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CNN Live Today

Building Explosion on NYC's Upper East Side; U.S. Soldiers Charged With Unspeakable Crimes; Russia: Basayev Killed

Aired July 10, 2006 - 10:59   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan. We continue our coverage of this breaking news story from New York City. About two and a half hours ago, an explosion of a four-story building on the Upper East Side.
The fire department believes it was a gas explosion. Five people have been hurt. Most of those were civilians that just happened to be walking by the building when it collapsed. Also, a couple of firefighters. And we also saw the man believed to be the owner of the building, Dr. Nicholas Bartha, taken out of there.

Now, there are reports swirling that this could, and they are couching this, the fire department, in possible "could," have been a suicide attempt.

With more on that and what's happening on the scene, and the efforts that still go on there, let's go to our Allan Chernoff on the street -- Allan.

All right. While we wait -- while we wait -- while we wait for Allan, let's go ahead -- the fire commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, just a few minutes ago talked to our affiliate WABC.

Let's go ahead and listen in to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA, NY FIRE COMMISSIONER: Well, apparently this morning, sometime around a quarter to 9:00, there was a nurse coming to work. She works in that building. There's a doctor's office on the first floor.

She heard an explosion before she got to the building. When she got there she saw what had happened.

The best information we have from talking with her and others is that there was one person in the building at the time of the explosion, and the building collapsed entirely from the explosion, blew out the windows across the way, and there was a -- the building across the street. There was a lot of fire when we got here. The firefighters managed to get enough of the fire under control so they could then dig in the rubble once we had a report that we believed there was a person inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How difficult was it... SCOPPETTA: It was extremely difficult, because there are two things to be concerned about. More than two, but at least two immediate. That was the fire above the firefighters who were working. The wall next to the building that collapsed, we didn't know whether or not it was -- its integrity had been compromised.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Danger of further collapse?

SCOPPETTA: Danger of further collapse. And, of course, when you are digging through rubble you can cause further collapse. So the firefighters had to be extremely careful about that while they were being covered by the other firefighters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We understand -- is this true, that the gentleman called on his cell phone to help pinpoint the location?

SCOPPETTA: He did speak on his cell phone to our people. And that's how we first made contact with him and then located him and dug through the rubble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We also are hearing stories about a possible call of a suicide. Can you describe that for us?

SCOPPETTA: Yes, there's not a lot that's been confirmed about that. But there was a communication from inside the building earlier that leads us to believe there is a potential to conclude that it was a suicide attempt. But we have not gotten there yet.

We're speaking to all the people involved, including the person who received the call. We'll have more information on that -- our marshals will -- in a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it were, in fact, a gas explosion, and that was linked to the suicide, how would that be linked?

SCOPPETTA: Oh, well, if you want me to speculate, I shouldn't, but very often suicide attempts are conducted by turning on an oven and letting the gas asphyxiate the person who intends the suicide. And, of course, when that happens an apartment can fill up with gas, any kind of spark can ignite it, and that will cause a very severe explosion. As you can see, this was a very severe explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So obviously this is very preliminary and we don't know if that, in fact, were the case, but the fire marshals are...

SCOPPETTA: It is preliminary, and it's enough to make us want to investigate further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And just after talking with that WABC reporter, the commissioner went over and talked with our Allan Chernoff, who is just a little bit away from the scene that we're watching right now.

Now, what you're seeing with these pictures -- and I believe they're live pictures? Yes, there we go. These are live pictures of what you're seeing.

This was a three-alarm fire. There still is a lot of work to do. This gives you some perspective of where from the fire -- where our Allan Chernoff is standing just about a half-block away as the work still goes on.

Allan, what can you tell us about what you've learned?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, right now there are two key questions here. One much more important than the other.

The first question, does anyone remain actually inside? And by inside at this point we're really talking about underneath the rubble.

The fire department has told us that there is about 20 feet of rubble now at the scene, and you can see right behind me the firefighters continue to spray water onto the building that collapsed as a result of the explosion this morning. So that is the issue that needs to be resolved, and the firefighters, the emergency crews standing by, waiting to go in to check to see if anyone else remains.

Question number two that remains unanswered -- and this will perhaps be answered a little bit later on -- is whether or not the owner of the building, a man by the name of Nicholas Bartha, whether, in fact, he did try to kill himself, and if that was the cause of this explosion. The fire commissioner has speculated that is a possibility here.

