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CNN Sunday Morning
Hurricance Frances Continues To Pound Florida
Aired September 05, 2004 - 07:00 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN SUNDAY MORNING as we have continuing hurricane coverage. I'm Betty Nguyen at the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta. But first up, we want to take you straight to Florida and Melbourne, the city is where we're going to with our Bill Hemmer who joins us live with the conditions there, where it is awfully. I can see the--Is that rain coming in sideways?
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, indeed, it is. I know what you just mentioned about the storm weakening once it hit land here. But I've got to tell you, Betty, at least on the northern edge of the storm where we are here in Melbourne, there was no let-up. When we woke up this morning about two hours ago the winds were stronger this morning than what we had experienced last night when we went to bed.
I can tell you, also, aluminum siding just peeling off the top of this structure here. We have seen it fly almost vertically-rather, horizontally across the parking lot here. There's a fiberglass lamp across the way. You can't see it from here, though. It's pretty strong material, but it is no match for the winds here of Frances. Really just snapped like a stick.
We've talked with the police and the fire. As of an hour ago, 6:00 local time, Betty, they started responding to calls which essentially means here in the city of Melbourne you're going to get about 35 police vehicles back on the road now. You're going to get about 20 fire vehicles back on the road responding to calls, including to one here at this location, we're at a marina right along the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway, they came here responding to a blown water pump. So that's why fire officials were here about 30 minutes ago.
It's been an extremely long night. For that matter, it's been a very long weekend for people here in Florida. Our hotel where we're staying just gives us a snapshot of what these people are experiencing here. It's essentially acting as its own shelter, people playing cards, taking care of their pets, dogs, cats, kids. A lot of people bored right now and until last night around 12:30, right after midnight, people watching television, trying to get the very latest update and the report about where Frances was going and what she was doing, essentially.
1.5 million people in Florida, Betty, waking up this morning without power or electricity. Just contributing yet again to a very long weekend here on the east coast. Frances is still coming. She is big and she is slow and we're feeling her effects yet again on this Sunday morning. Betty?
NGUYEN: Looks like you're seeing if back half of that starting to come through. You had mentioned that emergency crews were on the street responding to calls. But as this back half comes through, obviously they're going to have to get off the roadways and take shelter, too.
HEMMER: Yes. This is what they're telling us. One of their big concerns is not just damage that's flying into the streets and the roads and blocking their way, but the power lines. But they say it's far too early to know how many power lines are down or how much that's going to impede their travel.
There's two distinctions to be made between a dead power line and live power line. The latter is the area that you need to be concerned with because if there's still electricity running through those lines you want to stay away and certainly if you're in a vehicle, you do not want to cross those lines. They say, though, they do not know at this point how much damage has been brought on overnight. But once the sun gets a little brighter here as daybreaks yet again in Eastern Florida they will get a better end indication.
One thing I would like to pass along to you, Betty, doing research down here about the history for hurricanes in this area. There's a local myth here in Melbourne because NASA built its space system up the beach here, north of Coco Beach that the government had some sort of indication as to where geographically a safe area on the East Coast of the U.S. would be to build a space center.
But if you go back to history, the myth is quickly put to bed. Back in the late 1800s, they had three direct hits from massive hurricanes here. The last significant storm, Hurricane Irene in 1999, pretty much a direct hit. However, that storm did not last as long as Frances and it wasn't as strong as Frances. Just barely a category I, winds clocked about 95 miles per hour. Frances, though, a different beast now in 2004 -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. And we're seeing two hits in the a matter of what, three weeks? First Charley and now Frances.
HEMMER: Yes. Indeed. You're right.
NGUYEN: Give us an idea of how strong the winds are behind you. Because it appears to where you're in an area where something must be blocking the wind.
HEMMER: Yeah, we have a -- in fact, Mark, why don't you show them the wall here. It's a solid structure and it's what's keeping us safe right now. It goes up well over 12, 14 feet, so we're pretty safe and secure here. If I were to step out there, Betty, you would see the effects of Frances quite clearly and obviously because these palm trees, as sturdy as they are, are really getting whipped to the side here. I mentioned that light post.
Yesterday, just to give you an idea, coming over the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway and this giant bridge that goes eight or nine stories into the air, there were steel light posts that had literally collapsed and blown across the road. And that was just in the early hours of Frances. One can only imagine, again, the damage that was incurred overnight here with the consistent and the constant pounding of these tropical storm winds here.
NGUYEN: We're going to let you get out of the elements just for a little while because we do want to check back in with you throughout the morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We'll be here all morning. You got it.
NGUYEN: Alright. Thank you so much.
