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Luxury House of Horror in Libya; Lockerbie Bomber Found Near Death; Hurricane Irene's Aftermath; Police: 10-Year-Old Boy Died After Five Days of Water Dehydration; North Carolina Tornado Warning; North Carolina Rocked by Irene; Stocks Rebound After Hurricane Irene Less Intense Than Expected; Record Flooding Hits Vermont; New York City Hospitals Reopen After Irene
Aired August 29, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Fresh poll numbers and a fresh face for the president's economic team. Those are two stories crossing the CNN Political Ticker at this hour. Wolf Blitzer taking a look at those stories. First Wolf, let's begin with the new CNN opinion research poll. The presidential Republican candidates just released. Who is on top of that?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, is doing really, really well, nationally nationwide among Republican voters according to our new CNN/ORC poll. Let's take a look at these results. This is with Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani in the contest even though neither one of them has announced that they would run. Perry is 27 percent, Romney 14 percent, Palin 10, Bachmann nine, Giuliani nine, Gingrich six, Ron Paul, six, everybody else two percent or less.
Bottom line, nationally, among Republicans in our new poll and in some other polls we have seen, Romney is clearly the front-runner right now. Doesn't necessarily mean, Brooke, as you know, he's going to get the nomination, doesn't necessarily mean he will win the caucuses in Iowa, win the New Hampshire primary, South Carolina.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Of course.
BLITZER: It does show that nationally at this moment he's the front- runner right now, and it's only been a few weeks as you know since he announced he's running for president.
So presumably this will help him get some fund-raising going and it will also put a little bullseye on him as well because the other Republican candidates might be more assertive in going after him. Two weeks from today, by the way, in Tampa, Florida, I'm going to be moderating the CNN debate down there among the Republican candidates. So we will see what he's got. We will see what the other Republican candidates have. And I'm sure it will be a strong two-hour debate in Tampa -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right, Wolf Blitzer, you will be also in...
BLITZER: One more note. Can I tell you one more note?
BALDWIN: I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me you will be in Atlanta on Wednesday and you're so excited to see me.
BLITZER: I will -- very excited to see you.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Did I tell you, you did an excellent job anchoring this weekend on the Hurricane Irene coverage?
BALDWIN: No. Thank you, as did you.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: You did a great job as usual.
BALDWIN: Thank you very much.
BLITZER: I will be in Atlanta for the CNN dialogues Wednesday night, so I'm looking forward to that, looking forward to seeing you.
BALDWIN: We will talk about it tomorrow.
BLITZER: Looking forward to doing a lot of good stuff and looking forward to my show at 5:00.
BALDWIN: Right on. Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much. We will check in with you a little later.
And now here we are over the top of the hour. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Irene may be gone, but all is not back to normal for states that were in the right path. Power is off, roads are still out and not everyone has clean running water. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): The story now, rising waters inland, wiping out bridges, sweeping away vehicles, collapsing homes, and endangering lives hours after Irene's departure.
This is a far cry from a bedouin tent. CNN tracks down the Gadhafi clan's luxurious dwellings and tortured victims.
Plus, a boy punished for doing what so many children do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I couldn't do nothing about it because if I said something, I would end up getting in trouble, too.
BALDWIN: I want you to hear Jonathan's story from his twin brother, Joseph.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: All right, welcome back. Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's talk about this storm and the aftermath. Five million people all the way up and down the East Coast still have no power right now, five million people. Here's why. They were in the path of Irene when that storm left the New York City area, tore northward through Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts.
See the power lines either ripped out by those falling trees or simply because of the wind blow down. Now to this. We're talking a lot about Vermont and there's a reason. A brook here that normally runs quietly through this town of Brattleboro is raging today. That was a brook. Rainfall reached 15 inches in some spots. Still some major rivers have yet to crest and that means flooding all over New England today, much of it at record levels.
Also today, we learned that the death toll from Hurricane Irene rose by one to 25. A Pennsylvania woman was found just about a half mile from where her car was stuck in a flooded creek.
Let's go to Vermont to Brattleboro, bring in CNN's Amber Lyon.
And, Amber, we know Vermont as I mentioned landlocked state, very rarely floods. How are people there coping?
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to put things into perspective, the governor of Vermont told CNN earlier -- quote -- "Vermont is not used to getting hit by tropical storms this far north."
