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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tropical Storm Barry: Flood Warnings Still in Effect for Parts of Four States
Aired August 06, 2001 - 08:33 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Flood warnings are still in effect for parts of four states, but no disastrous flooding is being reported so far.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
VINCE CELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we back to Fort Walton Beach. Ed Lavandera is there with us. That's kind of near the point where the storm came to shore early this morning. What do you have for us, Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, folks here are very excited by what they've been seeing this morning. They've been able weather the storm quite well. The eye of the storm passed over Fort Walton Beach area, and they've been on the western edge of the storm. And traditionally, when you speak with folks who have to endure through tropical storms and hurricanes a lot, they say that if you have to be in one of these storm, the Western edge is the place to be. You kind of avoid the whipping sensation from the bands of storm that come pummeling on shore, and you didn't you see a whole lot of that here in Fort Walton Beach area.
The surf is still up quite a bit. In fact, the surfers who were out here all yesterday, are starting to make their way back to the beaches here this morning. The wind is pretty strong as well. There's only been reports of minor street flooding, and that seems to have all gone away.
The stores -- we've made several passes this morning. The stores and convenience stores are starting to open up as usual. There are some reports of power outages, about six miles away in the popular resort town of Destined, and we're told that that could take several hours to cleanup, but that is the extent of the problems here.
CELLINI: Ed, we see in the background some folks strolling the beach and some of the skies have cleared a little bit, but that water looks pretty rough. Is anyone actually venturing into the water at this point, or do they simply know better?
LAVANDERA: Well, you know all day out here yesterday, at any time, at least a dozen surfers were in the water and a lot of the tourists were jumping in as well. A lot of the folks that we've seen come out here this morning were bunkered up all night long and they're just coming out here to check out what it looks like now.
About 500 yards, we're starting to see the first group of surfers make their way into the water as well. So kind of a typical scene for a beach town. You know, all of these folks are still on vacation, so they're not going to let a little storm ruin that for them, right.
CELLINI: Vacation is vacation.
Thanks, Ed Lavandera, in Fort Walton Beach -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: All right, Vince, thanks very much.
That storm tracking northwest as we've been telling you all morning.
And Joining now on the phone from Alabama, Anita Patterson, who is with the Montgomery Emergency Management Center. She's the director of it.
Anita, how is it there this morning?
ANITA PATTERSON, DIR., EMA: It's raining and it's windy. The winds look like they're about 10-12 miles an hour. We're under a tornado watch here in Montgomery County until 10:00 this morning, and we're under a flash flood warning.
With the weather so far, we have not really had any reports of damage or anything that's severe so far this morning.
MCEDWARDS: In addition to the tornado possibility, we've also heard about minor flooding, creeks and streams that could get worse just depending on how quickly the storm moves? Have you seen any kind of flooding activity now?
PATTERSON: Right now, have not. But we are on the alert for that. We're under the warning. And there are some areas here in the city that flood out when we get heavy rains and we go into that flooding. So we're watching those areas very closely. I have some people in those areas there that are watching for the residents there, to make sure that if the river starts to flood, that they do not get caught up in that situation and cannot get out to safety.
MCEDWARDS: All right, Miss Patterson, what else are telling people to do and not to do?
PATTERSON: Right now, we just want you to monitor the weather and be very cautious of it. The minute that we go under a warning, if we should go under a warning, tornado warning, then everyone should take shelter immediately. We're hoping that everybody already has planned ahead and has the batteries and the flashlights, and the things they would need in the event that a tornado should hit their residence or their businesses, and just be prepared to take safety immediately.
MCEDWARDS: All right, crucial hours ahead for you in Montgomery.
Anita Patterson, thanks very much for your time.
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