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Floods, Death, Destruction Accompany Ivan; Two Americans, One Briton Abducted in Iraq; Civil War Predicted in Iraq
Aired September 16, 2004 - 13:59 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: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips is off today.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: We begin this hour with an eyefull of Ivan. Floods, destruction, several deaths and a few surprises in a storm millions had spent days preparing for.
Ivan's winds are dropping, of course, almost 12 hours after its well-defined eye came ashore. Moments ago, in fact, we just told you it was downgraded to a tropical storm. But its forward momentum is brisk, and both those factors are giving Alabamians and Georgians cautious hope that Ivan may not drop as much rain as predicted.
Did I say rain? This is Mobile, Alabama, overnight. Ivan's eye wall crashing onto the shore as a Category 3 event, but a high three. Top winds of 130 miles an hour.
Mobile by day, a picture of disaster. But that city's mayor tells CNN -- and believe this or not -- "We dodged a big one." That's because Ivan's really bad side hit well to the east, as is typical, and there are typical results. The Florida Panhandle, the primary East-West Highway there no longer crosses Escambia Bay, and will not for the foreseeable future. You see why.
A big rig driver who apparently took his chances ended up trapped when portions of the bridge collapsed. So far at least eight are dead in northwest Florida, also far from tornadoes.
NGUYEN: The place where Ivan's eye stormed ashore, Gulf Shores, Alabama. It's now one big pool of water. Our Gary Tuchman is there and joins me by phone with the latest on the enormous flooding in that area -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty, that is the word, enormous. Much of Gulf Shores Beach, this barrier island on the southern coast of Alabama, it's under water. And in some cases, the water, we are being told, is up to nine to 10 feet deep
Now, I'm standing right now on the banks of the water. We were here yesterday doing live reports. And about hour after the rain started, the water was up to our knees, and we decided we better leave the barrier island. That was a good decision, because now we see signs, we see parts of homes, we see chairs, we see belongings floating through water that looks like the Colorado Rapids running through the streets.
There are waves. It literally looks like the Gulf of Mexico has been expanded by a half a mile to the north. And here's the sad part of the story.
Right next to where the water ends is a zoo, the Gulf Shores Zoo. The zoo has 275 animals, apes, lions, tigers, bears. Most of the animals were brought to safe places before the storm hit. But not all the animals were able to be taken out.
There were about 20 deer that were left and a number of alligators. Well, as we speak, 13 deer are on the loose. We just saw about 30 minutes one of the deer swimming and running through the water in the streets of Gulf Shores, a deer with antlers.
Thirteen deer are still missing. We are told six alligators are still missing. It was seven alligators, but one was just found and shot a few minutes ago.
They are going to tranquilize the deer if they find him with tranquilizer guns, but they have to shoot the alligators. One of the alligators that is missing we are told is 12 feet long, weighs 1,000 pounds, and his name is Chuckie. And we are told that if anyone encounters Chuckie they better realize it's a bad day, because Chuckie has the capability of grabbing you and pulling you under and eating you for a meal.
So everyone is being kept away from the zoo area, which is also under eight feet of water. So this has really been quite a hurricane.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: Very dangerous situation there. You talk about the people trying to get those animals, the alligators and the deer. How are they maneuvering in these floodwaters? Are emergency crews able to get out to people in need?
TUCHMAN: Well, we don't believe there are any people in need right now who are in danger of drowning from these waters. We do know, however, that there are some people in high-rise hotels between the waters that are nine feet deep and between the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, that sounds dangerous at first, but they don't expect the waters to rise anymore. They only expect it to drop. It is no longer raining.
So they don't think those people are in immediate danger, but they will need rescue. And there's no way right now, without getting picked up by a boat or a helicopter, that they can get out of the hotels between the water and between the ocean. As far as looking for the deer and the alligators, there are zoo employees walking around right now with guns and rifles, tranquilizer guns and rifles, looking for those animals.
NGUYEN: What a situation there. CNN's Gary Tuchman, thank you so much for that -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Well, spring break may seem like it is a long way away to you now. But in Panama City, it is never too early to worry about business at that crucial time year. And of course Ivan has ripped through the Panhandle, doing more damage than even a legion of hard- partying college students could leave behind. The big questions, can repairs be made to the structures, the beaches and the image?
CNN's Rick Sanchez is there with more on that -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, since you asked that question, Miles, let's start the story with that part of it.
Michael, follow me. Let's talk -- let's talk about the beach a little bit.
I've learned since I've been here, talking to city officials -- wow, this is not a hurricane-force wind, but certainly tropical storm. Last year they tried to refurbish these beaches, they spent millions and millions of dollars.
What they do, Miles -- you may be familiar with this -- they take a huge pipe, they take it out about a mile into the beach and they pump in new sand, thereby filling the beach which was depleted of that sand. After what they've gone through with Ivan here, it looks like they've lost a large portion of that, which means, from what you're looking at right now, that they're going to have to spend more money to redo that.
All right. I'm going get out of here, because it is just too difficult to even try and stand. Let me try and get back over here where I'm kind of sheltered by this -- by this building.
