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CNN Live Saturday

Hurricane Dennis is Close;

Aired July 09, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: There still will be time to evacuate for this day. And if you're in a mandatory evacuation area, please do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Urgent calls to people along the Gulf Coast; Hurricane Dennis, approaching landfall and still packing a powerful punch. This hour, CNN is live with up to the minute information on where the storm is headed. Hurricane Dennis has already left its deadly mark on Cuba. We'll take you there.

And from London, new details emerge about the terrorist bombings. We're live with today's developments.

Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Those stories straight ahead, but first, here are our other headlines:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Asia may be paying off already. U.S. Officials confirm North Korea has agreed to return to the nuclear bargaining table the week of July 25, after a year-long withdrawal from disarmament talks. Getting those multilateral talks with North Korea to resume was one of the primary reasons for Rice's trip. She arrived in Beijing a few hours ago.

More than 20 insurgent suspects are detailed in "Operation Scimitar," the latest military campaign in Iraq. It's the 4th U.S./Iraqi operation targeting the insurgency. The offensive began Thursday near the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

The crew of the space shuttle "Discovery" prepares for Wednesday's planned launch, and in stark contrast to the "Columbia" flight 2 years ago, the liftoff time has been publicized well in advance. The launch is set for Wednesday afternoon, at 3:51 Eastern.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Our top story, all eyes are on Hurricane Dennis. Now spinning into the Gulf of Mexico, and expected to pick up strength into the Gulf's warm waters. Dennis is a category 2 hurricane, eying Pensacola, Florida, and is eerily following a similar path to Hurricane Ivan from last September. Evacuations of coastal areas are underway across Florida. Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Landfall is expected some time tomorrow near Pensacola. Let's check in with meteorologist Rob Marciano and it looks like this hurricane is kind of teetering between a category 2 and category 3 status? It use to be a 4.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well -- yeah well, luckily, we're out of the 4 range, at least for now. The official forecast, as you alluding to, does come right up category 3 -- the borderline of category 3. So, we'll just have to wait and see if it intensifies more than it is now. And we do think it will intensify somewhat.

Here is the eye you can see vividly here on the Key West it radar. Key West is here, Tampa up there. And the rain bands continue to spiral in. Even the east coast of southern Florida is seeing tropical storm force winds in excess of 40 miles an hour. West Palm Beach and some parts of Miami, and the rest of Dade County also seeing squally weather. And up through Tampa, earlier today, we saw a couple of tornadoes touch down and that was, at the time, over 200 miles away from the center of this thing. So, just because it's not making a direct landfall across the Florida peninsula doesn't mean it's not going to be a dangerous day, especially across the western shorelines of Tampa.

Here it is, coming off of Havana and into the Gulf of Mexico. The last few frames of this you see it's getting more red, more organized, widening out just a little bit. And the wind field, where the hurricane force and tropical force winds have, they've also kind of spread out, so even though it's weakened from yesterday, it seems to is grown as far as the wind field is concerned, so it'll affect a little bit more people.

Here's the latest up from the National Hurricane Center: Winds sustained now at 100 miles an hour, that makes it a Cat. 2. It is moving northwesterly at 14 miles per hour. We expect that mode to continue. It may very well gather a little bit of strength before it makes landfall. The scheduled time of arrival is still expected to be sometime tomorrow afternoon. This is where we expect it to be tomorrow morning around 8:00 a.m., just south of Pensacola, give or take 50 or 100 miles, as a category -- strong category 2. We get it up to 111 miles an hour, and that's category 3. That's what Ivan was last year. That's what did all the damage in a very similar place. The track of Ivan just slightly to the west, so Pensacola, destine, Panama City, Mobile, Gulf Shores, they're look to get peppered again with a pretty bad storm.

Western parts of Key West, again, this storm pulling out, but, I tell you what Fredricka, the Keys will see stormy weather for the next several hours. This storm, different from others in that the southeastern quadrant seems to be the strongest, usually it's the northeastern quadrant, but the aircraft flying in and out of there say, well right now at least, it's the southeastern quadrant.

Anyway, we'll give you another update in about 20 minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, potential a very powerful one-two punch.

MARCIANO: Yeah. WHITFIELD: Rob Marciano thanks so much. And the National Hurricane Center will be updating, as always, at 5:00 Eastern time and CNN will be carrying that live.

As our northern Gulf Coast braces for Dennis, the deadly fury of the hurricane can be seen in this video from Cuba. Cuban president Fidel Castro described it as arriving with all its diabolical force. Many seaside homes were swept away and the city of Havana was left pock-marked by fierce wind gusts. CNN's Lucia Newman joins us now via videophone from Havana.

