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Seven Families Trapped in New York Mountains; Scarred by Gadhafi's Family; Irene Deluge Hits Vermont

Aired August 28, 2011 - 23:00   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Other big problems that they are continuing to face. Many downed trees throughout Providence, and throughout the neighboring communities, and every community that we saw actually as we were driving through as well as downed power lines, a big part of the problem. And they are asking, requesting and warning still this evening even as Irene, the worst of Irene has passed, they are saying, please stay away from the water and off of the roads, so emergency crews and the Power Company crews, they can get to their work and trying to clean up the debris and get the roads clear as quickly as possible. But still, many here in the community breathing a sigh of relief that the worst that was feared of Irene did not become a reality in Rhode Island. Kate Bolduan, CNN, Providence, Rhode Island.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A quaint, New England Streets suddenly turned into muddy thorax. This is Marvin Bill (ph) at a tiny village at the Catskill, a few hours north of New York City. And this is the legacy of what was tropical storm Irene, once Hurricane Irene all across the northeast U.S. tonight. Cars are no match for these raging waters. Take a look at this Sudan, battered around like driftwood. Fortunately, no one was in that vehicle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Whoa. Get out of here! Get out of here! Grab the mic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: A reporter from our affiliate WCBS was covering Irene's arrival at Asbury Park, New Jersey when a large wave nearly swept her off her feet. She and her crew thought they were far enough away from the water but it turns out, they were wrong. And on Long Island, large sand berms were piled up to protect the life guard station and it worked, for a while. But waves one of the ends smashed the building into the pier.

Good evening. I'm Martin Savidge. Don Lemon is off tonight. Irene is not longer a tropical storm. It made landfall again this morning in New York City as a category one hurricane. From there it's made a nonstop march north as a tropical storm sweeping through New England with high winds and heavy rain. Right now, what's left it by rain is crossing into Canada. It's impact has been deep in widespread and it will not soon be forgotten. At least 19 people lost their lives from Florida to New England. Power is out to about four million homes and businesses. And it could be days before the lights are turn back on.

Along the East Coast, many people are thankful that Irene didn't live up to expectations. But in Vermont, well it appears the opposite is happening. People were caught off guard by the onslaught of flooding. The state ordered no early mandatory evacuations. But at this hour, the capital city Montpelier is evacuated. Many small towns are submerged. Rescue teams are scrambling to safety, but it looks like the worst may have happened with the report of a woman missing.

A lot of action is now happening in Brattleboro, Vermont. And that is where CNN's Gary Tuchman is.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martin, for generations up until yesterday, children would swim in here. This is the Whetstone Brook. It was totally placid, a thin little creek where children have played for much of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. But now, there are hundreds of creeks in Brook is just like this. This is no longer the Whetstone Brook. This is the Whetstone rapids. The power of the water, the power of Irene here in Vermont has turned brooks and creeks into rapids. It looks like a river. It looks like what you would see at the Grand Canyon. It looks like what you would see at Niagara Falls.

But it's done is this. This is an office building at Art Studios and Yugo (ph) Studios. Three stories and basically, the power of the water exploded this brook three times the weight of what it was before. And the building is now precariously about to fall into this brook. We talked to one of the owners inside this building, an artist with an office on the top floor, third window from the right. He wanted to go into recover his belongings. We strongly advised him that would not be a good idea and indeed five minutes ago we heard a boom. Part of the building appears to have collapsed.

But what they're dealing with right now in Vermont, officials are trying to find out how many people might be missing. We do know that one woman is missing and presumed dead when she apparently fell into another brook like just this here in the state. High tide is expected to occur in Northern Vermont about three hours from now in the capital of Montpelier. There is a lot of concern in Montpelier that there's going to be immense flooding in the capitol city. The last time they had a hurricane or tropical storm that affected this area was all the way back in 1938, 73 years ago. They are not used to it here. And these brooks, these -- creeks, we're not afoot to handle all this water. And you could see the results of this, a raging rapids that has left this building about a collapse in the water. Vermont did not expect to be affected like this by Irene. Martin, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Gary, any idea how long they will be sort of under the gun so to speak from the water?

TUCHMAN: Martin, sorry, I couldn't hear that question. Say that one more time?

