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CNN Live Saturday

Hurricane Frances Creeps Towards Florida; LAX Closed Down

Aired September 04, 2004 - 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.


STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: 9:00 a.m. in the West, I'm Stephen Frazier.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Linda Stouffer. Hello, everybody. We are live at CNN's global headquarters.

Ahead this half hour we're going to continue to follow Hurricane Frances as the storm creeps towards the Florida coastline. We'll have reports from the Bahamas where the storm is now, as well as several reports we'll bring you from locations across Florida as the elements seriously begin to effect the state today.

FRAZIER: The death toll continues to rise in Russia following yesterday's drastic conclusion to the school hostage siege in Beslan. We'll get the latest live from there.

STOUFFER: And health concerns for the former president of the United States. Bill Clinton awaits bypass surgery in New York. We'll get an update on his condition ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

First stories now in the news today.

Floridians are preparing for the worst with Hurricane Frances swirling off shore. The storm has already blasted its way through the Bahamas. Very heavy rain with this one and flooding in it's wake. One young man there is reportedly, is electrocuted during storm preparations for that.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding better performance from his security forces on the wake of a terrorist attack on a school. Three hundred 22 hostages died in a shootout, explosion and fire there. Half of them children. Putin says the entire nation is grieving today.

And in Iraq, at least 25 people are dead in the bombing of a police academy in Kirkuk. Police say a car bomb and a remote bomb exploded at virtually the same time. The car rammed the security barricade just as police and civilians were leaving the build.

FRAZIER: Frances is now a category 2 hurricane. It is buffeting Florida with heavy rain and winds, as it continues it slow approach towards the state. Even though it's not there, power out for more than 2,000 people. And the power of the storm, itself, is expected to increase as the main body of the storm gets closer Florida. Hurricane warnings are enforced for the entire eastern coast of the state. Many people have heeded those and have gotten away from the coast. STOUFFER: And that is a good, because the storm is going to cause trouble today and tomorrow, all through the weekend. It is the slow approach of Frances. It's continuing towards Florida.

Meteorologist Rob is here with the late on the storm -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Linda. Hi, Stephen.

Slow and large, I mean, that's the main thing with this system is that it's moving so slowly and so big, that it's just going to take forever, seemingly, to get through the state and that going to cause big headaches.

This is a three dimensional kind of sideways view of the radar. You can see the western flank of this very large eye. Seventy mile wide eye, which is extraordinary, and the western flank is very well developed. So, Ft. Pierce, Melbourne, almost south to say Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale, really starting to get it right now.

We'll flip it on it side and show you the more traditional two dimensional radar. And there's Freeport and here's the eye, it's just huge. And it's now drifting towards the northwest at about 5 miles and hour, that's expected to continue as we go through time.

On the satellite imagery, you see the cloud canopy all the way almost to South and North Carolina, this thing is a monster. And it will just take over the entire state as it slowly marches over to the west.

One thing to note, that along the Intercostal Waterway, because right now we have north winds, it's very, very rough there. And we've shown video throughout the morning on how some boat owners have had to deal with that.

Also Lake Okeechobee under hurricane warning. And as those north winds continue, the southern part Lake Okeechobee could see some water piling up, as well.

Here's the forecast track, just to the north of West Palm Beach and just to the south of Daytona Beach, probably sometime late tonight, probably some time close to midnight and then maybe remerging in the Gulf of Mexico by early Monday morning.

So, you know, we're talking about another 48 hours before we get this thing through the state. And that means big headaches for flooding.

Hurricane warnings are out for the entire east coast of this system, Florida City, north to Flagler Beach, which is just north of Daytona Beach.

And there's going to be rough surf up and down Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, as far north, probably as Long Island and the Jersey shore as this thing churns out the water out ahead of this system.

Briefly what a category 2 storm means with winds that can get to 110 winds sustained. That will create some damage to some doors, some windows and some roof damage. And coastal flood problems, as well.

Stephen and Linda, because this is category 2 storm, but more importantly because it will take so long to move through, it will probably act like a 3 or 4 as far as the damage is concerned, because it's just going to hammer, and hammer, and hammer away. And you know at some point trees and structures just can't take any more. So, it's not a good scenario, not necessarily.

FRAZIER: Not what people want to hear.

STOUFFER: Yes.

FRAZIER: But we glad for the early insights. Rob Marciano, thank you.

STOUFFER: Thanks, Rob.

One of those areas being hammered right about now is Ft. Pierce. Waves covering much of the southern end of Florida, including some areas that are even inland from the actual coast.

Gary Tuchman is weathering the storm for us. He is live in Ft. Pierce. He's live on videophone for us.

Gary, what are the conditions like?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Linda, we are in the city of Ft. Pierce, which is in St. Lucie County. St. Lucie County hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane since 1939 and that was a minor hurricane. It's never directly hit by a hurricane more than a category 1 in recorded weather history.

You can see the palm trees blowing around behind me the last hour. The weather is starting to get very bad here. We are at the municipal pier here in Ft. Pierce. About three quarters to a quarter mile away from the Atlantic Ocean, but right on the Intercostal Waterway where the Indian River, as it's called here in the St. Lucie County area, there are about 90 to 100 boats that are now backed up here. Their owners hoping for the best by the time this is all over.

You know, people started paying attention during Hurricane Charley, they are seriously paying attention now. You see almost nobody in the areas that are supposed to be evacuated. This city of Ft. Pierce, 39,000 people, you drive up and down the streets, there are absolutely no cars whatsoever, just police cars. We already see signs down, some trees down, some poles down. There's curfew in effect, 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. And people for the most part seem to be abiding by that. It's noting but news media when we go out. We talk to police. They say they have very -- they are expecting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Ft. Pierce. It's actually a lovely downtown area, because it's right by the marina, but that's what also makes it very vulnerable.

One of the most interesting things, if you look at the bicycle over there, Dominick (ph). With all this blowing around there are three bicycles that somebody left on the pier near the boats, those bicycles haven't moved. The winds have now been up to 70 miles per hour, but those bicycle to stay put along with the boat. What happens down the road, we don't know, but they're expecting a direct hit from Hurricane Frances.

Linda, back to you.

STOUFFER: Gary, I'm guessing those bicycles won't make it in that exact position in just a couple of hours. You say everyone took heed to the warnings and left, but what about shelters?

Did people stay in shelters in the area or did they completely evacuate?

TUCHMAN: Most people watched the news and saw that there were huge traffic jams headed north. And they took the lesson from Hurricane Charley of going to the other coast isn't necessarily a good idea. As a matter of fact, we were in Daytona Beach where the hurricane exited. Everyone ended up going to the east coast, because the hurricane came to the west coast. The hotels were full, you couldn't get a room. What a lot of people are doing here, is gone into the shelters.

Sometimes there are some minor hurricanes, we're probably finding 10 or 15 people in a shelter. Here, in St. Lucie County, about 60 miles north of the city of West Palm Beach, there're saying there's about 5,000 people in shelters. Keep in mind, there's only about 213,000 people in the county. That means one out of every 40 people or so are staying in shelters as we speak.

STOUFFER: And Gary, they're prepared for this to be more than just a one-day event. I mean, a lot of storms that hit Florida are an intense couple hours and then they've moved on. But everyone says this is going to be an awful day and tomorrow could be worse.

TUCHMAN: Right. A lot of people have been in the shelter since Thursday, because obviously, this hurricane slowed down a lot. They may be there for four or five days before they get. They are safe places to be. And the authorities here all throughout south Florida are very grateful that people are paying close attention. That's often what happens when a big hurricane that just came a couple of weeks before this one. People are still paying attention to news about hurricanes and police are very gratified about that.

STOUFFER: Well, we're grateful you're putting up with the elements to keep us up to date out there.

Gary Tuchman, take care of yourself. He is live in Ft. Pierce.

FRAZIER: One person who did not heed those warnings was that young surfer we were looking at in Pompano Beach. Here's another view live of the pier there and the waves that are battering the shore. The surfer is now out of the water, back in his woody and listening to Beach Boy tunes as he drives away. Maybe he had to be escorted to jail by authorities. They don't like people in the water, even though it's very tempting to be out there. There's something about a storm, you know, there's low pressure, there's ions in the air. You feel like you want to be out there.

Sean Callebs, just down the coast in West Palm Beach saw the effect of that, when some people on board some expensive yachts tried to save them and things are only getting worse there now -- Sean.

Not sure Sean's able to hear us yet. Let's see if we can pick up.

We're looking at Pompano Beach in the larger picture. Sean Callebs is in West Palm Beach standing along the Intracoastal Waterway. This of course, the Atlantic shoreline now in Pompano Beach, and the kind of waves coming ashore after a long fetch across the Atlantic from the storm itself.

Bill Hemmer is on the shoreline in Melbourne, a little farther north and was experiencing that kind of weather earlier and got totally soaked.

Let's find out how he's doing now -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The rain's coming back a little bit and the wind has not stopped, Stephen. Last time we talked two hours ago we were about a mile on the other side of this Atlantic intracoastal waterway. Now we are set up here in a Marina. The reason we pulled back, quite simply, the Barrier Islands sometimes can be the most precarious. We do anticipate the storm will strengthen throughout the afternoon and into the evening hours and trying to make sure we take all the precautions possible.

On the way over here, Steven though, quite a bit of damage a lot of signs taken off of buildings and of business fronts, as well, especially in the Barrier Island area, and coming across the intracoastal waterway, there is an enormous bridge that goes eight or nine stories into the air. There were giant steel light posts that had literally collapsed along the roadway, about a half dozen as we came across the water. I know they're having problems with some yachts down the coast.

We're in a marina here, several dozen boats pretty well tied down. Cannot see, sure there's a lot of rocking, but nothing's gotten loose at this point, which certainly is great news for the boat owners who have vacated this place.

Ninety-one mile-an-hour winds clocked here in Melbourne a short time ago. Those are the gusts now, not sustained, only the gusts, but still packing a punch right now. Sustained winds a little more than 50 miles-an-hour and again we anticipate for that to increase as we move throughout the day here.

Listening to Rob Marciano talk earlier about the size of the eye, 100 miles wide moving at the current rate of speed, five or six miles- an-hour, it's quite possible this time tomorrow we could standing in sunshine for a considerable amount of the day, maybe eight or 10 hours depending on how that storm comes across. We've been watching the maps, watching the satellite, and it appears, again here in Melbourne, that this could be the point at which Frances comes on shore, but again as we've seen over the past few days anyway, Frances can do just about anything she wants because she has been very unpredictable.

