Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
Explosions Rock Baghdad; Florida Authorities Survey Hurricane Wilma Damage; Interview With West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel
Aired October 24, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Stand by -- Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories happening right now.
Happening now, it's 3:00 in South Florida, where they're checking the damage, after a brief but violent visit from Hurricane Wilma. The storm brought flooding and brought down trees and power lines during its furious trip across the state.
In Havana, Cuba, it's 3:00 p.m. -- a powerful storm surge smashing over the seawall and submerging much of the city, as rescue crews pluck people from rooftops and windows.
And it's 10:00 p.m. in Baghdad, where deadly explosions rocked the heart of the Iraqi capital near hotels housing journalists and contractors -- a massive show of force by insurgents, all caught on tape. We're just getting new video in right now.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Hurricane Wilma moving out into the Atlantic after pounding Florida from coast to coast. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say the storm has re-strengthened to a Category 3, with sustained winds of 115 miles an hour over the Atlantic Ocean.
In Marco Island, Florida, man versus nature -- this guy blown down the hall of his apartment building as the storm came through full force -- the strength of the winds too much to bear. Look at this, as he goes down, this man, poor guy, in Marco Beach, Florida.
In Pompano Beach, Florida, meanwhile, check this out, 120 mile- per-hour wind gusts lifting a tree from its roots. It really is quite an amazing sight.
And, in Cancun, Mexico, reports of 20,000 tourists -- many of them Americans -- trapped in overcrowded shelters, pushed to the brink. They have now spent five days sleeping on floors in stuffy rooms and shelters without electricity or running water. They're desperately appealing to the U.S. and Mexican governments for help. So far, not much help in sight.
Our reporters are positioned to bring you complete coverage of Hurricane Wilma. Standing by, CNN's Karen Wynter in Key West. Our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, is over at CNN Hurricane Headquarters. Our Allan Chernoff is in Hollywood, Florida. That's right on the Florida Atlantic Coast -- all of that.
Let's start, though, first with Allan Chernoff in Hollywood, Florida. Allan, give us a sense of what's happening there.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's still windy outside, but many people are on the street walking around, driving around, to assess the damage. And there is plenty of it. Just a couple of blocks from where I'm sitting right now, a crane snapped off -- a construction crane, about six stories tall. It's blocking part of South Ocean Drive, which is, of course, the road that runs a long the beach here in Hollywood, all the way down into Miami.
There are smashed windows everywhere, especially many car windows. In fact, two of our crew vehicles had windows smashed. Wilma also ripped off roofs. Chunks of asphalt are flying about through the streets. And everyone seems to have some kind of Wilma war story.
Michelle Marshall (ph) told me a few moments ago about her experience with her 85-year-old grandmother. They woke up at midnight, worried about the wind, afraid that their windows would smash in. They spent two hours in the hallway of their apartment building. And, then, at 2:00 a.m., they walked down 11 flights of stairs, no lights, no power whatsoever. The last portion, Michelle said, she carried her grandmother, piggyback, into the lobby of their building, where they spent the rest of the storm.
I hear from the local radio here that two million people now are without power in this area.
Wolf.
BLITZER: So, there's no power, basically, What you're saying, in Hollywood and much of Broward County and Palm Beach County, which is a little further to the north. What -- do you know anything about Miami- Dade?
CHERNOFF: Wolf, I have only heard just a little bit from a battery-powered radio here. But they gave the number two million. So, I would believe that would extend beyond Broward County.
BLITZER: Between those three counties, about five million people live there.
Allan, we are going to get back to you. Allan is in Hollywood, Florida, which has been very hard-hit.
In Miami, just a little bit to the south, howling winds blew out windows, and skyscrapers, sending shards crashing to the streets below, as residents of Florida's Atlantic Coast venture out to try to assess the damage.
Let's get an update now from Miami Police Spokesman Lieutenant Bill Schwartz. He's joining us by phone. Lieutenant, thanks very much for joining us. What's it like in Miami-Dade?
LIEUTENANT BILL SCHWARTZ, SPOKESMAN, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, it's quite a mess. It was a rough night and even rougher early morning.
This -- this building I'm in, this main police headquarters building, was built in 1976. And at times, it felt like it was built in 1876, it was shaking so much. And, as the sun came up this morning, we could see quite a bit of damage, trees down, power lines down, water mains broken. It has -- it has created havoc, but luckily, so far, no -- no loss of life.
BLITZER: What about -- what about going out? Should people be -- if -- if they're outside, should they be outside? Should they be trying to get back to their homes, leaving their homes? What -- what -- what are your -- is your advice for people who -- who are in Miami?
SCHWARTZ: Well, it's a well-known fact that post-storm danger is the greatest. And people have to fight their natural urge to want to get out and see what's going on. Everything as simple as stepping on a nail to as deadly as stepping on a live power line could get you. So, we want to encourage people to stay home. And, if it's just too hard to get to your home, stay where you are. It's going to take a few days. The crews are out there trying to clean up as quickly as they can.
