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Relentless Rain Causes Mudslides, Flooding in California; Investigators Looking for Cause of South Carolina Fatal Train Wreck; Randy Moss End Zone Gesture Stirs Controversy
Aired January 10, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: It was one of several attacks that claimed more than a dozen lives, including two U.S. soldiers with Task Force Baghdad.
Insurgents also detonated explosives outside two Baghdad schools which were intended to serve as polling sites on January 30 for the elections there.
Mahmoud Abbas was declared the winner of yesterday's Palestinian presidential election. During his campaign, Abbas said he wanted to meet soon with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon about resuming peace negotiations.
President Bush congratulated Abbas and said he would be welcome at the White House, an offer that he refused to extend to the previous leader, Yasser Arafat, who died, as you remember, back in November.
And a small step back toward normalcy. Schools are starting to reopen in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Administrators and teachers hope that returning something familiar will help children who survived the tsunami disaster.
Meanwhile, though, President Bush is keeping a close eye on where U.S. aid and dollars are going. Although he didn't promise more money right now, Mr. Bush said the U.S. remains committed to helping.
And CBS lowers the boom on four of its own. The employees, including three executives, were ousted after a closer look at the critical "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National Guard service.
An independent panel concluded that a myopic zeal led to the program to air a story based on documents that were allegedly forged.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: So what do estates in Hollywood Hills have in common with mobile homes in Santa Clarita? They're all at the mercy of ferocious flooding caused by days and days and days of heavy rain.
This mobile home became far more mobile than it was meant to, while its owner was standing nearby doing a television interview.
Miles away, a 5,000 square foot, non-mobile home was crushed in a mudslide. But in neither of these cases was anyone hurt, we're glad to tell you. Across the region, though, nine deaths are blamed on the water thus far.
We get the latest on all of this from CNN's Peter Viles, right in the thick of things. And we sort of mean that in this case, in Santa Clarita.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a very high stakes rescue mission going on at the moment in Santa Clarita, California.
This mobile home park behind me is threatened by a flash flood. The river you see in the foreground has just formed in the last of couple days in a dry creek bed. Workers are trying to dig that river a little deeper and put up banks on both sides to keep the water where it is and keep it away from those homes over there.
Now, four or five of those homes are already lost. They've got a foot or two of water inside them. They've been washed off their foundation. But another 100 homes behind that are at risk.
Now, there aren't any people back there. They were all evacuated last night and taken to a local shelter. But this morning a number of the homeowners did trickle down to stand on a bank across the river, look over there at their property.
We were actually speaking to one of those homeowners at the moment when he lost his home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just saw it fall five -- two minutes ago. Less than two minutes ago it fell. But yesterday I had two sheds and a half pipe, and this is two days ago. This is like two minutes ago.
VILES: Now, as you might imagine throughout the Los Angeles region, the biggest problem has been traffic on the roadways. The roadways are covered in water, sometimes flash flooding. There are mudslides; there are rockslides.
Yesterday up in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, this vehicle skidded on a patch of mud, went into the Pacific Ocean. There were five people in that vehicle. Four of them were rescued, but one did die in that car accident.
Now the heavy flooding on the roadways is snarling traffic as far down as Temecula, which is almost as far south as San Diego. You see scenes like this, where people have to abandon their cars in the roadways. Very dangerous.
There have been a number of dramatic rescue missions, though, particularly in the Hollywood hills. A mudslide there collapsed and crushed a very large house. Miraculously, no serious injuries at this house. In fact, a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were rescued from that home yesterday when it was collapsed by a mudslide.
Latest weather forecasts call for continuing rain all day today in the Los Angeles region, and more rain again on Tuesday before finally we get some clearing in the region on Wednesday. Peter Viles, CNN, Santa Clarita, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now to the one that almost got away. The scene is Coyote Creek in Cerritos, southeast of L.A. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be ready to grab the rope, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope. Grab it tight! Grab it tight! Come on now, come on, come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in the water!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in the water!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him a vest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a vest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brace it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Wow. The man made it to land minus his trousers, of course, and a BMW, but without any major injuries.
