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The Situation Room

Hurricane Wilma Pounding the East Coast of Florida; Baghdad Blasts

Aired October 24, 2005 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're following that massive explosion in Baghdad. But first, our top story, Hurricane Wilma, pounding the east coast of Florida right now from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach and beyond after pummeling the west side of the state earlier this morning.
Here's a look at what's happening right now. The center of the eye right now just offshore, northeast of West Palm Beach. They're still feeling hurricane-force winds up and down the coast, though.

Pompano Beach, Florida, check this out: 120-mile-per-hour wind gusts lifting a tree literally from its roots. What an amazing sight.

In Breyard County, Florida, twister damage. Tornado watches are in effect for most of Florida. Twisters are often a problem for areas inland as hurricanes move through.

Let's go to the National Hurricane Center right now, Ed Rappaport briefing reporters.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Hurricane-force winds occurring in that area. We think that will be moving offshore as well within the next hour or so. And as you can see, most of the rainfall is now exiting the coast, and the strong winds that we have seen will be coming down in the next few hours.

The center is moving towards the Northeast at 25 miles per hour. And looking towards the future, this hurricane will be losing its tropical characteristics in the next day or two, but will still be potentially a powerful storm at higher latitudes, with most of its effects off the U.S. East Coast.

So to review what has occurred here, let's take a look at the hazards. When Hurricane Wilma made landfall, it came ashore on the southwest coast of Florida near Cape Romano about at 6:30 this morning. Category 3 intensity, maximum sustained winds were near 125 miles per hour, with higher gusts. As it moved across the state, the winds gradually decreased and are now near 105 miles per hour, which is Category 2 status.

The strongest of the winds occurred to the south of the center. Most of south Florida experienced Category 1 conditions. A few places had Category 2 conditions. And a spot or two probably on the southwest coast had Category 3. So for most of the metropolitan areas up north of Miami-Dade County up through Palm Beach County was mainly Category 1 conditions, some Category 2. We'll have to see in post-analysis, post-storm analysis just what the winds were definitively.

In terms of the storm surge, there was a storm surge likely to have occurred on the order of 10 to 15 feet, perhaps higher, near, again, to the south of the center. Most of that surge would have been south of Everglades City. There was some surge reported in the Naples area, and we suspect that there was some in Marco Island as well.

Interestingly, as has occurred sometimes in the past, the surge came up after the strongest winds went by. And that's because the wind direction changed to come onshore. So even though the winds were decreasing, the water came up.

Unfortunately, the same is probably the case in the lower Keys and later on in the middle upper Keys. Storm surge on the order of five to nine feet was expected. We do believe there was on the order of five feet -- the storm surge on the Atlantic side first, and then when the winds shifted around from the Florida Bay side. We understand there's been a considerable storm surge flooding in a number of the Florida Keys.

On the southeast coast, storm surge was not nearly as much of an issue. There may have been and still be some modest storm surge to the north of the hurricane, where there is actually an onshore flow, but on the somewhat weaker side with northeast winds.

We talked about the south side. The north side of the hurricane also had hurricane-force winds, but over a much smaller area than the south side.

Rainfall, as you can see, we had a rather large storm with what appears to be a considerable rain shield. However, the very quick movement of the storm suggests, based on radar -- Doppler radar estimates from the National Weather Service -- that maximum rainfall totals are on the order of five to six inches, so less than what certainly it could have been.

There were some isolated tornadoes reported. And the rainfall and the tornado threat will be diminishing and then ending later today.

So for the next couple hours, there still will be some threat primarily to Broward and Palm Beach County from strong winds. We advise people not to go outside until they're certain that it's safe. And even when they do so, please be very careful.

Often there are more deaths associated with hurricanes after the hurricane has passed - what we refer to as the indirect loss of life -- traffic accidents because street lights are out, downed power lines, a misuse of generators, and sometimes fires from candles, and other threats as well.

I believe we have time now for some questions.

QUESTION: Dr. Rappaport, a quick question for you. One of our biggest concerns here in south Florida in terms of property, will my roof blow off? And you're talking about south Florida getting a Category 1, some getting a Category 2 status hurricane. And we don't equate that with a roof being blown off a building, and yet the building right next door here to the Hurricane Center, the roof is off the building.

RAPPAPORT: Yes, your question was about the kinds of winds relative to the amount of damage that we've been -- we've been getting. It really depends on how the buildings were constructed, which codes were used. Obviously, the more fortified structures will survive much better.

