Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
Tracking Hurricane Wilma
Aired October 21, 2005 - 16:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Meteorologist Chad Myers, standing by at the CNN Hurricane Headquarters with all the latest information.
We got a lot of information from Max Mayfield. Help our viewers digest and understand what we just heard.
CHAD MYERS, CNN SEVERE WEATHER EXPERT: Wolf, trying to get to what -- I was trying to read between the lines of what Max was saying. And what I heard him say today, just now, that he has a lot more confidence in the forecast than he did even 12 hours ago. Reading the 5:00 advisory, it's still a category 4 storm. The winds are still 140. And that eyewall right now is right on top of Cancun. It moved right over Cozumel, the eye, center of the eye itself.
But the most dangerous part now, I did get the radar back from Cancun, they got it back up and running, the radar coming in here just to the south of Cancun, this red area, from the seven, from the hotel zone, down across Playa del Carmen and all the way down past the Moon Palace and Exuha (ph) and Eshcaret (ph), that entire area there getting pounded with winds of 130 miles per hour.
Anyone that stayed in the hotel zone, which is right on the ocean, obviously, that's why they put the hotels there, I think they're thinking that that was the wrong idea to stay there now, with the winds gusting to over 130.
At 2:00 on Saturday, and this is something I didn't hear Max say, this is an automatic forecast. And we put in the automatic points that the Hurricane Center puts in. Category 2 on Sunday, but then, look, down to a category 1 before landfall. And that, of course, is the line. And you heard Max say, Don't focus on the line, focus on the cone. And it still could still go left or right.
But I was surprised, they did drop the intensity a little bit before landfall in the U.S. Do not let your guard down. We saw what a category 1 did in Miami when Katrina, before it was the monster in the Gulf of Mexico.
BLITZER: And he said tropical storm winds could hit Florida as early as Sunday night, late Sunday night, maybe early Monday morning, Monday afternoon, they expect, at least for now, this hurricane to make landfall in Florida, southern Florida, someplace on Monday.
Chad, stand by for a moment. I want to check in with one of our so-called citizen journalists in the hurricane zone right now. He's been helping us understand what's going on, he's also sharing us with us some exclusive video he's shot. Gary Walten is a cave diver, riding out the hurricane in the town of Akumal. He's joining us on the phone. That's about 60 miles south of Cancun.
Gary, what is it like where you are right now?
GARY WALTEN, CAVE DIVER (on phone): Well, Wolf, I had hoped that it would abate somewhat. But you know what? I think this storm is every bit as strong as it was several hours ago. Right now, we have a storm surge coming up pretty close to the level it was last night. I'd say that that's probably only about a foot and a half higher than normal high-tide level.
But the wind is howling. All the foliage has just keeled over at a 45-degree angle, being pushed around. It looks like this wind is still coming from the northwest here. So it's very nasty.
BLITZER: You shot some exclusive video and got it to us via the Internet, Gary. Tell our viewers what we see.
WALTEN: Well, I've got so many pieces. I'm trying to recall exactly what I sent. I believe one of them may be a shot of Half Moon Bay and some swells coming in. Just a view of the beach. And a good bit of sand and some rock debris.
BLITZER: Here it is. We are seeing that right now.
WALTEN: OK, great. And I have a lot more of that that I'm trying to come to grips with. But I'm a little technically challenged. We're running on batteries here. I think I also sent some where I walked through a jungle area, and the foliage is being pushed around by the wind.
BLITZER: And what's happening outside right now? But you're inside, obviously. But what, from what do you see and hear? What's it like outside?
WALTEN: Well, these other clips I have, I can actually demonstrate that later. But what's happening is, we have floodwaters that are covering the streets right now in north Akumal. It's about, I'd say, about three or four inches deep on the access road that comes out toward Yakul (ph) Lagoon. As you walk around, the wires are still pretty much up on the poles. But, of course, they're moving around, being pushed around by the wind. Poles are shaking.
Out on the beach, some of the first-floor habitations of condos and so forth have been pushed in by the larger waves that rolled in earlier today. And basically, it was all I could do to hold on when I walked around and shot this video.
BLITZER: Gary, our meteorologist, Chad Myers, has a question for you. Chad?
MYERS: I know you're out of power, but do you have a battery- operated radio? Are you hearing any reports out of Cozumel or out of Cancun at all? WALTEN: Actually, the most I've heard is what I'm hearing with you right now. But we are on the Internet, believe it or not. Thank goodness for the modern age. And with our backup batteries, I got a 48-volt system here, and we've been running on that all day, because the power grid was dropped earlier in the morning.
MYERS: So the winds are still offshore for you? You are actually south of the eye. I have a picture of the eye here, and I'll zoom in. And actually, I can show you right where you are on the storm. There's Tulum, right there. Here's Cancun, Akumal, Cozumel, right there, Playa del Carmen. Your winds are actually offshore here, not as dangerous as what everybody else is seeing up here, with the onshore plowing of the wind and the waves and the storm surge right into the hotel zone, right into downtown Cancun.
