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Tropical Depression Ernesto Dumps Rain on East Coast; Hurricane John Threatens Mexico; U.S. Military Conducts Successful Missile Defense Test

Aired September 01, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. It's the top of the hour.
Ernesto is weakening, but it's also slowing down. That makes wind damage less of a threat, flood damage more of one. The storm made landfall just in North Carolina just before midnight.

Our Kathleen Koch is in Goldsboro, and joins us via broadband -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, what we are having now from Ernesto is still some gusting winds and just a light mist.

But, as you can see behind me, it has really wreaked havoc on some of the bodies of water in North Carolina. Behind me is Stoney Creek that runs through the city of Goldsboro. And residents (AUDIO GAP) here say they have not seen flooding like this since 1989, when Hurricane Floyd dumped so much rain on this area, some 22 inches, in less than eight hours.

Also had some severe flooding like this some 10 years ago, in Hurricane Fran, when they got just 10 inches. Now, the rainfall totals here in the Goldsboro area, we're told, were roughly seven to eight inches. It's certainly taken a toll.

The good news, we're hearing, is that no homes are affected. Apparently, a lot of homes that were flooded out in Floyd, back in '99, have been raised. So, as one police officer told me, he said, what's flooding now, empty lots where homes used to be.

But we have that there is a strip mall not far from here that has been very heavily impacted by these waters. Business people are in there right now, hauling out their belongings, their computers, their goods. And we are going to be going there very soon to check on them.

But, Kyra, North Carolina, it could have been hit a lot harder -- luckily, only one death from the storm. A lot of people (AUDIO GAP) said, did listen and they did evacuate and get out of the way -- back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Kathleen Koch, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Well, the storm formerly known as Ernesto has left the Carolinas behind, now battering Washington and points north. Tara Mergener is in the D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia.

First, tell us what has happened to this point, Tara. I know there have been some reports of death.

TARA MERGENER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Kyra.

You are right. Now, we are in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Virginia. This is where some of the worst flooding is expected in this area. And, as you can see, the heavy rains and the wind have already moved in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MERGENER (voice-over): Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is urging residents to take Tropical Depression Ernesto seriously. It's poised to dump one to five inches over much of Virginia. But the Chesapeake Bay and areas east, all the way to Richmond, will likely get the worst of it, maybe more than 10 inches.

That's the type of heavy rain over a short period of time that is making folks here in Virginia nervous about potentially deadly flooding.

GOV. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: Two years back, we had two top -- tropical depressions, Gaston and Jeanne. Ten people were killed, federal emergency declarations in those 22 counties, as a result of those two, so a downgrade to a tropical depression is not -- does mean we can be complacent or take anything for granted.

MERGENER: Virginia's governor has really declared a state of emergency. And officials are asking people to stay indoors and off the roads. Overnight, Ernesto soaked the Carolinas, washing out roadways and causing massive power outages.

GOV. MIKE EASLEY (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I remind people again that most of the fatalities and injuries occur after the storm in automobiles on flooded roads. Stay out of the streams.

MERGENER: The National Weather Service has received reports of rainfall amounts from 9 to 11 inches in eastern North Carolina, breaking records in some areas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MERGENER: Now back here live in Alexandria, Virginia, it is high tide now. As you can see, the water is spilling over the pier.

Meantime, high winds remain a concern. The National Weather Service has issued a gale warning. And that extends from North Carolina up the Atlantic Coast.

We are live in Alexandria, Virginia. I'm Tara Mergener -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Tara, thanks so much. We're going to get straight to the newsroom now -- Fredricka Whitfield working details on a developing story out of Los Angeles.

Fred, what do you know about this shooting?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a traffic nightmare right now -- at the same time, an active crime scene.

Northbound 605 is shut down. Traffic is apparently backed up for as many as 15 miles. You are looking at aerial shots right now coming from our affiliate KABC. They may -- these police officers may be on the scene of -- perhaps leading them to a suspect. They have been looking for a female suspect.

And why they are concentrating on this area, right now, it's unclear. We only know that investigators have been looking for a female suspect. A deputy was involved. And, apparently, they have shut down a good part of the northbound of 605, because they are now looking for a weapon involved.

