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Rain Causes Mudslides in Southern California; Sierra Mountains Hit with Feet of Snow; CBS News Fires Four after National Guard Story Investigation; North Carolina Town Reeling from Health Effects of Gas Released in Train Wreck
Aired January 10, 2005 - 13:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on now! Come on now! Come on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Wild water rescue. Floods, mudslides and a drenching rain hit the West Coast. Not over yet.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it's not. We're getting a break right now in Tahoe City in the Sierra Mountains, Where feet of snow have been dumped. I'm Rob Marciano. I'll be live throughout the hour.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: And amazing new tsunami video. Vans, tree, homes all swept through the streets of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. We're live with more on aid efforts in the tsunami zone.
O'BRIEN: And some fallout from that infamous CBS report that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. An independent investigation; heads are rolling there.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kyra Phillips today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: Well, pick your poison. In much of California today, just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, you're engulfed in rain or buried in snow. It all depends on altitude. Nine reported killed in California floods and landslides so far.
CNN's Peter Viles is in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of L.A. -- Peter.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it is an absolute mess up here.
Behind me there is a river, a raging river that has formed in the last couple of days. And this river is running right through a mobile home park. You can see four or five homes in the camera's sight there have been destroyed this morning. There are about 100 homes in the complex in all. It doesn't look like they're all threatened. But as I say, four or five have been destroyed already.
Now, they did last night evacuate this entire complex. So there should not be any people in those homes today. They were evacuated last night, about 100 families.
But this morning, as we came here, a number of the hope owners did came back essentially to check up on their property. And this morning, as one of these homes was being destroyed by the flood, one of the homeowners was being interviewed on live television.
Here is what he had to say as he stood here and watched his home disappear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VILES: The biggest problem in this region, as you might imagine, Miles, is on highways and the roadways. Very, very wet, lots of flash flooding and mud across the roadways.
Up in Malibu yesterday, a driver hit a slick of mud and literally went off the Pacific Coast Highway into the Pacific Ocean. A dramatic fatality up there. Five people were in that vehicle. Now four of them were rescued. But one was killed in that accident.
That theme of rescue has been prominent throughout the region over this weekend, particularly yesterday up in the Hollywood hills. A very large home up there was essentially crushed in a mudslide.
The miraculous thing, when this 5,000-foot home was crushed, no serious injuries. A 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were taken alive and only with minor injuries from that home.
Now Miles, the bad news is the rain is expected to continue all day today, and into tomorrow. This is the fifth day today. Tomorrow will be the sixth day in a row of very heavy rains.
It rained eight inches yesterday in some parts of Los Angeles. Already this year, Los Angeles has received more rainfall than it usually gets in an entire calendar year -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Extraordinary. Peter Viles, thank you very much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, as hard as it can be to drive in snow, driving in floods is worse. Just ask this man.
First stranded then swept two miles down Coyote Creek in Cerritos, California, which is southeast of Los Angeles, the man's two children were rescued fairly uneventfully. But events after that took a breathtaking turn.
Take a look at this video. The man lost his pants in the rapids then was almost hoisted up to an overpass when he lost his grip. You're about to see it now. Eventually he was -- there it is. Lost his grip. Almost hit that pillar.
Eventually, he was dragged to shore, unhurt. And we might add, rescuers said it was all in a day's work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. THOMAS 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. But 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 ha 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 riverbank 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: Just amazing video there. Not only is the man not hurt, but rescuers tell CNN he is in good spirits, too.
Well, above 7,000 feet, you've had as much as 19 feet of snow in the past two weeks. Two more feet could fall by tomorrow.
CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano ventured out of the toasty warm weather center here in Atlanta to give us a taste of that wicked weather.
Still too much of a good thing out there, Rob?
MARCIANO: Yes. Yes, Betty. A little too much of a good thing, although they're getting a much-needed break today. The sun has actually popped out of the clouds and the streets are starting to melting off a little bit, giving folks who live here just a little bit more time to clean up the sidewalks and to clear things out.