Now to the business at hand. And this is really the most important part of this story. I think there's a lesson to be drawn from what we've seen taking place in this particular coverage area that we've been focusing on.
This is the easternmost part of the Florida Panhandle, stretching all the way from Bay County, where we are now, through Gulf County, Marianna County and Calhoun County. And Calhoun County is where we've seen the deadliest part of this storm, a place called Blountstown, where we're told by EOC officials there now -- pardon me -- that some four people have lost their lives as a result of what may be either an F-2 or F-3 on the Fujita Scale, a tornado that literally devastated a particular community.
There were three other communities who were hit -- that were hit, one in Marianna County as well. But we're told that there are no serious injuries in those other communities, just an awful lot of things that have been torn apart. They say the swathe of it, as a matter of fact, the swatch of this tornado was about a mile-long, if you can believe that.
That's the very latest here in Panama City Beach. Miles back to you. O'BRIEN: All right. Rick Sanchez, thanks for that tour of the beach there. It looks like they might have to get the pipe back out there and start pumping again once the waters get calm. All right. Thank you very much.
Panhandle hospitals have themselves been casualties as Ivan comes ashore, losing power, gaining patience, all the while, in some cases, sustaining a lot of damage, too. We're joined on the phone now by Jim Montgomery, who is the -- excuse me -- Mary Jim Montgomery, my apologies, chief operating officer of the West Bay Medical Center in Panama City.
Can you hear me?
MARY JIM MONTGOMERY, WEST BAY MEDICAL CENTER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ms. Montgomery. Give us an update. How much damage, first of all, did your facility sustain?
MONTGOMERY: Our facility suffered minimal damage. We just have our -- we're on generator power now. We've been on generator power since about 12:30 last night, when a tornado hit about three blocks from here, destroyed some of the downtown Harrison Road. And we've been on generators since that time. Humidity is about 100 percent in the building, and we've got about 1,000 employees.
O'BRIEN: All right. And so the patients really were unaffected?
MONTGOMERY: The patients were unaffected, except for the heat. We have plenty of food and water. All that has been fine.
We've just suffered with the heat. We've had supplies, we've had a lot of resources, people calling. And we've got transformers coming in now.
O'BRIEN: How much of an influx of patients did you get on top of what you already had as a result of the storm?
MONTGOMERY: We had about seven victims that came in last night from the tornado. Others came in with heart problems during the night that were elderly patients in our community. We had to do a few surgeries and few heart casts.
But when the wind got up, the EMS trucks weren't able to run for a while. Several runs were due to the tornado tearing away at Parker, close to the hospital. It's about 10 miles.
O'BRIEN: Mary Jim Montgomery with the West Bay Medical Center there. Thank you very much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Miles, like you, she watched it come, she watched it grow, now she is watching it go. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins again from our weather center with the facts and figures and pictures and predictions regarding former Hurricane Ivan. That's the good news here, it's lost its hurricane status.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, officially now a tropical storm, Betty. So that's great news.
It has weakened further, but still a very strong tropical storm. Winds are 70 miles per hour. So that's just four shy of hurricane status. So still a very dangerous situation.
Location, 45 miles west-northwest of Montgomery now. So it has moved north and west of the city, and it is moving north-northeast at 14 miles per hour. So it started to take that turn a little bit now to the north and to the east, as we've expected it to do. But unfortunately, we think as it turns to the north and east it's going to start to slow down a little bit.
Tornadoes remain a big threat through this afternoon. You can see a large area that the watches are covering, and the tropical storm-force winds also extend out about 290 miles from the center of this storm.
We saw those winds gusting with Rick Sanchez down there in Panama City. You can see that this line, this squall line, continues to push through the area. So all within these squalls is when you're going to start to see some of those gusty winds, and that's also where the high threat of the tornadoes are. That should be moving into the Atlanta area we think within the next hour or so.
Forecast track has it slowing down as it moves across the Appalachians, extending through Knoxville, then heading on up towards West Virginia. And we do expect it to continue to weaken and eventually become a tropical depression and then start to stall out with a stationary front and not move very much.
The latest on Hurricane Jeanne now, still a hurricane moving across the Dominican Republic. Forecast track on Jeanne has it curving up to the north and to the west, heading through the Bahamas. And we'll be watching Florida and the Carolinas, we think, by early next week -- Betty.
NGUYEN: They just keep coming.
JERAS: Yes, they do.
NGUYEN: All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Gulf Shores, Alabama, it turns out that was pretty much ground zero, the bull's eye for Hurricane Ivan, as that big storm came ashore and went, as we say, sort of feet dry, if you will, from Category 4 to Category 3. Nevertheless, huge storm surge.
CNN's Gary Tuchman is at that location, and he's been walking around, telling us amazing tales about loose animals and high waters -- Gary.
TUCHMAN: Miles, we wanted to give you a live look as soon as we could at the devastation here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. This was yesterday the major thoroughfare going to the beach. This is a seven- block area from here to the end of the street where the beach is. It is now, as you can see, almost like a rapids. It points -- it's eight or nine feet deep. And you can see refuse has just washed up.
This gives you an idea what we're dealing with here. This is the very beginning of the flooding, but it goes back there, and officials tell us it's nine or 10 feet deep.
