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Paradise Lost; One Death Blamed on Wilma So Far

Aired October 24, 2005 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're getting in new video all the time. This video coming in to us from Lake Okeechobee. That's in the West Palm Beach area. And the new pictures we're going to see in just a moment, via our affiliate WPEC. You can see the storm damage there in this area. Very common pictures, of course. A lot of pieces of debris falling around in parts of roofs, and buildings and structures being ripped off by those powerful winds.
As we continue to watch this video that's just coming in, of course we're keeping track of Hurricane Wilma for you. It's made a quick trip across Florida. And at last we checked, the storm remained a category-two hurricane with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. Wilma's eye is back over water now. We're going to show you the hurricane's exact position in just a moment.

Hurricane Wilma has killed one person so far in Florida. A man died today when a tree fell on him in Coral Springs. That's a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. The storm is also blamed for at least 16 deaths in Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti.

Thousands of people are left out without power in Florida, but Governor Jeb Bush promises help is on the way. He says that 4,000 utility workers are ready to start restoring electricity once the winds die down.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, trees down all over the place. That's what one resident sees from his parent's home in the Ft. Lauderdale area, but downed trees are just a small part of the widespread devastation unleashed by Wilma. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, I'm told now, in that area are without power, and then thousands of people are still hunkered down in dozens of shelters across the southern half of the state. The one death so far blamed on Wilma occurred when a tree fell on a man in the Ft. Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs.

We're checking in with Florida residents to see how they weathered the storm. Wingate Payne joins me now on the phone from Ft. Lauderdale.

Wingate, can you hear me OK?

So tell me, what happened? Give me sort of a breakdown of what happened to your home, what you saw and where you right now.

WINGATE PAYNE: Reporter: Well, I'm at home. It's -- actually the weather is very windy right now, but it's cleared up, and I can hear chainsaws in the neighborhood. I live in an older section of Ft. Lauderdale, close to downtown. We have a lot of live oaks, and the live oaks have taken heavy damage, and at least one is on a neighbor's house. From my front step, I can see the school board building, which is about a 22-story high rise, all glass, has heavy damage, windows blown in. You can see through building at certain points.

I've lost a lot of trees and palm trees. During the height of the storm I was being pelted by grapefruit and oranges. It was one of the strangest experiences I've gone through.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. You've lived in Florida since '68, right?

PAYNE: That's right.

PHILLIPS: And didn't you work for "The Miami Herald?" Did you get a chance to cover one of these storms?

PAYNE: Well, I worked for the "Herald" during Andrew. I didn't live in the Andrew area, but I spent a lot of time trying to cover the jobs that my coworker who did live in that area. We haven't -- in the Ft. Lauderdale area, where I live, we haven't had a storm like this since I've been here. We've had a lot of close brushes. And I think that led a lot of us to think that we were going to get something a little lighter than Katrina of earlier this summer or Francis last year. We thought the storm -- that Wilma would slow down, be pretty ripped up by going across the peninsula. And by 7:00 this morning, I certainly knew that that was not true.

PHILLIPS: What do you think about preparations? I mean, obviously you were prepared. You sort of knew what you were in for. But overall, a lot of -- you know, overall the state, because of course we saw what happened with Hurricane Katrina and the lack of preparation. What do you think?

PAYNE: I think a lot of people were a little underprepared for the intensity. I think we did feel that we would have a low category one or a tropical storm. We were certainly warned and repeatedly warned.

But as I said, I think we thought as it came across the state, the intensity would be considerably lower. We all sort of went to bed thinking this might be a category two when it hit Naples, and a low one here. I was not as prepared.

I didn't -- I got big canvas awnings over a Florida room, and I didn't take those down as I've done in pretty past storms, and they're pretty beat up. But I think a lot of us just anticipated that a late storm, you know, this -- and a very long walk-up to the storm, I think we all expected something considerably less than what we got.

PHILLIPS: Wingate Payne from Ft. Lauderdale. Thanks, Wingate.