SAVIDGE: How long do you think it is that the state will continue to be threatened by the high water? TUCHMAN: Oh, how long they're expecting to threaten by the high water. That's a very good question. No one is able to answer it because that because this has never happened in this particular area in Brattleboro in Southern Vermont. So, we have talked to old timers who lived here a long time. They have never seen it, they don't know how long it will last. What we do know Martin, is earlier in the day where I'm standing, this was covered with water. That water has receded. But you still have raging rapids there and what's really important, this isn't the only building that's near this brook. There are other buildings here, too. So, there's a lot of neighbors who are very scared for their houses too could be affected by the immense power of this water raging down this brook.

SAVIDGE: Gary Tuchman in Brattleboro, Vermont tonight for us. Thank you very much.

All right. Let's get the latest on what used to be Irene is now. And for that, we'll turn to Alexandra Steele in the Hurricane Headquarters.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Well, tropical storm Irene has the fait accompli, it's done the last advisory, has now been written on it. It's the elongated center has lost its tropical characteristics. So, that is the end. But it's kind of moot in some regard because we are seeing 50 miles per hour wind gusts in Albany in New York. But here's what we're seeing. You can see it's now zipping to the north-northeast at 26 miles per hour. So, it is moving but once again, it is no longer tropical storm Irene. Again, it has lost its tropical characteristics and it will quickly get out of the picture. So, what is next?

What is next is this flooding. And, you know, you just heard Gary talking about it. And really I think the calling card of what was tropical storm Irene will be flooding, and a couple different fronts. Now there is flash flooding and there's river flooding. And we have warnings for both. Flash flooding really what Gary is saying out there, it's heavy rain, a short period of time happens in creek and streams and it's pre-short-lived. Now, river flooding, and you can see all these greens are river flooding. Longer to develop and it's also a longer duration to recede. So, that's kind of the scenario with that.

So, most certainly, it really seems like river flooding and flash flooding will be the calling card of this. But, as it work toward tomorrow, what are we going to see? How about some sunshine. So, certainly great news for Vermont and so many people here until they're gone. Again, all the travel getting back on track here in the northeast. Sunny skies from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic to the southeast. Again, also what was tropical storm Irene is kind of dancing with the surface cold front and you can see that. So, again, losing its tropical characteristics. Here in the southeast, sunny and warm. West coast, sunny skies as well. So, finally a bright sunny day tomorrow as we say good-bye to what was tropical storm Irene. But certainly, the problems most certainly remain and will for weeks. I mean, record power outages in places that had never seen such numbers. So, it really will be quite some time. SAVIDGE: Thanks, Alexandra. We'll talk to you again with the travel forecast, right?

STEELE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: OK. Thanks very much. New Jersey caught some of the absolute worth of it from Irene. That storm has moved on but intense flooding is still the major concern, not just along the coast but inland as well.

Our Poppy Harlow is standing by in Millburn, New Jersey, tonight. Poppy, what's it look like at this hour?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Well, finally, it's a little quite, we are on the Main Street in Millburn. All the residents all day and all the business owners were here because it looks like everything, one in these businesses on Main Street got flooded. Some of them got flooded incredibly badly. You can maybe hear this bell going off. That has been going off since we got here eight hours ago. It was obviously set off by Irene and it won't stop. What happened here is there is a river that runs right through this town. And it crested and it just flew right on over and washed right into these businesses and, you know, they are used to this. They were flooded very badly back in '99 when we had Hurricane Floyd.

And the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie said, look, what this state is going through is that a lot of the rivers are either at record levels or near record levels. There was a lot of rain here for the last two weeks, so the ground was already soaked with water. And then this just pushed it right over the edge. Take a look at this business, this local restaurant here. Look inside. It's been devastated by Irene and by all that flooding. We got a chance to go inside with Dana the owner earlier this evening to get a real sense of just the damage that has been done by Irene. Take a listen to what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

We're going to see the basement. If we can look at the floor here, it's full of mud. You got a log of sewage, grass and leaves that's flowing to this restaurant. This stuff can be -- go ahead and take us there, can be cleaned up but what Dana was telling me earlier, it's going to take about a month. Then the big concern here is that oftentimes flood insurance doesn't cover basements. Can you imagine that? Wait until you see this basement. You'll see what we're talking about.

All right. Look down here. Dana, how many feet down does that go?

DANA CROWE, RESTAURANT OWNER: Well, that's about 10, 11 feet.

HARLOW: So, we got 10, 11 feet of water in there.