And they're just trying to deal with everything now the best they can. He says that it will be quite some time before they're fully dug out of this mess literally. And where I'm standing right now in the center of town had I been here last night, Brooke, I would have been completely underwater.
Almost every single waterway in this state is flooded. And I want you to take a look at this stream right over here next to me. That was at a significantly higher level last night. The governor says that we're going to start seeing waterways at higher elevations recede. That being said, waterways at lower elevations will start to crest.
Also take a look at this building right over here. We have seen a lot of residents come over here and just kind of watching this, waiting for it to fall over. Unfortunately, this is a common sight around Vermont today as the floodwaters took regular streams and rivers and turned them into rushing monsters that just hit these towns.
And I want to bring in a man we just met. His name is Lou Tyke (ph). And he was involved in the search-and-rescue teams that came through this town last night trying to save residents.
And, Lou, you were telling me earlier you rescued almost two dozen people in this town alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a combination of -- I'm part of Rescue Inc.'s technical rescue, swift-water rescue team. We work closely with Brattleboro Fire.
And most of the people -- and we spent the whole time up in West Brattleboro, not even in this part of Brattleboro. And most everyone who we rescued were people in their houses who earlier in the day Brattleboro Fire had gone, knocked on doors, said, you really should evacuate. And some people refused. And then as the water came higher -- and up there it started to surround people's homes and people became...
LYON: So, people were not on the streets observing. They were in the homes when the water came through?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And it came up so fast and with such a velocity that there were some people that we weren't able to get to in the real height of the flood. And then it started to recede a little bit, and we were able to get to those people. And most everyone we got to was either a raft and sometimes we were in it. Sometimes we were...
LYON: Yes. You were saying you in it. You were in some of these houses as furniture started floating through the living room and out of the house and the water started going up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It was interesting, this one house that was surrounded by water and it had receded enough that as a group of four of us, with a big stick, we were able to wade out to it. And then we brought the people out one at a time. And while we were wading, they were getting their dog, and putting their dog in a backpack.
And we had given them life jackets to put on. And we were taking them across one at a time.
LYON: Any injuries, any deaths, any people still missing here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not in Brattleboro. There's the hills around here still. There's many spots that are isolated and haven't able to be gotten yet because of bridges out and many people have bridges just up to their individual houses.
But from all I have heard, everybody is safe. Just some people are still, you know, sat and basically trapped where they are in their own homes or in their own neighborhood.
LYON: And that's a good point Lou brings up, Brooke. The roads have been so badly affected by the floodwaters. Almost 260 roads across the state are flooded. Some communities have actually become isolated because the bridges and roads leading into those communities have been wiped out.
So as Governor Shumlin told CNN earlier, today they're focusing on search-and-rescue and finding these people and assessing the damage.
BALDWIN: Right. These people are stuck. They can't get in. They can't get out. And, of course, that also means rescue crews can't get to them.
Amber Lyon, thank you, and your guest, very much in Vermont.
And can't forget let's talk about North Carolina. Let me just take you back to Saturday morning. Here you have Irene. It once was a Category 1, came ashore along the coast of North Carolina, headed northward. So then fast-forward to Sunday. Look at this. This I should say was North Carolina's Highway 12. This is just north of Cape Hatteras, washed out.
What does this mean? Hatteras' island -- Hatteras Island, I should say, totally cut off and the folks who stayed behind, some 2,500 non- evacuees, they are stranded. Officials are saying maybe two weeks to repair the multiple breaches in Highway 12. The governor warning it could take up to two months, but they do have ferries right now hauling road equipment, hauling food supplies, other supplies.
Before it's over some folks may even need some medicine. Officials are saying maybe two weeks to two months to repair those breaches in that road. Again, a lot of folks who live there fear it could take a little longer than that.
And now take a look at that piece of video. What are you looking at, you ask? This is a military truck clearly somehow being forced forward in these floodwaters. This is New Jersey. And a lot of us were looking at this, this morning thinking, gosh, how is this moving forward. It must be the wake, right? No way could people be inside.
And then you see these images very much so, people now climbing out as they were stuck, trying to get to the top to try to get out of there in that fast-moving water.
Another iReporter sent us this video of people being rescued in a front-loader. That was yesterday, rescued in a front-runner-loader.
