows will be later tonight. You see some police cars there. The police commissioner said there have been more police officers on duty today.

But you talk to tourists here, and they really seem -- the tourists I've spoken to, at least -- they seem unfazed by this. Yes, they were concerned. Some had to leave their hotel for several hours last night because this area had been locked up. But they say, you know, this is kind of like the new norm -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mary Snow in Times Square, thanks so much.

Well, let's let an expert analyze this car bomb device, the investigation this point forward now. Jeff Beatty is a security consultant and senior adviser for Total Security Services International. He's joining us now from Boston. Good to see you, Jeff.

JEFFREY BEATTY, SECURITY EXPERT: Hello, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So what we're learning from the commissioner about the components used in this car bomb, the device, you see that there are some real similarities to what we're learning about what took place in Times Square last night and the 1996 bombing of the Centennial Park during the Olympics. In what way?

BEATTY: Well, first, I think, when we see the components that are being described right now, we have to very carefully listen to each word. We hear about fertilizer being present. But fertilizer alone without some fuel oil really does not make a large bomb. We heard the police commissioner use...

WHITFIELD: Gasoline, propane.

BEATTY: But if it's not mixed all together properly, if it's just there, then perhaps it's just making a statement, and in fact, it may be interesting to note that the police commissioner used the word this would have created a lot of "mayhem." I've not heard him use the word "mass casualties." So we don't yet know whether or not the perpetrator was trying to make a statement.

But we do know that he was awfully clever. He was clever in while he may have been a neophyte about explosives -- or maybe he wasn't, never intended to detonate a large bomb...

WHITFIELD: OK.

BEATTY: ... but he certainly was clever about surveillance and was using our technology against us. We saw your earlier package about all the surveillance cameras in Times Square. So here we have an individual who knows he's going to be under surveillance, and then goes into an alley and takes off a white shirt, puts a red shirt on underneath. But why wouldn't...

WHITFIELD: Still, with surveillance...

BEATTY: ... he know there's a surveillance camera there?

WHITFIELD: Right. Exactly. But I want to go back to that...

BEATTY: So was there a third -- I'm sorry. I just...

WHITFIELD: Well, I'm just...

BEATTY: One quick finishing thought on that.

WHITFIELD: OK. Go ahead.

BEATTY: Was there a third shirt that he changed into, a blue shirt somewhere, that now we're...

WHITFIELD: Oh!

BEATTY: ... he took advantage, and he's playing our technology possibly against us.

WHITFIELD: OK. So what I'm hanging on now is that you said this potentially could be, you know, a statement, or was this a statement that perhaps these components would never really go off to harm people, but instead, you know, be a fireball, provoke mayhem, et cetera. Would you see this as maybe a test, then, this could be potentially a test to see what happens if something like this were to happen, only to kind of sharpen the next, I guess, attempt or something that would come later?

BEATTY: Well, I think it's likely that this individual might try to do something again later. I've studied terrorism a long time, both in the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency, and we saw people like the German terrorist groups start off with things like this, and then they graduated into taking of lives. So it is important to find this individual before he escalates and goes into the next level, where he's actually taking of lives. So we do expect him to try to mount another attack. That's why we're kind of in a race against time to track him down and find him now.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Jeff Beatty, thanks so much, security consultant and senior adviser for Total Security Services International. Appreciate your time, from Boston.

BEATTY: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Of course, we're going to continue to follow the developments out of New York, as well as the Gulf Coast region on that oil spill throughout the day and evening.

But coming up next, we're going to focus in on this weather catastrophe taking place in Tennessee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Take a look at these images right here. You're looking at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Lots of water there, we understand, that's flooding into the basement of University Hospital, as well as the Monroe Carell Children's Hospital.

Lots of flooding in the area. Jacqui's been telling us about it all afternoon long, and the pictures have been extraordinary. And we don't know how the patients are being impacted, except that we do understand some patients are being relocated. We don't know to where.