CROWE: It's right up to the ceiling, yes. All the office, all of the walks-in, all of food is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And I wish Martin that I could say that this was the only restaurant or business that happened to. He is not alone at all in this. The bagel shop right down there, just in there, the basement is full. Ten, 11, 12 feet of water in that basement. Same story down the road here, and it's not just in these businesses. It's in a lot of homes here in Millburn, New Jersey. They are dealing with it. And you know, the firemen and women go to pump out the residences before they can come and help these businesses. So, you've got the business owners here are just waiting, and waiting and waiting to see what happens.

The other big problem here they've been talking to folks from here all night long is the power, the power is out. And a number of these homes, the businesses have power. The homes do not have power. Residents are telling me. I couldn't believe it, that they are told by the PSEG, their power provider that they are likely not going to get the power turn back on until next Sunday, that's a week from now or next Monday, September 4rth or 5th. That's a long time to go without hot water, without any electricity for a lot of folks in here. Irene has certainly left her mark for a long time.

SAVIDGE: Yes, Poppy Harlow, thank you very much. Reporting to us from Millburn, New Jersey.

In Pennsylvania, officials there are blaming Irene for the deaths of at least four people. And now that the winds and the rains have passed the waters are rising. Residents describe shoulder high water in the streets of Philadelphia where the mayor lifted the state of emergency around noon. Fifty miles to the northwest in the Lehigh Valley. One of our iReporters came across this small lake at the intersection of Venter Valley Parkway and route 309.

And then even further north in the Poconos, another iReporter took video of a stream that drastically broke its banks. Heavy rains of the Poconos had already saturated the ground. That was true in much of the northeast increasing the flooding.

Coming up next, and aerial tour of the storm damage in North Carolina's outer banks where about 2500 people tonight are cut off from the mainland.

And then later, a disturbing story out of Libya that reveals some cruelties by Moammar Gadhafi's family. That's a CNN exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: And that is Margaretville, New York, it's a small village in the Catskills. And again, Irene is the culprit. As that storm rumbles through New England and into Canada, people on the Mid- Atlantic States are trying to clean up the mess Irene left behind. Our Chris Lawrence reports from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is amazing what a difference a day makes. Saturday night into Sunday morning, we were getting knocked around by some pretty fierce winds for a while. We were watching the water raise several feet watching the waves just crash against some the shore. And there was a real worry about intense flooding here. A lot of the homes here in Chesapeake, Beach are built up on a cliff. And there was a worry that if so much water rushed in it one time, it could have roll the soil and really cause some damage to those homes.

Overall, people here fared better than they initially thought. There was one death in Maryland where the wind collapsed a chimney onto a woman's home and killed her. But we also spoke with several people who had very close calls and came out OK, including one man who was in his home and a tree literally fell right on top of this home. The only thing that save was the fact that the power had gone out just a couple of hours before. And he was so bored that he went downstairs to do a crossword puzzle and that ultimately took him out of the line of that tree falling on his house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT HOLSON, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: They say things come in threes. We had the earthquake Tuesday, this and now God knows what else. Hopefully nothing else will happen. But God, just helped me and that I wasn't in that room. Because I would have been killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: So again, some very close calls but people here are still dealing with a lot of downed trees, power lines. Crews are trying to get those cleared out. And 1. -- about 800,000 people in Maryland were without power, so getting that restored will be priority number one for a lot of the crews here.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.

SAVIDGE: In North Carolina's outer banks, Irene has washed out the main highway in Hatteras Island in not just one place but several, cutting off some 2,500 people from the mainland.

Our Brian Todd with the National Guard who, well, he did an aerial tour, we then we'll see how bad the damage is, and he joins us from Kinston, North Carolina tonight, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, we did that aerial tour and then we landed on Hatteras Island. Some exclusive access that we got from the National Guard because the only way in is by chopper right now. We went into -- helicopters, did the aerial tour that you talked about, saw the damage firsthand. Then landed and surveyed it from the ground. And it is pretty compelling to watch. I mean, you've got this Highway 12 that you just mentioned. This is the key artery connecting Hatteras Island to the Outer Banks Islands just north of it. From those other islands, the causeways go to the mainland.

So, when this part of Highway 12 was destroyed, that meant the 2,500 people on Hatteras Island were stranded and they remain stranded right now. Twenty five hundred who ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed on Hatteras Island. And now they are cut off from the rest of the world. That section of Highway 12 was really amazing to look at. We have some footage. And you see that the road there was not only kind of washed out by the storm surge but it looked like it was hit by an earthquake as well. The road collapsed. They got chopped to pieces. They're down power lines over it. And now the ocean is flowing right over. There are ocean currents just going right over it into Pamlico Sound just to the west.

