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CNN Sunday Morning
Bermuda Struggles to Mop Up After Hurricane Fabian
Aired September 07, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of the cleanup efforts in Bermuda. This, after citizens there facing the worst hurricane to hit the island nation in nearly 80 years. Seventy percent were without power in the hours after the storm, but Bermuda's government is promising quick relief.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joins us now on the phone from Bermuda with more on the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian -- and, Gary, I imagine it's very sunny there today, very pleasant, but I'm still sure a very sobering day for the people there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Sean. And you're used to this, too, covering hurricanes. But right away the day after, the weather gets back to completely normal. The tourists wouldn't even know there was a hurricane if they were on the beach. But everywhere else you know it very well.
And as we speak, divers are back out in the waters of eastern Bermuda, looking for four people who are missing and feared dead following the rampage of Hurricane Fabian.
The search is taking place just off the causeway that connects Bermuda to its airport. It's a very sad story. Three police employees in one car and one civilian in another car were swept into the rising waters of an inlet as Fabian's winds and wrath were increasing. They were stranded on the flooded causeway before their cars plunged in.
Now, officials are telling us this morning more about this story. They say three firefighters on a rope tried to rescue them, but they, too, were washed into the water. They were able to be saved. The other four were not so lucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN SMITH, BERMUDA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Valiant efforts were made late yesterday afternoon at the height of the hurricane to determine what happened to those two vehicles. We lost sight of the vehicles. We believe they were swept into the sea there. The efforts today have resulted in the recovery of both vehicles. No occupants have been found. We're concentrating our search in the area of the vehicles. It's very difficult diving conditions there because of the disturbed water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: And their family members have been notified.
Now, the hurricane force winds lasted for six hours. The damage is widespread. Now, it's about 60 percent of Bermuda still without power. Many people are still without water.
We talked with Bermuda's premiere, the government leader of this British territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PREMIERE ALEX SCOTT, BERMUDA: A consequence of Fabian is that there was considerable property damage, homes and businesses, loss of roof, as you heard; blocked roads; a considerable amount of flooding. And there have been, there have been some reported injuries. A hospital is attending to those who have minor injuries.
However, even as I speak, there are four unaccounted for individuals and we have put all of our energy into recovering or finding these individuals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: We were actually with the premiere when he went out to the bridge as the search continued. But once again, they've had no luck finding those four. The premiere also told us that the wind gauges at the airport went up to 143 miles per hour during the hurricane and then broke. So they're not even sure how high the gusts actually got.
Bermuda's international airport, an important tie to the tourism industry here, still shut down to commercial flights. They might be able to reopen it today to private planes and hope to reopen it commercial flights tomorrow -- Sean.
CALLEBS: Well, Gary, let's talk just a bit about the devastation and the cleanup effort going on there today. I'm sure a lot of downed power lines, a lot of downed trees. But talk a bit about the construction. Many of the buildings on that island extremely sound.
TUCHMAN: Right. I will tell you that we do believe, just based on covering hurricanes all these years, that if this happened on another island or in most parts of the United States, the devastation would have been much worse and there would have been more fatalities. Bermuda has very stringent building codes. When you build a home, the walls have to be at least eight inches thick, which is quite thick, and the building is supposed to withstand gusts of up to 150 miles per hour. There's lots of damage, Sean, but very few houses completely destroyed.
CALLEBS: OK, Gary Tuchman from Bermuda, thanks very much.
And we will continue to check in as the cleanup effort continues there.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And a good time to go to Rob Marciano to tell us a little bit more about this. We've got four people missing, 143 mile per hour winds. How bad was this thing, respectively?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, before this thing even hit, just watching the satellite picture, you know, as meteorologists we're looking at it in awe and practically the whole weather team was in there Friday afternoon just before it was hit. The National Hurricane Center puts out numerous technical discussions, right, you know, every three hours or so. And usually they're very technical, the forecast discussions. And the last line from a particular discussion struck us. It said the government is prepared, the residents are prepared. Now all we can do is hope for the best.
CALLEBS: Wow.
