Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Obama on a 2-Day Tour of the Gulf Coast; Arkansas Reeling from Deadly Flooding; Rescue Operations in Oklahoma; A Call For Global Action
Aired June 14, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thank you so much. You have yourself a good afternoon. I'm Ali Velshi reporting live from Mobile Bay, Alabama. We are here all week. We're not here in Alabama all week, but I'm here with the CNN Express.
We're going to be in the Gulf Coast all week, talking to people about what is going on with this oil spill. How it's affecting their economies, the fishers, the shrimpers, the oil workers, the oystermen, the crabbers. How is this having an effect on where they are?
It is day 56 of this oil spill. Let me tell you what I've got on the rundown right now. President Obama is here at the Gulf Coast, once again, commanding the nation's attention. He's on a two-day tour.
As soon as we hear from him, so will you and that should be shortly. Oklahoma County, we've been following this story with Tony for the last couple of hours. Swamped by flash floods. The water is rising by the second. Rescuers are out in force.
And Arkansas, those flash floods from last week, still reeling from that deadly flooding of its own.
And then Afghanistan. This is a stunning discovery that could change the course of the entire nation. It turns out that Afghanistan is sitting on a virtual treasure chest of minerals, and didn't even know it. It could be enough to pay for their war.
Let's check in the latest from Oklahoma County. It's been hit with more than 9 inches of rain within a few hours and that sparked flash floods across the area.
Joining me on the phone right now is Frank Barnes. He's with Oklahoma City Emergency Management. He's the Oklahoma City Emergency Manager. Frank, thanks for being with us on the phone. Is the worst of this behind us now?
FRANK BARNES, MANAGER, OKLAHOMA CITY EMERGENCY (via telephone): Well, right now we're seeing a break in the weather, and some things seem to be subsiding. We're still watching to see what the weather brings us later on today.
VELSHI: What are we at right now in terms of the number of people that you know of, either rescued or in the process of being rescued?
BARNES: Well, we're still trying to go through those numbers, because we are still actively engaged in emergency operations. But to give you an idea, at one point in time, we had almost two dozen calls of people that were trapped in vehicles due to high water.
And at least half of those were considered high priority, requiring immediate rescue. And the -- like I said, the rescues continue, even as we talk on the phone. They're still ongoing.
VELSHI: Most of the rescues are, what, people on the roofs, people in their cars? What are we hearing about?
BARNES: The majority is people in their vehicles, people who drove into high water and got trapped, and the water continued to rise around their vehicle, or they drove into high water, and had to be rescued.
The majority of these vehicles, we had one report of occupants in a home that had to be rescued, and we had some employees at a pump station that pumped storm water who had to be rescued.
VELSHI: What should people do if they think that they're stuck in this, if either they're in their homes or they are in a car and it's flooding or the area around them is flooding, they're on a cell phone to somebody, maybe somebody can see this on CNN and tell them what they should be doing. What is the best thing for people to do who are stuck in this water?
BARNES: Well, the best thing to do is, of course, not drive into the water. But if you do get trapped in the water, you know, try to stay in the vehicle, or with the vehicle as long as possible until rescue reaches you.
If you try to exit the vehicle, and this is assuming the vehicle is not submerged, if you try to exit the vehicle into the swift water, you can be swept downstream and drown. So you have a better chance of being rescued if you stay in the vehicle, insofar as is safe and practical.
VELSHI: Thank you, Frank. Good to talk to you. We hope this continues to work out without harm to anybody. We'll keep on checking in with you and the officials in Oklahoma City to find out what's going on there. Frank Barnes joining me, he's the Oklahoma City Emergency Manager in Oklahoma City.
We are live in Mobile, Alabama. We're getting a sense of what's going on around here. Just behind me, hard to see, but there are booms that are laid all around me, and beyond that, an island is a few miles out. That is a sanctuary.
There are hundreds of pelicans there. We understand the oil has reached that point already. Hasn't come all the way into Mobile Bay just yet, but we are talking to people who are having their livelihoods affected on day 56 of this oil spill. We'll continue to bring you that when we come back. Also, if we've learned nothing else, it is that over the past 50 days, it's that the limitations of BP, the government, the coast guard, the skimmers, the cleaners to turn back the damage in the gulf. We know what those limitations are. Many folks are placing their faith elsewhere. When we come back, I'll show you what I mean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi. I am here in Mobile Bay, south of Mobile, Alabama on the west side of the bay. You can almost see Dolphin Island. You can't really see it behind me, but there is a nature sanctuary over there, pelicans over there.
There are booms laid out behind me. The oil has not come into this bay just yet, but it is about five miles offshore. For the next few days, I'm going to be in the Gulf Coast area, traveling with the CNN Express. Why?