So, you've got that to deal with. There are flooded roads on Hatteras Island. We saw a one older house that we were told was a very, very nice house that was not only hit by the storm but then it burned, caught on fire and it burned to the ground. So, some significant damage on Hatteras Island and now the people there, 2500 of them are isolated at least temporarily until they can get some ferry service in, we think that's going to begin on Monday -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: How long do you think it's going to take to repair that road?

TODD: You know, some of the folks there say that there -- well, they say there have been breaches on the road before. Hurricane Isabel came through in 2003 and there were breaches then and there were previous hurricanes but did cause breaches on that section of Highway 12, but not this bad. There are some people there who we talked to said they have never seen the flooding this bad and the damage this bad on Highway 12. There have been breaches but this was devastation. And it was devastation right at a key point where that road connects to some of the other Outer Banks Islands which then as I mentioned connect by a causeway to the mainland.

So, that was a key section to be breach. And now, people are isolated because of it. And it will probably take at least a couple weeks to fix that stretch of the roads. So, you know, that's a long time to go without supplies when you have maybe only stocked up for about three or four days. Again, they are going to bring supplies in via ferry but that's going to be slow going. Just a few ferries a day, and they take a couple of hours each to get there.

SAVIDGE: And quickly, you know, is there a particular reason why that specific site? I mean, you know, the storm spared much of North Carolina for the -- so, why did it seem to hit so bad there?

TODD: Well, that section, and we noticed it when we were flying in. That section of Highway 12 is very, very near the ocean, I think. And it's also near the sound to the west. So, I think you've got between the storm surge that came in from the ocean and then the reverse storm surge that came in, from the west, from the sound, it was kind of a double whammy. No, it did not hit at once but I think the cumulative effect of both those storm surges plus, you know, the overall wind and the rain just combined to really just chop away at that section of Highway 12. And it's in very bad shape, Martin. I think it's going to be at least a week, maybe two and maybe longer to get that road repaired and get it passable again.

SAVIDGE: Yes, certainly that storm did a number on that road. No question about it. Brian Todd, thank you very much.

New Yorkers, they were spared the worst of Hurricane Irene. Next a live report from Long Island where flooding is a concern. I think good news for air travelers and your Monday commute. Many of the airports that were shut down this weekend, will they open? But don't expect things to be completely back to normal. Your travel forecast, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We have breaking news for you now. There is a desperate situation now in the way in Upstate New York. Almost two dozen people say that they are trapped in a vacation home in Prattsville, including pregnant women, some children and infants.

Joining me on the phone is Irina Noveck. Irina, what's going on?

IRINA NOVECK, TRAPPED IN HOUSE (voice-over): Well, it's kind of crazy out here with no lights, with no water. And we're trapped in a house up in the mountains. And there is pitch black. There is a high pressure river coming down from the top and going down, blocking all the bridges. And all the bridges are coming to the house when we just came into the house. All damage and crashed and there is no way to come in or come out. No one could help us.

And we are stuck here and we have a lot of children and there's two pregnant women, there are three infants, there's toddlers, there's teenagers and practically nothing, nothing that could keep us going. We cannot use bathrooms, we cannot wash hand, we cannot eat, we cannot drink, there's nothing absolutely. And it's pitch black due to what happened. And we cannot even have water because the water comes from the well and the well works under electric power, and there's no electric power, so there's no water.

SAVIDGE: OK, Irina, let me just slow you down, because we want to understand fully what's going on here. You are cut what, off, surrounded by water? Explain to us why you can't...

NOVECK: There is a river next to the house. It's a more of like Upstate New York luxurious area, not a luxurious, but more of a nature, a Mother Nature beautiful, trees, rivers, and bridges.

SAVIDGE: I see.

NOVECK: And everything went the other way once the tornado hit. And we actually reside in Brooklyn, in Sea Gate around the water. And thought we were safe being here but it turns out it's not, it turned out to be a worse situation. Because Sea Gate is safe and now we are not. Now, the only problems we have right now which the bridges get to this house from New York to here, all four bridges have collapsed.

SAVIDGE: So, you're saying that the bridges that you would drive to get away from where you are now, they're collapsed, they're not passable, so, you are all trapped all of you, in this home. What do you need? What is it that can be done to get to you?