The damage on this side of the storm will be exponential compared to what you're seeing down where you are. So I suspect, when this is over and you get in your car and drive north, it's going to start to look a whole lot worse than what you're seeing.
WALTEN: Well, everybody -- we're thinking about everybody up north. While we're hunkered down here riding this out, we realize that the folks that are taking the leading edge of this eye are really taking the worst part of the beating.
But we're blessed here on the backside of the storm. And actually, when I was out on the beach earlier looking at the waves, you can see the tremendous surf coming in. But, of course, the strong wind offshore is blowing the tops of the waves back. So we're lucky here.
BLITZER: All right, Chad, stand by for a moment. Gary, thank you very much. Please be careful. Gary Walten has been helping us. He's riding out the storm in Akumal, about 60 miles south of Cancun.
Let's head over to Cancun. I first spoke with my next guest yesterday, Kimberly Howell, is the owner of the Cancun Mermaid Hotel. She's riding out the storm with her dogs. She's joining us now on the phone.
What's the latest where you are, Kimberly?
KIMBERLY HOWELL, OWNER, CANCUN MERMAID HOTEL (on phone): Hi, Wolf. Things are getting pretty intense here. The winds have really picked up. And I was listening before I went on air to the report, and it was saying that it just made landfall. And you could practically feel it. The winds really came up the -- it feels like the entire house is shaking. I don't know if you can hear that or not. But it's pretty intense.
BLITZER: Are you by, with the exception of your dogs, anybody else with you?
HOWELL: All of my neighbors and things want to be in their homes, because they have the same situation. So we've been going back and forth and checking on each other. But yes, it's just me and the doggies.
BLITZER: Kimberly, hold on for one moment. I want to come back to you.
Lucia Newman, our Havana bureau chief, is joining us now. Lucia, what's going on in Havana? I see you there now.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Wolf, with it's raining a little bit. It's been raining on and off, in fact, since last night here in Havana, raining a lot more heavily in westerly Pinar del Rio Province.
But Cubans are calling this long, excruciating wait for Wilma here a slow agony, because especially since nobody really knows where this hurricane is going, but they do know it's going to cause some damage here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN (voice-over): A loudspeaker announces a hurricane alert is in effect, urging the people of this fishing down in Cuba's southwestern coast to speed up preparations for their evacuation.
"We're expected waves, five, six, even seven meters, which poses potential danger for this area. So we are rushing to conclude the evacuation," says civil defense chief Ediberto Lugo (ph).
In the city of Pinar del Rio, coastal residents, like Myfu Martinez and her son, are relieved to spend the next few days at least in this school, a shelter about an hour inland.
"Two years ago, when my son was born, the sea inundated my town. And you can imagine the desperation to be surrounded by water. So, they say leave, we leave," she says.
According to Cuba's chief meteorologist, the long, wet wait for Wilma poses a special threat to the western tip of the island, where it's expected to rain nonstop until at least Monday.
"There'll be a substantial accumulation of water. And this is an area where it's already rained so much this season that the soil is saturated. The water can't be absorbed, so there's flooding," says Roservu Viera (ph).
But in historic old Havana, where the rain isn't expected to let up until at least early next week, the worst threat isn't flooding.
(on camera): Here, the dilapidated and overcrowded buildings, like this one, soak up the rain for days. And when the sun finally comes out, and they begin to dry, they often crack and just simply collapse.
(voice-over): These residents will be evacuated soon.
"Can't you see? All of this can just cave in. The water comes in everywhere," says Pedro Martinez. Those who are waiting out the storm in one of 1,000 state- organized shelters will have food, water, and medical attention. What's harder to supply is patience to ride out this slow-moving storm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN: Well, Wolf, while Cubans are just sick and tired of hurricanes, you may be astonished to hear that there are a lot of tourists here, especially from Europe and South America, who are waiting with nervous anticipation. They say they've never had an experience like a hurricane, Wolf.
BLITZER: Lucia Newman in Havana, thanks very much.
Let's head back to Cancun, about 300 miles from where Lucia is. Kimberly Howell is still on the phone for us.
Kimberly, you were telling us, you're by yourself, with the exception of your dogs. Clearly you can't go outside your house to check to see how your neighbors are doing.
HOWELL: Well, I'll tell you, about a half an hour ago, the woman that lives across the street from me was standing in the middle of the street, letting the wind push her down the street. And another neighbor was walking with a -- like, a Hefty garbage bag with the head cut out, and walking down the street with her video camera. So it's amazing how people are doing the things that they're doing. But no, I'm not going out, I'm not going out there today.
BLITZER: Chad, that sounds amazing, given the fact that Cancun is literally, I think it's at ground zero, isn't it?
MYERS: They really are in the middle of the eye right now. I'm wondering whether -- are there shingles coming off homes now? Do you see debris in the streets yet? The storm -- it's -- you're still going to get worse from here. You're going to still add another 30 miles per hour from where you are on top of the wind you have now. But are you seeing damage yet?