Well, we've got a lot of people down here. Why am I here? I'm trying to get a bit of a different story for you, trying to give you a sense of not only the delicate ecosystem, but the delicate economy around here. This is an economy that has spent the last few years trying to recover from hurricane Katrina.
The fact is that there are people here whose livelihoods are dependent on the kinds of things that have been affected by the oil spill. So I'm going to be talking to you a lot about that over the course of the week. Now, it's not just the news down here that we're concentrating on. There's news all over the country right now.
And we have been concentrating on a lot of it for the last few hours in Oklahoma City. Let me bring you some live pictures from our affiliate KOCO in Oklahoma City.
It does appear that the worst of this may be over, but we'll have to check in with our folks who are following this, because there have been a series of storms, one behind each other, which have dropped almost 10 inches of rain over the course of six hours into Oklahoma City, trapping people in their homes, trapping people on top of their homes, trapping people in vehicles, at least 20 or 30 rescues have been completed.
The rescues are still under way, as we just heard from the chief of Emergency Management in Oklahoma City. But as you can see, there is some degree of normalcy, and as of now, no fatalities reported to us. There are major interstates, as you can see there, that are closed. They remain closed and we don't know.
We know the storm has moved over -- the current storm has moved over northeast of the city. We don't know whether or not there is another one coming in behind it. We will check in on that through the course of the afternoon. That's the story in Oklahoma City.
OK, back here to the gulf. As I said, I'm in Mobile Bay, south of Mobile, Alabama. To my west is Mississippi. To the west of that is New Orleans and that's where the CNN Express started this week in Lafitte, Louisiana.
That's Jefferson Parish, talking to people who are so desperate, so worried about their situation, whether it's working in the oil industry, some of which has been shut down, or fishing or crabbing or oystering. They're literally praying for an end to this oil crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Praying for perseverance, that we can get through this with God's help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of us know that we have a sacred duty to protect these wetlands. Personally, I go between hope and despair. Sometimes I'm very hopeful that it's all going to get resolved. And then sometimes I feel like it's a monster. They're waiting at our door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need our fishing areas. This is what supports our families, you know, the shrimping, the crabbing, oystering. Our supermarkets, our -- all our businesses, it's like a domino effect that's affecting all of us.
My father, my grandfather, they were all fishermen. What I would like to have done is BP and the government to get their act together and do the right thing and help our people. It just breaks my heart every day.
You know, sometimes you have nightmares at night? My nightmare starts when I wake up in the morning. It starts when I wake up and I don't see any end to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And all through this week, we'll continue to bring you stories of people and their struggles down here in the Gulf Coast, the things they're struggling with.
I want to also take you to another part of the world in a moment, where they're struggling, obviously, in Afghanistan. One of the issues has been this country has been set back so far and consistent fighting continues to set it back even further.
But there has been this treasure trove basically found in Afghanistan, and it could be enough to turn the war-scarred economy around. I'm going to bring you details of that, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi in Mobile Bay, Alabama, part of my tour around the Gulf Coast, talking to people about the effects of this oil spill on them, on their lives, on the economy around here. We'll be moving around the course -- of the Gulf Coast over the course of the next few days.
Now, I want to take you to Afghanistan for a second. On the surface, Afghanistan is scarred by decades of war. Underneath, it's a virtual treasure we didn't know about until now. Here is one of my favorite colleagues, Christine Romans.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Ali, a stunning find that could transform Afghan's battered economy. According to a report in the "New York Times," the war-torn country could be sitting on nearly a trillion dollars in natural resources.
Mineral and metal deposits that include iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and critical industrial metals like lithium. The "Times" quotes a Pentagon memo calling Afghanistan "a potential Saudi Arabia of lithium."
Why is that important? Well, lithium is in the batteries of just about everything you use from cell phones, watches, laptops, calculators, and even the battery in your car's keyless remote.
(INAUDIBLE) reports that back in January, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he told reporters a mineral survey had been conducted. The "Times" now reports that Afghan geologists had hidden important mineral surveys from the Taliban for years, and the Soviets may have conducted their own mineral deposit surveys as well.
But it's still unclear what this trillion dollar treasure trove will do for Afghanistan. It could attract investment and create jobs, transforming the economy into a mining powerhouse in the best case scenario. The value of these untapped riches vastly surpasses the size of afghan's economy today, an economy largely driven by opium production and drug trafficking.
But the find could embolden the Taliban in its quest for authority. Afghanistan has little experience in heavy industry, and political stability, which could feed corruption, and it may set the U.S. up against resource-hungry China for influence in the region and for access to rare earth minerals critical to defense technology for both countries.