We want to go now to CNN's Rob Marciano who is in the weather center tracking this storm. Now, is this the back half that's starting to hit Melbourne and that part of Florida?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Well, Melbourne's been on the northern half pretty much from the beginning and continues to be on the northern half of this thing. Here's the wider shot. The center of it still down here around Lake Okeechobee. So this is Melbourne at the northern half. The back half I suppose would be right in here through or back towards West Palm Beach because the direction really determines what the back half, the back half of the direction in which it's moving away. If it's moving away, this would be the back half. But either way you slice it, Betty, Melbourne's getting hammered right now.
Let's zoom into that area. I wish I could tell you how fast the winds are blowing there but the National Weather Service office hasn't reported in several hours. I just have to assume they're out of juice and they're out of gas for their generator. But this particular squall that's moving on shore, they're about to get it good here with likely hurricane at least gusts if not sustained winds and heavy, heavy torrential rains with this. This is also pushing up the coastline towards Titusville, Cape Canaveral which you spoke of and Orlando.
I will slide the map back down towards where the center of this thing is and I should note, here's that back half. We need to get this on shore before we can really weaken this thing further. It has weakened since the last advisory. It's down to 95 mile an hour winds, that makes it a strong category I storm but it's still a hurricane. Once we get the back half in, we will probably downgrade it to a tropical storm.
Here's Lake Okeechobee. Good news this thing moved up to the north. If it went right over Lake Okeechobee, I bet we would be talking more of a substantial storm surge there and that's what they were concerned about. I don't think they'll be quite that big of a deal, although we will probably come up three or four feet.
Also, as this thing comes on shore, let's go to another router, GR-115, thanks. As this thing comes on shore as it's doing so slowly, right now, it's pretty much low tide up and down the coastline. Storm surge the concern right in through here, the northern flank of this system and because it's pretty much coming on shore during low tide we're not looking at that substantial a storm surge. High tide around noontime and 1:00 p.m.--between noon and 1:00 p.m. later on this afternoon.
But by the time this happens, I think this will be inland enough to where it will be knocked down if not to a weak hurricane, certainly to a tropical storm by then.
I'll say the storm surge up towards Daytona and Melbourne will be less substantial. Tornado watch is still up officially until 8 o'clock, but I bet they continue this through about lunchtime.
Northern flank of the system is where you see those tornadoes pop up. We have seen a couple of radar indicated tornadoes as far north as St. Augustine, so this is still a huge system, Betty.
Still have tropical storm force winds extending 200 miles from the center and hurricane-force winds to 85 miles. So get that back half in and we'll start to see the things begin to decrease. But until that happens, places like Melbourne and then the back half towards Fort Pierce and even as far south as West Palm Beach will continue to get hammered for the next several hours.
One other thing, from here to here, from West Palm to about Tampa is roughly 160 miles. It's moving in eight miles an hour right now. That's 20 hours it's going to take for this thing to get out back over the Gulf of Mexico. So all day long, again, Betty, strap on your seat belt, we're hanging out.
NGUYEN: It's a rain fest there. Let me ask you this. You said 85 mile to 95 mile an hour winds. Does that mean that this has officially been downgraded to a category I hurricane?
HEMMER: Yes, yes it has. As of the 7:00 a.m. advisory, it's downgraded to category I with winds sustained at 95 miles an hour. You get them below 100--or below 96, I think it is, and that makes it a category I storm. So that's what we have now, a strong category I storm. Next advisory is due out in less than two hours. And I suspect they'll drop it a little bit more.
Probably will still be a hurricane, though, at 9:00 a.m. We need to get the back half of this thing in before it really loses its fuel, which is that warm tropical water in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf Stream, that rolls--that makes swimming out in Miami Beach, South Beach, West Palm Beach such a nice event, but not a great day to be swimming today, for sure.
NGUYEN: No doubt, though, even though it's a category I, don't want folks to think that they can go back to their homes, check out the damage because this still does pack a powerful punch.
MARCIANO: Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. And the rainfall is going to be a huge issue, Betty. That's probably something that we don't harp on enough. We show the video of our correspondents being blown around; we show the palm trees whipping around and then damage flying everywhere, but the more substantial thing, or at least the lingering factor's going to be the rainfall and the swath of rain in this area easily could get over ten inches and that will cause problems, especially in the lowland areas.
Since January 1, a lot of these areas are below normal as far as rainfall goes, Betty. It was a very dry winter. We certainly don't want all of that rain at once but they're getting a ton of it today and it will be 15 to 20 hours before this thing re-emerges in the Gulf of Mexico, so a long day ahead for sure.
NGUYEN: Too much rain. OK, Rob Marciano, thank you very much.
I want to check out the scene in West Palm Beach this morning. Go to CNN's Sean Callebs who is there. Well, it looks like things have calmed down just a little bit, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it probably picked up a little bit since the last hour, but certainly nothing like our colleague John Zarrella experienced in the overnight hours. He said that basically West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County was on the edge of the eye wall all evening.