BLITZER: And -- and driving around the streets, is it possible to be driving around the streets of Miami, from the airport to -- to Miami Beach? Is -- is that -- is that even possible right now?
SCHWARTZ: Well, you have to be a pretty creative driver, because there are trees down across some -- some major roads. There are signs from billboards down across some major roads. So, you have to figure out different routes than you would ordinarily take. Again, if you don't have to drive, you don't have to be out, just don't.
BLITZER: We saw, in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans, as you well may remember, looting starting. Any reports of that in Miami?
SCHWARTZ: We had one small incident this morning. Five guys broke into a convenience store to get some beer for a -- I guess a post- hurricane party. And we very quickly discouraged that with our -- with our, you know, patrols. And they were arrested.
BLITZER: With your presence there. What about a curfew? Is that in the works?
SCHWARTZ: No, not -- not yet. However, that could -- that could come. That will be up to the office of the mayor. And that -- that has not been announced yet. If it -- if it does, we will, of course, let the media know.
BLITZER: We are getting some live pictures in from Cocoa in eastern Florida -- some dramatic pictures. How far is that from where you are? Do you know, Lieutenant?
SCHWARTZ: It's -- it's quite a ways.
BLITZER: Further up the coast? SCHWARTZ: Yes, it's up -- up -- up the coast. But this is one of those storms that affected everything but the Panhandle, it seems, of Florida. So, I know that people are suffering all over. But you know, I -- we have -- we have been through this before. And compared to what New Orleans and Mississippi have gone through, this is -- we're lucky.
BLITZER: But it's a lot worse in Miami and Broward and what -- and Palm Beach County than so many of the residents there were bracing for. Is that fair to say?
SCHWARTZ: I -- I think we started getting the picture in the last couple of days that this was going to be -- be a bit of a whopper. And I mean, if we weren't prepared, then we must have been living in a -- in a cave, because we have had eight days to get ready for it. And I think most of us were ready.
BLITZER: Because people, when they hear -- their natural instinct -- they hear it's going to hit the west coast of Florida and then move across the state, they think they're going to come out relatively easy, although people in Miami and Miami-Dade and in Broward and Palm Beach counties are suffering.
SCHWARTZ: Yes. Yes. There's -- there's no -- there's no question. You would have probably had to get out of the state to avoid it altogether. But your property is here. So -- and, again, it's the aftermath. You know, when -- when things started to get stable here, this morning, I called home. And, of course, there's no power there.
And my favorite tree is -- is now the property of my neighbor, and took down half of his fence with it. Our -- our children's play set is smashed. Their -- their trampoline flew off like a Frisbee. But these are things you put up with if you live in the tropics.
BLITZER: One final question. Is Miami-Dade basically without power?
SCHWARTZ: Basically, yes. I know FPL is out there working hard to put it back.
BLITZER: All right. So, like Broward and Palm Beach County, major -- major parts without electricity. Thanks very much, Lieutenant Bill Schwartz of the Miami Police Department. Appreciate it. Good luck to you.
SCHWARTZ: Thank you.
BLITZER: Cocoa Beach, Florida -- we have a map -- Cocoa, Florida, that is -- Cocoa Florida. Let's show viewers where that is in eastern Florida, sort of up -- up the middle part of the state, Cocoa, Florida. We have live some pictures that we want to show our viewers of the flooding that hit Cocoa, Florida -- this courtesy our affiliate WFTV, showing our viewers some of the serious flooding. These are live pictures coming in right now from Cocoa, Florida.
All over the state, the lower half of the state, serious damage. Wilma edged up against the low-lying Florida Keys very early this morning.
CNN's Kareen Wynter is in Key West. She's joining us now live. Kareen?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) (INAUDIBLE) has improved a bit from last time (AUDIO GAP) (INAUDIBLE)
BLITZER: Unfortunately, we are not hearing Kareen. We're going to try to reconnect with Kareen Wynter in Key West, where there's been some serious flooding as well.
Let's go to Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Hurricane Headquarters. First of all, Cocoa, Jacqui, the pictures that we're getting in, the live pictures, show some serious flooding. It's not unusual. We have been seeing this throughout the state.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. That looks like storm surge flooding to me, Wolf. And we have had storm surge not just on the west coast, but on the east coast, as those pictures tell, as that storm system, when the easterly winds drove in and pushed all that water back up into that area. And you can see the video of that -- the rainfall, four to eight inches, what we are expecting.
So, there was some localized flooding with the rain. But you can see, all of that is basically offshore now. The center of circulation is about 125 miles away from the coast already. All of the hurricane warnings have been dropped, with the exception of one warning from Titusville, extending down towards Florida City. And we expect that to stay posted over the next couple of hours, maybe dropped as that 5:00 advisory comes in.