A much weakened Irene has moved away from the East Coast of the United States, but the rivers in several states, they are still rising. Electricity is back on in several areas, although hundreds of thousands of people are still without power.
Chad Myers, I know we were just talking to Amber in Vermont, where the story is flooding. She mentioned a lot of people are stuck, but New Jersey, huge problem there, too.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I was watching some of Poppy Harlow's stuff yesterday out of New Jersey, heartbreaking, heartbreaking for just these businesses.
BALDWIN: The damage.
MYERS: And then you have to understand that just the pictures that we showed are multiplied by at least 100 times, 100 businesses that we never even got to.
The rain was all the way up into Vermont, but it was really centered over parts of North Carolina. I have heard a lot of people say it was an overhyped storm, it wasn't that big. It wasn't that big because North Carolina took the brunt of it. North Carolina took the stuffing out of the storm.
It never reorganized when it got back over the land. Had that storm just missed North Carolina or just brushed the Outer Banks and didn't stay over for almost 12 hours, this would have been a much bigger deal for New York City, let me tell you, a much, much bigger deal.
Let's go to New York City, let's go up here, let's go to Pine Brook, and let's take a look at the rivers here. They are still rising in many spots. They are at record levels. There's Pine Brook. Here's the river, right through here, right over the highway.
Go ahead click on that, still rising. The record stage, the old record, as high as it's ever been, 23 feet, we are over that record right now. A little bit farther to the north, I think we will take you to the Passaic. And there you go at (INAUDIBLE) 12.6 feet, way over major stage.
Major -- it's five feet above major flood stage. And this is going to be the forecast for the next couple days. We will come down here. This is the Ramapo at Pompton Lakes coming down, but well above flood stage. And then the Rockaway River at Boonton Reservoir coming down a little bit, but well above where it had ever been.
This isn't like, OK, this is as bad as it's ever been in 10 years, this is as bad as it's been in 20 years. This is as bad as it's been ever. These rivers have never been this high. This is the idea you have to put in your mind, that although the wind didn't knock down and didn't knock out windows in New York City, the rain and the flooding that this storm made is tremendous, it is record flooding in about 10 states, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes. I just think of one of the guys that Poppy Harlow as she was surveying the damage and he just so had it in perspective. He said, look, they're just things. I'm OK, my mom who lives with me is OK. They're just things.
MYERS: That's right.
BALDWIN: Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: We're not going to go too far of course from Irene, including FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, facing its own hurricane-driven problem. It's running low on cash and Irene will surely generate a huge number of requests for help. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told me it's impossible to predict how many disasters FEMA will have to face in any given year.
But last hour, when we spoke, she did tell me the money will be there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET NAPOLITANO, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Survivors of Hurricane Irene, survivors from the tornado, survivors from the flooding that occurred this spring, they are all going to receive their individual assistance.
Public assistance for projects already under way will continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: New projects may not get funding. It's all via this priority basis here. But even before Hurricane Irene, the agency had to deal with 65 what they call major disasters this year. She mentioned a few of them, the floods, the tornadoes, last week's earthquake, the hurricane, all but draining FEMA's budget.
Now it has fewer than $1 billion left in its coffers. But FEMA tells us they will continue to pay out claims, survivors the number-one priority.
We're going to catch you up on some of the day's other stories, including this manhunt for this former NBA player, what he's accused of and why the FBI wants your help.
Plus, convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs is in a Texas hospital. Is the former polygamist sect leader starving himself to death?
Back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it, "Rapid Fire." Let's go.
Beginning in New York City, up and running now after Hurricane Irene barreled through it over the weekend. Subways, buses, trains back in service today.
Also, the three major airports, they're also open for business. Commuters expecting that mad rush did leave home extra early this morning only to find things running smoothly.
The California wildfire near Yosemite National Park has expanded to nearly 5,000 acres. This all started Thursday in the Sierra Nevada of California. Firefighters have ordered some communities and campgrounds evacuated. And people in El Portal, California, you may be next to have to leave. But they say they are making progress getting this fire under control.
In Libya, daughter of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is pregnant. Sources tell CNN that Aisha Gadhafi is due to give birth in early September. The striking blonde beauty is known in the Arab media as the Claudia Schiffer of the region.
She lost her post as U.N. goodwill ambassador after her father's violent crackdown on protesters began back in February. Also, in a new development here today, we have learned that some members of Moammar Gadhafi's family now crossed the border into Algeria. Gadhafi's whereabouts, still unknown.
