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The Situation Room
Tracking Hurricane Rita; FEMA Could be Back in Spotlight; Wilma Has Record-Setting Pressure For The Atlantic; Frozen Body Could Be WWII Airman
Aired October 20, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:00 p.m. here in Washington. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information around the world arrive in one place at the same time.
Happening now, 5:00 p.m. in south Florida, they're bracing for Wilma. It's a Category 4 hurricane. It's lashing the Caribbean right now, getting close to Mexico. We'll have a new forecast. The details of the new forecast, you just heard it from the National Hurricane Center.
And it's 5:00 p.m. on Capitol Hill, where FEMA is under fire in response to Hurricane Katrina. Surprising testimony from a local official revealing just how disconnected top FEMA officials were from the horror unfolding in New Orleans.
And it's 2:00 p.m. in California's Sierra Nevada, where hikers have made a shocking discovery: a body frozen in ice believed to be a missing World War II era pilot.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
As you saw live right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, there's a new forecast just out from the National Hurricane Center. A new forecast for Hurricane Wilma. And we're hearing the Yucatan peninsula is feeling the force of the hurricane right now.
Let's go back to our severe weather expert, our meteorologist Chad Myers. He's at the CNN hurricane center.
For our viewers, Chad, who are just tuning in right now, update them on what we know.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We think and we know the storm has slowed down a little bit, at least the computers are slowing it down. We think that -- I believe that this storm probably won't make landfall until late Sunday night into Monday. But we are already seeing rain here, Key West, all the way through Big Pine Key.
Yes, this is part of the hurricane. There is the hurricane itself, some of the outer bands. The outer arms already reaching central and central and southern Florida.
Here is the radar picture, though,. This is an amazing shot out of Cozumel. Cancun, Cozumel, there's the island right there, Cozumel. If you've ever gone diving all along the reef right through here, there's Cancun itself.
The island part that we know, usually Americans go to, that's a big number 7. Already feeling rain on the 7, on the international part, if you will. The local part downtown not feeling too much.
Just got off the phone with somebody in Akumal down here, and they're already feeling some flooding as the winds are piling water on shore. And, oh, Wolf, this is just starting. This is just going to be ugly down here.
BLITZER: What else did that guy on the phone say to you?
MYERS: That they weren't going to stay there very much longer. The waves were already crashing over the shore. About five inches of water in the streets. And what I was telling is that he need to get out pretty soon because, as soon as you start losing streets, then you can't get out.
And he was right on the ocean. So he was on his way.
BLITZER: All the projections that Max Mayfield was talking about, they differ on when they will wind up along the East Coast. But right now, I take it, all the major ones still show south Florida being hit.
MYERS: Yes. You know, it's kind of like add it all up and divide by 13, because there are almost 13 models. Some of them are older, some of them are newer. And a lot of the newer ones we give more credence to. So we give a little bit of a higher number for them, a little bit more confidence in some of those numbers, some of those later that, let's say, 2002, 2005 models, or the 1998 model doesn't usually work very well. But they all take it now pretty close to somewhere right over the Everglades, south of Naples, and then on out to the other side.
But, you know, I want to stress, that's still almost five days away. This thing could still go left or right. Just don't focus on that line.
BLITZER: I've got some friends on the east coast of Florida, whether in Palm Beach or Boca Raton or Hollywood, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and they seem to think that because it's going to hit in the west first, they're in good shape, they don't have to worry about this.
MYERS: They're not going to see a storm surge there, Wolf. The water is not going to come piling up and coming over the top, like we saw in Bay St. Louis and Waveland. But the area here will see wind out of the south, winds that could be 120 miles per hour.
And then that storm, as it drives over them, especially if you're very close to the eye, your winds may shift 180 degrees, and then the winds will come back off shore again. And there will be wind damage across south Florida, even though they don't get the direct side of the eye. They get if from the back way, or from the wrong way, if you will. They're definitely going to see damage down there one way or the other.
BLITZER: All right, Chad. Thanks very much. We'll check back with you.
Let's go to the phone right now. Leticia Cordova, the woman that Chad just spoke with, is a resident in Akumal, in Mexico. She's decided to evacuate.
Leticia, where are you right now?
LETICIA CORDOVA, RESIDENT: I'm in my home. This is in Akumal. It's the first lot on the way to Cancun. I am on the way to Yalco (ph).
BLITZER: And what is -- what has happened at your home?
CORDOVA: Well, the thing is that the ocean is quite brave, and there was a big wave with storms and everything. And since I know that this is going to be increasing till 8:00 p.m. tonight, I thought that I should evacuate. I was thinking of staying, but I'm afraid that this is going to grow.
BLITZER: How do you evacuate? Where do you go to, Leticia?
CORDOVA: I'm going south. I'm going to Carillo Puerto (ph), which is south and a little bit in, into the southern Maya.
BLITZER: I want to bring our meteorologist, Chad Myers, into this conversation, because he knows specific information that is going to affect you, your family, your friends, your life, potentially, out there.
Chad, what advice do you have for Leticia?
MYERS: Well, the farther west you can go, the better you are, because to go south doesn't help you very much. You're only trying to get closer to the eye wall.
To go east or to go west, a completely different scenario. If you go west, toward Progresso, that would be the safest spot probably in the entire Yucatan peninsula right now.