PAYNE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Right after the break, we're going to take you to Cuba and Cancun, and show you how Wilma has affected both of those areas.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk more about Hurricane Wilma and take you to Cancun and Cuba, but first, medical news as we continue to monitor the storm as it makes its way through Florida. In Britain, a quarantined parrot from South America has died of the deadly strain of bird flu that is spreading through flocks in Asia. Britain's chief veterinary officers says that the parrot was likely infected by a bird from Taiwan, also in quarantine. Meantime, the European Commission is looking to ban live poultry and birds from Croatia. Thirteen swans were found dead near a national park in Zagreb, where six other swans tested positive for bird flu last week.

And Russian officials say the veterinary workers found bird flu in a flock in the central region of Tambov. The Russian Emergency Situation's Ministry reports about 70 birds fell ill in a village just about 250 miles southeast of Moscow. Eight of the birds have died, 48 others were killed.

And with fears of a global pandemic growing, the World Health Organization is searching for a bird flu vaccine. An Australian company today announced that it is in the process of testing one on people. It doesn't expect results before February, but if it works, company executives say they'll be able to start vaccinating against the virus within three months.

Back now to Hurricane Wilma. Havana, Cuba got hit overnight and a stronger-than-expected storm surge flooded the city streets there, waves reaching up to 45 feet scaled Havana's sea wall. And at last count, more than 200 people were rescued by crew in rafts, even in rowboats, secured from a local amusement park. An evacuation order was issued for the city after many Havana residents had gone to bed.

And then the International Airport in Cancun is expected to reopen tomorrow. The Yucatan resort was clobbered by Wilma for two days.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After two days penned up in a shelter, Abbe Parhan and Andre Walker stretch their legs, but it wasn't on a Cancun Beach.

ANDRE WALKER, VACATIONER: I just wanted to get some air, you know. We've been in that shelter for 48 hours or so.

CANDIOTTI: The vacationers joined hundreds of others in what looked like a roadside procession, miles from their luxury hotels, searching for essentials. Wilma's howling 150 mile-per-hour winds made a lasting impact. ABBE PARHAN, VACATIONER: The windows were breaking. We were taping up windows to keep the winds and rains, torrential rains from coming in. You've got babies, you've got children crying. You've got people really getting extremely excited and panicking.

WALKER: I was concerned, more so concerned about family and friends than the fact that, you know, you never know if you're going the see them again.

PARHAN: It was just devastating. It's unbelievable. I guess you just don't understand something like this until you actually go through it.

CANDIOTTI: At a school transformed into a refuge for tourists, Mexican hotel workers, sheltered alongside the visitors, helped organize assembly lines to deliver supplies.

By Sunday, hot meals were being served, for the most part, the effort, winning praise.

But in downtown Cancun, lines enveloped city hall for a treasured two bottles of water per person. There's no power, either, and streets are flooded or blocked by debris. People managed to get around as best they could. Looters helped themselves at some stores, and police did what they could, where they could, to stop it. The Mexican government promised more help as quickly as possible. But for some tourists, that's not enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to be able to get out since we don't know what's going to happen.

CANDIOTTI: As soon as airports are up and running, tourists will go home. But it may be some time before this popular vacation destination can welcome them back.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Cancun, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: It's known for its beautiful sunsets, but today we're talking about a little bit of destruction hitting the area of Key West, Florida.

We're going to take you there live, right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Ninety percent of Florida Key residents refused to listen to the evacuation order, and so did our CNN's Kareen Wynter. She's in Key West, Florida, but she had to ignore it because she had to cover the storm for us. She joins us live via videophone now -- Kareen?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Hi there, Kyra. Well, we're in one neighborhood that's sustained some flooding from Wilma. Actually, this intersection where I'm standing was actually covered in water about four feet deep earlier today. It's now receding. People were getting around and still are, quite frankly, by boats, on their bikes. There's a couple to my right right now. I'm not sure if they're going to try to venture out in these waters. But that's basically what we've been seeing out here all morning as we go into the afternoon.

I want to introduce you to two residents here who were gracious enough to take some time out to talk to us. Lyle Jones (ph) and his neighbor, his friend, Matthew (ph).

Now, Lyle, it was a long morning for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very long. I slept all night. He was up worrying all night, worrying about the noises and stuff. I was out. We woke up and said, Lyle, the water's rising. And didn't really believe him until it started coming up the floorboards and flooding our house.