Hard to believe, but Wilma has gained some strength since it has left the coast. It is over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, so, it's back up to a Category 3 storm, 115 mile-per-hour winds. I suppose it could gain just a little bit more strength. But we are expecting, by 8:00 tonight, that this is probably going to be back down to a Category 2, back down to Category 1 by tomorrow and then becoming extra tropical, we think, late tomorrow.
We still have to worry a little bit about Florida dealing with the sustained winds -- the worst of the weather, though, certainly over with. These are some peak wind gusts reports. And these are preliminary, but the Dry Tortugas, 134 mile-per-hour wind gusts. That would be in the Category 4 strength there -- Key Biscayne, 123, 121 miles per hour -- and Naples, Pompano Beach, at 120 -- and West Palm Beach, 101 miles per hour -- the storm ripping up to the north and to the east.
It's going to come together with two other systems and become a real monster for the Northeast -- and major travel trouble expected there -- and winter conditions. We're going to talk more about that about 15 minutes or so from now.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jacqui. We will get back with you. I want to show our viewers, once again, some live pictures from Cocoa, Florida, up the east coast of Florida. These are live pictures that we're getting courtesy our affiliate WFTV -- flooding, serious flooding in Cocoa, elsewhere in the state -- the remnants of Hurricane Wilma.
Coming up, West Palm Beach, Florida, hit hard by the eye of the storm. We will have the latest damage reports. That will be coming in directly from the mayor of West Palm. She's standing by.
Plus, massive waves flooding and the rescue -- hundreds of people pulled from their homes in Cuba, as the water rises close to the shore. We will take you live to Havana.
And, a little bit later, a horrible bombing in Baghdad -- three -- three -- explosions rocking hotels housing journalists, including American journalists. We will take you to the scene.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're back in THE SITUATION ROOM. Welcome back.
First flogged by the hurricane when Wilma moved across the Caribbean, Cuba felt the storm's fury once again today, as 45-foot high waves surged over the seawalls in Havana, flooding much of the capital.
Our Havana bureau chief, Lucia Newman, is joining us now on the phone with the latest. What's it like now, Lucia?
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf, right now, it's what you would have called normally low tide here, which means the water levels on the seaside area of Havana have gone down just a little bit. That's allowed some people to get out of their homes, with water waist-high, and try to make it to drier ground. But that's supposed to change within the next few hours. We're expecting the -- the high tide again. And then it's going to be more of the same.
The rescue boats are still ferrying back and forth, trying to get people out of buildings, where they can't leave, old people especially, the sick, pregnant women, the whole works. It's -- it's really quite a huge operation under way right now, Wolf.
BLITZER: And -- but, earlier in the day, when we saw those -- those waves coming in to the bay in Havana, it looked like that city was about to -- to -- to go under, at least parts of it.
NEWMAN: Well, it still looks pretty much like that. The waves are still enormous. They're still enormous. They are still breaking over the Malecon Seaside Drive, and into the town, into the city, around seven blocks inland.
They have gone down just somewhat. But I -- we're told by the meteorologists here and experts that it's not expected to really recede for another two or three days -- the water level, that is. And the waves, hopefully, will start going down within the next 12 hours.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Lucia, we will check back with you. Lucia Newman is our bureau chief in Havana, which has been very hard-hit by Hurricane Wilma.
After slashing at angle across south Florida, Wilma is now over the Atlantic, mostly gone, hardly forgotten.
Let's go to West Palm Beach. Lois Frankel is the mayor there. She's joining us on the phone once again. Is the sun out shining? Everybody happy, Mayor?
LOIS FRANKEL, MAYOR OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: I don't think so. It's -- it's -- well, it stopped storming. Let's say that. We -- we -- we're still assessing our long-term damage. We do have some acute issues right now. Obviously, the power is out. And we have lost all water pressure. We had -- we had a lot of damage to the water system. So, we have no water right now in our city.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: So, there's no power and there's no water for West Palm?
FRANKEL: No. But we're -- we are working on it. We don't -- we don't think we're going to get the electricity back for probably several days. That's -- that's a Florida Power Light issue.
We're hoping to get our water system back online by the end of the day. And then people will be under a boil-water order. Of course, that -- that's an issue, too, because most people -- you need electricity to boil the water.
BLITZER: Well...
FRANKEL: So...
BLITZER: ... talk a little bit about that. What exactly does that mean, a boil-water order?
FRANKEL: The -- whenever you have a drop in your water pressure, the health department requires that, in order to guard against any contamination to the water, that, for at least 78 hours, you -- you're required to either boil your water, or you can put some unscented bleach into your water.
So -- and that's the only way you can -- you're really supposed to use water, for either food preparation, for drinking or for your pets. You can otherwise -- you can shower. But right now, our -- we -- you know, right now, there's no water coming out of the faucets anyway. And people are not able to flush their toilets. So, that's -- that's a temporary inconvenience that hopefully, we're going to get that OK.