At this time I want to bring in my colleague, Chad Myers here, CNN meteorologist, starting his day, as well.

Your impression so far, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: My impression of this is that we need to be off this dock in about two hours because the high tide comes in at 3:00. This water is going to be up at least over the top of this, if not probably into the parking lot, so we're going to have to get this crew on to higher ground and everybody needs to get to higher ground if you're this low.

HEMMER: We were in a location yesterday on the beach, as you remember.

MYERS: Yeah.

HEMMER: And earlier today we could see the water had risen quite a bit from this point yesterday.

MYERS: Well, I know the producers wanted us to stay there and that's great, but the problem with barrier islands, sometimes they get cut in half.

HEMMER: Indeed, they do.

MYERS: When you get that battering, battering, battering. We saw that little riptide take a lot of the beach away yesterday, and that riptide could keep on going today and we could see that island actually get cut completely in half as the eye comes on and keep battering that island, one after another, after another.

HEMMER: We've seen that up and down the coast, depending on the storms in the past several decades.

MYERS: Oh absolutely, sure. All those inlets -- all those inlets are prior hurricanes.

HEMMER: Yeah.

MYERS: Yeah, you know?

HEMMER: Well, one thing that I felt was quite curious, in the hotel in which we're staying, pamphlets were given to every person who's staying there. And on the pamphlet they give advice to people who are staying inside the hotel room. They say fill your bathtub with water.

MYERS: Right.

HEMMER: Why do that?

MEYERS: Because when the power goes out you may not be able to get pumps at the pumping station for the water. Therefore, there's no water to take and flush the toilet with, there's no water to drink. I'm not drinking the water that's in my tub, I'm using that for washing, I'm washing that for getting rid of what's in the toilet, I'm doing other things with that water and if the water in the pumping station stops or even if the water gets contaminated, that's coming out of the tap, because of a break in the line, then at least the water you have is fresh water in the tub.

HEMMER: Another question for you, why do they always say the bathroom is the safest structure in the house?

MYERS: It's the smallest structure, smallest room in the house, typically no windows or a small window at best and you got walls here, wall here, a wall here and a very strong door that you can close. Now, you've got to think about, we say the worst place is a gymnasium -- big wall, big wall, big wall, big wall, high roof. The smaller you get, the safer you are. Even a small closet could even be safer than a bathroom.

HEMMER: I mentioned the eye a short time ago, Rob's been watching this back in the satellite, 100 miles wide at this point and Freeport, Bahamas has been in the middle of that eye for a long time.

MYERS: I'm concerned now, that that eye is getting into the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is very warm water off the Atlantic coast, here. About 50 miles out, in between 30 and 50 miles out, that water runs all the way up the east coast and that is really, really hot stuff, and that's what's going to make that eye wall get smaller. As that eye wall shrinks, Bill, it's just like an ice skater, she brings her skates in and she spins around real fast and as she spins around, that eye wall gets faster, she gets, or he, get faster and that whole thing starts to spins up and we can be back to a category three in no time.

HEMMER: One thing, I think, in terms of a silver lining though for this storm, the upper right hand corner is always where you get the most fierce and intense winds.

MYERS: Yes, yes.

HEMMER: Well, the leading edge of this storm is not going to be the right side, it'll be the left side. As opposed to Charley in southwest Florida, when Charley took that right hand turn it was the fiercest part of that storm...

MYERS: True.

HEMMER: ...that was the leading edge that went into southwest Florida.

MYERS: True. That, that, that's true, except what we've got now, we're on the -- almost on the western side of the eye wall, think of it. So a lot of wind is coming down the intercostals. Saw that down in West Pal with those vivid pictures of those -- those yachts being unanchored. And so, as the wind comes around here, we're on the easy side. This is the easy side of the hurricane. As it gets closer and closer, we are going to get to that bad side of the hurricane, that north side, that northeast quadrant is going to get to us. It's the forward motion plus the spin and you don't want to add them together, you want to subtract them.

HEMMER: Thank you, buddy.

MYERS: It's all right.

HEMMER: We'll talk to you later. OK?

Frances is coming, Steven. Back to you now.

FRAZIER: Bill, thank you. Chad, I don't know if Chad can hear us, Bill. If he does, tell him that later on when we see you guys we want an explanation of a triple lux (ph) and a double salco (ph) ice- skating maneuvers (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Be safe.

HEMMER: I will pass that along, you got it. Bye-bye.

STOUFFER: Well, you're seeing what this big storm, Frances is doing in Florida, before it was making it to Florida it was in the Bahamas. Karl Penhaul has more from there where the full force of the hurricane has pounded the islands for hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For several hours the town of Freeport in the island of Grand Bahamas was in the eye of the hurricane, that lead to a decrease in the wind speed, but now as the hurricane passes across this Bahamian island, the wind speeds are picking up again back into hurricane force. We tried to talk to the weather experts to find out precisely what's going on. We caught up with them though, in a Freeport hotel. They had to evacuate the weather center at the airport, overnight. Six feet of water wade through them by those high winds, came through the airport and started to crush the side walls of the airport leading to their evacuation. They say that the last wind speed they registered was 86 miles-an- hour, after that the winds pulled up equipment off the roof of the airport. No more readings.

In fact, this morning, in the early hours, we're told by the authorities, that islanders in many of the low lying areas of Grand Bahamas had to be evacuated. Areas that weren't foreseen as (UNINTELLIGIBLE) areas, but more than 200 people in the early hours of this morning took to their rooftops because of rising flood waters they were brought from their homes to safe areas by fire trucks -- by fire trucks and other four-wheel drive vehicles. They are now in safety. But yes, widespread flooding, the area of Grand Bahamas was without power and some of the telephone lines are also down.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Freeport, Grand Bahamas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Very dramatic. There's plenty more hurricane coverage coming up. Too, as we'll head back to Florida as the storm continues to make its way toward that state. STOUFFER: Hurricane Frances picked a bad time to pay a visit to the Sunshine State, too. It's usually busy on Labor Day weekend. Now it's lost. What's next for vacationers there?

Also, the worst fears realized in Russia, yesterday. An update on the tragic outcome in that Russian hostage situation. Straight ahead, right here on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: A quick check on Hurricane Frances before we turn to the day's other news, and there's a lot of that.

This massive storm slowly making its way out of the Bahamas into Florida. Strong winds and heavy downpours are already whipping the coast. This is an view of West Palm Beach now. The eye, though, is staying well off shore. Winds remain steady, 105 miles at the center of the storm. But Frances' slow steady speed could bring 20 inches of rain to the sunshine state.

STOUFFER: Well, today Russia is in shock and mourning, 322 hostages confirmed dead at a school in the Caucasus, and about half of those who died in the tragedy are children. Those who survived will carry the awful memories with them for the rest of their lives.

ITN correspondent Andrea Catherwood reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA CATHERWOOD, ITN CORRESPONDENT: What have these little eyes seen today?

At the heart of this horror is that they did it to children. Fleeing from death, explosions, bullets and bodies in their own school gym. Semi-naked, bloodied and parched after three days in a hall with the dead laying outside the corridor surrounded by mines and gunfire and captors ready to die for their cause, they must have fear for their lives every second.

Tonight, many of their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers lie dead, others are badly injured. All those left alive are deep in shock.

This boy is forgot his name and his parents' names. He can't remember. This girl cries that she can't find her mother.

What happened to these children in their own words was truly horrific. "they wouldn't let us open the windows, she says. We were suffocating. There were explosions placed all around us and then they blew up."

"They were beating us," sobs this boy. "They were beating us, but then they exploded." These children may have seen suicide bombers and horrors only they can know and they may have lost their parent who could comfort them. Some of these children will get to sleep in their own beds tonight, but many beds will be empty forever. And when these children go to sleep, what will they dream of now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Andrea reporting there, Belsan in Russia.

Now this update from Los Angeles, we're getting word now that LAX International Airport has been shut down. Live pictures here from outside the airport. There was an incident in Tom Bradley International Concourse or terminal, we understand. And That Led to the closure of that terminal, also terminals six, seven and eight, which are linked. Although, we are not sure there were any kind of incident in those other terminals.

People are being told to move outside. No information on the nature of the incident. No explanation of the nature of the possible security breach. We do know that traffic to the airport is being diverted at some distance from it. We're getting very little information about this yet, but we'll bring you the latest details as soon as they arrive here at CNN.

But just to recap now, LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, has been closed down. An incident at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and three other terminals closed for now. More on this as we learn it. And for now, let's take a quick break and regroup here at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

FRAZIER: More information reaching us now about the scene at Los Angeles International Airport, as we mentioned it is closed following two separate security incidents. In one of them, the airport have responded to reports of a suspicious person. They also received a call that someone carrying a flashlight with corroded batteries exploded in Tom Bradley International Airport -- terminal, rather. That injured seven people, a pretty big explosion. A bomb squad is on the scene now.

That terminal has been closed down, so, too, have terminals 6, 7 and 8, they are linked to Bradley International. And traffic is being diverted. We'll bring you more on this as details reach us here of this event at Los Angeles International Airport.

STOUFFER: Other big news we're following today. Former President Clinton is in a New York hospital. He's getting ready for a heart bypass early next week. Mr. Clinton checked himself in after he had chest pain and shortness of breath. Usually that means a major artery has 70 percent or more blockage. The former president called in last night to CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" from his hospital bed and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know what's involved, and I know what the options are. I mean, I think that -- there is virtually -- my blockage is so substantial, I think if I don't do this, there is virtually 100 percent chance I'll have a heart attack.

And I've been very lucky. I don't have any heart damage now. If I do the procedure, it has been done now for some few decades, and an enormous number of them are done -- you pointed out you've had it, David Letterman has had it, a whole slew of my friends have had it. Without exception, the people I know have good years afterwards. I'm just going to have to be really careful. I've put about 10 pounds of that weight I had lost back on my book tour, and I've got to take it off, and you know, just do everything I can to try to keep my cholesterol down, keep my blood pressure down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUFFER: Let's check in right now with CNN's Maria Hinojosa. She is live in New York's Presbyterian Hospital.

Hello, Maria, what's the latest?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN'S URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Linda.

Well, the surgery has been postponed and we haven't given any details to when it's going to take place, some time early next week. We also haven't been told how many doctors will be taking part or who those doctors will be. We have only been told, that once the surgery has been completed, we will then be given our next update.

But the president is saying that he's optimistic and in good humor. Apparently, according to "The Washington Post" Democratic National Committee president -- committeeman, Chairman Terry McAuliffe called President Clinton here at the hospital last night. And jokingly said, well, Mr. President, seems like you're going to great extremes to take away attention from the Republican National Convention.