WYNTER: Matthew, how much damage did you sustain in your house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Luckily, it wasn't my house. It was this guy's house and my girlfriend's house. So, luckily, it didn't sustain too much. We got everything off the floor. We moved all the speakers and TVs and got everything up to a higher ground, to the second floor. Luckily, we were (INAUDIBLE).

WYNTER: Now, we've been talking to Key West residents the last several days. Some of them have been joking about the fact that, oh, this is just another hurricane, we're used to it. We're not going to evacuate. You didn't. But you're having a change of heart?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am. Now, this is the first one that I've been through. And I've left for every hurricane since then. And, yes, my girlfriend convinced me to stay and I'm never going to stay again.

WYNTER: Gentleman, you have a long clean-up day ahead of you. Thank you so much.

Kyra, and 30 people in this neighborhood. But not just this neighborhood, to the north of us, it actually sustained more damage after Wilma by the flooding. We also have been trying to check in with emergency official, the city directors here, the PIO, but it's been quite difficult, as you can manage in that situation like this. You have power, electricity that's out, cell phone services are down.

But earlier, the public information officer told me they had a huge problem in that many residents were, in essence, stranded in their homes. Residents who had (INAUDIBLE) a lot of water damage, a lot flooding from Wilma. And they couldn't get out, but emergency vehicles couldn't get to them. And that's because huge sections of trees had fallen, blocking streets. And so we're interested in finding out, we're waiting to hear back from them, if that's changed. Again, the waters here receding. But people will still have a lot of clean-up to do inside their own homes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kareen Wynter there in Key West. Thank you so much, along with all of our correspondents. Of course, it takes our photojournalists to cover the hurricane.

And Mark Biello joins us now live on the phone from Clewiston. That's just on the southwest coast of Florida's Lake Okeechobee -- Mark, you better help me -- Okeechobee?

MARK BIELLO, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Okeechobee.

PHILLIPS: Okeechobee, thank you. Just taking the -- I got to keep practicing some of these places on the map. But tell me what kind of damage are you seeing there? I've been seeing your video being fed in. But you've covered so many storms. Kind of give us a layout.

BIELLO: Well, Kyra, what you're seeing here is a destroyed marina that collapsed by, eyewitness reports said 10:00 a.m. this morning. There were some people actually in a couple of the boats here when this whole complex tumbled on top of the boats. In this town of Clewiston here on the south end of the lake, this is the marina that leads out to the lake. There -- we've seen see a lot of overturned trailer homes, a lot of flooding in the downtown areas. Street flooding. Not very deep or significant.

But many of the store fronts have their windows smashed out and there is a mandatory curfew until these risks subside and diminish for the residents. It's still very dangerous here, with a lot of flying tin and shingles and a lot of timbers. This is pretty much the tail end, I think, of Wilma. But as you can see by the -- I'm zooming in now here to this marina, you can see the damage to a lot of the boats and the structures that (INAUDIBLE) in this town here.

PHILLIPS: We're talking with CNN photojournalist Mark Biello, as he not only joins us by phone, but he's actually shooting the camera there in Clewiston, Florida, right now. Mark, tell me, from the beginning -- I mean, compare this to the last storm that you covered. Did you feel that people were more prepared? Do you think that more people listened to the evacuation warnings, or did a lot of people stick it out?

BIELLO: I think a lot of people did stick it out for the fact that they've been through so many hurricanes in the past here. That doesn't mean a lot of people did not evacuate. But they know -- they are prepared. They know what to stock up. You noticed a lot of residents -- it was a lot more orderly and calm kind of preparation. There were some days here (INAUDIBLE).

And I think what took a lot of people by surprise, especially here is, we're 60 miles inland. We're in the center of the state. We're not anywhere on the coast. That some residents here feel that it did intensify as it came ashore and came inland. That catches a lot of people,, especially here, by surprise. A lot of people expect a storm surge or any kind of damage from winds and rain in the other areas, on the coastal areas, but not inland with such -- such intensity.

PHILLIPS: Our photographer Mike Biello there, coming to us from Clewiston, Florida. Mark, thanks so much.

And coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, continuing coverage of Hurricane Wilma. We're going to survey the damage live from both sides of Florida. And also in about half an hour, the government's response. FEMA director David Paulison briefs reporters live. We're going to bring that to you as soon as that starts. LIVE FROM returns right after a quick break.

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