They didn't get a break at all from just the punishing wind, the torrential rain. The wind was actually was coming in a bit more from the southeasterly area about an hour ago. Now it's moving a little bit more down. We also did a check. There are 1.3 million people living in Palm Beach County. 580,000 homes are now without electricity. Do the math and that seems like just about everybody in this county has lost power.
You can really see why now that daylight is trying to peek up a bit. The roads are simply littered with debris. Bits of palm trees that have been shredded. There are power lines down, we saw street signs, we saw stop lights down, as well.
We drove over here basically at the height of the storm and I believe we have pictures of that. You can see what we navigated through as we made our way, only a few miles but it was a kind of tense few miles driving over. The wind was really whipping. Cars bouncing around a bit, doing our best to make sure that we didn't drive over any power lines.
But back out here, Betty, remember I was talking with you yesterday when some drama unfolded when we saw that luxury yacht drift down through Intercoastal Waterway. They tied up here. You can see behind me, the yacht is gone. I did have a chance to walk all around Palm Beach Yacht Club, can see no sign of it at all. Clearly some of the pilings have been ripped off here at the very end.
You can see the concrete jetty out there feeling the effects of Frances at this hour. There were a handful of sailboats trying to ride the storm out here as well. They've all gone as well. We have no idea what happened to it. We can only presume it was pushed down underneath the bridge that connects Palm Beach to West Palm Beach.
And then from then on, I guess someone's going to have to try and figure out exactly what happened to it and how much damage it sustained or if it is even still around, Betty.
NGUYEN: No sign of the boats that we watched yesterday? That one boat was adrift there a little while. And he did a great job, the captain of it, to maneuver it into that little area. But they're not there now. Have you seen any boats at all? Have any of them at least washed ashore somewhere?
CALLEBS: We can now see a little bit across. There appears to be a couple of boats that either were tied up, moored, throughout the height of the storm and they are still there. But as far as I can see that way and further down south, there are no boats whatsoever. There are there were a handful of pleasure craft here. We talked to some of the neighbors who live in and around here.
Of course, you know, one of the beauties about living in South Florida is having a pleasure boat at your disposal. A lot of people saw this storm coming and they either moved their boats inland or the larger ones they sailed down or took the boat down through the Keys to try and ride out the storm. But a handful of them either people couldn't get to them or they thought they would be safe moored here with two, three, perhaps four anchors.
We're told that's a pretty common occurrence, if you're going to have some sort of pleasure boat, you just take it out in the middle of the Intercoastal, moor it down as well as possible. But yesterday one of the chains apparently broke on two anchors causing that boat to drift down and you're exactly right. The pilot, the skipper, somewhat of a cow boy, but was able to get it in. They're both okay but no sign of the "Explorer I" this morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: Let's hope everyone, on the sailboats and that one boat into safety this morning as we can't find them, according to Sean Callebs there in West Palm Beach. We'll be checking back in with you throughout the morning. Thank you so much.
Right now we're going to take a short break. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING and our continuing coverage of Hurricane Frances.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We're continuing to follow Hurricane Frances this morning. Want to take you to Miami and the National Hurricane Center to talk with Ed Rappaport about the situation with Frances. It seems like she's halfway ashore but the back end is starting to come in now.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: That's right. Very large hurricane. It's been moving slowly, taking a long time, first to make landfall in Florida and now to progress across the state. This is a satellite picture. And we'll switch over to a radar loop which shows us where the rain is occurring. Nearly the entire Florida peninsula now has rainfall from Hurricane Frances. We have some radar reports of six to eight inches of rain that's already fallen over the state.
NGUYEN: Our Rob Marciano says that this has now been downgraded to a category I, is that correct? RAPPAPORT: Maximum winds now are down to 95 miles per hour, still very strong, particularly in these bands just to the north of the center. You can see the center swirling here. Moved inland near Stuart, Florida, last night. Still hurricane force winds though in this band that's up near Titusville and the Cape Canaveral area.
NGUYEN: So as this back end comes through is this going to be stronger than the front end or basically the same, or is it going to weaken.
RAPPAPORT: Well, there will be a long period of hurricane force winds on the back side, here, so the Florida east central coast is going to have a very rough day from the winds and they'll still be some storm surge here, as well, during the day. The whole state is going to have the problem from the rainfall and potential flooding from the fresh water.
NGUYEN: OK, Ed Rappaport, thank you so much for that information. We'll be checking back in.
I want to go now to our own Orelon Sidney who is in Orlando where thousands of tourists are riding out this storm. Definitely not a day at Disney, is it, Orelon?
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: No, no, it's not a day at Disney. We're here at the hotel and a lot of people are waking up this morning. I think a lot of people did evacuate from the coastal areas into here because we've seen so many people bring their dogs out for the morning. A lot of the animals don't want to come outside. They're very reluctant to come out in all this rain.