President Clinton laughing. He then picked up the phone and called CNN. He received from former President Gerald Ford, also from President Bush, they are, both President Bush and his wife are holding the president in their prayers. Just to be clear, most people, if they are in good health and have this operation, there is only a 1 percent to 2 percent chance of death afterward.

In fact, it's the most common heart operation that takes place in this country. About half a million people have it every year. So, the expectation is some time early next week. We'll get are next update on the status of President Bill Clinton who is hear in Columbia-Presbyterian hospital in Northern Manhattan -- Linda.

STOUFFER: He is in a lot of people's prayers this weekend. Maria Hinojosa, thank you.

FRAZIER: Also in a lot of people's prayers are the residents of Florida, who have either fled or battened down to ride out. Hurricane Frances, one of the largest storms to hit the state in many, many years. Our, Sean Callebs is in one of the hardest hit areas so far. After a dramatic scene this morning, he's still very wet. Sean, in West Palm Beach.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, in West Palm Beach and we're going to be wet for the foreseeable future. We had some technical difficulties earlier and we got those hammered out. We have had winds and rains picking up steadily. You can see now the Intracoastal behind us getting a lot angrier. We know the water has gone up, we just don't know how much. There is a jetty down there at the Yacht Club, and the water is basically completely swamped at this point. And the Yacht, I had another chance to talk to the skipper a minute ago, it is a $3.5 million yacht.

He says, by no stretch of the imagination is it out of danger at this point. It is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) after losing its anchor further up the water way. The captain did a good job of forcing it in there. But right now he's worried as the storm will continue to pound Florida for hours and hours the kind of damage it's going to do.

Stephen, we heard Gary Tuchman just a bit earlier talk about that, the fact that this eye is so wide and is going to move over the state of Florida and just hit the state with winds that are hurricane force, perhaps as much as 110 miles per hour for hours and hours and hours. Also, Frances may be remember as much for her rain, more so than it's wind.

Let me show you what's going on down here. Florida, you know, is a very flat state. They were concerned with the possibility of flooding, and this is very early on, the storm drain simply over burdened at this point. Water building up on the streets, so flooding is definitely going to be a problem in this area. We had residents tell us that even under normal circumstances when they get a heavy rain flooding is not out of the question.

We also talked a bit about projectiles. This kind of wind and rain, they really can be dangerous. This is a good example, these palm (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If you just look right down Flagmore (ph) Avenue here in West Palm Beach, it is just littered with these things. And they look somewhat harmless, but they're actually extremely hard. If anybody ignores the warnings from state officials and decide to come out and see what it's like in a hurricane, they could get hit with palm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) damage could be seriously, seriously significant. Just one of the problems -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Some of those trees have thorns that are serrated on the edges. Almost like a flying knife -- Sean.

CALLEBS: Exactly, you think about the tiles from roofs are going to starting to peel back at some point. Mike, stand back over this way. On the corner there's a signs, that just now as we were talking went down and it's almost on the ground now. A giant tree fell down at the end of 9th Street here. So, these palm trees aren't known for their deep roots. So, it not going to take long before the damage continues to build here in this area of Florida. Palm Beach, a population of about 80,000. We're told a lion share heeded the evacuation warning and got out when they could. Palm beach county has 1.3 million people, a lot of them working class. There are 25 shelters set up in this county and we know a lot of them are filled to capacity. And think about it, some people have been in there three nights. This storm just inching along as it makes its way here. So, The Tension and frustration is building. You can see it in the faces of people in shelters, they want this storm to come and move on so people here can begin to pick up the pieces -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Well, you have been in the middle of it for hours now, we're glad you're in good shape. Sean Callebs, thanks for joining us once again from West Palm Beach.

STOUFFER: What can we expect from the storm in the next few hours, not to mention the next few days?

Rob Marciano has the latest for us, with a look at the storm Rob.

MARCIANO: Hey, guys. You know, Sean, is enduring 49 mile an hour sustained winds with gust over 60, so he's getting a good look right there. Hey, here's the eye again. Freeport still in it. Seventy miles wide, so, you know, here's West Palm Beach, you take the center of the eye, which is 70 miles, you add 35, that takes you to the edge. So, West Palm Beach really only about 20 miles to the western edge of the eye wall. That's why Sean right now is getting hammered with strong north winds and gusty or heavy rains, as well.

There looks to be the eye is trying to get better organized, but, anyway, we'll investigate that later. Here's the satellite imagery and the west/northwest movement. The size of this thing, up towards the Carolinas, that's probably the most impressive thing. The most disheartening thing is that it's moving so slowly. We have winds that exceed hurricane strength. a 100 miles to the north of this thing and then 60 miles to the south.

So, it's really a wide storm that has 100 mile an hour winds. Charley, in comparison, only had hurricane force winds to about 40 or 50 miles out. So, this, literally, is two to three times the size of Charley, although it's not a category 4 storm, it's moving slower and it's bigger. So, it's just going to pound the same areas and pound them and pound them and that's what we're seeing right now. Some of those areas are not going to be happy when they wake up tomorrow morning or even tomorrow afternoon.

All right, here we go, category 2 storm, west/northwest moving at 5, just showed you these numbers. This red area is the area that has hurricane force winds and this is a National Hurricane Center forecast going through the next 48 hours. A slow movement to the west/northwest expected to continue, that would make landfall some time later this evening. Really, landfall going to take six to ten hours. So, to say exactly when landfall will happen is kind of weird. To the north of Melbourne, to south of Daytona Beach, hurricane force winds into Orlando and then diminishing as this thing weakens to tropical storm status and reemerging to the Gulf of Mexico. And as we go through Monday morning heading into not only Alabama and probably into Mississippi with heavy rainfall there.

So, This Is the projected path of this thing. But you really don't want to look at the path nor the timing because it's moving so slow. And because it's so big and that's what is so impressive about this particular storm. Flood threat is there from Jacksonville all the way down to Miami. We have already scene couple inches of rainfall and we expect to see several more inches of rainfall throughout the night tonight, so, flooding is going to be an issue.

Also, Lake Okeechobee, is right in through here. The eye looks like it will pass to the north, that's good news, because it will be on the southern part of the eye wall. But just as the eye approaches there'll be strong north wind and you could see water, you know, but up against the southern part of that, of Lake Okeechobee. And that's where most people live, although they probably have been ordered to evacuate. Here it is, just one last thing I want to show you. For all the things that are bad about this storm, this is the visible satellite picture. The reason the first couple frames are dark is because the sun is actually coming up. But the last couple frames when the sun is up and basically the sun is your flash bulb here, and you're literally looking down from outer space, that's a pretty good- looking storm. It's a pretty good-looking storm.

STOUFFER: It is, it's a beauty and very dangerous beauty.

MARCIANO: You know, I'm trying to find a silver lining here.

FRAZIER: That's a face a meteorologist would love, Io guess we have to say.

STOUFFER: It's a scary one. Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

FRAZIER: Getting word now we're able to talk to a passenger stuck at Los Angeles International Airport. Lets just set the scene for you here. We understand the airport is closed as a result of an incident there. Departing flights are not being permitted to leave, people aren't being permitted to board. inbound flights are landing, but the passengers on those cannot get off.

Let's talk to somebody there who has been stuck there now about two hours.

Tom Love, can you give of a sense of what it's like for you there?

TOM LOVE, STRANDED PASSENGER: Well, here, it's a little bit of frustration as you might guess in an instance like this where you don't know what's going on. We haven't been told anything. There are more and more police vehicles arriving on the upper deck. There are no cars coming or going. And the passengers have not been informed about anything.

Initially when you would ask the TSA agents, they said there was a security breach and then they changed it to an operational issue. And there has been, as you mentioned, couple flights landing but there has been no flights departing. And I don't believe they're letting the passengers off the planes that have arrived either.

FRAZIER: In which terminal are you located now?

LOVE: I'm in United Terminal 7, but you can see from my vantage point, where I'm at, I can see all the way down westward to all the terminals, all the way to international and where America West and Southwest are. And they're shut down at well and there's no traffic leaving or coming in to the airport.

FRAZIER: And no more details from authorities. Your fellow passengers must find that a little frustrating, perhaps anger causing.

LOVE: Well, I think it's a little frustrating for everybody because they don't know what is going on. It's early in a holiday. United is not telling passengers. In fact, when we called United Airlines, even their executive line, they didn't even know about the incident until recent and then they said everybody is being taken out and now their being rescreened, and you tell them, no, they're not.

All the TSA agents in the last five minutes have come outside the airport and are standing outside with us now. There's at least 40 or 50 agents standing outside on the street, as well.

FRAZIER: Does it look like they're performing any kind of security function or just evacuating the space?

LOVE: They're evacuating the space. They're all standing across from the passengers in the lanes of traffic, and their just with their lunch pails and backpacks, but they're not performing any security.

FRAZIER: This is a hugely busy airport here, almost 5 million a year going through.

What does it tell you if the screeners are standing around out front?

LOVE: I knew it was a bigger issue and probably in other instances where they run in through the wrong direction in order to try to not miss a flight, because they had shut down the whole airport, not just is the one terminal. And, so, with that in mind, we began to understand it was going to be much -- a much bigger issue than initially we had hoped it would be.

FRAZIER: And how do they announce the shut down?

As a passenger inside, what evidence did you have of what's happening?

LOVE: They weren't saying anything other than you have got to go outside and stand in line. That was the -- TSA was not telling you it was shut down initially, they were just telling you, if you have your ticket to go outside and stand in line. And I said, that's the security line? They said, yes. And then other passengers were saying they weren't even announcing it was shut down. The other passengers were telling you that they've shut it down.

FRAZIER: We have reports here, which you may not be in a position to confirm, that a bomb squad has moved inside. Have you seen any such movements?

LOVE: We saw a bomb squad more than an hour ago come up and go by, but we didn't see them go inside. However, in the last 15 minutes there has been as many as 10 to 15 police cars and some vans pull up in front of United, United Express. There are at least six or seven vehicles right now in front of United, but there was two or three that turned up the street and went the other way, as well. So there's a much greater police presence right now.

FRAZIER: And the bomb squad that you saw go by, what was that? Those were the little robots or big armored van sort of thing, or guys in that armor that they wear?

LOVE: It was just a vehicle that went past us.

FRAZIER: OK. So we don't know whether they went in. And this is the kind of thing where passengers start trading rumors. What's the word on the street among your fellow passengers?