You know, Tahoe is no stranger to snow. You mentioned 7,000 feet. The lake itself sits at about 6,200 feet. So big snowstorms are kind of the norm, and even the higher as you go into the mountain passes and some of ski resorts there.
But what is extraordinary about this storm is not only the extreme weather down in southern California, the flooding there, but the amount of snow that it's gotten over the Sierras and into the deserts of Nevada.
Vegas saw some snow. Reno, which sits about 50 miles north and east of Tahoe, it's in the high desert but doesn't get nearly the snow that Tahoe gets. And since December 28, they've had over six feet of snow. This is turning out to be the worst storm they've seen since 1916.
Of course, first order of business, digging out. Just about anywhere where you get snow. We shot some video of folks doing just that: shovelers getting out, snow blowers getting out, not once, not twice but three times throughout the weekend, several times a day just to keep up. And the highway crews had a hard time doing that.
Of course, if you could get to mountains up here, skiing wasn't all that shabby. Fresh powder on the hill, although the biggest problem with that was the visibility.
Winds were gusting at times on the mountain peaks over 160 miles an hour. That is a Category 5 hurricane wind gust up at the top of Squaw Creek. And we had similar numbers in some of the other areas.
So visibility on the slopes carry over to visibilities, low visibilities on the highways. So where there was snow that was clear, visibilities would reduce highway visibilities down to zero. So that's what prompted some of the closures of the roads around here.
Amtrak, had a train that got stuck over the mountains. Folks Saturday night had to spend the night over at Donner Pass in a train before it finally arrived safely into Sacramento.
Reno, the airport, it closed for a couple of hours. That's hard to do. So unbelievable amounts of snow.
We'll get this break, we'll take it. But later on tonight and tomorrow, the final push of this system is going to come through, and as it does so, we could see another two feet of snow here at lake level, which would mean another four feet of snow over the mountain passes.
So hazardous driving conditions once again. Avalanche danger will be high over the next 24 hours, as well. That's the latest from Lake Tahoe, California.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: Once you get a break, more snow is on the way. All right, Rob Marciano. Thank you for that -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: About three time zones away, heavy rain in the wake of a quick snow melt has pushed the Ohio River high above its banks in five states.
It's expected to crest tomorrow in Cincinnati, Wednesday in Louisville where a park and some houses are taking on water, despite the closure of floodgates.
Smaller rivers in southern Indiana at their highest levels in decades.
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is here to tell us about what appears to be biblical weather, as they say.
Hello, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Excellent. We'll get that set up for us. Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: Always want something new. OK, thank you, Miles.
From northern Indonesia today, incredible new pictures of indescribable disaster.
Just look at these pictures. A wedding photographer who took refuge on a rooftop captured this river of destruction in Banda Aceh, which is ground zero of one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
The death toll is actually somewhat lower than we thought on Friday, with word from Sri Lanka that officials and Tamil rebels had counted many tsunami victims twice. Our best reporting puts the toll at somewhere above 140,000, with many thousands still considered missing.
Amid the ruins though, a new ray of hope, as some schools reopened today in Sri Lanka and the Aceh province.
President Bush says the U.S. is committed today to tsunami relief and will be committed tomorrow. Mr. Bush got a progress report today from the secretary of state, Colin Powell, who spent much of last week touring devastation and meeting with aid workers as well as government officials.
The Bush administration has promised $350 million, not including a considerable military operation, and Congress may add more. About that, the president says, "We'll see."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the important thing is to make sure that as one person noted the other day, that the dollars are demand-driven. In other words, the key is to provide immediate relief, which we are doing, and then to work with governments and the United Nations to assess the needs, the intermediate term needs and the long-term needs, to make sure money that is available actually achieves a coordinated objective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Overall, almost $4 billion in aid is being pledged by governments and public institutions. But the U.N. says a billion of that is needed in cash right now -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A bombshell from black rock. CBS News firing three executives and a producer in the aftermath of an independent probe of a flawed expose.
The subject, as you may recall, was President Bush's National Guard service. And the smoking gun documents were -- well, they were duds.
The fallout now from CNN's Chris Huntington in New York.