But the good news is the winds have died down considerably as you can see from the last time I talked to you. We really had some strong gusts. We've gotten some pretty good gusts still but the sustained winds are way, way down. I would say maybe 15 miles an hour, 20 at the best. We're in a little bit of a sheltered area so it's kind of hard to tell.
But I would say sustained at maybe 20 miles an hour. But the rain is continuing to fall. It's not going to be a very pleasant day out, for sure, but the good news is that the storm has been downgraded now to that category I and it looks like the strength will continue to diminish and so I'm hoping that means the wind gusts won't be as strong here in Orlando as it continues to move on across the state -- Betty.
NGUYEN: But you're continuing to see some rain there. Earlier it was a lot heavier where you're standing. Seems to have died down just a little bit?
SIDNEY: Yes, the rain has tapered off a bit, too. I haven't looked at my radar because I'm running out of battery power so I can't use my radar as much. But I get the feeling that we're probably jus - up, here comes a gust. Here comes one right now. So you can see how quickly that comes up. And actually I'll use that to illustrate a point. A lot of people, when the center of the storm comes over and the winds get very calm they think, oh, this is good, I can go outside and do some repairs or look at damage. But you see how quickly that wind gust came up. It was totally unexpected.
And when you're outside in the calm of the storm, you can get swept off your feet or hit by debris, totally unexpectedly. It's just completely dangerous until your local officials tell you it's OK to go back out, you need to go ahead and stay on in. But we're definitely getting the brunt of it now.
Again, we're in that right front quarter of the storm. That's where you get mostly the strongest action, the strongest thunderstorms and the heaviest winds, the heaviest rain. And this will be with us, I would say at least until sundown. That's my guest. Maybe a little bit sooner, perhaps mid-afternoon we might see things improve. But it's just going to be one of those days here in east central Florida, Betty.
NGUYEN: A wet day all day long. Thank you in Orelon Sidney in Orlando this morning. I want to go on the phone now to the American Red Cross and the spokesman there, Michael Spencer. There are a lot of people in shelters this morning. What's the situation? Because this has been downgraded. I imagine many people frustrated, ready to go back home and check out the damage but you're urging them not to, correct?
MICHAEL SPENCER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Yes, we're urging people to stay in a safe place. Here at the shelter we're still moving everyone away from the windows. The winds are still very, very strong. We're getting hurricane force winds here. So we want to make sure people are safe. And that's really our main concern right now. We're in the emergency sheltering phase of this relief effort and we've already sheltered over 86,000.
NGUYEN: 86,000 people. How many shelters are we talking?
SPENCER: Over 250 shelters are located throughout Florida. And also into the Carolinas and in Georgia as people evacuated that far up north.
NGUYEN: How long do you expect most of these folks to stay in the shelter?
SPENCER: It just depends, until we get the all-clear from local government officials. But the shelters are going to be open for a very long time. Many of these people who are staying in the shelters are probably going to go home this morning when the sun does come up. When they do get home and they're going to find out they don't have a home any longer. And we're going to be there for them. We're going to have our shelters open when they need us the most and have a place for them to stay.
NGUYEN: So this could possibly be a long-term event. Do you have enough resources, enough supplies to sustain 86,000 people, if not more?
SPENCER: We do. We pre-positioned resources into the local area before the storm hit. But we were responding to Charley just weeks ago and we still had 2,000 volunteers there so it's very taxing on the Red Cross to move so many resources. We've already fed over half a million mills meals for Hurricane Frances. So we really need the help of the American public. If we just ask every American to get behind us and give anything they can, if it's $5, $5 could mean the difference between someone having a hot meal today and not.
NGUYEN: And you're looking for monetary donations, not supplies?
SPENCER: Financial gift is the best way to support these victims. That allows us to move in here before the storm and that's what's going to allow us to help them what with what they need the most. Right now it's sheltering, but that could change in the next few days. We're bringing trucks in with comfort kits, shampoo, toothpaste, those essential items and also cleanup kits.
And we're also setting up emergency aid stations over the next few weeks. We also have crisis counselors on the ground. So we're doing a wide range of services. We're going to be expanding those services as soon as it's safe for our volunteers to hit the streets.
NGUYEN: Let's talk about that just for a quick moment. How is the stress level and frustration in those shelters? People must be anxious to get out of there.
SPENCER: People are very anxious. I mean, the feeling of not knowing whether you have a home to go back to or whether your whole life has just been completely ripped apart. I talked to a few people in our shelter this morning. They were waking up very early, just hours ago literally, and they're just so nervous. They don't know what to expect. The sun's just beginning to come up. We're really afraid it's going to be a sad day for a lot of these folks. And that's why we need the help the entire country to bring Florida back to what it is.