LOVE: Well, the -- as you had surmised earlier, it was probably that it was a bomb scare, there would be no other reason, we would surmise, to shut down the entire airport. If it was a single passenger incident, it would be isolated to that terminal. However, it would be much greater if it was -- if they're shutting down the whole airport, we surmised it would be, as you predicted, that would be a bomb scare.

FRAZIER: All right. Let's just recap for our viewers here. Tom Love, you have been stuck almost two hours now waiting to board your flight. So anyone who's waiting for a friend or a loved one from Los Angeles should get word that those flights simply aren't departing. And so, they're going to be delayed, right?

LOVE: They're going to be delayed. When we talk to United, it is a little frustrating because I'm trying to help out a few other people, because I have a cell phone, and talk to them about connections, those passengers which have connections, and United is showing everything still on time until approximately the last 15 minutes. And they don't know what to do with their connecting flights, and whether that will really screw the system up, as you might imagine it would on a big holiday weekend.

FRAZIER: Indeed, indeed, these ripple effects that we've been hearing about through the entire system. All right, Tom Love, thank you for joining us with those insights from a passenger's point of view.

We can report too here from CNN that there are delays already being reported in San Francisco as a result of this, as we continue our live view of the exterior of the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport. And just to recap, two separate incidents being reported from there. In one, a suspicious person, and in another, which we believe is separate, the explosion of a flashlight that contained corroded batteries. Seven people hurt in that explosion, as reported now.

And this, the scene, too, things brought to a halt in terms of airport operations.

More on this as details reach us here at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Another view of the scene outside the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport, which has been closed down now for at least two hours because of two separate security incidents. In one, a flashlight exploded, corroded batteries inside. Seven people hurt there. In another, a report of a suspicious person. This is at Tom Bradley International Terminal. Other terminals, 6, 7 and 8, have also been closed because they're linked. The passengers have been asked to move outside, and you can see some of them there on that air bridge across the arrival checkpoint there, and a lot of police cars. We're told by one passenger the bomb squad is on the scene. We're also told outbound flights not permitting to depart, passengers not permitted to board.

Inbound flights are landing, but those passengers can't get off the planes, and we're hearing reports now of a ripple effect through the air traffic system already. Delays reported at San Francisco, as you might expect, because of the events here on the ground in Los Angeles. And we'll bring you more on these events as soon as we learn more about them.

STOUFFER: And as that's going on on the west coast, the outer bands of Hurricane Frances are beating up on the east coast. Here is an update now on the hurricane. The storm is a like a lumbering giant out there. It is churning, churning, slowly moving towards Florida's east coast. At last check, this Texas-size storm was about 80 miles east of Palm Beach. Highest sustained winds right now are 105 miles an hour.

Now, already this morning and throughout the beginning of the afternoon, the Florida coast has been getting gusty winds, heavy rain just pounding surf.

Earlier, Hurricane Frances took aim at the Bahamas. At least one storm-related death is reported there.

And along the northern part of Florida's coast, they're still waiting for the first signs of the storm. It hasn't reached that part of Florida just yet.

FRAZIER: Hard to imagine, but it's actually pretty sunny there, we're told, according to Kathleen Koch, who has been standing by in St. Augustine, the oldest settlement on the continent -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're still waiting. We haven't begun to really feel any of the effects of Hurricane Frances here right now, but this old historic city has really battened down the hatches, boarded up windows and doors. And this city floods, however, old downtown St. Augustine, even in a severe thunderstorm. So here with me to kind of give us an idea of just how bad it could get, when we do get, say, eight to 10 inches of rain, we get tropical storm force winds, is Officer Renee Morris with the St. Augustine Police Department. How bad could it get down here?

OFFICER RENEE MORRIS, ST. AUGUSTINE POLICE DEPARTMENT: It can get pretty bad. We're surrounded by water, almost three sides, and the water does come up over the sea walls. And right where we are now, in the historical area, you'll see a lot of water, about eight to 10 inches high, if not higher, depending on what Frances is going to do. It could get pretty severe at times.

KOCH: Now, what we see over here, my cameraman, Jay (ph), was just showing us, the historic Bridge of Lions. It goes out to Anastasia (ph) Islands. What are you doing about those people there? If that bridge goes, and often it does, I mean, with the water coming up over it, you have to shut it down.

MORRIS: Yes, we do have to shut it down, and that's not the only bridge that we have. We have two other bridges that go over to the coastline, and we close those down, as well. We ask the people to leave, but right now we haven't asked those folks to leave, unless they're in the low lying areas or they live in a trailer or they have special needs, and of course we have shelters already set up.

KOCH: What is the worst-case scenario? Would it be a combination of high tide and the heavy rains, and maybe more than eight to 10 inches, say 12 to 14?

MORRIS: Yes, it can get that severe. I have seen it over -- going more west, I have seen it flood for five days straight before the waters have ceded. And that was at least two feet high. So it is a possibility that we can get that. Fortunately, right now, we do have a high tide at 12:44, and we don't see any flooding right now, but of course we don't have the rain yet either. We just have some gusts of wind.

KOCH: All right, thank you so much, Officer Morris.

So right here, really, Stephen and Linda, they're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. And I have to tell you that life does indeed go on. Just a few minutes ago, behind us, in a pavilion here on the plaza, a young couple renewed their wedding vows. The husband had returned just last year from Iraq, and he and his fiancee had eloped, but they said we're going to renew our vows, invite the whole family, all 60 of them -- unfortunately, only 20 made it, and they were going to have a beach front wedding, they canceled that, but still the show went on and they renewed their vows. Right back there -- actually, I think you can still see them.

STOUFFER: Well, Frances will bring romantic memories for them, for all the nightmares it's going to bring other people.

KOCH: Indeed.

STOUFFER: All right. Kathleen Koch, thank you very much.

Well, of course, it's a holiday weekend. Florida's tourist industry is taking a huge hit this Labor Day as Hurricane Frances gets closer and closer. Popular beaches are off limits. Major attractions, like Disneyworld are shut down. So what happens to you if you have just the perfect vacation planned and a storm forces you to change your plans, cancel your plans altogether? With me now, travel analyst Thom Nulty.

THOM NULTY, TRAVEL ANALYST: Great to be here.

STOUFFER First of all, let's start with the flights out of the east coast out of Florida. What's going on?

NULTY: Well, not a lot. If you take a look at the flight explorer software program online, you can actually see that there are very few flights in the Miami area at all. The activity that you do see is along the west coast and Tampa and Ft. Myers area. Those are about the only airports that are operating, everything else is shut down.

STOUFFER: If you had travel plans today and you were just crossing your fingers hoping the storm wouldn't affect them, what do you do at this point if you're going to have to cancel?

NULTY: The airlines have become very lenient on their rules, so they're going to be very easy to work with. The problem is you can't get them on a telephone. So, if you booked through the travel agent, the smart thing is to call their 800 number, they can help you with it. If not go online and take a look what's going on.

But they're going to be very easy to deal with. They're not going to be a lot of help once you get to the airport. And things will start coming back to normal fairly soon. American Airlines is telling that they're going to start reinstating their flights tomorrow morning out of Miami. Mid-day tomorrow at Ft. Lauderdale, later in the afternoon at other airports, and Orlando on Monday about noon.

STOUFFER: And of course, cruise ships are having to change their itineraries altogether. But you know, I'm so glad we have you here right now because we have this developing situation in LAX.

Closed down, two separate incidents, possibly. Can you shed any light on that, Thom?

NULTY: Well, I know that airport very, very well, I am from Los Angeles and I was a manager at one of the terminals there. So, I know it very, very well. It's a very spread out airport with about eight different, I'm sorry, nine different buildings interconnected. But it's -- the way the airport is designed, when they have a security problem, even they're all separate airports the thing grinds to a halt, because they stop traffic in this horse shoe that they have that goes around the building itself.

So, It's going to be a major mess. And even I am trying to go back to Los Angeles this afternoon, so maybe I'll just spend one more day in Atlanta. One never knows.

STOUFFER: You're going to be on the Web site for your travel plans too.

NULTY: I'll certainly be on the Web site for my travel plans.

STOUFFER: And of course, that will affect flights all over the country I'm sure because of that too.

NULTY: Whenever you have a problem in a single city like that, what happens is those airplanes are destined for other destinations, so people expecting something will have problems.

STOUFFER: OK, Thom Nulty, thanks very much for your insight on that and good luck yourself getting your flight.

NULTY: My pleasure. Thank you.

STOUFFER: We'll have continuing coverage on the situation, the shutdown of LAX, as well as, we'll continue to follow Hurricane Frances throughout the day.

First right now, we'll grab a quick break here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUFFER: Well, folks in Florida will be glad when this weekend is over, and when the Labor Day weekend draws to a close. you know there will be a lot of hard work for the Floridians. The storm's winds, the storm's rain are expect to cause a lot of damage in the state.

And neighbors will help neighbors pick up the pieces.

FRAZIER: And this time, even before the storm has hit, there are signs of generosity on the ground.

Here's a story from Elliot Cohen with our affiliate WPLG in Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Four pieces. Just take what I have.

ELLIOT COHEN, WPLG CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): The news spread like wildfire. The Kodiak Construction was giving away plywood to anyone who needed it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came out here. I didn't know it was going to be this big.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's wonderful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's good for him, because everybody knows Kodiak Construction company now, I never even knew they existed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No problem, God be with you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take care, board up tight.

COHEN $30,000 in wood gone in about two hours. People coming from all over to take advantage of Kodiak's generosity.

We spoke with the owner's son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My old man said, let everybody come by to get what they need to board up their house. And hopefully, God be with them.

COHEN: The scene here is a stark contrast to something we actually brought you, actually, on Thursday. Another construction company, just down the road from here, where they there were piles and piles of plywood, but the decision there was not to give them out, not even to sell them, despite the fact that people lined up for hours hoping they would be sold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to you to open! We've got kids.

COHEN: Thursday people lined up for hours at another construction company down the road hoping someone there wouldn't give, but just sell the wood inside. No one did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody close down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're done. You be safe out there.

COHEN: The wood here ran out, but people kept coming. While some lost out, many more were helped by the generosity of strangers.

(on camera): Of course, this is a great PR move for Kodiak Construction, but the truth of matter is most of these people will probably never hear of or never use Kodiak Construction again, so as far as drumming up business, that's probably not why this guy is doing it. The bottom line is, according to his employees, he's just got a big heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUFFER: And you got to love that. That report from Elliot Cohen with our affiliate WPLG in Miami.

FRAZIER: If this storm is as hard -- as strong as they say it is, they will be using that construction coming up, so it could be good for business.

