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American Morning

Interview with Dick Hainje, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Aired May 05, 2003 - 07:03   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: Dick Hainje is the regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, otherwise known as FEMA. He's responsible for this part of the country. He joins us now by way of telephone.
Dick, good morning to you.

DICK HAINJE, FEMA REGIONAL DIRECTOR: Good morning.

HEMMER: I wish we could talk on other matters right now, but first things first, the death toll in your state, where does it stand?

HAINJE: Well, we have the same reports that you have, because as you know, it's such an ongoing situation. It's widespread. The local responders are the ones that actually are reporting the fatalities and injuries.

So, we have the 28 number just from what the locals and what the states are telling us at this time.

HEMMER: Dick, do you have more of an update on Pierce City, of what's happening there?

HAINJE: Just that there is a real active response going on there and a lot of searches at this time. The really unique thing about this, as you've been saying, is it's so widespread. It goes from north of the Kansas City area down to the Springfield area in Missouri and over to basically Lake of the Ozarks and out into Kansas also.

HEMMER: Can you recall a storm of this magnitude?

HAINJE: No, this is a huge, huge outbreak. Once in a while, you'll get like two or maybe three super cells with very big tornados, but numbers like this are extremely rare.

HEMMER: Dick, it's about 6:00 in the morning, the sun is just breaking there in the dawn of a new day and a day that a number of people will not want to see here. How are you responding within your state?

HAINJE: We go -- our region responds to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, so we do have a tornado alley sort of a region. We deal with that quite a bit. We are working closely with the states. We're going to be receiving, I am certain, very early this morning requests from the states for disaster declarations. We'll very quickly work with that to get that forwarded to Washington, D.C. And we're supporting the state in any way they need. We have the capability of providing them equipment and logistical support. The states at this time are still assessing just how much of that they need. And we're with them every step of the way. We've had people here all night.

HEMMER: Yes, Dick, is the National Guard out? And if so, how are they helping?

HAINJE: The National Guard is out in several areas, and they're really -- they're helping with some of the initial search and really traffic control, things like that. Obviously, you don't have enough police officers and the firefighters, ambulance personnel, they don't have time for any of that at this point. So, they're helping with those sorts of things.

And they also can bring to bear generating capabilities, so where you have power outages for critical things like water systems, they also help with that.

HEMMER: Dick, how much warning was there before this storm hit last evening?

HAINJE: There are good warning systems. These states have taken the tornado threat seriously. We haven't heard all of the reports from all of the places, because it affected rural areas in a lot of cases, and rural areas generally aren't covered by tornado sirens or alarms. But weather radios have become a very, very standard sort of thing, and people around here have a lot of weather radios. I have heard some reports of people being warned by weather radios.

HEMMER: What is most needed right now, Dick? Can you assess that?

HAINJE: Well, the Red Cross and others are -- they're great. You know, they're fired up and they're already working on a lot of issues. They even have a number. I could give you that number if you wish.

HEMMER: Sure.

HAINJE: And that's an info number to find out where shelters are at, things like that. It's 866-get-info. And, of course, the local media are carrying phone numbers for help and things like that.

HEMMER: Just to repeat it, 866-get-info -- G-E-T-I-N-F-O -- is the number to call if you have questions about what proceeds at this point.

Quickly, a few other things here, Dick. Do you know what happened at this National Armory -- or National Guard Armory, rather, down in Lawrence County? We're told a number of people were taking cover from the storm, and it had a direct hit on that building. Do you know the outcome?

HAINJE: They've had so much difficulty getting in and out of there, and it's really been more of a matter of just trying to help people as opposed to just getting the information out. So, we don't have specifically everything that happened there. But we will have people out as soon as it's daybreak here, and they'll start that sort of looking at the things that did happen.

But right now, it's just all about helping people and trying to get things squared away.

HEMMER: All right, Dick, one more thing, if I could here. Southwest of Springfield, Missouri, Greene County described as 400 homes destroyed. Do you have a report on that?

HAINJE: Just the same report that you just had. And this is -- you know, Missouri, for folks that come from a different part of the country, these areas -- this is a huge geographical area that we're talking about. And a lot of the roads, when you get into the Ozarks area, are winding two-lane roads, and transportation in and out is very difficult. Those homes were more than likely, you know, in a very rural area.