MARCIANO: And you don't often see that sort of humanity and that side.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: And it really struck us as to the strength of this storm and now we're seeing the after effects. So quite a number and we're not done yet, as far as hurricane season is concerned.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 7, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of the cleanup efforts in Bermuda. This, after citizens there facing the worst hurricane to hit the island nation in nearly 80 years. Seventy percent were without power in the hours after the storm, but Bermuda's government is promising quick relief.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joins us now on the phone from Bermuda with more on the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian -- and, Gary, I imagine it's very sunny there today, very pleasant, but I'm still sure a very sobering day for the people there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Sean. And you're used to this, too, covering hurricanes. But right away the day after, the weather gets back to completely normal. The tourists wouldn't even know there was a hurricane if they were on the beach. But everywhere else you know it very well.
And as we speak, divers are back out in the waters of eastern Bermuda, looking for four people who are missing and feared dead following the rampage of Hurricane Fabian.
The search is taking place just off the causeway that connects Bermuda to its airport. It's a very sad story. Three police employees in one car and one civilian in another car were swept into the rising waters of an inlet as Fabian's winds and wrath were increasing. They were stranded on the flooded causeway before their cars plunged in.
Now, officials are telling us this morning more about this story. They say three firefighters on a rope tried to rescue them, but they, too, were washed into the water. They were able to be saved. The other four were not so lucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN SMITH, BERMUDA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Valiant efforts were made late yesterday afternoon at the height of the hurricane to determine what happened to those two vehicles. We lost sight of the vehicles. We believe they were swept into the sea there. The efforts today have resulted in the recovery of both vehicles. No occupants have been found. We're concentrating our search in the area of the vehicles. It's very difficult diving conditions there because of the disturbed water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: And their family members have been notified.
Now, the hurricane force winds lasted for six hours. The damage is widespread. Now, it's about 60 percent of Bermuda still without power. Many people are still without water.
We talked with Bermuda's premiere, the government leader of this British territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PREMIERE ALEX SCOTT, BERMUDA: A consequence of Fabian is that there was considerable property damage, homes and businesses, loss of roof, as you heard; blocked roads; a considerable amount of flooding. And there have been, there have been some reported injuries. A hospital is attending to those who have minor injuries.
However, even as I speak, there are four unaccounted for individuals and we have put all of our energy into recovering or finding these individuals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: We were actually with the premiere when he went out to the bridge as the search continued. But once again, they've had no luck finding those four. The premiere also told us that the wind gauges at the airport went up to 143 miles per hour during the hurricane and then broke. So they're not even sure how high the gusts actually got.
Bermuda's international airport, an important tie to the tourism industry here, still shut down to commercial flights. They might be able to reopen it today to private planes and hope to reopen it commercial flights tomorrow -- Sean.
CALLEBS: Well, Gary, let's talk just a bit about the devastation and the cleanup effort going on there today. I'm sure a lot of downed power lines, a lot of downed trees. But talk a bit about the construction. Many of the buildings on that island extremely sound.
TUCHMAN: Right. I will tell you that we do believe, just based on covering hurricanes all these years, that if this happened on another island or in most parts of the United States, the devastation would have been much worse and there would have been more fatalities. Bermuda has very stringent building codes. When you build a home, the walls have to be at least eight inches thick, which is quite thick, and the building is supposed to withstand gusts of up to 150 miles per hour. There's lots of damage, Sean, but very few houses completely destroyed.
CALLEBS: OK, Gary Tuchman from Bermuda, thanks very much.
And we will continue to check in as the cleanup effort continues there.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And a good time to go to Rob Marciano to tell us a little bit more about this. We've got four people missing, 143 mile per hour winds. How bad was this thing, respectively?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, before this thing even hit, just watching the satellite picture, you know, as meteorologists we're looking at it in awe and practically the whole weather team was in there Friday afternoon just before it was hit. The National Hurricane Center puts out numerous technical discussions, right, you know, every three hours or so. And usually they're very technical, the forecast discussions. And the last line from a particular discussion struck us. It said the government is prepared, the residents are prepared. Now all we can do is hope for the best.
CALLEBS: Wow.
MARCIANO: And you don't often see that sort of humanity and that side.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: And it really struck us as to the strength of this storm and now we're seeing the after effects. So quite a number and we're not done yet, as far as hurricane season is concerned.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