The find is certainly exciting, Ali, with huge opportunities for the Afghan people, but it could very well turn Afghanistan in the world's mining center. But with the caveat, the history of natural resource wealth for the developing world is not always easy and not always profitable for the people - Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Christine, thank you. And you can watch Christine and me every day at this time on this show. You could also watch us every weekend Saturdays at 1 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern on "Your Money."
OK, let me bring you up the speed with some of the top stories we're following right now. Obviously I'm here in the Gulf of Mexico, day 56 of the gulf oil disaster. President Obama back here on the Gulf Coast for his fourth visit since the crisis began.
Now BP has started installing underwater sensors in the latest bid to get a better estimate of how much oil is actually gushing. We'll bring you up the speed by the way on President Obama's meeting. His meeting with the regular folks around here who have been affected by this in Louisiana and Mississippi today. He'll be coming through Alabama.
In Oklahoma, we've been telling you about this for the last few hours. Heavy thunder storms are causing flashflood right now. More than 9 inches of rain hit Oklahoma during a - Oklahoma City during a 9-hour period.
Police spokeswoman in nearby Edmond says it's produced the worst flooding in 25 years. About 4,000 power customers have lost their electricity.
In Washington, the FBI has released its files on the late Senator Edward Kennedy. More than 2,200 pages covering 1961 to 1985, they show Kennedy faced nearly constant assassination threats and was monitored for possible ties to Latin-American communists. News organizations requested the documents under the freedom of information act.
All right. We are -- I want to show you more live pictures from Oklahoma City. It really is quite remarkable. Bonnie Schneider is standing by. She is going to tell us what the latest is, and if there is another storm.
These storms have been backing up to each other. That's the problem. Oklahoma City couldn't get out from under these storms. Bonnie will give us the latest when we come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. You are looking at live pictures. KWTV, affiliate in Oklahoma. I want to see what this is. I understand there is a woman in that tree. There is a woman hanging from the tree, trying to save herself from getting into the water. Rescue attempt under way.
We should -- can't see a big enough picture to get a sense of whether there is a fan boat, which is what they have been using, to try and rescue some of these people. We're trying to get a shot. This is a helicopter shot there. I think we see something there.
KWTV, there's -- there's -- well, we understand that there is a woman hanging on. We've had a lot of water coming into Oklahoma City, about 10 inches of rain in the last six hours or so. This helicopter -- news helicopter is trying to zoom in on a report that there is someone hanging on to that tree, to try and be rescued.
We can't see the person at the moment, but we are looking for it. We're going to -- as it widens out, we may see rescue boats coming in. But this is the situation, Oklahoma City.
There has been so much rain because of storm after storm after storm that has just been backing up, as we try and get a better sense of where this person is. They're trying to get a picture. Let's bring Bonnie Schneider in. Is Bonnie around?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I'm here.
VELSHI: To --
SCHNEIDER: Yes, Ali, I'm right here.
VELSHI: OK. We've got a helicopter reporting. You want to listen in? Could we listen into this helicopter report and see what they're telling us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: River Oaks.
VELSHI: We're not hearing audio -- there we go. Helicopter seems to be reporting in. This is the intersection of Sooner Road and River Oaks Road, believed to be in Oklahoma. This is KWTV, our affiliate there.
It appears to have reported that there is a woman hanging on to a tree there. We don't know whether she is hanging on or perched herself into the tree. But apparently is trying to get rescued from this group of trees that we're looking at right now.
And obviously, they're circling around and haven't seemed to have honed in on one particular place, which is an issue. We don't know where this woman is, but there reporting, moments ago, was that there is a woman trapped in this tree, and they're trying to get rescuers to get to this location, to try and get her out.
We are looking at this very carefully, along with you right now. We heard the report. Now we've taken this picture. We don't see this and I'm talking to my executive producer now, Kelly.
Kelly, did someone in the control room see this, or did we hear this, that there is this woman reported in the tree? OK, so we have seen that there is somebody in this tree. We just can't seem to see the shot of where she is right now, but she has been seen.
Let's play back -- let's play the video where we did see her in this tree then we can identify where she is. OK, so what you're looking at on the left of your screen is video. This is this person who is swimming towards this tree. This is what KWTV was reporting in so somebody has gone over to the tree.
We can't see where this person is. They could be in a low-lying branch. That's probably why we can't see them. They're just somewhere out of -- out of camera range and that's part of the issue here. But apparently there is somebody there. You just saw them swimming to that bunch of trees, that stand of trees.
Hopefully they've latched on to a branch. Obviously, those branches are meeting the water, so it would be easy for them to get hold of that branch, if they could shimmy up a little bit until rescuers come.