It is believed, according to police, that there was a shooting involving the suspect and a deputy. The deputy was not hit. No one is reported to be injured. But there you see right there that northbound 605 backed up for many, many miles -- a very frustrating commute for people there in the Los Angeles area, a frustrating compute that people see often in L.A.

This time, it's the result of the investigating of a shooting taking place there on the 605, near the Beverly (ph) exit in the Pico Rivera area -- and, once again, all northbound lanes of the 605 shut down, as investigators look for this female suspect, and look for what they believe to be a handgun somewhere along those lines, at the Beverly (ph) exit in the Pico Rivera there off of 605 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Fred.

Back to severe weather now -- parts of Virginia are getting drenched by the depression that was Ernesto. Flooding is reported. And more than 200,000 Virginians have lost power.

Rob Marciano joins us once again by the phone.

Are you still in Williamsburg, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, we finally got through the -- what was the natural roadblock of a couple of trees that fell across Interstate 64.

Several trees, actually, en route, have been cut up by the Virginia Department of Transportation. And, now, finally, Interstate 64 is open. So, we are en route. We are past Williamsburg, and heading toward a town just north of Hampton and Newport News called Poquoson, which is right on Chesapeake Bay.

We're getting word from some of our affiliates that the flooding there is really bad. So, we are hoping that's not so much the case, but we are heading there to check it out.

There has been reports of flooding not only there, but across ports of Portsmouth and down towards Suffolk. This is all in the area known as Hampton Rose Roads, Newport News, Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, right -- just south of -- we're -- we're pretty much right into the Delmarva, in the Chesapeake Bay tidal basin, where there's a number of rivers that feed in from the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains, and try to get back to the ocean. And, with all this tropical rainfall, it's having a hard time doing that.

Started our day in Richmond, where, in the community of Battery Park, there is a threat for flood -- actually, there is flooding going on. And, with the added threat of a -- a sewer line that has ruptured, they have evacuated more than 200 homes in the -- in the community of Battery Park in Richmond, Virginia.

And, just to the north and east, the extreme northeast corner of North Carolina, in Elizabeth City, we're told that 50 percent of the roads there, at last check, were -- were impassable, because of flooding.

The good news, Kyra, is that rain, the heaviest amounts of rain, have let up. And we are just seeing a -- a light and -- drizzle or mist, and, at times, maybe a light shower, but nothing compared to what we were experiencing less than an hour ago, which was rain coming down in sheets and blowing sideways.

So, as this system moves off to the north and continues to dump rain in these rivers, it will continue to feed into the Chesapeake Bay area, which means that flood threat is not over. But the good news, at least in the southern part of the state, most of the heaviest amounts of the rain are.

That's the latest from here, Kyra. We are about five minutes now, hopefully, from Poquoson. And we will hope to get a -- a live shot up for you, and show you some video, and exactly what it looks like on the ground in just a few minutes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rob Marciano, thanks.

Well, in Baja California, it's too late to leave. Hurricane John is bearing down.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck is riding it out in Cabo San Lucas, right there on the southern tip of the peninsula.

Harris, what's it like right now?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Well, if you are wondering why I am standing here sopping wet in sunshine, that's because the hurricane is shooting these bands of wind and rain with increasing frequency onto the the -- the -- mainland -- the land here on the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

Behind me, the Pacific Ocean -- you can see these bands, literally see these bands of wind and rain just shoot across the water, causing whitecaps, and coming in with increasing frequency. There's another band coming in just behind me.

The situation on the ground here remains pretty much the same, people holed up, local residents holed up in shelters being run by the Mexican military, tourists holed up in many of the resort hotels that dot the coastline of the Baja Peninsula.

Again, we do expect the hurricane itself to come pretty -- closer within the next few hours. The wind and rain have been intermittent all morning long -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Harris Whitbeck, we will keep checking in with you in Cabo.

We are keeping an eye on both storms.

And she's keeping busy, Jacqui Jeras.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: She is in the Weather Center, monitoring it all -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kyra.

We will start out with Ernesto, just because it's the radar I have behind me right now, and showing you the good news is that North Carolina, done with the rain, southern parts of Virginia, done with the rain. You are doing a lot better here into the Norfolk area. We saw Rob in the Williamsburg area. They're still getting some heavy showers and thunderstorms right now. That's just to the north of there.

