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The Situation Room
Tom DeLay Makes First Court Appearance; Hurricane Wilma Batters Mexico; Russia Issues Quarantine Amid Bird Flu Fears; Interview With Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt
Aired October 21, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
Happening now, the days may seem like an eternity in the Yucatan Peninsula -- Hurricane Wilma battering the heart of Mexico's Caribbean resort strip and expected to linger there for days. Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, says, the most important thing right now is to protect lives.
And one newspaper put it this way: "God protect us."
It's not his use usual seat in the House of Representatives -- Tom DeLay making his first appearance in a courtroom in Austin, Texas. The hearing included a flurry of legal motions and decisions in the conspiracy and money-laundering case.
And, amid fears of a bird flu outbreak, a quarantine in Russia. Only government workers and residents can come in. I will speak live with the U.S. health and human services secretary and ask him what this country is doing to make sure it doesn't happen here.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
It's a mammoth storm that's already killed at least 13 people. Hurricane Wilma, it's battering Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Right now, in Cancun, thousands of frightened tourists are now trapped in dark shelters, as Wilma pounds the walls with rain and wind. Many in those schools and gymnasiums are complaining of sleeping on the floor with no food or water.
Meanwhile, in Florida, officials are urging residents to evacuate, with one saying -- and let me quote right now -- "Your life is more important than your things."
In the Florida Keys and Naples, many nervous residents are boarding up their homes, stocking up on supplies and planning their exit strategies. The large storm is crawling slowly, with winds hovering around 140 miles per hour.
So, where is Wilma and what's it doing? Where is it heading right now?
Let's get the latest from CNN severe weather expert Chad Myers. He's joining us from the CNN Hurricane Headquarters. Chad, what is the latest?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good afternoon, Wolf.
The latest is the eye itself, the center of the eye, right over Cozumel, Mexico. Now, if you have ever been on a cruise ship or into downtown Cozumel, that entire -- over there, that is on the west side. The eye now, the center of the eye, is actually on the northern tip of that island itself. There's Cancun right up here to the top.
And Cancun, although the folks there think it's bad now, it's about to go downhill even worse than what we have now. Winds are about 70 to 75. They're going to 140 in that resort town all along the hotel zone, right all the way from the northern tip now. They are actually going to get the northern side of the eyewall, the most dangerous part of the storm here, the inner eyewall, the smallest eyewall. There are other eyes and other rain bands away from the center of the eye. But the eye is where the strongest winds are.
Now, it is only a small area of those strongest winds. And, in fact, until about -- this is a -- an old map. I want you to know this. About two hours ago, a squall came through Cancun and knocked out radar. But this is the latest that we had. And the eyewall was directly on top of Cozumel at that time. And we know that the wind speeds in that eyewall, Wolf, were above 130 miles per hour right there on top of that island.
BLITZER: Chad, stand by for a moment.
Susan Candiotti is on the scene for us in Cancun. Let's bring her in for a live report.
What are you seeing? What you hearing? What's going on, Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chad. Using our -- and, Wolf -- using our wind meter, we clocked winds of about a 30 -- 130 miles per hour.
It is visually stunning here and certainly intense. This is the strongest we have seen the winds. The palm trees are bent over. That's one barometer of -- of looking at things. And looking out at the ocean, used to be you could see maybe out a couple hundred yards. Now it's maybe 50. It is so strong, the wind,and so fogged over, and the mist, so deep -- the winds crashing over here.
They had some -- about 40 or to so tiki huts, those straw huts that you often see on the beach, those washed away last night. And the waves are just crashing up here. We are, at this particular hotel, about 20 feet above sea level and, at its highest level, about 27 feet.
Now, most of the management have cleared out of here. But they have kept a skeleton -- a skeleton staff. Needless to say, all of these hotels evacuated their guests downtown yesterday. Some of them are in schoolhouses. Some of them are in hotels. They have cut power to those hotels, protectively. But, here, amazingly, Wolf, we still have power, our cell phones still working, although we must say, on the skylight of what I would call the colonnade, they have been crashing within the last half-hour. So, clearly, the storm is -- is as close as it's been sense it started -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Susan, hold on a second.
I want to bring in someone else, about 60 miles south of where you are, in Akumal, Mexico. Gary Walten is a cave diver, one of our so-called citizen journalists. He's joining us on the phone right now as well.
Gary, where are you? And what's going on where you are?
GARY WALTEN, CAVE DIVER: Well, I'm right here in north Akumal, Wolf, just short of Yal-Ku Lagoon on Half Moon Bay. And the -- the wind is really howling outside. We have water leaking in through our windows. But, since we're boarded up, we're relatively safe at this location.
BLITZER: Do you -- do you feel safe where you are?
WALTEN: Yes.