We were doing live reports here all day yesterday in the early afternoon and evening. Before the winds got intense, before the rains even started getting heavy, the water was up to our knees. At that point, we decided it was unsafe to stay here any longer, and we left the barrier island. And obviously it turned out to be a very good decision.
What we are being told right now, at the very end of the street, about six blocks down, are high-rise hotels, and we are told there are people inside those hotels. There is no way for them to get out right now. They are surrounded by these raging floodwaters, and they are surrounded on the other side by the Gulf of Mexico.
They're not in immediate danger because the waters will only start going down because the rains have stopped. But this is incredible, because this is a town, population 5,000 year-round, that right now is almost completely under water.
They've had flooding problems here before, but nothing to this extent. But then there's this added twist to the story.
Over here there is a zoo, the Gulf Shores Zoo. And you can't see it from here, but the Gulf Shores Zoo is also under eight to nine feet of water.
Two hundred and seventy-five animals inside the zoo. Most of the animals were evacuated in advance. Officials knew they were going to have a problem. But they weren't able to evacuate all the animals, including about 20 deer and about 12 alligators.
Well, as we speak, 13 of the deer are still on the loose. A short time ago, a very sad sight. We saw a deer, a frightened deer bounding through the water here. And right now that deer is going down the street.
They are walking around, zoo employees, with tranquilizer guns to shoot the deer and put them to sleep so they can rescue them. Just about 15 minutes ago, we're told a white deer -- a white buck was tranquilized and is now being brought for medical treatment.
However, the alligators are a whole other story. They have guns to shoot and kill them, they can't tranquilize the alligators.
About 30 minutes ago, they found an alligator swimming around near us. They shot it, it's right now in the back of a truck dead.
They're still looking for six alligators, including, we are told by zoo officials, one alligator who is 12 feet long, weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds, goes by the name of Chuckie, was a very popular tourist sight here. But we are told, if you run across Chuckie, Chuckie could grab you by the leg, pull you under and literally have you for a meal.
So they're being very careful. They're not allowing anyone in the zoo right now because of that, because they're looking for Chuckie. So it really is very sad.
You can see here, this is rubble, this is the end of where the water was brought up. But this is rubble that was washed up from the beaches, from the real estate that is on the beach. And you can see just garbage, and you can see straw, and you can see wood that is washed up on the beach.
So the situation here is a very difficult one right now. You have a town, a very popular tourist destination here in the state of Alabama that is under water. The Gulf of Mexico has come six blocks to the north.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That's your first look at what is going to be an ongoing story as that part of the world, a beautiful part of world, tries to recover, up to and including capturing alligators of all things.
Let's take a look at where things stand, big picture now with what is now former Hurricane Ivan state by state. We're going to walk you right through it.
Mobile, Alabama, dodged a big one. That's the words form the mayor there. Ivan is still moving over the state, however, despite a direct hit. No deaths were reported in Alabama.
Jeb Bush, governor of the very hard-hit Florida, is asking his brother for the third disaster declaration in a month. Tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Ivan killed at least seven in that state.
Four sick and elderly evacuees in Louisiana were among the first deaths reported from the storm. All four had either just evacuated or were in the process of getting out.
And more than 70,000 people woke up without electricity this morning in Mississippi. The governor now says that number more than doubled as bad weather continued.
NGUYEN: Well, if you happened to miss CNN's coverage of Ivan's landfall overnight, you missed the always elegant Anderson Cooper looking, well, like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know if my mom's probably watching she's not all that thrilled. But it's actually -- we're very safe. We took a long time to pick this location...
(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: The best of the worst of Ivan later right here on of LIVE FROM.
But next, find out why you won't hear either candidate talking about the flap over the president's military record. We're back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now to the war in Iraq, and more kidnappings. This time, two Americans and a Briton are abducted. They were taken from a house in an upscale Baghdad area.
The Americans were identified as Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong. The abductions bring to eight the number of westerners currently held hostage in Iraq.
There's a new troubling forecast for Iraq from U.S. intelligence -- officials, that is. A top secret intelligence report says the security outlook for that country is not looking good. In the worst case, it speculates a civil war could break out before the end of 2005. We'll have more on the report and analysis with intelligence expert Ken Robinson right after the break -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: That less than rosy assessment of the U.S. military situation in Iraq is fuel to the campaign fire, as it were, for the man who wants to be the next commander in chief. In Wisconsin yesterday, John Kerry due in Las Vegas this afternoon. He's gambling on a hands-off approach to the president's National Guard record.
Our Frank Buckley is with the campaign as always.
Hello, Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Miles.
Senator Kerry is leaving it to Democratic operatives to press the president on those questions that are outstanding, regarding whether or not President Bush fulfilled his service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago. Of course, the president has said he received an honorable discharge when he did, in fact, fulfill his service in the National Guard.
But keeping Senator Kerry out of that discussion, out of that debate allows him to stay above the fray, according to the campaign. And it also allows him to concentrate on whatever message of the day that he's trying to get out. And increasingly, part of that message is a forceful critique of the president's management of the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AUDIENCE: Kerry! Kerry! Kerry!