There's Poquoson that he was talking about, where some of the flooding has been occurring, and the worst of the weather stretching into central parts of the Chesapeake Bay. It's going to be moving up towards the Salisbury area, we think, here in the next half-an-hour or so. There's I-64. Don't want to be traveling around these parts at this hour -- the rainfall rates, a good inch to an inch-and-a-half per hour.

Washington, D.C., overall, has been seeing light to moderate showers, at best today. That is going to be increasing here in the next half-an-hour to maybe 60 minutes or so. And, also, watch for your winds to pick up, as that heavier rain begins to move on in.

I want to show you the flood watches -- what an extensive area that this is covering. This starts all the way down into North Carolina, stretches all the WATSON: up to Upstate New York. So, that's where we are expecting the flooding conditions to be. It includes a lot of big cities.

New York City, you're in it, as well Philadelphia, D.C., sitting down towards Rich -- Richmond, and all the flooded areas that we have already been showing you.

Of course, it's wreaking havoc at the airports. Look at the delays that we have -- JFK, 55-minute ground delay, as well as La Guardia, about 35 minutes out of Newark, Orlando, 30 minutes. And we are getting two-hour delays reported out of Philadelphia.

OK, onto the other coast now. We're into the Pacific, the latest with Hurricane John. It has weakened just a little bit, but it's really not that significant. Winds are at 110 miles per hour. So, technically, that makes it a Category 2 hurricane. But you only need to bump up 1 mile per hour to make this a major hurricane, a Category 3. So, you need to prepared for a major hurricane, as this makes landfall, we think, in the next couple of hours.

Here's Cabo San Lucas. Here's the center of circulation. You can see a very well-defined eye on this system. It did take a little wobble over the last couple of hours. So, it looks like, right now, if it continues on its current track, could be pulling in just to the east of Cabo, which means the worst of the storm surge would be off to your east as well, which would be a little bit of good news. And you would be on the cleaner side of the storm, so to speak.

The bad news is, is that, once it crosses over Baja California, expect it to stay strong to major hurricane strength. And it is going to be scraping along the coastal area. So, this entire area is just going to get hammered, we think, with at least tropical-storm-force winds, if not hurricane-force winds. So, then, the good news -- this finally begins to pull on away, gets into the cooler waters, and weakens, and does not affect the U.S., other than the tourists -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Great. We will keep tracking.

JERAS: Mmm-hmm.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jacqui.

Let's get back to newsroom -- Fredricka Whitfield with more on that freeway shooting in Los Angeles -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, northbound 605 in Los Angeles still a terrible mess -- it is backed up, because all lanes are blocked northbound on the 605, because of a shooting investigation, a shooting that involved a deputy and a female suspect, according to our affiliates' coverage, that these northbound lanes of the 605 have been closed, because not only are investigators looking for this female suspect.

They are also looking for the weapon that may have been used in this -- reported shootings. No reported injuries -- that's good news.

And you are seeing right there the beginning of this backup. Our affiliates are reporting the backup is as long as 15 miles there on the 605, as these investigators on foot there are looking for any evidence, and perhaps a suspect, in this shooting that took place just moments ago -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we will keep tracking it.

Thanks, Fred. On the lam and in the crosshairs -- after two state troopers are ambushed in western New York, their comrades say, enough is enough. The manhunt -- straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

Plus: a deadly fire on a passenger plane in Iran -- details straight ahead.

The news keeps coming. We will keep bringing it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's get back to the newsroom -- Fredricka Whitfield working more details for us, the other story out of California, right, the fire.

WHITFIELD: That's right, also in Los Angeles -- this time, a fire taking place in the downtown area of the L.A. garment district.

You are looking, right now, at a commercial building still fully engulfed, but firefighters do feel that they have -- they are getting a better handle on it. Now they have used a lot more heavy equipment to try and put out the flames, whereas, before, you saw most of the firefighters on the rooftop. You still see a few on the neighboring building, on the rooftop, but now they feel like the roof is just a little bit too weak to -- to do that completely.