But I must have been talking to a neighbor of yours just a moment ago. A young man said that they haven't even heard very much about this storm. He didn't even know it was going to get this bad until the waves, maybe the one that you talked about, hit the shore.
Is there no news?
CORDOVA: Yes, there's been lots of news, but very contradictory information, if I may say. There's no -- what they're saying is that the hurricane is acting very unexpectedly. And it has changed direction all day. And it has been sort of moving, and it really has been very different from any other year. I've been living here for 30 years. BLITZER: Leticia, it's Wolf Blitzer in Washington, once again. Are you just planning on get getting into a car and driving, or are there trains or buses or planes?
CORDOVA: No, no, no.
BLITZER: How do you get out?
CORDOVA: Yes, driving. There's no trains or buses here.
BLITZER: So you're just going to get in your car and try to close up your house and start driving?
CORDOVA: Drive south.
BLITZER: South. Is that smart?
CORDOVA: South -- southwest.
BLITZER: Southwest.
CORDOVA: Like going a little bit in towards inland.
BLITZER: Leticia, what city do you want to wind up in? And how long do you think it will take you?
CORDOVA: Carillo Puerto (ph).
BLITZER: What?
CORDOVA: Carillo Puerto (ph).
BLITZER: Are you familiar, Chad, with that area?
CORDOVA: Yes, sure.
MYERS: How far inland is that? You said it might be about an hour, an hour and a half drive. But how far are you away?
CORDOVA: An hour and hour and half south. But inland, I wouldn't know in kilometers really. But it's not on the coast.
MYERS: It is not on the coast?
CORDOVA: No.
MYERS: Right.
That is where you want to be, Wolf. You want to move away from the coast and move inland.
CORDOVA: Thirty kilometers in.
MYERS: OK.
BLITZER: All right. Leticia, one final question. Did you say you already are getting some flooding in your house?
CORDOVA: Yes. We had a big wave. And as I said, I've been living here for 30 years. I've never seen -- I was here in Roxanne, I was here in Emily. And never the stones -- the sea, yes, but not the stones on my terrace like this.
MYERS: Well, at some point.
BLITZER: All right, Leticia.
Yes, Chad, go ahead.
MYERS: Wolf, at some point that ferry that takes people off of Cozumel and back over toward Playa del Carmen is going to have to shut down because of the waves. And if you are in that area, if you're a tourist, if you're a local in that area, I do highly recommend getting off of Cozumel, getting on to the mainland, and doing exactly what she is doing, getting away from the coast itself, because that's where the winds and the waves will be the worst.
The waves and the winds at probably the 7, at the international drive up Cancun, may approach 150 miles per hour. I doubt there will be very many windows left in that hotel zone of Cancun, that part that we all know as all that tourist destination down there.
BLITZER: All right, Chad. Thank you very much.
Leticia Cordova, thank you to you, as well. Good luck to you and all your friends, everyone over there in Cozumel. Appreciate your joining us. And we'll check back with you.
CORDOVA: Thank you very much for caring. Take care yourselves.
BLITZER: We certainly do care.
Hurricane Wilma is also threatening Cuba. Five hundred thousand Cubans are now evacuating from the western most provinces.
Let's bring back CNN's Havana bureau chief, Lucia Newman.
It's beginning to get windy in Havana -- Lucia.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, as you can see, Wolf. Well, let me tell you what people are doing here to prepare.
The word here is evacuation. That is the name of the game here. Massive evacuations, as you mentioned, even before we know for sure just how close Hurricane Wilma is going to get to this island.
But authorities here are taking absolutely no precautions, because at the very least we can expect torrential rain to pound this island. And as we know, that could cause deadly flooding and mudslides.
We went to a coastal town to see how people were preparing there, Wolf. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN (voice over): Hurricane-wary Cubans are at it again, packing up their things while they wait to be bused to higher ground.
"I pack everything, and a government container picks it up and stores it while we're evacuated to a school," says this man.
Batabano, a low-lying fishing town in southwestern Cuba, is extremely vulnerable to storm surges and flooding.
"The water has come up to my chest in the past, and everyone is scared, because this is a very big hurricane," says this woman.
Prisoners from the local jail, too, are being moved to higher ground.
In the remote fishing town of La Caloma (ph), more than 100,000 people have already been evacuated, taken in buses to government shelters, or to the homes of friends and relatives.
"The important thing is to save lives. So we're moving everyone out," says this civil defense official.
In fact, the entire Renardo Rio (ph) province is expected to be hardest hit by Hurricane Wilma. It's famous for the tobacco used to make Cuban cigars. And workers are doing everything they can to keep their harvested crop safe.
The old, the sick and pregnant women are being evacuated first.
(on camera): Officials say at least half a million people will be evacuated from their homes in advance of this storm. And one of the reasons is that so many of their homes, especially here in Havana, are falling apart.
(voice over): Many government buildings and hotels are being boarded up. But in a country where wood and even nails are almost impossible to find, very few ordinary citizens have this luxury.
In the meantime, Cubans are stocking up on dry food and water, praying that the third hurricane to impact this island this season will be merciful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN: As you can see, Wolf, right now it's cloudy, but raining only sporadically. But meteorologists say the situation, the weather will begin to deteriorate rapidly starting tonight and tomorrow -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Have the people of Cuba heard from President Fidel Castro yet, Lucia?