We have been through more than one hurricane here. Roxanne in '95 was a very high class three. And we went through Emily earlier this year. We're used to this kind of thing. And because we're in cement houses and we have deep water offshore, it -- that kind of keeps down the swell of the storm surge, we feel pretty safe. But it is howling out there.
BLITZER: Have most people evacuated or are they trying to ride it out, like you are?
WALTEN: It's really a ghost town here. All the tourists are gone. There's a few locals that have basically taken shelter in boarded-up building. But we're just trying to wait this thing out.
BLITZER: All right. Gary Walten, good luck to you.
Gary Walten in join -- was joining us from Akumal in Mexico.
Meanwhile, I want to switch gears quickly -- the president speaking out only moments ago on what's happening with Syria and the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, the United Nations issued what is called the Mehlis report. It's a report into the death of Prime Minister Hariri of Lebanon, and the report is deeply disturbing.
The report suggests that it is -- strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement.
I called Secretary Rice this morning and instructed her to call upon the United Nations to convene a session as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter.
We have made it clear that the position of the United States is that there be no foreign involvement in Lebanon. The United Nations made that clear through Resolution 1559. And today a serious report came out that requires the world to look at it very carefully and respond accordingly.
Thank you all very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The president in California, Simi Valley, California, making a strong statement, condemning the government of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad for being implicated in the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and about 20 other people way back in February.
A United Nations investigation has been under way. And now the president, like the United Nations report, directly implicating the government of Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, saying, the United Nations Security Council must take immediate steps to consider punitive action against the government of Syria.
Our correspondent Elaine Quijano is traveling with the president. She's on the scene.
We heard the president earlier, Elaine, give a big speech at the Reagan -- at the Nixon Library, if you will, but -- the Reagan Library. But this -- this -- he went out of his way to go ahead and make a statement on this United Nations report.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. President Bush, Wolf, quite pointedly, as you note, saying that he certainly is quite concerned about this report.
And, of course, the United States, for some time, has expressed that concern over Syria's involvement in Lebanese politics. Now, with this report, you heard President Bush say just a few moments ago that he has called his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. He would like to see the United Nations come together for a special session to decide what to do next.
But, clearly, President Bush wants action taken. It was just a few moments, in fact, after he took part in the ceremonies here that the president went out of his way, made it a point to talk about this after his already planned remarks -- the president coming out and quite pointedly saying that he is, in fact, very concerned about this and he wants to see some action -- Wolf.
BLITZER: The president wants the United Nations Security Council to consider this report. Are U.S. officials telling you what specific steps should be taken against the government of president Bashar al- Assad to isolate that government, whether there should be economic sanctions, political sanctions? What are they saying to you that should come out of this U.N. Security Council meeting?
QUIJANO: Well, unclear right now.
All along, of course, the United States has been anticipating this report, waiting to find out what exactly the specifics would be. But, certainly, this has been the United States' suspicion for some time -- and now President Bush saying, quite clearly, he wants some action.
And, in fact there has been, as you know, Wolf, over time, a -- a concerted effort by the United States to really isolate Syria and to try to stop the interference with the Lebanese politics. But, again, at this point, nothing specific on the table that we have heard, but the president saying that he wants something to be done.
BLITZER: Elaine...
QUIJANO: Wolf.
BLITZER: ... Quijano is traveling with the president in Simi Valley in California, at the Reagan library.
Thanks, Elaine, very much.
That United Nations report blacked out the names of some of the Syrians allegedly implicated in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister -- although reports coming out today suggesting that a brother of President Bashar al-Assad, as well as a brother-in-law, high-ranking military and intelligence officials in the government in Damascus, directly ordered the killing of the former Lebanese prime minister.
Later here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we will be getting reaction from Syria's ambassador to the United States. He'll be coming over here. We will hear what he has to say -- the Syrian government flatly denying these accusations included in the report.
Moving on now back to Hurricane Wilma. Mandatory evacuation orders are now in effect in Florida's Collier County. That includes the city of Naples and the wealthy enclave of Marco Island.
Let's get some more now from CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Naples.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that mandatory evacuation order went into effect at noon for parts of Collier County. And officials estimate, 30 percent of citizens have left.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): The hurricane warning flags were hoisted this morning on Marco Island, though all was quiet here -- the water, the wind, and the beach. Many residents and tourists were packing up and heading out, heeding a mandatory evacuation order. Dale Martin, visiting here from Birmingham, England, was off for Orlando.
DALE MARTIN, RESIDENT OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND: Yes. It's my wife's 40th on Monday. So, we was planning to celebrate down here. But we will celebrate up there now, I suppose.
(LAUGHTER)
MESERVE: Prime coastal real estate, Marco Island is it. The hotels, posh condos and homes are assessed at $9 billion.