HEMMER: Listen, the best of luck to you, Dick. You're going to need it today. Dick Hainje from FEMA, who is responsible for that region that we're discussing today, and as we go throughout the morning we'll talk more with Dick a bit later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





Agency>


Aired May 5, 2003 - 07:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Dick Hainje is the regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, otherwise known as FEMA. He's responsible for this part of the country. He joins us now by way of telephone.
Dick, good morning to you.

DICK HAINJE, FEMA REGIONAL DIRECTOR: Good morning.

HEMMER: I wish we could talk on other matters right now, but first things first, the death toll in your state, where does it stand?

HAINJE: Well, we have the same reports that you have, because as you know, it's such an ongoing situation. It's widespread. The local responders are the ones that actually are reporting the fatalities and injuries.

So, we have the 28 number just from what the locals and what the states are telling us at this time.

HEMMER: Dick, do you have more of an update on Pierce City, of what's happening there?

HAINJE: Just that there is a real active response going on there and a lot of searches at this time. The really unique thing about this, as you've been saying, is it's so widespread. It goes from north of the Kansas City area down to the Springfield area in Missouri and over to basically Lake of the Ozarks and out into Kansas also.

HEMMER: Can you recall a storm of this magnitude?

HAINJE: No, this is a huge, huge outbreak. Once in a while, you'll get like two or maybe three super cells with very big tornados, but numbers like this are extremely rare.

HEMMER: Dick, it's about 6:00 in the morning, the sun is just breaking there in the dawn of a new day and a day that a number of people will not want to see here. How are you responding within your state?

HAINJE: We go -- our region responds to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, so we do have a tornado alley sort of a region. We deal with that quite a bit. We are working closely with the states. We're going to be receiving, I am certain, very early this morning requests from the states for disaster declarations. We'll very quickly work with that to get that forwarded to Washington, D.C. And we're supporting the state in any way they need. We have the capability of providing them equipment and logistical support. The states at this time are still assessing just how much of that they need. And we're with them every step of the way. We've had people here all night.

HEMMER: Yes, Dick, is the National Guard out? And if so, how are they helping?

HAINJE: The National Guard is out in several areas, and they're really -- they're helping with some of the initial search and really traffic control, things like that. Obviously, you don't have enough police officers and the firefighters, ambulance personnel, they don't have time for any of that at this point. So, they're helping with those sorts of things.

And they also can bring to bear generating capabilities, so where you have power outages for critical things like water systems, they also help with that.

HEMMER: Dick, how much warning was there before this storm hit last evening?

HAINJE: There are good warning systems. These states have taken the tornado threat seriously. We haven't heard all of the reports from all of the places, because it affected rural areas in a lot of cases, and rural areas generally aren't covered by tornado sirens or alarms. But weather radios have become a very, very standard sort of thing, and people around here have a lot of weather radios. I have heard some reports of people being warned by weather radios.

HEMMER: What is most needed right now, Dick? Can you assess that?

HAINJE: Well, the Red Cross and others are -- they're great. You know, they're fired up and they're already working on a lot of issues. They even have a number. I could give you that number if you wish.

HEMMER: Sure.

HAINJE: And that's an info number to find out where shelters are at, things like that. It's 866-get-info. And, of course, the local media are carrying phone numbers for help and things like that.

HEMMER: Just to repeat it, 866-get-info -- G-E-T-I-N-F-O -- is the number to call if you have questions about what proceeds at this point.

Quickly, a few other things here, Dick. Do you know what happened at this National Armory -- or National Guard Armory, rather, down in Lawrence County? We're told a number of people were taking cover from the storm, and it had a direct hit on that building. Do you know the outcome?

HAINJE: They've had so much difficulty getting in and out of there, and it's really been more of a matter of just trying to help people as opposed to just getting the information out. So, we don't have specifically everything that happened there. But we will have people out as soon as it's daybreak here, and they'll start that sort of looking at the things that did happen.

But right now, it's just all about helping people and trying to get things squared away.

HEMMER: All right, Dick, one more thing, if I could here. Southwest of Springfield, Missouri, Greene County described as 400 homes destroyed. Do you have a report on that?

HAINJE: Just the same report that you just had. And this is -- you know, Missouri, for folks that come from a different part of the country, these areas -- this is a huge geographical area that we're talking about. And a lot of the roads, when you get into the Ozarks area, are winding two-lane roads, and transportation in and out is very difficult. Those homes were more than likely, you know, in a very rural area.

HEMMER: Listen, the best of luck to you, Dick. You're going to need it today. Dick Hainje from FEMA, who is responsible for that region that we're discussing today, and as we go throughout the morning we'll talk more with Dick a bit later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.





Agency>