Well, the man's two children were rescued a little less dramatically before the car was swept two miles downstream. Overall, it made for quite a day, not just for them, but for the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. TOM MCGAULEY, SANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had one vehicle that was actually in the riverbed itself. We had approximately 40 bystanders that were up on board the bridge at the railing.
They were attempting at that time to remove two of the females from the vehicle itself. We arrived on scene, assisted them, and the vehicle was actually floating down the riverbed. So it had to be pinched at that time.
We were able to assist them, get those first two females out of the vehicle, and then the vehicle continued to float underneath the bridge out of our view.
Our initial response, we went ahead and moved units further downstream in case we had to utilize them, and it became apparent at that time we had to utilize those.
CAPT. MIKE YULE, SANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT: During that time we had people that were actually running the river bank and keeping an eye on him. Captain McGauley on Engine 81 and myself on Truck 811 went down one of the main streets and set up at the bridge. And we had visual with him the whole time and set up the rope systems to get him out of the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Let's get the big picture now from meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.
What a mess out there, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Thank you, Jacqui.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, is the weather phenomenon known as El Nino at the root of these furious winter storm systems? We tend to blame it when these things occur. Turns out that may not be case.
Ed Olenic is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's climate prediction center in Maryland. He's in San Diego for a big conference there, joins us from there.
Ed, good to have you with us.
ED OLENIC, NOAA CLIMATE PREDICATION CENTER: Hi, Miles. I'm glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: All right. It's kind of the opposite of El Nino, isn't it, that some are looking at the Madden-Julian Oscillation. What is that all about?
OLENIC: The Madden-Julian Oscillation is a area of cloudiness and dryness, sort of alternating regions, that move around the globe and the tropics in about a 30- to 60-day time frame.
And it's not always there. It's not always the same strength. And it's kind of messy, but it does seem to have some ability to affect the weather in the middle latitudes.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, let's look at a graphic, which viewers, you will forgive us, might seem a little messy. It's kind of -- we're zooming in on a rather small graphic off of the NOAA web site.
But I think you get the outline, certainly, of North America over here and this is the African continent. Now, in the middle here is what you want to focus our attention right on at the moment. Tell us --- this is, by the way, the last month essentially that we're seeing scroll through. What are we seeing here, Ed?
OLENIC: Well, what we're seeing is in green we see areas where the air is rising on average, and where there tends to be cloudiness. Those blue areas in there are deep clouds that can -- can affect the atmosphere.
And occasionally one of these things comes out into Indonesia, and it can cause a series of waves that can change the pattern over the United States.
O'BRIEN: OK. So what's happening in Indonesia is linked somehow to what's going on in the West Coast, potentially, and how does this, these waves, how do they affect the weather so dramatically?
OLENIC: Well, as you can see what they've done perhaps over the last couple of weeks or so, occasionally one of these patterns that's very effective at making it wet in the west can be locked in place and kind of supported from the tropics by the Madden-Julian Oscillation. At least that's what we think right now.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now Jacqui was -- Jacqui Jeras was talking a few moments ago about this kind of Omega effect that occurs, kind of -- or you could call it the roller coaster effect if you're a layman.
What is that all about? Is that what brings -- is this the moisture coming up and then being dumped down into California? Is that what we're talking about?
OLENIC: Well, Omega is an old term that refers to the shape that the jet stream assumes sometimes when there's a blocking pattern in the atmosphere.
As you remember, the storms were coming down from the Gulf of Alaska, and then turning right and going through the southwest and out into the Ohio Valley. And if you look at that from a long distance away from the Earth, the pattern that the jet makes looks like an Omega, the Greek letter Omega.
O'BRIEN: Right. Is that -- is that linked at all to this MFO we've been talking about, or is that a separate effect that is also making matters worse?
OLENIC: Well, you know, it's -- it could be related. And that's the connection that we are researching at NOAA. We're hoping we can use this relationship, if there is one, to make forecasts out to two weeks or so a lot better than we can now.
O'BRIEN: Excellent. Ed Olenic, who is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. He's there at a big conference of meteorologist in San Diego.