NEWMAN: Not yet. But I'm standing here on 23rd Street. What you see behind me is Cuban state television, which has been boarded up, as well. And the streets are being surrounded by police, so it's possible that right now President Castro is making his way over to Cuban TV to make some sort of an address. But that's only speculation at this point -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Lucia.
Lucia Newman's our bureau chief in Havana.
Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in Cuba right now. Thank you very much.
Let's check back with Jack Cafferty. He's in New York. We haven't heard from Fidel yet, but we're hearing from Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I wonder what they were doing with those detainees down at Guantanamo. Did she say anything about that?
BLITZER: No, she didn't say anything. I assume they're not going to be in tents, though.
CAFFERTY: Well, no. No, I don't guess they would be. I think they've got them in some kind of compound with, you know, wire fences around them.
But I just wonder -- I was just curious. I don't know the geography that well, whether that particular encampment would be in the eye of the hurricane. But we'll find out at some point I'm sure.
Pro basketball players, Wolf, are going to have to say goodbye to the bling. The NBA announcing a new dress code that will require players to wear business-casual attire when they're involved in team or league business, things like post-game press conferences.
They also will not be allowed to wear chains, pendants, medallions or automobile hubcaps around their necks. It's a stark contrast to the hip-hop gear that a lot of the players, like Philadelphia's Allen Iverson, who has his own fashion line, like to wear.
Some of the players don't like it. They say that it targets young black males. They say the league is afraid of becoming too hip- hop.
But NBA commissioner David Stern said that they will strictly enforce the new dress code starting November 1. And those that do not like it can leave.
So here's the question: Is the NBA out of line requiring a dress code for its players? CaffertyFile@CNN.com. We'll read some answers in about a half an hour -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. I'm anxious to hear what our viewers have to think. You know I'm a season ticket holders for the Washington Wizards.
CAFFERTY: Are they any good? I mean, Michael Jordan played with them. Didn't he own a piece of that team for a while?
BLITZER: Yes, a little bit. But he played with them, didn't do very well with the Wizards. Did a lot better with the Chicago Bulls.
CAFFERTY: How did they do last year, the Wizards?
BLITZER: The Wizards did well. They made it to the playoffs, first time in a long time. They're going to do even better this year.
CAFFERTY: Did they raise your ticket prices?
BLITZER: No.
CAFFERTY: Oh. Well, they will.
BLITZER: But they're expensive.
CAFFERTY: OK.
BLITZER: Thanks, Jack.
Still ahead, from your hurricane headquarters, the popular Mexican resort of Cancun in Wilma's way. Are tourists fleeing right now? Are some of them still having some fun? We'll go there live, we'll ask the owner of a local hotel.
And the FEMA response to Katrina continues. E-mails adding to the embarrassment of the former FEMA director, Mike Brown.
And later, a real-life CSI -- CSI mystery, 60 years in the making, though. A frozen body found. But is the case closed?
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on our top story. Still a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Wilma heading toward Florida.
Let's get some more details now on the preparations in south Florida. For that, we're joined on the phone by Carlos Alvarez. He's the mayor of Miami-Dade County.
Mayor, thanks very much for joining us. What are you doing to get ready?
MAYOR CARLOS ALVAREZ, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, we've -- since yesterday, we've been monitoring, obviously, the storm. And we've been making plans. We've been making sure that all the residents in Miami-Dade County are aware of what's going on so that they can make the proper plans and preparations.
This is a very dangerous storm. It hasn't started its turn towards the Northeast, but it's expected to. And we're just telling people to make sure that everybody's prepared. BLITZER: You have a lot of elderly people living in Miami-Dade County. What specific -- specifically should they be doing -- doing right now, assuming that you lose power and other conveniences, at a minimum, like that?
ALVAREZ: Well, we have special needs shelters. And we have a registry of people that need, obviously, special needs. And what we've done is, starting last night, we've been contacting them. And, if need be, we provide transportation to the special needs shelters or to hospitals or to wherever they may have to go.
You know, we started last night. We're -- the process is ongoing. And the storm is going so slowly that it's given us extra time to prepare.
BLITZER: Well, good luck, Mayor. And good luck to everyone in Miami-Dade County, and Florida in general. Thanks very much for joining us.
ALVAREZ: Thank you.
BLITZER: Hurricane Wilma could put the Federal Emergency Management Agency back in the spotlight even as it's still coming under some serious fire for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina.
CNN's Brian Todd joining us now live from outside FEMA headquarters here in Washington -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in these days before Hurricane Wilma, as you said, this agency is battling, and it is on battling on two fronts. It is trying to scramble to get ready for yet another major storm, and it is still fighting a tide of negative publicity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you see something coming for me, just scream at me. All right?
TODD (voice over): The irony of a Category 5 season. On the same day a FEMA official testifies before the Senate about the nightmarish response to Hurricane Katrina...
MARTY BAHAMONDE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, FEMA: Each day it was a battle to find enough food and water to get to the Superdome.
TODD: ... the besieged agency is preparing for third the hurricane in less than eight weeks to have reached Category 5 strength, and is already dealing with what may become a perception challenge during and after Hurricane Wilma.
