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CNN Live Event/Special

Texas Flooding Briefing

Aired July 06, 2002 - 12:35   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We need to take viewers now to Texas to the flooding area in Central Texas for a press conference that's under way. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... information concerning a safety issue of the Medina dam. The Medina County EOS was notified by fax at 6:50 p.m. Additional information would not be available until the 7:00 p.m. call.

During the 7:00 p.m. call, when it did come in, Freeze & Nickels (ph) representative stated that the inspection noted an erosion problem in the area of the spillway outfall due to the velocity and quantity of the water being discharged from spillway over this extended period of time.

Now, based on the information received as a result of the Freeze & Nickels (ph) inspection, it is necessary and prudent to notify the county EOCs downstream immediately because of the possibility of additional rainfall and increasing water level of the dam, thereby increasing the erosion problem of the spillway outfall toward the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the dam.

Consequently, the Medina County EOC was notified at 6:50 p.m., Karnes County officials at 7:43 p.m., Wilson County and Baylor (ph) County officials at 8:03 p.m. with faxed copies concerning the safety of the dam and to encourage local officials to notify residents below the dam to move to higher ground.

We did that, and we really appreciate the cooperation of the counties, their EOCs, the assistance that they provided us in getting the word out. We realize it was late in the evening, but once they received the information, they really did an outstanding job of helping us in this endeavor.

What I would like to do now is open it up to questions. I do have the representatives, the people behind me that assisted us in finding out what was the problem with the dam, and they might be able to answer some of your questions as well.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) danger of bursting or falling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ellston (ph) with TNRCC, he might be able to help us out.

ELLSTON JOHNSTON, TNRCC: Yes, we just finished the...

QUESTION: Could you identify yourself, please?

JOHNSTON: Ellston Johnston (ph) with the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission. And we assessed the dam this morning, just finished, and it does appear to be safe.

QUESTION: What makes you say that?

JOHNSTON: Just because what we looked at. You know, we looked at the structure of the dam, the water level is staying steady and falling (ph), and we don't fear that there will be any problems at this time.

QUESTION: Was there ever a question of its integrity?

JOHNSTON: There was no question, just because of the rising of the lake, but that's not occurring right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. You have been watching a press conference out in Central Texas, more specifically in San Antonio, talking about the threats of communities downstream, particularly from the Medina dam. They were able to inspect the cracks in the Medina dam, and they say it appears as though that dam will hold in place, no problem. But of course, there is still some concern about any rain that's forecast over the next couple of days. That certainly does not help the situation there, because are already thousands of people have been evacuated and so many homes have been flooded out.

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