NOVECK: We need -- well, we called 911, I checked so much as 311 to get some help. And so far, nobody except the Sheriff's Department just called in about a few minutes before I spoke to you. And they said, we are trying to do the best we can to get to you. There are people on the way and the bridges are collapsed. They cannot get to us because it's so far away from us since everything are damaged. And river is still pressuring a lot of waters from the mountain, and there's lot of damage have caused this. The water pressure has caused a lot of damages to all the streets and the bridges and everywhere from the mountain of...

SAVIDGE: All right. I know you are -- you clearly would be frightened. And you have every right to be, how is everyone else in the home coping?

NOVECK: The kids are panicking. The kids -- the worst thing is the kids cannot use the bathroom because there is no water. So everybody is kind of frightened and don't know what to do. It's a big house and pitch black and everybody is lost, everybody is panicking. And we need some help and hopefully, the Sheriff's Department as they said will help us. They were really nice, they said, we'll do as much as we can to help you, but give us some time. Now, hopefully it's going to be as soon as possible.

SAVIDGE: And we hope so, too. Hang right with this, please, Irina.

Alexandra, do us a favor, give us an idea of the conditions that she's facing there at least in that area.

STEELE: Irina, well, where she is, is Prattsville, New York. It's in Upstate in New York. I'm from Albany in New York. It's just southwest of Albany in New York in Greene County, New York. And where she is, is just south of the Schoharie Reservoir. So, I think she doesn't realize that. If she's just south, kind of just south of this reservoir, just draining all this water. And the problem is, we are talking about -- remember I was talking about flash flooding versus river flooding. Now this, of course, what we are seeing this incredible amount of water, but in Upstate New York the topography, the orographic lifting enhancing all of this rain and as a downpours from this what was tropical storm Irene.

So, it has been an tremendous, inordinate amount of water in a very short time and it is all just channeling south from the Schoharie Reservoir. I mean, this is what I'm getting from her by just listening. Again, she's in Greene County southwest of Albany in New York. And of course, Albany has seeing an inordinate amount of flooding, and actually there even still seen 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts with this. So, it is pretty scary. She's kind of right between New York city and in north of that is Albany, New York, about a two- and-a-half hour drive. And it's the Hudson Valley of New York, it's the Catskill Mountain. So, a lot of mountains, orographic lifting enhancing the incredible amount of rain that was already coming down, Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right. Thanks, Alexandra.

STEELE: Well, good luck to her. We'll see what we could do.

SAVIDGE: Irina, we want you to know that we are trying to get authorities on the telephone, so that we can speak to them and see how best we can resolve the situation for all of you in the home. Are you all in one room or how are you situated to keep track and take care of one another?

NOVECK: We're trying this one place, fireplace because there is no heating, there's no nothing. So, all the families in one room next to the fireplace. So, hopefully, that keeps us warm, all the kids and the infants and the toddlers. That's the worst thing, that everybody is in one room. Not much space in this room.

SAVIDGE: And you ended up in this home how? Why didn't you evacuate with the oncoming storm?

NOVECK: Because we didn't -- nobody predicted it to be here. Everybody was concerned about New York City, Brooklyn, but nobody mentioned anything about Catskill Mountains. And this vacation was final about three to four months before, which was where I were. So, we're already here. It's not like we came on a weekend. We were already here from last Monday.

SAVIDGE: I see.

NOVECK: It was unpredictable basically.

SAVIDGE: And do you have flashlights? Do you have food? I mean, do you have the -- do you have water?

NOVECK: There is only cell phones that have very little charge. We cannot charge them. So, we used the flashlights from the cell phones. But it's very much useless because of power outage. But we're trying to do as much as we can.

The only lights we have is in that room that we're all sitting in with the fireplace. That it's very hard. But, hopefully, the sheriff's department assured us that it will help us, that they didn't forget about us. So, hopefully, they will reach us tomorrow morning. That's our best way to get out of here. It's really -- it really will be -- somehow we need to get out of here.

SAVIDGE: Of course. And we're not going to forget about you either, Irina. We will continue to --

(CROSSTALK)

NOVECK: Thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: And we at the same time are reaching out to, I believe it's green county authorities, so we can understand from them what's being done. And we also understand that, of course, there are many people who may be in need.

NOVECK: Right.

SAVIDGE: And may be in need of rescue, just as you are because this is an emergency. So, it may be understandable but they cannot get to you right away. And hopefully daylight will make it a much more practical situation for everyone involved because trying to launch a rescue in the dark up in that area would be extremely difficult for you and for certainly the first responders.