HOWELL: I'm mostly hearing it. For instance, you mentioned shingles. Well, all of the home are just concrete, you know, even the roofs, so there's nothing to peel off there. But I'm hearing a lot of glass breaking around in the neighborhood, and a lot of loud banging sounds, which I'm gathering would be trees falling over, perhaps onto vehicles.
There's this wooden telephone pole out in front of me that is just rocking back and forth. So I don't know how long that's going to hold up.
BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE), hold on for a minute. Jacki Schechner's checking the situation online. She's getting some pictures from Cancun right now. What are you seeing, Jacki?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, remember I told you about Kevin, who was using a generator to power his laptop and his DSL line. These are the new photos, just posted, that he's got coming in. They're really dark, but you can see how the winds are howling. You can see the -- if they can pull these up full screen, there you go, how the trees are bending over.
Pretty intense photographs that he's taking. You can see, as I scroll through them, he's putting them up as we speak. Just want to give you an idea how this is working. This is Kevin and his friends, again, off a generator, and a power line from that generator that they have split, and getting them online as we speak, Wolf.
BLITZER: It looks very dark, Kimberly, based on those pictures. I don't think you could see them where you are. But it looks very, very ominous and scary where you are in Cancun.
HOWELL: Oh, absolutely. I would be lying if I told you it's not making me very nervous. But you just have to pass through it. I mean, the house, I feel very safe inside the house. I've been battling a little flood in the kitchen, which has been my major problem. But other than that, it's just scary, the sounds of the wind, how intense and loud they are.
BLITZER: How are your dogs doing?
HOWELL: They have a terrified look on their face, and any time I walk across the room, they're stuck right under me. But they're outside normally, so just being in the house is weird for them. But this is certainly an experience.
BLITZER: All right, Kimberly, we'll check back with you. Be careful over there. Kimberly Howell is the owner of the Cancun Mermaid Hotel. And she's been spending some time with us on the phone.
Chad Myers, I think it's fair to say, it must be extremely frightening, what's going on, for Kimberly.
MYERS: Absolutely, especially when you're locked in a house. You probably have the storm shutters up if you have them. You can't see anything, you can't even look outside. And then it's worse if you don't have storm shutters, because at this point, at about 100 miles per hour, that's when windows start to break. Even if there's something flying in the air, whether it's a stick or somebody else's trash can lid, even at about 40 or 50 miles per hour, if that hits a window, that will break the glass.
Jacki, I want to ask you a question. I saw those pictures that you had. Can you go back about four pictures?
SCHECHNER: Which one in particular?
MYERS: There were some -- The one that I'm looking for, there was, like, a line of four or five palm trees in a row.
SCHECHNER: That one right there?
MYERS: And what I was seeing, what I thought I was seeing, was all of those palm trees actually under water.
SCHECHNER: Let me see if I can find that one. There's a group of them right there.
MYERS: Right. Go forward from there.
SCHECHNER: That one? Ooh, whoops. We lost them. Let me scoot back up for you and see if I can find them.
MYERS: That's all right.
SCHECHNER: There's that set, and that one up there looks like they're pretty much on the water.
MYERS: Yes.
SCHECHNER: You can see, they're pretty buried. I will tell you -- There, there's one right there. You can see, it's pretty ominous and dark.
I will tell you, I've been through a category 5 hurricane inside a home. And the thing we're seeing online, and we're hearing a lot of from Kimberly and other people, is that sound, Chad, the sound of the freight train. That is exactly what it sounds like. And again, you don't know what's hitting the house, you don't know what's hitting the windows. You have no idea what's going on outside.
So these photos are pretty much the best indication we're going to get right now of what it looks like for Kimberly.
MYERS: You know, Wolf, if you have a wind speed of 130 in a hurricane that blows for a couple of hours, or even for an hour, for that matter, that's like a destruction of an F2 tornado over the entire area, a 10... mile-wide F2 tornado, rather than a couple of blocks, like we see in the Midwest.
BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by. We're going to get back to both of you. We're going to continue our coverage, though, of this hurricane here in THE SITUATION ROOM. The Florida keys preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. We'll go there live as Wilma crawls closer and closer.
Plus, in the eye of the storm. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida flying with hurricane hunters right now. We'll get him on the phone in just a few minutes. We hope so, at least.
And later, a nightmare vacation. Tourists who went to Mexico to play find themselves crammed into hurricane shelters.
And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're going to go back to Florida, see how Floridians are preparing for Hurricane Wilma in just a moment.
But first, let's go up to New York. Jack Cafferty's back, with some responses to our question from the past hour. Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf.
In light of all the bad news for the Republicans these days, from Tom DeLay to the Harriet Miers nomination, to the possible indictments in the CIA leak case, we've been asking, Could things possibly get any worse for the Republican Party?
Roger in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, "Oh, yes, if Rove and Libby are indicted, I believe that'll open a whole new can of worms. God only knows what secrets will come to light then, not only the CIA leak, but all the events that led up to this war.
