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American Morning
Inland Flooding From Isabel
Aired September 19, 2003 - 07:22 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: Now, the most serious concern, inland flooding from Isabel. We want to get you to Marissa Carney. She's with WTMJ live this morning in Bedford, Pennsylvania.
How are conditions? How much rain is coming down now?
MARISSA CARNEY, WTMJ CORRESPONDENT: Actually, not too much rain right about now. It's daybreak here. We seem to have navigated our way pretty successfully through this storm.
Bedford County was supposed to be one of the hardest hit in Pennsylvania. But as Isabel worked her way up and shifted, it was much less than anyone expected.
Now, we have had some high rising waters. Some of the rivers and some of the streams in Bedford County have risen up overnight. But it just wasn't anything significant enough to create the flooding that we thought was going to happen here in Bedford County. We were, however, prepared for it.
I guess all in all we had about an inch and a half of rain falling. So far we've been dealing with this misty kind of rain that's been falling throughout the evening and on into the morning. Now, heavy at times, but for the most part it's been a steady, misty rain that probably isn't going to accumulate too much more. In fact, 9/11 emergency officials tell me we probably have a good two feet of water left to go in one of the main rivers through Bedford County before it even reaches the banks.
So things are looking much better than expected in Bedford County, which we'll take. We like that good news. So we hope that Isabel is kind to us for the rest of the day. And that's a live look at what's happening in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
For CNN, I'm Marissa Carney -- Bill, back to you in the studio.
HEMMER: Marissa, thanks.
And good news, too, there, a bit contrarian to what we've been told earlier this morning.
Thanks for that in Bedford.
Federal help, we're told, is on the way to North Carolina and parts of Virginia after the storm battered states were declared major disaster areas a bit earlier today.
Michael Brown with FEMA talked about who felt the most damage and the most impact from Isabel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Yesterday, the worst impact was down in North Carolina along the Outer Banks. We've had 4,000 people or so who didn't evacuate. We've had a lot of building collapses. We've got urban search and rescue teams in there. They're probably the hardest hit right now.
But the storm is not over w. We're still going to see the aftermath of it in flash flooding and water is going to continue to move down these rivers. So I think it's not quite finished yet.
HEMMER: Is that your concern today, flash flooding?
BROWN: It is. And, in fact, 60 percent of the people who die in hurricanes really die in the aftermath of the hurricane. So as the storm moves and continues to dump water, we'll see those rivers up in western New York and Pennsylvania and West Virginia continue to fill, move further down south. The flooding will continue over the next several days and we're going to have to keep a really sharp eye on that.
HEMMER: For those without power, what's the best case scenario for getting it back?
BROWN: Well, the reports that I'm hearing are it's going to be several days. And that's why we're going to -- the president has basically said, look, focus on life sustaining efforts, get emergency food, water and shelter to everybody, because it may be several days before the power can be restored. There's, you know, there's a million people right now without power. That's going to take, you know, a couple of days to get all of those grids back up and working.
HEMMER: There was some criticism today, especially directed at Washington, D.C., saying the city may have over reacted, shutting down two days, Thursday and again today on Friday. Was there some of that involved in the storm, do you believe?
BROWN: Well, I think the primary reason is because Washington, D.C. is so focused and depends upon mass transportation that until the Metro can get back up and running, the smart thing to do is to not force people in. It is Friday and if we open up the federal government again on, you know, at two o'clock on a Friday afternoon, it's not probably the smartest thing to do.
And, again, I think the whole concept of the president putting preparedness and response together really shows that sometimes you have to make some tough decisions to make sure people don't get in harm's way. And as these flood waters continue to rise, the federal workers and others who live in the outlying areas need to take care of their families and focus on that and not getting into work.
HEMMER: But knowing that the subways were closed even before the first raindrops fell, was that an over reaction? BROWN: Well, I don't know, you'd really have to talk to the Metro system about that. I'm not sure about their engineering problems or what they do and how they make those decisions. But it certainly played a factor into our decision.
HEMMER: In a word or two, up and down the coast, were you satisfied with the level of preparedness before this storm hit?
BROWN: Oh, absolutely. First of all, I would say that the individuals involved, the families and everyone else, really paid attention to the warnings and listened to everything that we were saying about getting prepared for it. All of the teams at FEMA, all of our partners at the Coast Guard, our partners in the state and local level, that preparedness and response coming together worked very, very well. In fact, I would just say that FEMA has probably done one of its best jobs ever in this particular storm.
HEMMER: Just have a little bit of time left here. If that's the case and FEMA has done the best job ever, do you have a damage estimate right now as a result of Isabel?
BROWN: We don't, but we have teams in the area. They moved into the areas last night to start doing those assessments. As they break hits, they'll continue to do the assessments and we should have more information about that later today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Michael Brown, again, from FEMA.
In a moment here, we'll take you back live to Virginia Beach, one family riding out the storm from yesterday, their impressions from the storm that they experienced and, again, going forward today. Back in a moment with that.