Are you all right?

NOVECK: Yes. The only concern is the infants because we've got food supplies for infants, the formula, for one week and we don't have access to stores. So, we only have one more day of supplies and no water basically. That's the danger part. The infants are in a dangerous position.

SAVIDGE: Are you on a ground floor or in an upstairs room?

NOVECK: Say it again?

SAVIDGE: Are you on the ground floor or in an upstairs room?

NOVECK: In the upstairs.

SAVIDGE: OK. You mentioned, I believe, a river or water near you.

NOVECK: Right next to the house. The basement is flooded. A couple of families sleeping in the basement. So, they all came up because the basement is totally flooded.

SAVIDGE: Irene, I'm going to interrupt you now. We have spoken to authorities and they do want to talk to you. And so, we want to get off the line with you so we can clear the line and get it open for them to speak to you.

But we do want to know what happens. So, when there is a chance, please get back in touch.

NOVECK: OK. We will. Thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: Good luck to you, Irene, and everyone else in that house. Thank you.

Hurricane Irene meanwhile won't quit. Right now, the remnants of the tropical storm are moving from the U.S. into Canada. But all day long, the drenching rains flooded areas all across the northeast. The danger is far from over.

At least 19 deaths are being blamed now on Irene in eight states. Flood waters are still rising in many areas. And more than 4 million homes and businesses are without power as we speak. And it could take several days to get electricity flowing to everyone again. Damage cost will likely be in the billions.

President Obama is warning that many Americans aren't out of harm's way yet. He's promising swift federal assistance to victims from that storm. Irene turned out to be more of an inconvenience for major city centers like New York. Newark, LaGuardia and JFK Airports will re- open Monday morning. That's the good news.

New York City will also restore subway service starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Irene may not have hit New York City as badly as many feared, but Long Island -- it caught the brunt of the storm as it passed through.

Susan Candiotti is standing by in Long Beach, New York, for us.

And, Susan, we understand you are there in the dark even though we do see I guess that's a generator light behind you.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's hard to hear because of that. But, Marty, what a difference 24 hours makes.

Remember, last night at about this hour, we were being buffeted by the outer bands of Hurricane Irene.

Now that storm is no longer even a tropical storm.

However, the remnants are being felt, as you said. No major reports of flooding on Long Island. But, certainly, there is enough work here that has some people working even at this late hour.

And one of the interesting questions we have is, as you indicated, is the subways will be back in business. The Long Island railroad that operates out here will be carrying a lot of people back to the city tomorrow or will they? Because after all, this is a bedroom community to New York, and as a hub for tourists as well.

So, you have to wonder how much money the city has lost because of the storm. What kind of economic impact will there be because of all the preparations? I put that question to Governor Cuomo who came here to visit this afternoon.

(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Don't underestimate the damage that's been done here. And this will go on for days literally. So, I think it was very prudent that we did what we did and it would have been worse if I hadn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, power outages are still a problem out here on Long Island. More than 400,000 customers are still in the dark, and about a million customers throughout the state. So, as you indicated, Marty, everything isn't completely back to normal yet.

Back to you.

SAVIDGE: Susan Candiotti, thanks for all your hard work. Good luck to all the folks out here.

Well, it could be several days before major cities like Washington, Philadelphia, and New York are running on their normal transit schedules.

Alexandra Steele back with us again to look at Monday's commute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SAVIDGE: We are staying on top of Irene's aftermath. We're also following events from Libya.

CNN's Nic Robertson found one of the most notorious Libyans in recent history today in Tripoli.

Abdelbasset al-Megrahi was convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. Scotland released him two years ago on compassionate grounds -- excuse me -- claiming at that time, he had only months to live. Well, when Nic found him, he was barely conscious and appeared to be on death's door.

Last hour, I asked Bert Ammerman who lost a brother in the bombing knowing how he felt knowing Megrahi was close to death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERT AMMERMAN, BROTHER DIED IN LOCKERBIE BOMBING (via telephone): I'm happy that Megrahi, as far as I'm concerned, can't die soon enough. Whether he dies in Libya or whether he comes back to the United States or Scotland, at this point, is irrelevant.

SAVIDGE: The fact that the NTC says they will not extradite him, does that bother now?

AMMERMAN: No. This all changed, Martin, a couple of weeks ago. As I have been saying over and over when people asked me, the big fish now is Gadhafi and his sons. As long as Gadhafi is eliminated, which would be my choice, and his sons, or at least arrested, then we could try Gadhafi for the bombing of Pan Am 103. I would support that.