Lucia, still pretty stormy there.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it's still raining a lot very heavily. The seas are very, very choppy, and rough, indeed. In fact, electricity still has not been established anywhere, here in the capital, Havana. I believe that 1.6 million people were evacuated between Thursday and Friday, from all parts of this island, which is the largest one in the Caribbean, taken from low grounds, taken from unsafe homes. Most of them have started to return home. Emergency teams, meanwhile, here in the capital, are starting to clean up. There are -- there's a lot of debris on the street, downed trees and branches, some light posts, as well. But, one of the worst things is the lack of electricity.

Of those 1.6 million people who were evacuated, 16,000 were foreign tourists, mainly Europeans and Canadians who had hoped they would come here for sun and sand and instead they got caught in all of this. And just a short while ago, we were watching them, and we were participating in it, but walking down 25 flights of stairs from their hotel with suitcases in hand because the generators simply, in some cases, have broken down or can't meet the demand so the elevators aren't working; a very, very uncomfortable vacation for these people.

The worst damage wasn't in Havana, though, it was central south Cuba, where there -- it is estimated that there was extensive damage, not only to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) communications infrastructure. And that's the beginning certainly for what looks like a very long horrific hurricane season, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Lucia, what about Haiti, they were also hit, the entire island of Hispaniola hit hard, particularly Haiti.

NEWMAN: Absolutely. While Dennis was making it's way towards Cuba, it brushed by Haiti. At least 22 people, we understand, were killed. There were massive flooding, mudslides as well, bridges, in fact, were just swept away. It's terrible for the island -- for the Caribbean's poorest nation and this is a country, you must understand, which is still recovering from last year's devastating hurricane. So very, very bad news, indeed, for the Haitians, too -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Lucia Newman, thank you so much, in the deforestation there doesn't help at all, either.

When Dennis left Cuba and Haiti, it spiraled toward the Gulf of Mexico. Key West narrowly avoided a direct hit, but as Greg Hunter reports from the Keys, even a sideswipe delivers quite the punch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm coming to you from the top of the La Concha Hotel, it's the tallest building in Key West, Florida. The good news, police tell us, that there are no deaths or injuries. Now, the bad news is, 27,000 people are without a power here and that's just about everybody in the lower Keys. Now, when you have winds at 75 miles per hour, you have the typical thing, downed power lines, water coming over sea walls, flooding in the street, debris in the roads, but the roads are open. This is Greg hunter, reporting from Key West.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And stay with CNN, as Hurricane Dennis gets closer to landfall, our correspondents are positioned all along the Gulf Coast to bring you the very latest. We'll have another live update coming up within minutes.

And ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY:

The London terror investigation: Today, there's new information on how coordinated the attack really was.

And the value of surveillance cameras is examined following Thursday's blasts in London. What might it mean for future security initiatives? We'll take a closer look. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to CNN LIVE SATURDAY, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. There are new developments in Thursday's terror attacks in London. The bombs that hit parts of the city's transit systems, this week, exploded within second of each other, not a half hour as previously thought. That detail is given police insight about the sophistication of the devices and the attackers. CNN's Zain Verjee joins me now from London, she's outside the Kings Cross Station -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, Kings Cross Station is one of the central hubs of London. This is also a historical landmark for the city. I want to take a moment and step away from the shot so you can see what's behind me. The people of London have been coming here, some in tear, some in silence, some just taking a moment to gaze at the flowers that have been placed here in a makeshift shrine outside the station. When I looked at some of the messages here on the flower, many of them read a simple "I'm sorry," or "God bless, our condolences." "They will never divide us," says one "We will never forget," says another. The very old and the very young have been coming here. I have seen children placing flowers here in this makeshift memorial, the bouquet of flowers, in some instance, even bigger than they are themselves. There's a sign showing it's not just Londoners mourning here and paying their respects. A sign from all South Africans there reads: "Our prayers are with you, keep the faith."

All around me, Fredricka, there are posters of faces of people still missing. Desperate searches, some people stricken with grief as they try and locate the missing loved ones, whether they be family or friends. And just trying to figure out what happened. There is a sense we've had all morning, today, that while things are continuing as normal, a sense of unease prevails as the city remains on very high alert. There is security and police officers everywhere.

You talked about the investigation and I want to give you an update, just about 100 feet below where I'm standing right now is a site where there are bodies still trapped in a mangled wreckage of a carriage underground. It is hot there, it is dusty and authorities are telling us it's going to be very, very tough and it will take time to remove some of those bodies.