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... there at that medical center.

JERAS: Well...

WHITFIELD: Boy, this is frightening.

JERAS: ... they say that -- well, Fredricka, they're saying that they're still able to see those patients, that they've just had to move some people to a different location in the hospital, that this flooding is in the basement. But at the children's hospital, the main lobby has been flooded, as well as the grand staircase.

WHITFIELD: Oh!

JERAS: The emergency room has also been flooded here. But they're still able to help with the emergency medical needs. They just had to move them to different locations at the hospital. But look at that...

WHITFIELD: In that image, it makes it appear as though there's a crack in the basement floor...

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... and the water's coming up from that way, as opposed to it careening in some other way. JERAS: Yes. It's very possible that it could be coming in both ways. You know, the Nashville area has seen over a foot of rain now since Friday, so this is of historic proportions. They're saying the widespread flooding overall is the worst that it's been in 30 years, at least. There are many, many rivers over their banks. A lot of people have been displaced. Interstate 24, we've talked a lot about that. We saw the images yesterday, Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

JERAS: ... of all the cars that were stuck on there, up to 70 of them. I-24 is opened.

WHITFIELD: Oh, really?

JERAS: So a little bit of good news there. But I-65 is closed now, as well as parts of I-40 west of town. And of course, we've got a lot of flooding going on in the Memphis area. Now it's moving into Kentucky.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, it's incredible! Those were amazing aerial views that we showed earlier, and we'll show again later on throughout the evening in the Newsroom. Jacqui, thank you so much.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, meantime, back to what took place in New York. The latest celebrity now, the street vendor who alerted police to smoke coming from a parked SUV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ORTON, T-SHIRT VENDOR: Leave me alone (ph).

QUESTION: It's New York City.

QUESTION: I know you don't want to give up the goods about what you saw last night...

ORTON: Too smart for that. Come on, man! Do I look stupid?

QUESTION: No, not at all. I mean, what do you think about this whole experience, though, that you end up in the middle of something that's international, it's being seen all over the world this morning? I mean, what do you feel about being a part of something like that?

ORTON: Come on. YouTube gets all over the world, too.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) right next to your cat (INAUDIBLE) right there?

ORTON: I don't have a truck (ph).

(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: You've got to be feeling good, Lance, right? You feeling good?

QUESTION: Lance, what time did you go to work yesterday?

ORTON: Six.

QUESTION: Did you say 6:00, Lance?

ORTON: (INAUDIBLE)

QUESTION: We're going to catch up with you later, Lance. Just hang in there.

(CROSSTALK)

ORTON: ... get some sleep maybe.

QUESTION: I mean, do you feel good that you pointed this out to? Do you feel good? Do you feel good that you pointed this out to them? Do you feel like you made a difference?

ORTON: Of course. I'm a veteran. What do you think?

QUESTION: So this was important for you?

ORTON: Of course.

QUESTION: To the people of New York, what do you want to tell them? What do you want them to know from Lance?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Your message, Lance, to the people of New York.

ORTON: See something, say something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, advice from a reluctant hero there, a Vietnam veteran who saw something peculiar about a vehicle and alerted police, and now they've been able to avert a big problem there in New York's Times Square.

So the other hero in this story, police officer Wayne Ratigan (ph). You can see him here in the hat, smiling. After the vendor stopped him, Ratigan says he did a lap around the car, saw the smoke inside, smelled gunpowder. He sounded the alarm and helped clear the crowded area around the SUV. Ratigan says he thought the car might blow any second.

Well, thanks so much for joining us. There's been a whole lot going on all day long. We'll continue to follow it up throughout the evening. In the NEWSROOM, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Don Lemon is coming up next, and he'll be talking with an I-Reporter who was in Times Square when the bomb scare happened. He shot some dramatic video on his iPhone. He'll be showing us that. And Don will also take you to a Florida community that could take a major hit from the Gulf Coast oil spill. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)