The utility here, Con Edison, did receive a call early this morning about the spell of natural gas, and, indeed, at the time of the explosion, an inspector from Con Ed was at the scene. But we believe that that inspector was in an adjacent building checking out the smell.

So the commissioner himself, the fire commissioner, raising the possibility that perhaps the owner of the building actually had turned up his oven. We do not know whether or not that is a fact. But it is the fire commissioner himself who is raising this possibility.

This bomb -- this explosion, excuse me -- the explosion actually causing at least five injuries to civilians. One of them the doctor found inside of the building, and then the others, we are told, were pedestrians who just happened to be just outside. Also, two firefighters injured, as well, at least one suffering from neck and back injuries.

So, that's the tally that we have at the moment. The fire most definitely under control, but not cool enough yet for the crews to go in and go through the rubble -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And you were saying that the fire officials told you that there's 20 feet of rubble. When you take a four-story building and collapse it on itself, that's a lot of debris.

CHERNOFF: Yes, that's a lot. And I did speak with some of the firefighters who actually were right at the edge of the rubble themselves.

So they were there. They -- and they did actually see that one individual being taken out and brought over to New York Presbyterian Hospital, which is a few blocks to the east of where we're standing right now.

KAGAN: Now, remarkably, the buildings on either side still standing, did not come down with this other building. Some damage in terms of windows being blown out and such.

Allan, let's go back a couple hours, and tell me about the man that you talked about -- that you talked with who had to go in and get his baby and nanny out of there.

CHERNOFF: That's right. I can still see the blown-out windows of his apartment. It may be difficult for our camera to get it, but he had a second floor apartment right next to the building that exploded.

He was actually down the street, coming out of synagogue when the explosion occurred. His wife and two children were waiting at that corner for a bus, and inside of the apartment was his 3-week-old baby, along with the nanny.

He told his wife and children to run, he ran into the apartment building, rescued his baby. The nanny also emerging. And so at least everyone from his family safe. But he said the apartment was entirely smoked out, so very good thing that he got there quickly and got the baby out.

KAGAN: And both of those buildings on either side evacuated. And in terms of lives being saved, that's good news. But there is going to be other post-stories here in terms of what people face being out of their homes, I would imagine.

CHERNOFF: Yes. Certainly at a minimum, some of these apartments are going to suffer serious smoke damage.

We did speak with another woman earlier who was in her apartment and plaster came flying through. So there certainly will be severe structural damage, and you can see right behind me a large bulldozer backing up. Perhaps that's going to mean that they're -- they're getting ready to move in.

This is the sort of bulldozer that will easily be able to shovel out quite a substantial amount of rubble once -- once, in fact, they are ready to have it move in. But the bulldozer there, of course, to supplement the efforts of the firefighters, of the emergency workers.

Of course, they cannot just send the bulldozer in on its own, because we don't know whether there are any individuals trapped underneath that rubble. So, of course we need a more careful process, more delicate process of pulling out that rubble, and then a bulldozer like this would be able to take away large scoopfuls (ph) of it.

KAGAN: Are there still quite a few people on the street around you that would have been evacuated from their homes, from their apartments?

CHERNOFF: Well, at this stage, we're really surrounded by dozens and dozens of reporters, whereas earlier we did see a lot of startled people, some folks in bathrobes, that sort of thing. At this stage, just within my eyesight right now, it doesn't look as if I can -- at least right now, I can't see anybody who seems to have been evacuated from their apartment.

KAGAN: OK.

Allan Chernoff on the streets of New York City.

Thank you.

Once again, we're just coming up on 10 minutes past the hour, a story we've been following for almost a couple hours now. About 8:30 a.m. Eastern -- we're looking at the live picture -- there used to be a four-story building standing there.

The fire department believes a gas explosion caused this building to come tumbling down, leading to a three-alarm fire. Five people have been hurt, including two firefighters and some civilians, and the man they believed owns the building, a man by the name of Nicholas -- Dr. Nicholas Bartha. And he was taken away on a stretcher.

There are some reports, we've heard the fire commissioner himself say this, there is a possibility that Dr. Bartha might have been able -- might have been trying to commit suicide at the time when this big gas explosion took place.

Our coverage from New York City will continue. Much more ahead.

