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American Morning

Southern Flooding: Bracing for More Misery

Aired June 12, 2001 - 09:08   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: On to severe weather news now, the South is bracing for more misery from what was Tropical Storm Allison. After soaking Texas and Louisiana, the storm is dumping rain on Alabama and Georgia. Already, it's blamed for at least 20 deaths and more than a billion dollars in damage.

Our Brian Cabell joining us from one of the hardest hit areas in Houston, Texas.

Brian, good morning.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

This is Green River Estates north of Houston. This is what's left of Green River Estates. It looks like a hurricane hit, looks like a tornado hit, actually, it was a flood on Friday night when waters were surging 10 to 15 feet above the ground. Not much left here.

Just across the bayou, which flooded on Friday night, a brick subdivision. It survived -- the houses did, but inside residents are finding just about a 100 percent loss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL (voice-over): Aretha Sherman sorts and dries the family photographs, reminders of a happier time, before the flood.

EZELL SHERMAN, FLOOD VICTIM: Looks like we lost everything, and everything in the house was house floating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we've got to come in here.

CABELL: The water was four feet high in the house on Saturday. Now it's gone. Most of the furniture is destroyed, but not the family spirit.

SHIRLEY SHERMAN, FLOOD VICTIM: I'm going to go on with faith with the Lord, because I know he ain't going to put no more on me than I can bear.

CABELL: Down the block, at the Fontenot residence, it may look like a garage sale, but it's not. Family and friends from church are busily pulling possessions from the house to try in the intense Houston heat.

JAMES FONTENOT, FLOOD VICTIM: The one thing I think I should have done was gotten flood insurance. Other than that, things happen.

CABELL: The TV is a loss, and so are some prized record albums, but James Fontenot, a government worker, and his family don't plan to leave their house of 21 years.

Howard Gordon, a retired policeman, lives across the street.

HOWARD GORDON, FLOOD VICTIM: I get discouraged, I'm telling you. It's just hard to just start all over again, at my age too -- it's rough.

CABELL: He has some insurance, he says, but not much. He recently bought a car. It spent a day or two underwater. He's not sure whether it'll start again.

Family after family in this middle class neighborhood north of Houston can tell you about their losses and their survival, except for one: an elderly woman who lived here didn't make it out alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL: No electricity here, no phones, no plumbing here. FEMA hasn't been by yet. They're told it may -- they may arrive sometime later today. Red Cross has not been here. This subdivision of mobile homes is just waiting for some help. As you can see, some people are out here early in the morning. A few people are staying late at night to watch for looters. There have been a few isolated incidences of looting, but these people are waiting for some help.

I'm Brian Cabell, CNN, live, in Houston, Texas.

KAGAN: Brian, thank you very much.

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