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American Morning

Tropical Storm Barry Rocks Florida

Aired August 03, 2001 - 10:01   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin this hour, though, with the bluster and menace of Tropical Storm Barry. The second storm of the hurricane season has stalked Florida's southwest coast for the last couple of days now and it's heading slowly away. But submerged streets and flooded homes are being left wallowing in its wake.

One of the hardest hit areas is on the opposite side of the state, actually, Martin County, which is just north of Palm Beach. They declared a state of emergency after 8 inches of rain washed over that area.

LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: And the storm is really developing right now so we want to get the latest on this. So we turn to our guest, Craig Fugate. He's with the Florida Division of Emergency Management -- he's actually the interim director there -- and he joins us by phone now from Tallahassee. Craig, thanks so much for being with us.

CRAIG FUGATE, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning.

STOUFFER: First of all, what's it like there now?

FUGATE: Well, in Tallahassee it's nice and sunny. But unfortunately it looks like we may see some more rain down in Stewart and in Martin County where they've already had up to 11 to 13 inches of rain.

STOUFFER: That's a lot of rain to deal with. What is the worst of the problem right now in those areas? Is it homes? What should people be aware of?

FUGATE: Well, the biggest problem right now is flooded streets. We do have homes impacted and people need to be cautious. We haven't had any serious injuries or any loss of life and we'd like to keep it that way. So we're just asking people to be cautious. We still expect some more rain and we are currently with the county going out and doing our damage assessments, looking at what impacts have occurred.

Right now with more rain coming we're just asking people to be very careful driving on these flooded streets.

STOUFFER: And Craig, I noticed some shelters have been opened in Florida. What can you tell us about those?

FUGATE: Well, in Martin County, again, many homes were impacted and shelters were opened and they're continuing to provide those services as we assess what the impacts are and really some of these neighborhoods, till the water goes down, people are not going to be able to get back into their homes and start making repairs.

STOUFFER: And, Craig, the state of emergency, what does that really mean and how long do you think it'll last?

FUGATE: Well, in Martin County they declared an emergency basically to give them the ability to go in and take those actions necessary to protect homes and property and work with folks there. That will be for seven days at the county level and we're currently assessing what the damage is there and other issues in the state, what additional support will be needed for that county.

STOUFFER: It looks like a lot of water and we know this storm is definitely on the move. What would you tell folks up the coast that may be coming face to face with Barry later this weekend?

FUGATE: Well, the important thing is is to pay attention to Tropical Storm Barry. And its track fortunately is not strengthening. And it may be moving away from the Florida Peninsula. But the Panhandle still needs to pay attention to this storm and residents need to be aware of there is a storm. Listen to your local forecasters and your local emergency management agencies if any further actions are required.

STOUFFER: Some good advice.

Craig Fugate with Florida's Division of Emergency Management, thanks so much for that.

A lot of water those folks are dealing with.

HARRIS: That's a ton. Eight inches at one time like that.

STOUFFER: Yes.

HARRIS: That's amazing. We saw what 2.5 inches did in one hour yesterday in Chicago.

Chad Myers, as a matter of fact, is joining us right now. He was watching that with us yesterday.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HARRIS: What's the picture like today, Chad?

MYERS: Yes, more heavy rainfall for them guys, you know? And I guess that's good news for some and bad news if you get that much that quickly, because now 8 inches at any one time, even in 24 hours, can't run off properly. And there's more rain where this came from, Miami right on up to Stewart, all the way to Orlando to the south of Jacksonville, Miami and the Keys really getting hit hard this morning. We've flattened the map for you so you can really get a feel for what you expect to see here.

From just south and north of Daytona Beach, heavy rain showers on both sides and also down through the Keys, the Everglades and also back out here in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is the storm itself. This is the storm and what happened to it overnight was that it got sheared apart. Just think of yourself driving down the roadway with your wipers on delay. It's raining, raining, raining and you can't see and then all of a sudden the wiper went shoom and you can see again. That's what happened with the wind.

The wind went shoom, knocked that thing right off the top of it and now it's trying to rebuild itself again. The raindrops are trying to get back on your window.

It is not here where it was. It was pushed way off. Now we're trying to rebuild that storm system right here. It is much smaller than it was yesterday when they flew through it, nearly 50 knot gusts. Right now I bet it's down to at least 40, maybe even 35. But later on today it could build back up again. We'll keep seeing it.

Watch, Leon, we'll keep watching it for you -- back to you.

HARRIS: Good deal. All right, Chad. We'll check back with you later on.

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