Eric in Dallas writes, "Yes, and they probably will, but it's cyclical. I'm really tired of the right and the left. Probably 85 of the voters are closer to the center than to the extremes. This is one nation. People need to play nice. We're all in this together."
Bill writes, "Yes, the Democrats could come up with just one good idea to solve even one of the problems you outline."
Mike in Washington writes, "The question should not be, Could things get any worse for the Republican Party? but, Could things get any worse for the American people? That, of course, would be a rhetorical question, and nobody would need to write to you, Jack."
Vince writes from Los Angeles, "Herbert Hoover could come back from the dead."
And Jason in Scotsdale writes, "Jack, could you repeat the question? I couldn't understand it with all the background noise and a lot of chatter going on."
BLITZER: Jason, Scotsdale, Arizona, has got a sense of humor. He's referring to the chatter from the president -- that the president referred to yesterday.
CAFFERTY: That's correct. The president said he was not going to be distracted by the background noise and chatter, that he was elected to do the job, and that's what he was going to do.
BLITZER: All right, Jack, thanks very much. Jack Cafferty is in New York. He's here exclusively in THE SITUATION ROOM Monday through Friday, and we're very happy about that.
With Hurricane Wilma, now not expected to hit the Florida keys at least until Monday, mandatory evacuations have been postponed.
CNN's Kareen Wynter is live in Key West. She's joining us from there. Looks like you're getting some rain already, though, Kareen.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we've been experiencing squalls all afternoon. And just when we thought we had some relief here, feels like it's picking up again.
As you mentioned, still days away from perhaps hitting the Florida keys. But this waiting game is definitely affecting the area of Key West. I can tell you financially, the city says it's losing between $2 and $3 million per day in lost tourism.
One big event that's only days away, and basically is in danger because of Wilma, is called Fantasy Fest. We have one of the participants here. We'll have you take a look at her costume. Her name is Sonya Jones. And usually these streets right by Sonya are filled with tens and thousands of people this time of year.
You're still optimistic. It's supposed to start on Tuesday. You're keeping your fingers crossed that it will go on.
SONYA JONES: Yes, we're scheduled to start Fantasy Fest 2005 Tuesday, October 25. All the events will be packed into six full days of fun. Everybody will be able to experience all the events that they wouldn't have if they wouldn't have made the beginning of the festival anyway. So Tuesday, October 25, and any updated information can be found at Florida.keys.com.
WYNTER: Thank you so much, Sonya.
You can see her costume there, Wolf. It's, again, similar to Mardi Gras, leading up to Halloween. It's just one of the hurdles this area's facing. We'll have to keep our eyes on Wilma, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kareen, thanks very much. Kareen, be careful where you are.
Coming up, trapped in a vacation paradise because of Hurricane Wilma. We'll take you to Cancun, Mexico, where many tourists, including a lot of Americans, are staying in hotels, but crowded together and sleeping on the floors. Tell you what's going on.
And on a plane hunting down the hurricane, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. He's on that plane right now. It looks like this one. Trying to get more information on Wilma. We'll speak with him on the phone.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is bracing for Wilma to hit south Florida.
Our Brian Todd is over at the agency headquarters here in Washington, with an inside look. What's going on? How are they preparing, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, all this week, FEMA officials have been stressing points of difference between what happened during Hurricane Katrina and how they are preparing for Hurricane Wilma.
And to hit home those differences, they gave us access to their command center. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on phone): Got any other issues for me?
TODD: Another eye of the storm, the National Response Coordination Center, a key command post inside FEMA headquarters. From here, FEMA officials preposition emergency response teams, hundreds of truckloads of food, water, and ice throughout the state of Florida.
Manning their posts 24/7 ahead of Hurricane Wilma, FEMA officials are determined to avoid the mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, especially any breakdowns in communication.
DAVID PAULISON, FEMA ACTING DIRECTOR: We have people in the governor's office, we have people in Orlando, we have people in south Florida, the Hurricane Center. We're delivering hundreds of satellite telephones to make sure that every county has that capability. We are going to have situational awareness over this storm.
TODD: FEMA officials stress that because this particular storm is targeting Florida, it is a different equation. This time, state agencies, so well versed in hurricane preparedness and response, are taking the lead. FEMA is there to provide logistics and technical and communications support. But it is the state of Florida, Wolf, that is taking the lead this time.
BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us. Thanks, Brian, very much. Brian's outside FEMA headquarters here in Washington.
Thousands of tourists, thousands of tourists are spending their Cancun vacation in shelters instead of on the beach.
Let's check in with our Ali Velshi. He's standing by in New York with that part of the story. Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you've been talking to some people who are in Cancun because they live there, or they're riding it out. But there are an estimated 40,000 tourists stranded in and around the area. They haven't been able to get out, and now they are in a faceoff with Hurricane Wilma.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on phone): We're in an evacuation center. There's a hurricane, Hurricane Wilma. Haven't you been (INAUDIBLE)...
VELSHI (voice-over): This British tourist among thousands who've been moved from Cancun's oceanfront hotel zone to shelters inland. With Hurricane Wilma now forecast to linger over the Yucatan Peninsula for two days, this weekend promises to be anything but relaxing for these vacationers.