We have a lot more continuing coverage on Hurricane Frances and other things, too. STOUFFER: We'll be right back with more after this.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired September 4, 2004 - 12:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: 9:00 a.m. in the West, I'm Stephen Frazier.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Linda Stouffer. Hello, everybody. We are live at CNN's global headquarters.

Ahead this half hour we're going to continue to follow Hurricane Frances as the storm creeps towards the Florida coastline. We'll have reports from the Bahamas where the storm is now, as well as several reports we'll bring you from locations across Florida as the elements seriously begin to effect the state today.

FRAZIER: The death toll continues to rise in Russia following yesterday's drastic conclusion to the school hostage siege in Beslan. We'll get the latest live from there.

STOUFFER: And health concerns for the former president of the United States. Bill Clinton awaits bypass surgery in New York. We'll get an update on his condition ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

First stories now in the news today.

Floridians are preparing for the worst with Hurricane Frances swirling off shore. The storm has already blasted its way through the Bahamas. Very heavy rain with this one and flooding in it's wake. One young man there is reportedly, is electrocuted during storm preparations for that.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding better performance from his security forces on the wake of a terrorist attack on a school. Three hundred 22 hostages died in a shootout, explosion and fire there. Half of them children. Putin says the entire nation is grieving today.

And in Iraq, at least 25 people are dead in the bombing of a police academy in Kirkuk. Police say a car bomb and a remote bomb exploded at virtually the same time. The car rammed the security barricade just as police and civilians were leaving the build.

FRAZIER: Frances is now a category 2 hurricane. It is buffeting Florida with heavy rain and winds, as it continues it slow approach towards the state. Even though it's not there, power out for more than 2,000 people. And the power of the storm, itself, is expected to increase as the main body of the storm gets closer Florida. Hurricane warnings are enforced for the entire eastern coast of the state. Many people have heeded those and have gotten away from the coast. STOUFFER: And that is a good, because the storm is going to cause trouble today and tomorrow, all through the weekend. It is the slow approach of Frances. It's continuing towards Florida.

Meteorologist Rob is here with the late on the storm -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Linda. Hi, Stephen.

Slow and large, I mean, that's the main thing with this system is that it's moving so slowly and so big, that it's just going to take forever, seemingly, to get through the state and that going to cause big headaches.

This is a three dimensional kind of sideways view of the radar. You can see the western flank of this very large eye. Seventy mile wide eye, which is extraordinary, and the western flank is very well developed. So, Ft. Pierce, Melbourne, almost south to say Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale, really starting to get it right now.

We'll flip it on it side and show you the more traditional two dimensional radar. And there's Freeport and here's the eye, it's just huge. And it's now drifting towards the northwest at about 5 miles and hour, that's expected to continue as we go through time.

On the satellite imagery, you see the cloud canopy all the way almost to South and North Carolina, this thing is a monster. And it will just take over the entire state as it slowly marches over to the west.

One thing to note, that along the Intercostal Waterway, because right now we have north winds, it's very, very rough there. And we've shown video throughout the morning on how some boat owners have had to deal with that.

Also Lake Okeechobee under hurricane warning. And as those north winds continue, the southern part Lake Okeechobee could see some water piling up, as well.

Here's the forecast track, just to the north of West Palm Beach and just to the south of Daytona Beach, probably sometime late tonight, probably some time close to midnight and then maybe remerging in the Gulf of Mexico by early Monday morning.

So, you know, we're talking about another 48 hours before we get this thing through the state. And that means big headaches for flooding.

Hurricane warnings are out for the entire east coast of this system, Florida City, north to Flagler Beach, which is just north of Daytona Beach.

And there's going to be rough surf up and down Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, as far north, probably as Long Island and the Jersey shore as this thing churns out the water out ahead of this system.

Briefly what a category 2 storm means with winds that can get to 110 winds sustained. That will create some damage to some doors, some windows and some roof damage. And coastal flood problems, as well.

Stephen and Linda, because this is category 2 storm, but more importantly because it will take so long to move through, it will probably act like a 3 or 4 as far as the damage is concerned, because it's just going to hammer, and hammer, and hammer away. And you know at some point trees and structures just can't take any more. So, it's not a good scenario, not necessarily.

FRAZIER: Not what people want to hear.

STOUFFER: Yes.

FRAZIER: But we glad for the early insights. Rob Marciano, thank you.

STOUFFER: Thanks, Rob.

One of those areas being hammered right about now is Ft. Pierce. Waves covering much of the southern end of Florida, including some areas that are even inland from the actual coast.

Gary Tuchman is weathering the storm for us. He is live in Ft. Pierce. He's live on videophone for us.

Gary, what are the conditions like?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Linda, we are in the city of Ft. Pierce, which is in St. Lucie County. St. Lucie County hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane since 1939 and that was a minor hurricane. It's never directly hit by a hurricane more than a category 1 in recorded weather history.

You can see the palm trees blowing around behind me the last hour. The weather is starting to get very bad here. We are at the municipal pier here in Ft. Pierce. About three quarters to a quarter mile away from the Atlantic Ocean, but right on the Intercostal Waterway where the Indian River, as it's called here in the St. Lucie County area, there are about 90 to 100 boats that are now backed up here. Their owners hoping for the best by the time this is all over.

You know, people started paying attention during Hurricane Charley, they are seriously paying attention now. You see almost nobody in the areas that are supposed to be evacuated. This city of Ft. Pierce, 39,000 people, you drive up and down the streets, there are absolutely no cars whatsoever, just police cars. We already see signs down, some trees down, some poles down. There's curfew in effect, 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. And people for the most part seem to be abiding by that. It's noting but news media when we go out. We talk to police. They say they have very -- they are expecting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Ft. Pierce. It's actually a lovely downtown area, because it's right by the marina, but that's what also makes it very vulnerable.

One of the most interesting things, if you look at the bicycle over there, Dominick (ph). With all this blowing around there are three bicycles that somebody left on the pier near the boats, those bicycles haven't moved. The winds have now been up to 70 miles per hour, but those bicycle to stay put along with the boat. What happens down the road, we don't know, but they're expecting a direct hit from Hurricane Frances.

Linda, back to you.

STOUFFER: Gary, I'm guessing those bicycles won't make it in that exact position in just a couple of hours. You say everyone took heed to the warnings and left, but what about shelters?

Did people stay in shelters in the area or did they completely evacuate?

TUCHMAN: Most people watched the news and saw that there were huge traffic jams headed north. And they took the lesson from Hurricane Charley of going to the other coast isn't necessarily a good idea. As a matter of fact, we were in Daytona Beach where the hurricane exited. Everyone ended up going to the east coast, because the hurricane came to the west coast. The hotels were full, you couldn't get a room. What a lot of people are doing here, is gone into the shelters.

Sometimes there are some minor hurricanes, we're probably finding 10 or 15 people in a shelter. Here, in St. Lucie County, about 60 miles north of the city of West Palm Beach, there're saying there's about 5,000 people in shelters. Keep in mind, there's only about 213,000 people in the county. That means one out of every 40 people or so are staying in shelters as we speak.

STOUFFER: And Gary, they're prepared for this to be more than just a one-day event. I mean, a lot of storms that hit Florida are an intense couple hours and then they've moved on. But everyone says this is going to be an awful day and tomorrow could be worse.

TUCHMAN: Right. A lot of people have been in the shelter since Thursday, because obviously, this hurricane slowed down a lot. They may be there for four or five days before they get. They are safe places to be. And the authorities here all throughout south Florida are very grateful that people are paying close attention. That's often what happens when a big hurricane that just came a couple of weeks before this one. People are still paying attention to news about hurricanes and police are very gratified about that.

STOUFFER: Well, we're grateful you're putting up with the elements to keep us up to date out there.

Gary Tuchman, take care of yourself. He is live in Ft. Pierce.

FRAZIER: One person who did not heed those warnings was that young surfer we were looking at in Pompano Beach. Here's another view live of the pier there and the waves that are battering the shore. The surfer is now out of the water, back in his woody and listening to Beach Boy tunes as he drives away. Maybe he had to be escorted to jail by authorities. They don't like people in the water, even though it's very tempting to be out there. There's something about a storm, you know, there's low pressure, there's ions in the air. You feel like you want to be out there.

Sean Callebs, just down the coast in West Palm Beach saw the effect of that, when some people on board some expensive yachts tried to save them and things are only getting worse there now -- Sean.

Not sure Sean's able to hear us yet. Let's see if we can pick up.

We're looking at Pompano Beach in the larger picture. Sean Callebs is in West Palm Beach standing along the Intracoastal Waterway. This of course, the Atlantic shoreline now in Pompano Beach, and the kind of waves coming ashore after a long fetch across the Atlantic from the storm itself.

Bill Hemmer is on the shoreline in Melbourne, a little farther north and was experiencing that kind of weather earlier and got totally soaked.

Let's find out how he's doing now -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The rain's coming back a little bit and the wind has not stopped, Stephen. Last time we talked two hours ago we were about a mile on the other side of this Atlantic intracoastal waterway. Now we are set up here in a Marina. The reason we pulled back, quite simply, the Barrier Islands sometimes can be the most precarious. We do anticipate the storm will strengthen throughout the afternoon and into the evening hours and trying to make sure we take all the precautions possible.

On the way over here, Steven though, quite a bit of damage a lot of signs taken off of buildings and of business fronts, as well, especially in the Barrier Island area, and coming across the intracoastal waterway, there is an enormous bridge that goes eight or nine stories into the air. There were giant steel light posts that had literally collapsed along the roadway, about a half dozen as we came across the water. I know they're having problems with some yachts down the coast.

We're in a marina here, several dozen boats pretty well tied down. Cannot see, sure there's a lot of rocking, but nothing's gotten loose at this point, which certainly is great news for the boat owners who have vacated this place.

Ninety-one mile-an-hour winds clocked here in Melbourne a short time ago. Those are the gusts now, not sustained, only the gusts, but still packing a punch right now. Sustained winds a little more than 50 miles-an-hour and again we anticipate for that to increase as we move throughout the day here.

Listening to Rob Marciano talk earlier about the size of the eye, 100 miles wide moving at the current rate of speed, five or six miles- an-hour, it's quite possible this time tomorrow we could standing in sunshine for a considerable amount of the day, maybe eight or 10 hours depending on how that storm comes across. We've been watching the maps, watching the satellite, and it appears, again here in Melbourne, that this could be the point at which Frances comes on shore, but again as we've seen over the past few days anyway, Frances can do just about anything she wants because she has been very unpredictable.

At this time I want to bring in my colleague, Chad Myers here, CNN meteorologist, starting his day, as well.