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry frequently criticizes President Bush on the war in Iraq, as he did yesterday at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No decision that this president has made is more disastrous than the decision that he made in Iraq. We said, "Mr. President, don't rush to war."
BUCKLEY: But when it comes to another military matter, questions surrounding President Bush's service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did President Bush fulfill his National Guard obligations?
BUCKLEY: ... Kerry remained silent. And when he speaks to the National Guard Association today, a seemingly perfect opportunity to keep the issue alive, he is expected to steer clear of the issue again. Instead, criticizing the president on how guardsmen and women have been deployed during his administration.
KERRY: The Guard and the Reserve have been turned into almost active duty, and you have what is a backdoor draft that has been put into effect. People serving beyond the time of their voluntary service are no longer volunteers.
BUCKLEY: While Kerry personally is staying above the fray when it comes to Bush's National Guard service, Democratic operatives are doing their best to keep the issue alive. Their hope, it will hurt Bush in the same way the Swift Boat controversy hurt Kerry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And it's believed -- or we have some excerpts of Senator Kerry's speech that's about to take place here in about an hour here before the National Guard Association. He believes -- Senator Kerry believes that the president, as he put it, glossed over the situation in Iraq when the president addressed this group. He will tell this organization, "He failed to tell you the truth" -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Frank, does this particular strategy that we're seeing unfold right now -- hope you can hear me all right -- does this particular strategy bear the imprint of these former Clinton campaign veterans who are now a part of the Kerry campaign?
BUCKLEY: Well, certainly, the Clinton team, if you will, that's come onboard has helped the Kerry campaign to sharpen its message. It is trying to influence the Kerry campaign to pick a few themes and to hammer away at those themes. And it appears as if, Miles, that that strategy is working its way into the Kerry campaign.
O'BRIEN: All right. Frank Buckley with the Kerry campaign in Las Vegas. Thank you very much.
Please join us later today for coverage of Senator Kerry's address in Las Vegas. That's a little more than an hour from now. Actually, I think Frank just said about a half-hour from now. In any case, we'll bring it to you as it happens, and of course there will be more on it later on "INSIDE POLITICS," which begins at 3:00 Eastern.
President Bush's campaign also steering clear of his service issues. Today he's all about health care. His message to supporters in St. Cloud, Minnesota: patience should make health care decisions, not their elected leaders.
Mr. Bush painted John Kerry today as in favor of expanding government not opportunity. Recent polls show Minnesota, like so many places, too close to call.
NGUYEN: And we'll have more on the top secret report on Iraq. That's coming up. Will it change anything on the ground or in the White House?
And we'll talk to the NASA meteorologist who helps forecast the track of hurricanes such as Ivan and Frances and Charley and Jeanne, and we could go on and on. The view from space later on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: More now on that top secret intelligence report on security in Iraq that we've been telling you about. The national intelligence estimate speaks of a bleak future, possibility of civil war in Iraq. A different picture than the one presented by administration officials publicly.
Joining us now with his take on the report and why it's out now, CNN military intelligence analyst, Ken Robinson.
Ken, good to have you with us.
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Why this leak? Why now?
ROBINSON: I think that, you know, you never know in Washington which branch of government is going to leak something or what their motivations were. But if you look at the timing of when this report was written, it was written at the transition between the Coalition Provisional Authority and a sovereign Iraq.
And it was written to try to look into the future and determine what that future might look like. And it was asked for by Director Tenet himself on his way out. So there may be motivations to just show a hard hitting assessment because everyone smells the national intelligence being reorganized.
O'BRIEN: And is it possible that the intelligence community wants to get on record with this, make sure everybody knows they know this, in case thing go south in Iraq?
ROBINSON: I think there's a public information aspect to the leak, because the members of the intelligence community in all of the departments and agencies have someone who's a recipient of the national intelligence estimate. But there's a public information component to it, I think, yes.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, how much credibility, though, does a national intelligence estimate have? The one that we've talked so much about, October of 2002, was the one that talked -- well, I don't know if it said it in the actual estimate, but this is the essential slam dunk, weapons of mass destruction estimate. So is there a lot of credibility there?
ROBINSON: Well, you know, the National Intelligence Council is supposed to be an independent arm working directly for the community. And it's supposed to be the best community assessment of what they have. And there's still an enormous debate over what people knew and when they knew it of Iraq's behavior and recalcitrance and their inertia to try to deny, delay, obfuscate weapons inspectors.
And so the whole issue of what did people really know about Iraqi WMD I think is a historical thing that the final chapter is still not written. Whether this report is hard-hitting enough, I think it is.
I think it is because it predicts the obvious. That is, that there are tectonic plates at place within Iraq within groups between Arab and Kurd, between Sunni and Shia, between secular and Islamists that could lead to civil war, because there are large actors at play right now in Saudi Arabia and in Iran who are trying to influence what the future is going to look like in that monstrous wealthy country.
O'BRIEN: A lot to unfold. Ken Robinson, thank you very much. Appreciate the insights.