BLITZER: There's hundreds of thousands of people in that -- in that area...
FRANKEL: Well, we...
BLITZER: ... that could be affected by this. Is that what you're saying?
FRANKEL: Well, we have here probably 100,000 residents in the city and then quite -- quite a few businesses. They're not there right now. So, yes, it's a -- it's a large inconvenience right now. We are working to get the sites, to get the main -- the water mains repaired. We are going to have four sites tomorrow for water distribution. And we're also, actually, bringing in portable toilets.
BLITZER: Good luck, Mayor. We will check back with you.
FRANKEL: Thank you.
BLITZER: You have got your hands full.
FRANKEL: All right. Thank you.
BLITZER: Mayor Lois Frankel...
FRANKEL: Thank you.
BLITZER: ... of West Palm Beach, Florida, very hard-hit by Hurricane Wilma -- throughout the state, the bottom half of the state, very hard-hit, from the west to the east.
Still to come, much more coming up on this hurricane -- it also thrashed through the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico -- Cancun, Cozumel, Mexico, Playa del Carmen torn apart. And get this: 20,000 tourists, many of them American, still stranded and demanding they need to be rescued. We will take you there live and let you know what is going on.
Plus, a huge explosion in Baghdad -- bombers attack a hotel housing journalists, including American journalists. Our Nic Robertson is standing by with a live report from Baghdad.
Much more of our coverage right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're standing by for more video coming in -- the damage, the destruction from Hurricane Wilma rushing across Florida, the bottom half of Florida, so much of it damaged by this hurricane. We're going to go back there live in a moment.
But there's another very -- other very important story we're following right now, and that is in Iraq. Police say at least 10 people were killed when powerful explosions ripped through the heart of the city, Baghdad, that is, earlier today. The blasts, near two hotels housing journalists and contractors, were caught on camera.
Let's go live to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He's joining us from Baghdad. What happened, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we now have been given, from security sources, a blow-by-blow of exactly what happened during these three explosions. Police say they were all suicide bombers.
The first videotape that gives the clues to what happened, a security camera take. On that security camera tape, you can see the concrete security barrier separating the roundabout and the hotel is intact. You see a vehicle approach that security barrier. The vehicle detonates. A breach is made in that security barrier. A hole is opened up.
Then the security sources say that a second suicide bomber tried to drive through that hole in the barrier. He was turned away by gunfire. He drove off, detonating his explosives on the other side the roundabout, 100 yards from the hotel.
After that, the suicide bomber driving a cement mixer drove in again through that breach in the security barrier made by the first suicide bomber, drove in through there, tried to drive up towards the hotel. We're told by police that security guards shot at the -- shot at the truck, disabled the truck, but the explosives still went off -- many casualties inside the hotel -- some of the journalists working there injured, many of the other residents also affected -- the shops on the ground floor blown out -- 10 people, according to the police, killed, 22 people wounded.
We also understand that the U.S. troops there have now beefed up their security right around those two hotels.
Wolf.
BLITZER: And that truck that moved in, Nic -- and we're showing our viewers, highlighted, that truck that got in through the breach -- what happens with that truck? Does that explode as well?
ROBERTSON: It does. That cement mixer drives in through the breach, drives up towards the hotel.
What is just off camera there is a small security guard hut and a barrier that would allow closer access to the hotel. It appears, just as the cement mixer gets close to that security hut, the guard opens fire. The truck then explodes, when perhaps it was still 50, 60, 70 feet away from the -- from the lobby of the hotel -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Could have caused so much more damage. Very briefly, which news organizations are housed in those two hotels?
ROBERTSON: Well, Wolf, I think, perhaps, for security reasons and perhaps to defer to the concerns of those news organizations, they would perhaps prefer not to be named as living in -- in -- in those particular hotels. Obviously, it may perhaps put them in danger in the future. It may -- they may care not to divulge that information. So, if you don't mind, I won't answer that question directly.
BLITZER: Certainly do not mind. Good point. Thanks, Nic. We will check back with you. Nic Robertson on the scene in Baghdad.
CNN is not in one of those two hotels that suffered from those car bombings earlier today.
CNN's Andrea Koppel is joining us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at other stories making news. Hi, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.
Thousands of people spilled into the streets of Syria's two largest cities today to protest a U.N. report linking Syria to the February assassination of then-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The demonstrations were organized by state-run labor unions. They were aimed at shoring up support for President Bashar al-Assad, ahead of expected international outrage. Of course, the U.N. report was released late last week.
Health officials from more than 30 countries are in Ottawa, Canada, today for a two-day conference to coordinate an international effort to stop the spread of bird flu. The head of the United Nations Food Agency says people seem more focused on their fear of a human pandemic than on containing the outbreak among birds. And he chastised donor nations for dragging their feet on promises to make good on millions of dollars in aid.