But we got to stay focused now and have Gadhafi and his sons eliminated. If we do that, then my brother and the other 269 people did not die in vain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The downfall of Moammar Gadhafi revealed his family's excesses and cruelties. His son Hannibal led the life of a flamboyant playboy. CNN's Dan River learned about sadistic side of Hannibal's wife when he met a nanny who worked for her and suffered for it. He joins me from Tripoli with more -- Dan.

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We went looking to get an insight into how the Gadhafi sons lived. We found their holiday beachside kind of complex basically of villas. And amongst all this sort of opulence in decadence, we also stumbled into this story of unspeakable suffering.

I'm afraid some viewers may find this report disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS (voice-over): This is the inner sanctum of the Gadhafi family. Much evidence here of a decadent lifestyle. Now, a rebel commander plays where Gadhafi's sons used to party. This compound of opulent beachside villas is dripping with every luxury imaginable. It's been ransacked but still looks like a villain's hideout in a Bond movie.

In one, we find rebels are sharing hundreds of bottles of fine Bordeaux and Cristal champagne. Each bottle worth hundreds of dollars.

(on camera): But amid all the decadence, there were acts of unspeakable cruelty. This house belongs to Hannibal Gadhafi. What went on here was truly horrendous.

(voice-over): Meet Shweyga Mulla, a 30-year-old Ethiopian nanny who describes how she was horribly tortured by Hannibal's wife Aline.

SHWEYGA MULLA, NANNY (through translator): She took me to a bathroom and she tied my hands behind my back and tied my feet. She taped my mouth. And she started pouring the boiling water on my head like this.

RIVERS: Her crime? She says she refused to beat Hannibal's toddler who wouldn't stop crying.

Shweyga said she was actually scalded twice. The most recent episode was three months ago. Her wounds are still raw and weeping. She appears to be in desperate need of medical attention.

MULLA: There were maggots coming out of my head because she had hidden me and no one had seen me. And then they found me and put me in the hospital.

RIVERS: But then she was discovered and brought back. The guards who helped her were threatened with prison if he took her to hospital again. Co-workers backed up her account.

MULLA: I worked for a whole year. They didn't give me one penny. Now, I want to go to the hospital and I have no money. I have nothing. She said no money for you. You just work.

RIVERS: Is this the true face of Colonel Gadhafi's regime? Amid fantastic wealth, sadistic brutality meted out even to those trusted to look after the dictator's grandchildren.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: We are hoping to go and see Shweyga again today and hoping we can do something to help her get some treatment for those terrible burns that you saw there. And I don't think any of us were prepared for what we saw when we walked in the room and saw her lying there on her own.

I don't know, Marty. Perhaps some viewers in the U.S., maybe some NGO specializes in burns and can help us help her, if you like. We are hoping that we can get her specialist help. It's pretty clear that she needs some fairly urgent medical attention to avoid those terrible burns scarring more than they have already. SAVIDGE: Yes, Dan. I'm stunned. That's absolutely horrific to see what a human would do to another person. I imagine that first, you'd have to get her out of the country, right? There's no way she's going to get proper treatment there.

RIVERS: Yes, I think it's clear having visited a couple of hospitals here. They are totally overwhelmed with people that had been shot. There are bodies stacked up with lots of the hospitals here. It's not a good place to be, especially with open wounds she has.

I think it's pretty clear that she needs to get out of Libya and get into Europe or the U.S. and get specialist burn care. You know, I'm not a doctor but it looks like the kind of thing that perhaps if she could get skin grafts or something, perhaps they could do a lot of good and really help her recover.

SAVIDGE: Dan, thank you for bringing it to our attention. Hopefully, we can make it happen.

When we come back, we will show you the power of Hurricane Irene and the damage it did to North Carolina's outer banks.

But first, this program note for you. Coming up at the top of the hour, he had the most powerful job in the country, but his toughest job was saving his own life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta and former President Bill Clinton explore the signs, tests and lifestyle changes that could result in the last heart attack.

The special CNN presents coming up at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: It could be several days before major cities like Washington, Philadelphia and New York are running on their normal transit schedules.

Alexandra Steele is here with a look at Monday which is now just hours away.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, unprecedented travel disruptions, really unheard of. So, every city, Washington, Philadelphia, all up and running. The caveat with that, New York City not yet up and running at all its major airports but it will be tomorrow.