Now, the kind of rescues we have seen, depending on how low-lying the area s they have either used fan boats or regular motor boats. This looks so deep where it is, we can see from the street sign there, you can see a little bit of a bridge. There is enough depth there that they may be able to do this with a regular motor boat. Unclear what it is.
But at the moment -- you see as this helicopter fans out, you can't see any rescue boats anywhere around there. The good fortune is there is that there is a sign. That's the earlier video on the left. This is not live. On the left, it's not live, on the right, it's live.
So you see that this person was swimming right from an intersection. Couldn't be better that they had the names of the street signs right there so that KWTV can direct authorities to this person. Hopefully within moments we'll see somebody trying to get up there.
Now, the water is not level around the city, which is part of the problem. You can't just send a boat into a flooded area if the boat can't get to the flooded area to start with. There we go. See the live picture there, at the bottom, we just saw -- there he is, he or she. They are reporting it's a woman.
You can see her there. Her head is above water. She seems to have grasped on to this tree. This is remarkable. KWTV has informed authorities that there is this woman there, and hopefully they're going to be able to get rescued to her very, very quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She can probably see land where she is at. She is trying to make it up on the bridge, the river bridge on the Sooner Road. I'm almost sure of it, but she is probably tired.
I doubt if she will be able to make it over there. She is still swimming and you can see the current. She is just hanging on to trees here, guys. So -- deadly situation here. They need to get over here quick. I can tell, she's getting really tired.
VELSHI: All right. You can see, this is the audio coming in from KWTV. Look at this remarkable picture of this woman who is trying to make it. According to helicopters, she is not far from land, but she seems to be struggling, trying to get there. She is grabbing trees. She seems to be pulling herself along.
What a miraculous story. She is -- she seems to be able to at least keep herself above water and she is trying to just keep hold of things so she can get rescued. I hope she knows where land is. According to the helicopter, she is not far from land, and she can get to it and it doesn't look awfully deep from where she is now.
You can see there, she is trying to swim underneath that area of trees. We're going to keep track of her with KWTV, our Oklahoma affiliate, until authorities get there to try and rescue her. This has been going on -- successfully, they've had 20 or 30 rescues this morning with all of this rain that has come into the Oklahoma City area. You can see she is struggling here, holding on, but trying to swim in a direction against the flow of the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like a young girl, still trying to hold on to these branches here. We're trying to get help over to her. The boat is coming up sooner road, but is not going to be able to make it, because there is a dry spot in between where this girl is, and where the boat can get by. So maybe they can scoot on the dry land, I don't know. But hopefully they can get here really quickly.
VELSHI: All right. They're describing, she does look like she is fairly young. She looks fairly fit. She does seem to be navigating her way around this. The issue is, as you just heard from KWTV, there is a boat on its way, but the boat isn't going to be able to get to her, because there is dry land in between where the boat is, and where she is.
And you can see, she grabbed on to a branch a moment ago, and it broke. She seems to be a good swimmer because she is hanging on. She has got herself a pretty solid branch there. She is trying to swim upstream. Hopefully she can hear this chopper.
She knows that somebody is watching her, and she knows help is on the way. If she can stay above water, it seems she is quite capable of doing that. But look at the speed and force with which that water is coming. It's obviously a challenge for her. She knows how to swim, but look at what she has got to navigate to get out of there.
So I think she is -- she could be getting disoriented about where she has got to go. But if she just stays up above that water and seems capable of doing that, she seems to have the strength to do it, it must be disorienting, though, because she can't see where everything is.
You can sort of see the make-up of the grid of a street there, one of the streets is Sooner Road. The helicopter does know where she is. As much as it looks like, a whole lot of flooded land, the reality is, she came in right at an intersection. So they know exactly where she is.
She is underneath that group of trees and they're trying to get authorities to her. KWTV is reporting that they have told authorities where she is, and there is a boat on its way to it her. But that boat is going to get stuck before it gets to her, because there is a dry patch between where the rescuers are and where she is.
Hard to imagine a dry patch anywhere near there, but the reality is, there is. So the good news is we know where this woman is. The good news is rescuers know where she is and they're on their way to try and get her. She does seem to be trying to make headway, but you can see the direction she is trying to go is against the direction in which the water is flowing, and that does seem challenging her quite a bit, it's exhausting her.
But she does seem to have good strength and she does seem to be a good swimmer and she does seem to getting a good hold on some branches. Every now and then, you see her grab a branch. I'll tell you when we see her again. There she is, there she is.
Look at that, she has climbed right out of the water. She is on a branch. All right, so maybe she can get a breather now. She can try and get a bit of her strength back. She doesn't seem to have any communication with anyone. So she must be worried. There she goes. She is waving at the helicopter. She knows the helicopter has seen her.