And President Bush says he will not release any records of his exchanges with Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of a president with his attorney. Both Democrats and Republicans want more documentation about the Supreme Court nominee. One Democratic senator, in fact, is calling for her income tax records. Mr. Bush says people can learn about Miers through her confirmation hearings, which, of course, Wolf, are set to start next month.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Andrea. We are going to get back to you soon. Andrea Koppel for us at the CNN Center.
He's been nominated as the next steward of the nation's economy.
Time now for our Ali Velshi with the "Bottom Line" on the president's pick for the Federal Reserve.
You have not been nominated for that all-important job, Ali, but someone else has been.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Whether it's that or the lottery, if I get nominated for one of these things or win something, I'm probably not going to show up for work the next day.
But Ben Bernanke has been showing up for work a long time. And now he's been named the president's nominee to replace Alan Greenspan as the head of the Federal Reserve. Now, Greenspan has been there for 18 years. Ben Bernanke was one of the 12 governors on the Federal Reserve. He's also the chairman of the White House economic advisers. He's an -- he's an adviser to the president. Now, the markets liked the appointment when it came out. Markets are still very strong right now, head 121 points. The issue here is that Ben Bernanke has said that he is not going to go in a different direction than Alan Greenspan has been going.
Here's the issue, Wolf. This wasn't really scheduled to happen today. Alan Greenspan is in office until the end of January. We knew President that Bush was going to nominate someone. Ben Bernanke was one of the names at the top of that list. But it does seem to me that, as we get closer and closer to perhaps indictments related to the CIA leak, the president wants to send a signal out that at least the economy is under control. And that's a signal that he sends out by nominating Ben Bernanke.
We will follow that closely. He also has to face a Senate nomination, but it doesn't look like there are any problems ahead so far for that one.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, thanks, Ali, very much. We will get back to you soon.
And we are going to have more on the possible CIA leak indictments that could come as early as this week. That's coming up in the next hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Just ahead, Mexican President Vicente Fox seeing up close what Wilma left behind. That would be death, damage, and even 20,000 tourists who are still stranded in horrible conditions right now. We'll tell you about their situation.
And there's still worrying about Wilma. Now new fears it could join forces with another storm and it could be more devastating for the northeastern part of the United States. We'll tell you what's going on. Some are calling it a perfect storm in the works. We'll tell you if it is.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. You're back in THE SITUATION ROOM. Our affiliate WINK, in Fort Myers, Florida -- they got some dramatic pictures they're showing right now. Let's listen in very briefly to their coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...if there is any loss of life or people maybe that did not flee and decided to stay. There's some pictures of trailers that are turned, flipped over on their sides, hopeful nobody was in them.
One good thing we do see are vehicles -- that I don't see in these pictures are vehicles. Now, I'm sure there are some somewhere. But hopefully -- we see the home turned over upside down -- hopefully whoever lived there, got in their car, left the area and that's why we're not seeing any vehicles there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing. It is amazing to see the destruction even if it's not as widespread as it could have been. Just to see a little bit of it is always eye-opening. You know, that is someone's home, that is someone's life, that is someone's property. And it's just very disheartening to see that anyone has to...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if it is then Chokoloskee and Everglades City, a lot of people do buy a little bit of land like that and they'll get a they'll get a little trailer, put it on there, and it's a little fishing camp for them, so to speak. And they'll go down there, take some days off, and go fishing and it's not a place where they live routinely.
I am impressed, happy to see though, I'm not seeing hardly -- I haven't seen any vehicles in any of this area there. It's all just little, little, little trailers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, you know, even those little places are someone's little piece of paradise. So, it just kind of hurts your heart a little bit to see anyone have to pick up the pieces after anything like this happens.
As we continue looking at this I just want to make a quick mention for everybody who is listening and watching, Lee County Schools has just made the announcement...
BLITZER: All right. Our affiliate WINK from Fort Myers showing some dramatic pictures of what's happening right now.
Let's head across the state to Hollywood, Florida, very badly hit. CNN's Allan Chernoff is on the scene for us live. Exactly where are you now, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're actually on the pool area of our hotel, the Holiday Inn in Hollywood. And you're looking at aftermath of the storm, the damage that resulted from the wind that we were watching all morning long.
The first thing that went was actually the awning for the restaurant here -- as you can see, entirely torn down. The wind also knocked right through into the restaurant. I actually had dinner right at that table yesterday just beyond where the glass is broken.
The next thing that happened from the wind, it was whipping the roof above the restaurant, whipping it like a blanket and what resulted was chunks of asphalt being thrown all over the place. In fact, all through town you see large chunks of asphalt roofing everywhere. The roofers here are going to have lots of business.