LaGuardia, arrivals and delays commence and departures, 7:00 in the morning. But if you are flying out of JFK or Newark, arrivals begin at 6:00. But if you are leaving out of either of those airports and happen to have tomorrow as your departure day, which is a whole another issue, you depart beginning at noon.

Also, in terms of Amtrak, really struggling the most of any mass transit to get its legs back. What they've got on the rails, flooding on the rails, also power outages and a lot of debris on this train tracks. And Philadelphia is kind of the deciding factor, north of Philadelphia, between Philadelphia and Boston, there is no Amtrak tomorrow at all, still suspended. But south of that from Philadelphia to Washington, through Baltimore, that is up and that is active. And that is on track at this point.

That's just a quick look at travel. We'll talk more about flooding and even get back to the Hudson Valley coming up.

SAVIDGE: Good luck to people moving on a Monday. Thank you.

This destructive weather weekend got started, of course, on the outer banks in North Carolina. That state felt the strongest punch of Hurricane Irene and they got a big cleanup ahead of them.

Our CNN's David Mattingly has been there since before the storm hit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A stunning view of the power of hurricane Irene. North Carolina's highway 12 chopped into pieces on Hatteras Island. The estimated 2,500 residents who stayed behind now stranded with no way to drive out.

BOBBY OUTEN, DARE COUNTRY, N.C. MANAGER: We are probably 24 hours away from being able to get there other than by helicopter.

MATTINGLY: Hit first, North Carolina felt Irene's strongest punch, bringing what is described as epic flooding to water front communities along Albemarle Sound. Houses and roads that weathered storms in the past were swamped like never before.

(on camera): Hurricane Isabel in 2003 was an incredibly destructive storm when it hit here the winds were such that it actually blew this water in the sound away from here. The water level was much lower.

But this time when Irene hit, the exact opposite happened.

Entire neighborhoods were inundated in hours. One resident caught the flood on camera with winds whipping the water on shore. Just hours later, the waters receded, leaving a mess behind and weeks of cleaning up.

KEN PAGUREK, RESIDENT: Part of living in the slice of paradise, you know?

MATTINGLY: People of Virginia now cleaning up as well -- 1.2 million were without power from a full day of damaging winds and up to 10 inches of rain. Governor Bob McDonnell is asking for patience.

GOV. BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: It's going to be a matter of days or perhaps longer before power is fully restored.

MATTINGLY: It is the second worst power outage in Virginia history. Two states that will remember Irene as a hurricane for the record books.

David Mattingly, CNN, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And we are following breaking news from Upstate New York. Nearly two dozen people, many of them children, trapped in a house by near record floodwaters. We talked to a woman who was in that house. The latest on the story is coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We are continuing to follow breaking news from Upstate New York.

Seven families unable to leave a home in the Catskill Mountains, and you can see why the folks are in Prattsville. The flood waters from Irene had wiped out the four bridges surrounding a home.

Among those who stranded are two expectant mothers and 10 children. Greene County emergency officials tell CNN that they are aware of the situation and they are working toward reaching those families. But crews are overwhelmed. The teams have rescued 87 people so far today in Prattsville.

Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here with information about this. How high the water in Prattsville really is -- Alexandra.

STEELE: All right. So, they are in the Catskill Mountains and this has happened over there. It's a village of 600 people and it's Schoharie Creek that is in their basement right now.

All right. Here's the Schoharie Creek right where they are. And to give you a little perspective, here is flood stage. You can see at 12 feet. Major flood stage is 16 feet.

Where is Prattsville this moment tonight with the water in their basement? Eighteen-point-five -- 18.5 feet, almost record stage for this area. It's just about one more feet, 19.6 feet. Incredibly scary.

This is the water. Now Schoharie Creek at Prattsville -- where it is? Eighteen-point-four-seven. Record is 19 feet. Flood stage is 12 feet.

But you know what? Last October, the same thing happened and people of Prattsville were cut off for six hours while water inundated their homes. So, again, when the Catskill Mountains, 50 miles southwest of Albany in Greene County.

The people have been alerted. But a very scary scenario tonight, no question about it -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Definitely. I mean, you just look at the power of that water, Alex. Thank you very much.

Stay with CNN with the latest on this story and, of course, all of the news pertaining to what was storm, hurricane Irene, now longer a storm at all.

I'm Martin Savidge at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, thank you for joining us. Have a good night.