So, they are using some heavy equipment there in the area. This is taking place in San -- south San Julian road area, the 1100 block. They are asking motorists to stay away from the area. You can see, the smoke is pretty serious, and certainly will be impairing visibility. And firefighters don't want any passersby or any motorists to get themselves in trouble, as they try to get this fire under control -- cause, still unclear. It's very early -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks. Thanks.

We want to get straight to the Pentagon now. We reported earlier the U.S. military shooting down a target ballistic missile over the Pacific. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said it had successfully completed this to help protect the United States against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.

Let's listen to Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

LIEUTENANT GENERAL HENRY "TREY" OBERING, DIRECTOR, MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY: ... out of an operational site at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It was conducted by operational crews that were manning operational fire control systems in Colorado Springs. It was conducted with the support of an operational radar in California that was also manned by war-fighters, operational crews. And it was against a very threat-representative target that was launched out of Alaska.

So, all in all, this is about as close as we can come to an end- to-end test of our long-range missile defense system. It is the next step in the test -- in the progression, because the last one that we did in February was a validation that we could fly a target across the radar in California, and be able to generate a fire control solution, as we say, to the interceptor.

And that was built on a test that we conducted last December, which was actually the first flight of the operational-configured interceptor out of Kwajalein, in the South Pacific.

So, this continual progression will -- will proceed. We think we're on the right track.

Just a reminder, though: This is a major portion of our missile defense system, but it is not the only portion of our missile defense system. And, in fact, this intercept now is the fourth in the last 90 days of a hit-to-kill intercept, using our ballistic missile defense system.

Last June, we launched a sea-based interceptor that was successful in intercepting a separating warhead. In July, we launched a land-based terminal-phase interceptor, the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense, or the THAAD interceptor, successfully intercepting the target.

In August, just yesterday, we had a successful Patriot 3, PAC-3, intercept that was conducted by the U.S. Army, in collaboration with Missile Defense Agency, and then, today, the ground-based midcourse defense system.

And, so, we are very pleased and very proud that, as a result of a lot of hard work from a lot of hardworking Americans that are bringing this -- this capability into reality.

As we look to the future, we will continue this systematic progression. We will make our tests even more challenging, as we measure the results of this one.

And it will take us several days and weeks to be able to go through the amount of data that we collect. We actually collect gigabits and gigabits of data that we have to go through, analyze all potential possibilities, and see how everything performed.

But I will tell you that what we do know now is that we did, in fact, exceed our objective. We did intercept the -- the reentry vehicle. And we did use the operational radar data to provide the initial track for that intercept and the kill vehicle, performed its own discrimination and targeting of the kill vehicle. And we got that from the -- from the instrumentation that we have.

A lot of firsts in this: first time that we flew the interceptor out of Vandenberg; first time that we were able to actually use the operational fire control system, end to end, as I said; and the first time we were able to put war-fighters on the consoles at all these positions.

So, this is a validation of the confidence that I have expressed in the system, and will continue to explore as we go into the future.

So, with that, I would like to answer any questions that you may have.

QUESTION: General, based on the results of the tests to date, including today's test, what are the chances that the United States could shoot down an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile from a country, for instance, like North Korea?

OBERING: I won't tell you a specific number, because that is a classified number for our defensive system. But what I will tell you is that this test validated the confidence that I have expressed in the past with the performance of the system.

And the reason I say that is because this was the configuration that we have in the silos in Alaska and in California. This is the fire-control system that we would use for those interceptors. This was a -- an operational radar that we would use -- a similar one -- in the defense of the United States from a -- a long-range Taepodong-2, for example, that's launched at the United States.

And, so, these were the procedures. This is the way the system works. And, so, I believe that we are very confident that it would work.

QUESTION: If you are not -- if you are not going to put a number on it -- you're not going to give us odds, essentially -- would you say, for instance, that you would have a -- an excellent chance, a good chance, a fair chance, or a poor chance, of shooting down a missile that threatened the United States?

OBERING: I think we would have a good chance. And it -- and it's one that I -- I feel a lot safer and sleep a lot better at night.

QUESTION: General...

OBERING: That's fine.

QUESTION: ... I think you said that this is about as close as we can come to an end-to-end, complete end-to-end test. And you also said that the next test will be more challenging. I am wondering if your -- that first statement was based on what capability you have today. It's as good as you can get, but it's got to get better?

