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American Morning

Hurricane Michelle Moving Through Caribbean

Aired November 05, 2001 - 11:40   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Michelle moving through the Caribbean now. Last night, though, that storm rolled over Cuba, hammering the island with heavy winds and rain; 600,000 Cuban evacuated to higher ground. Michelle knocked out power, but so far, there are no reported casualties. That is good news. The storm now moving toward the Bahamas, with winds topping out about 85 miles an hour, sometimes a bit higher in areas, but as Michelle blows past Florida, heavy winds lashing at the Keys and the southern tip of the peninsula there.

John Zarrella tracking it now from Southern Florida, where conditions have, what we say, deteriorated at this point, or improved, I guess, is another way of looking at it.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they really did deteriorate all morning long here, as we had that onshore flow. You see this big bulldozer going by us right now, an indication of what the situation is here on Hollywood Beach. You can all of this is overwash. It's all flooded out here. It's all salt water. It's flooded. You see some people. But a lot of folks out here, tourists and visitors, and even some locals, you see the beach there, what's left of it. Now there has been a week of really heavy pounding of onshore wave before Michelle got here. This just added insult to injury. They said we probably add foot to two foot of storm surge pushed inland by the storm.

The good news of course is that it was just a glancing blow, just side-swiped the U.S. East Coast here in South Florida, 40-50 mile-an- hour gusts, tropical storm force, but no hurricane-force winds hit the coast here. In Miami, Dade County, schools closed, as well as in Broward County, where we are, and certainly down in the Florida Keys. No reports of power outages. No reports of any significant damage at all, or any injuries or deaths. So good news coming out of that, at least for the folks here in South Florida.

Although we do have this coastal localized flooding, right along the coast here in the Hollywood beach area, losing a significant amount of beach to erosion, and later this spring, there is a beach renourishment program that's been planned, $43 million program, and all of that is certainly going to be needed in the wake of this onslaught by Hurricane Michelle, and the amount of sand that's just been washed away, and continues to be washed away, Bill, as we approach high tide in the next 30 to 40 minutes -- Bill.

HEMMER: OK, John, thanks. John Zarrella in Southern Florida.

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