South Florida and indeed all of Florida has a much stronger buildings code now than what it had in the past. So it kind of depends on how it was constructed and to what code it was constructed.

Yes?

QUESTION: You pinpointed a city where it entered in Florida. Can you be more specific about the exit of the storm, where it exited?

RAPPAPORT: We can take a look at what the -- what point the center moved offshore, although the relevance is probably less than normal since it was such a big hurricane. Really, the strongest winds and the worst of the weather were not necessarily at the center. They were south of the center in this case, over Miami-Dade, up through Palm Beach County.

A large area experienced gusts over 100 miles per hour. We know that in several counties we've seen observations that high -- gusts of 104 miles per hour here at the National Hurricane Center. And some offshore readings, gusts I believe as high as 116 miles per hour at (INAUDIBLE), which is an elevated station offshore from Miami-Dade County.

QUESTION: Looking ahead, I'm using history as your guide, should we expect that this may be the last major storm of the season?

RAPPAPORT: The question is whether this should be the last major hurricane of the season. Perhaps, but I would have given the same answer after the previous major hurricane as well.

We don't expect to have such strong hurricanes necessarily this late in the season. However, now we have to reconsider that. Where we've had the strongest hurricane on record occur towards the end of October.

We know that in previous years, previous cycles of above-normal activity like we're in now, that October in particular have more storms than they do during the quiet periods. So this is just another indication that we're in this multi-decadal long period of above- normal hurricane activity.

QUESTION: Ed, can you say about when this storm will clear Florida and how much on the remainder of the Eastern Seaboard can expect any significant precipitation? RAPPAPORT: The strongest of the winds -- the hurricane-force winds will be clearing the coast within the next hour or so. And the precipitation will be gone not much after that, within about two to three hours. The Florida east coast should be cleared of all the rainfall.

QUESTION: And how about up the seaboard in terms of anything? You anticipate any significant precipitation?

RAPPAPORT: It doesn't look like there's going to be much of a rainfall threat. Now, if you see here from the radar picture, that at least in the southern two-thirds of the state it's clearing the area. And if we shift over to the satellite picture, most of this area up in here that goes up the Eastern Seaboard is high cloud, not rainfall.

So most of the impact on the U.S. will be ending in the next several hours.

QUESTION: Ed, how would you respond to some of our viewers who are saying right now, boy, this turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be?

RAPPAPORT: As of yesterday and the day before, we had a Category 2 hurricane. And we were forecasting it to be Category 2 at landfall. But because of uncertainty and intensity forecasting, we advised everybody to prepare for Category 3.

As it turns out for the metropolitan areas in southeastern Florida, most people actually got Category 1. Some did get Category 2. At this point it's not clear that anybody in a populated area actually experienced Category 3 conditions. There may have been some spots, particularly on the southwestern portion of the peninsula.

QUESTION: You said that we had 125-mile-an-hour sustained winds when this storm came ashore. Did you have a measurement on the highest gusts at that time?

RAPPAPORT: That 125-miles-per-hour sustained wind at landfall was based on data we received from a reconnaissance aircraft. And that does not allow us to get -- does not provide us gusts. So our estimates are that 125 miles per hour was likely occurring in spots along the southwest coast. Chances are the gusts -- the highest gusts were in that same area, on the order perhaps of 140 miles per hour.

QUESTION: You mentioned that people can venture out maybe later today, or should they stay in all day today and wait until tomorrow? I mean, when is it going to be safe?

RAPPAPORT: At this point people are going to need to follow the instructions again of their community emergency management. They're the ones who have the people outside and who know when it's going to be safe.

At this point, the winds are calming down. And I would suspect that within a few hours it will be safe to be out in general. But you have to be careful with what you're doing out there. As we said, there are many hazards now over south Florida that we have to pay particular attention to during this afternoon -- during the afternoon hours.

One last question.

QUESTION: You were pretty much right on the money as far as the storm's path for the past five days. What were the weather conditions, or what allowed you to be so accurate in your prediction on this one?

RAPPAPORT: Well, we're very dependent on the capabilities of the numerical modeling or computer modeling programs. Operational forecast models have improved greatly in recent years and, in fact, over the decades. And that's what's driven us to better forecasts.

In this case, the forecast track turned out to be pretty much right on. However, the hurricane moved somewhat more slowly than forecast. So there is still a lot of work to be done. And obviously, as we saw this hurricane intensify with extreme rapidity, going from a tropical depression -- in fact, from not even existing to the strongest hurricane on record in less than four days.