Hello, Chris.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you.
Well, the independent review offers a scathing assessment of CBS News and the journalism practiced there, at least on this particular report, involving reportedly four documents that came from a commander of President Bush's in the Air National Guard.
The review said it could not authenticate the documents, but it said that the process that CBS News producers followed was charged by zealous belief in the truth and competitive pressures and led to a disregard of fundamental journalistic principles.
The investigation identified considerable and fundamental deficiencies relating to the reporting and production of the September 8 segment and the statements and news reports following the aftermath.
The report goes on to say that the panel has not been able to authenticate with absolute certainty the Killian documents as to whether or not they are indeed authentic or forgeries. That was at the crux of the matter.
There are, as you mentioned, Miles, several senior executives and the producer of that segment who are going to lose their jobs. Senior vice president Betsy West at CBS News; executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday," Josh Howard; his immediate deputy, Mary Murphy; and Mary Mapes, who was the producer of the segment and in a sense, really the lead sled dog in trying to push this report through.
The 224 independent review gives somewhat embarrassing details, if you will, of Mapes on Labor Day weekend with a skeleton crew on site there at CBS trying to push this through, trying to authenticate documents, essentially pushing this story for competitive reasons. Obviously, the competition and the heated environment before the election pushed this story along.
Dan Rather, however, will stay on at CBS News in further reporting capacities for "60 Minutes," although as previously announced, he'll step down from the anchor chair on "CBS Evening News" on March 9 -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Chris, as you well know in this business, it is the job of the producer to push stories through. It is the job of the managers to say, "Hey, wait a minute."
And it's interesting to me that Andy Hayward at the top of the food chain here comes out unscathed. Dan Rather gets out ahead of the story and aside from stepping down from his anchor spot, could still be appearing on CBS.
HUNTINGTON: Correct, Miles.
Hayward, who is the president of CBS News, is shown in the review of this whole situation to have asked Betsy West to undertake specific review. In fact, Hayward is quoted as saying that every syllable of this has to be vetted.
The vetting process really amounted to a breakdown though, because Mary Mapes, an Emmy Award-winning senior producer, longtime "60 Minutes" veteran with a tremendous track record, in a sense pushing this past a new management -- immediate management in charge of "60 Minutes Wednesday." And that's one of the findings of the report.
The fact that Hayward and Dan Rather will stay on, that's for the pundits to discuss. But indeed, Rather was very, very busy with other stories covering the hurricanes and the conventions leading up to this particular story -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Chris Huntington, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
CBS president and CEO Les Moonves will be a guest on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." That's at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight right here on CNN. We invite you to tune in for that.
Thousands of people still out of their homes after a toxic train accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My eyes were burning insatiably. And my throat felt like something was just pulling it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: We will have a live report from Graniteville, South Carolina, where crews are trying to clean up the toxic mess.
And later on LIVE FROM, getting help to tsunami victims. We'll talk with the CEO of Mercy Corps about what that group is doing to meet some rather urgent needs.
And will Lance Armstrong go for a record seventh win in the Tour de France? He'll be breaking his own record of course. We'll pedal that one in for you a little later on LIVE FROM.
Let's shift now into some commercials.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In our "Security Watch" today, a small town struggling with a literal nightmare. A train accident in the middle of the night released a toxic cloud of chlorine gas. Nine died, dozens hospitalized. More than 5,000 forced to evacuate their homes after the Thursday morning wreck. Still not allowed to return.
Eric Spivey with CNN affiliate WRDW is in Aiken, South Carolina. He has the latest on a story that has security officials very concerned about what could happen next -- Eric.
ERIC SPIVEY, WRDW CORRESPONDENT: Miles, they're very concerned about that. Thirty-three people remain in the hospital. And one thing that officials feared is that this crash happened so close to schools. It happened so early in the morning though, about 3 a.m. Thursday, that none of the school kids were at school at the time of the crash.
Norfolk Southern says they operate about 1,700 trains a day along the East Coast. And they say that this is the first accident that they've had involving chlorine.