Mexican officials say they're prepared for this kind of emergency with shelters equipped to provide food as well as medical care. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We've had diabetic patients, patients with hypertension, patients who didn't bring all their medication. So we've been giving them their medication so that they're covered.
VELSHI: But some evacuees, including this woman from Indianapolis, say conditions are far from ideal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were going to have safe accommodations for us, and there was going to be food. They just took a diabetic to the hospital, because there is no food. And we're in this school, and there's still people who don't have rooms. So I think they led us astray, and we could have been home in the United States in safety. And we're not.
VELSHI: Even after the storm passes, it's unclear how long these travelers will be stuck in Cancun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (on phone): We'll speak to you later, all right? We don't know yet. We have no idea when we're coming home. Should be Sunday, but it could be Monday, we don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. And as you know, you were talking to Jacki a little earlier, those people who are using their computers are on generator power. Power's been cut to the city of Cancun as a precaution. As we know, and as a result, these shelters don't have power. They may have some generator power, but no lights or air conditioning. So anybody's who's stuck in them is probably not pretty comfortable right now, Wolf.
BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE), I guess we can only imagine how frightful, how worried these people must be, and their loved ones back in the States who are worried about them. Ali, thank you very much.
Coming up, in harm's way from Hurricane Wilma. We're keeping you up to the minute on the storm's path, whether Florida's likely to take a pounding. The answer, almost certainly it will.
Plus, the furor over a United Nations report on the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister. We'll tell you what the report says and why it's become so explosive. Stand by for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's go right back to the CNN Hurricane Center, our severe weather expert, our meteorologist, Chad Myers, standing by to update us on the latest on Hurricane Wilma.
Viewers are just tuning in right now. What have we learned, Chad?
MYERS: We have learned that the eye, the center of the eye, went right over the island of Cozumel. In fact, if you were in Cozumel, and you actually, you can go outside now, I don't recommend it, don't do it.
But you can see blue sky above you. And the other side of the eyewall is about to come over you with 130-mile-per-hour winds the other way. I can get a lot closer. But I wanted you to see how big the storm actually is, from Central Florida now down to Honduras. There is the center of the eye of the storm -- the eyewall, the most dangerous part of the storm, now right on shore, coming into Cancun. We know of the hotel zone.
But I do think that the town of Cancun probably getting significant flooding now. We talked about it yesterday, how the Yucatan Peninsula doesn't flood very much. It's very flat. And you would think, well, that's a problem. You know, there are very few rivers, three rivers on the entire Yucatan Peninsula. There are cenotes, basically sinkholes.
The water runs right through the ground. The ground is so porous. It's limestone Swiss cheese, almost, if you go out away from the city, where the area is paved. And that Swiss cheese just percolates the water right down to the ground. And the water is groundwater, not surface water.
So, even if we get 20 inches of rain here, there will be moderate flooding, but not -- not feet. You won't see -- we won't see villages washed away, because there is, basically, no topography for that water to go anywhere. It just goes straight down.
There's the track right on up through and into Florida. What I didn't hear Max Mayfield say a little bit earlier is how he thinks the temperature of the water is actually going to bring the wind speed down enough that, when it makes landfall in Florida...
BLITZER: Right.
MYERS: ... Wolf, it will be a Category 1, at 90 miles per hour, not the Category 2 that we thought yesterday.
BLITZER: All right, Chad, stand by.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is getting a very up-close, personal look at Wilma. He is on board a hurricane hunter plane. It's flying right now over the storm, gathering information.
Senator Nelson is joining us on the phone.
Senator, where are you?
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: We are to the east of Belize, on the south side of the hurricane, turning northward on the east side of the hurricane.
We have been taking these measurements with these instrumented packages that follow all the way to the surface of the water. We had a little drama earlier, Wolf, coming across Cuba. They had given us permission. We got halfway across Cuba. Then they said, you have got to divert. Go to route -- due east, right down the spine of the island.
(CROSSTALK)
NELSON: And that's when we started hitting the turbulence of the hurricane, as we got out on the west side of the island of Cuba.
BLITZER: (AUDIO GAP) of our viewers probably remember, you were, at one point in your life, were an -- were an astronaut. How high are you flying? And how scared are you?
NELSON: We are at 42,000 feet.
This high up, you get some turbulence, but you are really at the top of the hurricane. These guys are -- are just amazing, because they have got all these computers on board. They send all of this data that comes back real-time. They beam it by satellite back to the National Hurricane Center.
And this, interestingly -- it's a good thing, the report is, it's going to downgrade, because this airplane is going out of service, into maintenance, on Sunday. They don't have a backup. And that's one of the things I'm going to try to get them.
BLITZER: Senator, a -- a lot of our viewers in Florida, your constituents, want to know what they should be bracing for in the coming days. What do you want to say to your Floridians?
NELSON: Well, we know only too well that hurricanes are a part of our lifestyle. And Florida is ready, because we have had to go through so many of them.
