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CNN Live Saturday
The Aftermath Of Isabel Leaves Much Work, Concerns Of More Flooding
Aired September 20, 2003 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It is a day of picking up the pieces and adding up the damages totals for tens of thousands of people along the mid-Atlantic coast. Two days after hurricane Isabel slammed the region, its effects linger. We begin the hour with the very latest from two areas slammed by the storm. With us from Kitty Hawk, California, CNN's Susan Candiotti, and Baltimore, CNN's Kathleen Koch, who's moved north from Virginia Beach.
And, Kathleen, let's go ahead and begin with you.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, they're calling this storm the storm of the century, here, and it's very deceptive. Of course, today, you see these gorgeous blue skies, the very bright, bright sun and it is hard to even believe that some 32 hours ago this entire area was under water.
What happened was that the storm surge, that came with Isabel, hit here right around high tide. Now, they only got about three inches of rain from Isabel, here in Baltimore, but combined with the storm surge and high tide, the tides were seven feet above normal then, and they just surged up here, into homes, into businesses. We have seen basements just with all sorts of things -- food supplies, furniture, property floating around. And, everyone is just -- you know, has been devastated by this. But, it's the same story up and down the inner harbor area of Baltimore, and then also, as you get out into the Eastern shore. Areas like Kent Island, areas up and down the Chesapeake.
On Kent Island alone, at one marina, the boats were just tossed around as if they were toys made out of plastic. So, it's serious damage to -- up and down the area to any area of waterfront, any marinas, waterfront homes, waterfront businesses. And of course, now today, the cleaning up process begins. We had seen people pulling back the sandbags, pulling back the bricks and plastic, and starting really to assess what's left. There are damage assessment teams both from insurance companies, from the Red Cross, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, going through all these areas and helping everyone take stock. But, it's going to take quite a lot of time. A lot of people are just, you know -- again, still pumping out their basements, today.
We saw pumps going. At a premium here are generators and ice and all sorts of things, anything that people can get their hands on to try to get the electricity going, try to keep their food cold. But again, the assessment is going to take quite a long time. They say it will easily be in the millions, Heidi, and we've already talked to several business owners whose property was entirely devastated, they have no flood insurance, whatsoever. So, it will be particularly tough for them. And now, standing by is Susan Candiotti with a story south of here.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kathleen. We're in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. I am standing on what was a beachfront road. But, as you can see, it is no longer pavement; it is covered in sand at least three feet deep. And, maybe across the street, you can also see just one, two -- a few homes, down here, that have been almost swallowed into the sea, certainly a lot of them at a tilt, now. If you look on the other side of that house, you can see want it looks like from the ocean side. The front of the house completely pulled off and you're looking right into the living room, you can see the couch, almost a slice of life inside that home. We understand it is a rental unit. Obviously, the people there have not yet come home. For the first time today, they're starting to get crews in here, as you see, to work on utility lines, for example, because power is still out, to a majority of 34,000 or so customers here, on the outer banks, which includes Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, those communities. For the first time, the curfew being lifted, this day, with a lot of restrictions, you have to prove that you own property, here. You can't be a sight seer and come here. You can spend some time, you have to get a permit and then see what kind of damage you have to deal with.
Now, just to show you how deep the sand is, look at this mailbox here, had been about three feet high, it is buried, now. Someone who has come home is Angie Smith.
Angie, you live right here, just across from the ocean. How did you make out?
ANGIE SMITH, KITTY HAWK RESIDENT: Well we faired much better than most. The lord protected our house and we have some minimal damage, but nothing majorly structural.
CANDIOTTI: Do you have insurance? How are you going to pay for this?
SMITH: That -- I don't own the house. We rent it, so that's up to the people who own the house.
CANDIOTTI: What do you make of how the neighborhood looks?
SMITH: It's something. I never expected to see this, living down here, and it gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, actually.
CANDIOTTI: We wish you well, as you try to recover, certainly.
Just to wrap up here, the most -- the worst part of the outer banks, of course, is Cape Hatteras, Hatteras Island, where those people remain isolated and they are having to airlift supplies to them.
Heidi, back to you. COLLINS: Yeah, many of those homes are rental homes, down there. I'm sure owners will be anxious to get back and see what the damage has been.
