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American Morning
Lili No Longer Hurricane
Aired October 04, 2002 - 08:16 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: All right, Lili now no longer a hurricane, still expected to cause dangerous flooding as it moves up and into the Ohio Valley over the next day or so. There is so much heavy flooding and wind damage left behind in Louisiana, President Bush has designated the entire state as a disaster area.
Gary Tuchman, yesterday we saw him in Texas. Today he's back in Louisiana, Crowley, Louisiana, with more now this morning -- Gary, how goes it?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
And after driving through much of Louisiana yesterday, we've come to this conclusion, that it's absolutely remarkable that nobody was killed and even more remarkable that nobody was seriously hurt.
We thought Lili was going to be a category four hurricane. It came across as a category two. But even by category two standards, the damage is very extensive.
This gas station behind us in Crowley, Louisiana fairly typical of the damage we've seen throughout the state at other gas stations. But there has been some atypical damage to a very close call at the nearby town of Rain, Louisiana. People inside a water treatment plant heard some rumbling. They decided to evacuate. All of a sudden, hundreds of bricks started coming down. Two men, as they were evacuating, were hit by the bricks. One of the men was in his car trying to pull out. The bricks demolished his car. Both men will be OK. They were hospitalized, but no life threatening injuries.
Now, many of the big rigs on the highways, the interstates, totally vulnerable to the hurricane force winds. We saw many of the trucks jackknifed. Other trucks just flipped over like toys. And just near where we're standing on Interstate 10, there are still hundreds of cars trapped on the interstate because the big rigs blocked the road. The cars couldn't move, so they're still there. Most of the people either walked or hitchhiked home.
Maximum wind gusts from the storm, 92 miles per hour. In New Iberia, Louisiana -- that's southwestern Louisiana -- all over the place trees down, power lines, transformers in the streets, roofs ripped, windows broken. More than 400,000 Louisianans are still without electricity. They may last for about a week. Many people have no telephone service. Thousands without plumbing and almost all stores in a 30 mile radius around here completely closed down. So if you didn't have food, there's no way to get it. As a matter of fact, we were told yesterday there was one grocery store, an Albertson's, that was open for food. We went there. Not only was it closed, but police were guarding the entrance in case looters came by and they told us, to add insult to injury, there's a seven o'clock curfew, if you don't get out of here right now you're liable to be arrested -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Gary.
You've got to wonder what that trucker was doing on the road with those winds coming in with that huge cargo behind him.
Thank you.
Gary Tuchman in Louisiana.
An update now on what others can expect now in the aftermath of Lili.
Here's Jacqui Jeras tracking that.
Which way is it going Jacqui?
Good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: North-northeast, Bill.
Good morning to you.
It's moving at a pretty fast rate, as well. It's going to be heading up across western parts of Tennessee, eventually making its way to the northeast. But still causing some problems out there for today with showers and thunderstorms. Some have been very heavy. We have some outer bands, actually, still trying to redevelop here in the lower parts of Mississippi into Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida. So some stronger thunderstorms anticipated here.
Two to four inches of rain expected in the path of Lili for today and we've been seeing heavy rain into western Tennessee all morning long. Here's our forecast track now with the tropical depression moving into the Ohio Valley here, right along the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana, and then heading through Ohio State up into upstate New York overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning. And it will bring some much needed rain across parts of the Northeast. And if you remember, Isidore already brought heavy rain, up to six inches in parts of Kentucky, just a week ago. So this rainfall here not necessarily good news, though the folks in the Northeast are certainly looking forward to that.
Back to you.
HEMMER: And we are standing by.
Thank you, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 4, 2002 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Lili now no longer a hurricane, still expected to cause dangerous flooding as it moves up and into the Ohio Valley over the next day or so. There is so much heavy flooding and wind damage left behind in Louisiana, President Bush has designated the entire state as a disaster area.
Gary Tuchman, yesterday we saw him in Texas. Today he's back in Louisiana, Crowley, Louisiana, with more now this morning -- Gary, how goes it?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
And after driving through much of Louisiana yesterday, we've come to this conclusion, that it's absolutely remarkable that nobody was killed and even more remarkable that nobody was seriously hurt.
We thought Lili was going to be a category four hurricane. It came across as a category two. But even by category two standards, the damage is very extensive.
This gas station behind us in Crowley, Louisiana fairly typical of the damage we've seen throughout the state at other gas stations. But there has been some atypical damage to a very close call at the nearby town of Rain, Louisiana. People inside a water treatment plant heard some rumbling. They decided to evacuate. All of a sudden, hundreds of bricks started coming down. Two men, as they were evacuating, were hit by the bricks. One of the men was in his car trying to pull out. The bricks demolished his car. Both men will be OK. They were hospitalized, but no life threatening injuries.
Now, many of the big rigs on the highways, the interstates, totally vulnerable to the hurricane force winds. We saw many of the trucks jackknifed. Other trucks just flipped over like toys. And just near where we're standing on Interstate 10, there are still hundreds of cars trapped on the interstate because the big rigs blocked the road. The cars couldn't move, so they're still there. Most of the people either walked or hitchhiked home.
Maximum wind gusts from the storm, 92 miles per hour. In New Iberia, Louisiana -- that's southwestern Louisiana -- all over the place trees down, power lines, transformers in the streets, roofs ripped, windows broken. More than 400,000 Louisianans are still without electricity. They may last for about a week. Many people have no telephone service. Thousands without plumbing and almost all stores in a 30 mile radius around here completely closed down. So if you didn't have food, there's no way to get it. As a matter of fact, we were told yesterday there was one grocery store, an Albertson's, that was open for food. We went there. Not only was it closed, but police were guarding the entrance in case looters came by and they told us, to add insult to injury, there's a seven o'clock curfew, if you don't get out of here right now you're liable to be arrested -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Gary.
You've got to wonder what that trucker was doing on the road with those winds coming in with that huge cargo behind him.
Thank you.
Gary Tuchman in Louisiana.
An update now on what others can expect now in the aftermath of Lili.
Here's Jacqui Jeras tracking that.
Which way is it going Jacqui?
Good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: North-northeast, Bill.
Good morning to you.
It's moving at a pretty fast rate, as well. It's going to be heading up across western parts of Tennessee, eventually making its way to the northeast. But still causing some problems out there for today with showers and thunderstorms. Some have been very heavy. We have some outer bands, actually, still trying to redevelop here in the lower parts of Mississippi into Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida. So some stronger thunderstorms anticipated here.
Two to four inches of rain expected in the path of Lili for today and we've been seeing heavy rain into western Tennessee all morning long. Here's our forecast track now with the tropical depression moving into the Ohio Valley here, right along the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana, and then heading through Ohio State up into upstate New York overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning. And it will bring some much needed rain across parts of the Northeast. And if you remember, Isidore already brought heavy rain, up to six inches in parts of Kentucky, just a week ago. So this rainfall here not necessarily good news, though the folks in the Northeast are certainly looking forward to that.
Back to you.
HEMMER: And we are standing by.
Thank you, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