But it does look like this hurricane is going to linger right now over the Yucatan Peninsula for about 24 hours. That's going to weaken it. And the models are now predicting that it may go down to a Category 1.
But, Floridians, don't let down your guard. Get ready.
BLITZER: Senator, stand by.
Chad Myers is joining us in the questioning. He's our severe weather expert, our meteorologist.
Chad, go ahead.
MYERS: Senator, I'd be interested to know how they are paying for that flight. And here's why I'm asking. Every year, NOAA gets a budget to fly that plane 250 hours. And that's it.
As of a couple of days ago, it was already at 307 hours, over budget now. So, we are taking money from somewhere here. We -- no one needs more money. How are you going to help us?
NELSON: Well, we are going to have to provide the money, Chad, because this is a matter of life or death in the accurate prediction. And, when you get a -- an active hurricane season, like this one -- and here's another good example I just said to Wolf, that this hurricane hunter has got to go down on Sunday afternoon for maintenance. They don't have another one of these. And, if we had a strong hurricane approaching Florida, we would be flying blind at that time, without all of the accurate predictions.
So, this is one of the things we are just going to have to put more money into.
MYERS: Thank you very much for that good response. That's the one I was looking for.
I do know, though, that we are not taking all the planes out. The Air -- Air Force planes and the punch -- the core-puncher planes are still going to fly all weekend long, correct?
NELSON: That is correct.
They are being backed up, but they don't have a plane like this one. And this one is flying twice a day. It's flying back-to-back 12-hour missions. The actual flight time is about eight-and-a-half- hours. And, you know, at -- at some point, this equipment wears out. And you have got to go in for maintenance.
BLITZER: All right.
Senator, we are going to let you go back to work over there on that hurricane hunter -- Senator Bill Nelson of Florida.
Chad, stand by. We are going to be getting back to you.
We are continuing our special coverage, all of our special coverage of Hurricane Wilma. We are watching what's going on.
We will take a quick break -- more of our special coverage -- also, other important news we are following -- a United Nations report directly accusing the Syrian government of complicity in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister and some 20 other people in Lebanon. We will have a full report from Beirut -- and the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, standing by here in THE SITUATION ROOM to give us his response.
Tom DeLay, also, weathering his first court appearance in his felony case -- should he be smiling, though? We will have details on that.
You are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: President Bush speaking just a little while ago. He's urging the United Nations Security Council to take matters into its hands and to work very quickly.
Let's get some details on the report's startling conclusions.
Here's CNN's Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler, with a look at a story making news around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Painstaking detective work by this team of U.N. investigators concludes what many Lebanese have suspected all along, that Syria, it's now officially claimed, played a decisive role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The U.N. report, handed to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, contains a series of damning claims and some witness accounts.
Item: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad close relatives are implicated, it's alleged, by one unnamed witness, naming Assad's brother, Maher, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, pillars of the Damascus security regime.
Item: Top Syrian officials, including Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, it's claimed, lied to investigators.
Item: Syria's closest ally in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud's mobile telephone received a suspicious call minutes before the massive bomb blast targeting Hariri's armed motorcade. Lahoud's office denies the president himself received any such call.
It is an astonishing dossier of evidence, giving probable cause, states U.N. chief investigator Detlev Mehlis to implicate Syrian security officials, colluding with their Lebanese counterparts. Only last week, though, the Syrian president himself ruled out any possibility of Syrian involvement.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA: This is against our principle and my principle. And I would never do such a thing in my life.
SADLER: But the U.N. report also now implicates Assad's former top security chief in Lebanon, General Rustum Ghazale, in the murder. It links his alleged involvement with the activities of these four pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs, arrested and charged some six weeks ago by the authorities here.
(on camera): While the U.N. report pinpoints the targeting of Rafik Hariri as, most likely, a political crime, a shadowy underworld of major fraud corruption and money-laundering here may also have contributed to his murder.
(voice-over): This security camera captures the last movements of the Hariri convoy, including grainy images of a white pickup truck laden with explosives, detonated, a witness claims, by an Iraqi suicide bomber, primed to believe he was attacking a top-ranking Iraqi politician.
It may or may not contain the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but it is a devastating report, insists anti-Syrian Lebanese political sources, that will eventually lead to trial.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's get some reaction to the claims in the United Nations report.
Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Imad Moustapha. He's the Syrian ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for joining us.
How plead you?
IMAD MOUSTAPHA, SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: Syria has repeatedly said that we categ -- categorically had nothing whatsoever to do with the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
BLITZER: So, was this United Nations report just making all this stuff up?
MOUSTAPHA: You know, this moment, when -- when investigator Mehlis was handing the report to Kofi Annan, the secretary-general, reminded us of only thing, when Secretary Powell stood up in the Security Council, hold up a report saying, these are the incriminating evidence that proves that Iraq had a huge arsenal of WMDs.
This report is laden with inconsistencies, contradictions and logical loopholes. And it has not a single shred of evidence, not a single fact that...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Are you saying that Detlev Mehlis, the individual, a European, not an American, who was in charge of putting this report together, is lying?