Remember the Cash for Clunkers program? Well, the guy behind that idea is President's Obama's new choice to be the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. He is Alan Krueger, a Princeton economics professor. He would replace Austan Goolsbee, who decided to leave in June.
And former vice president Dick Cheney's new book doesn't come out until tomorrow, but it is already drawing controversy. Cheney criticizes former Bush administration colleagues including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and George Tenet. Powell accuses Cheney of taking cheap shots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Mr. Cheney has had a long and distinguished career, and I hope in this book, that's what he will focus on, not these cheap shots that he's taking at me and other members of the administration who served to the best of our ability for President Bush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: In the book, Cheney claims credit for forcing Powell to resign at the end of President Bush's first term. Powell disputes that, saying he never planned to serve a second term.
The FBI has now joined the search for an NBA player wanted in a murder investigation. Atlanta police have an arrest warrant out now for Javaris Crittenton. He used to play guard for the Washington Wizards.
They say he shot and killed 22-year-old Jullian Jones 10 days ago. She was hit by several bullets from an assault rifle in a drive-by shooting while she was just walking down the street. She was not the intended victim. Police say Crittenton was robbed back in April and was simply looking to retaliate against a man who was on the street at the exact same time at Jones.
Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is now in a Texas hospital. He is in critical condition.
A state prison official says Jeffs got sick during a fast. They say he wasn't eating, he wasn't drinking. Jeffs apparently told officials it wasn't a hunger strike. He was sentenced earlier this month to life plus 20 years after being convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls.
He was freed from a Scottish prison two years ago. Now the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie is in a coma, apparently near death. But should Abdel Basset al-Megrahi be returned to prison? Hear my interview with a mother who lost her daughter in that attack nearly 23 years ago.
Plus, horrors of the Moammar Gadhafi regime just now beginning to trickle out, including the story of a Gadhafi nanny who was scalded with boiling hot water. Her incredible heartbreaking story is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just in the past couple of minutes, very critical news about the family of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Two things. First, we now have reports from the government of Algeria that Gadhafi's wife, daughter and two sons are there. They crossed the border into Algeria. They reportedly surfaced there today. A spokesman for the rebel-led provisional government in Libya did not confirm this development, but said if it is true, then they would demand the return of Gadhafi's family members back to Libya.
Secondly, a senior rebel commander tells CNN today that another member of Moammar Gadhafi's sons, a high-ranking military officer under his father, was killed yesterday in a clash with rebel fighters near Misrata. More details on that as soon as we get them.
But now to Tripoli. More evidence is being uncovered on the brutality of the Gadhafi regime.
CNN's Dan Rivers has the very disturbing story of a nanny allegedly tortured by the wife of one of Gadhafi's sons, one of his sons who is now reportedly in Algeria. But I have to warn you, get the kids out of the room. The images you are about to see are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT 9v 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 sharing out hundreds of bottles of fine Bordeaux and Cristal Champagne. Each bottle worth hundreds of dollars.
(on camera): But amid all this decadence, there were acts of unspeakable cruelty. This house belongs to Hannibal Gadhafi, and what went on in her was truly horrendous.
(voice-over): Meet Shwygar Mullah, a 30-year-old Ethiopian nanny who describes how she was horribly tortured by Hannibal's wife, Aline.
SHWYGAR MULLAH, TORTURED BY ALINE GADHAFI (through translator): She took me to a bathroom and she tied my hands behind my back and tied 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.
Shwygar says she was actually scolded 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.
MULLAH (through translator): 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, and the guard who helped her was threatened with prison if he took her to hospital again. Her workers backed up her account.
MULLAH (through translator): 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, apparently meted out even to those trusted to look after the dictator's grandchildren?
Dan Rivers, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIVERS: This didn't just happen to Shwygar once, it happened twice. And you've got to wonder, if this is what they do to people at work in their own homes, what on earth do the Gadhafi family do to their enemies?
BALDWIN: Dan, I cannot imagine. I do want to ask, though, looking at her, I mean, what kind of medical treatment will she need? And perhaps more importantly, is she in a position where she can get it? She said she had no money.
RIVERS: Yes. Well, on the second point, we're working hard to try and find some way of helping her, and we hope to come back to you in the next couple of days with some firm plans as to what's going to be done to help her.