DAVID PAULISON, FEMA ACTING DIRECTOR: The proof's in the pudding. We did very well with Hurricane Ophelia. We did very well with Hurricane Rita. And we are going to do very well with this hurricane. TODD: FEMA is sending some 300 truckloads of ice and water to staging areas in Florida, dozens of trucks full of prepackaged meals, four urban search and rescue teams, and at least six disaster medical assistance units. This adds up to more than 200 FEMA personnel on the ground in Florida before the storm, but it's less than what FEMA had in the Gulf region prior to Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA officials say that's because the state of Florida is so well experienced in preparedness and response that Florida officials are not asking for as much federal help as their counterparts in other states.
Governor Jeb Bush spoke of his reasons for wanting to take the lead.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: If this process is federalized, the innovation, the creativity, the sense of responsibility, the passion for service would subside, and the local knowledge that makes it -- makes it more effective.
TODD: FEMA officials tell CNN, even with more resources in the Gulf region after Katrina, their teams were quickly overwhelmed with transportation and communication problems. There have been lessons learned.
PAULISON: That person on the ground, that individual citizen or resident, that's the most important thing. It's not -- it's not me, it's not the FEMA people working. It's those people on the ground. And that's the philosophy we're taking, what would you do if that's your family out there?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Now, this time, FEMA officials say they began speaking with state officials several days earlier than they did before Hurricane Katrina. Another difference, military helicopters will be ready for search and rescue if and when Wilma hits.
Now, FEMA will be the agency coordinating deployment of those helicopters, but only if the state asks FEMA first -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian. Thank you very much.
Brian Todd is outside FEMA headquarters here in Washington.
Coming up, look at this, check this out. Live pictures coming in via videophone from Cancun, Mexico. They're already feeling the effects of hurricane Wilma. It's probably going to get a lot worse over there.
We'll take you there. And that's coming up next.
Also, if you thought you heard everything about the former FEMA director's failures, think again. Mike Brown's e-mail embarrassment, that's coming up as well. And tracking Wilma with space technology. NASA's severe weather meteorologist will give us his take on the latest hurricane to threaten the United States.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: With Cancun, Mexico, lying in Hurricane Wilma's probable path, many people already getting out. But not my next guest. She's staying put, at least she says so, even offering some snorkeling tours.
Today we have live pictures coming in from Cancun. Kimberly Howell is the owner of the Cancun Mermaid hotel. She's joining us on the phone, once again.
Kimberly, we spoke a couple hours ago. It wasn't too bad. But what has changed?
KIMBERLY HOWELL, OWNER, CANCUN MERMAID: Hi, Wolf. How you doing?
It's really changed quite a bit. The gusts are coming up very intense, I'd say probably around at least 40 miles an hour. Still not much rain. You know, a little drizzle here and there.
But the local news is reporting in Playa del Carmen, which is a little south of us, just pouring there. So they're already really receiving some effects.
We're just, I'm guessing, getting the outer bands here at this point. But the hotel strip is completely blocked off. The local police and the military are not allowing anybody to go in, regardless of what reason. And all the hotels are completely evacuated.
BLITZER: Hold on one, second, Kimberly. Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, is with us, as well.
Chad, how fast are those winds in Cancun right now?
MYERS: Right now in Cancun and Cozumel, 30, gusting to 45. So she's right on the money on where the winds are now. And they're headed to 145 to 150.
BLITZER: Kimberly, 145, 150 mile-an-hour winds where you are. Evacuation sounds like a good idea to me.
HOWELL: Well, I'll tell you, it's amazing the way people are preparing. Like, for instance, in my neighborhood, right on the corner, there's a Chevrolet dealership, huge plate glass windows. They haven't covered them at all.
And then there are other people who are -- I guess there's no such thing as over-preparing, but certainly, you know, boarding up and all of that. So it's one extreme or the other. But the locals, I think we've been -- it's been so long. We've had so many hurricanes bounce around us that I think they have a false sense of security. And I think there is no doubt this is going to be completely different.
BLITZER: What about -- what about you? Are you going to still stay put? Because I take it the military, the authorities are making plans to try to evacuate people.
HOWELL: Well, this is actually strictly just in the hotel zone itself. They have a curfew going on that starts at 6:00 p.m. this evening where they're asking people to not leave their homes, of course. But they're really not encouraging the locals to leave.
Now, the downtown area is completely -- you know, it's off the coastline. But it certainly doesn't just represent, you know, immediate safety. I mean, we need to be very careful.
BLITZER: We're showing our viewers some pictures of how exposed people in Cozumel are.
Chad, talk a little bit about this -- this whole area. It looks so vulnerable to me.
MYERS: Yes. What you're seeing, basically, the backwards 7 there, where you see the top of the 7, and then all the way down the side. It's called the hotel zone. Up on the top there's a couple of hotels, and all the way sliding all the way down, all the way down to Club Med, there are hotels all along this beach.
Now, I was just logged on to a couple of Web cams, and I'm still stilling people on the beach in the hotel zone. Are they getting them out? Are they trying to get them out? Are people not wanting to leave? What's going on there?
HOWELL: Is that question for me?
MYERS: Yes.
HOWELL: OK. Well, I mean, I can only, you know, guess that they're just not very bright, because they're not going to come down and physically take you and put you on the bus and make you leave.