MOUSTAPHA: No, I am not saying this.
I -- I -- I don't know anything about Detlev Mehlis. Anyone with -- with simple, logical analysis, can read this report. It is available. And the report is an astounding report -- report that accuses Syria of crimes that Syria has not committed, using -- using shady stories, telltales, gossips, he said/she said, not a single substantial evidence leveled against Syria. BLITZER: They accuse your boss...
MOUSTAPHA: Not a single one.
BLITZER: ... the former minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, of lying in his testimony before this committee. They wanted to interview the president, Bashar al-Assad. He refused.
MOUSTAPHA: Their report is full of testimonials provided by shady people, people that have no credibility whatsoever, even as admitted by the report itself.
Yet, the report, shamelessly, put their evidence and their testimonial. Let me tell you this.
BLITZER: Let me interrupt you for a second...
MOUSTAPHA: It's so important.
BLITZER: ... Mr. Ambassador.
MOUSTAPHA: People should understand.
BLITZER: With all due respect, do you believe it's possible that President Bashar al-Assad might be isolated, that he himself may not have known what some of his top security and intelligence operatives were up to in wanting to kill Rafik Hariri?
MOUSTAPHA: For the sake of the argument, let me say this.
President Assad has said to CNN and to the world that we have every interest in revealing the truth of the assassination of Hariri. Anyone who has contributed to this crime should be punished. If he is a Syrian, this is equal to high treason. What I am trying to say is the following: This report did not contribute whatsoever to revealing the truth. Actually, it added to the myth...
BLITZER: But you read the report.
MOUSTAPHA: ... and to the hype...
BLITZER: You read the report.
MOUSTAPHA: ... and to the lies. I read it carefully.
BLITZER: I read the report, too.
MOUSTAPHA: I read it carefully.
BLITZER: And -- and there was a chilling passage, when Rafik Hariri was basically warned by Syrian operatives and their Lebanese allies: "You better shut up. You better play ball with Damascus. Otherwise, we are going to kill you."
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: You read that.
MOUSTAPHA: These are absolute lies.
We challenge Mehlis to -- to -- to release what he described as a taped interview, in which he said -- he said that the Syrian deputy foreign minister -- threatened -- threatened Hariri.
This can not happen. It did not happen. And we will stand by this.
Let me say this to you. We have an interest in revealing the truth. We want the truth to be revealed. But this report has -- cannot -- cannot be submitted to any court in the world. Let me say this.
BLITZER: It will be submitted to...
MOUSTAPHA: Here in the West -- here...
BLITZER: It will be submitted to the United Nations Security Council.
MOUSTAPHA: Yes.
BLITZER: And now...
MOUSTAPHA: Of course.
BLITZER: ... the Security Council will determine what steps, if any, to take -- some of the options, clearly, economic sanctions against Syria, political isolation against Syria, and, down the road, potentially, military action.
MOUSTAPHA: Look, this is a fragrantly politicized report.
We thought that this report would be about truth, about judicial facts, about evidence. Nothing whatsoever is in this report, except for rumors and -- and -- and telltales. They are trying to implicate Syria politically.
What we want to say is, other countries in the -- in the -- that are represented in the United Nations Security Council will read this report. It will be so easy -- anyone can read this report and easily detect the contradictions and the logical -- the logical inconsistencies in this...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Well, Syria will have its day in court, as they say. It will be before the U.N. Security Council. And we will wait -- we will wait anxiously to get to that day.
Ambassador, kind of you to join us.
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you.
BLITZER: You have got a tough assignment here in Washington.
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you very much.
BLITZER: Imad Moustapha is the Syrian ambassador to the United States.
Up next, we will bring you up to speed on Hurricane Wilma, as it's roaring over the island of Cozumel. We will go there live.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Got some live pictures coming in from Cancun right now. We will put those up on the screen, show our viewers what's happening, Hurricane Wilma, a Category 4 storm, pounding the Yucatan, the tourist resort towns, Cozumel, Cancun. These are some of the pictures that we are just getting in right now.
Stephanie Hagen is in Cozumel. She is joining us on the phone.
Stephanie, what's it like where you are?
STEPHANIE HAGEN, RESIDENT OF COZUMEL, MEXICO: It's pretty scary. I mean, it's very, very windy. The winds are ripping. There's water all over, car -- you know, a couple of cars here and there. You really can't get through any of the streets, car overturned. Concrete walls have fallen down.
BLITZER: Are you in...
HAGEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
BLITZER: What kind of building are you inside of, Stephanie?
HAGEN: I'm in a house. But I live in a concrete house. You know, most of the houses here are OK, because they are built out of concrete and there's very little glass. We have one glass sliding door. And that's OK. But -- but it's protected.
BLITZER: Can you -- what can you see outside? Describe the scenes that you are seeing.
HAGEN: I can see -- I'm going to walk over to the window.