In terms of what she needs, well, I spoke to a burn specialist in the Netherlands a few hours ago. He had watched our report, and he, just from looking at the pictures, said it's fairly obvious that she does need a skin graft, she does need surgery.
That is something that she could get here in Tripoli. There is a burns unit here, but, you know, there is a possibility of course she might get even better care elsewhere in the U.S. or Europe.
He did add though that because this was done three months ago, it wasn't necessarily life-threatening right now. But the key thing for her is preventing infection. And because of the lack of water and, you know, all the bodies lying around this city and all the kind of mayhem, that's the big problem at the moment, is ensuring that she keeps those wounds clean. Really, she needs some sort of cream to put on it and possibly antibiotics as well, and those sorts of things are very difficult to get in the current situation, where there is just sort of still total chaos in many parts of the city.
BALDWIN: Horrific. Dan Rivers, please follow up. We want to follow her story, definitely. Dan, thank you very much.
Just want to let all of you know, CNN is working with humanitarian organizations, medical officials to get help for this nanny, Shwygar Mullah. We know that viewers here in the U.S. and all around the world want to help as well. As soon as we get that information finalized, we'll alert you as to how you can help here on CNN, and of course also CNN.com/impact. We'll keep you posted there.
In the past 24 hours we here at CNN found out the condition of the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. This man, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson was actually scaling a wall in Tripoli yesterday, found this man lying in his bed. And according to his family, he is in a coma and near death. Al- Megrahi was allowed to leave prison on Scotland two years ago on compassionate grounds, supposedly in the final weeks of his life then.
A shot time ago I spoke with Susan Cohen. She's a New Jersey woman who lost her daughter on that day, just about 23 years ago, when that flight went down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN COHEN, LOST DAUGHTER INN PAN AM 103 BOMBING: First of all, I've been through this a dozen times, where any time Megrahi comes up in a situation which is likely difficult for Megrahi, you get pictures of him getting oxygen. I have been over this many, many times, when he's supposed to be near death, and he isn't. He's lived for a very long time beyond the time he was supposed to live and freed from Scotland.
Now, Nic Robertson said that only a doctor can determine Megrahi's condition. And I think, really, we have to be very, very careful about this.
I would like to see the Western -- actually American government officials able to go in there and interview Megrahi, if at all possible, because we need to get information about Pan Am 103, and he is the one who could tell us. If he was still in prison in Scotland, where he should be, I bet you'd be surprised how fast he might decide it was in his interests to talk.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Forgive me for interrupting you. So you entirely question the veracity of his sickness, his condition? Not so sure he's that sick?
COHEN: Well, I've just been through it so many times. I'm not in a position to say whether he's dying, but his family has always told us -- it's a replay of what they've done before, where is he shown with oxygen, and then somehow, conveniently, he's back home and feeling better. I'm just asking for a lot of skepticism. Nobody should jump on the idea that he's really in a coma and dying.
Give it time. It may be true, but I tell you that I've been through it too often. It's like the boy who cried wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: Susan Cohen, thank you again for coming on. We do have reaction from the U.S. government here, a State Department spokesman says it's up to the rebel movement in charge of Libya now to decide al-Megrahi's fate.
When Hurricane Irene swept across the east coast you, our ireporters, you were out there, you our front line. Coming up next breath-taking water sweeping through Vermont. This is an ireport that makes you feel like you're there, even if your TV or laptop had zero picture, you'd feel that way just from listening to this one. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Obviously when we cover stories like this we rely on our own crews, but we also rely on you, our ireporters. You're really CNN's front line in breaking stories like this. I want you to take a look at this ireport. This is from Brattleboro, Vermont, along Wet Stone Brooke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor Park (ph), Brattleboro, Vermont. 200 miles north of New York City. It's 1:30, Wet Stone Brooke here in Brattleboro, Vermont has flooded. I'm at the intersection of Elliott and Thrust Streets. Behind me is William Street and it is flooding.
I hope everybody's okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN : Thank you for that ireport.
By the way, Vermont's governor says they haven't seen flooding like this in 75 years.
Now the national guard is on the way with the high water vehicles to rescue people trapped by all the flooding we just saw. But there are hundreds of others they can't quite reach, yet -- creeks, brooks, river, they've swelled to levels unseen for -- really I think it's 1927 for some of you in Vermont.