ROBINSON: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: More live coverage of Hurricane Ivan up next. We're live in Pensacola, where a hospital found itself right in the line of fire.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 16, 2004 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips is off today.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: We begin this hour with an eyefull of Ivan. Floods, destruction, several deaths and a few surprises in a storm millions had spent days preparing for.
Ivan's winds are dropping, of course, almost 12 hours after its well-defined eye came ashore. Moments ago, in fact, we just told you it was downgraded to a tropical storm. But its forward momentum is brisk, and both those factors are giving Alabamians and Georgians cautious hope that Ivan may not drop as much rain as predicted.
Did I say rain? This is Mobile, Alabama, overnight. Ivan's eye wall crashing onto the shore as a Category 3 event, but a high three. Top winds of 130 miles an hour.
Mobile by day, a picture of disaster. But that city's mayor tells CNN -- and believe this or not -- "We dodged a big one." That's because Ivan's really bad side hit well to the east, as is typical, and there are typical results. The Florida Panhandle, the primary East-West Highway there no longer crosses Escambia Bay, and will not for the foreseeable future. You see why.
A big rig driver who apparently took his chances ended up trapped when portions of the bridge collapsed. So far at least eight are dead in northwest Florida, also far from tornadoes.
NGUYEN: The place where Ivan's eye stormed ashore, Gulf Shores, Alabama. It's now one big pool of water. Our Gary Tuchman is there and joins me by phone with the latest on the enormous flooding in that area -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty, that is the word, enormous. Much of Gulf Shores Beach, this barrier island on the southern coast of Alabama, it's under water. And in some cases, the water, we are being told, is up to nine to 10 feet deep
Now, I'm standing right now on the banks of the water. We were here yesterday doing live reports. And about hour after the rain started, the water was up to our knees, and we decided we better leave the barrier island. That was a good decision, because now we see signs, we see parts of homes, we see chairs, we see belongings floating through water that looks like the Colorado Rapids running through the streets.
There are waves. It literally looks like the Gulf of Mexico has been expanded by a half a mile to the north. And here's the sad part of the story.
Right next to where the water ends is a zoo, the Gulf Shores Zoo. The zoo has 275 animals, apes, lions, tigers, bears. Most of the animals were brought to safe places before the storm hit. But not all the animals were able to be taken out.
There were about 20 deer that were left and a number of alligators. Well, as we speak, 13 deer are on the loose. We just saw about 30 minutes one of the deer swimming and running through the water in the streets of Gulf Shores, a deer with antlers.
Thirteen deer are still missing. We are told six alligators are still missing. It was seven alligators, but one was just found and shot a few minutes ago.
They are going to tranquilize the deer if they find him with tranquilizer guns, but they have to shoot the alligators. One of the alligators that is missing we are told is 12 feet long, weighs 1,000 pounds, and his name is Chuckie. And we are told that if anyone encounters Chuckie they better realize it's a bad day, because Chuckie has the capability of grabbing you and pulling you under and eating you for a meal.
So everyone is being kept away from the zoo area, which is also under eight feet of water. So this has really been quite a hurricane.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: Very dangerous situation there. You talk about the people trying to get those animals, the alligators and the deer. How are they maneuvering in these floodwaters? Are emergency crews able to get out to people in need?
TUCHMAN: Well, we don't believe there are any people in need right now who are in danger of drowning from these waters. We do know, however, that there are some people in high-rise hotels between the waters that are nine feet deep and between the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, that sounds dangerous at first, but they don't expect the waters to rise anymore. They only expect it to drop. It is no longer raining.
So they don't think those people are in immediate danger, but they will need rescue. And there's no way right now, without getting picked up by a boat or a helicopter, that they can get out of the hotels between the water and between the ocean. As far as looking for the deer and the alligators, there are zoo employees walking around right now with guns and rifles, tranquilizer guns and rifles, looking for those animals.
NGUYEN: What a situation there. CNN's Gary Tuchman, thank you so much for that -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Well, spring break may seem like it is a long way away to you now. But in Panama City, it is never too early to worry about business at that crucial time year. And of course Ivan has ripped through the Panhandle, doing more damage than even a legion of hard- partying college students could leave behind. The big questions, can repairs be made to the structures, the beaches and the image?
CNN's Rick Sanchez is there with more on that -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, since you asked that question, Miles, let's start the story with that part of it.
Michael, follow me. Let's talk -- let's talk about the beach a little bit.
I've learned since I've been here, talking to city officials -- wow, this is not a hurricane-force wind, but certainly tropical storm. Last year they tried to refurbish these beaches, they spent millions and millions of dollars.
What they do, Miles -- you may be familiar with this -- they take a huge pipe, they take it out about a mile into the beach and they pump in new sand, thereby filling the beach which was depleted of that sand. After what they've gone through with Ivan here, it looks like they've lost a large portion of that, which means, from what you're looking at right now, that they're going to have to spend more money to redo that.
All right. I'm going get out of here, because it is just too difficult to even try and stand. Let me try and get back over here where I'm kind of sheltered by this -- by this building.
Now to the business at hand. And this is really the most important part of this story. I think there's a lesson to be drawn from what we've seen taking place in this particular coverage area that we've been focusing on.