So there's still quite a challenge left, not only for track forecasting, but as we can see, certainly intensity forecasting.

Thank you very much, everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Dr. Rappaport.

BLITZER: Ed Rappaport, the deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, briefing all of us on the latest situation involving Hurricane Wilma.

We have CNN reporters spread out across the hurricane zone and beyond. Allan Chernoff will be on the phone for us from hard-hit Hollywood, Florida. Miles O'Brien is in Naples, where the storm came ashore. Kareen Wynter is in Key West. That's partly submerged right now by huge storm surge.

Our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, is at the CNN Hurricane Center. Ali Velshi is in New York, tracking the storm's financial impact.

But let's begin with News 9 reporter Anna Tataris in Naples with the latest there. What's it like, first of all, now, Anna?

ANNA TATARIS, REPORTER, BAY NEWS 9, NAPLES, FLORIDA: Well, Wolf, we're still experiencing a lot of wind here. However, it's nothing compared to the wind gusts that we got this morning.

Now, they are out surveying the damage as we speak. But take a look at some of the damage that we've been able to see.

A lot of windows are blown out at the hotel where we were staying. Obviously they were hit by debris that was blowing around this morning. You can see this shingle here in my hand. This is a common sight on the roadways here in south Florida. A lot of shingles were blowing off rooftops when all those winds were coming through.

Let me give you another idea of what we're seeing around here. A lot of trees knocked down. If you can see this tree behind me here, the roots are actually sticking up. This tree is knocked over.

Now, there's no electricity in the area. No electricity on Marco Island as well. And as I said, right now emergency crews are really out surveying the damage. At this point, they're not reporting structural damage, but a lot of water on the roadways, a lot of trees down, a lot of power lines. So they're still encouraging people to stay inside.

Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Anna Tataris, in Bay News 9 -- from our affiliate, Bay News 9. Thank you, in Naples, Florida.

Let's go across the state to Hollywood, Florida. That's just between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, for those of you not familiar with the area.

Our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, is on the phone with us from Hollywood. What's it like there?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I can tell you...

BLITZER: I think we just lost our contact with Allan Chernoff. He was on the phone for us. We're going to try to reconnect with Allan momentarily and go to Hollywood, which has been pretty hard hit as well.

Miles O'Brien has been on the scene for us for hours and hours. He's joining us once again. You're in Naples, right, Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I am, Wolf. We were here in Naples as the eye came across of Wilma. At that point, Category 3 strength winds. It was -- we really got a long, difficult battering here.

I'm standing on kind of a leeward side of a condo complex. The beach is that way and inlet is that way. And what you can see behind me, this is storm surge. This is what we've been talking about.

As the hurricane came through and the winds reversed themselves and started coming back sort of as if they were offshore winds, out to sea, all of a sudden this pile of water which had been pushed in got dumped back out on where we are. And that is our route out.

We just saw a couple of our colleagues from CNN who got in their vehicles and were able to navigate their way through. It's no deeper than probably two or three feet, but it is staying here and has remained here for quite some time now.

Hard to say precisely how much structural damage has gone on here in Collier County -- about a quarter of a million people here.

Where I am right now, Naples, some of the priciest real estate in the country. The median house value on the beach where I am right now is $1.5 million -- median house value. And that may turn out to be an interesting part of this story, because what has happened, Wolf, is, in very recent times, much of the development has occurred here. Really post-Hurricane Andrew is when the real boom occurred here. And as a result, some of these pricey places that were built were built to some pretty exacting building code standards. And so it will be interesting to see how well they stood up to the test of Hurricane Wilma.

Across the inlet here, there's a complex that was built, say, mid '70s. And we were watching as roof tile after roof tile peeled off as Wilma came ashore.

This structure right here -- Dave, if you want to get a shot just to show Wolf -- poured concrete structure, much newer structure. I haven't seen a single piece of this structure come -- break free.

So a lot of it is how you build, where you build, and how smart you are about living along the coast. So it's interesting to note that perhaps Naples, because it has newer construction, better construction, might have done better than, say, some parts of the eastern coast, Miami-Dade area.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Miles. Stand by.

I want to go over back to Hollywood. Our reporter, Allan Chernoff, is in Hollywood, Florida. We lost you a moment ago, Allan. Are you back on the phone?