Gary Tuchman is in one of those hard-hit communities where a seemingly harmless brook has caused major damage -- Gary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This place of business in Brattleboro, Vermont in southern Vermont was condemned on Monday afternoon. The reason it was condemned is because what happened here and what was a very gentle brook before Tropical Storm Irene moved through Vermont, it is now a rapids, powerful water came through here, expanded this from ten feet wide to 40 feet wide, eroded the ground. The energy exploded the land here and you can see this building which is an art studio -- 15 artists, sculptors, painters, a yoga instructor, their office is now hanging precariously over what was the Wet Stone Brooke.
The Wet Stone Brooke just a couple of days ago children were swimming in it. There's actually a swimming hole right here. For generations children have swam in it, old timers tell us they've never have seen anything like this. And this all from the power of the storm.
They knew that Tropical Storm Irene, or maybe possibly even Hurricane Irene would come through Vermont, but no one anticipated the devastation here. More than 260 roads in the state were under the water, most of the flood waters have receded, but as you can see, the brooks which were just overflowing with water, many of them still look like rapids and it's caused mud to go into people's homes, there's lots of damage and at least one person died from it, it's about 15 miles west of here, a woman somehow ended up in a creek and her body was recovered earlier today.
A very sad situation here in Vermont. It's an interior state. It borders Canada. It's known for its skiing and its mountains, it's not known for its tropical storms, but it experienced the fury of Tropical Storm Irene.
This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Brattleboro, Vermont.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Gary, thank you.
You know, today's market rebound, the New York Stock Exchange actually opened on time despite Irene. (inaudible) sparked by the hurricane. And could gas prices, could they go down after the storm? Alison Kosik is standing by live. She's coming up next. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Stocks are up after Hurricane Irene does less than expected damage, patients are back in New York hospitals after they shut down in the face of the storm and Chad Myers is going to show us where rivers from Irene have yet to crest. Time to play reporter roulette here on this Monday.
And Alison Kosik let's begin with you. There at the New York Stock Exchange. First, quickly give me the market check. How was today? ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke, the bulls were in full force. It was essentially a relief rally, because Irene wasn't as disastrous as everyone had feared. We watched insurance companies, shares of insurance companies lead the gains -- Allstate, MetLife, Traveler's all posted some big gains today. Investors bought in because insurers, they're not going to be on the hook for as much damage as first thought.
Also we have a positive consumer spending report showing Americans spent more in July. Brooke?
BALDWIN: Will Irene at all affect gas prices for us? KOSIK: You know what surprisingly expect the unexpected with this one. You know, everybody expected a rise in prices, but analysts are now thinking, you know what, gas prices are going to be falling a bit because again damage wasn't as bad as feared. There are a lot of refineries that line the east coast. They weren't damaged.
Also remember this, the hurricane forced many of us to stay at home. We weren't driving out, around having our tanks refilled so it means lower demand. The national average is right now sitting at about $3.61 a gallon, probably going to stay right around there unless we see a spike in oil prices. So we could see a bit of a dip in gas prices, which is a good thing.
BALDWIN: Yes, we will take it.
Alison Kosik, thank you very much.
Next here on reporter roulette, Elizabeth Cohen is live in New York where for the very first time New York City hospitals eerily empty this weekend after they evacuated in anticipation of the hurricane.
Patients, Elizabeth, I know they're coming back today. How is that process? That's a lot of people, how is that process going?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh it is a lot of people. I mean, here at New York University Langone Medical Center where I am, it's about 200 people discharged on Friday, brought back today. Brooke they started off with the newborn babies and the pediatric patients and they expect the patients to come back over a period of three days.
Now it's interesting, it took them less than a day to get them out, three days to get them back, because I've learned that opening a hospital is harder was a lot harder than closing a hospital. When you have an empty hospital and fill it back up, you have to re-sterilize everything. They did have some -- a little bit of water damage here at NYU, they have to fix that. They lost power from Con Ed in part of the hospital. So they have to go through and make sure it is in shape to get patients back.
Now they still aren't doing things like elective surgeries here at NYU, but they hope so very soon -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: So Elizabeth looking back, are hospitals glad they made the call to have the patients evacuate?
