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American Morning
Four Children Killed in Kansas Flooding
Aired September 01, 2003 - 9:17 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: In Kansas this morning, searchers are still looking for two people who were swept away by a flash flood. The high waters took the lives of four children. One of the missing people is the mother of those children. Well, three of the children were still strapped inside the minivan which was washed off the interstate.
Joe Sheeran of affiliate KWCH joining us now live from Emporia, Kansas with more on this tragic story -- Joe.
JOE SHEERAN, KWCH CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the search started just around daybreak here, Central Standard Time. That was about an hour and a half ago. The majority of the search is centered on an area about a mile and a half away from the highway. We'll just have you take a look.
In that area right now there are search dogs going around the actual border of the lake. There are also boats from a local fire department that are in that lake. Some SUVs, some ATVs (ph) also. It's pretty tough to get back there unless you have a four-wheel drive because of all the mud in the area.
Basically, what they're doing is they're going along the edges and they're going inside the water. We talked to a state trooper. He said that they're pretty confident that the bodies are probably inside that pond.
What had happened was, a few minutes prior to that, they had sent a few of the search dogs up around, as you can see, the serpentine area. Basically, what they felt as the water actually started to recede a little bit, so they thought that maybe they could get a better look at what had gone on.
The reason why the search is actually going on a mile and a half away from the road is that's how strong these floodwaters were on Friday evening. As you can see, part of the road here was actually taken out. This is the embankment. The water actually came and gushed part of that away.
There's about three spots along the highway here that, where the embankment is actually missing, you could also see some of those barriers over there. Each of those barriers is about 12,000 pounds. It's 12,000 pounds. Ten of them were taken from the highway and dumped right over there on to the side of the road. As can you also see, there's also pieces of the highway that are down there. Now also, within the last 10, 15 minutes, the family, the relatives of that Missouri family showed up at the scene and they also walked back into that area. Leon, that's the latest from Emporia, Kansas.
HARRIS: Thanks, Joe. It's kind of hard to believe there was that much water there to look at the scene today. That's just an amazing story. And just sorry to hear that about that family.
Thanks, Joe. We appreciate that report.
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 September 1, 2003 - 9:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In Kansas this morning, searchers are still looking for two people who were swept away by a flash flood. The high waters took the lives of four children. One of the missing people is the mother of those children. Well, three of the children were still strapped inside the minivan which was washed off the interstate.
Joe Sheeran of affiliate KWCH joining us now live from Emporia, Kansas with more on this tragic story -- Joe.
JOE SHEERAN, KWCH CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the search started just around daybreak here, Central Standard Time. That was about an hour and a half ago. The majority of the search is centered on an area about a mile and a half away from the highway. We'll just have you take a look.
In that area right now there are search dogs going around the actual border of the lake. There are also boats from a local fire department that are in that lake. Some SUVs, some ATVs (ph) also. It's pretty tough to get back there unless you have a four-wheel drive because of all the mud in the area.
Basically, what they're doing is they're going along the edges and they're going inside the water. We talked to a state trooper. He said that they're pretty confident that the bodies are probably inside that pond.
What had happened was, a few minutes prior to that, they had sent a few of the search dogs up around, as you can see, the serpentine area. Basically, what they felt as the water actually started to recede a little bit, so they thought that maybe they could get a better look at what had gone on.
The reason why the search is actually going on a mile and a half away from the road is that's how strong these floodwaters were on Friday evening. As you can see, part of the road here was actually taken out. This is the embankment. The water actually came and gushed part of that away.
There's about three spots along the highway here that, where the embankment is actually missing, you could also see some of those barriers over there. Each of those barriers is about 12,000 pounds. It's 12,000 pounds. Ten of them were taken from the highway and dumped right over there on to the side of the road. As can you also see, there's also pieces of the highway that are down there. Now also, within the last 10, 15 minutes, the family, the relatives of that Missouri family showed up at the scene and they also walked back into that area. Leon, that's the latest from Emporia, Kansas.
HARRIS: Thanks, Joe. It's kind of hard to believe there was that much water there to look at the scene today. That's just an amazing story. And just sorry to hear that about that family.
Thanks, Joe. We appreciate that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