NGUYEN: All right. Michael Spencer with the American Red Cross. We thank you for your time and insight this morning.
Tens of thousands of people in Florida have sought refuge from the storm in shelters as we just mentioned. As you might imagine, it can be a big motional strain, but CNN's Jason Bellini found one family taking it all in stride.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Meet Madison, Meagan and Morgan, all 8 months old. Meet Daniel and Dalton, 2 years old, and meet the mom of all five, Lisa Yarnell Herr(ph). She's made the Red Cross shelter a home.
LISA YARNELL HERR, MOTHER OF FIVE: This is a strange place. The boys have done really well. They think it's a little party or a picnic. BELLINI: Lisa came prepared to stay a while.
HERR: We almost have the master suite here. Brought our own refrigerator and microwave and TV. Do you want to give Sissy a kiss, Daniel?
BELLINI: She moved here Thursday afternoon.
HERR: My first big hurricane, I guess. We have a lot of windows in the house in the back.
BELLINI: Even with the help of relatives, five children under 2 is a challenge.
HERR: They sleep in the tent. We raise up one of the sides so they can stay cool.
The first night was difficult. They were trying to get settled in and adjusted, so the boys were up until 3:00 a.m., 3:30, so that was hard. You try to keep them quiet, for respect for others in the hallways and that was hard, juggling all five. But luckily the girls were good. They're pretty good babies. In case the hurricane hits, we all grab a baby and run for shelter and just kind of hold them close, so we kind of have our own little plan. There's five of us adults to juggle and five babies, of course.
BELLINI: If what happens?
HERR: If the hurricane really got bad here as far as the building and all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And that was CNN's Jason Bellini reporting.
We want to give you a live look at the damage outside this morning as the sun comes up over Florida. Here is an affiliate, WSVN, which is showing some of the damage. And looking at a boat right now rocking at Haulover Beach. Let's listen in to some of their local coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're over this and to get mentally back into your daily life you want to take them off. It brings things back to normal if even for just a couple of days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voiceover): I think once ivan's threat is over we can assess that. I guess we have Diana Diaz, is it Broward County?
DIANA DIAZ, WSVN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No, Juno Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Juno Beach. Diana, how is it up there now?
DIAZ: I have to tell you coming through here was some of the worst weather we got. We made our way very slowly from West Palm Beach all of the way here. And here in Juno Beach one of the things that was different here was the amount of flooding.
The flooded streets, so not only do we have to contend some very large trees down in the middle of the roadway, the worse I have to tell you, a little bit frightening portion of it for me, was when we were to maneuvering around these trees you would have these street lights, the heavy street lights, the signals, they were just swinging around as if they were made of paper. They were just swinging around, dangling, many of them were down on the streets. Signs actually were gone.
We headed the wrong way at one point because we didn't realize we were going southbound on A-1A. The signs were gone. A lot of signs had been torn off. As we were driving there was aluminum flying into the middle of the street from I don't know where.
As we're driving into Juno Beach now some of the neighborhoods here the roofs have been torn off. There are large chunks of debris from people's homes, maybe sheds, structures that weren't secure, as well as, of course, large trees, power lines, and then the flooded streets.
People coming back here are going to have a hard time maneuvering. We may be that close at this point, I don't know yet because Ii can't really gauge where we are.
The ocean -- we must be pretty close because the streets are very flooded. And at one point we had to turn around and find another way around.
We're trying to make our way to the satellite truck, which had to power down earlier because of the bad weather moving in. But the winds and the damage that we've seen is much worse here than we saw driving to West Palm Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's still storming there now Diana, obviously.
DIAZ: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you weren't there yesterday. Can you give us an assessment of how windy it is or the gusts or how strong it is up there now?
DIAZ: It's hard to gauge. And the only example I can give is that earlier today we were driving on 95 heading north and we actually had to stop and kind of take shelter under an overpass because the winds were strong and our SUV was rocking back and forth and now it's worse than that, if you can imagine, at that point we didn't think it could get worse but we made our way to the Palm Beach County Airport and now here in Juno Beach is the worse weather we've seen so far. It is getting hammered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diana, I just want to tell you that, again, you're so close to the core of this thing. As it moves westward, it took all night to come on shore and I'm seeing some heavy thunderstorms around the east side. That's what you're getting battered with and that's going to take a while to move westward, even though it's moving faster today than yesterday, it's still only eight miles an hour, so it'll be a while.
NGUYEN: You've been listening to live coverage from affiliate WSVN in Florida. We are continuing to follow Hurricane Frances this morning, we'll have live coverage of our own coming right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 5, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN SUNDAY MORNING as we have continuing hurricane coverage. I'm Betty Nguyen at the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta. But first up, we want to take you straight to Florida and Melbourne, the city is where we're going to with our Bill Hemmer who joins us live with the conditions there, where it is awfully. I can see the--Is that rain coming in sideways?