Your impression so far, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: My impression of this is that we need to be off this dock in about two hours because the high tide comes in at 3:00. This water is going to be up at least over the top of this, if not probably into the parking lot, so we're going to have to get this crew on to higher ground and everybody needs to get to higher ground if you're this low.

HEMMER: We were in a location yesterday on the beach, as you remember.

MYERS: Yeah.

HEMMER: And earlier today we could see the water had risen quite a bit from this point yesterday.

MYERS: Well, I know the producers wanted us to stay there and that's great, but the problem with barrier islands, sometimes they get cut in half.

HEMMER: Indeed, they do.

MYERS: When you get that battering, battering, battering. We saw that little riptide take a lot of the beach away yesterday, and that riptide could keep on going today and we could see that island actually get cut completely in half as the eye comes on and keep battering that island, one after another, after another.

HEMMER: We've seen that up and down the coast, depending on the storms in the past several decades.

MYERS: Oh absolutely, sure. All those inlets -- all those inlets are prior hurricanes.

HEMMER: Yeah.

MYERS: Yeah, you know?

HEMMER: Well, one thing that I felt was quite curious, in the hotel in which we're staying, pamphlets were given to every person who's staying there. And on the pamphlet they give advice to people who are staying inside the hotel room. They say fill your bathtub with water.

MYERS: Right.

HEMMER: Why do that?

MEYERS: Because when the power goes out you may not be able to get pumps at the pumping station for the water. Therefore, there's no water to take and flush the toilet with, there's no water to drink. I'm not drinking the water that's in my tub, I'm using that for washing, I'm washing that for getting rid of what's in the toilet, I'm doing other things with that water and if the water in the pumping station stops or even if the water gets contaminated, that's coming out of the tap, because of a break in the line, then at least the water you have is fresh water in the tub.

HEMMER: Another question for you, why do they always say the bathroom is the safest structure in the house?

MYERS: It's the smallest structure, smallest room in the house, typically no windows or a small window at best and you got walls here, wall here, a wall here and a very strong door that you can close. Now, you've got to think about, we say the worst place is a gymnasium -- big wall, big wall, big wall, big wall, high roof. The smaller you get, the safer you are. Even a small closet could even be safer than a bathroom.

HEMMER: I mentioned the eye a short time ago, Rob's been watching this back in the satellite, 100 miles wide at this point and Freeport, Bahamas has been in the middle of that eye for a long time.

MYERS: I'm concerned now, that that eye is getting into the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is very warm water off the Atlantic coast, here. About 50 miles out, in between 30 and 50 miles out, that water runs all the way up the east coast and that is really, really hot stuff, and that's what's going to make that eye wall get smaller. As that eye wall shrinks, Bill, it's just like an ice skater, she brings her skates in and she spins around real fast and as she spins around, that eye wall gets faster, she gets, or he, get faster and that whole thing starts to spins up and we can be back to a category three in no time.

HEMMER: One thing, I think, in terms of a silver lining though for this storm, the upper right hand corner is always where you get the most fierce and intense winds.

MYERS: Yes, yes.

HEMMER: Well, the leading edge of this storm is not going to be the right side, it'll be the left side. As opposed to Charley in southwest Florida, when Charley took that right hand turn it was the fiercest part of that storm...

MYERS: True.

HEMMER: ...that was the leading edge that went into southwest Florida.

MYERS: True. That, that, that's true, except what we've got now, we're on the -- almost on the western side of the eye wall, think of it. So a lot of wind is coming down the intercostals. Saw that down in West Pal with those vivid pictures of those -- those yachts being unanchored. And so, as the wind comes around here, we're on the easy side. This is the easy side of the hurricane. As it gets closer and closer, we are going to get to that bad side of the hurricane, that north side, that northeast quadrant is going to get to us. It's the forward motion plus the spin and you don't want to add them together, you want to subtract them.

HEMMER: Thank you, buddy.

MYERS: It's all right.

HEMMER: We'll talk to you later. OK?

Frances is coming, Steven. Back to you now.

FRAZIER: Bill, thank you. Chad, I don't know if Chad can hear us, Bill. If he does, tell him that later on when we see you guys we want an explanation of a triple lux (ph) and a double salco (ph) ice- skating maneuvers (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Be safe.

HEMMER: I will pass that along, you got it. Bye-bye.

STOUFFER: Well, you're seeing what this big storm, Frances is doing in Florida, before it was making it to Florida it was in the Bahamas. Karl Penhaul has more from there where the full force of the hurricane has pounded the islands for hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For several hours the town of Freeport in the island of Grand Bahamas was in the eye of the hurricane, that lead to a decrease in the wind speed, but now as the hurricane passes across this Bahamian island, the wind speeds are picking up again back into hurricane force. We tried to talk to the weather experts to find out precisely what's going on. We caught up with them though, in a Freeport hotel. They had to evacuate the weather center at the airport, overnight. Six feet of water wade through them by those high winds, came through the airport and started to crush the side walls of the airport leading to their evacuation. They say that the last wind speed they registered was 86 miles-an- hour, after that the winds pulled up equipment off the roof of the airport. No more readings.

In fact, this morning, in the early hours, we're told by the authorities, that islanders in many of the low lying areas of Grand Bahamas had to be evacuated. Areas that weren't foreseen as (UNINTELLIGIBLE) areas, but more than 200 people in the early hours of this morning took to their rooftops because of rising flood waters they were brought from their homes to safe areas by fire trucks -- by fire trucks and other four-wheel drive vehicles. They are now in safety. But yes, widespread flooding, the area of Grand Bahamas was without power and some of the telephone lines are also down.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Freeport, Grand Bahamas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Very dramatic. There's plenty more hurricane coverage coming up. Too, as we'll head back to Florida as the storm continues to make its way toward that state. STOUFFER: Hurricane Frances picked a bad time to pay a visit to the Sunshine State, too. It's usually busy on Labor Day weekend. Now it's lost. What's next for vacationers there?

Also, the worst fears realized in Russia, yesterday. An update on the tragic outcome in that Russian hostage situation. Straight ahead, right here on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: A quick check on Hurricane Frances before we turn to the day's other news, and there's a lot of that.

This massive storm slowly making its way out of the Bahamas into Florida. Strong winds and heavy downpours are already whipping the coast. This is an view of West Palm Beach now. The eye, though, is staying well off shore. Winds remain steady, 105 miles at the center of the storm. But Frances' slow steady speed could bring 20 inches of rain to the sunshine state.

STOUFFER: Well, today Russia is in shock and mourning, 322 hostages confirmed dead at a school in the Caucasus, and about half of those who died in the tragedy are children. Those who survived will carry the awful memories with them for the rest of their lives.

ITN correspondent Andrea Catherwood reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA CATHERWOOD, ITN CORRESPONDENT: What have these little eyes seen today?

At the heart of this horror is that they did it to children. Fleeing from death, explosions, bullets and bodies in their own school gym. Semi-naked, bloodied and parched after three days in a hall with the dead laying outside the corridor surrounded by mines and gunfire and captors ready to die for their cause, they must have fear for their lives every second.

Tonight, many of their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers lie dead, others are badly injured. All those left alive are deep in shock.

This boy is forgot his name and his parents' names. He can't remember. This girl cries that she can't find her mother.

What happened to these children in their own words was truly horrific. "they wouldn't let us open the windows, she says. We were suffocating. There were explosions placed all around us and then they blew up."

"They were beating us," sobs this boy. "They were beating us, but then they exploded." These children may have seen suicide bombers and horrors only they can know and they may have lost their parent who could comfort them. Some of these children will get to sleep in their own beds tonight, but many beds will be empty forever. And when these children go to sleep, what will they dream of now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Andrea reporting there, Belsan in Russia.

Now this update from Los Angeles, we're getting word now that LAX International Airport has been shut down. Live pictures here from outside the airport. There was an incident in Tom Bradley International Concourse or terminal, we understand. And That Led to the closure of that terminal, also terminals six, seven and eight, which are linked. Although, we are not sure there were any kind of incident in those other terminals.

People are being told to move outside. No information on the nature of the incident. No explanation of the nature of the possible security breach. We do know that traffic to the airport is being diverted at some distance from it. We're getting very little information about this yet, but we'll bring you the latest details as soon as they arrive here at CNN.

But just to recap now, LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, has been closed down. An incident at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and three other terminals closed for now. More on this as we learn it. And for now, let's take a quick break and regroup here at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

FRAZIER: More information reaching us now about the scene at Los Angeles International Airport, as we mentioned it is closed following two separate security incidents. In one of them, the airport have responded to reports of a suspicious person. They also received a call that someone carrying a flashlight with corroded batteries exploded in Tom Bradley International Airport -- terminal, rather. That injured seven people, a pretty big explosion. A bomb squad is on the scene now.

That terminal has been closed down, so, too, have terminals 6, 7 and 8, they are linked to Bradley International. And traffic is being diverted. We'll bring you more on this as details reach us here of this event at Los Angeles International Airport.

STOUFFER: Other big news we're following today. Former President Clinton is in a New York hospital. He's getting ready for a heart bypass early next week. Mr. Clinton checked himself in after he had chest pain and shortness of breath. Usually that means a major artery has 70 percent or more blockage. The former president called in last night to CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" from his hospital bed and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know what's involved, and I know what the options are. I mean, I think that -- there is virtually -- my blockage is so substantial, I think if I don't do this, there is virtually 100 percent chance I'll have a heart attack.

And I've been very lucky. I don't have any heart damage now. If I do the procedure, it has been done now for some few decades, and an enormous number of them are done -- you pointed out you've had it, David Letterman has had it, a whole slew of my friends have had it. Without exception, the people I know have good years afterwards. I'm just going to have to be really careful. I've put about 10 pounds of that weight I had lost back on my book tour, and I've got to take it off, and you know, just do everything I can to try to keep my cholesterol down, keep my blood pressure down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUFFER: Let's check in right now with CNN's Maria Hinojosa. She is live in New York's Presbyterian Hospital.

Hello, Maria, what's the latest?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN'S URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Linda.

Well, the surgery has been postponed and we haven't given any details to when it's going to take place, some time early next week. We also haven't been told how many doctors will be taking part or who those doctors will be. We have only been told, that once the surgery has been completed, we will then be given our next update.

But the president is saying that he's optimistic and in good humor. Apparently, according to "The Washington Post" Democratic National Committee president -- committeeman, Chairman Terry McAuliffe called President Clinton here at the hospital last night. And jokingly said, well, Mr. President, seems like you're going to great extremes to take away attention from the Republican National Convention.