Susan Candiotti, we appreciate it, thanks so much.
Well, the National Guard is helping storm battered areas along the North Carolina coast get back on their feet. The destruction is especially severe along the state's outer banks, as we've just heard. And, these are scenes, now, from Cape Hatteras.
With us now, from Raleigh, Major General William Ingram, the commander of the North Carolina National Guard.
Thanks for being with us this morning, we appreciate it.
What is the state of North Carolina doing, at this point, to help people get back on their feet?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM INGRAM, COMMANDER, NORTH CAROLINA NATIONAL GUARD: Good morning, Heidi. The National Guard has 1,150 soldiers and airmen that are either assisting emergency management and others in response to the storm.
COLLINS: All right, those are quite a few people on board to help out, for sure. I'm learning a little bit now about -- Salvation Army? And, they're going to be bringing in a kitchen for people. I mean, people are having a hard time getting supplies, obviously.
INGRAM: Well we're moving a mobile kitchen trailers, two of them actually, to Buckstown (PH), North Carolina, that's on Hatteras Island. Using our airlift assets, they should be in place later today.
COLLINS: What about the damage, as far as comparing it to hurricane Floyd, back in 1999? Can you do a little bit of a comparison for us, here? Anywhere near that bad?
INGRAM: Honestly, it's not. Hurricane Floyd was very widespread. It affected all of Eastern North Carolina. Hurricane Isabel affected very strongly, the areas that it hit. The outer banks of Deer County (PH), especially. But, there's not the widespread damage that we saw from the floods of Hurricane Floyd.
COLLINS: Tell us if you would, Major General, what exactly the National Guard does in a situation like this. What will be the priorities, right now?
INGRAM: Well, our priorities, first in the aftermath of the storm, are to save lives and life and limb of people that are -- that were cut off and stranded. We really didn't have much to do in the way of rescue operations in this particular storm. So, the next priority of work is debris remove, getting roads and lines of communication open. We're using, again, our airlift assets to deliver emergency supplies to Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Village on Hatteras Island, which has been cut off. COLLINS: It may seem somewhat trivial to bring up, but a lot of people, if they know this area, know that North Carolina and Ocracoke Islands, in particular, have light houses and they're famous for that. What has been the damage, as far as the lighthouses are concerned?
INGRAM: I was on the outer banks yesterday, and saw the Hatteras lighthouse, looked to be in very good shape. The Bodie Island lighthouse, near Nags Head, was in very good shape, and I -- we had no reports any damage to the lighthouses.
COLLINS: All right, very good. Obviously, a lot more damage, thought, to people's homes. We appreciate everything you do down there.
Major General William Ingram with the National Guard. Thanks for your time.
INGRAM: Certainly.
COLLINS: The flooding in the Baltimore area, though, caught many people by surprise. CNN Meteorologist, Rob Marciano has more now, on what caused the flooding, there. And, people will be dealing with this for quite some time, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, some of these rivers, Heidi, aren't going to fall below flood stage until Tuesday morning, so it's a tremendous amount of rain -- that's from the rainfall, that type of flooding. Then the storm surge is what we saw early yesterday morning. We weren't just sure how far up the bays and rivers that storm surge would get -- be. But, because of this track -- was just to the West of Chesapeake Bay, the wind flow -- and it was sustained for a long period of time, just pushed that water right up the Chesapeake and up the Potomac Rivers and they happened to peek out there, during high tide. So, that's why we had that trapped water all the way up to the Baltimore area, well, well away from the ocean.
We had the four to six inches for rain, as well. Already saturated ground, this area of the country has seen over a foot of rain more than they would typically, this time of year. So, this did not help matters at all. So, these waters -- the rivers are slow to recede, especially around Richmond. There's going to be flooding around the James River -- up and down the James River along Richmond, as well during the afternoon, today. So, we're going to be dealing with this from time, time (SIC) -- some time to come.
Isabel itself, well up and through Canada, and just a shadow of its normal self -- or its previous self, and that's good news. But, the flooding, Heidi, at least in the rivers is going to continue.
COLLINS: Hate to hear that. All right, Rob Marciano. Thanks so much.