Are you having good weather there? Probably not, right?
OLENIC: No. It's kind of lousy right now. But you know, looks like Wednesday is going to be a sunny day.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're going to take that one to the bank and we'll hold you accountable, Ed. We'll call you on Wednesday if there's a problem, all right? Thank you for your time. OLENIC: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Weather is not the only problem out west. All the snow in the Midwest last week melted, and the weather or the water had to go somewhere. Cresting rivers saw heavy flooding. That is just ahead.
Also a toxic train wreck in South Carolina kills nine. Days later, thousands are still banned from their homes. What investigators have discovered and why the scene is still so dangerous.
Plus later, Randy Moss' gesture to the Packer faithful and his response to fans who may not have liked it.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In our "Security Watch," we take a look at the vulnerability of the nation's railway system. Federal officials are still investigating last week's fatal train wreck in South Carolina. The wreck sent toxic gases into the air, killing several people.
And CNN's Heidi Collins is in Graniteville, South Carolina, with the latest for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Normally, behind me you would see quite a few cars traveling on U.S. 1, but today, this road is closed down right from Aiken all the way into Augusta, Georgia, which is usually a pretty busy thoroughfare for commuters.
But today to the left of me, there are police barricades, to the ride of me police barricades and really, the only activity here is at this command center trying to handle the aftermath of the crash.
This is still a very dangerous place. Even though the accident happened five days ago, you see the video now of exactly what happened as this train crashed into a parked train that was on the siding of the railroad tracks.
Chlorine was being carried in some of those 42 cars. The chlorine leaked and left nine people dead.
We want to get the very latest now from the NTSB and Debbie Hersman.
Debbie, what are you doing to find out how this -- how this all happened in the first place?
DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB: Well, our team arrived on scene and we've been able to do a number of things since we've gotten here. We were able to go in and recover the event reporter, which will tell us a lot about this train. It will tell us if the brakes were applied, how fast it was going.
We do know that the train engineer put the train into emergency before he arrived at the collision site. It took about 17 seconds for the speedometer to read zero after the brakes were applied.
We do know that the switch was lined and locked for the local side track, for the industrial side track. It should have been lined for the main track. We've been able to interview the three local crewmembers who worked that local train.
COLLINS: And were in -- or had been in charge of that parked train on the side?
HERSMAN: They were the last crew to work that area of track before the collision occurred.
COLLINS: And what have you gotten from that interview?
HERSMAN: We are still working on collecting documentation. We're going to be looking at the crew's work history. We're going to be looking at their rest periods. We're going to be looking at whether or not they had appropriate training.
We look at everything: mechanical, track. Our investigations are very exhaustive and we'll be looking at all the things that could have contributed to this accident.
COLLINS: All right. Debbie Hersman, thanks so much, from the NTSB.
HERSMAN: You're welcome.
COLLINS: So as you can see the story is far from over. In fact, there are still nearly 5,000 people displaced from their homes. They are being told they can't go back until Wednesday, at the earliest. There are schools that are closed, and children won't be going to school before Tuesday. So again, the story goes on.
From near Graniteville, South Carolina, I'm Heidi Collins, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: The Navy is investigating a deadly accident involving a nuclear submarine. Officials say the USS San Francisco hit an undersea mountain Saturday about 350 miles south of Guam. One sailor was killed, and 24 were injured.
Officials say the sub was traveling at a high speed, but it is not clear whether that was a factor. Sources tell us the vessel's nuclear reactor was not damaged.
O'BRIEN: News across America now.
Water, water everywhere. Heavy rainfall on top of melted snow has pushed the Ohio River above its banks in four states. The river expected to crest in Cincinnati today about five feet above flood stage.
A fiery crash shut down a northbound stretch of Interstate 95 in North Carolina until tomorrow afternoon. A tanker truck overturned and burst into flames. The truck driver is reported in critical condition.
There's word Army Specialist Charles Graner, the alleged ring leader in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, could take the stand in his military trial that's now under way in Texas.