As for the mile evacuation around the crash site, 5,400 people still are not allowed to return to their homes, and word this afternoon at a press briefing that just wrapped up an hour ago, that those folks nearest the crash site might not be allowed to return to their homes until later this week, possibly into next week.
Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt pleading for patience, as obviously some irritated homeowners want to get back to their homes as soon as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF MICHAEL HUNT, AIKEN COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: And they have advised me to keep this one-mile radius of evacuation intact. And we're going to do that until they can tell me for sure, "Sheriff, it is safe to let some folks go back." I can't afford any more fatalities or injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPIVEY: Right now they're trying to offload the chlorine, the remaining chlorine, at the crash site into two new tankers that they're bringing in to get all the chlorine out of the area. It's five days after this crash happened, and there still is chlorine there. The cars are still crumpled up like an accordion.
Behind me, you can see local, state and federal officials are here. This is the command center about three miles away from the crash site. And they're still working, as I mentioned, to try to get those people home as safely and as quickly as possible.
But they say they're not going to rush things. They're going to take their time until they can get this chlorine handled and out of the area quickly -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Eric, it raises all kinds of concerns, because of course, these rail cars filled with all this toxic stuff go through all our communities all the time. We probably don't think about it so much, but it is a potential problem.
At this point it appears it was a switch that was in the wrong place. Have authorities ruled out foul play, or are they close to ruling it out?
SPIVEY: Miles, they have ruled out pretty much terrorism. They say that they do not think that terrorism was involved in this train crash.
But as you did mention, the main train line was switched to a sidetrack, and that sent the main train traveling 49 miles an hour into this train that was sitting in the sidetrack.
But they have ruled out terrorism, and they are looking at how long the workers that parked that train there on the sidetrack -- they were the ones who, they think, switched the track and didn't put it back into the main line. So they're interviewing those folks right now who were in the parked train, seeing how long they were on the job the day before, and whether there was any fatigue involving during their work day -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And one other thought here. The National Transportation Safety Board this past spring came out with a report saying some of these tanks which carry this chlorine and other toxic stuff aren't up to snuff and need to be, perhaps as many as half of them.
Do we know yet on these cars whether they were up to code or not?
SPIVEY: We do not know yet. Norfolk Southern is remaining very tight-lipped about this situation, as you might expect, Only saying that any recommendations that the NTSB makes they will comply with. They will comply with them as soon -- as quickly as possible and try to get the trains fixed in the rest of their fleet. They'll try to fix them as soon as possible, as well -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Eric Spivey with our affiliate, WRDW. We thank you very much for your time today -- Betty.
NGUYEN: We want to give you more now on chlorine gas, why it's so dangerous and why officials are so concerned about the possibilities of a similar accident in a more densely populated area.
CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the symptoms of chlorine poisoning are probably what you think they're going to be. They're easy to recognize.
You're going to have a yellowish green color. There's going to be a pungent odor, smells like bleach. It's heavier than air, which means it will fall to the ground more quickly.
As far as the poisoning itself, it affects your eyes, skin, lungs. The symptoms may be coughing, burning, difficulty with breathing, and there is no antidote. So if someone is exposed to chlorine gas, they need to be decontaminated, taken to a hospital and possibly put on a breathing machine if their symptoms are severe.
Again, no active chlorine leak at this time. It may take some time before they know for sure whether those other two tankers were leak.
Mother Nature is on their side. Both the wind and the sunlight will help break that chlorine gas down. Hopefully, that will work for the residents. But they're not being allowed home at this time.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned for CNN for the latest information day and night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Later on LIVE FROM, you're fired. Fallout from an independent investigation into that disputed CBS story that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. We'll have a live report.
Later on LIVE FROM, raging flood waters, landslides, mountains of snow. Is El Nino striking again?
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, solving an ancient mystery. Was King Tut murdered? A doctor conducting the high-tech investigation on Egypt's most famous mummy will join us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: All right. It's now time for "Mergers & Acquisitions," brought to you by Susan Lisovicz.