MYERS: Is that right?
HOWELL: Well, yes, this is Mexico, and it's -- that's just the way it is. I mean, you're highly urged to get out of there, but, you know -- I mean, if they're stupid enough to be down on the beach, I mean, come on.
BLITZER: Kimberly Howell, good luck to you. We'll check back with you.
Chad, thanks to you, as well.
We're always going to be checking back with Chad. He's going to be very, very busy in the coming hours and days.
Preparations for Hurricane Wilma under way in southern Florida, including Key West, throughout the Keys.
Elsewhere, Ali Velshi has got the "Bottom Line." He's joining us from New York -- Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Same story there. I was talking to a small business owner at the corner of Duvall Street and South Street in Key West. That's the Southernmost Hotel, called the Southernmost Hotel because it's the southernmost hotel in the United States.
Matt Babich, you on the phone with me?
We got Matt there?
MATT BABICH, SOUTHERNMOST HOTEL: Yes.
VELSHI: Hi, Matt. Ali Velshi.
We were just talking to somebody in Cancun who is sticking with it, going to ride this thing out. It's a little further from you.
What's your plan right now? Your hotel still has visitors and guests in it?
BABICH: Yes. We are a property of 194 rooms, and we have four rooms occupied tonight. On Wednesday there was a mandatory evacuation of all nonresidents and guests to the Florida Keys, and we heeded that. And most of the people left yesterday, but we did allow people to stay overnight for those who did have flights out today and had other plans. And we still have four guests left tonight.
VELSHI: You sticking around? You -- you going to ride this thing out? Or is there some point you are going to make a decision that, if it starts heading your way, you're -- you're ready to -- to evacuate?
BABICH: I'm -- at this point, from the information I have been getting from the National Hurricane Center Web site and from our local authorities, we don't believe we are going to be in for the big Category 4 or 5 that is now approaching Cancun.
And, you know, we have had three hurricanes give us a whip this year. And we have had winds up to 90, 110 miles an hour. And I have been here for all of those.
So, if it's a one, two or three, I do plan on -- on staying here.
VELSHI: And -- and you have had this before. We're looking at pictures of your hotel right now. Just tell us, for those of us who -- who don't know Key West very well, where you are in relation to -- to Key West.
BABICH: OK. We're at the south end of the island, the south end of Duval Street. We're one block from the southernmost point in the continental U.S. So, we're at the very southern tip of the Florida Keys and Key West. And we are attention southern tip of Key West, also.
VELSHI: Matt, stay safe. Keep us posted as to what you're doing. And -- and batten down the hatches there.
BABICH: We have done a lot of preparation. And the employees and staff here, housekeeping, maintenance, front desk, reservations, have all done a great job putting the sandbags up and putting the storm panels up. We have -- I guess, because we have had so many scares, we have got this down to a very good routine. What used to take us four or five days has now taken us two-and-a-half.
And I must say, we are -- we have -- we have gotten -- since we have been hit a few times, we're also prepared for the recovery. We have got front-end loaders and Dumpsters and things ready to get us back. And, you know, we have gotten our recovery down to a couple, three days, also. And, I guess, Key West, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to recover from a blowout. So...
VELSHI: And to be prepared for it.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Keep that Web cam going. We will check in with you later.
BABICH: OK.
VELSHI: Matt Babich is the owner of the southernmost hotel at the corner of Duval and South Street in Key West, probably the southernmost hotel in the United States -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I think it probably is. Thanks, Ali, very much.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Coming up, watching Wilma from NASA's Space Flight Center. The space agency's hurricane expert shares his unique views of this powerful storm.
And a mystery on ice. Who is the airman found frozen decades after his death? -- a challenging coroner's case.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on Hurricane Wilma.
Jeff Halverson is a severe weather meteorologist from NASA. He is joining us live from the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Beltsville, Maryland. That's right outside the nation's capital.
Jeff, this seems like such an unpredictable storm, if you will. What's going on?
JEFF HALVERSON, NASA SCIENTIST, GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER: This storm has been amazing.
You know, it underwent this rapid intensification, almost 100- millibar pressure drop in a day. And that -- that's almost unprecedented. We can see here the dramatic swirl. If you could look through the clouds with X-ray vision or take a CAT scan, just look at -- at the fantastic spirals of rain wrapping around this system -- you know, the pressure on the -- on the bottom of this storm is about 10 percent less than the overall weight of the entire atmosphere. So, that is a big hole in the atmosphere that wind has to rush in to.
BLITZER: What does that mean to the layperson?
HALVERSON: What it means to the layperson is -- is, this is nothing short of a catastrophic storm, particularly for the Yucatan. This is a record-setting storm in terms of its pressure in the Atlantic.
And there's a tremendous amount of energy being released in this system. The Gulf waters are very warm. There's very little in the way of wind shear, destructive winds, to tear this storm apart in the next day or two, really nothing to impede its recovery from the eye wall replacement it went through this morning.
BLITZER: What is different between this hurricane and, shall we say, Katrina? Our viewers very familiar with what Katrina did. What is the difference between these two hurricanes?
HALVERSON: Well, as I say, they're both amazing systems. They're both Category 5 storms. They're both encountering very warm water over the Gulf.