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, indeed, it is. I know what you just mentioned about the storm weakening once it hit land here. But I've got to tell you, Betty, at least on the northern edge of the storm where we are here in Melbourne, there was no let-up. When we woke up this morning about two hours ago the winds were stronger this morning than what we had experienced last night when we went to bed.
I can tell you, also, aluminum siding just peeling off the top of this structure here. We have seen it fly almost vertically-rather, horizontally across the parking lot here. There's a fiberglass lamp across the way. You can't see it from here, though. It's pretty strong material, but it is no match for the winds here of Frances. Really just snapped like a stick.
We've talked with the police and the fire. As of an hour ago, 6:00 local time, Betty, they started responding to calls which essentially means here in the city of Melbourne you're going to get about 35 police vehicles back on the road now. You're going to get about 20 fire vehicles back on the road responding to calls, including to one here at this location, we're at a marina right along the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway, they came here responding to a blown water pump. So that's why fire officials were here about 30 minutes ago.
It's been an extremely long night. For that matter, it's been a very long weekend for people here in Florida. Our hotel where we're staying just gives us a snapshot of what these people are experiencing here. It's essentially acting as its own shelter, people playing cards, taking care of their pets, dogs, cats, kids. A lot of people bored right now and until last night around 12:30, right after midnight, people watching television, trying to get the very latest update and the report about where Frances was going and what she was doing, essentially.
1.5 million people in Florida, Betty, waking up this morning without power or electricity. Just contributing yet again to a very long weekend here on the east coast. Frances is still coming. She is big and she is slow and we're feeling her effects yet again on this Sunday morning. Betty?
NGUYEN: Looks like you're seeing if back half of that starting to come through. You had mentioned that emergency crews were on the street responding to calls. But as this back half comes through, obviously they're going to have to get off the roadways and take shelter, too.
HEMMER: Yes. This is what they're telling us. One of their big concerns is not just damage that's flying into the streets and the roads and blocking their way, but the power lines. But they say it's far too early to know how many power lines are down or how much that's going to impede their travel.
There's two distinctions to be made between a dead power line and live power line. The latter is the area that you need to be concerned with because if there's still electricity running through those lines you want to stay away and certainly if you're in a vehicle, you do not want to cross those lines. They say, though, they do not know at this point how much damage has been brought on overnight. But once the sun gets a little brighter here as daybreaks yet again in Eastern Florida they will get a better end indication.
One thing I would like to pass along to you, Betty, doing research down here about the history for hurricanes in this area. There's a local myth here in Melbourne because NASA built its space system up the beach here, north of Coco Beach that the government had some sort of indication as to where geographically a safe area on the East Coast of the U.S. would be to build a space center.
But if you go back to history, the myth is quickly put to bed. Back in the late 1800s, they had three direct hits from massive hurricanes here. The last significant storm, Hurricane Irene in 1999, pretty much a direct hit. However, that storm did not last as long as Frances and it wasn't as strong as Frances. Just barely a category I, winds clocked about 95 miles per hour. Frances, though, a different beast now in 2004 -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. And we're seeing two hits in the a matter of what, three weeks? First Charley and now Frances.
HEMMER: Yes. Indeed. You're right.
NGUYEN: Give us an idea of how strong the winds are behind you. Because it appears to where you're in an area where something must be blocking the wind.
HEMMER: Yeah, we have a -- in fact, Mark, why don't you show them the wall here. It's a solid structure and it's what's keeping us safe right now. It goes up well over 12, 14 feet, so we're pretty safe and secure here. If I were to step out there, Betty, you would see the effects of Frances quite clearly and obviously because these palm trees, as sturdy as they are, are really getting whipped to the side here. I mentioned that light post.
Yesterday, just to give you an idea, coming over the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway and this giant bridge that goes eight or nine stories into the air, there were steel light posts that had literally collapsed and blown across the road. And that was just in the early hours of Frances. One can only imagine, again, the damage that was incurred overnight here with the consistent and the constant pounding of these tropical storm winds here.
NGUYEN: We're going to let you get out of the elements just for a little while because we do want to check back in with you throughout the morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We'll be here all morning. You got it.
NGUYEN: Alright. Thank you so much.
We want to go now to CNN's Rob Marciano who is in the weather center tracking this storm. Now, is this the back half that's starting to hit Melbourne and that part of Florida?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Well, Melbourne's been on the northern half pretty much from the beginning and continues to be on the northern half of this thing. Here's the wider shot. The center of it still down here around Lake Okeechobee. So this is Melbourne at the northern half. The back half I suppose would be right in here through or back towards West Palm Beach because the direction really determines what the back half, the back half of the direction in which it's moving away. If it's moving away, this would be the back half. But either way you slice it, Betty, Melbourne's getting hammered right now.