BILL MOSS, CITY MANAGER, MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA: Fortunately, for us, most of these homes have been built to the latest standards of the Florida building code. So, they can with -- withstand substantial winds. On the other hand, storm surge will cause problems for us.
MESERVE: And it is not just property on the beachfront that is threatened.
CHIEF ROGER REINKE, MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's -- about 70 percent of our single-family homes are on canals that are -- they're tile canals. So, they're -- you know, it's tidal water that is directly -- would be directly influenced by the tidal surge.
MESERVE: The surge predicted to be as much as 10 feet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: And some are saying it could even be 16 feet. Officials say, if it should get that high, an estimated 30 percent of the structures in Collier County could be seriously damaged -- Wolf...
BLITZER: All right...
MESERVE: ... back to you.
BLITZER: ... Jeanne, thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve is on the scene for us in Naples, Florida.
Let's move back to New York right now -- Jack Cafferty joining us, once again, at the end of this week.
These stories never go away. It looks like it goes from bad to worse on a day-to-day basis, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Unbelievable. I -- I'm -- it makes you look almost forward to winter -- almost.
BLITZER: Almost.
CAFFERTY: As residents continue to make their way back to New Orleans, Wolf, and other areas along the Gulf Coast hit by these recent hurricanes, there are more and more people who are making new homes along the coasts of this country. "USA Today" reports that about 1,300 people a day move to coastal communities, all the way from Texas up to New England. And when the hurricanes come and wipe out homes and businesses, guess who pays the bill? Why, that would be the taxpayer, by way of federally funded flood insurance, which covers property seen as too risky by the private insurance companies.
Even though people in these areas do pay annual premiums, it's usually not enough to cover the costs of the catastrophic storms. So, here's the question: Should the taxpayers have to pick up the tab when people living on coast incur storm damage? Your answers at caffertyfile@CNN.com or CNN.com/caffertyfile. And we will read some of the answers in a half-hour. So, it seems look a timely question, given everything that's going on.
BLITZER: Good question, indeed.
Thanks, Jack. We will get back to you very soon.
Coming up, he's charged with conspiracy and money-laundering -- now the embattled United States congressman Tom DeLay making his first appearance in court. We will show you what happened.
Also, more on Hurricane Wilma, lashing the Mexican resorts of Cozumel and Cancun right now. We're standing by for an update from Max Mayfield over at the National Hurricane Center.
Plus, a very tense morning on Capitol Hill. We will have the latest on that suspicious package that police blew up.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The legal wheels are turning right now for Congressman Tom DeLay. He was booked on conspiracy and money-laundering charges yesterday. Today, the former majority leader made his first court appearance.
CNN's Sean Callebs is joining us now live from Austin, Texas, with details -- Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, a very short court appearance here in Travis County today, Wolf.
And, inside the courtroom, Tom DeLay looked more like a candidate than someone facing two criminal indictments, one for conspiracy, one for money-laundering, in connection with an alleged violation of a 102-year-old state election code.
Now, DeLay says he hasn't done anything wrong and that he is eager to put this all behind him. He says it is just a game of partisan politics from prosecutor Ronnie Earle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: Because Ronnie Earle and the Democrat Party could not beat me at the ballot box and could not beat me on the floor of the House of Representatives, they now desperately trying to challenge me in a courtroom. In short, I have been charged for defeating Democrats. I have been charged for advocating constitutional representation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: And DeLay coming out swinging -- also, DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, is asking the judge in this case, Bob Perkins, to recuse himself. In Texas, judges run for political office. And Perkins, a Democrat, has donated money to the Democratic National Committee, former presidential candidate John Kerry, as well as the organization MoveOn.org over the past couple of years.
Now, during court and in a news conference afterward, DeGuerin also accused MoveOn.org of selling T-shirts emblazoned with that mug shot we have seen of DeLay on the front of it. However, MoveOn.org says they don't know where DeGuerin got that information. They are not selling T-shirts like that.
And, at the same time, prosecutor Earle says this is a good judge who could do a fair and impartial job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNIE EARLE, TRAVIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This judge has a record of fairness to all who come before his bench. And, again, membership in a political party does not determine the quality of justice in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: A senior judge is going to rule on whether Perkins should recuse himself.
A couple of other key motions also floating around out there as well, Wolf -- one, to have the trial moved, a change of venue from Travis County, one of the final Democratic strongholds in Texas, is also out there. And another one, the DeLay legal team simply wants this case thrown out. They say there's no merit -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, we will watch it, continue to watch it, together with you, Sean. Thank you very much.
Zain Verjee is joining us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at some other stories making news.
Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
The Iraqi government is investigating the kidnaping and killing of an attorney representing one of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's co-defendants. Saadoun Janabi was found yesterday fatally shot in the head -- his body dumped near a Baghdad mosque. He had been abducted from his office one day after the trial had begun for Saddam Hussein and seven officials of his fallen regime.
