Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Storm Over Hurricane Isabel

Aired November 24, 2003 - 15:04   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's flash back now to September, and a big storm in the East, Hurricane Isabel -- you'll remember that one -- the most powerful hurricane in years, of course. Isabel caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage to North Carolina's outer banks alone. But now there's a new storm brewing over who should be compensated.
Reporter Maggie Alexander of our CNN affiliate WECT takes a look at the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE ALEXANDER, WECT (voice-over): Hurricane Isabel slammed into the outer banks with 105 mile-per-hour winds, carving a path of destruction. It's a far cry from the isolated damage to the South in New Hanover County, where winds only reached 57 miles per hour.

MARK AVERY, METEOROLOGIST: Compared to the hurricanes of the late '90s, Hurricane Isabel was a nonevent.

ALEXANDER: But for some reason, residents in New Hanover County have filed more claims than anywhere else in the state. About 1,300 more people than Carteret County, one of the hardest hit.

Raquita Haven (ph) filed one of those claims. She lives in Taylor Homes, a housing development in Wilmington. Haven (ph) says high winds ruined her curtains and broke her air conditioner. She called the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and says a representative inspected her apartment for about three minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came and he looked at my living room window, and he wrote something down. And he went upstairs and looked in my room and my kids' room and came back downstairs and told me to have a nice day.

ALEXANDER: Less than a week later, she got a check in the mail for over $1,000. But Raquita (ph) says she's not the only one. Many of her neighbors also had to apply for federal assistance after the hurricane. Over 1,700 total in the county. And the director of Wilmington's Housing Authority says something smells suspicious.

Benjamin Quantobalm (ph) says as the property owner he should have been notified. FEMA regulators won't discuss individual cases, but say the inspections were "very detailed." For Raquita Haven (ph), detailed enough to get a new air conditioner and a set of curtains.

In Wilmington, Maggie Alexander, News 6. (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: As of last week, residents of New Hanover County have received almost $2 million in grants due to Hurricane Isabel.

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 November 24, 2003 - 15:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's flash back now to September, and a big storm in the East, Hurricane Isabel -- you'll remember that one -- the most powerful hurricane in years, of course. Isabel caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage to North Carolina's outer banks alone. But now there's a new storm brewing over who should be compensated.
Reporter Maggie Alexander of our CNN affiliate WECT takes a look at the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE ALEXANDER, WECT (voice-over): Hurricane Isabel slammed into the outer banks with 105 mile-per-hour winds, carving a path of destruction. It's a far cry from the isolated damage to the South in New Hanover County, where winds only reached 57 miles per hour.

MARK AVERY, METEOROLOGIST: Compared to the hurricanes of the late '90s, Hurricane Isabel was a nonevent.

ALEXANDER: But for some reason, residents in New Hanover County have filed more claims than anywhere else in the state. About 1,300 more people than Carteret County, one of the hardest hit.

Raquita Haven (ph) filed one of those claims. She lives in Taylor Homes, a housing development in Wilmington. Haven (ph) says high winds ruined her curtains and broke her air conditioner. She called the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and says a representative inspected her apartment for about three minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came and he looked at my living room window, and he wrote something down. And he went upstairs and looked in my room and my kids' room and came back downstairs and told me to have a nice day.

ALEXANDER: Less than a week later, she got a check in the mail for over $1,000. But Raquita (ph) says she's not the only one. Many of her neighbors also had to apply for federal assistance after the hurricane. Over 1,700 total in the county. And the director of Wilmington's Housing Authority says something smells suspicious.

Benjamin Quantobalm (ph) says as the property owner he should have been notified. FEMA regulators won't discuss individual cases, but say the inspections were "very detailed." For Raquita Haven (ph), detailed enough to get a new air conditioner and a set of curtains.

In Wilmington, Maggie Alexander, News 6. (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: As of last week, residents of New Hanover County have received almost $2 million in grants due to Hurricane Isabel.

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