Let's zoom into that area. I wish I could tell you how fast the winds are blowing there but the National Weather Service office hasn't reported in several hours. I just have to assume they're out of juice and they're out of gas for their generator. But this particular squall that's moving on shore, they're about to get it good here with likely hurricane at least gusts if not sustained winds and heavy, heavy torrential rains with this. This is also pushing up the coastline towards Titusville, Cape Canaveral which you spoke of and Orlando.
I will slide the map back down towards where the center of this thing is and I should note, here's that back half. We need to get this on shore before we can really weaken this thing further. It has weakened since the last advisory. It's down to 95 mile an hour winds, that makes it a strong category I storm but it's still a hurricane. Once we get the back half in, we will probably downgrade it to a tropical storm.
Here's Lake Okeechobee. Good news this thing moved up to the north. If it went right over Lake Okeechobee, I bet we would be talking more of a substantial storm surge there and that's what they were concerned about. I don't think they'll be quite that big of a deal, although we will probably come up three or four feet.
Also, as this thing comes on shore, let's go to another router, GR-115, thanks. As this thing comes on shore as it's doing so slowly, right now, it's pretty much low tide up and down the coastline. Storm surge the concern right in through here, the northern flank of this system and because it's pretty much coming on shore during low tide we're not looking at that substantial a storm surge. High tide around noontime and 1:00 p.m.--between noon and 1:00 p.m. later on this afternoon.
But by the time this happens, I think this will be inland enough to where it will be knocked down if not to a weak hurricane, certainly to a tropical storm by then.
I'll say the storm surge up towards Daytona and Melbourne will be less substantial. Tornado watch is still up officially until 8 o'clock, but I bet they continue this through about lunchtime.
Northern flank of the system is where you see those tornadoes pop up. We have seen a couple of radar indicated tornadoes as far north as St. Augustine, so this is still a huge system, Betty.
Still have tropical storm force winds extending 200 miles from the center and hurricane-force winds to 85 miles. So get that back half in and we'll start to see the things begin to decrease. But until that happens, places like Melbourne and then the back half towards Fort Pierce and even as far south as West Palm Beach will continue to get hammered for the next several hours.
One other thing, from here to here, from West Palm to about Tampa is roughly 160 miles. It's moving in eight miles an hour right now. That's 20 hours it's going to take for this thing to get out back over the Gulf of Mexico. So all day long, again, Betty, strap on your seat belt, we're hanging out.
NGUYEN: It's a rain fest there. Let me ask you this. You said 85 mile to 95 mile an hour winds. Does that mean that this has officially been downgraded to a category I hurricane?
HEMMER: Yes, yes it has. As of the 7:00 a.m. advisory, it's downgraded to category I with winds sustained at 95 miles an hour. You get them below 100--or below 96, I think it is, and that makes it a category I storm. So that's what we have now, a strong category I storm. Next advisory is due out in less than two hours. And I suspect they'll drop it a little bit more.
Probably will still be a hurricane, though, at 9:00 a.m. We need to get the back half of this thing in before it really loses its fuel, which is that warm tropical water in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf Stream, that rolls--that makes swimming out in Miami Beach, South Beach, West Palm Beach such a nice event, but not a great day to be swimming today, for sure.
NGUYEN: No doubt, though, even though it's a category I, don't want folks to think that they can go back to their homes, check out the damage because this still does pack a powerful punch.
MARCIANO: Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. And the rainfall is going to be a huge issue, Betty. That's probably something that we don't harp on enough. We show the video of our correspondents being blown around; we show the palm trees whipping around and then damage flying everywhere, but the more substantial thing, or at least the lingering factor's going to be the rainfall and the swath of rain in this area easily could get over ten inches and that will cause problems, especially in the lowland areas.
Since January 1, a lot of these areas are below normal as far as rainfall goes, Betty. It was a very dry winter. We certainly don't want all of that rain at once but they're getting a ton of it today and it will be 15 to 20 hours before this thing re-emerges in the Gulf of Mexico, so a long day ahead for sure.
NGUYEN: Too much rain. OK, Rob Marciano, thank you very much.
I want to check out the scene in West Palm Beach this morning. Go to CNN's Sean Callebs who is there. Well, it looks like things have calmed down just a little bit, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it probably picked up a little bit since the last hour, but certainly nothing like our colleague John Zarrella experienced in the overnight hours. He said that basically West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County was on the edge of the eye wall all evening.
They didn't get a break at all from just the punishing wind, the torrential rain. The wind was actually was coming in a bit more from the southeasterly area about an hour ago. Now it's moving a little bit more down. We also did a check. There are 1.3 million people living in Palm Beach County. 580,000 homes are now without electricity. Do the math and that seems like just about everybody in this county has lost power.