CHERNOFF: Yes, I am, Wolf. And I can tell you that the storm is moving out pretty quickly now. I can see the clouds above just flying into the Atlantic.

So the rain is done, the wind calming (ph) as well. But there is lots of damage around here. As a matter of fact, down the road, along Ocean Drive South, a construction crane snapped in two. A portion of it is blocking the road.

Also, one car piled on top of the other. And this is as a result of wind, not storm surge, because the water actually did not come over that badly out from the ocean. A little bit of water coming from the Intracoastal Waterway. But most of the damage appears to be from winds here (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: I think we're once again losing Allan Chernoff in Hollywood. We'll try to reconnect with you. But the bottom line is that, in an area, Hollywood, Florida, where he is, the wind damage significant, not so much the water as much as the wind. Let's pick that thought up.

Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Hurricane Headquarters, standing by. Explain to our viewers, Jacqui, why this wind is such a huge problem on the east coast of Florida.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, they're getting the back side of the eye wall right now, Wolf -- some of the worst conditions. And you can see it very clearly here on our radar picture. The hole in the middle, that is the eye. And just on the outside of the eye is what we call the eye wall. That's where the tallest thunderstorms are, the strongest storms, and so also, the strongest of winds. And just getting smoked right now around Highland Beach and also towards Pompano Beach.

Here's Fort Lauderdale, and there's Hollywood, where Allan is. And so he's likely sustaining some very strong winds also.

West Palm Beach in the worst of it. West-northwesterly winds sustained 76 miles per hour. So that's sustained, hurricane-force wind gusts at 100 miles per hour.

This is moving very quickly to the north and to the east. And so we think this outer eye wall here is going to be moving out now probably within the next 30 to 60 minutes. So Wilma really making its final hoorah at this time on Florida's east coast as it continues to rapidly accelerate.

Now, the winds are pushing in from the west at this time across the Keys. And we're still dealing with some significant storm surge.

Marathon, right in the middle of the Keys, is now reporting storm surge of five -- or four to five feet, rather. And that is covering the entire city.

All of the Keys are likely experiencing surge between five and eight feet. As you get closer towards the peninsula, we're getting reports of higher amounts than that, up to 10 feet being reported near the Flamingo area.

This storm is weakening, but it's still a Category 2 -- smack-dab in the middle of Category 2 status. And I want to talk one minute about where this storm is going. It's heading to the north and east. And we do have to worry about what's going to happen after this. There's a storm coming in from the Mid-Atlantic, along with Wilma. And this is what is left of Alpha here.

These elements are all going to be coming together, and you are going to be looking at some bad conditions tonight, Wolf, in Washington, D.C. and all of the Northeast. We'll see very windy and wet conditions all day tomorrow. So some big travel trouble expected there from Wilma.

BLITZER: It's sort of been described to me as the perfect storm gathering up in the northeastern part, Washington, D.C., along up towards New York and New England. Is that a fair characterization of a perfect storm developing?

JERAS: Well, it's not -- we don't think all of the elements are going to quite come into play at the exact time to make this a perfect storm, but they are going to be coming together eventually and merging together. And that's why it's going to be so potent.

And I think we can compare this ultimately to what we typically see for a Nor'easter. And we are going to be seeing some of that snow, believe it or not, in the higher elevations of the Northeast.

BLITZER: All right. Jacqui Jeras. We'll get back to you. Thank you very much.

We're going to stay all over this story. We're not going to go away. But there's been a major development in Baghdad -- a deadly blast rocking a Baghdad hotel where many international journalists, including American journalists, are staying. The pictures behind me. We're going to go live to Baghdad.

Also, we'll stay on top of Hurricane Wilma, Key West flooding, continuing -- all of that taking a beating. We'll take you there live throughout the east coast and the west coast of Florida.

Plus, in the eye of the storm. We'll see the hurricane as it directly hit.

And a little bit later, rain over the Carolinas. We've been hearing about Tropical Storm Alpha and Hurricane Wilma. Jacqui Jeras just talking about the convergence of all these weather conditions. Will these three storms collide? And will they form an impossible situation, a very dangerous situation up and down the East Coast of the United States?

We're tracking the forecast. We'll stay with you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Hurricane Wilma has been going through the southern part of Florida, from the west coast to the east coast, causing extensive damage. We're continuing to watch this hurricane as it leaves Florida, begins to move up the East Coast. We'll tell you what's going on, but we also want to tell you about story, a fast- breaking story that's developing in Baghdad right now.