This is the easternmost part of the Florida Panhandle, stretching all the way from Bay County, where we are now, through Gulf County, Marianna County and Calhoun County. And Calhoun County is where we've seen the deadliest part of this storm, a place called Blountstown, where we're told by EOC officials there now -- pardon me -- that some four people have lost their lives as a result of what may be either an F-2 or F-3 on the Fujita Scale, a tornado that literally devastated a particular community.
There were three other communities who were hit -- that were hit, one in Marianna County as well. But we're told that there are no serious injuries in those other communities, just an awful lot of things that have been torn apart. They say the swathe of it, as a matter of fact, the swatch of this tornado was about a mile-long, if you can believe that.
That's the very latest here in Panama City Beach. Miles back to you. O'BRIEN: All right. Rick Sanchez, thanks for that tour of the beach there. It looks like they might have to get the pipe back out there and start pumping again once the waters get calm. All right. Thank you very much.
Panhandle hospitals have themselves been casualties as Ivan comes ashore, losing power, gaining patience, all the while, in some cases, sustaining a lot of damage, too. We're joined on the phone now by Jim Montgomery, who is the -- excuse me -- Mary Jim Montgomery, my apologies, chief operating officer of the West Bay Medical Center in Panama City.
Can you hear me?
MARY JIM MONTGOMERY, WEST BAY MEDICAL CENTER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ms. Montgomery. Give us an update. How much damage, first of all, did your facility sustain?
MONTGOMERY: Our facility suffered minimal damage. We just have our -- we're on generator power now. We've been on generator power since about 12:30 last night, when a tornado hit about three blocks from here, destroyed some of the downtown Harrison Road. And we've been on generators since that time. Humidity is about 100 percent in the building, and we've got about 1,000 employees.
O'BRIEN: All right. And so the patients really were unaffected?
MONTGOMERY: The patients were unaffected, except for the heat. We have plenty of food and water. All that has been fine.
We've just suffered with the heat. We've had supplies, we've had a lot of resources, people calling. And we've got transformers coming in now.
O'BRIEN: How much of an influx of patients did you get on top of what you already had as a result of the storm?
MONTGOMERY: We had about seven victims that came in last night from the tornado. Others came in with heart problems during the night that were elderly patients in our community. We had to do a few surgeries and few heart casts.
But when the wind got up, the EMS trucks weren't able to run for a while. Several runs were due to the tornado tearing away at Parker, close to the hospital. It's about 10 miles.
O'BRIEN: Mary Jim Montgomery with the West Bay Medical Center there. Thank you very much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Miles, like you, she watched it come, she watched it grow, now she is watching it go. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins again from our weather center with the facts and figures and pictures and predictions regarding former Hurricane Ivan. That's the good news here, it's lost its hurricane status.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, officially now a tropical storm, Betty. So that's great news.
It has weakened further, but still a very strong tropical storm. Winds are 70 miles per hour. So that's just four shy of hurricane status. So still a very dangerous situation.
Location, 45 miles west-northwest of Montgomery now. So it has moved north and west of the city, and it is moving north-northeast at 14 miles per hour. So it started to take that turn a little bit now to the north and to the east, as we've expected it to do. But unfortunately, we think as it turns to the north and east it's going to start to slow down a little bit.
Tornadoes remain a big threat through this afternoon. You can see a large area that the watches are covering, and the tropical storm-force winds also extend out about 290 miles from the center of this storm.
We saw those winds gusting with Rick Sanchez down there in Panama City. You can see that this line, this squall line, continues to push through the area. So all within these squalls is when you're going to start to see some of those gusty winds, and that's also where the high threat of the tornadoes are. That should be moving into the Atlanta area we think within the next hour or so.
Forecast track has it slowing down as it moves across the Appalachians, extending through Knoxville, then heading on up towards West Virginia. And we do expect it to continue to weaken and eventually become a tropical depression and then start to stall out with a stationary front and not move very much.
The latest on Hurricane Jeanne now, still a hurricane moving across the Dominican Republic. Forecast track on Jeanne has it curving up to the north and to the west, heading through the Bahamas. And we'll be watching Florida and the Carolinas, we think, by early next week -- Betty.
NGUYEN: They just keep coming.
JERAS: Yes, they do.
NGUYEN: All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Gulf Shores, Alabama, it turns out that was pretty much ground zero, the bull's eye for Hurricane Ivan, as that big storm came ashore and went, as we say, sort of feet dry, if you will, from Category 4 to Category 3. Nevertheless, huge storm surge.
CNN's Gary Tuchman is at that location, and he's been walking around, telling us amazing tales about loose animals and high waters -- Gary.
TUCHMAN: Miles, we wanted to give you a live look as soon as we could at the devastation here in Gulf Shores, Alabama. This was yesterday the major thoroughfare going to the beach. This is a seven- block area from here to the end of the street where the beach is. It is now, as you can see, almost like a rapids. It points -- it's eight or nine feet deep. And you can see refuse has just washed up.
This gives you an idea what we're dealing with here. This is the very beginning of the flooding, but it goes back there, and officials tell us it's nine or 10 feet deep.
