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American Morning

In Parts of Texas, Flood Waters Moving Out, Recovery Teams Moving In

Aired July 08, 2002 - 08:05   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: We're going to start in Texas, where flood waters are moving out of New Braunfels, Texas. Recovery teams are moving in. Meanwhile, people in other parts of the Lone Star State are watching and waiting as flood waters rise.

Our Ed Lavandera is in New Braunfels this morning with the latest.

And, Ed, before you get started, you have to pan down and show us that you're standing in a safe place and not in the middle of that rushing water.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it looks a little bit tougher this way. We're just here on the water's edge, though. This is the Guadalupe River. It's supposed to be running beyond that tree line over there. It usually runs about five to eight feet deep through this area, and that's why a lot of people move here. It's a very peaceful place. But as you can tell, where we are standing right now, we would have been probably under about 20 feet of water.

And just to give you an idea of what people are coming home to here this morning, this is the home of the Wucash (ph) family and this is the back of their house here, completely destroyed. If you stand on the front side of it, it looks very peaceful, like nothing had happened to the house. But this is what the family has discovered here in the back of the house, as flood waters moved through here over the course of three days at a very powerful rate and just taking a lot of homes we saw floating down the river.

So these homes were hit with a lot of debris and a lot of trash just basically flowing down rivers. It goes this way toward the Gulf of Mexico.

But this house took a pounding and so did several other houses along the way. As I mentioned, we saw several over the weekend floating down the river.

Folks here are looking at possibly more rain coming from the west and from the Gulf of Mexico, so that's what they're keeping their eyes on here -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, I know that a lot of those counties have been declared federal disaster areas. What kind of help can the people like we just saw their home, what kind of help can they expect to be on the way?

LAVANDERA: Well, a lot of the people we've spoken with say they have insurance help and, as well, FEMA is in town, and they're beginning that process as damage assessment teams move into these neighborhoods and start talking with folks. But we're told that they've been told to have a lot of patience, that this process could take a long time, although the governor of Texas is saying they will make it as speedy as possible.

KAGAN: Yes, tough to have patience since your house looks like that.

LAVANDERA: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera, New Braunfels, Texas.

Ed, thank you very much.

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