OBERING: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

OBERING: We will continue to challenge ourselves with respect to presenting more complex threat suites, OK, as we go through.

We will -- we will continually look at different azimuths, different intercept geometries, etcetera. And -- and that's one reason why we moved the interceptor to Vandenberg. And it's also why we built mobile telemetry systems that we place on ships, and mobile- range safety instrumentation that we can -- we can move flexibly around, so, it -- it allows us to expand our geometries.

But what we saw today was a very realistic trajectory for the threat, for the target, and a very realistic trajectory, a very realistic intercept altitude and intercept speeds for the -- the target and the interceptor against the target.

QUESTION: What was the altitude, by the way?

OBERING: I can't talk about it, but I will just tell you it was -- it was in space.

QUESTION: In simplistic terms, to someone who doesn't understand any math whatsoever, can you describe how the next test will be more challenging in real, non-mathematical, layman's terms?

OBERING: Well, what we will do is, we will go through all of the data from this test, and then we will determine how we can challenge ourselves for the next test.

And what that means is, today, we had a -- a kill vehicle that was used against a -- a very threat-representative target, which means that there was a -- there was a -- a warhead that was inbound. And there was also what we called part of the -- the target, post-boost vehicle, or part of the booster that was used for the target.

We will begin to add what we call...

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency.

Why is all this technical talk so important? Well, you may remember Fourth of July, the breaking news here on CNN, that threat from North Korea, when they were launching missiles. It is obviously kept -- been kept in the news, just the importance of the Missile Defense Agency, and why they are holding this news conference.

They have launched an improved ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States, as you heard the lieutenant general, against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack. And we talked about those short-range, long-range missiles, and the threat from North Korea back on the Fourth of July, when North Korea was -- was testing those missiles.

Now, the test results, according to the general, will help improve the performance of a multibillion-dollar shield that they have been creating against the type of long-range ballistic missiles that could be used to attack a U.S. city with a weapon of mass destruction.

So, there's the bottom line to why they are pretty excited about the advancements they have made with regard to missile defense, and announcing it today. We will stay on top of it. Our Jamie McIntyre, of course, is following it from the Pentagon.

Now, our other big story today has been Ernesto.

Joining me on the phone from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a place we have been going live all throughout the afternoon with regard to Hurricane John, following both of those severe weather patterns for you -- well, honeymooners Eric and Colleen Von Foerester, they are stuck, as Hurricane John approaches.

Now, from what I understand, Eric and Colleen, you -- you have been married for a number of years. You finally had a chance to plan your honeymoon. And this is what happens. Am I correct?

(LAUGHTER)

COLLEEN VON FOERESTER, HONEYMOONING IN CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Oh, Colleen, I'm sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

VON FOERESTER: Yes, we are, too.

PHILLIPS: Well, I will tell you what. This gives you a chance to bond in way you probably didn't expect to, right?

VON FOERESTER: You know, we have -- we have almost survived tornado warnings and some blizzards. And we have -- we have been through some interesting stuff together.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I can just imagine.

Eric, is this bringing you closer?

VON FOERESTER: Oh, he -- we don't have two phones.

PHILLIPS: Oh.

VON FOERESTER: I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: It's just you, Colleen?

VON FOERESTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: That's OK. That's all right. You -- you can speak for him. No problem.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Well, tell me, did -- did you have any idea -- I mean, how fast did this develop, once you got there, and then began getting these warnings, and knowing, that, uh-oh, this could take a -- a dangerous turn? VON FOERESTER: There was very little warning at all. You know, we arrived Monday afternoon.

And Wednesday, late afternoon, we -- was the first time we heard about it. And they had received news about it in town before we had. And, by the time we heard, there were no flights. There was no space on the planes left. There were no cars, no cabs, no buses.

(LAUGHTER)

VON FOERESTER: Everything was taken. It -- it was just that quick.

PHILLIPS: Now, where are you exactly? What -- are you staying in a resort or a villa?

VON FOERESTER: Yes. We are staying at the Rio Palace. It's a resort right next to the city of Cabo San Lucas.

PHILLIPS: Now, is that on the water, right there on the water?

VON FOERESTER: Yes. We have -- we have got maybe a football field in between us and the beach.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Now, are you concerned about the hurricane and -- and where you are? What's the resort doing to add to the protection, taking care of you, preparing for this?