Three -- yes, three -- powerful explosions rocked the heart of the Iraqi capital just a short while ago near hotels housing many international journalists, including American journalists.

Let's go live to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He's on the scene in Baghdad. You're not near any of those hotels that were bombed, are you, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're about a mile and a half away. Police say that it was three car bombs that went off. And from where we are located here, we could feel the third blast. It rattled the windows. One of my colleagues was on the roof here, saw the massive flash coming out from that blast. We could all see a huge cloud of smoke rising up. That bomb was a very large bomb.

Police say, in fact, the third explosion, the third bomb was actually put inside of a large concrete mixing truck, and that detonated about 100 yards from the hotel.

Police say that 10 people have been killed, 18 wounded. They also say that U.S. troops have now surrounded the area, providing more security to those two hotels where there are Western journalists.

But this is something that U.S. military commanders and Iraqi government officials have been fearing and talking about. They've been saying that they think insurgents want to try and create a spectacular explosion right in front of the international television cameras so that they can get maximum impact, to create the maximum worry in Iraq, to create the maximum impact outside of Iraq. And that is what appears to have happened.

The first two explosions, small explosions, drawing the journalists to the windows. They turned on their cameras. As the cameras turned on, that's when that third massive explosion happened.

Wolf.

BLITZER: What kind of security do they have outside those hotels? Because I was led to believe that security was pretty good.

ROBERTSON: Security is tight. There's a private security company. There's a very small U.S. military presence there. There's concrete barriers put up. There's razor wire. You cannot get inside that hotel compound unless you're authorized or supposed to be there. But what these blast walls do not do is protect you from massive car bombs.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson, reporting for us. Nic, thank you very much. We're glad you're safe and our CNN team is safe as well.

There's another major story we're following right here in Washington, D.C. We're bracing, we're standing by for a very important announcement coming up right at the top of the hour involving the Federal Reserve, an announcement that could affect all of our pocketbooks, literally.

What are we waiting for, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: We're waiting for an announcement in 33 minutes that President Bush will nominate Ben Bernanke as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

We haven't had an announcement like that in more than 18 years because Alan Greenspan has been at the helm. Right now, we knew that Alan Greenspan was leaving at the end of January. This announcement has been expected, but not today. It's actually a bit of surprise, Wolf, that it comes today with the hurricanes, with the news out of Baghdad.

It was a sudden announcement. It may have more to do with the fact that the White House needs to send some strong signal out there that things are under control and that they are on track.

Remember, Wolf, that any indictments that reach up into the executive offices of government could rock the economy, could make investors and the U.S. dollar a little bit jittery. This is a message to them that Ben Bernanke will follow in the shoes of Alan Greenspan and keep this economy on a steady track.

We will bring that announcement live from the Oval Office at 1:00 p.m. Eastern right here.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Ali. We'll stand by for that. A very important announcement coming from the president during this week that could be very, very significant as far as the White House is concerned. A lot of people bracing, bracing for possible indictments against top Bush administration officials in regard to that CIA leak investigation.

Much more on that coming up in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Also, still to come, we've been talking about Wilma and Florida. But don't forget Cuba, what it was like there. Roads right now in Cuba looking like rivers. Cars are floating like boats. We're going to go there live in THE SITUATION ROOM. These are new pictures coming in from our Havana bureau. We'll tell you what's happening -- Wilma in Cuba.

Also, our reporters braving the elements to cover this massive storm. Some of them in sturdy, specially-equipped vehicles created especially for hurricane coverage. We'll take you on a ride aboard CNN Hurricane One.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Hurricane Wilma now centered over the Atlantic, but still making its presence felt along the east coast of south Florida.

Joining us now on the phone is Mayor of West Palm Beach Lois Frankel. Mayor, thanks very much for joining us. Where exactly are you in West Palm right now? What's it like?

MAYOR LOIS FRANKEL, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Well, I'm in the police station that's sprung a leak. Actually, I think we're -- we're at the tail end of the hurricane. We've had two ferocious phases -- very, very, very high wind. We had about -- we had some calm for about 45 minutes, and now we're at the end. We should probably have about another 15, 20 minutes of very, very high winds. And then it's just going to be another day in paradise.

BLITZER: What was the worst of it? Are you getting reports how high how fast, how ferocious those winds were in the West Palm area?

FRANKEL: Well, the winds came in -- we know that the winds came into the west coast as Category 3. It moved very quickly here. And we've had reports -- we just had a report at our airport, which is about -- just a few miles from me, about 111 miles an hour. But I think it's mostly -- right now it's probably about 74 miles an hour.