Investigators reportedly believe the killing of a prominent California attorney's wife was related to a credit-card scheme used to fund an illegal drug operation. "The San Francisco Chronicle" says Pamela Vitale's accused 16-year-old killer confronted her when he mistakenly went to her home in search of marijuana-growing equipment. Vitale, the wife of defense attorney Daniel Horowitz, was found beaten to death last Saturday.
Police in San Mateo County in California are looking for the singer who was the original cop in the disco group the Village People. Victor Willis was to appear in court for sentencing in a drug case, but he failed to show up. Willis was arrested in July when police found a gun and suspected crack cocaine in his car during a traffic stop -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain Verjee, we will get back to you. Thanks very much, Zain Verjee, reporting from the CNN Center.
Much more coming up -- we're watching Hurricane Wilma. It's a powerful Category 4 storm. Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center will have a new forecast. That's coming up. We will bring it to you live right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. We will tell you what their latest thinking is.
Plus, bird flu quarantine -- an entire town closed off from the outside world. We will talk about that situation with the health and human services secretary, Mike Leavitt. He'll join us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's our top story, Hurricane Wilma, a Category 4 hurricane. It's battering Mexico right now, but moving, we assume, towards the United States, specifically Florida. We're standing by for an update from Max Mayfield over at the National Hurricane Center.
The threat of Hurricane Wilma is putting insurance in the spotlight.
CNN's Ali Velshi joining us from New York now with the "Bottom Line."
Insurance, hurricanes, those words, I assume, go together?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They absolutely do.
And -- and let's remember that Florida is hurricane central. Go back to last year. Let's list how much hurricanes cost in insured damage in Florida. We are looking at over $20 billion. Hurricane Charley was $8 billion. Frances was $5.1 -- Ivan $3.8 -- and Jeanne $4 billion -- so, $20.9 billion.
Now, obviously, there's -- there's an outcome to all of this. And that is that the major insurers in Florida had to pay out a lot of money. The top payouts were made by a company called Citizens Property. And then you have got State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, other companies.
But Citizens is the -- is the -- the -- the one that's funded and that has to provide insurance on a state mandate, because of the fact that everybody has to be able to buy insurance. And, if your premium is high, this is the place that will at least provide it to you.
If you want to go to Allstate right now and get hurricane insurance, you can't in Florida. So, Citizens, in order to make up for all that money that went out last year -- and -- and, Wolf, it was one -- $1.70 in payouts for every dollar that came in, in premiums -- people in Florida, across the state, pay a surcharge that -- that causes them to have to cover those who live on -- in those areas that are affected by the hurricanes.
Now, in some cases, those are coastal. And, you know, we -- we heard Jack's question. And there's a lot of discussion about whether people who are not in coastal areas should pay for those who are. But, as you know from the damage in Florida, it's not always obvious places that get damaged. There are a lot of places that are not necessarily in the kind of place that a hurricane would be expected to do a lot of damage.
Florida is getting them ripping across both directions in the last year. So, that's part of the problem, that -- that you are paying a price if you live in Florida, regardless of whether or not you have been anywhere near a hurricane in the last year, although I don't know where you would have to live in Florida to have not been anywhere near a hurricane in the last hour.
It -- it -- it goes to Jack's question about whether other people should be paying for people's choice of where they live. It continues to be an interesting question. But, if you're in Florida, you're paying the price for it -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And, as you point out, Jack Cafferty, that's his question this hour as well.
VELSHI: Yes.
BLITZER: We will go back to Jack soon.
Thanks, Ali, very much.
Just ahead, the fear of bird flu in Russia -- one village now under quarantine. Just after the break, we will speak live with the U.S. health and human services secretary about this country's strategy to prevent bird flu right here in the United States.
And they're closing up shops in areas threatened by Hurricane Wilma. Coming up, I will speak with the director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield, for the latest on the storm.
Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM.
Let's get back to our top story, Hurricane Wilma. I first spoke with my next guest yesterday. Kimberly Howell is the owner of the Cancun Mermaid Hotel. She said she'd ride out the storm with her dogs. Today she's doing just that, boarded up in her home with no power backup. She's joining us on the phone. Kimberly, how are you doing over there?
KIMBERLY HOWELL, OWNER, CANCUN MERMAID: Hi, Wolf. Well, it's exciting, I can tell you that. I'm surprised I still have a phone line, but we're totally cut off from all communications. Even the battery-operated radio won't pick up any signal. But from what I'm seeing -- I'm standing here looking out the window right now.
About 6:00 a.m. I heard a small series explosions which were transformers blowing and then no power. And just the wind and the sound coming from it is so incredible. It sounds like a jet is landing on top of the house. I'm hearing a lot of crashing and banging sounds around in the neighborhood, so I'm guessing there's a lot of damage out there.