Also, they're doing a lot of forensic analysts. They're trying to identify what kinds of explosives were used. Now, that's important, because it'll help lay a fingerprint. And that means it will point the finger in the direction of who did it, but that also going to take some time. There have been no arrests and officials here say that they're not even sure whether the cell that carried this out is still active if there's another cell. They're not even sure if the perpetrators were homegrown. So, there are a lot of questions here, Fredricka, that still remain unanswered. One important point came out in a press conference about the timing of the attacks just a moment ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN PADDICK, METROPOLITAN POLICE: Bearing in mind, these were almost simultaneous, we think within 50 seconds of each other, that maybe, maybe that lends more towards that the timing devices more than people actually with the bombs manually detonating, but we are not ruling out either of those possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: We've been talking to many survivors also, of the past couple of days, Fredricka, and they've just been telling us, "we're lucky to be alive."

WHITFIELD: Zain Verjee in London, thank you so much for that update.

Well, let's talk now about how this attack is impacting U.S. and Great Britain relations. Jonah Czerwinski is in Washington, he's a Homeland Security expert at the Center for the Study of the Presidency.

Good to see you, Jonah.

JONAH CZERWINSKI, DIR. HOMELAND SECURITY PROJECT: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, some have said that this kind of attack was imminent; however no one could have predicted exactly when something like this would take place. Imminent, mostly because of the relationship between Great Britain and the U.S., in your view?

CZERWINSKI: Well, at this stage, of course, we can't say with certainty, but I think it's fair to say that when Prime Minister Blair came out from his G8 Summit and said, "This was a target on the G8," I don't think that's necessarily true. This was timed to take place now, when it did, to show they had the ability to penetrate a system when the security was highest. This was to show that they could take this attack to the center of London when the security was really in place for the G8 Summit, not necessarily to send a message to the G8.

WHITFIELD: More a message about security. And this is a city that has spent years trying to increase, fortify, its security. Where were the gaping holes?

CZERWINSKI: Well, Fredricka, it's impossible to say that 100 percent success is even a goal, here. The gaping holes, whether or not they're gaping, is definitely the fact that prevention is the No. 1 part of the game. And if you can the not keep them from coming in with the bombs, preventing them from detonating them, is near to impossible. At this stage, the investigation is so vital that they make arrests soon, and the forensic teams are working away now to do just that, so they can make these arrests before the trail runs cold. Why? Not just so they can claim arrests now, but for the long term to show that first of all, perpetrators will be caught. And second of all, I think a term that's been coming out more and more now is a term that the Homeland Security community in London has been very comfortable with and that's resilience.

They've shown they can bounce back. Now, calling it a stiff upper lip is just an emotional term that really reflects what a Homeland Security context calls resilience. And if we can build into that same kind of capacity to mitigate and limit impact, then I think you have -- I think you have the groundwork for a deterrent effect on terrorists and then that leads us back to prevention.

WHITFIELD: American investigators are also making their way, some of them already in London, trying to learn something about, not only how Londoners are handling this, how great Britain, as a government, is handling this, but also re-examining the steps that this country has taken to fortify it, given than it has a history of knowing how to deal with or reacting to other terrorist attacks.

CZERWINSKI: Well, London -- rather, England, of course, has been the recipient of horrible terrorist attacks for a long time. But right now, I think, one of the most important things is that they are working very closely with the U.S. and the U.S. is working very closely with England, to make sure whatever we can bring to bear in this investigation, they can benefit from. And at the same time, we can begin to learn from them exactly how this attack took place so as to figure out what the antecedents are, those indicators before an attack, in order to make sure our preventive efforts here are even better fine-tuned. And one of the first measures the president made, right after the attack, was he told the secretaries of defense and Homeland Security in the state to start working with their counterparts immediately, offering the help that they can get. But look, at the other side of that same coin is learn from them as much as you can.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like this attack may be a prelude to other attacks likely targeting other European nations?

CZERWINSKI: Ever since the Madrid bombing in March 11, last year, it was -- the sentiment among the intelligence community is that this could very well be the beginning of an approach by al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda affiliates to use this type of attack. Let alone for now, copycat-type of attacks. I think you're absolutely right that this is beginning to be either one of two things. One, it could be a shift in tactics to, perhaps, away from WMD, weapons of mass destruction, towards conventional attacks that still generate serious fear and terror. Or it could very well be a reaction by al-Qaeda cells that, look, we're having much too much difficulty to penetrate U.S. borders, we must take the fight where we can take it and that means Europe where it's much more porous and it means using weapons that are less detectable like small explosives, rather than, say chemical, or biological, or for that matter, radiological weapons.