Susan, what's going on on Wall Street? Why are all these companies suddenly in this acquisitive mood? (STOCK REPORT)
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Aired January 10, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on now! Come on now! Come on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Wild water rescue. Floods, mudslides and a drenching rain hit the West Coast. Not over yet.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it's not. We're getting a break right now in Tahoe City in the Sierra Mountains, Where feet of snow have been dumped. I'm Rob Marciano. I'll be live throughout the hour.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: And amazing new tsunami video. Vans, tree, homes all swept through the streets of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. We're live with more on aid efforts in the tsunami zone.
O'BRIEN: And some fallout from that infamous CBS report that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. An independent investigation; heads are rolling there.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kyra Phillips today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: Well, pick your poison. In much of California today, just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, you're engulfed in rain or buried in snow. It all depends on altitude. Nine reported killed in California floods and landslides so far.
CNN's Peter Viles is in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of L.A. -- Peter.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it is an absolute mess up here.
Behind me there is a river, a raging river that has formed in the last couple of days. And this river is running right through a mobile home park. You can see four or five homes in the camera's sight there have been destroyed this morning. There are about 100 homes in the complex in all. It doesn't look like they're all threatened. But as I say, four or five have been destroyed already.
Now, they did last night evacuate this entire complex. So there should not be any people in those homes today. They were evacuated last night, about 100 families.
But this morning, as we came here, a number of the hope owners did came back essentially to check up on their property. And this morning, as one of these homes was being destroyed by the flood, one of the homeowners was being interviewed on live television.
Here is what he had to say as he stood here and watched his home disappear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VILES: The biggest problem in this region, as you might imagine, Miles, is on highways and the roadways. Very, very wet, lots of flash flooding and mud across the roadways.
Up in Malibu yesterday, a driver hit a slick of mud and literally went off the Pacific Coast Highway into the Pacific Ocean. A dramatic fatality up there. Five people were in that vehicle. Now four of them were rescued. But one was killed in that accident.
That theme of rescue has been prominent throughout the region over this weekend, particularly yesterday up in the Hollywood hills. A very large home up there was essentially crushed in a mudslide.
The miraculous thing, when this 5,000-foot home was crushed, no serious injuries. A 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were taken alive and only with minor injuries from that home.
Now Miles, the bad news is the rain is expected to continue all day today, and into tomorrow. This is the fifth day today. Tomorrow will be the sixth day in a row of very heavy rains.
It rained eight inches yesterday in some parts of Los Angeles. Already this year, Los Angeles has received more rainfall than it usually gets in an entire calendar year -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Extraordinary. Peter Viles, thank you very much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, as hard as it can be to drive in snow, driving in floods is worse. Just ask this man.
First stranded then swept two miles down Coyote Creek in Cerritos, California, which is southeast of Los Angeles, the man's two children were rescued fairly uneventfully. But events after that took a breathtaking turn.
Take a look at this video. The man lost his pants in the rapids then was almost hoisted up to an overpass when he lost his grip. You're about to see it now. Eventually he was -- there it is. Lost his grip. Almost hit that pillar.
Eventually, he was dragged to shore, unhurt. And we might add, rescuers said it was all in a day's work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. THOMAS 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. But 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 ha 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 riverbank 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: Just amazing video there. Not only is the man not hurt, but rescuers tell CNN he is in good spirits, too.
Well, above 7,000 feet, you've had as much as 19 feet of snow in the past two weeks. Two more feet could fall by tomorrow.
CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano ventured out of the toasty warm weather center here in Atlanta to give us a taste of that wicked weather.
Still too much of a good thing out there, Rob?
MARCIANO: Yes. Yes, Betty. A little too much of a good thing, although they're getting a much-needed break today. The sun has actually popped out of the clouds and the streets are starting to melting off a little bit, giving folks who live here just a little bit more time to clean up the sidewalks and to clear things out.
You know, Tahoe is no stranger to snow. You mentioned 7,000 feet. The lake itself sits at about 6,200 feet. So big snowstorms are kind of the norm, and even the higher as you go into the mountain passes and some of ski resorts there.