COHEN: You know it's interesting. One hospital administrator told me on Friday, oh I think this is really being overblown and we shouldn't have to do this and then today he said you know what, Elizabeth, I think it really was a good idea, better to be safe than sorry. We did take on some water at the hospital, it was the right thing to do.
Now a nursing home administrator was very disgruntled when we spoke to him today. He said our nursing home was fine and you made us ship out all our patients and one of the places we shipped them to, they had water damage. So I guess it really depends on what happened at your particular institution.
BALDWIN: Yes.
COHEN: But I think I'm hearing both, actually.
BALDWIN: Depends on who you ask. Elizabeth Cohen thank you very much.
And finally here, Chad Myers who I know is working what, all through the weekend here, talking about Irene. And we heard the president speaking from the Rose Garden just yesterday saying look this thing, even though Irene is gone, we're going to be talking about this and damage for weeks.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I think we're going to be talking about people being injured for weeks because you have all of those limbs, you have all of those trees in your yard, some power on, some power off. If you don't know what you're doing, hire a professional. I know it may take a longer time, but let me tell you, pay 100 bucks and have all your fingers or whatever it might be is probably worth the money and people get injured, put the ladders in the wrong places, they try to bring limbs down and all of a sudden they get themselves in trouble.
There's still a lot of water to make its way all the way to the ocean. There's a lot of water still going up toward the St. Lawrence Seaway. There's more to this before it's finally all said and done. And just so that you don't sit back and get too used to all this calmness...
BALDWIN: Oh, no.
MYERS: Tropical depression 12 is in the middle of the Atlantic and it's forecast to become a category 2 hurricane. A little bit farther to the north of where the last storm was, which was Irene, that probably means a quicker right turn, that we call that the gutter ball that doesn't hit anything, but it's to early to tell, it's too early to tell even when it was going to hit New York City and that was only 24 hours away from landfall. So clearly five days away or even ten days away from the U.S., way too early to figure out where this thing is going.
BALDWIN: And the season, I was checking today, the season doesn't end until November 30th?
MYERS: 30th. But the peak, the greatest day of all-time in hurricane history is September 10th. So, there you go.
BALDWIN: Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: What happened to a young boy in Texas during the height of the summer heat is almost unspeakable, but I feel like I have to tell you about this because what happened to Jonathan James shouldn't happen to any other child. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, I don't often sit up here and say this, but I'm saying it today. I'm sharing this next story with you because it's one of those stories that makes me angry. Makes me sad and it makes me angry.
Sad for a child whose life was cut short. Angry because there were red flags and he wasn't saved from horrible treatment that his little body just couldn't endure. These are photos of 10-year-old Jonathan James and his twin brother, Joseph.
We know what happened in the days leading up to Jonathan's death last month in part because Joseph witnessed it. Investigators in Dallas say Jonathan was deprived of water for five days as punishment in late July, five days that ended when Jonathan collapsed from dehydration from shaking and moaning.
Adults in the house, they called 911, but it was too late to revive him. He died at the hospital. And according to our affiliate WFAA in Dallas, the no water punishment was doled out because Jonathan had stolen guitar strings from his older stepbrother.
There had also been other reports that Jonathan was being punished for wetting the bed. Listen to his surviving twin brother described what life was like at their father's home this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH JAMES, TWIN BROTHER DIED OF DEHYDRATION: They made him eat a PB&J, peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the peanut butter got stuck in his throat, they still wouldn't let him have water.
They made him stand in front of the window that they put an "x" on the floor and "x" on the window and the sun was coming straight through it and there was no air conditioning there, and I couldn't do nothing about it because if I said something I would end up getting in trouble, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: His father and stepmother were arrested this past Friday night, charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. The boy's grandmother told the "Dallas Morning News," Jonathan had called her and said "Can I come to your house instead? I know I'm going to be n trouble while I'm there because I always am."
Chilling words. Jonathan knew he'd be in trouble, but he had no way of knowing he would die. Would you imagine the fear he must have felt, it's hard to believe no one was able to save him.
I am going to tell stories like Jonathan's just like I told you about Amy Diehl last month and Christian Choat the month before because they are children and they can't look after themselves and we can do better.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: OK, let's quickly go over to Chad Myers getting some news here in the world of weather, a tornado warning?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Like the people of North Carolina haven't seen enough, right? Exactly, right under the path of Irene, a tornado probably on the ground. This is an impressive looking tornado right there going to Engelhardt, North Carolina.