This system had a very tiny eye. At one point, this system had an eye that was only about five miles in diameter, compared to Katrina, which had a much larger eye. But now that eye has opened up. It has weakened somewhat. But now we think it's bouncing back.
BLITZER: So, what's your bottom-line assessment? How worried should people in Florida be right now?
HALVERSON: Well, I would say we have to defer to the judgment of the hurricane prediction center.
But, certainly, it's -- it's a monstrous storm that bears watching. there's a lot of unpredictability when it comes to intensity change. You look at the graphic here. Look at the temperature of the ocean waters it has to still go over. So, there's a tremendous potential here for a strong-category storm, certainly for the Yucatan and -- and possibly South Florida as well.
BLITZER: Jeff Halverson, we'd like to have you back in the coming days to help us better understand this hurricane. Thanks very much for joining us.
HALVERSON: Thank you.
BLITZER: And, still to come, it sounds like a science fiction novel, but it's a very real mystery -- a man's frozen body found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Who is he? We will have details.
And NBA players crying foul. The league is setting a new dress code of more business wear and less, shall we call it, bling. What do you think about that? Jack Cafferty has your e-mail.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Even as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, bracing for Hurricane Wilma, it's still facing criticism over the agency's response to Hurricane Katrina.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM with details of what we learned today at a congressional hearing -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was chilling testimony from the man who was literally the only FEMA official prepositioned in the entire city of New Orleans.
Marty Bahamonde's job was to be the agency's eyes and ears there. But he says, it seemed like no one on the other end was listening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH (voice-over): As Hurricane Katrina roared in, FEMA career employee Marty Bahamonde told senators he sounded the alarm in New Orleans, asking for more staff, calling FEMA at 11:00 a.m. Monday to say the worst-case scenario had happened. The levees had broken.
MARTY BAHAMONDE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: FEMA headquarters knew at 11:00. Mike Brown knew at 7:00. Most of FEMA's operational staff knew by 9:00 that evening. And I don't know where that information went.
KOCH: Bahamonde says he waded to the Superdome, found little food there, little water. Stunned, he watched as thousands more were bused in.
BAHAMONDE: Just doubled the population and really took a bad situation and made it so much worse, when you had options to just drive them out of the city, across the bridge.
KOCH: Bahamonde sent an e-mail to FEMA Director Michael Brown Wednesday morning: "Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the street with no food or water, hundreds still being rescued from homes. Estimates are, many will die within hours."
It's unclear whether he got a response. Hours later, Bahamonde was forwarded this e-mail from Brown's press secretary in Baton Rouge: "It is important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner. Given that Baton Rouge is back to normal, restaurants are getting busy. He needs much more than 20 or 30 minutes."
An exasperated Bahamonde responds: "Tell her that I just ate an MRE and went to the bathroom in the hallway of the Superdome, along with 30,000 other close friends. So, I understand her concern about busy restaurants."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: Brown hasn't replied to our request for a response. And FEMA's new director praised Bahamonde as dedicated, hardworking, and said that the agency has improved since Katrina -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We hope.
KOCH: We hope.
BLITZER: We will soon find out how they do with Wilma.
Thanks very much.
KOCH: You bet.
BLITZER: Kathleen Koch reporting.
Up next, many NBA players have millions in the bank. So, you would think they would be able to decide what to wear on their own. But the league is handing down some fashion dos and don'ts -- Jack Cafferty standing by with your thoughts.
And a frozen body, likely decades old, found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But who is he? Mary Snow has a report.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we have checked Hurricane Wilma from just about every angle. but let's have one more.
Our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, is here in THE SITUATION ROOM. She is checking the situation online with a little help from Google Earth.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: I am. I am trying to find my mouse. But I think I finally found it. It's much larger than the board I usually...
BLITZER: It's a big...
SCHECHNER: ... work with.
BLITZER: It's a big board here.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHECHNER: Want to take a look at what we have got. We have got some cool images here for you. We will start with the -- the wide image and move in for you. You can take a look at where we are with Hurricane Wilma right now. There you go. It's kind of a -- a neat image for you.
And we wanted to give you some of the models we have been talking about, if I can zoom in for you. And we have been talking about it heading across Florida. Your mother is -- is there. And my mother is there as well, actually. So, we're all interested and concerned. You can see how those models go across Florida.
Then I wanted to show you. We have got some alternatives for you, some things we haven't seen before. We wanted to talk about the surface temperatures. I thought this was really neat. Now, look at this. That color will tell you the temperature. And the dark pink color, from what I understand, we have got -- Celsius is -- is what it is in. So, like , 35 is around where this dark pink color is. That is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can see it's all around there. A little less than that, I guess, would be about 30 degrees Celsius, 86 degrees. What we mean when we talk about these warm temperatures, essentially, Wolf, is that, when it is over warm water, as we know, it will stay strong. We -- we would hope for a -- a cooler temperature this time of year, but not in the Gulf of Mexico, as you know.
So, if we can see the difference between this temperature -- I will see if I can bring this back up for you -- and what might it might be over the next three days, you can kind of hope that maybe, at some point, it would -- it would weaken and get a little bit of a -- a little bit cooler. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
This temperature change right here means it is going to stay exactly the same. You can see the dark -- the dark red part right there. Let me see if I can show you the temperatures over that. I don't know if you can overlay it or not -- probably not. But, if you can see here, where it is dark, if it were heading towards Louisiana, that would actually be a problem, because...