Graner was seen posing in photos with Iraqi prisoners. One showed him piling naked prisoners in pyramids. Graner's attorney today said it wasn't torture but similar to a show put on by cheerleaders.
When we come back, has Randy Moss gone too far this time? His latest on field antic draws a little ire, shall we say?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, Randy Moss' homes (ph) to his teammates as the Vikings stunned the Packers in the NFL wild card playoffs. But are his end zone antics ticking off the fans?
Early in the fourth quarter, check it out, Moss catches a long pass from Dante Culpepper for a 34-yard touchdown. Hauling it in for the score, Moss pretended, here it comes, to pull down his pants -- there he goes -- and moon the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY MOSS, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: They better talk about this "W" that we put on Lambeau Field today. They can talk about the end zone celebration all they want to, but I know what better behind it is that "W." So whatever they talk about, man, we moving on to Philly. I can do this (expletive deleted) right here at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: OK, then. Well, we are talking about the celebration. CNN Sports' Michelle Bonner is here with the highs and lows.
I got to ask you, is this typical Randy Moss or did he just go too far this time?
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS: You know what? This is typical Randy Moss to some degree. You know, he's been taking heat all week for his antics last weekend when he walked off the field against the Redskins with two seconds left in the game. He said he would get this one back for his team, and he did.
But let's -- let's put this into perspective. He didn't actually pull down his pants. It lasted about 1.5 seconds. And as Colts coach Tony Dungy pointed out, he made a great point. It's tradition in Green Bay for the Green Bay fans to moon the visiting team's bus as a sendoff before they leave, after the game.
NGUYEN: All right. We've got to point out it was just a half moon, because it wasn't a real moon. But do you think he's going to be slapped with some fines?
BONNER: Yes. You know, the NFL says that they do fine players for making obscene gestures such as this. And most likely he will get fined. It starts at $5,000.
Now let's remember, he was fined $25,000 for squirting water at an official. He was fined $1,200 by a judge for bumping a traffic officer who was trying to take a left-hand turn. He actually pushed the officer down with his car. Got fined $1,200 for that.
Twenty-five grand for squirting an official, $1,200 I should say, by the judge by -- in court. This, obviously, was through the NFL. So Randy Moss has done things before, and most likely he'll get fined, probably, $5,000. This is his first such offense.
NGUYEN: All right. I want to read you something that Vikings' center Matt Birk said. He said, quote, "That's Randy. You take the good with the bad."
Now, is this something that teams will just put up with because he's such a good player?
BONNER: Yes. You know, essentially his teammates really have no choice. I mean, Randy Moss is a heck of a player. I mean, he's absolutely a star in this league.
This is a guy who hauled in two touchdown passes in yesterday's playoff game. This is a guy that can make or break a game. So his teammates are going to have to, you know, deal with it. I mean, they really don't have much of a choice.
The NFL can fine this guy, but you know what? Randy Moss is Randy Moss and he will do whatever he wants.
NGUYEN: Apparently. All right. Let's move on juts a little bit. We're almost out of time, but great games coming up next weekend. Let's talk about those.
BONNER: We have a rematch between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, the defending Super Bowl champs. Remember last year, the Colts lost to the Patriots in the AFC championship game. So that right there.
Peyton Manning won -- quarterback Peyton Manning of the Colts -- won the MVP award today. He received 47 out of 48 votes. Almost unanimous. One vote went to Michael Vick.
This is a guy absolutely that is on fire. So -- but he can play in the domes. Whether he can play at Gillette Stadium against the Patriots with the weather elements remains to be scene. NGUYEN: We'll be checking that out. All right. Michelle Bonner, thank you.
O'BRIEN: All right. Is the weather supposed to be bad there at Gillette Stadium? I don't think it's supposed to be bad.
BONNER: You know what? I'm not sure seven days out.
O'BRIEN: Check the weather on that one. That will be interesting. That might have something to do with which way we might wager, if we were to wager. Of course, we're not doing that.
NGUYEN: We're not the wagering types.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, exactly.
NGUYEN: Not here on live from.
O'BRIEN: All right. That wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM.