And she is probably going to just try and remain in safety rather than attempt to continue to swim against the current. Rescuers are on their way to her. The last we heard from the helicopter is that the rescuers can't get to her in the boat, because there is a dry patch between where they are and where she is. But we just saw her climb on to what looks to be a very solid branch and she seems to at least be able to take a bit of a rest and not continue to fight the water.
We don't know how hot or cold -- well, there she is. So you can see she knows help is on the way. She is trying to get up there as high as possible so that she can continue to be seen, but hopefully at this point she can just take a breather and know that help is coming.
Yes. Look at her. She just looks exhausted. She knows she has been found. She knows she has been found. That's her miracle. She knows she is going to be rescued. She is just tuckered, and she is resting, and she knows they're going to get to her. Now, she just needs to get comfortable, because it might be a little while before they get to her, but that is a remarkable story. I don't know how many more of these there are around Oklahoma City, people who have found their way out but are able to just help themselves.
She has waved to the helicopter several times, which means she knows they're looking for her. She just looks exhausted. And she was swimming. You can see her very actively swimming up against the -- the flow. Now she is just holding tight on to that branch. She is resting her legs. She is just trying to get a breather in there.
We don't know how far help is away, but this helicopter from our affiliate KWTV performing quite a service, just staying on her shot, making sure they don't lose her, making sure they can tell authorities exactly where she is so that they can get to her.
The issue here, in Oklahoma City is they have been using motor boats in some places. They have been using -- they have been using fan boats in other places. Fan boats are used -- look at the speed of that water underneath her. That's what she was battling against until she finally came to a place to rest, and she needs to do that. But that's got to be pretty daunting and frightening to be in that tree while that water is coming up against her.
We're just listening in. And, Kelly, tell me what you're hearing from the pilots.
OK. The pilot is reporting that they have actually got to move out of the way a little bit, because the winds there are so high, it's even giving the helicopter a bit of a struggle and I think they don't want to cause anymore danger to this woman or this girl, we can't tell how old she is. But they've got their eye on her, they know where she is, they have located her; she has waved to the helicopter, she knows they found her, she knows they can see her, and she knows that help is on the way.
She has taken a rest. It looks like she is covering her ears at the moment, maybe that's the helicopter coming up close. Now you're seeing the helicopter just staying very, very close on that shot. We're going to see if there are boats or rescuers on the way.
Kelly, let's listen to them.
OK, all right, the helicopter may have to pull out, but they seem to have -- have assured authorities as to where she is. They're having some weather problems themselves. Part of the issue in Oklahoma City has been these storms, one behind another. I heard it referred to, I think Bonnie Schneider called it training. I don't know what it is. One after another. And it appears that the storm has moved to the northeast of the city, but another one might be coming in from the southwest.
Bonnie, is that the case?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, Ali. The threat for rain continues. Our projected computer models show we could see between two and four more inches of rain across Oklahoma.
I want to show you on Google Earth where you're looking right now with that live rescue. Here we are at North Sooner Road and River Oaks Road. Let's open up the picture, Justin (ph), if we can, my weather producer, and show you that where this is located is just further off to the south of the area where we're talking about in areas of Edmond, Oklahoma.
All right. Let's zoom back in and you can see that it's situated right by a creek. We can zoom in a little closer. A creek that's been affecting the entire region. There it is. Stop right there. And you can see right here, there's a bend in the creek, almost causing the water to funnel in. This part of Oklahoma has received between eight and nine inches or more of rain since 2:00 this morning.
And let's zoom in right here. You can see this bend in the creek, and it does act like a pooling mechanism. So when the water overflows the creek bank, it pools in this area. And this right here is the spot where we're looking at the rescue. This poor woman was right smack in the middle of some of the highest water with this flooding situation. So that's what's making it even more challenging because of the topography and because of all different levels when you're talking about the rain.
You mentioned how much rain, Ali. You can see the heaviest rain has been occurring right to the north of Oklahoma City. This area you see through here, this is between seven inches or more, even our scale goes up to about 10 or 11 inches, and we're getting close to that because the rain will persistent through this area straight through the evening hours, straight through the afternoon hours.
Take a look at what else we're talking about in terms of our radar picture now. Oklahoma City is showing very heavy rain just to the north and east. Here's where we are zooming in right here. Here is Edmond, where the rescue is occurring through here. So there is still moderate to heavy rain sweeping across Oklahoma right now. It is not over yet. In fact, some of our projected computer models are showing that we're still looking at heavier rain working its way through the region, intermittently for the next 24 or 48 hours, Ali. So this is what we call a training effect, and we have been using that word, I just want to explain what it means. Training is like trains on a railroad track, they keep going over the same place again and again. And that's what this storm system is doing. It's hitting the same areas, repeatedly. And we're likely to see this continue intermittently straight through tonight. It does improve a little bit for tomorrow, but it's not the type of situation where it rains and it's over. It just keeps coming.