But what is extraordinary about this storm is not only the extreme weather down in southern California, the flooding there, but the amount of snow that it's gotten over the Sierras and into the deserts of Nevada.
Vegas saw some snow. Reno, which sits about 50 miles north and east of Tahoe, it's in the high desert but doesn't get nearly the snow that Tahoe gets. And since December 28, they've had over six feet of snow. This is turning out to be the worst storm they've seen since 1916.
Of course, first order of business, digging out. Just about anywhere where you get snow. We shot some video of folks doing just that: shovelers getting out, snow blowers getting out, not once, not twice but three times throughout the weekend, several times a day just to keep up. And the highway crews had a hard time doing that.
Of course, if you could get to mountains up here, skiing wasn't all that shabby. Fresh powder on the hill, although the biggest problem with that was the visibility.
Winds were gusting at times on the mountain peaks over 160 miles an hour. That is a Category 5 hurricane wind gust up at the top of Squaw Creek. And we had similar numbers in some of the other areas.
So visibility on the slopes carry over to visibilities, low visibilities on the highways. So where there was snow that was clear, visibilities would reduce highway visibilities down to zero. So that's what prompted some of the closures of the roads around here.
Amtrak, had a train that got stuck over the mountains. Folks Saturday night had to spend the night over at Donner Pass in a train before it finally arrived safely into Sacramento.
Reno, the airport, it closed for a couple of hours. That's hard to do. So unbelievable amounts of snow.
We'll get this break, we'll take it. But later on tonight and tomorrow, the final push of this system is going to come through, and as it does so, we could see another two feet of snow here at lake level, which would mean another four feet of snow over the mountain passes.
So hazardous driving conditions once again. Avalanche danger will be high over the next 24 hours, as well. That's the latest from Lake Tahoe, California.
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: Once you get a break, more snow is on the way. All right, Rob Marciano. Thank you for that -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: About three time zones away, heavy rain in the wake of a quick snow melt has pushed the Ohio River high above its banks in five states.
It's expected to crest tomorrow in Cincinnati, Wednesday in Louisville where a park and some houses are taking on water, despite the closure of floodgates.
Smaller rivers in southern Indiana at their highest levels in decades.
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is here to tell us about what appears to be biblical weather, as they say.
Hello, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Excellent. We'll get that set up for us. Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: Always want something new. OK, thank you, Miles.
From northern Indonesia today, incredible new pictures of indescribable disaster.
Just look at these pictures. A wedding photographer who took refuge on a rooftop captured this river of destruction in Banda Aceh, which is ground zero of one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
The death toll is actually somewhat lower than we thought on Friday, with word from Sri Lanka that officials and Tamil rebels had counted many tsunami victims twice. Our best reporting puts the toll at somewhere above 140,000, with many thousands still considered missing.
Amid the ruins though, a new ray of hope, as some schools reopened today in Sri Lanka and the Aceh province.
President Bush says the U.S. is committed today to tsunami relief and will be committed tomorrow. Mr. Bush got a progress report today from the secretary of state, Colin Powell, who spent much of last week touring devastation and meeting with aid workers as well as government officials.
The Bush administration has promised $350 million, not including a considerable military operation, and Congress may add more. About that, the president says, "We'll see."
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the important thing is to make sure that as one person noted the other day, that the dollars are demand-driven. In other words, the key is to provide immediate relief, which we are doing, and then to work with governments and the United Nations to assess the needs, the intermediate term needs and the long-term needs, to make sure money that is available actually achieves a coordinated objective.
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NGUYEN: Overall, almost $4 billion in aid is being pledged by governments and public institutions. But the U.N. says a billion of that is needed in cash right now -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A bombshell from black rock. CBS News firing three executives and a producer in the aftermath of an independent probe of a flawed expose.
The subject, as you may recall, was President Bush's National Guard service. And the smoking gun documents were -- well, they were duds.
The fallout now from CNN's Chris Huntington in New York.
Hello, Chris.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you.
Well, the independent review offers a scathing assessment of CBS News and the journalism practiced there, at least on this particular report, involving reportedly four documents that came from a commander of President Bush's in the Air National Guard.