MARCIANO: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Flooding>
Aired September 20, 2003 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It is a day of picking up the pieces and adding up the damages totals for tens of thousands of people along the mid-Atlantic coast. Two days after hurricane Isabel slammed the region, its effects linger. We begin the hour with the very latest from two areas slammed by the storm. With us from Kitty Hawk, California, CNN's Susan Candiotti, and Baltimore, CNN's Kathleen Koch, who's moved north from Virginia Beach.
And, Kathleen, let's go ahead and begin with you.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, they're calling this storm the storm of the century, here, and it's very deceptive. Of course, today, you see these gorgeous blue skies, the very bright, bright sun and it is hard to even believe that some 32 hours ago this entire area was under water.
What happened was that the storm surge, that came with Isabel, hit here right around high tide. Now, they only got about three inches of rain from Isabel, here in Baltimore, but combined with the storm surge and high tide, the tides were seven feet above normal then, and they just surged up here, into homes, into businesses. We have seen basements just with all sorts of things -- food supplies, furniture, property floating around. And, everyone is just -- you know, has been devastated by this. But, it's the same story up and down the inner harbor area of Baltimore, and then also, as you get out into the Eastern shore. Areas like Kent Island, areas up and down the Chesapeake.
On Kent Island alone, at one marina, the boats were just tossed around as if they were toys made out of plastic. So, it's serious damage to -- up and down the area to any area of waterfront, any marinas, waterfront homes, waterfront businesses. And of course, now today, the cleaning up process begins. We had seen people pulling back the sandbags, pulling back the bricks and plastic, and starting really to assess what's left. There are damage assessment teams both from insurance companies, from the Red Cross, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, going through all these areas and helping everyone take stock. But, it's going to take quite a lot of time. A lot of people are just, you know -- again, still pumping out their basements, today.
We saw pumps going. At a premium here are generators and ice and all sorts of things, anything that people can get their hands on to try to get the electricity going, try to keep their food cold. But again, the assessment is going to take quite a long time. They say it will easily be in the millions, Heidi, and we've already talked to several business owners whose property was entirely devastated, they have no flood insurance, whatsoever. So, it will be particularly tough for them. And now, standing by is Susan Candiotti with a story south of here.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kathleen. We're in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. I am standing on what was a beachfront road. But, as you can see, it is no longer pavement; it is covered in sand at least three feet deep. And, maybe across the street, you can also see just one, two -- a few homes, down here, that have been almost swallowed into the sea, certainly a lot of them at a tilt, now. If you look on the other side of that house, you can see want it looks like from the ocean side. The front of the house completely pulled off and you're looking right into the living room, you can see the couch, almost a slice of life inside that home. We understand it is a rental unit. Obviously, the people there have not yet come home. For the first time today, they're starting to get crews in here, as you see, to work on utility lines, for example, because power is still out, to a majority of 34,000 or so customers here, on the outer banks, which includes Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, those communities. For the first time, the curfew being lifted, this day, with a lot of restrictions, you have to prove that you own property, here. You can't be a sight seer and come here. You can spend some time, you have to get a permit and then see what kind of damage you have to deal with.
Now, just to show you how deep the sand is, look at this mailbox here, had been about three feet high, it is buried, now. Someone who has come home is Angie Smith.
Angie, you live right here, just across from the ocean. How did you make out?
ANGIE SMITH, KITTY HAWK RESIDENT: Well we faired much better than most. The lord protected our house and we have some minimal damage, but nothing majorly structural.
CANDIOTTI: Do you have insurance? How are you going to pay for this?
SMITH: That -- I don't own the house. We rent it, so that's up to the people who own the house.
CANDIOTTI: What do you make of how the neighborhood looks?
SMITH: It's something. I never expected to see this, living down here, and it gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, actually.
CANDIOTTI: We wish you well, as you try to recover, certainly.
Just to wrap up here, the most -- the worst part of the outer banks, of course, is Cape Hatteras, Hatteras Island, where those people remain isolated and they are having to airlift supplies to them.
Heidi, back to you. COLLINS: Yeah, many of those homes are rental homes, down there. I'm sure owners will be anxious to get back and see what the damage has been.