WHITFIELD: Jonah Czerwinski, a Homeland Security expert at the Center for the Study of the Presidency, thanks so very much for joining us from Washington.

CZERWINSKI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And one other security note, the U.S. raised its terror alert level for trains and subways to orange, or high, after the London bombings. Well now, officials indicate the alert could be lowered to yellow in a matter of days, that's as long as intelligence doesn't point to anything new.

Thousands of security cameras cover London's subway system, officials there hope the images captured may help in their investigation. Examining the pros and cons of surveillance cameras and what it may mean for America's security effort, coming up.

But first, the Federal Emergency Management Agency prepares for Hurricane Dennis. What's the plan? A live report, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hurricane Dennis continues to churn in the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The category 2 storm still appears headed for Pensacola, similarly taking a similar path to last year's hurricane Ivan. Florida's Governor Jeb Bush has declared a state of emergency, he's urging people to evacuate coastal areas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: If you're in a mandatory evacuation area, please do so. For people, residents of Escambia County and Santa Rosa county, particularly, you know the devastation of a category 3 or category 4 force storm. This is serious. This is a very dangerous storm. And we hope that you will evacuate. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The governors of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama have also declared states of emergency. Right now, nearly a half million people are under evacuation orders along Alabama's Gulf Coast. And on the phone with us right now is the mayor of Mobile, Alabama, Michael Dow.

Glad you could be with us, Mayor. What is the situation there?

MICHAEL DOW, MAYOR MOBILE, ALABAMA: Well, I think the situation, just looking up at the sky, it's very sunny and bright and appears to be very calm. And if you look at the conditions out in the gulf, it's frightening. You know, we're tired of these things and the good news is we're very good at organizing and planning and taking care of storms, but it kind of wears you out having to stay in that mode year to year.

WHITFIELD: Sure. Are most people heeding the warnings of evacuations?

DOW: I think they are. You know, we are a coastal area and we just got hit last year, our neighbors did, in Baldwin County, all our cities over there, as well as Pensacola. So this is very real to those people. They're getting out of Dodge. And, so yes, we're taking it very real.

WHITFIELD: Don't you also become rather concerned when you have good weather, just like this, the calm before the storm, that it encouraging many people to complacent?

DOW: Well, you do. I think -- I think we're not as complacent this year because we've had a recent storm. And I think, had we gone for a decade with missing the storm every time one was out in the gulf, it would be a lot more complacent, but I don't hear many complaints about our mandatory evacuation sequence. I don't have a lot of calls from people saying it's not the right thing to do. So, I think people are in the right thinking mode here, and the ones that stay, we're encouraging them to get to places where they can be safe.

WHITFIELD: It sounds like, Mayor, also, saying that people member what it was like last year. It was an awfully busy, active hurricane season, and people have learned from that lesson.

DOW: Right. And -- also, we tried to make our mandatory evacuation far enough out to where it could be effective. Because you don't want people in that mode, you know, on Sunday, when the storm is hitting that evening. It's too late to do it then. The roads are going to get too jammed, so we're trying to give people enough warning and really, err on the side of public safety and err on the side of contingency planning, because this storm could easily gain intensity and every time you listen to the media, they're saying the word "Mobile," so this is the time to pull the trigger and not be hesitant and squeamish when it comes to getting people to safe places.

WHITFIELD: Mayor Michael Dow of Mobile, Alabama, thanks so much. Hurricane Dennis is in the Gulf of Mexico and meteorologist Rob Marciano is standing by to give us a live update on its strength and likely path straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: And here are the latest developments. London police now say Thursday's subway terror bombings happened within seconds of one another and the explosions were triggered by timing devices, not suicide bombers. More than 50 were killed and 700 wounded. Authorities said they planned to begin the process of identifying the dead later on today.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza rice begins a four nation tour of East Asia. And shortly after her arrival in Beijing today, U.S. officials confirmed North Korea reportedly has agreed to resume multilateral nuclear disarmament talks stalled this last year. The talks are now set to resume the week of July 25.

The crew for space shuttle Discovery is preparing for their well- publicized launch next week. Thursday's terror bombings in London, as well as Hurricane Dennis, have had little impact on NASA's plans for the scheduled launch set for Wednesday afternoon.