We were doing live reports here all day yesterday in the early afternoon and evening. Before the winds got intense, before the rains even started getting heavy, the water was up to our knees. At that point, we decided it was unsafe to stay here any longer, and we left the barrier island. And obviously it turned out to be a very good decision.
What we are being told right now, at the very end of the street, about six blocks down, are high-rise hotels, and we are told there are people inside those hotels. There is no way for them to get out right now. They are surrounded by these raging floodwaters, and they are surrounded on the other side by the Gulf of Mexico.
They're not in immediate danger because the waters will only start going down because the rains have stopped. But this is incredible, because this is a town, population 5,000 year-round, that right now is almost completely under water.
They've had flooding problems here before, but nothing to this extent. But then there's this added twist to the story.
Over here there is a zoo, the Gulf Shores Zoo. And you can't see it from here, but the Gulf Shores Zoo is also under eight to nine feet of water.
Two hundred and seventy-five animals inside the zoo. Most of the animals were evacuated in advance. Officials knew they were going to have a problem. But they weren't able to evacuate all the animals, including about 20 deer and about 12 alligators.
Well, as we speak, 13 of the deer are still on the loose. A short time ago, a very sad sight. We saw a deer, a frightened deer bounding through the water here. And right now that deer is going down the street.
They are walking around, zoo employees, with tranquilizer guns to shoot the deer and put them to sleep so they can rescue them. Just about 15 minutes ago, we're told a white deer -- a white buck was tranquilized and is now being brought for medical treatment.
However, the alligators are a whole other story. They have guns to shoot and kill them, they can't tranquilize the alligators.
About 30 minutes ago, they found an alligator swimming around near us. They shot it, it's right now in the back of a truck dead.
They're still looking for six alligators, including, we are told by zoo officials, one alligator who is 12 feet long, weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds, goes by the name of Chuckie, was a very popular tourist sight here. But we are told, if you run across Chuckie, Chuckie could grab you by the leg, pull you under and literally have you for a meal.
So they're being very careful. They're not allowing anyone in the zoo right now because of that, because they're looking for Chuckie. So it really is very sad.
You can see here, this is rubble, this is the end of where the water was brought up. But this is rubble that was washed up from the beaches, from the real estate that is on the beach. And you can see just garbage, and you can see straw, and you can see wood that is washed up on the beach.
So the situation here is a very difficult one right now. You have a town, a very popular tourist destination here in the state of Alabama that is under water. The Gulf of Mexico has come six blocks to the north.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That's your first look at what is going to be an ongoing story as that part of the world, a beautiful part of world, tries to recover, up to and including capturing alligators of all things.
Let's take a look at where things stand, big picture now with what is now former Hurricane Ivan state by state. We're going to walk you right through it.
Mobile, Alabama, dodged a big one. That's the words form the mayor there. Ivan is still moving over the state, however, despite a direct hit. No deaths were reported in Alabama.
Jeb Bush, governor of the very hard-hit Florida, is asking his brother for the third disaster declaration in a month. Tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Ivan killed at least seven in that state.
Four sick and elderly evacuees in Louisiana were among the first deaths reported from the storm. All four had either just evacuated or were in the process of getting out.
And more than 70,000 people woke up without electricity this morning in Mississippi. The governor now says that number more than doubled as bad weather continued.
NGUYEN: Well, if you happened to miss CNN's coverage of Ivan's landfall overnight, you missed the always elegant Anderson Cooper looking, well, like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know if my mom's probably watching she's not all that thrilled. But it's actually -- we're very safe. We took a long time to pick this location...
(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: The best of the worst of Ivan later right here on of LIVE FROM.
But next, find out why you won't hear either candidate talking about the flap over the president's military record. We're back right after this.
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NGUYEN: Now to the war in Iraq, and more kidnappings. This time, two Americans and a Briton are abducted. They were taken from a house in an upscale Baghdad area.
The Americans were identified as Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong. The abductions bring to eight the number of westerners currently held hostage in Iraq.
There's a new troubling forecast for Iraq from U.S. intelligence -- officials, that is. A top secret intelligence report says the security outlook for that country is not looking good. In the worst case, it speculates a civil war could break out before the end of 2005. We'll have more on the report and analysis with intelligence expert Ken Robinson right after the break -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: That less than rosy assessment of the U.S. military situation in Iraq is fuel to the campaign fire, as it were, for the man who wants to be the next commander in chief. In Wisconsin yesterday, John Kerry due in Las Vegas this afternoon. He's gambling on a hands-off approach to the president's National Guard record.
Our Frank Buckley is with the campaign as always.
Hello, Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Miles.
Senator Kerry is leaving it to Democratic operatives to press the president on those questions that are outstanding, regarding whether or not President Bush fulfilled his service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago. Of course, the president has said he received an honorable discharge when he did, in fact, fulfill his service in the National Guard.
But keeping Senator Kerry out of that discussion, out of that debate allows him to stay above the fray, according to the campaign. And it also allows him to concentrate on whatever message of the day that he's trying to get out. And increasingly, part of that message is a forceful critique of the president's management of the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AUDIENCE: Kerry! Kerry! Kerry!