BLITZER: Kimberly, stand by. Chad Myers, our meteorologist, is listening to what you're saying. I wanted to ask you some specific questions so he can get a sense of what you're seeing, what you're hearing, and try to weave that into our own reporting on what's happening in Cancun.
MYERS: Wolf, I'm really curious as to -- I guess where are you now? Are you on the seven? Are you in the hotel zone or are you actually in Cancun Proper?
HOWELL: I'm in Cancun Proper. I'm about seven miles from where you would enter the hotel area. That's the island itself so, you know, not terribly far inland but definitely a difference than being right there on the island. It was loud all night.
It was really hard to get any sleep because of the sound. But this, right now, is the most intense it's been. And at this point I don't know if it's going to get worse before it gets better because we have no idea where she's at right now.
MYERS: Absolutely it's going to get the worse. The center of the eye now right over the northern tip of Cozumel and still headed your way. The latest wind gusts at airport in Cancun, which is south of the seven -- we showed you that seven yesterday where the hotel zone is. The airport is actually just south of there, closer to the eye.
The wind gust was 97 miles per hour and going up every minute basically as the eyewall gets closer and closer to you. I suspect you will have wind gusts in the neighborhood of 130 miles per hour with a direct eyewall hit. Are you prepared for that? HOWELL: Yes. Actually, I mean, the homes here -- or most of them, at least -- are made from cinder block and rebarb. They're very, very stout, but I can certainly see why wooden homes like in Florida and things would just get ripped to pieces because if this house was wood, it would be gone right now. It's getting wild out there. But, no, I feel very safe in here. Just cut off from communication is the main thing. What category is she at? A 4 or 5?
MYERS: It is a 4,140 miles per hour right now. So we still have a little bit of strengthening go before the entire eye is on land. As soon as the eye gets on land, we will possibly even get it down to a 3 by the overnight hours. That may take a little pressure off the buildings there.
I want to address the hotel zone a little bit, at least what you know about it. If you go across the top of the seven there are some bridges there before you get to like the Intercontinental Hotel. Is that all cut off now? Are the waves so bad that you can't get in or out, or do you know?
HOWELL: I would not even be able to tell you because no one's in there. I was under the understanding -- at least yesterday you had a crew at one of the hotels there, but I'm imagining they had to get out as well.
But it's probably a disaster in the hotel zone as far as windows being broken and it's -- the winds are incredibly strong. I would say they're gusting here, like, it feels like about 100 miles an hour. I certainly would not go outside. The pressure you can feel in your ears and everything as well.
MYERS: The top of the seven we're seeing there. That's the road actually from Old Town Cancun. The Habichuela Restaurant down there, a bunch of other things down there. A beautiful place to go down and look. But most tourists stay here on the top of that, either the top of the seven, Wolf, or all the way over to the Amalia (ph) and then right on back down south.
On the bottom side of the seven is where the hotel zone is and even the airport is. And I suspect that now, 100, 120 miles per hour, they're starting to lose some windows, some plate glass windows and sliding glass doors on some of those hotels there for sure.
BLITZER: All right, Chad. Thanks very much. Kimberly Howell, we're going to check back with you. Stay away from the windows. I think that's a fair piece of advice to you. Good luck riding out the storm.
HOWELL: Thanks a lot, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you. The wild weather intensifies with each passing moment as Hurricane Wilma continuing to make its trek through the Gulf of Mexico. You can watch it happen online. We, of course, are plugged in online as well. Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is checking the situation online. She's joining us now live -- Jacki. JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, I want to add another dynamic to this conversation. We have got some photographs starting to come in online from Cancun, the first from a honeymooner. She shows -- as Wilma approaches, she says the beach is to her left. These are the photos that are really compelling right now.
This is from Kevin, who is a real estate agent. He's in Cancun. He's posting that the power has gone out. What he's done is he's set up a generator and he has split the lines, so he's got a refrigerator going, a little bit of electricity, and he's also got a DSL line set up to his computer. So he's taking photographs, as safe as it is to do so, and posting them online for us see. That's at stormcarib.com.
Somebody else, that we're checking in with. He's got Cancun, and then off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula we have actually also got Cozumel. And maybe when we get time later we'll bring you back to this.
But this is ScubaTony, and what he's doing is communicating with his friend Perry (ph) via e-mail and sending in notes or also talking on a cell phone to get some information out of Cozumel. When we come back, we'll give you some of that information, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Jacki, very much. About 60 miles south of Cancun is Akumal, Mexico. We're going to speak once again with Gary Walten. He's a cave diver, one of our so-called citizen journalists. He's once again joining us on the phone. I understand you can hear the sound and if you open up the phone line a little bit, I'd love to be able to let our viewers hear what you're hearing to a certain degree, Gary.