NGUYEN: We'll have the latest headlines, plus "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS," that comes up right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 10, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: It was one of several attacks that claimed more than a dozen lives, including two U.S. soldiers with Task Force Baghdad.
Insurgents also detonated explosives outside two Baghdad schools which were intended to serve as polling sites on January 30 for the elections there.
Mahmoud Abbas was declared the winner of yesterday's Palestinian presidential election. During his campaign, Abbas said he wanted to meet soon with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon about resuming peace negotiations.
President Bush congratulated Abbas and said he would be welcome at the White House, an offer that he refused to extend to the previous leader, Yasser Arafat, who died, as you remember, back in November.
And a small step back toward normalcy. Schools are starting to reopen in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Administrators and teachers hope that returning something familiar will help children who survived the tsunami disaster.
Meanwhile, though, President Bush is keeping a close eye on where U.S. aid and dollars are going. Although he didn't promise more money right now, Mr. Bush said the U.S. remains committed to helping.
And CBS lowers the boom on four of its own. The employees, including three executives, were ousted after a closer look at the critical "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National Guard service.
An independent panel concluded that a myopic zeal led to the program to air a story based on documents that were allegedly forged.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: So what do estates in Hollywood Hills have in common with mobile homes in Santa Clarita? They're all at the mercy of ferocious flooding caused by days and days and days of heavy rain.
This mobile home became far more mobile than it was meant to, while its owner was standing nearby doing a television interview.
Miles away, a 5,000 square foot, non-mobile home was crushed in a mudslide. But in neither of these cases was anyone hurt, we're glad to tell you. Across the region, though, nine deaths are blamed on the water thus far.
We get the latest on all of this from CNN's Peter Viles, right in the thick of things. And we sort of mean that in this case, in Santa Clarita.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a very high stakes rescue mission going on at the moment in Santa Clarita, California.
This mobile home park behind me is threatened by a flash flood. The river you see in the foreground has just formed in the last of couple days in a dry creek bed. Workers are trying to dig that river a little deeper and put up banks on both sides to keep the water where it is and keep it away from those homes over there.
Now, four or five of those homes are already lost. They've got a foot or two of water inside them. They've been washed off their foundation. But another 100 homes behind that are at risk.
Now, there aren't any people back there. They were all evacuated last night and taken to a local shelter. But this morning a number of the homeowners did trickle down to stand on a bank across the river, look over there at their property.
We were actually speaking to one of those homeowners at the moment when he lost his home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just saw it fall five -- two minutes ago. Less than two minutes ago it fell. But yesterday I had two sheds and a half pipe, and this is two days ago. This is like two minutes ago.
VILES: Now, as you might imagine throughout the Los Angeles region, the biggest problem has been traffic on the roadways. The roadways are covered in water, sometimes flash flooding. There are mudslides; there are rockslides.
Yesterday up in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, this vehicle skidded on a patch of mud, went into the Pacific Ocean. There were five people in that vehicle. Four of them were rescued, but one did die in that car accident.
Now the heavy flooding on the roadways is snarling traffic as far down as Temecula, which is almost as far south as San Diego. You see scenes like this, where people have to abandon their cars in the roadways. Very dangerous.
There have been a number of dramatic rescue missions, though, particularly in the Hollywood hills. A mudslide there collapsed and crushed a very large house. Miraculously, no serious injuries at this house. In fact, a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were rescued from that home yesterday when it was collapsed by a mudslide.
Latest weather forecasts call for continuing rain all day today in the Los Angeles region, and more rain again on Tuesday before finally we get some clearing in the region on Wednesday. Peter Viles, CNN, Santa Clarita, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now to the one that almost got away. The scene is Coyote Creek in Cerritos, southeast of L.A. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be ready to grab the rope, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the rope. Grab it tight! Grab it tight! Come on now, come on, come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in the water!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's in the water!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him a vest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a vest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brace it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Wow. The man made it to land minus his trousers, of course, and a BMW, but without any major injuries.