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry frequently criticizes President Bush on the war in Iraq, as he did yesterday at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No decision that this president has made is more disastrous than the decision that he made in Iraq. We said, "Mr. President, don't rush to war."
BUCKLEY: But when it comes to another military matter, questions surrounding President Bush's service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did President Bush fulfill his National Guard obligations?
BUCKLEY: ... Kerry remained silent. And when he speaks to the National Guard Association today, a seemingly perfect opportunity to keep the issue alive, he is expected to steer clear of the issue again. Instead, criticizing the president on how guardsmen and women have been deployed during his administration.
KERRY: The Guard and the Reserve have been turned into almost active duty, and you have what is a backdoor draft that has been put into effect. People serving beyond the time of their voluntary service are no longer volunteers.
BUCKLEY: While Kerry personally is staying above the fray when it comes to Bush's National Guard service, Democratic operatives are doing their best to keep the issue alive. Their hope, it will hurt Bush in the same way the Swift Boat controversy hurt Kerry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And it's believed -- or we have some excerpts of Senator Kerry's speech that's about to take place here in about an hour here before the National Guard Association. He believes -- Senator Kerry believes that the president, as he put it, glossed over the situation in Iraq when the president addressed this group. He will tell this organization, "He failed to tell you the truth" -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Frank, does this particular strategy that we're seeing unfold right now -- hope you can hear me all right -- does this particular strategy bear the imprint of these former Clinton campaign veterans who are now a part of the Kerry campaign?
BUCKLEY: Well, certainly, the Clinton team, if you will, that's come onboard has helped the Kerry campaign to sharpen its message. It is trying to influence the Kerry campaign to pick a few themes and to hammer away at those themes. And it appears as if, Miles, that that strategy is working its way into the Kerry campaign.
O'BRIEN: All right. Frank Buckley with the Kerry campaign in Las Vegas. Thank you very much.
Please join us later today for coverage of Senator Kerry's address in Las Vegas. That's a little more than an hour from now. Actually, I think Frank just said about a half-hour from now. In any case, we'll bring it to you as it happens, and of course there will be more on it later on "INSIDE POLITICS," which begins at 3:00 Eastern.
President Bush's campaign also steering clear of his service issues. Today he's all about health care. His message to supporters in St. Cloud, Minnesota: patience should make health care decisions, not their elected leaders.
Mr. Bush painted John Kerry today as in favor of expanding government not opportunity. Recent polls show Minnesota, like so many places, too close to call.
NGUYEN: And we'll have more on the top secret report on Iraq. That's coming up. Will it change anything on the ground or in the White House?
And we'll talk to the NASA meteorologist who helps forecast the track of hurricanes such as Ivan and Frances and Charley and Jeanne, and we could go on and on. The view from space later on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: More now on that top secret intelligence report on security in Iraq that we've been telling you about. The national intelligence estimate speaks of a bleak future, possibility of civil war in Iraq. A different picture than the one presented by administration officials publicly.
Joining us now with his take on the report and why it's out now, CNN military intelligence analyst, Ken Robinson.
Ken, good to have you with us.
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Why this leak? Why now?
ROBINSON: I think that, you know, you never know in Washington which branch of government is going to leak something or what their motivations were. But if you look at the timing of when this report was written, it was written at the transition between the Coalition Provisional Authority and a sovereign Iraq.
And it was written to try to look into the future and determine what that future might look like. And it was asked for by Director Tenet himself on his way out. So there may be motivations to just show a hard hitting assessment because everyone smells the national intelligence being reorganized.
O'BRIEN: And is it possible that the intelligence community wants to get on record with this, make sure everybody knows they know this, in case thing go south in Iraq?
ROBINSON: I think there's a public information aspect to the leak, because the members of the intelligence community in all of the departments and agencies have someone who's a recipient of the national intelligence estimate. But there's a public information component to it, I think, yes.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, how much credibility, though, does a national intelligence estimate have? The one that we've talked so much about, October of 2002, was the one that talked -- well, I don't know if it said it in the actual estimate, but this is the essential slam dunk, weapons of mass destruction estimate. So is there a lot of credibility there?
ROBINSON: Well, you know, the National Intelligence Council is supposed to be an independent arm working directly for the community. And it's supposed to be the best community assessment of what they have. And there's still an enormous debate over what people knew and when they knew it of Iraq's behavior and recalcitrance and their inertia to try to deny, delay, obfuscate weapons inspectors.
And so the whole issue of what did people really know about Iraqi WMD I think is a historical thing that the final chapter is still not written. Whether this report is hard-hitting enough, I think it is.
I think it is because it predicts the obvious. That is, that there are tectonic plates at place within Iraq within groups between Arab and Kurd, between Sunni and Shia, between secular and Islamists that could lead to civil war, because there are large actors at play right now in Saudi Arabia and in Iran who are trying to influence what the future is going to look like in that monstrous wealthy country.
O'BRIEN: A lot to unfold. Ken Robinson, thank you very much. Appreciate the insights.
ROBINSON: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: More live coverage of Hurricane Ivan up next. We're live in Pensacola, where a hospital found itself right in the line of fire.
Stay with us.
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