President Clinton laughing. He then picked up the phone and called CNN. He received from former President Gerald Ford, also from President Bush, they are, both President Bush and his wife are holding the president in their prayers. Just to be clear, most people, if they are in good health and have this operation, there is only a 1 percent to 2 percent chance of death afterward.

In fact, it's the most common heart operation that takes place in this country. About half a million people have it every year. So, the expectation is some time early next week. We'll get are next update on the status of President Bill Clinton who is hear in Columbia-Presbyterian hospital in Northern Manhattan -- Linda.

STOUFFER: He is in a lot of people's prayers this weekend. Maria Hinojosa, thank you.

FRAZIER: Also in a lot of people's prayers are the residents of Florida, who have either fled or battened down to ride out. Hurricane Frances, one of the largest storms to hit the state in many, many years. Our, Sean Callebs is in one of the hardest hit areas so far. After a dramatic scene this morning, he's still very wet. Sean, in West Palm Beach.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, in West Palm Beach and we're going to be wet for the foreseeable future. We had some technical difficulties earlier and we got those hammered out. We have had winds and rains picking up steadily. You can see now the Intracoastal behind us getting a lot angrier. We know the water has gone up, we just don't know how much. There is a jetty down there at the Yacht Club, and the water is basically completely swamped at this point. And the Yacht, I had another chance to talk to the skipper a minute ago, it is a $3.5 million yacht.

He says, by no stretch of the imagination is it out of danger at this point. It is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) after losing its anchor further up the water way. The captain did a good job of forcing it in there. But right now he's worried as the storm will continue to pound Florida for hours and hours the kind of damage it's going to do.

Stephen, we heard Gary Tuchman just a bit earlier talk about that, the fact that this eye is so wide and is going to move over the state of Florida and just hit the state with winds that are hurricane force, perhaps as much as 110 miles per hour for hours and hours and hours. Also, Frances may be remember as much for her rain, more so than it's wind.

Let me show you what's going on down here. Florida, you know, is a very flat state. They were concerned with the possibility of flooding, and this is very early on, the storm drain simply over burdened at this point. Water building up on the streets, so flooding is definitely going to be a problem in this area. We had residents tell us that even under normal circumstances when they get a heavy rain flooding is not out of the question.

We also talked a bit about projectiles. This kind of wind and rain, they really can be dangerous. This is a good example, these palm (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If you just look right down Flagmore (ph) Avenue here in West Palm Beach, it is just littered with these things. And they look somewhat harmless, but they're actually extremely hard. If anybody ignores the warnings from state officials and decide to come out and see what it's like in a hurricane, they could get hit with palm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) damage could be seriously, seriously significant. Just one of the problems -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Some of those trees have thorns that are serrated on the edges. Almost like a flying knife -- Sean.

CALLEBS: Exactly, you think about the tiles from roofs are going to starting to peel back at some point. Mike, stand back over this way. On the corner there's a signs, that just now as we were talking went down and it's almost on the ground now. A giant tree fell down at the end of 9th Street here. So, these palm trees aren't known for their deep roots. So, it not going to take long before the damage continues to build here in this area of Florida. Palm Beach, a population of about 80,000. We're told a lion share heeded the evacuation warning and got out when they could. Palm beach county has 1.3 million people, a lot of them working class. There are 25 shelters set up in this county and we know a lot of them are filled to capacity. And think about it, some people have been in there three nights. This storm just inching along as it makes its way here. So, The Tension and frustration is building. You can see it in the faces of people in shelters, they want this storm to come and move on so people here can begin to pick up the pieces -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Well, you have been in the middle of it for hours now, we're glad you're in good shape. Sean Callebs, thanks for joining us once again from West Palm Beach.

STOUFFER: What can we expect from the storm in the next few hours, not to mention the next few days?

Rob Marciano has the latest for us, with a look at the storm Rob.

MARCIANO: Hey, guys. You know, Sean, is enduring 49 mile an hour sustained winds with gust over 60, so he's getting a good look right there. Hey, here's the eye again. Freeport still in it. Seventy miles wide, so, you know, here's West Palm Beach, you take the center of the eye, which is 70 miles, you add 35, that takes you to the edge. So, West Palm Beach really only about 20 miles to the western edge of the eye wall. That's why Sean right now is getting hammered with strong north winds and gusty or heavy rains, as well.

There looks to be the eye is trying to get better organized, but, anyway, we'll investigate that later. Here's the satellite imagery and the west/northwest movement. The size of this thing, up towards the Carolinas, that's probably the most impressive thing. The most disheartening thing is that it's moving so slowly. We have winds that exceed hurricane strength. a 100 miles to the north of this thing and then 60 miles to the south.

So, it's really a wide storm that has 100 mile an hour winds. Charley, in comparison, only had hurricane force winds to about 40 or 50 miles out. So, this, literally, is two to three times the size of Charley, although it's not a category 4 storm, it's moving slower and it's bigger. So, it's just going to pound the same areas and pound them and pound them and that's what we're seeing right now. Some of those areas are not going to be happy when they wake up tomorrow morning or even tomorrow afternoon.

All right, here we go, category 2 storm, west/northwest moving at 5, just showed you these numbers. This red area is the area that has hurricane force winds and this is a National Hurricane Center forecast going through the next 48 hours. A slow movement to the west/northwest expected to continue, that would make landfall some time later this evening. Really, landfall going to take six to ten hours. So, to say exactly when landfall will happen is kind of weird. To the north of Melbourne, to south of Daytona Beach, hurricane force winds into Orlando and then diminishing as this thing weakens to tropical storm status and reemerging to the Gulf of Mexico. And as we go through Monday morning heading into not only Alabama and probably into Mississippi with heavy rainfall there.

So, This Is the projected path of this thing. But you really don't want to look at the path nor the timing because it's moving so slow. And because it's so big and that's what is so impressive about this particular storm. Flood threat is there from Jacksonville all the way down to Miami. We have already scene couple inches of rainfall and we expect to see several more inches of rainfall throughout the night tonight, so, flooding is going to be an issue.

Also, Lake Okeechobee, is right in through here. The eye looks like it will pass to the north, that's good news, because it will be on the southern part of the eye wall. But just as the eye approaches there'll be strong north wind and you could see water, you know, but up against the southern part of that, of Lake Okeechobee. And that's where most people live, although they probably have been ordered to evacuate. Here it is, just one last thing I want to show you. For all the things that are bad about this storm, this is the visible satellite picture. The reason the first couple frames are dark is because the sun is actually coming up. But the last couple frames when the sun is up and basically the sun is your flash bulb here, and you're literally looking down from outer space, that's a pretty good- looking storm. It's a pretty good-looking storm.

STOUFFER: It is, it's a beauty and very dangerous beauty.

MARCIANO: You know, I'm trying to find a silver lining here.

FRAZIER: That's a face a meteorologist would love, Io guess we have to say.

STOUFFER: It's a scary one. Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

FRAZIER: Getting word now we're able to talk to a passenger stuck at Los Angeles International Airport. Lets just set the scene for you here. We understand the airport is closed as a result of an incident there. Departing flights are not being permitted to leave, people aren't being permitted to board. inbound flights are landing, but the passengers on those cannot get off.

Let's talk to somebody there who has been stuck there now about two hours.

Tom Love, can you give of a sense of what it's like for you there?

TOM LOVE, STRANDED PASSENGER: Well, here, it's a little bit of frustration as you might guess in an instance like this where you don't know what's going on. We haven't been told anything. There are more and more police vehicles arriving on the upper deck. There are no cars coming or going. And the passengers have not been informed about anything.

Initially when you would ask the TSA agents, they said there was a security breach and then they changed it to an operational issue. And there has been, as you mentioned, couple flights landing but there has been no flights departing. And I don't believe they're letting the passengers off the planes that have arrived either.

FRAZIER: In which terminal are you located now?

LOVE: I'm in United Terminal 7, but you can see from my vantage point, where I'm at, I can see all the way down westward to all the terminals, all the way to international and where America West and Southwest are. And they're shut down at well and there's no traffic leaving or coming in to the airport.

FRAZIER: And no more details from authorities. Your fellow passengers must find that a little frustrating, perhaps anger causing.

LOVE: Well, I think it's a little frustrating for everybody because they don't know what is going on. It's early in a holiday. United is not telling passengers. In fact, when we called United Airlines, even their executive line, they didn't even know about the incident until recent and then they said everybody is being taken out and now their being rescreened, and you tell them, no, they're not.

All the TSA agents in the last five minutes have come outside the airport and are standing outside with us now. There's at least 40 or 50 agents standing outside on the street, as well.

FRAZIER: Does it look like they're performing any kind of security function or just evacuating the space?

LOVE: They're evacuating the space. They're all standing across from the passengers in the lanes of traffic, and their just with their lunch pails and backpacks, but they're not performing any security.

FRAZIER: This is a hugely busy airport here, almost 5 million a year going through.

What does it tell you if the screeners are standing around out front?

LOVE: I knew it was a bigger issue and probably in other instances where they run in through the wrong direction in order to try to not miss a flight, because they had shut down the whole airport, not just is the one terminal. And, so, with that in mind, we began to understand it was going to be much -- a much bigger issue than initially we had hoped it would be.

FRAZIER: And how do they announce the shut down?

As a passenger inside, what evidence did you have of what's happening?

LOVE: They weren't saying anything other than you have got to go outside and stand in line. That was the -- TSA was not telling you it was shut down initially, they were just telling you, if you have your ticket to go outside and stand in line. And I said, that's the security line? They said, yes. And then other passengers were saying they weren't even announcing it was shut down. The other passengers were telling you that they've shut it down.

FRAZIER: We have reports here, which you may not be in a position to confirm, that a bomb squad has moved inside. Have you seen any such movements?

LOVE: We saw a bomb squad more than an hour ago come up and go by, but we didn't see them go inside. However, in the last 15 minutes there has been as many as 10 to 15 police cars and some vans pull up in front of United, United Express. There are at least six or seven vehicles right now in front of United, but there was two or three that turned up the street and went the other way, as well. So there's a much greater police presence right now.

FRAZIER: And the bomb squad that you saw go by, what was that? Those were the little robots or big armored van sort of thing, or guys in that armor that they wear?

LOVE: It was just a vehicle that went past us.

FRAZIER: OK. So we don't know whether they went in. And this is the kind of thing where passengers start trading rumors. What's the word on the street among your fellow passengers?

LOVE: Well, the -- as you had surmised earlier, it was probably that it was a bomb scare, there would be no other reason, we would surmise, to shut down the entire airport. If it was a single passenger incident, it would be isolated to that terminal. However, it would be much greater if it was -- if they're shutting down the whole airport, we surmised it would be, as you predicted, that would be a bomb scare.