Right now we take a break.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: More live pictures from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, 62nd Street, between Madison and Park. Just about almost two hours -- almost three hours ago, actually, a gas explosion is what fire officials believe brought down the four-story building. Five people hurt, including two firefighters, some people who happened to be passing by this building when it exploded. And then the man they believe is the owner of the building, Dr. Nicholas Bartha, he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

We're going to keep the picture up and we're going to keep the new information coming in as we watch firefighters continue to try to cool down that debris before they can go in and try to search and see what else is below 20 feet of debris that's left there on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

But while we keep that picture up we're going to get to some other news for you this hour, because we do have new information on those shocking allegations of rape and murder out of Iraq. American soldiers are suspected of entering a house and committing unspeakable crimes. This hour we now know the names of the accused.

Here's our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, with more on that -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, most of what we know about this case comes from an FBI affidavit that was filed in the case of Steven Green. He's a former Army private who's been discharged from the Army, and he's accused of, in fact, raping this Iraqi female, and then -- and before that, murdering the other members of her family.

What we were told all along was that there were other soldiers involved, as well. And today the U.S. military announced the charges against those soldiers, who are identified as Sergeant Paul Cortez, Specialist James Barker, Private 1st Class Jesse Spielman, and Private 1st class Bryan Howard. In addition, another soldier, a Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is accused of having knowledge after the fact of the incident and failing to report it.

Here's what military spokesman Major General Bill Caldwell said in Baghdad today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: ... conspiracy to commit rape and premeditative murder, conspiracy to obstruct justice, violation of a lawful general order, premeditated murder, rape, arson, house break-in, indecent acts, and obstruction of justice, all of which carry a maximum penalty of death if found -- if found guilty in a court of law of all those offenses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Very serious charges. Again, here's what we believe -- here's what the allegations are based on that FBI affidavit that's filed in what is now the civil case in federal court against Steven Green.

That affidavit alleges that Green and the others picked out this Iraqi woman about a week ahead of time. They were manning a checkpoint in Iraq, nearby, they changed clothes, they'd been drinking alcohol, they are alleged to have gone to the house. Green is alleged to have killed three of the family members and then raped and murdered the eldest daughter, whose age is somewhat in dispute. It could be as low as 14 years old. Some documents put her in her 20s.

That's something that the Army's still trying to resolve -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So we've seen Green is in custody. What about these others who have been named?

MCINTYRE: Well, they're also confined to the base, their weapons have been taken away. They have to be under military escort. They're essentially in what would be considered pretrial confinement, although we're told they're not actually in a prison facility. KAGAN: All right. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

Jamie, thank you for that.

Let's go to Iraq now, where violence has been surging over the weekend. Several bombings scattered across the country. At least eight people dead and more than 100 wounded.

Sectarian violence is suspected in today's deadliest attack, where police say a car bomb killed five and wounded 46 people in a Shia section of eastern Baghdad. Yesterday, Shiite militiamen were blamed for killing at least 42 Sunnis. That was in a horrific killing spree in Baghdad.

On to Russia now. A man who has been called Russia's bin Laden. Now Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who claimed the Beslan school takeover and numerous other attacks, he himself reportedly has been killed.

Matthew Chance joins us from Moscow with the latest.

And Matthew, first, if you can put in perspective how this was one of the most wanted men in all of Russia.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, he was the most wanted man in Russia. Certainly the most radical, the most high profile, the most hard line of the Chechen militants in that Russian breakaway republic.

He's been responsible for some of the biggest outrages against Russian civilians over the past several years, including the 2004 Beslan school siege, where you may remember more than 300 people were killed, most of them children, executed by men ordered there by Basayev as the school was being stormed by Russian special forces. So he's a really hated figure amongst Russian people.

His death was announced by the head of the Russian security services, the FSB, the successor to the KGB. He said he was killed, along with 12 other what they call bandits in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.

It was -- there was a special television broadcast across Russia, with the Russian president congratulating the head of the security services, saying that this was just retribution for the children of Beslan. So it is a major victory for the Russians in their war, what they call their war on terror.

KAGAN: All right. Matthew Chance, live from Moscow.

Thank you for that.

A lot more news to get to ahead, including some live events.

First of all, we are keeping our eye on the picture that you see on the left part of your screen, and that is the building explosion that took place on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. President Bush today appearing at the swearing in of his new Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson. You'll see that live.