VON FOERESTER: Well, the resort has done what it can, as far as, you know, they have boarded up everything that can be boarded up. They have tied everything down that can move. There isn't a lot of vegetation that's going to go anywhere.

You know, they have drained the pools. But they don't have much in the way of really well-covered areas that, you know, aren't just full of windows.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: What about food, water, supplies...

VON FOERESTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... to keep going?

VON FOERESTER: They have been -- they have been very good about making sure everybody is fed, and that -- we have -- we have done what we can to stock up, too, while they have passed things out.

But they have provided us with breakfast and lunch. And -- and, you now, we just have to call in to get anything else.

PHILLIPS: So, you are not able to leave your room; is that right? VON FOERESTER: Right. Exactly.

PHILLIPS: And have they given you any indication how long this is going to last?

VON FOERESTER: Well, the latest we have heard is that it's not going to actually hit landfall now until 6:00, Mountain time.

PHILLIPS: And have you had any word on -- on when the airport could be up and operating, when you could get out of there? Or, once this passes, if it doesn't hit the area in a bad -- in -- in a -- I guess in a -- a damaging way, a real damaging way, will you stay?

VON FOERESTER: Well, basically, we -- we don't have anywhere else to go, until we can leave, you know, once -- until we can get a flight out.

They really have no idea, as far as -- the airports will open up as soon as the winds get down to -- I think it was like 50 miles per hour. But the roads wash out really easily. And we are about a 45- minute drive from the airport.

PHILLIPS: Are all businesses closed down right now?

VON FOERESTER: Not all of them. There's a few that are still trying to stay open.

But the military has come in and evacuated as many people as they can. So, a lot of people have been forced to close.

PHILLIPS: Colleen, my guess is, you are never going to forget this honeymoon.

VON FOERESTER: Well, no, I don't think so.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, you stay in touch with us, and let us know how things are developing. We want to -- we want to keep in contact with you and Eric.

VON FOERESTER: Yes.

Well, basically, we will keep in touch as long as we can. And we are trying to get out of here as soon as we can, and go home and see our son.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Oh, so you are going to try and beat this and get out?

VON FOERESTER: Well, we -- we can't get out before it hits, but we're going to...

PHILLIPS: Got it.

VON FOERESTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right. You're going to buckle down.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: How old is your son?

VON FOERESTER: He's almost 5.

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. All right.

VON FOERESTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know he will be the next phone call.

VON FOERESTER: Oh, definitely.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Colleen Von Foerester, appreciate it.

VON FOERESTER: Sure. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, the mid-Atlantic states are in the midst of Ernesto. The winds are waning, but the rain is a major threat.

Our meteorologist Rob Marciano is in the coastal Virginia area. He's going to join us live straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Surf shop owner on the North Carolina coast says I- Report for CNN. Here's how Ryan Kingsbury joined the most trusted name in news. When you have got pictures or video of breaking news or cool stories from your part of the world, go to CNN.com, click on I- Report. Now Ryan shot his photograph after Ernesto crashed into Kill Devil Hill.

As you can see right here there's some street flooding, nothing too serious. Ryan says most tourists left town before the storm hit but he predicts that they will be back for the holiday weekend. For more information on I-Report you can logon to CNN.com and there you will get complete instructions on how to submit your stories to CNN.

Now, keeping an eye on both Hurricane John and tropical depression Ernesto, Jacqui Jeras busy in the CNN weather center, of course. Didn't even have to say that, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Jacqui, appreciate it. On Wall Street a big win for Lockheed Martin. Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us where the aerospace giant will be going.

(MARKET REPORT)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retirement is a hot commodity for 65-year-old Richard Busch. Busch creates pottery from scratch in his Glenfiddich Farm studio in Leesburg, Virginia. He learned his craft by taking classes and workshops in the late '80s.

RICHARD BUSCH, POTTER: What started out as just kind of a casual hobby turned into the first kind of a passion and then I have to admit it became kind of an obsession.

MORRIS: Busch worked as a magazine editor for more than 30 years. In 1997, he had an unique opportunity from his company.