They're bracing for Hurricane Dennis along parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast -- live pictures now. The storm is gaining strength since its deadly pass over Haiti and Cuba. And right now, Dennis is a category 2 hurricane. Beaches and islands in the path of the storm are being evacuated before the storm hits. The storm is expected to reach the coast this weekend, as early as tomorrow, near Pensacola. Let's check in with Meteorologist Rob Marciano, who's tracking the storm -- Rob?

MARCIANO: Hi, Fredricka.

The landfall of this thing is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, but it's so big, the outer bands will be raping much of Florida throughout the day today and then the panhandle, looks like tonight and tomorrow morning.

Here it is coming over out of Cuba and restrengthening. You can see the big blowup of colors here. This is infrared imagery, which means it's measuring the cloud tops for it's temperature. And the brighter the color, well, the colder the temperature, which means the clouds are really high up and it also means that the thunderstorms are really strong and they're beginning to pop up quite nicely here in this storm.

Thankfully, it missed Key West by about 90 miles. There were hurricane force winds into the Keys and it's still very stormy there, with winds gusting over 60 miles an hour.

Even the eastern shores of Florida have seen winds gust over 40. And as far north as Tampa, there have been two reports of tornadoes over 200 miles from the center of this thing. So, it's infecting the entire state. All right. We do have hurricane warnings out still for the Keys. Hurricane warnings out for the Steinhatchee River, over toward the Pearl River, meaning that while hurricane conditions are expected in the next 24 hours.

We've already seen them in the Keys. We do expect to see them within the next 24 hours along the Florida panhandle in that red highlighted area, meaning winds over 74 miles an hour with and possibly some damage.

All right. Here we go: 110 mile an hour winds sustained right now. These are the latest numbers of the National Hurricane Center. Northwesterly, moving at 14 miles an hour. Here's the forecast track into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico: Strengthening somewhat to 102 mile an hour winds; then 110.

By tomorrow morning, just south of Pensacola, Florida, or somewhere in this vicinity, as a strong category 2. If it goes to 111 miles an hour, it will be a category three, that will be a major hurricane, much like Ivan was less than a year ago.

And then, it goes into the north and dissipates fairly rapidly but it could hold its strength there for several miles, maybe a couple hundred miles inland.

A Category two storm means 96 to 110 miles an hour. That's what the official forecast is for a strong cat. two: Considerable damage to lightly structured homes. A cat. three storm means large trees and utility poles down, so widespread power outages and damage.

So, that's what we're looking at for an issue right now. Fredricka, look at this, you can see the eye really take shape here. This is a visible satellite imagery. It is strengthening and we do have a tornado watch out for the entire Peninsula of Florida, pretty much the lower peninsula, until 4:00 a.m. So, we'll watch for that threat as well.

WHITFIELD: Wow. It's remarkable that it can be that far out into the Gulf and still nearly completely envelop the state of Florida.

MARCIANO: Yes. They're incredible storms, for sure.

WHITFIELD: That is remarkable. All right. Rob Marciano, thanks so much.

MARCIANO: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Well, parts of Florida are already feeling the lash of Hurricane Dennis. You saw the map and you know why now. There are already reports of wind damage in Key West as well. Jeff Weinsier of CNN affiliate WPLG has this look at what's going on there now.

JEFF WEINSIER, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you what is going on behind me with photographer Steve Albert. I'm going to block his camera so he doesn't get so much sea spray. But you are looking at the Atlantic coming over South Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West. We are just north of the airport.

The winds have been like this, sustained, since about 1:00 to 2:00 in the morning, without any letup at all. You can see people coming out, to try to assess the damage at this hour. We've seen Monroe County sheriff deputies. We've seen the Key West Police Department. We've even seen maintenance crews out and about, but right now, they are obviously not getting out of their cars. They're just looking to see what the cleanup may be.

We actually went out of a few minutes ago with a nice gentleman who had one of those huge pickup trucks, to assess some of the damage. What we saw is shingles off roofs. We saw some overturned boats that had basically broke off their moorings and we saw trees down. One big tree across U.S. 1. But people were able to get by even though that was across U.S. 1.

All night long, this wind has been pounding. In fact, the roof of our motel has been making some strange noises. We walked out this morning to try to get you the shot. We thought we'd see pieces of the roof in the parking lot, but credit to this construction. I'll tell you, this place is holding up extremely well.