Over here is the pool. And you can see about a foot and a half of water, maybe two feet, thrown out from the pool during the brunt of the storm. We saw white caps in that pool. It was almost like a miniature ocean. And there was sand piled up further down. You may not be able to see it, but we have little sand dunes actually collecting, which flew in from the beach. The sand during the storm was coming in like bullets. We were standing right against sand and it was just coming in, nailing us right in the back, actually pretty sharply.
So, as you can see, significant devastation here. And this only a portion of the damage suffered at our hotel.
Wolf.
BLITZER: That hotel very familiar to me, Allan. It's literally right down the street from where my mother lives in Hollywood, Florida. Fortunately, we brought her up to Washington late last week. She's fine, anxious to hear how her apartment is doing right down street from you.
Allan, is that area all down -- up and down the street where you are, pretty much looking the way we see it at Holiday Inn there?
CHERNOFF: Well, I can't say that the damage is quite this bad, but certainly there are a tremendous number of broken windows, railings ripped off of balconies. And as I said, roofs also severely damaged. Hopefully, your mom's home is doing just fine. I'm glad you brought her up.
BLITZER: I'm glad we brought her up too, Allan. Thank you very much. Allan Chernoff is in Hollywood. We'll check back with him.
Tom Foreman is here in THE SITUATION ROOM with a closer look at some of the pictures we're getting. And his perspective on what was going on specifically in Cancun.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cancun had a lot of activity going on. Your mom used to call you Hurricane Blitzer growing up, didn't she?
BLITZER: Something like that.
FOREMAN: Well, obviously people in Cancun are stuck there. They're having trouble getting out right now in part, if we look at the map, because many of the flights that service this area all come through here. And, obviously, you're not going to go through this trouble that's happening there.
But, I want to look at something else, too. You look at where Allan was, if you look at the eye of the storm and we start flying in here a little bit, he's way down here south of the eye.
About 100 miles north of the eye is the town of Cocoa. And if we look at that, you can see there's another area we've been getting a lot of pictures out of. Tremendous amount of damage all along in here.
There's about 16,000 people here. Unlike a lot of Florida, for example where your mother lives down there, not so much a retirement community, there's plenty of retirees here, but also a lot of young people going to the colleges there. They've had a tremendous amount of damage. And this is 100 miles away from the storm.
If we pull back here and take a look at the general area, you can see from a track that we put on here that this is where the storm is and this is where they believe the remainder of the flight is going to be with this as it goes on out of this area.
So, you can see this is where the storm was, that's Cocoa all the way up there and a tremendous amount of damage all the way up north like that and down south, not the giant damage we've seen in some other ones but a measure of how wide this storm is, which is what everybody's been talking about.
BLITZER: Were you going to also show us some stuff on Cancun, or is that later?
FOREMAN: We'll come later on with the Cancun material, to show you more of what happened down there.
BLITZER: That destruction is very serious. Thanks very much, Tom. We'll get back to you very soon.
Thousands of tourists went to Cancun for a blissful vacation or at least they thought so. But, Hurricane Wilma gave them a horrifying nightmare. Some 20,000 tourists are still trapped in Cancun. They are sleeping on floors of overcrowded shelters with little food or water. Meanwhile, on the island of nearby Cozumel, it's cut off from the mainland almost completely.
Stephanie Hagen, one of our so-called citizen journalists, is on the phone. She's joining us now from Cozumel. Stephanie, we spoke with you last week. What's it like now?
STEPHANIE HAGEN, CITIZEN JOURNALIST (via telephone): Well, we have had, you know, everything is destroyed. I mean it's basically catastrophic.
Today, they started the ferries across from the mainland to Playa, but people are leery of going over there because they don't know what to do or expect over there. Here, there's -- everyone -- people are starting to clean up. But you know, the shock is kind of setting in. And you know people need gas. They need supplies. Supposedly only the government authorities are allowed to fuel their cars. And we're hanging in there.
BLITZER: Is it a dangerous situation, Stephanie? In the sense of looting or violence or people trying to take advantage of what's going on?
HAGEN: Looting is very, very minimal here. It's very much a small, close-knit community. The people in Cozumel are essentially from Cozumel. There are not a lot of foreigners as far as from other parts of the country. There are Americans here, of course. But looting is very, very minimal. So in that regard, we're very fortunate. People are not essentially thieves here.
BLITZER: And what about power and water supplies, what's the status?
HAGEN: There's no power. Yesterday already -- the power company was already out assessing, beginning to look where they'll start to work on things. They're saying that it could be a month, maybe it will be less, but probably more.
BLITZER: Stephanie, be careful over there. And we'll check back with you. Stephanie Hagen, one of our citizen journalists in Cozumel in Mexico -- very hard hit by Wilma.
Up next, Wilma not just downing trees and flooding streets, it's also causing serious problem for air travel. There are many flight delays and cancellations in and out of Florida and beyond. The ripple effect very serious. It's impacting several other airports all across the United States. We'll tell you what's going on. Mary Snow standing by with that.