The review said it could not authenticate the documents, but it said that the process that CBS News producers followed was charged by zealous belief in the truth and competitive pressures and led to a disregard of fundamental journalistic principles.
The investigation identified considerable and fundamental deficiencies relating to the reporting and production of the September 8 segment and the statements and news reports following the aftermath.
The report goes on to say that the panel has not been able to authenticate with absolute certainty the Killian documents as to whether or not they are indeed authentic or forgeries. That was at the crux of the matter.
There are, as you mentioned, Miles, several senior executives and the producer of that segment who are going to lose their jobs. Senior vice president Betsy West at CBS News; executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday," Josh Howard; his immediate deputy, Mary Murphy; and Mary Mapes, who was the producer of the segment and in a sense, really the lead sled dog in trying to push this report through.
The 224 independent review gives somewhat embarrassing details, if you will, of Mapes on Labor Day weekend with a skeleton crew on site there at CBS trying to push this through, trying to authenticate documents, essentially pushing this story for competitive reasons. Obviously, the competition and the heated environment before the election pushed this story along.
Dan Rather, however, will stay on at CBS News in further reporting capacities for "60 Minutes," although as previously announced, he'll step down from the anchor chair on "CBS Evening News" on March 9 -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Chris, as you well know in this business, it is the job of the producer to push stories through. It is the job of the managers to say, "Hey, wait a minute."
And it's interesting to me that Andy Hayward at the top of the food chain here comes out unscathed. Dan Rather gets out ahead of the story and aside from stepping down from his anchor spot, could still be appearing on CBS.
HUNTINGTON: Correct, Miles.
Hayward, who is the president of CBS News, is shown in the review of this whole situation to have asked Betsy West to undertake specific review. In fact, Hayward is quoted as saying that every syllable of this has to be vetted.
The vetting process really amounted to a breakdown though, because Mary Mapes, an Emmy Award-winning senior producer, longtime "60 Minutes" veteran with a tremendous track record, in a sense pushing this past a new management -- immediate management in charge of "60 Minutes Wednesday." And that's one of the findings of the report.
The fact that Hayward and Dan Rather will stay on, that's for the pundits to discuss. But indeed, Rather was very, very busy with other stories covering the hurricanes and the conventions leading up to this particular story -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Chris Huntington, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
CBS president and CEO Les Moonves will be a guest on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." That's at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight right here on CNN. We invite you to tune in for that.
Thousands of people still out of their homes after a toxic train accident.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My eyes were burning insatiably. And my throat felt like something was just pulling it.
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O'BRIEN: We will have a live report from Graniteville, South Carolina, where crews are trying to clean up the toxic mess.
And later on LIVE FROM, getting help to tsunami victims. We'll talk with the CEO of Mercy Corps about what that group is doing to meet some rather urgent needs.
And will Lance Armstrong go for a record seventh win in the Tour de France? He'll be breaking his own record of course. We'll pedal that one in for you a little later on LIVE FROM.
Let's shift now into some commercials.
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O'BRIEN: In our "Security Watch" today, a small town struggling with a literal nightmare. A train accident in the middle of the night released a toxic cloud of chlorine gas. Nine died, dozens hospitalized. More than 5,000 forced to evacuate their homes after the Thursday morning wreck. Still not allowed to return.
Eric Spivey with CNN affiliate WRDW is in Aiken, South Carolina. He has the latest on a story that has security officials very concerned about what could happen next -- Eric.
ERIC SPIVEY, WRDW CORRESPONDENT: Miles, they're very concerned about that. Thirty-three people remain in the hospital. And one thing that officials feared is that this crash happened so close to schools. It happened so early in the morning though, about 3 a.m. Thursday, that none of the school kids were at school at the time of the crash.
Norfolk Southern says they operate about 1,700 trains a day along the East Coast. And they say that this is the first accident that they've had involving chlorine.
As for the mile evacuation around the crash site, 5,400 people still are not allowed to return to their homes, and word this afternoon at a press briefing that just wrapped up an hour ago, that those folks nearest the crash site might not be allowed to return to their homes until later this week, possibly into next week.
Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt pleading for patience, as obviously some irritated homeowners want to get back to their homes as soon as possible.
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SHERIFF MICHAEL HUNT, AIKEN COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: And they have advised me to keep this one-mile radius of evacuation intact. And we're going to do that until they can tell me for sure, "Sheriff, it is safe to let some folks go back." I can't afford any more fatalities or injuries.
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SPIVEY: Right now they're trying to offload the chlorine, the remaining chlorine, at the crash site into two new tankers that they're bringing in to get all the chlorine out of the area. It's five days after this crash happened, and there still is chlorine there. The cars are still crumpled up like an accordion.
Behind me, you can see local, state and federal officials are here. This is the command center about three miles away from the crash site. And they're still working, as I mentioned, to try to get those people home as safely and as quickly as possible.
But they say they're not going to rush things. They're going to take their time until they can get this chlorine handled and out of the area quickly -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Eric, it raises all kinds of concerns, because of course, these rail cars filled with all this toxic stuff go through all our communities all the time. We probably don't think about it so much, but it is a potential problem.
At this point it appears it was a switch that was in the wrong place. Have authorities ruled out foul play, or are they close to ruling it out?
SPIVEY: Miles, they have ruled out pretty much terrorism. They say that they do not think that terrorism was involved in this train crash.
But as you did mention, the main train line was switched to a sidetrack, and that sent the main train traveling 49 miles an hour into this train that was sitting in the sidetrack.
But they have ruled out terrorism, and they are looking at how long the workers that parked that train there on the sidetrack -- they were the ones who, they think, switched the track and didn't put it back into the main line. So they're interviewing those folks right now who were in the parked train, seeing how long they were on the job the day before, and whether there was any fatigue involving during their work day -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And one other thought here. The National Transportation Safety Board this past spring came out with a report saying some of these tanks which carry this chlorine and other toxic stuff aren't up to snuff and need to be, perhaps as many as half of them.
Do we know yet on these cars whether they were up to code or not?
SPIVEY: We do not know yet. Norfolk Southern is remaining very tight-lipped about this situation, as you might expect, Only saying that any recommendations that the NTSB makes they will comply with. They will comply with them as soon -- as quickly as possible and try to get the trains fixed in the rest of their fleet. They'll try to fix them as soon as possible, as well -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Eric Spivey with our affiliate, WRDW. We thank you very much for your time today -- Betty.
NGUYEN: We want to give you more now on chlorine gas, why it's so dangerous and why officials are so concerned about the possibilities of a similar accident in a more densely populated area.
CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has the details.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the symptoms of chlorine poisoning are probably what you think they're going to be. They're easy to recognize.
You're going to have a yellowish green color. There's going to be a pungent odor, smells like bleach. It's heavier than air, which means it will fall to the ground more quickly.
As far as the poisoning itself, it affects your eyes, skin, lungs. The symptoms may be coughing, burning, difficulty with breathing, and there is no antidote. So if someone is exposed to chlorine gas, they need to be decontaminated, taken to a hospital and possibly put on a breathing machine if their symptoms are severe.
Again, no active chlorine leak at this time. It may take some time before they know for sure whether those other two tankers were leak.
Mother Nature is on their side. Both the wind and the sunlight will help break that chlorine gas down. Hopefully, that will work for the residents. But they're not being allowed home at this time.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned for CNN for the latest information day and night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Later on LIVE FROM, you're fired. Fallout from an independent investigation into that disputed CBS story that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. We'll have a live report.
Later on LIVE FROM, raging flood waters, landslides, mountains of snow. Is El Nino striking again?
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, solving an ancient mystery. Was King Tut murdered? A doctor conducting the high-tech investigation on Egypt's most famous mummy will join us.
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O'BRIEN: All right. It's now time for "Mergers & Acquisitions," brought to you by Susan Lisovicz.
Susan, what's going on on Wall Street? Why are all these companies suddenly in this acquisitive mood? (STOCK REPORT)
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