VELSHI: All right. And how many -- can you see how many more are coming?
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Let's go ahead and we can open up the radar picture and show you that we're still looking at a lot of rain, if we advance this map. We can see, we're looking at a lot of rain widespread or across Oklahoma coming in from the south. So it will be intermittent as we go through the afternoon hours. We'll be watching that for that. You can see we have a lot of rain sweeping up from the south, it's working its way from Texas. And I want to point out, this is the same storm system that --
VELSHI: Bonnie, I'm going to interrupt you for a second.
Let's go to the president in Gulfport, Mississippi.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- they're out in the water right now. Can we make sure they're responding as quickly as possible to the oil before it starts getting closer to shore?
And there are a range of issues having to do with communications. Some of these smaller vessels have radios on them, have we done an effective inventory of which ones are large enough and have enough trained personnel that they can actually lay boom or they can engage in skimming? Which ones should be deployed more as sentinels to indentify where, in fact, the oil may be coming in.
I think there was a useful conversation. Captain C. Pollen (ph), who is the local incident commander, had gathered a lot of these suggestions and is going to be moving on them on the days to come.
We also talked about claims, to make sure that people here in Mississippi, but throughout the region, are going to be adequately compensated for the damages and the losses that they're experiencing right now.
There are still problems.
(AUDIO GAP/LOSS OF VIDEO FEED)
OBAMA: -- is aware I'm going to be meeting with the chairman and other officials from BP on Wednesday, and so we're gathering up facts, stories right now, so that we have an absolutely clear understanding about how we can best present to BP the need to make sure that individuals and businesses are dealt with in a fair manner and in a prompt manner. And again, there were suggestions on that front, as well.
So I just want to thank everybody here that's involved. Folks around the table here have been working 24/7. The governors, they have been on a constant state of full alert and had been putting in a lot of time and a lot of energy working with Thad Allen to make sure that in dealing with this disaster we are minimizing the short-term impacts and we're making sure we've got the resources to fully recover.
Last point I'm going to make, and this is something that's been repeatedly emphasized here in Mississippi, but it's true in Florida, it's true in Alabama and it's true in portions of Louisiana, there's still a lot of opportunities for visitors to come down here, a lot of beaches that are not yet affected or will not be affected. And we just want to make sure that people who have travel plans down to the Gulf area remain mindful of that, because if people want to know what can they do to help folks down here, one of the best ways to help is to come down here and enjoy the outstanding hospitality.
So -- all right? And I'll be making longer comments when I get to Alabama this afternoon.
Thank you, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President.
VELSHI: OK. That's the president. He's in Gulfport, Mississippi right now. This is part of his tour around the Gulf coast. He's going to be in Theodore, Alabama, he's going to be in Pensacola, Florida, which is just to the east of us. We're in -- in -- we're in Alabama right now. We're in Mobile Bay, which is south of Mobile, Alabama.
We're going to take a break. When we come back, we'll discuss more about what the president is doing down here. We're also going to keep track of what's going on in Oklahoma City, the rescue of that young girl, who is awaiting rescuers to come to her. She is hanging on a branch in Oklahoma City, we're going to bring you back to her when we get back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, remarkable flooding going on in Oklahoma City. Let's bring in Josh Levs, he's following what's going on, this flooding. We're trying to follow this rescue of this woman who was in the trees. The helicopter has had to move off from that, they have located her, they've sent rescuers her way and that's why we don't have pictures of that right now. We will get to that.
But, Josh, tell us what have you got.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're going to jump right back to those pictures as soon as we get them. In the meantime, I want to show you some of the other stunning pictures that are coming into us in so many different ways. Let's get right to the screen here. Every couple minutes we're getting some more from iReport.com, people are sending them in right now.
This is from Michael Stitch (ph) who is inside Oklahoma. Can you zoom in? I want to show people some of these photos here. Some major flooding going on there.
Let's jump over in this one. This is a little video we have been sent from someone's backyard. This is from Jennifer Oliver (ph) who says that usually behind her backyard there is a little creek. Right now she says you can't even see 30 feet down in some areas. It's completely washed out. And they're really concerned how much father it's going to go. And she says what we've been hearing from so many other people, that there is this flash flooding experience in which there is suddenly this massive deluge.
Let's get to a couple more that have come in. Here, this is from Sara Burra (ph). She is sending several photos from here street as well. Look at this. This is what it looked like to so many people in Oklahoma today.