Again, damage from what we can see here, unbelievably, is minimal. It is right there that Best Western sign that is down on the ground. It's a light next door. There are no broken windows in our motel, our hotel. Really, the damage here is trees and street signs. That is the very latest from Key West. I'm Jeff Weinsier. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: And at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, they're ready to deploy teams to help hurricane victims as soon as they're needed. That's where Kathleen Koch is standing by right now -- Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, as we speak, there is a whirlwind of activity going on in the building behind me. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials literally trying to look into a crystal ball and figure out just what resource, what supplies will be needed where and when.

Now, under way right now, is a nationwide video conference. Officials at FEMA, officials at the White House, Homeland Security officials conversing with state officials from all across the coast, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee.

First getting a briefing on the hurricane, the status of the hurricane, its position, its potential threat and then, basically to the individual states getting on and talking about what resources they have positioned where and what they might specifically need from the federal government and perhaps from one another.

FEMA itself has already positioned at set stationing points along the Gulf Coast the lots of supplies: Ice, water, food, plastic sheeting. Also, plenty of personnel ready to deploy. Already sent into those regions are Disaster Medical Assistance Teams ready to provide medical help in case of injury. Now, the staffers here in Washington are going to be working around the clock, 12-hour shifts, monitoring the approach of Hurricane Dennis. And everyone here insists they are ready, despite the huge burden that FEMA faced dealing with all those hurricanes in Florida last year.

They say that, that was the largest disaster and response effort in FEMA history. They spent in the state of Florida alone, some $5 billion. Still, they say, they will have plenty of resources available to help the victims of Hurricane Dennis, wherever it makes landfall -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch, at FEMA headquarters, thanks so much.

Well, coming up, it's predicted that Hurricane Dennis will be just the start of a very busy storm season this summer. Will it match the level of destruction we saw last year? CNN's Anderson Cooper reminds us of what happened during the 2004 hurricane season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": It's going to be a long night.

This is probably about as bad as we've seen it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Also ahead, almost every public place now has surveillance cameras. But what are those behind the cameras see and can they possibly stop terrorists before they strike?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center.

As we continue to update you about Hurricane Dennis, we also want to take care of your pollen problems. Allergy forecast: Recent rains across the southeast have knocked down the pollens a little bit here, but certainly out west we're still in the moderate category. Grasses, ragweeds, nettle still an issue out here, so we hope you're feeling well today, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: CNN "Security Watch" now, and the latest from London. Police say the three subway bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other. And they say the attackers used high quality explosives, suggesting the bombs were not homemade.

Investigators are pouring over video from the 6,000 cameras that keep an eye on the tube for clues. Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports cameras also keep an eye on major U.S. cities. It's the topic of today's CNN "Security Watch."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In every major city they are watching: Watching traffic; watching people; very likely, watching you. And in the aftermath of the London bombings, there are calls for more surveillance cameras in the nation's mass transit systems.

CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Common sense suggests that cameras can serve a deterrent effect and they certainly can't hurt. So, I urge the use of video cameras more widely.

MESERVE: But other experts say cameras should not be a top priority.

DAVID HEYMAN: They're very useful at catching people going through traffic lights. They're less useful catching terrorists putting bombs on trains.

MESERVE: The reason is volume. With thousands upon thousands of people pouring through a transit system, it is virtually impossible for a camera operator to pick out someone up to no good, especially if their weapon is concealed in an everyday satchel like a knapsack.

Camera operators can get tired or distracted or may not be watching at all. Cameras are useful in monitoring low traffic areas and the movement of crowds in traffic and someday computers may expand their capabilities.

JOHN FIRMAN, INTL. ASSN. OF CHIEFS OF POLICE: So, when a briefcase, for example, is left on the desk, the camera and computer team up to predict the problem and cause a red flag to go up and say: There's something in the image that shouldn't there be or wasn't there before.

MESERVE: Right now, surveillance cameras' greatest use is investigative. After 9/11, they helped track the movements of the hijackers. After the Oklahoma City bombing, surveillance pictures of a Ryder truck helped make the case against Timothy McVeigh.

MARC ROTENBERG, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFO. CTR.: Surveillance cameras can be useful after the fact, to try to understand what occurred and who may have been involved, but I think we need better techniques to prevent these types of acts from occurring in the first instance.

MESERVE: The prime example: London. Though it has more surveillance cameras than any other city in the world, they didn't stop this.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Let's check other stories making news across America this Saturday now.

A southern Colorado wildfire is burning across some 2000 acres today. With dry air and temperatures in the 90s, crews expect the blaze to grow. Eighty people already have been evacuated from their homes.

And 15-year-old golf phenom Michelle Wie promises that she'll be back. She missed the cut at the John Deere Classic by two shots. Wie was trying to become the first woman in six decades to play a PGA tour event. Babe Didrickson Zaharias was the last in 1945.