But it's still strong enough to -- we have a lot of trees down. Power's out in the entire county here. And we're getting reports of roofs and window damage, some collapsed buildings. Ironically, really, what happened is, last year, we had two big hurricanes and we lost so much -- we had so many trees down then that I think the weakest went last year. So I don't expect that the streets are going to be quite as obstructed this year.

BLITZER: One final question, Mayor, before I let you go. A lot of people were worried about the west coast of Florida, because that's where Hurricane Wilma was going to initially make landfall. But there's a sense that the east coast, a lot of people are waking up today or got up this morning were totally stunned by the extent, the ferociousness, of this hurricane. Should they have been?

FRANKEL: Well, I could tell you this. I think there's been very good warning by the media, I know by local governments. I personally -- we sent out phone calls to our city all week, every single day, warning of a powerful storm. But what we're dealing with is hurricane fatigue. This is about the eighth time we have prepared for a hurricane in 13 months. And this is the third one we've been hit with. And people just got tired of putting their shutters up and taking their shutters down. And I think a lot of people just figured they would take a chance.

BLITZER: All right. Mayor, I cut you off, but thank you very much. We're going the check back with you later...

FRANKEL: You're welcome.

BLITZER: ... in THE SITUATION ROOM.

FRANKEL: We'll make it.

BLITZER: Mayor Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, sounding an upbeat note at the end.

Let's go right to Havana. Our bureau chief there, Lucia Newman, is standing by. Lucia, how bad did Cuba suffer from this?

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CUBA BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, Wolf, much more than what we imagined. In fact, I'm speaking to you from just above Havana's famous Monaco and Seaside Drive. And what's right behind me, I want you to see, the waves, the enormous waves that are still down there, pounding the city streets from uptown to midtown to downtown.

Miles and miles of Havana are now flooded at this moment. In fact, the enormous sea surge started just after midnight. And since the power's been out here since yesterday afternoon, a lot of people couldn't see a thing because it was pitch dark.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN (voice-over): No amount of precautions prepared residents of the capital for this. Avenues in the streets of central and downtown Havana turned into salt water rivers. Just as it seemed the worst was over, the storm surge began pouring giant waves on to the city. Many residents were sleeping when they realized their low-lying houses and apartments were being inundated.

"It started rising and rising," says this man. "And look, it's full of water."

Row boats and anything else that floats are being used to ferry people to safety.

(on camera): The civil defense teams have been rescuing people since before dawn in boats. It's the only way to get to them. But they still don't know how many more people are still trapped in their houses, and the water continues to rise.

(voice-over): Havana residents were caught totally off guard, unlike those who live in fishing towns on the south coast, who were evacuated days earlier; although those towns, too, are now totally flooded.

The Cuban military have amphibious vessels on hand, while the civil defense goes from go street to street, helping people to evacuate themselves and, when possible, their valuables.

"I had never seen anything like this before. It's painful," says this man.

Although dozens of hurricanes have hit Cuba in the last few years, this is the worst Havana has seen since what they call "the storm of the century" in 1993. And, with the north winds still blowing strong, the worst is clearly not over.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: And, Wolf, these -- this storm surge is coming up around seven city blocks inland from what you see here in some places. The water goes up to people's necks. Whole apartment buildings have water up to the ceiling. I've really never seen anything like this in all the years I've been in Cuba. Thankfully, though, there have no reports of any fatalities so far.

Wolf

BLITZER: I want your photographer, your cameraman, if possible, Lucia, to zoom in on those waves coming into that area right behind you.

NEWMAN: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

BLITZER: It's pretty amazing when we get a tight shot of that. Let's take a closer look at that.

NEWMAN: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

BLITZER: Lucia, how long is...

NEWMAN: And what you see here is just a little bit... BLITZER: How long has this been going on like that?

NEWMAN: Since it started right after around midnight. You know, we couldn't see it. And people were just, you know, they suddenly open the door and they found the water was up to their knees. But this began in this part of town and uptown, as well. It's not just in the downtown of Old Havana, which is what you're looking at right now. It's also all the way up this road for miles and miles and miles, up to the marina, including past the U.S. diplomatic mission here that's been totally flooded, at least the bottom part of it has. And where the diplo -- where most of the embassies are as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Lucia, one final question. Has the Cuban government released statistics yet on how many dead and injured?