And how much damage will all of this cost? What will be the result? We'll have some preliminary, very preliminary estimates.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: As if Hurricane Wilma weren't enough, some experts fear it could join together with another storm.
For more on that, CNN's Brian Todd is standing by at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in nearby Camp Springs, Maryland. That's just outside Washington. What are they saying, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you mentioned, we have been hearing discussion of two, and now possibly three storms, converging around the same general region off the east coast of the United States and Canada. And here's where we came to get the straight answer on that.
This is, as Wolf mentioned, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. This part of is it the Hydro-meteorological Prediction Center. A team of meteorologists monitoring this storm 24/7. And two particular systems that we have to talk about right now. Of course Hurricane Wilma that has just roared off the coast of Florida. But we also have to talk about what is called Tropical Depression Alpha which for a time there was thought to possibly be converging with Wilma.
I'm joined by Dr. Jim Hoak. He is the director for the Centers for Environmental Prediction. Dr. Hoak, thank you for joining us.
DR. JIM HOAK, NTL. CENTER FOR ENVIRON. PREDICTION: Great to be here, Brian.
TODD: Let's first talk about Wilma and Alpha. Where are they? When will they come together? And where are they headed?
HOAK: Well, right now, they are both off the coast, farther out the sea off the Southeast Coast of the United States. Here's Alpha and it's weakening, very much weakening over the last couple of hours or so. And it's continuing to move slightly to the north. And it's not much of a factor. The big factor, of course, is Hurricane Wilma which has exited Florida and is now moving up offshore and is moving very quickly so that within 24 hours -- or in about 24 hours it's going to be east of Boston and south of Nova Scotia but offshore.
TODD: OK. And we've also talked about a storm coming in from the west here. And how is that going to affect the rainfall there and the area off the coast of New England?
HOAK: There's the track of Wilma. Right now there's a low pressure center, indicated by these swirl of clouds over Ohio. The energy from that low is going to be transferred to the East Coast of the United States. And that low is then going to move up the East Coast of the United States much like a winter storm. It really is a winter storm.
TODD: But the two storms are not going to converge, and these three storms will not converge into one right now?
HOAK: That's definitely correct. The winter storm that will follow Wilma will be about several hundred miles behind Wilma.
TODD: And they're still going to monitor these storms, because of course they can change course, Wolf. Again, they'll be here 24/7 talking about three different storms. And we'll keep an eye on it as well.
WOLF: All right. Brian, thank you very much. We're getting some new video from our affiliate WTVT, Marco Island in Florida. Take a look at this, some of the elegant areas not looking all that elegant right now.
Marco Island a very beautiful spot under normal circumstances. But Marco Island suffered some serious losses as a result of Hurricane Wilma.
Let's get the latest forecast. Jacqui Jeras standing by at CNN Hurricane Headquarters. Jacqui?
JERAS: Well Wolf, we're looking that the storm to rip up to the north and the east. And that is our big focus now that it's pulling away from Florida, we're expecting conditions to improve there, but they are going worsen going across the north and east.
And I've put a graph to kind of help explain all of this coming together. There you see the projected path of Wilma. It should be weakening. It's a Category 3 now, but it should be back down to a two, we think, later on tonight. That's going to almost hook up. We don't think they're going to quote totally come together, as we just heard, which won't make it the perfect storm, but certainly not a good scenario.
Either way, this is basically going to turn into a Nor'easter type system and bring up all that moisture from the Atlantic and bring it across the northeastern parts of the U.S. At the same time, high pressure coming in from Canada bringing in some very chilly conditions.
We're going to have major problems at the airports, I think, across the Northeast for tomorrow. Winds could gust as high as 55 miles per hour in Boston. Flood watches in Philadelphia. And of course, these parts of the Northeast already very saturated from all of the flooding we had about two weeks ago. And these blue areas, Wolf, where we have winter storm warnings. You get up into the higher elevations, we're looking at six plus inches of snow.
BLITZER: So that whole area from where I am in Washington, D.C. north to New York and Boston, New England, Upstate New York, we're going to have some serious weather?
JERAS: Absolutely. In fact, Wolf, I think later on tonight, you're going to start to watch for your winds to increase with showers and thunder showers. That's going to continue throughout much of the day tomorrow. Your high may be only 50 degrees. And that's going to slowly work its way on up the coast, even into parts of Pennsylvania, above 1,400 feet could see that heavy snow.
BLITZER: All right. Jacqui, thank you very much. We'll be bracing for that here in Washington and beyond.
Up next, whether by bikes or cars, Wilma's wrath has complicated travel plans for so many people. Now air travel is being disrupted with flights delayed and canceled. We'll tell you where.
And a storm that's brewing of a different kind, a very different kind. Coming up, the continued controversy over Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court.
And that CIA leak here in Washington, everyone in Washington and beyond bracing for possible indictments later this week.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're getting some new video in from Naples, Florida, want to show our viewers what we're seeing, serious flooding, new video courtesy our affiliate WTVT.