Now I have some even bigger ones. This is one of our affiliates, KOCO, and they pretty much have their own iReport system setup. People through Twitter and other ways are sending in their pictures to KOCO.com. Look at this. This is a driveway, folks. This is a driveway.
I'm going to show you more pictures people have been sending in and posting there much and I've been looking at the geography from where they're taken, they're from all over Oklahoma City.
And let's keep in mind as we look at this, this was during the commute time that it started striking. I was looking at the census figures, the average commute time in Oklahoma City in that whole county is about 19 to 22 minutes, true for Oklahoma in general. So that's the amount of time people would generally be out there, and this is what it was like for hundreds of thousands of people today.
Ali, I'm going keep manning ireport.com. As we get more photos and videos, we'll bring you some more.
VELSHI: OK, Josh, thanks very much.
We're going to stay on this story. In fact, I want to take you back to some pictures we do have. As I said, that helicopter that was following this woman and identified her has had to pull out, but they have told authorities where she is.
Now take a look at what we've got here. Let me explain to you what is going on. We heard from KWTV that there was a boat on the way to rescue this girl, but the boat wasn't going to make it because there was going to be a dry patch in between. And that's exactly what's happened.
So what we've got are rescuers. These are rescuers who know where she is, they on their way to get there. But they can't get there at the moment, so they're trying to figure this out. They're evaluating the situation, figuring how to get to her. She has found herself -- she climbed on to a tree, found herself a place to rest. She's above the line of the water, substantially. She seems to be secure. She seems to be resting. She was swimming up against the -- against the water.
That's the tape. That was her climbing out of the water. We saw this about ten minutes ago. She climbed out of the water, got herself on to a branch, pulled herself a little higher up and found hers a place to just sit. She waved at the helicopter. There you go. See her waving at the helicopter. She waved at the helicopter two more times that I saw, acknowledging that she knows that she has been -- she has been identified.
And we're going to stay on this story. We do not have more video of where she is right now, but we're going to stay on this story.
OK. When we come back, I want to have a conversation with you about a new economic forum. Who wants another economic forum? Probably nobody. But you know what? We need to make sure we don't go through an economic mess like we have been through over the last couple years. So I'm going to introduce you to a guy whose aim is preventing the next global economic crisis. And for that, he's got my attention. He's our "Big 'I'" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. More live pictures here in this breaking news we're following. This is from our affiliates KOTV in Oklahoma. Remarkable flash flooding in Oklahoma brought on by storms that have dumped about 10 inches of rain in the last several hours, just one storm after another after another. Bonnie Schneider tells us there is another on the way.
Now moments ago, we were watching some dramatic footage of a girl -- we think, a girl, a woman, who was in the water, and she was trying to find her way -- she was swimming against the water, kept grabbing on trees and things like that. You can see her, there is her leg there, grabbing on trees. Suddenly, she was able to pull herself up on to a branch that she could stand on. She stood up on this branch. She acknowledged to this helicopter that has been tracking her, the KWTV chopper. She waved at them; waved at them a second time and a third time.
That's her. This is while she is still struggling. See she's being pushed back, grabbing on to leaves. Once in a while she grabs on to a branch, which breaks, but ultimately, of a great amount of struggle -- she seems very strong, because after a great amount of struggle, she was able to pull herself out of the water and person perch herself on a tree in what looks like a relatively rested, comfortable position.
Now, we also heard from the helicopter that there were rescuers a little while away in a boat but they said the rescuers weren't able to make it because there was dry land between them and her. Seems that the rescuers have gotten stuck. So four rescuers are now stuck. There are another couple guys who we just couple of guys who we just saw, firefighters -- you just saw those pictures -- who are somewhere nearby and they're trying to evaluate how to get to her. It does seem that she's out of harm's way at the moment because she pulled herself out of the water. These are remarkable, remarkable pictures. She pulled herself out and as of now -- see, you can see her grabbing on and the branches breaking. What has happened here is she has pulled herself to safety. You can see she was struggling there.
So here's the information we have. We believe she is still waiting comfortably in that tree for rescuers to get to her. They know exactly where she is, they're just struggling getting to her right now. We'll stay on that story. These are taped pictures. We have live pictures which we will bring you as soon as we get them back and I'll tell you what's going on.
OK, let's take a break for a second and talk about our "Big 'I'" today. A global call for action to prevent -- by the way, we're not leaving those picture. There's somebody watching it all the time. The minute something develops, I will go right back to it.
A global call to action to prevent the next global economic crisis. Who's in? I'll sign up for that. The man behind it, a guy named Richard Attias. He was the driving force behind the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative and many other similar events. This guy knows how to bring people together, how to stage a big event. And he is about to stage a new one, it's called the New York Forum and he joins us from New York.