Also ahead, how about a little walk in space? That's what some of the shuttle astronauts are doing. Miles O'Brien will be along to take us through and explain exactly what their tasks are, which include, by the way, the very glamorous need to pick up some trash.

We'll tell you more about that.

Our coverage continues here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Looking at live pictures once again from the Upper East Side of Manhattan. A building explosion there almost three hours ago. The fire department believes that it was a gas explosion.

At least five people were hurt, including a couple firefighters, some people who were walking by at the time of the explosion. And the man they believe who owns the building was taken away with serious to critical injuries, as well.

This was a huge wakeup and surprise for those in this Upper East Side neighborhood. One of them spoke with our Allan Chernoff.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRY MILLER, WITNESS: I was in my dining room, having coffee, and I heard a huge crash. And I thought immediately it must be a bomb. And then in front of my eyes came this huge piece of -- it looked like part of the building sailing down. And then it just kept toppling and toppling. Then the flames came, and I saw my windows crack, and ran out.

CHERNOFF: So the chunk that came into your building, was that from the ceiling, from the wall?

MILLER: Part of the building. I really don't know. It was just horrendous. And we all -- I took my family and we ran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And we'll have more of that as our coverage continues.

Also ahead, we expect President Bush to be at the swearing in for the new Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. You'll see that live here on CNN.

Right now a quick break. We're back after this, along with more on the space shuttle. Astronauts doing so well with the space walk yesterday, they went out for another stroll today. Miles O'Brien along to explain what the tasks ahead are.

This is CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're watching two developing stories.

On the right side of your screen, this is tape from just a few moments ago. The new Treasury secretary being sworn in, Henry Paulson. The honors being done by the chief justice, John Roberts, with President Bush looking by. He succeeds John Snow.

All right. That's that story there.

As we look at live pictures from Washington, D.C., the new Treasury secretary will have a few words.

Also, though, from New York City, we've been watching a story develop for almost three hours now, exactly three hours, and that is a gas explosion in Manhattan, the Upper East Side. It happened three hours ago when a four-story building collapsed, leading to a three- alarm fire.

Firefighters still working to cool off that debris, 20 feet of debris, we're told. Five people hurt, including the man they say is the owner, Dr. Nicholas Bartha, of that -- of that four-story building. Doctors offices on the bottom, and an apartment on top.

Our Allan Chernoff has been covering this story for us, and we go to him on the streets of New York City -- Allan.

CHERNOFF: Daryn, they are continuing, the fire officials here -- the fire department, rather, is continuing to spray water on the scene. This is not only to put out the fire. The fire certainly is out. They're also trying to cool off the rubble so that the emergency workers, the fire crews, can go in there and begin pulling out the rubble to see whether or not anyone remains underneath the 20 feet of rubble that the fire department has told us exists there as a result of the explosion that occurred early this morning.

It happened a little bit after 7:00, the first explosion that was heard. This came after a call in to Con Edison, the local utility. Neighbors reporting that they smelled natural gas, and the fire commissioner himself told us that the owner of the building that exploded, he believes there's a possibility that man may have been trying to kill himself, possibly by turning up the gas in the oven.

He said he believes that because there was an e-mail sent apparently to an acquaintance of his. But he hasn't revealed any further details about that exact e-mail. But that's what the fire commissioner told us.

Now, the injury count is rising. It's now at 11. And that includes six firefighters with minor injuries, five civilians, including the one individual who actually does own the building, a doctor. And he was brought out with critical injuries, severe burns to much of his body.

Now, the explosion really did rock the neighborhood. We have a neighbor who heard the explosion. His name is Guillermo Cowley.

And Guillermo, thank you for joining us.

Tell us, what did you hear this morning?

GUILLERMO COWLEY, WITNESS: A pop, and then I was on the phone, I heard soon afterward sirens. I smelled smoke. I shut the window. I thought it was a terrorist attack. So I finished off my phone call, waited a bit and came out, and saw a lot of commission.

TUCHMAN: So you finished up a phone call. You couldn't have been that worried?

COWLEY: Well, I figured it might be my last phone call, let me just finish it off.

TUCHMAN: You said it sounded like a pop?

COWLEY: A pop, yes. I heard something. And then a lot of commotion soon afterwards.

TUCHMAN: Guillermo, how far away do you live?