Well, the man's two children were rescued a little less dramatically before the car was swept two miles downstream. Overall, it made for quite a day, not just for them, but for the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. TOM MCGAULEY, SANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had one vehicle that was actually in the riverbed itself. We had approximately 40 bystanders that were up on board the bridge at the railing.
They were attempting at that time to remove two of the females from the vehicle itself. We arrived on scene, assisted them, and the vehicle was actually floating down the riverbed. So it had to be pinched at that time.
We were able to assist them, get those first two females out of the vehicle, and then the vehicle continued to float underneath the bridge out of our view.
Our initial response, we went ahead and moved units further downstream in case we had to utilize them, and it became apparent at that time we had to utilize those.
CAPT. MIKE YULE, SANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT: During that time we had people that were actually running the river bank and keeping an eye on him. Captain McGauley on Engine 81 and myself on Truck 811 went down one of the main streets and set up at the bridge. And we had visual with him the whole time and set up the rope systems to get him out of the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Let's get the big picture now from meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.
What a mess out there, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Thank you, Jacqui.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, is the weather phenomenon known as El Nino at the root of these furious winter storm systems? We tend to blame it when these things occur. Turns out that may not be case.
Ed Olenic is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's climate prediction center in Maryland. He's in San Diego for a big conference there, joins us from there.
Ed, good to have you with us.
ED OLENIC, NOAA CLIMATE PREDICATION CENTER: Hi, Miles. I'm glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: All right. It's kind of the opposite of El Nino, isn't it, that some are looking at the Madden-Julian Oscillation. What is that all about?
OLENIC: The Madden-Julian Oscillation is a area of cloudiness and dryness, sort of alternating regions, that move around the globe and the tropics in about a 30- to 60-day time frame.
And it's not always there. It's not always the same strength. And it's kind of messy, but it does seem to have some ability to affect the weather in the middle latitudes.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, let's look at a graphic, which viewers, you will forgive us, might seem a little messy. It's kind of -- we're zooming in on a rather small graphic off of the NOAA web site.
But I think you get the outline, certainly, of North America over here and this is the African continent. Now, in the middle here is what you want to focus our attention right on at the moment. Tell us --- this is, by the way, the last month essentially that we're seeing scroll through. What are we seeing here, Ed?
OLENIC: Well, what we're seeing is in green we see areas where the air is rising on average, and where there tends to be cloudiness. Those blue areas in there are deep clouds that can -- can affect the atmosphere.
And occasionally one of these things comes out into Indonesia, and it can cause a series of waves that can change the pattern over the United States.
O'BRIEN: OK. So what's happening in Indonesia is linked somehow to what's going on in the West Coast, potentially, and how does this, these waves, how do they affect the weather so dramatically?
OLENIC: Well, as you can see what they've done perhaps over the last couple of weeks or so, occasionally one of these patterns that's very effective at making it wet in the west can be locked in place and kind of supported from the tropics by the Madden-Julian Oscillation. At least that's what we think right now.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now Jacqui was -- Jacqui Jeras was talking a few moments ago about this kind of Omega effect that occurs, kind of -- or you could call it the roller coaster effect if you're a layman.
What is that all about? Is that what brings -- is this the moisture coming up and then being dumped down into California? Is that what we're talking about?
OLENIC: Well, Omega is an old term that refers to the shape that the jet stream assumes sometimes when there's a blocking pattern in the atmosphere.
As you remember, the storms were coming down from the Gulf of Alaska, and then turning right and going through the southwest and out into the Ohio Valley. And if you look at that from a long distance away from the Earth, the pattern that the jet makes looks like an Omega, the Greek letter Omega.
O'BRIEN: Right. Is that -- is that linked at all to this MFO we've been talking about, or is that a separate effect that is also making matters worse?
OLENIC: Well, you know, it's -- it could be related. And that's the connection that we are researching at NOAA. We're hoping we can use this relationship, if there is one, to make forecasts out to two weeks or so a lot better than we can now.
O'BRIEN: Excellent. Ed Olenic, who is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. He's there at a big conference of meteorologist in San Diego.
Are you having good weather there? Probably not, right?