BUSCH: As luck would have it, I was offered a chance to retire early. And, so, even got a little bit of a jump start on what had become a bit of a fantasy. The idea was to have a studio and a show room and a place where people could come and buy things.

Quite a few things that are new.

I make a lot of vases. Cylinders that are used for cooling wine. Espresso sets, mugs, plates, you name it. I just absolutely love coming down stairs in the morning and rolling out some clay and getting on the wheel.

MORRIS: Busch says you can find him working about seven days a work.

BUSCH: When you love what you do, you just want to keep doing it as much as you can.

MORRIS: Valerie Morris, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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PHILLIPS: Two years ago today, Chechnyan gunman took over a Russian school and held more than 1,100 people hostage. It was the first day of the Beslan tragedy. That would end three days later with explosions, gunfire, and 333 hostages killed, most of them children. Survivors, parents and children gathered today on the school grounds to remember those who died.

Sixty-two dead, maybe more, in 24 hours. Rescue teams in Baghdad worked through he night pulling bodies and survivors out of bombed-out buildings mostly in Shiite neighborhoods. Police say bombs were hidden in apartments and cars, and went off at the same time. Mortars and rockets peppered that city yesterday evening. Some 300 people are reported hurt right now.

Retired from the government but keeping a hand in world affairs, James Baker is in Baghdad today. The former secretary of state met with Iraq's deputy prime minister on security, border protection, and the chances for a national reconciliation. Baker co-chairs a bipartisan group with a mandate to think outside the box on the Iraq war.

Iran thumbs its nose on at a U.N. deadline on nukes, but at least for a day, politics is overshadowed by an airliner accident that killed at least 30 people.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is in Tehran.

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ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As emergency officials arrived on the scene and survivors were rushed to the hospital, the bodies of those burned to death lay covered on the tarmac. This is the wreckage of a plane investigation believe was engulfed in flames after a tire burst when as it landed in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

Such accidents are all too frequent in Iran, where air crashes kill scores of people every year, and Iranian officials consistently lay the blame with countries that have imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. They say the U.S. trade embargo has prevented Iran from updating its domestic fleet, instead forcing Iranian airlines to rely on Russian-made planes with spotty safety records. The one that crashed on Friday was a Russian Tupolev.

And under President Ahmadinejad, Iran now faces the prospect of more sanctions. On a tour of provinces, he continued to sound defiant a day after rejecting a U.N. deadline to stop enriching uranium.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN: The Iranian nation is peace-seeking and after negotiations. It does not commit oppression and aggression but the world should know that it will not give into pressure and the violation of its rights.

RAMAN: But the shell of this burned-out plane in Mashhad makes a somber counterpoint to that declaration of independence, an offer reportedly made by European countries to Iran to suspend its nuclear program, included making airplane parts available. But it came to nothing as this nuclear rogue rumbles on.

(on camera): Iranians shrug off any talk of sanctions. They've got them already and many say more sanctions can't make things much worse. But it is they who are enduring a life of increasing isolation as their leaders continue to pursue their nuclear goals.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Tracking a monster storm, the southern tip of Baja feeling the effects of Hurricane John. Plus, the Mid-Atlantic states are in the midst of Ernesto. The winds are waning, but the rain is a major threat. Out meteorologist Rob Marciano is in coastal Virginia. He's going to join us straight ahead. CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

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GOV. MIKE EASLEY, NORTH CAROLINA: That's the reason why we don't want people going out on the flooded roads, also, where they flood over creeks. That water is pretty swift. It can move a vehicle very quickly. We currently have a van in Sampson County, I'm sorry, Dukeland County swept off the road. We're trying to get the driver out of the van now.

So, trying to get an update before I came out here, but we don't have it just yet. They're still working on it. Seventy-four, 76 near Leland in Brunswick County and U.S. 117 near Colonelsville (ph) at Castle Haine (ph), those roads have significant flooding. Most primary and secondary roads in Dukeland County have flooding.

Also in Brunswick and Onslo (ph) and southern part of Sampson County experiencing significant flooding on their primary and secondary roads. Top to Leland (ph) has flooding on just about all of their roads. That's a very low-lying area. D.O.T. crews are responding to downed trees right now. There are more downed trees than we anticipated. Raleigh East, they are getting of course trees off the roadways first. Need people to be cautious of downed power lines. There are some downed power lines as a result of the trees.