COWLEY: 62nd and Park.

TUCHMAN: So live literally around the corner from where the explosion occurred.

COWLEY: Right, right.

TUCHMAN: And you're holding your dog here, Tatiyana?

COWLEY: Katja (ph).

With all the helicopters -- it may be seven or eight on top of my building -- I figured terrorists, for sure, looking for terrorists.

TUCHMAN: As a New Yorker, that's what you assumed.

COWLEY: That's exactly it.

TUCHMAN: You must be a little relieved.

COWLEY: Right. We're in the center of the world. This is it, 62nd and Park. Look no further.

TUCHMAN: Guillermo, thank you very much. Glad you're OK.

COWLEY: All right, thank you.

TUCHMAN: Dozens and dozens neighbors of course left their buildings. The apartment building right next to the scene of the explosion, we're told by the Office of Emergency Management, believe it or not, this apartment building was only partially evacuated. Frankly, it's almost impossible for me to believe that. But that's what the Office of Emergency Management told us just minutes ago. The building does extend much of the way down Madison Avenue. And so the people facing Madison Avenue, I'm sure they weren't in any danger.

But nonetheless, you would think that there certainly would be smoke inside of the building. We did interview earlier a gentleman who lives on the second floor, right next to the building that did explode, and he said his apartment was filled with smoke. He ran in there to rescue his 3-week-old baby, as well as his nanny -- Daryn.

KAGAN: It was also interesting to watch how they used access to the apartments that faced that rubble to get there and get their fire hoses, especially on the back part of that lot, to attack the fire.

TUCHMAN: They certainly are doing whatever they can to get in there, to get going into the rubble, to see if there is anyone else remaining, anyone to rescue.

Fortunately, the doctor's offices in the building on the first and second floors had not been open yet. So the fire department does believe that the owner of the building was the only person actually there when the explosion did occur.

KAGAN: Allan Chernoff on the upper east side of Manhattan, thank you for that. We will keep an eye on that story as it continues to develop there on the upper east side.

Meanwhile let's get to some international news now. China and North Korea, neighbors and friends, marking 45 years of a goodwill treaty today. But will the North's nuclear threat also be on their agenda? It's on the Security Council's, that's for sure.

Our man at the U.N. Richard Roth, picks up the story from there -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, a flurry of private talks and negotiations between the big powers on the U.N. Security Council about how the full Security Council should respond to last week's North Korean missile launches. They met today, first at the U.S. mission. Now they're at the French mission. There's a lot of talk about whether Japan is going to ease off on its insistence that there be a firm resolution with sanctions on North Korea. There was talk on Friday that every country should be ready to come in Monday and be ready to vote, because China and Russia had been blocking, had been saying it did not favor this resolution, because it doesn't want sanctions, that it's a threat. This is a scene, I believe, this morning outside the U.S. mission.

And the five permanent members, plus Japan, have been huddling on strategy. So there may be a vote today, maybe not for a few days. They're also waiting to see how the diplomatic efforts of U.S. envoy Chris Hill go in Asia, and plus the Chinese delegation is visiting Pyongyang. So it's anybody's guess at the moment -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So the bluster from last week seems to be cooling off a little bit.

ROTH: Well, it's the typical, you know, showdown diplomatic style here. We've seen it always for years now, and once President Bush, remember, said I want to see everybody's hands in the air, right before the Iraq war. There was never a vote after that threat. They're very used to that here. A little early in the week. We'll see what happens.

KAGAN: All right, Richard, thank you.

Other news today, not the first choice. The new information on the alleged plot to bomb the tunnels between New Jersey and Manhattan. "Newsday" reporting that the suspected ringleader, Assem Hammoud, and others considered the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge as potential targets. "Newsday" also reports the alleged plotters thought about starting fires in California. New York-area lawmakers today planning to introduce amendments making anti-terror funding based on threats. The senators are highly critical of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's recent decision to cut New York City's share of those funds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Before he became secretary of homeland security, he promised us that he was going to redress the formula, he understood that New York was shortchanged, and would reverse it.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: It seems that from half a world away, they know the infrastructure, they know the landmarks, they know the targets that Secretary Chertoff seems to be unaware of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Well, speaking of terrorism and links to that, as we watched the story develop three hours ago in New York City, the White House very quick to come out and say they believed early on that this was no connection to terrorism as they watched this four-story building collapse earlier today, just over three hires ago in New York City.