Take cover if you're in that area. Mainly a farming community, but there's a big town and everybody there cleaning up hurricane outside and now there's a tornado.
BALDWIN: Goodness, Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: Now to Wolf Blitzer. Let's get a quick check of what he has coming up on "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf, what do you have?
WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: It's amazing when you think about it, Brooke and Chad thinks about this all the time, earthquake, hurricanes, tornadoes, what's next? Ask Chad.
BALDWIN: I don't know.
BLITZER: I have no idea what's next, but I can only imagine. We're going to talk a little bit about all of the above, Craig Fugate, the administrator of FEMA is going to be joining us live right at the top of the hour.
We'll also speak with the governor of Vermont. We'll speak with Senator Sanders of Vermont. It's a disaster what's going on in Vermont right now.
You've seen the pictures so we're all over those stories and we'll all over what's going on in Syria, new developments right now and also in Libya. We've got "THE SITUATION ROOM" coming up at the top of the hour. We've quite a situation, Brooke, as you know.
BALDWIN: Quite a situation in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Mr. Blitzer, we'll see you in a couple of minutes. Thank you very much.
Still though here, more than 2,500 stranded on North Carolina's remote Hatteras Island after Hurricane Irene wiped out the only road in and out. Coming up next, we'll talk to a Red Cross worker who is there. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We have told you about the situation in North Carolina. Chad told us there's a tornado warning in both Daier and Hyde counties.
But let's talk about the situation there on Hatteras Island, 2,500 people are stuck or stranded there. These are the folks who didn't leave ahead of Hurricane Irene and the storm smashed through, washed out the road to the mainland, Highway 12, multiple breaches there.
And now these people are stuck, how long, maybe two weeks, maybe two months. Six people have died in North Carolina and at last report about 300,000 people are without electricity.
Kate Meier is with the American Red Cross. She is in Newburn, North Carolina. Kate, tell me what you're seeing today. How bad is it?
KATE MEIER, AMERICAN RED CROSS (via telephone): Well, I spent the last couple of days driving around Newburn, North Carolina, that are actually fairly inland, but we're still seeing a lot of damage, a lot of trees down and roads that are impassable because we still have flowing water going across them.
I actually had to stop when I was driving to one of our shelters and turn around and find a different route because there was water flowing across the road. We had 2,500 people stay in our shelters in North Carolina alone last night so we still have thousands of people who need our help.
BALDWIN: Kate, we're talking so much about the outer banks here with regard to the storm, but what about inland? How far inland does the damage go?
MEIER: I've been at our shelter in Wilson, North Carolina, and I've been out two and a half hours inland, talking about 150 miles from the coast, and we had 160 people at that shelter waiting out Hurricane Irene alone on Saturday, and that number has only grown so we're seeing damage very widespread.
Irene's footprint over the entire United States is bigger than the continent of Europe, so we're talking a lot of damage and it's not just isolated to the coast.
BALDWIN: What about the outer banks? You know, I'm a student from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I loved going out there for vacation, a beautiful spot. But I know that a lot of people are worried about tourism season. Officials are saying tourism come spend Labor Day with us. But Kate, does that sound overly optimistic to you?
MEIER: Well, you know, the outer banks were hit really hard. There are still people who are stranded in Hatteras and in that area. I would say proceed with caution. Some of the roads are still probably dangerous and you know, I don't know. I've been out there. I know it's a fun time, but you're talking about going into an area that just survived a hurricane.
BALDWIN: Are you guys able to get into Hatteras or Ocracoke at all? I know there's a very slow-moving ferry trying to get that way, but if there in any sort of need for medical, how will they get it?
MEIER: Well, you know, the Red Cross, our mission is really to provide those emergency needs, which that ferry is helping to deal with the water and food and whatever else.
We work with emergency management to try to meet the needs of the people who are there and elsewhere of course, and I think it is unfortunate, but it is a necessary reminder of being prepared for a storm and evacuating if necessary because things like this can happen.
BALDWIN: Kate Meier, please be safe as you are out on those roads. I know a lot of them suffered a substantial amount of damage there in North Carolina. Kate, thank you so much from American Red Cross.
And that is it for me here in Atlanta at the CNN World Headquarters. Thanks for watching. Let's go up to Washington, D.C. now in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer starts now.