OLENIC: No. It's kind of lousy right now. But you know, looks like Wednesday is going to be a sunny day.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're going to take that one to the bank and we'll hold you accountable, Ed. We'll call you on Wednesday if there's a problem, all right? Thank you for your time. OLENIC: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Weather is not the only problem out west. All the snow in the Midwest last week melted, and the weather or the water had to go somewhere. Cresting rivers saw heavy flooding. That is just ahead.
Also a toxic train wreck in South Carolina kills nine. Days later, thousands are still banned from their homes. What investigators have discovered and why the scene is still so dangerous.
Plus later, Randy Moss' gesture to the Packer faithful and his response to fans who may not have liked it.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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NGUYEN: In our "Security Watch," we take a look at the vulnerability of the nation's railway system. Federal officials are still investigating last week's fatal train wreck in South Carolina. The wreck sent toxic gases into the air, killing several people.
And CNN's Heidi Collins is in Graniteville, South Carolina, with the latest for us.
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HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Normally, behind me you would see quite a few cars traveling on U.S. 1, but today, this road is closed down right from Aiken all the way into Augusta, Georgia, which is usually a pretty busy thoroughfare for commuters.
But today to the left of me, there are police barricades, to the ride of me police barricades and really, the only activity here is at this command center trying to handle the aftermath of the crash.
This is still a very dangerous place. Even though the accident happened five days ago, you see the video now of exactly what happened as this train crashed into a parked train that was on the siding of the railroad tracks.
Chlorine was being carried in some of those 42 cars. The chlorine leaked and left nine people dead.
We want to get the very latest now from the NTSB and Debbie Hersman.
Debbie, what are you doing to find out how this -- how this all happened in the first place?
DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB: Well, our team arrived on scene and we've been able to do a number of things since we've gotten here. We were able to go in and recover the event reporter, which will tell us a lot about this train. It will tell us if the brakes were applied, how fast it was going.
We do know that the train engineer put the train into emergency before he arrived at the collision site. It took about 17 seconds for the speedometer to read zero after the brakes were applied.
We do know that the switch was lined and locked for the local side track, for the industrial side track. It should have been lined for the main track. We've been able to interview the three local crewmembers who worked that local train.
COLLINS: And were in -- or had been in charge of that parked train on the side?
HERSMAN: They were the last crew to work that area of track before the collision occurred.
COLLINS: And what have you gotten from that interview?
HERSMAN: We are still working on collecting documentation. We're going to be looking at the crew's work history. We're going to be looking at their rest periods. We're going to be looking at whether or not they had appropriate training.
We look at everything: mechanical, track. Our investigations are very exhaustive and we'll be looking at all the things that could have contributed to this accident.
COLLINS: All right. Debbie Hersman, thanks so much, from the NTSB.
HERSMAN: You're welcome.
COLLINS: So as you can see the story is far from over. In fact, there are still nearly 5,000 people displaced from their homes. They are being told they can't go back until Wednesday, at the earliest. There are schools that are closed, and children won't be going to school before Tuesday. So again, the story goes on.
From near Graniteville, South Carolina, I'm Heidi Collins, CNN.
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NGUYEN: The Navy is investigating a deadly accident involving a nuclear submarine. Officials say the USS San Francisco hit an undersea mountain Saturday about 350 miles south of Guam. One sailor was killed, and 24 were injured.
Officials say the sub was traveling at a high speed, but it is not clear whether that was a factor. Sources tell us the vessel's nuclear reactor was not damaged.
O'BRIEN: News across America now.
Water, water everywhere. Heavy rainfall on top of melted snow has pushed the Ohio River above its banks in four states. The river expected to crest in Cincinnati today about five feet above flood stage.
A fiery crash shut down a northbound stretch of Interstate 95 in North Carolina until tomorrow afternoon. A tanker truck overturned and burst into flames. The truck driver is reported in critical condition.
There's word Army Specialist Charles Graner, the alleged ring leader in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, could take the stand in his military trial that's now under way in Texas.
Graner was seen posing in photos with Iraqi prisoners. One showed him piling naked prisoners in pyramids. Graner's attorney today said it wasn't torture but similar to a show put on by cheerleaders.