In fact the fire department in New York backing that up, now saying they believe it was a gas explosion. We'll have much more on that developing story ahead.

Also, the hunt is on in Arizona for a suspected serial killer, Perhaps even more than one.

And ahead on LIVE TODAY, police have their hands full, searching for the suspect and two others suspected of serial crimes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Still a lot of questions about what happened on the upper east side of Manhattan. Earlier today, just over three hours ago, this four-story building collapsed. Fire department believes at this time that it was a gas explosion. At least one person was inside. He was taken away with serious and critical injuries, believed to be the owner of that building. Also, as many as 11 people were hurt. A combination of firefighters attacking the blaze that came out after the explosion and civilians that were walking by at the time of the collapse. More on that just ahead.

Meanwhile, some other headlines, including a Mississippi courtroom fight. It is a legal fight of one Katrina victim which is being watched by thousands of other homeowners. They all believed they were shafted by their insurance companies. In today's trial a homeowner is suing his insurer for not paying for the storm damage. Nationwide blames flooding, which the company says was not covered under the policy. The homeowner says the company is ignoring wind damage, which was covered. Thousands of policyholders are at the center of similar insurance disputes nearly eleven months after Katrina struck.

Well, summer is here, of course, and with it comes storm season. With the winds starting to howl, it's too late to discover whether your home is adequately prepared. So all this week, CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis will show you how to prepare and protect your home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR (voice-over): Storm season means it's prime time to take steps toward protecting your home. And it all starts at the top.

(on camera): So, Rob, let's talk about the roof here. A big vulnerability. How do I know if I might have a problem?

ROB DAVIS, FLASH.ORG: Well, there's several things you can do. If you can safely access the inside of your attic, go up there and look for any broken wood, any cracked wood. If you can get up on the roof, check for missing, broken or loose shingles or tiles. It's the hip and the ridge tiles that you can see and that -- those had the most problems during Hurricane Charlie.

WILLIS (voice-over): One of the best things you can do, remove any projectiles from your yard before a large storm.

(on camera): You've got a lot of stuff sitting out here that you'd want to bring in, in a storm. What would you do here?

DAVIS: Just go out with your family and walk around the house. And anything that you possibly think might fly up in the air, go and pick it up and put it inside.

WILLIS (voice-over): But it's not just the outside you have to worry about.

DAVIS: Well, the inside definitely needs to be inspected, as well. And you want to make sure it's in top shape for hurricane season or any extreme weather coming through.

If you have safe access to the attic, it's good to get up there and just look around. See if you see any broken or cracked pieces of wood up there. Look at the nails. See if you have any nails sticking out, stray nails. And we're talking about the longer nails here, not the shorter roofing nails.

See if you have any roof leaks. If you have any roof leaks, that's definitely something that says your roof isn't as strong as it should be.

WILLIS: And while you're up there, check those outfits. They can provide leverage for high winds and rain, and cause many problems for your home.

Gerri Willis, CNN, Miami Shores, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Police there in Phoenix, Arizona, are already looking for two serial criminals, and now they say there might be a third suspected in 13 random shootings since may. The so-called baseline killer is suspected in a series of robberies, rapes and killings; and a task force is on the hunt determined to track him down.

Kevin Kennedy of our affiliate KPNX has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN KENNEDY, KPNX REPORTER (voice-over): Somewhere out here, roaming the streets of Phoenix, is a serial killer.

LT. GREG GARNICLE, PHOENIX POLICE: This is a bad person that we need to get off the street.

KENNEDY: This is who they're looking for, and Lieutenant Greg Carnicle is part of the task force looking. His job, find a killer.

CARNICLE: Our sole purpose out here is to protect the citizens. And it's very difficult to do that right now, and, you know, we want to get this guy and we want to take him off.

KENNEDY: So far, the suspect has struck 19 times, raping, robbing and killing, five murders so far. The latest, June 29th.

CARNICLE: It's one of those, it's a crime series that we got to get taken care of.

KENNEDY: So every hour of every day, at least 20 task force members are patrolling. This is the area, 63 square miles. The attacks first starting in May of 2005. Every dot is a victim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) matches the description of our boy.