But I can see -- I only am -- I'm afraid to open any windows, except for one. And it's just, you can see the wind really, really just ripping. And I will give you a report.
Buildings are -- you know, smaller buildings -- and there's a lot of areas here that -- that are kind of empty lots or lots with a lot of debris. And those have walls around them. And some of the walls are falling. Trees are falling, you know...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Well, under the circumstances, Stephanie, you are remarkably calm. Good luck to you. Be careful...
HAGEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: ... over there. Stephanie is in Cozumel.
Let's move up to Cancun.
Our Susan Candiotti is there.
What's it like in Cancun right now, Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I'm hoping you can hear me, which I why I have the microphone so close to my mouth.
But, as you can see, over my shoulder, I can best compare this to a whiteout in a blizzard. The roar from the wind is quite remarkable. And, as you can clearly see, those palm trees are bent straight over.
This is one of the -- this is the strongest part of the storm that -- that we have felt throughout the day, very, very powerful, as the eyewall is as close to us as it probably has been.
We are experiencing a storm surge that's probably at least 11 feet. You can't see the waves, because there is so white out there, as best I can put it. The roads are impassable. And the areas -- remember, I am standing on a hotel that is about 27 feet above sea level. And -- and the -- the hotel guests have been moved to hotels in downtown Cancun.
Wolf, can you still hear me?
BLITZER: Yes, Susan. We hear you. I -- I just want to make sure that you are safe where you are. Are you safe?
CANDIOTTI: We are. Yes, we are. We are in a -- in a hotel. The structure seems to be sound. Yes, they're losing a few windows.
And, for example, they have got a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) roof that has been blown out and is crashing. You can hear loud noises. But the overall structure appears to be sound. But it is a very good thing, and a very wise move, when authorities here moved out all of the hotel guests. There is a skeleton staff here, but we feel secure in this area -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Susan, be careful over there. We are going to check back with you -- Susan Candiotti, our woman on the scene in Cancun, where it's horrible right now -- probably going to get worse before it gets better.
We are watching this storm. We are tracking it.
Up next, Tom DeLay, also, he seems to be all smiles in court today. Did the indicted congressman help himself politically? Our analysis coming, that's coming up in THE SITUATION ROOM -- Carlos Watson standing by. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Congressman Tom DeLay, the former majority leader of the House, today appeared in court for the first time as a criminal defendant.
Outside of court, he had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: This morning I -- I appeared before the court. And, through motions, I emphatically stated what I have maintained all along during this unfortunate episode: I have committed no wrongdoing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Our political analyst Carlos Watson has been following the DeLay case.
Carlos, you watched what was going on. What struck you?
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Two things, Wolf.
One is that, as you start to look at the poll numbers, especially, Tom DeLay is becoming radioactive -- 18 percent favorability numbers vs. 45 percent unfavorable. And that's very close to where we saw Newt Gingrich shortly before he stepped down almost six or seven years ago. Gingrich was at 51 percent. So, keep watching that number.
The second and final thing is that, remember, Democrats may not be the biggest beneficiaries if Tom DeLay goes down. Instead, Republican nervousness may make them turn to, if you will, the McCain- Powell-Hagel wing of the party. And, so, you may begin to see that maverick wing of the party really begin to assert itself. So, don't assume that Democrats would be the only beneficiaries.
BLITZER: Carlos, everybody here in Washington, at least inside the beltway, all the political types, they are bracing for possible indictments next week in the CIA leak story. What -- what are your thoughts?
WATSON: Could be a huge psychological moment, maybe as significant, if you go back to 1968, Wolf, the New Hampshire primary, President Johnson running, if you will, against Eugene McCarthy. Eugene McCarthy does unexpectedly well there. You may see the same thing here, where, if there's a surprising indictment, you may see lots of Democrats step forward as candidates who weren't going to run previously in 2006.
BLITZER: And, very quickly, Carlos, Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court -- how much trouble is she in?
WATSON: Hearing is huge. She's got to do three things -- one, prove that she's smart. Dan Quayle couldn't do that. Two, she has got to humanize herself -- a lot of ways to do that and talk about family, like Janet Reno did. And, last but not least, she may need to say, "Back off," in the way that Clarence Thomas talked about a high-tech lynching, or Ronald Reagan said, "I paid for this microphone."
BLITZER: Carlos, thanks very much.
Quickly, I want to go to Jacki Schechner for an update on Hurricane Wilma, pounding Cancun right now.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Really fast, want to show you Kevin (ph) in Cancun, who was posting via generator, DSL line, laptop -- before picture. This is the after photo, same thing. Take a look once again, the before shot in Cancun. Now he's posted the after photo. You can see the damage before done.
We are going to keep an eye on Kevin (ph), see how he's doing.
BLITZER: Jacki, thank you very much.
We are in THE SITUATION ROOM weekdays, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
This note: Stay with CNN throughout the weekend for all the latest on Hurricane Wilma. I will be covering it extensively on "LATE EDITION" at our new time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
Until then, thanks very much for watching.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now. He's standing by in New York.
Hi, Lou.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Thank you, Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