Richard Attias, thank you for being with us.
RICHARD ATTIAS, FOUNDER, THE NEW YORK FORUM: Thank you.
VELSHI: You want to bring about 500 of the top businesspeople around. You want to bring in CEOs and hedge fund dollar managers and money managers and private equity leaders and industry experts -- all the people that, by the way, some of my viewers think might have been responsible for this economic crisis -- and you are trying to pull them together so it doesn't happen again.
Tell me about this.
ATTIAS: First of all, allow me to wish the best of luck and courage to the people of Oklahoma City. I think it's important and these pictures are quite impressive.
But back to your question, yes, definitely we want to have all these people around the sable table. In fact, the forum is a call for action. In the past two years, my feeling is that we didn't really hear a lot -- the voice of the business community. And I think it's time now to -- for two days, to put people around the table and to come with solutions which at least address the major issues that the global economy is facing and to come with an action plan, a white paper which will be presented to the G-20 three days after our forum, the G-20 who is meeting in Canada, as you know. So I think it's time for action now, and the voice of the business community is important to be heard.
VELSHI: You had experience at this with the World Economic Forum, with the global initiative -- Clinton Global Initiative. So you've got to find a way to have people not point fingers at others and not sort of cocoon into themselves and say, I know how to run my business, I don't know what you guys all did. You need to find those solutions.
What will happen that will get those solutions out there? What is the catalyst to getting business leaders around the world to say, this is how we never get into this again?
ATTIAS: I think people learned a lot from the experience and the past experience. And life is a lesson of humility, so when you create a platform, task forces with great partner partners including the (INAUDIBLE) group as one of our partners, it's important to have these people coming and addressing the issue of job creation, regulation.
And when we will have these solutions coming on the table, we will address them to two different audiences. One is, as I say, the political leaders and one is the media, because I think it's important to be totally transparent. One of the issues we are facing is lack of transparency. One of your legitimates (ph) of credibility counts more than ever. I think it's important also that -- also that we have to have more transparency about all the discussions and all the solutions.
VELSHI: Well, Richard Attias, if anybody knows how to do it, you do because you've had a lot of experience in bringing people together and creating an environment in which they can have productive conversations. So we'll watch very carefully.
Tell you what, I'm going to be in Toronto covering the G-20 for CNN, but when you guys have results from your forum, come and talk to me about them, we'll discuss them on air, we'll see if we can come up with solutions. Thank you for joining me.
ATTIAS: Will do. Thank you very much for the invitation, thank you.
VELSHI: All right, there's a big fun event going on by the way while we're covering all of these tragic things going on. There's the World Cup. America is asking two questions: Will goalkeeper Tim Howard be ready for the next match and can anyone do anything about that crazy buzzing sound at the World Cup? We're going to find out when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We've been following a dramatic rescue, part of our breaking news out of Oklahoma City. You saw that girl. Here are a bunch of people who are now setting out to rescue the four rescuers who got stuck on their way to rescuing that girl who is stuck in a tree surrounded by rushing water. So they're going out to rescue the rescuers and the girl. Apparently the rescuers are in a boat that seems to be submerging or submerged. Hard to tell because we had great pictures from a helicopter from KWTV.
But as Bonnie Schneider has reported, more weather is moving in, higher winds and some lightning. The helicopter had to pull out but not before they absolutely identified where this girl is. There was a street sign nearby. They identified that. They had her wave at them. She knows that help is on the way. She is resting calmly.
Part of the problem is she kept on swimming upstream and was getting exhausted. Now that she knows help is on the way, she can relax on that branch. These guys are setting out. On the left is a taped picture of her finding her way into a tree that she finally settled on. She's hopefully waiting there still for the rescue to get to her which should be moments away. And on the right, live pictures of guys who have just set out to help the crew that was going to get her and to help her.
They're not far. I understand these guys are about half a mile away from where the rescuers got stuck. And I know that the helicopter was able to say they could see the rescuers coming. You can see the struggle that she was having there, just trying to get something to hold onto. At one point she's going to grab a branch, the branch is going to break. She was really getting quite exhausted. The branch breaks off in her hand.
But ultimately she got herself on to some solid footing. She stood up. She's resting in that tree. She is there now. We know there's another storm coming in. But she seems high enough above the water at the moment that she should be okay. But there's a dam nearby and we're worried about that breaking.
This is what we have for you right now. We'll continue to stay on this picture no matter what else we do. Our producers are monitoring this very closely. I have a strong suspicion this is going to have a very happy ending very soon. She's safe in that tree, we hope for now. We'll keep you posted.