KENNEDY: Every tip is checked out. SGT. ANDY HILL, PHOENIX POLICE: We are working every possible lead that we can get, and we've gotten a lot of leads. They continue to come in.

KENNEDY: Thousands so far, but none have panned out.

CARNICLE: I think it's personal for every officer out here. I mean, it's happening on our watch, and we don't want it happening in Phoenix.

KENNEDY: And until he's caught, Lieutenant Carnicle will be out here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Let's talk more about these serial crimes in Phoenix and efforts to hunt down the suspects. Sergeant Andy Hill of the Phoenix Police Department joining us. The sergeant knows Phoenix -- well, where did he go? Let's get the camera back on him. I can tell you the sergeant knows Phoenix very well. He was fulfilling this role when I was back in Phoenix quite a few years ago.

Sergeant, good morning.

HILL: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. So you're talking about three different serial killers you might be looking for here in the valley of the sun.

HILL: Well, actually one serial killer, Daryn, and we have a couple of series of other crimes that may possibly be related and we don't have suspect information on them.

KAGAN: What is it that's tying together these latest series of crimes?

HILL: Well, most recently we've had 13 incidents which we believe may be connected where we've had random victims by themselves, either walking or riding a bicycle or standing, and they've been alone, and they've been shot in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning.

KAGAN: And these aren't even necessarily sketchy areas of town. I was reading the story, Camelback between Indian School and 44th Street. That's a very nice area of Phoenix.

HILL: You know, some of these areas are nice. It really doesn't -- it's not a matter of gender or race or part of town. What we have is a suspect or suspects that we don't know that are out there, shooting and injuring innocent people. And we need help from the public on this, Daryn. And we really do need those calls to find a witness or someone with information and sees something suspicious to give us a call at 911.

KAGAN: And we just put up a picture of a suspect. This was the baseline rapist, baseline killer. What is it you know or suspect about this person?

HILL: Well, in this series of crimes, we had 19 incidents that we believe may be connected. Five of those crimes have been homicides, which we have connected forensically. We have a suspect that's been described as a black male between 25 and 40 years old, 5'6" to six feet tall, 150 to 190 pounds.

We have a composite drawing. We have a photo from a surveillance camera which shows somebody with long hair and a fisherman's hat. That may be a disguise, but we do at least have a description of this person and we are looking for information, calls from the public, again, on this suspect or suspects.

KAGAN: And what's the common tie between the crimes with that particular suspect?

HILL: Well, this suspect, this serial killer, is lurking around, trying to make contact possibly a few moments before he strikes. People do, in some cases, have an opportunity to call us, to call 911. We want them to go to a safe area immediately if they see someone trying to approach them. If you're in your car, honk your horn, drive backwards, go back into a store, get away, get to a safe area, and then call 911.

KAGAN: All right. A lot of work to do there in Phoenix with the police department. Sergeant Andy Hill. Sergeant, thank you for your time.

HILL: Thank you, Daryn. Appreciate it.

KAGAN: And as you heard the sergeant say, if you have any information about the suspected serial crimes you can call the silent witness number. The number is 602-261-8600.

We are continuing our coverage from New York City. The collapse of a four-story building on the Upper East Side of New York. Eleven people injured. The fire commissioner suggesting this could have been a suicide attempt gone bad. More with Allan Chernoff live on the streets of New York City just ahead.

Also the gruesome killing of a 9-year-old girl. Today the man accused of that crime goes on trial. Jurors will hear details, but not the defendant's own confession. We'll tell you why. That story is just ahead.

And a teen drops his keys and gets carried away by a flash flood. Nail-biting moments right up to the end. Don't miss this dramatic story and the outcome ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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KAGAN: Continuing our coverage from the upper east side of Manhattan where about three-and-a-half hours ago, the fire department believes a gas explosion leveled this four-story building.

Our Allan Chernoff has been on the scene, has some new information about the situation.

Let's go to Allan.

CHERNOFF: That's right, Daryn. You mentioned that it is believed this was a gas explosion. Indeed, people in the buildings adjacent to the building that exploded had called Con Edison, the utility. There was a ConEd person on the scene right next to the building that exploded, checking out the gas leak.