WALTEN: Well, I sure can, Wolf. I'm right here by the front door. And I'll give you a little taste of how wild it is out here. Can you hear that?
BLITZER: We hear that. We hear that. Let it breathe for a few seconds.
WALTEN: What's that?
BLITZER: Let it breathe for a few seconds.
WALTEN: Sorry. The wind here is a little bit intermittent. We'll get huge gusts that come in. Right now the swell coming up -- here's one. Oh, and there goes my hat. So that gives you a little idea how wild it is here in the wind, Wolf.
BLITZER: We hear it. It's very powerful. Now you've sent us, via the Internet, some video that you've taken. Tell us a little bit about the pictures we're going to show our viewers.
WALTEN: Well I did a little walk through our garden and the house. And it was during the time actually earlier in the day, probably a couple of hours ago. And like I say, these gusts have been coming through actually very steady wind, but then gusts of much larger magnitude come through and shaking around the foliage. Actually I have some very good video. I'm trying to format and get that to CNN to play later, but it's pretty compelling. The wires are shaking around. The foliage, a lot of it is bent over.
And I walked out to the beach and oddly enough actually I think we're picking up a little beach with the waves rather than eroding it away. But large surf is rolling in. There's been quite a bit of destruction on first ground level units with glass being pushed in and whatnot and furniture.
BLITZER: Our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, Gary, is joining us. He's about 60 miles south of Cancun. Chad, what should he expect?
MYERS: Gary, you're going to expect the south side of the eyewall, but I have a question for you if you can think about this in your mind. What direction is the wind coming from? Is it blowing from the north, the northwest or from the west where you are?
WALTEN: No, it's mostly from the northwest.
MYERS: So that means you're going to be south of the center of the eyewall.
WALTEN: Yes. It's been fluctuating somewhat during the day, but now I believe it's mostly out of the due northwest.
MYERS: And that means that the eye itself is to your north. I know the center of the eye is on the northern tip of Cozumel right now and it is going to be heading across that little channel that the ferries go over to, let's say Playa del Carmen. How far are you from that area?
WALTEN: I'm about 35 miles -- I'm sorry -- 35 kilometers south of Playa del Carmen.
MYERS: So you actually, what we ...
WALTEN: That's a very highly-developed town at this point. You probably know that. They're really need to batten (ph) down now.
MYERS: You actually have what we call the easy side of the eye, believe it or not. As bad as what you're seeing now the people, 50, 60 miles north of you are getting it almost twice as bad, because their winds are from the ocean. Your winds are actually from the land and the land scours out some of the speed because of the friction.
So we're going to stay with you, and we still want you to be very careful because a lot of folks board up the house. They board up the house against the waves or the wind, they think it's going to come from the ocean. And in fact, Wolf, his wind is coming from the other direction.
BLITZER: All right. Chad, thanks very much. Gary, good luck to you. Be careful over there. We'll check back with you. Gary Walten joining us from Akumal in Mexico, south of Cancun. Up next, more on Hurricane Wilma unleashing its fury on Cancun and other Mexican resort towns. We'll talk with one of our citizen journalists who is riding out the storm, another one. That's coming up.
And in our next hour, we'll go back to Austin, Texas, where Congressman Tom DeLay got his first day in court. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. We're standing by, we expect to get an update from Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center. He'll be coming up with the latest forecast on Hurricane Wilma, where it's going.
We know it's pounding Cancun, Cozumel right now in Mexico. But, eventually, we expect it to be making that right turn in the Gulf of Mexico and take direct aim on Florida.
Where exactly in Florida, how fast of a hurricane, how powerful a hurricane, we expect a lot of the details to come up from Max Mayfield. It's a Category 4 storm right now. We'll have much more on that coming up.
But, there's another very important story we're following right now, bird flu. Russian officials are taking a serious measure to try to prevent the spread of bird flu in that country.
They have quarantined one village about 200 miles south of Moscow, where hundreds of birds have been killed by the virus. Only government workers and residents are allowed in right now.
U.S. health officials are also taking the bird flu threat very seriously. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is just back in Washington from a fact-finding trip to south Asia, southeast Asia, where 118 cases have been reported in humans. Mike Leavitt is joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Mr. Secretary, thanks very much. Welcome back.
MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECRETARY: Thank you.
BLITZER: Did you get the sense that it's worse based on there -- this fake finding trip that you saw the threat is worse. Were you reassured or did you come back more nervous?
LEAVITT: I came back with an appreciation for the difficulty and the complexity of what they're trying to manage. A lot of it deals with just the nature of the way they live.
Many of those countries have 30, 40, 50 million farmers who depend on poultry and pigs for a major part of the lifestyle. They live right together.