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 19, 2003 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the most serious concern, inland flooding from Isabel. We want to get you to Marissa Carney. She's with WTMJ live this morning in Bedford, Pennsylvania.
How are conditions? How much rain is coming down now?
MARISSA CARNEY, WTMJ CORRESPONDENT: Actually, not too much rain right about now. It's daybreak here. We seem to have navigated our way pretty successfully through this storm.
Bedford County was supposed to be one of the hardest hit in Pennsylvania. But as Isabel worked her way up and shifted, it was much less than anyone expected.
Now, we have had some high rising waters. Some of the rivers and some of the streams in Bedford County have risen up overnight. But it just wasn't anything significant enough to create the flooding that we thought was going to happen here in Bedford County. We were, however, prepared for it.
I guess all in all we had about an inch and a half of rain falling. So far we've been dealing with this misty kind of rain that's been falling throughout the evening and on into the morning. Now, heavy at times, but for the most part it's been a steady, misty rain that probably isn't going to accumulate too much more. In fact, 9/11 emergency officials tell me we probably have a good two feet of water left to go in one of the main rivers through Bedford County before it even reaches the banks.
So things are looking much better than expected in Bedford County, which we'll take. We like that good news. So we hope that Isabel is kind to us for the rest of the day. And that's a live look at what's happening in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
For CNN, I'm Marissa Carney -- Bill, back to you in the studio.
HEMMER: Marissa, thanks.
And good news, too, there, a bit contrarian to what we've been told earlier this morning.
Thanks for that in Bedford.
Federal help, we're told, is on the way to North Carolina and parts of Virginia after the storm battered states were declared major disaster areas a bit earlier today.
Michael Brown with FEMA talked about who felt the most damage and the most impact from Isabel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Yesterday, the worst impact was down in North Carolina along the Outer Banks. We've had 4,000 people or so who didn't evacuate. We've had a lot of building collapses. We've got urban search and rescue teams in there. They're probably the hardest hit right now.
But the storm is not over w. We're still going to see the aftermath of it in flash flooding and water is going to continue to move down these rivers. So I think it's not quite finished yet.
HEMMER: Is that your concern today, flash flooding?
BROWN: It is. And, in fact, 60 percent of the people who die in hurricanes really die in the aftermath of the hurricane. So as the storm moves and continues to dump water, we'll see those rivers up in western New York and Pennsylvania and West Virginia continue to fill, move further down south. The flooding will continue over the next several days and we're going to have to keep a really sharp eye on that.
HEMMER: For those without power, what's the best case scenario for getting it back?
BROWN: Well, the reports that I'm hearing are it's going to be several days. And that's why we're going to -- the president has basically said, look, focus on life sustaining efforts, get emergency food, water and shelter to everybody, because it may be several days before the power can be restored. There's, you know, there's a million people right now without power. That's going to take, you know, a couple of days to get all of those grids back up and working.
HEMMER: There was some criticism today, especially directed at Washington, D.C., saying the city may have over reacted, shutting down two days, Thursday and again today on Friday. Was there some of that involved in the storm, do you believe?
BROWN: Well, I think the primary reason is because Washington, D.C. is so focused and depends upon mass transportation that until the Metro can get back up and running, the smart thing to do is to not force people in. It is Friday and if we open up the federal government again on, you know, at two o'clock on a Friday afternoon, it's not probably the smartest thing to do.
And, again, I think the whole concept of the president putting preparedness and response together really shows that sometimes you have to make some tough decisions to make sure people don't get in harm's way. And as these flood waters continue to rise, the federal workers and others who live in the outlying areas need to take care of their families and focus on that and not getting into work.
HEMMER: But knowing that the subways were closed even before the first raindrops fell, was that an over reaction? BROWN: Well, I don't know, you'd really have to talk to the Metro system about that. I'm not sure about their engineering problems or what they do and how they make those decisions. But it certainly played a factor into our decision.
HEMMER: In a word or two, up and down the coast, were you satisfied with the level of preparedness before this storm hit?
BROWN: Oh, absolutely. First of all, I would say that the individuals involved, the families and everyone else, really paid attention to the warnings and listened to everything that we were saying about getting prepared for it. All of the teams at FEMA, all of our partners at the Coast Guard, our partners in the state and local level, that preparedness and response coming together worked very, very well. In fact, I would just say that FEMA has probably done one of its best jobs ever in this particular storm.
HEMMER: Just have a little bit of time left here. If that's the case and FEMA has done the best job ever, do you have a damage estimate right now as a result of Isabel?
BROWN: We don't, but we have teams in the area. They moved into the areas last night to start doing those assessments. As they break hits, they'll continue to do the assessments and we should have more information about that later today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Michael Brown, again, from FEMA.
In a moment here, we'll take you back live to Virginia Beach, one family riding out the storm from yesterday, their impressions from the storm that they experienced and, again, going forward today. Back in a moment with that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