Now it's interesting, because I spoke to the meter reader, and he was planning to actually go read that meter later today. A fellow who works for ConEd, by the name of Mark Koenig (ph), I met him down the block, and he told me that about a month ago, indeed, there had been a gas leak in that very building, and that the gas had been turned off. Apparently it had been turned on. I'm sure the utility came, fixed the problem, or at least they thought the problem had been fixed, and then today, of course the explosion.

Now, was this an accident, or was this actually part of a possible suicide? That's a critical question here. The fire commissioner himself actually raising that possibility earlier today, telling us that the fire department is investigating a possibility that the owner of the building, Nicholas Bartha, a doctor, may have tried to kill himself. The Associated Press is reporting that the doctor was having some marital problems. Apparently he sent an e-mail to his wife, mentioning the possibility of suicide. This all being reported now by Associated Press. CNN has not been confirmed that just yet. But the information that I've received from the ConEd meter reader would indicate that, well, perhaps there had been an ongoing issue with natural gas in the building -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Allan, thank you. More on that starry as it develops throughout the hour.

And now way, way above us. Your basic repair job. OK, well it's 220 miles up. Two astronauts are on their second spacewalk of the shuttle mission, making fixes to the International Space Station.

Miles O'Brien joins us from New York with details on what's on their honey-do list -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT Yes, they're working on the railroad today, and it's always a long list up in space. No matter where you go, you've got the honey-do.

Let's take a look at these live pictures. They're pretty good ones, as a matter of fact. You're looking back toward the tail end of the space shuttle. There's the tail of the space shuttle. This is the payload bay.

Down here in this location, that is Pierce Sellers. He's busy preparing a space in the payload bay for astronaut Mike Fossam, who is up there attached by his feet to the space station robot arm, OK?

And in his hand there -- I'm going to outline it -- is the object of their attention today. That is a broken cable spool that was on a rail car, which is supposed to travel up and down the spine of the International Space Station. One of the features that it has is it has a cutter on it in case it gets fouled up. Anybody who has had a fouled-up fishing reel can attest to this -- eventually you just have to cut it free.

For whatever reason -- you might as well stay with those live pictures; they're better than this -- but for whatever reason, that guillotine, that cutter, cut the cable inexplicably, even though things were fine. And so now they're swapping out this spool, and it's very important that this spool works just fine, because if it doesn't that rail car that goes up and down the space station spine, the Truss (ph), won't work. And if you don't have a working rail car, you're not able to do a lot of the key construction components that they have to do in the future.

So this is an important spacewalk for them for future spacewalk capability. This is that whole location, that job site. That's kind of the railroad track there. And right there in the middle is the car, and that was the assembly, that spooling assembly, as they removed it. The thing weighs about 300 pounds, and is about the size of a piano, as you can see. But in space, Daryn, piece of cake.

KAGAN: Hey, how long can they stay out there?

O'BRIEN: The suits are limited to about eight hours or so, and eight-and-a-half, thereabouts. And this one should be done in about six-and-a-half hours, which is what they typically timeline these spacewalks for, about six-and-a-half hours. That gives them a little leeway; in case something comes up, they can continue their work for an extra couple hours, if need be.

KAGAN: And they're actually getting some assist from inside the space shuttle, the astronauts there working that robotic arm and stuff?

O'BRIEN: Yes, two of the shuttle crew members, Stephanie Wilson and Lisa Nowak, are riding that shuttle -- or, excuse me, that space station robot arm, and using it as a work platform for moving things to and from. Because the distance between the space shuttle where it is docked and this rail car area, it's a pretty good distance; that's a good 100 feet. So it's good to have the arm to sort of give you a ride.

KAGAN: And just how dangerous is it? I mean looks like, la, la, la, we're just floating out in space.

O'BRIEN: I know. It's like it's on a Hollywood back lot. No, I mean, you've got to remember, they're traveling 17,500 miles an hour here. And the truth is, they have 15 layers of protection on their space suits, which is really a tiny spacecraft, if you think about it. And if something were to hit them, that could be bad. You need to get them inside pretty quickly.

KAGAN: Absolutely. We need to get ourselves inside. Our time is up. Miles, thank you. And we'll continue to watch what's happening in Manhattan, the building collapse, the four-story building collapse. You'll hear the latest as it develops here on CNN. We'll keep you updated.

I'm Daryn Kagan. Keep watching CNN. "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is up next with news happening across the globe and here at home.

And I'll be back in about 20 minutes to update you on this story, plus other stories across the U.S.

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