And that's the formula that makes avian flu a possibility or a likelihood, is that is you have pigs and animals -- pigs rather, and birds and people all in the same place.
BLITZER: We have some video. And I want you to turn around, take a look in that big screen right behind you. You'll see some video. You were there. And we see you getting dressed to take some preventive actions. Tell our viewers what you were doing.
LEAVITT: Well, actually, my mother thought I was being prepared to or at least being protected from the bird flu. We were actually protecting the chickens against us. We were at a large poultry farm where they take great precaution protect the birds against the flu.
I don't think those are the problem. I think the problem in that literally tens of millions of different small farms with people who live with animals, literally, right among them. And that's where the real challenge is for southeast Asian governments.
BLITZER: Are those countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, are they coming clean in the sense that they're up front and transparent or are they hiding things for whether political or economic concerns?
LEAVITT: I think they want to be transparent. I think they want to have help. I think they recognize that, if it happens anywhere in southeast Asia, there's risk everywhere. Their dilemma is that they have, literally, tens of millions of farmers who have cross pressures. It's the farmers who have the challenge.
In Vietnam, for example, there are 3 million farmers with chickens. In order to inoculate them or to vaccinate them, they're asking them to come into various centers to vaccinate their birds. The chances of them getting all of them are, frankly, not that high.
BLITZER: So, is the U.S. government satisfied that the government, the governments of Indonesia, specifically, and Vietnam, are doing everything they should be doing to cooperate with the World Health Organization and the international community?
LEAVITT: There's an attitude of cooperation. But the dilemmas they face are quite complex. They don't have the laboratory facilities they need. They don't have the health care system where people can report cases. They're dealing with a complex situation, and it means that we're dealing with a complex situation.
Because at the root of an avian flu pandemic is truth that if person-to-person transmission occurs anywhere in the world, there's risk everywhere.
BLITZER: If that happens, that has no not happened yet?
LEAVITT: It has not happened. And that's a very important point. So far, we have limited, very limited cases where people have caught the flu from birds. We have not had a circumstance where people are transmitting to people.
BLITZER: A quarantine, we see a quarantine in a town south of Moscow today. How concerned are you that even one case of bird flu in the United States, so far there's been no bird flu in the United States, no turkeys or chickens or any other poultry have come down with bird flu.
But, what would happen? Walk us through the process, if there's one case, one chicken, one duck, comes down with bird flu anyplace in the United States, what would happen?
LEAVITT: Well, the point you're making is a good one. That is that we have both an animal and a public health problem. If there was one we would begin to exercise traditional public health or animal health procedures.
BLITZER: Including quarantine?
LEAVITT: Well, quarantine is nothing new. We use quarantine if a person gets the mumps in this country. People don't send their children out to school. They keep them in their home. That's called a quarantine.
We'll do the same thing with animals or birds if there's someone that we know has been infected or exposed, we'll do our best to isolate them until we know what the danger is.
BLITZER: Right now there's no vaccine to prevent bird flu, is that right?
LEAVITT: We do have a vaccine. We don't have the capacity to manufacture it in high enough or fast enough -- to cover everyone.
BLITZER: Are you talking about Tamiflu?
LEAVITT: No, Tamiflu is an anti-viral drug.
BLITZER: That's a treatment if you come down with it.
LEAVITT: I'm talking about vaccines.
BLITZER: Were you talking about -- who has the vaccine?
LEAVITT: Well, actually it was developed by the National Institute of Health. And it has demonstrated the capacity to produce an immune response. It's very good news. And we are now moving into the faze of saying, how can we manufacture it in large enough quantities, fast enough, to be able to make a difference to the entire population.
BLITZER: Has the FDA approved this vaccine?
LEAVITT: No, we're not at that point. But, we have it in clinical trials and it has demonstrated an immune response sufficient that we're optimistic that it would, in fact, protect people if they have it sufficient amounts.
BLITZER: When do the clinical trials end? When will you start producing millions and millions of doses?
LEAVITT: Well, you have identified the dilemma. We don't have the manufacturing capacity in this country to do that. And that's one of the things that we're doing very serious analysis on and one that I believe the president will have a proposal to Congress to resolve.
BLITZER: The Associated Press is reporting that a parrot has died, a parrot has died for -- in Britain supposedly from bird flu. Have you heard about this?
LEAVITT: I have not. One of the things we need to acknowledge is the fact that this is now -- the wild birds are now using, are now the carrier for the avian virus and they are flying over the natural fly ways they have now gone in to Turkey, in to Romania, and apparently in to Russia.
They will go into other countries. This will continue to spread around the world. This is still an animal or a bird virus. It has not yet made the leap to become a human virus. If it does, we're dealing with a substantially different problem.
Now there's reason to be worried about that. In the past we have seen there viruses make that jump and when -- or that skip. And when it does, mankind has no immunity. And that's the problem, that's why we're taking it so seriously.