NEWMAN: Well, there are no -- they've reported no dead or injured so far. There were six people injured, but from tornadoes associated with the hurricane in Pinar del Rio Province. But right now, they're just busy rescuing people. No statistics yet.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Serious flooding, though, in Cuba. Thank you, Lucia Newman in Havana for us.

Also, serious flooding going on in the Keys -- Key West, Florida, specifically. We'll have an update on flooding conditions. We're going to go there live.

You're in a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Saw those huge waves. These are live pictures coming in from Havana, Cuba. Look at the pounding that downtown Havana has taken, these waves coming in. A big chunk of the city, the capital and elsewhere in Cuba under water right now, flooding very, very extensive. There's serious flooding in Key West going on as well.

Kareen Wynter, our reporter there, is joining us. Kareen, looks like you're standing in flooding yourself.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Wolf. And for the residents here, it's been such a tedious task. They're having to get around, if you can believe it, by boat, because this area, was just socked by Wilma. There's so much flooding here. I saw a couple of people were trying to get in through this street, this intersection where I'm standing, which is about four feet deep in some spots. It's receding. They're trying to get around by scooters, and they're out of luck because they can only go so far before having to turn away.

If you think this spot where I am right now is bad, well, to the north of us, it's much worse. In fact, couldn't even get there by our vehicle. We had to turn around. There are reports that the vehicles there are completely submerged in water. I heard one couple talk about the fact that they had to swim to get out of their house, carrying their dog in their arms. They're now staying at the hotel where we rode out the storm.

A lot of residents are also packing up their belongings, Wolf, and headed to a high school, the Key West High School here in town. It's called the shelter of last resort, because that's the only place they can stay right now.

It's been very hard getting information from city officials because the cell phones, the services are down. Their roads blocked off, impassable for emergency vehicles, because there are huge portions of trees blocking them. So there are neighborhoods that are much worse than this one, but emergency crews can not get there, can not get to residents in need of evacuating that area, so to speak. And so it's a very tedious process right now, and we'll continue to assess the situation here in Key West.

BLITZER: All right, now we understand why there was that ordered evacuation from there. Some people didn't heed it. Thanks very much, Kareen. Kareen Wynter is our reporter on the scene in Key West.

Up next, about 6:30 this morning Eastern, Wilma made landfall near Florida's Marco Island. We'll go there. We'll tell you what's happening there right now, right after a short break.

And also, where is Wilma right now, and where might it go next? We'll have the latest forecast. Much more of our coverage right after this.

This truck not where it's supposed to be, on its side, in Pembroke Pines in Florida, clearly suffering from this Hurricane Wilma as well.

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BLITZER: Welcome back. More now on our top story. Hurricane Wilma's violent visit to Florida. Wilma made landfall earlier today near the wealthy enclave of Marco Island. That's in Collier County, on the west side of the Florida Peninsula.

Bill Moss is the city manager. He's been out there surveying the damage. What's going on, Bill?

WILLIAM MOSS, CITY MANAGER, MARCO ISLAND: Well, we've fared fairly well considering what we faced this morning. We do have island- wide power outages. But we have been able to clear the roads, and we are allowing our residents and businesses back on to the island. Our damages are -- structural damages are fairly limited. There is a fair amount of damage to landscaping and what I call loose-end (ph) damages, lost roof tiles, the ripped screens, damaged patio enclosures, and that time of thing.

BLITZER: What about people? Anybody hurt?

MOSS: We have no reports of any injuries. Fortunately about 90 percent of our residents did heed the evacuation, and to our good fortune we have no reported injuries at this time. BLITZER: The fact that there's limited structural damage, is that a sign that these homes, these buildings that have been built there -- it's a prosperous area -- are built with very good building codes?

MOSS: Well, I think that's it. Many of our homes were built after the new Florida building codes came into effect to allow these structures to withstand fairly significant wind speeds. I think that has a lot to do with it.

BLITZER: Bill Moss is the city manager of Marco Island. Bill, thank you very much for joining us.

We're going to go back to our live coverage of all of these developments involving Hurricane Wilma. We'll go to Clewiston, Florida -- it's right in the middle of the state -- for a check on conditions there.

Hurricane Wilma also has been a travel nightmare. It's creating a travel nightmare for a lot of people out there. We're going to go live and get a report on what's going on.

If you're interested in traveling to or from Florida, guess what, you may have some problems.