FRAZIER: All right. Let's just recap for our viewers here. Tom Love, you have been stuck almost two hours now waiting to board your flight. So anyone who's waiting for a friend or a loved one from Los Angeles should get word that those flights simply aren't departing. And so, they're going to be delayed, right?

LOVE: They're going to be delayed. When we talk to United, it is a little frustrating because I'm trying to help out a few other people, because I have a cell phone, and talk to them about connections, those passengers which have connections, and United is showing everything still on time until approximately the last 15 minutes. And they don't know what to do with their connecting flights, and whether that will really screw the system up, as you might imagine it would on a big holiday weekend.

FRAZIER: Indeed, indeed, these ripple effects that we've been hearing about through the entire system. All right, Tom Love, thank you for joining us with those insights from a passenger's point of view.

We can report too here from CNN that there are delays already being reported in San Francisco as a result of this, as we continue our live view of the exterior of the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport. And just to recap, two separate incidents being reported from there. In one, a suspicious person, and in another, which we believe is separate, the explosion of a flashlight that contained corroded batteries. Seven people hurt in that explosion, as reported now.

And this, the scene, too, things brought to a halt in terms of airport operations.

More on this as details reach us here at CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Another view of the scene outside the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport, which has been closed down now for at least two hours because of two separate security incidents. In one, a flashlight exploded, corroded batteries inside. Seven people hurt there. In another, a report of a suspicious person. This is at Tom Bradley International Terminal. Other terminals, 6, 7 and 8, have also been closed because they're linked. The passengers have been asked to move outside, and you can see some of them there on that air bridge across the arrival checkpoint there, and a lot of police cars. We're told by one passenger the bomb squad is on the scene. We're also told outbound flights not permitting to depart, passengers not permitted to board.

Inbound flights are landing, but those passengers can't get off the planes, and we're hearing reports now of a ripple effect through the air traffic system already. Delays reported at San Francisco, as you might expect, because of the events here on the ground in Los Angeles. And we'll bring you more on these events as soon as we learn more about them.

STOUFFER: And as that's going on on the west coast, the outer bands of Hurricane Frances are beating up on the east coast. Here is an update now on the hurricane. The storm is a like a lumbering giant out there. It is churning, churning, slowly moving towards Florida's east coast. At last check, this Texas-size storm was about 80 miles east of Palm Beach. Highest sustained winds right now are 105 miles an hour.

Now, already this morning and throughout the beginning of the afternoon, the Florida coast has been getting gusty winds, heavy rain just pounding surf.

Earlier, Hurricane Frances took aim at the Bahamas. At least one storm-related death is reported there.

And along the northern part of Florida's coast, they're still waiting for the first signs of the storm. It hasn't reached that part of Florida just yet.

FRAZIER: Hard to imagine, but it's actually pretty sunny there, we're told, according to Kathleen Koch, who has been standing by in St. Augustine, the oldest settlement on the continent -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're still waiting. We haven't begun to really feel any of the effects of Hurricane Frances here right now, but this old historic city has really battened down the hatches, boarded up windows and doors. And this city floods, however, old downtown St. Augustine, even in a severe thunderstorm. So here with me to kind of give us an idea of just how bad it could get, when we do get, say, eight to 10 inches of rain, we get tropical storm force winds, is Officer Renee Morris with the St. Augustine Police Department. How bad could it get down here?

OFFICER RENEE MORRIS, ST. AUGUSTINE POLICE DEPARTMENT: It can get pretty bad. We're surrounded by water, almost three sides, and the water does come up over the sea walls. And right where we are now, in the historical area, you'll see a lot of water, about eight to 10 inches high, if not higher, depending on what Frances is going to do. It could get pretty severe at times.

KOCH: Now, what we see over here, my cameraman, Jay (ph), was just showing us, the historic Bridge of Lions. It goes out to Anastasia (ph) Islands. What are you doing about those people there? If that bridge goes, and often it does, I mean, with the water coming up over it, you have to shut it down.

MORRIS: Yes, we do have to shut it down, and that's not the only bridge that we have. We have two other bridges that go over to the coastline, and we close those down, as well. We ask the people to leave, but right now we haven't asked those folks to leave, unless they're in the low lying areas or they live in a trailer or they have special needs, and of course we have shelters already set up.

KOCH: What is the worst-case scenario? Would it be a combination of high tide and the heavy rains, and maybe more than eight to 10 inches, say 12 to 14?

MORRIS: Yes, it can get that severe. I have seen it over -- going more west, I have seen it flood for five days straight before the waters have ceded. And that was at least two feet high. So it is a possibility that we can get that. Fortunately, right now, we do have a high tide at 12:44, and we don't see any flooding right now, but of course we don't have the rain yet either. We just have some gusts of wind.

KOCH: All right, thank you so much, Officer Morris.

So right here, really, Stephen and Linda, they're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. And I have to tell you that life does indeed go on. Just a few minutes ago, behind us, in a pavilion here on the plaza, a young couple renewed their wedding vows. The husband had returned just last year from Iraq, and he and his fiancee had eloped, but they said we're going to renew our vows, invite the whole family, all 60 of them -- unfortunately, only 20 made it, and they were going to have a beach front wedding, they canceled that, but still the show went on and they renewed their vows. Right back there -- actually, I think you can still see them.

STOUFFER: Well, Frances will bring romantic memories for them, for all the nightmares it's going to bring other people.

KOCH: Indeed.

STOUFFER: All right. Kathleen Koch, thank you very much.

Well, of course, it's a holiday weekend. Florida's tourist industry is taking a huge hit this Labor Day as Hurricane Frances gets closer and closer. Popular beaches are off limits. Major attractions, like Disneyworld are shut down. So what happens to you if you have just the perfect vacation planned and a storm forces you to change your plans, cancel your plans altogether? With me now, travel analyst Thom Nulty.

THOM NULTY, TRAVEL ANALYST: Great to be here.

STOUFFER First of all, let's start with the flights out of the east coast out of Florida. What's going on?

NULTY: Well, not a lot. If you take a look at the flight explorer software program online, you can actually see that there are very few flights in the Miami area at all. The activity that you do see is along the west coast and Tampa and Ft. Myers area. Those are about the only airports that are operating, everything else is shut down.

STOUFFER: If you had travel plans today and you were just crossing your fingers hoping the storm wouldn't affect them, what do you do at this point if you're going to have to cancel?

NULTY: The airlines have become very lenient on their rules, so they're going to be very easy to work with. The problem is you can't get them on a telephone. So, if you booked through the travel agent, the smart thing is to call their 800 number, they can help you with it. If not go online and take a look what's going on.

But they're going to be very easy to deal with. They're not going to be a lot of help once you get to the airport. And things will start coming back to normal fairly soon. American Airlines is telling that they're going to start reinstating their flights tomorrow morning out of Miami. Mid-day tomorrow at Ft. Lauderdale, later in the afternoon at other airports, and Orlando on Monday about noon.

STOUFFER: And of course, cruise ships are having to change their itineraries altogether. But you know, I'm so glad we have you here right now because we have this developing situation in LAX.

Closed down, two separate incidents, possibly. Can you shed any light on that, Thom?

NULTY: Well, I know that airport very, very well, I am from Los Angeles and I was a manager at one of the terminals there. So, I know it very, very well. It's a very spread out airport with about eight different, I'm sorry, nine different buildings interconnected. But it's -- the way the airport is designed, when they have a security problem, even they're all separate airports the thing grinds to a halt, because they stop traffic in this horse shoe that they have that goes around the building itself.

So, It's going to be a major mess. And even I am trying to go back to Los Angeles this afternoon, so maybe I'll just spend one more day in Atlanta. One never knows.

STOUFFER: You're going to be on the Web site for your travel plans too.

NULTY: I'll certainly be on the Web site for my travel plans.

STOUFFER: And of course, that will affect flights all over the country I'm sure because of that too.

NULTY: Whenever you have a problem in a single city like that, what happens is those airplanes are destined for other destinations, so people expecting something will have problems.

STOUFFER: OK, Thom Nulty, thanks very much for your insight on that and good luck yourself getting your flight.

NULTY: My pleasure. Thank you.

STOUFFER: We'll have continuing coverage on the situation, the shutdown of LAX, as well as, we'll continue to follow Hurricane Frances throughout the day.

First right now, we'll grab a quick break here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUFFER: Well, folks in Florida will be glad when this weekend is over, and when the Labor Day weekend draws to a close. you know there will be a lot of hard work for the Floridians. The storm's winds, the storm's rain are expect to cause a lot of damage in the state.

And neighbors will help neighbors pick up the pieces.

FRAZIER: And this time, even before the storm has hit, there are signs of generosity on the ground.

Here's a story from Elliot Cohen with our affiliate WPLG in Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Four pieces. Just take what I have.

ELLIOT COHEN, WPLG CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): The news spread like wildfire. The Kodiak Construction was giving away plywood to anyone who needed it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came out here. I didn't know it was going to be this big.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's wonderful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's good for him, because everybody knows Kodiak Construction company now, I never even knew they existed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No problem, God be with you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take care, board up tight.

COHEN $30,000 in wood gone in about two hours. People coming from all over to take advantage of Kodiak's generosity.

We spoke with the owner's son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My old man said, let everybody come by to get what they need to board up their house. And hopefully, God be with them.

COHEN: The scene here is a stark contrast to something we actually brought you, actually, on Thursday. Another construction company, just down the road from here, where they there were piles and piles of plywood, but the decision there was not to give them out, not even to sell them, despite the fact that people lined up for hours hoping they would be sold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to you to open! We've got kids.

COHEN: Thursday people lined up for hours at another construction company down the road hoping someone there wouldn't give, but just sell the wood inside. No one did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody close down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're done. You be safe out there.

COHEN: The wood here ran out, but people kept coming. While some lost out, many more were helped by the generosity of strangers.

(on camera): Of course, this is a great PR move for Kodiak Construction, but the truth of matter is most of these people will probably never hear of or never use Kodiak Construction again, so as far as drumming up business, that's probably not why this guy is doing it. The bottom line is, according to his employees, he's just got a big heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUFFER: And you got to love that. That report from Elliot Cohen with our affiliate WPLG in Miami.

FRAZIER: If this storm is as hard -- as strong as they say it is, they will be using that construction coming up, so it could be good for business.

We have a lot more continuing coverage on Hurricane Frances and other things, too. STOUFFER: We'll be right back with more after this.

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