BLITZER: If a parrot in Britain comes down with avian flu which is what the A.P. is now reporting, what does that mean? Give us your immediate reaction. I know that you don't know about this, you haven't confirmed it, but you've spent a lot of time over these past few weeks and months studying this issue.
LEAVITT: It would be hard to know, first of all, how the parrot actually got it. And the epidemiologists and animal and those in charge of animal health in Great Britain would be going to great lengths to determine how that parrot could have come in contact with some agent that would it have passed it forward. It will need to be confirmed. And I would suggest, before we get too concerned about it, we allow it to be confirmed.
BLITZER: I think that's good advice. Secretary Leavitt, thanks very much. Good luck in dealing with this potential, crisis.
LEAVITT: Thank you.
BLITZER: Appreciate it.
Coming up, more on Hurricane Wilma. It's lashing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula right now, but is Florida in for similar punishment? We're tracking the storm, waiting for a live update from the National Hurricane Center in Miami on where Wilma goes next.
And a suspicious car with something equally suspicious inside shuts down Capitol Hill streets here in the nation's capital. The outcome, just ahead.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Jack Cafferty's been going through your e-mail on the question this hour. He's joining us once again from New York -- Jack?
CAFFERTY: Did you know, Mr. Blitzer, that 1,300 people a day in this country are moving to coastal communities from Texas to New England? That's according to "USA TODAY." And when the hurricanes come, then, and wipe out homes and businesses, it's the tax payer who pays, by way of federally-funded flood insurance.
So the question we're asking is, should the taxpayers have to pick up the tab when people living on coast incur storm damage?
Wayne in Frasier, Michigan: "We repeatedly have to pay for these rich folks to continue living in luxury on the beach. Perhaps they could throw some cash our way to help cover the economic damage we're suffering here in the Midwest. I could use about $40,000."
Martin in Vancouver: "As a past resident of Florida, I have to say your question cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. Living in these areas should be at your own risk. Maybe replace one time and then after that, you're on your own."
Andy in Murrieta, California: "Unfortunately, the answer is yes. We can't pick and choose what disasters the government pays to repair. If they stop rebuilding coastal homes from hurricanes, then are they going to stop paying for homes ruined in earthquakes in California?"
Bill writes: "The taxpayers should not be paying for people to build and live in these high-risk areas. The whole flood insurance program needs to be revamped in order to remove the protection for any structure not already built in a floodable area. It's just encouraging more development in the flood areas, with taxpayer obligations then increasing."
And Miranda in Spring Hill, Tennessee: "Absolutely not. My heart breaks for anybody who loses their home, but most of those affected made the conscious decision to live on the coast. We're all susceptible to natural disasters, but some are definitely more prevalent than others."
Wolf?
BLITZER: Thoughtful e-mail. Thanks very much, Jack. We'll get back to you in a few moments with a new round of questions.
Still ahead, Florida residents bracing for Hurricane Wilma. But should they be breathing easier? In our next hour, we'll bring you a new forecast from the National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield. He'll tell us what the new forecast is. You'll want to stick around for that.
Plus, Congressman Tom DeLay under indictment and in court. Take a closer look at his legal strategy and the political calculations behind it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Almost time for the markets to close and the closing bell. That means it's time for Ali Velshi to join us from New York -- Ali.
VELSHI: Google. It's all about Google again. You know, Wolf, people have been saying, ever since Google went public 14 months go, that it was overpriced. It was overpriced, they thought, when they first came out. And the thing keeps going higher and higher. It came out with earnings today. And Google now hitting another all-time high, closing the day at $339.45.
That gives this company a market value of all of its share, or at least all the shares outstanding, of about $95 billion. Makes it bigger than Time Warner, the parent company of this network. Google continues to go higher and a lot of people seem to think it's going to go higher yet. One of the stock price targets for this stock -- and that's what you're looking at on the side here, is what Google's done since it went public. $345, $445 is what some people expecting. So, who said the Internet's dead?
Let's also talk about Blackberries. I know that, you, like me, use Blackberry a lot. We kind of depend on it. And without getting into the complication -- the complicated legality of the situation -- Research in Motion, a Canadian company, makes Blackberries. Now, they sell the software and they sell these actual units. They make most of their money off of the units.
There's a company that's been suing them for a few years, and in 2003, got an injunction to get Blackberry to actually stop selling these units in the United States. Blackberry got that put on hold. Today a judge overturned that hold.
So this company that's suing Blackberry is going to go back to court and ask for reinforcement of that ruling, and that could put Blackberry, at least temporarily, out of business in the United States. I don't think anybody thinks that's entirely going to happen, because the stock price didn't react in a way that would suggest that Blackberry's going to be out of business any time soon.
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