Police found an abandoned freight train in the San Diego area this week and the engine was running. A crew left a note saying they'd worked the maximum number of hours they could under federal law. The train company says it's common practice to leave an engine running and claims there was no security threat.

And a Pennsylvania church is "bee-deviled." The bees have been in the walls for seven years and have always managed to evade exterminators. It's so bad now, holy honey is oozing through the church's walls. That's what they say.

As Hurricane Dennis churns toward the coast, the memory of last year's season is fresh in our minds. We'll have a look back at the devastating effects straight ahead.

And as the southern states brace for Dennis, Rob Marciano is still tracking that storm.

MARCIANO: Yes. Hi, Fredricka. We are and especially the state of Florida. Red watch box out meaning the threat for tornadoes exists in this area through this afternoon. There's the eye. This is the radar, the bright colors. Rain encompassing much of the southern half and dangerous weather persists today and tomorrow. We're going to get an update at 1 p.m. We may get it a little earlier. So, stick around for that news and information and of course, the latest forecast.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. You're looking at some live pictures from our affiliate WPLG in Key West, Florida. They're getting the brunt of these outer bands of Hurricane Dennis as it churns its way in the Gulf of Mexico, making its way north.

It is the expected to be targeting, right now, Pensacola, Florida, the storm is, as it heads north and maybe even making landfall as early as tomorrow midday.

Florida took a pounding in the summer of 2004. Four hurricanes over six weeks, staggering $17 billion in insured losses. CNN's Anderson Cooper takes a look in a report he prepared for his hurricane special.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: 2004 was definitely a hurricane season for the record books. Millions of Florida residents, ordered to evacuate an unprecedented four times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody was expecting this.

COOPER: The relentless series of hurricanes devastated the Caribbean with unmerciful violence. And in their wake, a relief effort the scope of which has rarely been seen.

It started with Hurricane Charlie. Many were caught off-guard by its erratic movements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news for us, because we are now reporting that this is a category four storm...

COOPER: A last-minute turn sent Charlie plunging into Punta Gorda, with 145 mile-an-hour winds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's indescribable. You just pray that the wind drops because we don't seem like we could've taken another five minutes.

COOPER: Charlie barreled up Florida's west coast, ravaging homes and citrus groves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never been so scared in my life.

COOPER: It pushed north, killing 31 people. Just three weeks later, Hurricane Frances put residents on the road again.

ROB MARCIANO: This thing is so, so very large. Winds at 145 miles per hour. It's almost the entire size of Texas.

COOPER (on camera): It's going to be a long night.

This is probably about as bad as we've seen it.

COOPER (voice-over): Frances took aim at Florida's east coast, making landfall near Sewells Point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got back after five months in Baghdad, Iraq and I thought that was a problem, getting shot at and today, I wish I was back in Baghdad. I tell you, but the nightmare's only about to begin for everybody.

COOPER: The nightmare lingered. Once ashore, Frances' slow movement caused flooding and extensive damage as it crawled across the peninsula.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was long. It was the longest one I've ever gone through and I've gone through quite a few.

COOPER: Adding to its deadly toll, Frances made landfall a second time as a tropical storm on the panhandle and churned up the eastern seaboard, spinning out tornadoes claiming 33 lives. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's another storm on the horizon. It is Hurricane Ivan.

COOPER: Coastal residents could barely catch their breath and buy supplies when, just 11 days later, Ivan came into view. The storm was intense and wobbly, losing strength, regaining it, then losing it again. Ivan was still a category four when it slammed into Gulf Shores, Alabama, on September 16th. Hurricane-force winds once again hammered Florida's panhandle at 165 miles an hour.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: This was a devastating storm, as was projected. My heart goes out to the people that have lost a lot, because there will be extensive damage and some loss of life, sadly.

COOPER: Ivan proved terrible, indeed: 43 people were killed. Nine days later, there was Jeanne.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at it! Oh, ow!

COOPER: Florida residents, already weary from storm after storm, weathered yet another. Jeanne wasn't as powerful as its predecessors, but it was still a hurricane. Ground zero, Stewart, Florida, was miles from where Frances struck.

(on camera): It's obviously very hard to stand. Our equipment keeps breaking down, the cameras keep getting water inside of them.

Whoa!

At this point in time, it is hard to stand up. Remember, you asked me, you asked me about 20 miles an hour ago, when is it going to be very hard to do this and I said about 100. And this is pretty darn close.