A caravan looks like it's trying to get through some of the streets. These are streets, but they're flooded. And this is a very dangerous situation to even be attempting this, to drive through these flooded waters. But they're doing it.
We'll keep these pictures up. We'll show you what happens. But it's not necessarily a good situation in Naples and elsewhere in Florida.
Let's get some more details now on what's going on with Hurricane Wilma -- what has happened. Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is checking the situation online. Jacki?
JACKI SHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I got one of my web cams back up from the Key West area. This is Duvall Street, the main center of town, sun's out, but it's still incredibly flooded and you can see people walking by, some bicycles, that sort of thing, keep an eye on it. You can see what's going on there.
Also, some photos just starting to pop up online from Wunderground.com. This is Jeffrey Masters' site. He's a meteorologist. Want to show you the some of the photos coming in. This from Sawmill Lake and another one from that same area. You can see these photos online now, that area. I'll give you an idea where this is. This is Claremont, this is kind of in the middle of the state, not far from Orlando. The next set of photos I want to show you are from Rockledge, right there, that's near Cocoa where Wolf was talking about earlier. Take a look at some there photographs, some incredible flooding in that area.
Again, these all courtesy of Wunderground.com, the weather underground online. Jeff Masters, a former hurricane hunter, by the way, now runs a blog on that Web site. So, some of the photos just starting to come in, you can see the massive flooding both on the coast and inland.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Are you going to be showing us, Jacki, more of this throughout the program?
SCHECHNER: Of course, I've got tons of it. It's just starting to pour in.
BLITZER: All right, Jacki, thank you very much.
Still ahead, we'll return to Florida for a live update on where Wilma hit the hardest. And we'll get new word on where the storm is heading.
Plus, the winds, the rain, a major disruption to airline traffic. Find out if your travel plans may be in jeopardy. It's all coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: These are new pictures we're just getting in from our affiliate WTVT in southwest Florida. Look at the roof damage to that house, that trailer, significant. That storm Wilma, literally, just ripped through and ripped through the top of that trailer home.
It's not a pretty sight, indeed. It's almost time for the markets to close and the closing bell.
That means Ali Velshi is standing by for more on that and other stories. Ali, what are you working on?
VELSHI: Well, it's a bit of a business story. There's no airplanes flying in southern Florida right now, Miami's closed, Fort Lauderdale's closed, West Palm Beach is closed. None of these airports run when the winds are too high. This doesn't just affect the region, it affects people all over the country because Florida is a very -- those airports are big areas for people to fly into.
Mary Snow's over at Kennedy Airport and I think she's talking to somebody who is trying to get back home to Florida. Mary, what do you got?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, you know, airlines were trying to get some flights resumed this afternoon but there have been more cancellations. The FAA says about a thousand planes and flights have been canceled throughout the day.
We are meeting up with Keith and Kari Schefer. They are on their honeymoon. You're trying to return, going back to West Palm Beach. You came this morning, told your flight was canceled, you came back, and tell us what happened.
KARI SCHEFER, STRANDED TRAVELER: Well, basically, we got to the airline. We called before we left and they said that everything was a go. And then when we get here, we were told it was canceled, and that the Palm Beach Airport will be closed down until tomorrow as well as Fort Lauderdale.
SNOW: All right, just one of the many frustrated passengers. Ali, back to you.
VELSHI: Mary Snow at Kennedy Airport, as we said, until the winds get below 40 or 50 miles per hour, at most of these airports, we're not going to start to see them opening up again.
What we have right now is that Miami -- power's out because the generators gave out at Fort Lauderdale. They're waiting for winds to get below 40 miles per hour before they go out and start assessing damage.
Over at West Palm Beach, we understand, we spoke to the managers there, they've got some small aircraft that have been flipped over by the heavy wind gusts. So, those places are all closed for the time being and obviously, when we see the pictures that we've been seeing, Wolf, of the damage that's there, that's not too -- that shouldn't surprise anyone.
The good news, of course, is that these airports took precautions ahead of the hurricane coming in and as a result we don't have any reports of anybody being injured.
Wolf.
BLITZER: There is no indication of how long these airports might be shut down because a lot of those Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm, they have no power in those counties.
VELSHI: Yes, Miami has said they are not going to be open until tomorrow, but what we are going to see is at about 6:00 p.m. Eastern, we're going to start seeing them going out and checking it out. Check out the market, by the way. The Dow 170 points higher to 10,386. You can thank President Bush and Ben Bernanke for a big part of that. The NASDAQ is closing 31 points higher, one and a half percent to 2,115.
Wolf.
BLITZER: He hasn't even been confirmed yet and he's already doing well for the markets.
VELSHI: That's right.
BLITZER: We'll see how he does once he's confirmed, assuming he will be confirmed.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