The ferry system, Swanport (ph) and Ocracoke (ph), are not running. They will run if needed for emergencies. It will be a while before the winds move out of there. Cedar Island, Ocracoke (ph) again is on a limited schedule today. Bay View, Aurora and Currituck Nought's Island (ph) are not running at this point. All other routes are running normal schedules, so if people want to find out what ferries are running or not, they can call 800-byferry. That's 800, B-Y-F-E-R-R-Y.

State parks, you look at going to state parks this weekend, 11 state parks are closed in eastern North Carolina. The best way to get that information would be to access ncsparks.net. N-C-S-P-A-R-K- S.net. We think a lot of them will be open pretty quickly but we don't want to promise that at this point. So people just log on and check that, it'll be helpful.

Federal, state, local damage assessment teams, we will deploy them into east as they are requested. The central branch, as I mentioned, which is I95 West, did not request any assessment teams, which is good news. Recovery tips as the storm passes: don't drive on the flooded roads.

Again, if you drive on the flooded roads going to end up like that van in Dukeland County. You are going to end up in the ditch and somebody is going to have to come up there and try to get you out. I remind people again that most of the fatalities and injuries occur after the storm in an automobile on flooded roads.

Stay out of the streams. Everybody wants -- kids want to go out and play in the streams. They are very swift. A lot of undercurrent in the streams. Parents, keep your children away from these little streams even around the neighborhoods that don't flood. They are a lot different today than they were yesterday. And they will be on through Sunday and Monday.

Again, be careful of debris in the road as well as downed power lines. Any questions, call those hot lines. Again, 1-888-835-9966 and the T.T.D. for the hard of hearing is 1-877-877-1765.

KAGAN: We're getting a very detailed report on what is happening on the roads of North Carolina. With Ernesto in town. It is a tropical depression now, also affecting Virginia, by the way. While we're listening to Governor Easley from North Carolina, also got these pictures in from Norfolk, Virginia, courtesy of our affiliate WADY.

Do we have the pictures? All right, well we had them. There they are. Flooding, basically the situation. A lot of rain and just asking folks to cooperate and not go into streams and flooded roads and help officials get done what they need to get done.

More on Ernesto and Hurricane John on the West Coast of Mexico coming up.

Poverty on the rise here in America and around the world. We'll tell you what one community is doing to make difference one block at a time. That's ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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PHILLIPS: Well, something good in the neighborhood for one Applebee's bartender. The neighborhood just got a whole lot better. LIVE FROM returns with the tip of a lifetime.

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PHILLIPS: Well, Andre Agassi just can't seem to say good-bye. He won a five-set thriller last night at the U.S. Open, delaying his retirement at least one more match. At 36, Agassi made an old man of 21-year-old Marcos Baghdatis -- I got it -- Baghdatis of Cyprus. I've been practicing. I still munched it. Sorry. Well, his next match will be against Germany's Benjamin Becker. No relation to tennis great Boris Becker, by the way. Get past him and Agassi could face Andy Roddick.

Well, when you're a waitress or a bartender, you're playing the percentages. Fifteen percent, 20 percent of a bar or restaurant tab is decent. But Cindy Keinow did a little better than that. How about $10,000 grand on a $26 tab. One of her regular customers usually tips well on his weekly visits, but this week, well, he outdid himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY KEINOW, APPLEBEE'S WAITRESS: I thanked him for it. He said that I could buy something nice for myself with that. He was sure, and I said, yes.

I have a few things I -- my dad's having knee surgery in October, so I'm going to help him out with that. And there's a bachelorette party that I'm going to in Vegas in November for a friend of mine, so we're going to have fun with that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Cindy apparently has to wait two weeks for the monster tip to show up on her paycheck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, god! Oh my god! Oh my god!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a mom gets a surprise of a lifetime. We're going to tell you what it is, just ahead on CNN.

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PHILLIPS: Well, a soldier from Connecticut comes home from Iraq. His mother couldn't be happier, nor, as you're about to see, more surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Holy cow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told you I had a good present for you!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Michael Ryan's (ph) mom wasn't the only excited person there. His whole family was thrilled. Ryan had been in Iraq for eight months.

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