COOPER: Jeanne's path of destruction, an eerie echo of the earlier storm, layering more damage on the already bruised, battered landscape, killing six people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no way that you can replace these things ever.

BUSH: This state will not only survive, it will rebound. We will be stronger and we will be better because of what we've gone through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And, remember, you can go to CNN.com for more on Hurricane Dennis, including the predicted path of the storm, safety tips and images of the storm damage.

And Rob Marciano tracks the storm. As Hurricane Dennis gathers strength, where will it hit and what can we expect? We'll have the latest update on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Let's check in one more time with Meteorologist Rob Marciano for the very latest on Hurricane Dennis -- Rob?

MARCIANO: Hi, Fredricka.

We have the latest numbers of the National Hurricane Center. We're getting advisories now every two hours, full forecast advisories every six hours. And this is just a bit of a blurb that says they're keeping the winds at 100 miles an hour as far as the sustained wind and the same movement, although there is a comment in there -- and we've been discussing this the past hour or so that it's getting better organized and that an increase in wind speeds is suspected here over the next 12 to 24 hours.

You're looking at our Titan radar, I've got him kind of in 3-D mode. You see the swathe, the radar beam cutting through the eye of the storm, which out here.

Now it's probably over 100 miles to the west-northwest of Key West and about 350 miles south of Apalachicola. We'll put it in a flat mode. This highlighted red area, that is a tornado watch, which is out until 4:00 this afternoon.

We've already had a number of tornado warnings. A couple of confirmed tornadoes in and around the Tampa metropolitan area. That's over 200 miles from the center of the storm.

So, you don't have to be very close to feel the effects of this, that's for sure. Even Miami and some areas in Dade County saw some winds gusting well over 40 miles an hour and a water spout in the upper Keys earlier today.

So, we're seeing some action from that angle as well. Show you this shot. This is really cool. This is a visible satellite picture, its like a satellite using the sun as a flashlight and you can see the first few frames of this is dark, that's because the sun is coming up over the eastern horizon.

But it really gives you a good idea of the eye and it's certainly getting better organized through the day. And the cloud canopy reaching all the way to southern Georgia.

This is one of our computer models, which highlights the expected wind speeds and wind fields in the yellow, indicate tropical-storm- force winds. The orange is hurricane-force winds. The red is major- hurricane-force winds of over 110 miles an hour.

And by tomorrow morning, the center of this south of Pensacola, but hurricane-force winds already getting into the panhandle of Florida by tomorrow morning wake-up call.

So, that will certainly be a rude wake-up call, as this forecast continues to remain steady and take it somewhere in this area. Right now, a line goes through Pensacola, Florida, as strong a category two, possibly a category three, tomorrow afternoon.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rob. Thanks so much.

MARCIANO: See you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Still much more ahead on CNN SATURDAY. In a few moments, "In the Money," at 2:00 eastern. We will have continuing coverage of Hurricane Dennis with weather updates and live report.

At 3:00, it's CNN's "Top 25." What were the biggest business trends from the past 25 years? CNN counts you down to number one.

But first, here's Jack Cafferty with a preview of "In the Money."

JACK CAFFERTY, HOST, "In the Money": Thanks.

Coming up on "In the Money:" Reacting to a terrorist strike. Find out if the world' markets are learning to take these attacks in stride. Plus, the real business of the G-8. We'll look at what gets accomplished, if anything, at summits like the one this week.

And the power of a pretty face: See if celebrities really help charities bring in the bucks. All that and more, right after a quick check of the headlines.

WHITFIELD: Investigators in London now say Thursday's subway bombings happened within second of one another and that the explosions were likely triggered by timing devices. Authorities said they plan to begin the process of identifying the dead later on today. More than 50 were killed and another 700 wounded in four separate blasts.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beijing, the first stop of her four-nation trip to East Asia. Her diplomatic mission includes talking with Asian leaders about restarting talks aimed at ending a nuclear standoff with North Korea. And that mission, in fact, may already be accomplished, with reports coming from the state-run North Korea News Agency and confirmed by the U.S. State Department officials. North Korea says it will return to the multilateral talks scheduled for the week of July 25th.

And here's a live look at Hurricane Dennis, on this satellite picture, which has moved past Cuba and the Florida Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the northern Gulf Coast remains under a hurricane watch or warning. Forecasters predict that Dennis may make landfall tomorrow, likely between Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama.

Stay with CNN day and night for up-to-the-minute updates.

And I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Rob Marciano will have another update at the bottom of the hour. Right now, time for "In the Money."

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