When we come back, has Randy Moss gone too far this time? His latest on field antic draws a little ire, shall we say?
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NGUYEN: Well, Randy Moss' homes (ph) to his teammates as the Vikings stunned the Packers in the NFL wild card playoffs. But are his end zone antics ticking off the fans?
Early in the fourth quarter, check it out, Moss catches a long pass from Dante Culpepper for a 34-yard touchdown. Hauling it in for the score, Moss pretended, here it comes, to pull down his pants -- there he goes -- and moon the crowd.
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RANDY MOSS, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: They better talk about this "W" that we put on Lambeau Field today. They can talk about the end zone celebration all they want to, but I know what better behind it is that "W." So whatever they talk about, man, we moving on to Philly. I can do this (expletive deleted) right here at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: OK, then. Well, we are talking about the celebration. CNN Sports' Michelle Bonner is here with the highs and lows.
I got to ask you, is this typical Randy Moss or did he just go too far this time?
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS: You know what? This is typical Randy Moss to some degree. You know, he's been taking heat all week for his antics last weekend when he walked off the field against the Redskins with two seconds left in the game. He said he would get this one back for his team, and he did.
But let's -- let's put this into perspective. He didn't actually pull down his pants. It lasted about 1.5 seconds. And as Colts coach Tony Dungy pointed out, he made a great point. It's tradition in Green Bay for the Green Bay fans to moon the visiting team's bus as a sendoff before they leave, after the game.
NGUYEN: All right. We've got to point out it was just a half moon, because it wasn't a real moon. But do you think he's going to be slapped with some fines?
BONNER: Yes. You know, the NFL says that they do fine players for making obscene gestures such as this. And most likely he will get fined. It starts at $5,000.
Now let's remember, he was fined $25,000 for squirting water at an official. He was fined $1,200 by a judge for bumping a traffic officer who was trying to take a left-hand turn. He actually pushed the officer down with his car. Got fined $1,200 for that.
Twenty-five grand for squirting an official, $1,200 I should say, by the judge by -- in court. This, obviously, was through the NFL. So Randy Moss has done things before, and most likely he'll get fined, probably, $5,000. This is his first such offense.
NGUYEN: All right. I want to read you something that Vikings' center Matt Birk said. He said, quote, "That's Randy. You take the good with the bad."
Now, is this something that teams will just put up with because he's such a good player?
BONNER: Yes. You know, essentially his teammates really have no choice. I mean, Randy Moss is a heck of a player. I mean, he's absolutely a star in this league.
This is a guy who hauled in two touchdown passes in yesterday's playoff game. This is a guy that can make or break a game. So his teammates are going to have to, you know, deal with it. I mean, they really don't have much of a choice.
The NFL can fine this guy, but you know what? Randy Moss is Randy Moss and he will do whatever he wants.
NGUYEN: Apparently. All right. Let's move on juts a little bit. We're almost out of time, but great games coming up next weekend. Let's talk about those.
BONNER: We have a rematch between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, the defending Super Bowl champs. Remember last year, the Colts lost to the Patriots in the AFC championship game. So that right there.
Peyton Manning won -- quarterback Peyton Manning of the Colts -- won the MVP award today. He received 47 out of 48 votes. Almost unanimous. One vote went to Michael Vick.
This is a guy absolutely that is on fire. So -- but he can play in the domes. Whether he can play at Gillette Stadium against the Patriots with the weather elements remains to be scene. NGUYEN: We'll be checking that out. All right. Michelle Bonner, thank you.
O'BRIEN: All right. Is the weather supposed to be bad there at Gillette Stadium? I don't think it's supposed to be bad.
BONNER: You know what? I'm not sure seven days out.
O'BRIEN: Check the weather on that one. That will be interesting. That might have something to do with which way we might wager, if we were to wager. Of course, we're not doing that.
NGUYEN: We're not the wagering types.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, exactly.
NGUYEN: Not here on live from.
O'BRIEN: All right. That wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM.
NGUYEN: We'll have the latest headlines, plus "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS," that comes up right after the break.
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