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BLITZER: Here's something unusual. Hurricanes are supposed to pound areas along the coasts, but if you go inland, not supposed to be so bad. Guess what, it is bad.

In Clewiston, Florida -- that's right in the middle of the peninsula -- our photojournalist Mark Biello is there for us on this scene. What's it like there in Clewiston, Mark?

MARK BIELLO, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Well, Wolf, we're traveling east. I'm with colleagues Ben Blake (ph) and Kevin Kavicula (ph). And we came across the town of Clewiston here. And what you're seeing now is a damaged marina, Roland Martin's Marina here, where this concrete structure has fallen on the marina. Apparently this is a very big fishing, multimillion dollar industry here.

As we traveled through the town, though, we found a lot of flooded streets and 200-year-old trees that have turned over. Many of the shops have also -- have sustained significant damage, with blown- out windows and significant flooding again on those -- on those streets. No one here really expected this to happen here. We're 60 miles inland. And a lot of the residents here are wondering if the storm did intensify.

Other visuals we saw here. There were many trailer homes that have been completely flipped over on their side and completely destroyed. And there's significant damage to the rooftops to all the buildings and condos and apartment complexes throughout the town here.

BLITZER: It looks like it's been pretty much destroyed. Mark, we're going to get back to you. Mark Biello's our CNN photojournalist and his team bringing us these pictures live right from Clewiston, right at the bottom of Lake Okeechobee, right in the middle of this state.

Hurricane Wilma has brought air travel in Florida to a standstill and that's creating problems at many of the nation's hubs.

CNN's Mary Snow is joining us now live from New York's Kennedy Airport with more. I suspect there are a lot of frustrated travelers, Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are, and also a lot of empty terminals, Wolf. We're here at JFK Airport at Delta / Song's terminal. This is where usually you'd see a lot of people coming in and out, going to Florida. Flights have been canceled to Florida. And this afternoon Delta Song is saying it's going to assess and see when it can resume.

Continental, for example, canceling 65 flights both to Florida, Mexico. JetBlue has a big hub here, also canceling about 89 flights. And it's going to reassess later today. This is not just for New York, but also Boston and D.C.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Mary, we're going to check back with you later, as well. Thank you, Mary Snow, at New York's Kennedy Airport.

Still ahead on our special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, Wilma's full force as it first unleashed its force on Florida. We'll show you what it looked like when the hurricane crashed ashore earlier this morning.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Welcome back. In Cancun, Mexico, hit by Hurricane Wilma over the weekend, displaced locals are looting stores. Now Mexico's President Vicente Fox is ordering the Mexican army to show up and establish a presence in Cancun to try to stop the looting and to better handle aid distribution.

President Fox toured Cancun yesterday and today. Though floodwaters are receding, most of Cancun is still without electricity, and President Fox says it could take two months to restore most of Cancun's tourist capacity.

For more on Hurricane Wilma, our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is checking the situation online. She's joining us now live. Jacki?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. We lost our trusty Key West Web cams, but some of the photos from early damage are starting to come in online. This from Miami and Plantation, areas like that. You can see what it looked like early this morning. This from Plantation. Flickr Photos here. This is the group photo blog we often check in on. People are uploading these. I think it's like a two-hour window. That's about what we see here. But you can see what it looked like in Plantation, Florida, as the storm was going on. These from L.B. Captain (ph).

Take a look at some more of these photographs. This is, in fact, a lake. You can see the white caps on the lake. That's how strong the wind was in Plantation. Some of the early damage photos also coming up online.

I wanted to give you an idea of where we were talking about. This is Plantation right here. We're also going to show you Davie. This is where the Miami Dolphins' training facility is. There are some Web cams that are still online. They're only updating on an interim level. They're not actually streaming. So that's why we froze off these pictures to show you this, the Dolphins' training facility; again, in Davie, Florida.

Cape Canaveral, a little farther up the coast. Your can see the waves crashing in there. Another one for you, Oveado. This is just inland from Cape Canaveral. We wanted to also show you Naples. It's still pretty ominous there. This within the last hour. St. Petersburg, a little farther north, starting to clear up.

And the "Miami Herald" cam. They have a couple of cameras. Most of them are down. But this one, Wolf, up and it's starting to clear up just a little bit, which, of course, is what we like to see.

BLITZER: All right, Jacki, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later in THE SITUATION ROOM, as well. And I'll be back here in THE SITUATION ROOM in two hours, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

Kyra Phillips standing by to pick up our coverage right now on LIVE FROM. Kyra?

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