BLITZER: Because the water is so warm there.
SCHECHNER: ... it would be strengthening, right. And it would get even -- even stronger as it headed towards there. But, you can see, it's not going to change very much. So, we're not talking about it getting any weaker as it moves through there.
And there's one other thing we wanted to show you here. You can see the buoys that are out in the water. These are measuring things like wind speeds. You can see, that's what the actual buoy looks like. And we can -- we can pull it back out for you a little bit. I will see if we can move this out. It's taking on a mind of its own. That's what happens with Google Earth sometimes.
But you can see these buoys. And what they do is, they measure the temperatures at these buoys. They also measure things like how high the swells are, the wind speeds. We heard Chad Myers talk earlier about, it was 40 miles per hour in Cozumel -- this buoy in particular, 66 miles per hour.
So, you can take an idea of what it -- they're seeing on land and then what they're seeing out in the water, Wolf. So...
BLITZER: Jacki...
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: All right. You did well. Thanks...
SCHECHNER: My first navigation with Google Earth.
BLITZER: Thanks very much. Very impressive.
SCHECHNER: Thanks.
BLITZER: I couldn't do it.
Jack Cafferty, I know, couldn't do that Google Earth stuff. But he has got some other stuff on his mind.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Easy on me.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: It's not nice to make fun of those who are of limited ability.
The NBA, Wolf, announcing a dress code that is going to require their players to wear business casual attire when they're involved in either team or league business, such as post-game press conferences. They cannot wear chains or pendants over their clothes, no bling. Some of the players don't like it. They say it targets young black males. They say the league is afraid that it's becoming too hip-hop.
The question this hour is, is the NBA out of line requiring a dress code for its players?
Robert in Charlotte, North Carolina: "The NBA is a business, not a social program. All businesses should be able to have dress codes, whether it's a restaurant, a Wall Street firm or a store in a mall. Businesses can demand and enforce dress codes based on the image they're attempting to portray."
Tom in Welcome, Minnesota: "What difference does it make? They're like any other pro athletes. They do what they want when they want. They make too much money. They have too much time on their hands. How will they be able to feed their families if they have to buy clothes to meet a dress code?"
Tommy in Atlanta, Georgia: "You kidding me? Liquor advertised on cars and suits are OK for NASCAR, but it's not OK for a basketball player to wear a plain white T-shirt with a silver chain? I'd rather have my child wear a label blazing Nike than Jack Daniel's."
Umar in Columbus, Ohio: "The NBA has a responsibility to look out for its interests. Its image has been tarnished by a few players who are reckless, both on and off the court. The business casual attire requirement is a good move and will, hopefully, put professional back in professional basketball."
Vince in Michigan: "I say get over it. I have to dress to represent my business in a professional manner. And I make nowhere near what these guys make. Just like your vocabulary, your dress is a reflection of you. I'm tired of hearing about things being racial. This is a business. Act like it. It has nothing to do with ethnicity."
And Richard in Greenlawn, New York, writes: "I would bark like a dog for an NBA contract."
Me, too.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Those contracts are pretty thick.
Thanks very much, Jack.
CAFFERTY: See you tomorrow.
BLITZER: See you tomorrow.
Still ahead, a mystery at 14,000 feet. The body of a man is found encased in ice, probably for six decades. Who is he? And is anyone still looking for him?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Hurricane Wilma moving closer and closer toward Cancun and Mexico. We have got these live pictures via videophone. You can see the wind picking up, rather dramatically, over the past, two, three hours, as we have been watching these live pictures come in.
Chad Myers is watching the pictures. And I -- I assume people over there can only expect worse in the coming hours and days.
MYERS: You bet.
Right now, Wolf, there is a squall line coming in, one of the feeder bands, as we call it, coming in. And I will show it to you on the Cancun radar. What I want to show you on here -- we will just go back to weather 101. Follow the storm. Follow the eye itself, all of a sudden, starting to turn right, along the tape, along the tape, and then -- and then, oh, now it's a right-hand turn.
We expected this turn for a long time. Now it is finally here, as it moves away from the piece of tape there that I have on the board, which is just very simple, but it works. You know that it's headed on up toward Cozumel and now to Cancun.
Here is the closer view, a large eye right now. But it's getting tighter, as Max Mayfield told us a little bit ago. That means the storm is getting stronger. The inner winds are getting stronger. And that's where the inner wind actually is right there, 150 miles per hour now.
Why Cancun picked up in wind speed? Because this band, this squall line, is now coming through Cancun. It came through Cozumel just a few minutes ago. Wind gusted to 40. That is what we can expect in Cancun. And every time one of these outer bands gets closer, as the storm gets closer, the winds will pick up 10 miles per hour, 15 miles per hour.
And, by the time you get the eye wall, it is going to be, probably, close to a Category 5, which starts at 156 miles per hour -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, Chad, closer to home, in Florida, they -- they now suspect this hurricane is going to take a little longer to get to Florida. They still think it will reach there, eventually, but maybe not until Sunday, maybe even later? Is that what they're saying?
MYERS: That is correct.