Susan Candiotti, we appreciate it, thanks so much.
Well, the National Guard is helping storm battered areas along the North Carolina coast get back on their feet. The destruction is especially severe along the state's outer banks, as we've just heard. And, these are scenes, now, from Cape Hatteras.
With us now, from Raleigh, Major General William Ingram, the commander of the North Carolina National Guard.
Thanks for being with us this morning, we appreciate it.
What is the state of North Carolina doing, at this point, to help people get back on their feet?
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM INGRAM, COMMANDER, NORTH CAROLINA NATIONAL GUARD: Good morning, Heidi. The National Guard has 1,150 soldiers and airmen that are either assisting emergency management and others in response to the storm.
COLLINS: All right, those are quite a few people on board to help out, for sure. I'm learning a little bit now about -- Salvation Army? And, they're going to be bringing in a kitchen for people. I mean, people are having a hard time getting supplies, obviously.
INGRAM: Well we're moving a mobile kitchen trailers, two of them actually, to Buckstown (PH), North Carolina, that's on Hatteras Island. Using our airlift assets, they should be in place later today.
COLLINS: What about the damage, as far as comparing it to hurricane Floyd, back in 1999? Can you do a little bit of a comparison for us, here? Anywhere near that bad?
INGRAM: Honestly, it's not. Hurricane Floyd was very widespread. It affected all of Eastern North Carolina. Hurricane Isabel affected very strongly, the areas that it hit. The outer banks of Deer County (PH), especially. But, there's not the widespread damage that we saw from the floods of Hurricane Floyd.
COLLINS: Tell us if you would, Major General, what exactly the National Guard does in a situation like this. What will be the priorities, right now?
INGRAM: Well, our priorities, first in the aftermath of the storm, are to save lives and life and limb of people that are -- that were cut off and stranded. We really didn't have much to do in the way of rescue operations in this particular storm. So, the next priority of work is debris remove, getting roads and lines of communication open. We're using, again, our airlift assets to deliver emergency supplies to Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Village on Hatteras Island, which has been cut off. COLLINS: It may seem somewhat trivial to bring up, but a lot of people, if they know this area, know that North Carolina and Ocracoke Islands, in particular, have light houses and they're famous for that. What has been the damage, as far as the lighthouses are concerned?
INGRAM: I was on the outer banks yesterday, and saw the Hatteras lighthouse, looked to be in very good shape. The Bodie Island lighthouse, near Nags Head, was in very good shape, and I -- we had no reports any damage to the lighthouses.
COLLINS: All right, very good. Obviously, a lot more damage, thought, to people's homes. We appreciate everything you do down there.
Major General William Ingram with the National Guard. Thanks for your time.
INGRAM: Certainly.
COLLINS: The flooding in the Baltimore area, though, caught many people by surprise. CNN Meteorologist, Rob Marciano has more now, on what caused the flooding, there. And, people will be dealing with this for quite some time, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, some of these rivers, Heidi, aren't going to fall below flood stage until Tuesday morning, so it's a tremendous amount of rain -- that's from the rainfall, that type of flooding. Then the storm surge is what we saw early yesterday morning. We weren't just sure how far up the bays and rivers that storm surge would get -- be. But, because of this track -- was just to the West of Chesapeake Bay, the wind flow -- and it was sustained for a long period of time, just pushed that water right up the Chesapeake and up the Potomac Rivers and they happened to peek out there, during high tide. So, that's why we had that trapped water all the way up to the Baltimore area, well, well away from the ocean.
We had the four to six inches for rain, as well. Already saturated ground, this area of the country has seen over a foot of rain more than they would typically, this time of year. So, this did not help matters at all. So, these waters -- the rivers are slow to recede, especially around Richmond. There's going to be flooding around the James River -- up and down the James River along Richmond, as well during the afternoon, today. So, we're going to be dealing with this from time, time (SIC) -- some time to come.
Isabel itself, well up and through Canada, and just a shadow of its normal self -- or its previous self, and that's good news. But, the flooding, Heidi, at least in the rivers is going to continue.
COLLINS: Hate to hear that. All right, Rob Marciano. Thanks so much.
MARCIANO: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Flooding>