It is going to spend a lot of time over the Yucatan Peninsula, which spells even worse problems here when -- when it comes to flooding for the Yucatan. But then it does turn off toward the north and to the northeast, and making landfall somewhere in Florida, possibly even missing Florida.
It's still not out of the question, Wolf, that this storm goes through the Florida Straits and through the Bahamas, but seems unlikely. And that's not the official forecast. The official forecast is that line. But, remember, it's not a line. It's more of, like, a fan than a cone or anything else like that. It's not really just that one point.
And a hurricane that is 150 miles an hour is not going to be a point anywhere. It's like a big bowling ball coming over the south part of that state.
BLITZER: Chad Myers, thanks very much -- Chad Myers reporting from the CNN Hurricane Headquarters.
Moving on to another story we're following, a rather dramatic story, a 60-year-old mystery lies in the hands of the coroner in Fresno, California, waiting to be solved. A frozen body believed to be that of a World War II airman was discovered this weekend.
Let's get some specific details.
CNN's Mary Snow standing by -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the coroner's office is Fresno is working with the military to identify the remains. And it says it's already looking into one call from someone claiming to have information on who it might be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Packed in 460 pounds of ice, a body believed to be a World War II airman, was moved from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Fresno County Coroner's Office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, Bruce (ph).
SNOW: Park Rangers say ice climbers discovered the remains Sunday in a glacier on a mountain more than 13,000 feet high. They say the climbers were able to see blond hair, some clothing and an important piece of identification.
J.D. SWED, KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK: The most remarkable thing was that there was a parachute on this individual. And it said U.S. Army on it.
SNOW: Rangers say their first clue as to how old the remains are, the parachute was silk. And that was telling, since those parachutes were switched to nylon several decades ago. A second clue: Research showed that a navigational training plane crashed in the same area in 1942, but that plane's wreckage and four bodies was discovered in 1947.
SWED: We're not fully sure that this individual is associated with that plane. And it's only going to be through good science, a little patience and time that we are going to be able to put all the pieces of this puzzle together and solve the mystery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now, the Joint Prisoner of War Accounting office says it will be taking over the process of identification.
It says it has the job of accounting for 88,000 missing military personnel, mostly from World War II. And it says, on average, it identifies about two remains each week -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Do they have any idea who this person might be?
SNOW: They actually say that they do have a short list of possibilities. And because there had been a crash in 1942, the remains found several years later, that may also help narrow their scope. But they say, on average, it takes about five months to identify remains. It could take that long.
BLITZER: Mary Snow, reporting for us, thanks very much.
We are going to take a quick break. When we come back, Florida, no stranger to hurricanes -- Bruce Morton standing by with a look back.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Hurricane Wilma, it's moving closer and closer and closer toward Mexico right now, Cancun, Cozumel, the Yucatan Peninsula. It's getting windy out there. We have got some live pictures. We will show you the live pictures coming in from Cancun right now. It's picked up dramatically only in the past couple hours -- wind now about 40 miles per hour.
It's going to get a lot worse, though, as this slow-moving hurricane picks up speed, gets closer to Mexico, and then makes that right-hand turn toward Florida -- expected arrival in Florida someplace, Sunday, maybe a little bit later, a little bit later than Sunday. But we're watching every step of the way. It's a Category 4 storm right now. It could pick up and become a Category 5 once again.
Florida, as we all know, no stranger to hurricanes.
Our national correspondent, Bruce Morton, picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you live in Florida, you remember hurricanes, shielding the windows, loading stuff into the car, whatever. They do it a lot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Betsy struck at the worst possible time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: Take just the last four decades. Nineteen sixty-five was Betsy, just a Category 3, winds up to 130 miles an hour. But it killed 75 people in Southern Florida and Louisiana and, at today's prices, did $10.8 billion in damage.
1972, Agnes, just a Category 1, maximum winds 95 miles an hour. But it killed 117 people from Florida to New York and caused $11.29 billion in damage.
Nineteen ninety-two brought Andrew, a very big storm, Category 5, killed 23 people, destroyed more than 100,000 homes in Southern Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas, the costliest hurricane in U.S. history back then, at more than $43 billion.
Nineteen ninety-five, Hurricane Opal, Category 3, 130 mile-an- hour winds, killed 37 in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.
Two thousand four, Hurricane Charley killed 10 people in Florida and caused $20 billion in damage, the worst hurricane, those who rate them said, since Andrew.
Also in 2004, Frances, 105 mile-an-hour winds, seven deaths in Florida and Georgia, another $8.9 billion in damage and the storm that caused the biggest evacuation in Florida history. Ivan and Jeanne followed in quick succession. And this year, Dennis, 145 mile-an-hour winds, 71 deaths in the U.S. and the Caribbean, damage estimated at between $5 billion and $9 billion -- and, then, of course, Katrina, which may turn out to have been the most expensive natural catastrophe in U.S. history. Katrina did most of its damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but it caused 11 deaths in South Florida as well.
(on camera): And now Wilma?
There must be a lot of Floridians who wish this season would hurry up and end, so they could go root for those other Hurricanes, the ones who play football for the University of Miami -- not this weekend, of course. The game is off because of Wilma.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: That's it for me and THE SITUATION ROOM.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starting right now -- Lou standing by.
Hi, Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Thank you, Wolf.
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