You can really see why now that daylight is trying to peek up a bit. The roads are simply littered with debris. Bits of palm trees that have been shredded. There are power lines down, we saw street signs, we saw stop lights down, as well.
We drove over here basically at the height of the storm and I believe we have pictures of that. You can see what we navigated through as we made our way, only a few miles but it was a kind of tense few miles driving over. The wind was really whipping. Cars bouncing around a bit, doing our best to make sure that we didn't drive over any power lines.
But back out here, Betty, remember I was talking with you yesterday when some drama unfolded when we saw that luxury yacht drift down through Intercoastal Waterway. They tied up here. You can see behind me, the yacht is gone. I did have a chance to walk all around Palm Beach Yacht Club, can see no sign of it at all. Clearly some of the pilings have been ripped off here at the very end.
You can see the concrete jetty out there feeling the effects of Frances at this hour. There were a handful of sailboats trying to ride the storm out here as well. They've all gone as well. We have no idea what happened to it. We can only presume it was pushed down underneath the bridge that connects Palm Beach to West Palm Beach.
And then from then on, I guess someone's going to have to try and figure out exactly what happened to it and how much damage it sustained or if it is even still around, Betty.
NGUYEN: No sign of the boats that we watched yesterday? That one boat was adrift there a little while. And he did a great job, the captain of it, to maneuver it into that little area. But they're not there now. Have you seen any boats at all? Have any of them at least washed ashore somewhere?
CALLEBS: We can now see a little bit across. There appears to be a couple of boats that either were tied up, moored, throughout the height of the storm and they are still there. But as far as I can see that way and further down south, there are no boats whatsoever. There are there were a handful of pleasure craft here. We talked to some of the neighbors who live in and around here.
Of course, you know, one of the beauties about living in South Florida is having a pleasure boat at your disposal. A lot of people saw this storm coming and they either moved their boats inland or the larger ones they sailed down or took the boat down through the Keys to try and ride out the storm. But a handful of them either people couldn't get to them or they thought they would be safe moored here with two, three, perhaps four anchors.
We're told that's a pretty common occurrence, if you're going to have some sort of pleasure boat, you just take it out in the middle of the Intercoastal, moor it down as well as possible. But yesterday one of the chains apparently broke on two anchors causing that boat to drift down and you're exactly right. The pilot, the skipper, somewhat of a cow boy, but was able to get it in. They're both okay but no sign of the "Explorer I" this morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: Let's hope everyone, on the sailboats and that one boat into safety this morning as we can't find them, according to Sean Callebs there in West Palm Beach. We'll be checking back in with you throughout the morning. Thank you so much.
Right now we're going to take a short break. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING and our continuing coverage of Hurricane Frances.
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NGUYEN: We're continuing to follow Hurricane Frances this morning. Want to take you to Miami and the National Hurricane Center to talk with Ed Rappaport about the situation with Frances. It seems like she's halfway ashore but the back end is starting to come in now.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: That's right. Very large hurricane. It's been moving slowly, taking a long time, first to make landfall in Florida and now to progress across the state. This is a satellite picture. And we'll switch over to a radar loop which shows us where the rain is occurring. Nearly the entire Florida peninsula now has rainfall from Hurricane Frances. We have some radar reports of six to eight inches of rain that's already fallen over the state.
NGUYEN: Our Rob Marciano says that this has now been downgraded to a category I, is that correct? RAPPAPORT: Maximum winds now are down to 95 miles per hour, still very strong, particularly in these bands just to the north of the center. You can see the center swirling here. Moved inland near Stuart, Florida, last night. Still hurricane force winds though in this band that's up near Titusville and the Cape Canaveral area.
NGUYEN: So as this back end comes through is this going to be stronger than the front end or basically the same, or is it going to weaken.
RAPPAPORT: Well, there will be a long period of hurricane force winds on the back side, here, so the Florida east central coast is going to have a very rough day from the winds and they'll still be some storm surge here, as well, during the day. The whole state is going to have the problem from the rainfall and potential flooding from the fresh water.
NGUYEN: OK, Ed Rappaport, thank you so much for that information. We'll be checking back in.
I want to go now to our own Orelon Sidney who is in Orlando where thousands of tourists are riding out this storm. Definitely not a day at Disney, is it, Orelon?
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: No, no, it's not a day at Disney. We're here at the hotel and a lot of people are waking up this morning. I think a lot of people did evacuate from the coastal areas into here because we've seen so many people bring their dogs out for the morning. A lot of the animals don't want to come outside. They're very reluctant to come out in all this rain.
But the good news is the winds have died down considerably as you can see from the last time I talked to you. We really had some strong gusts. We've gotten some pretty good gusts still but the sustained winds are way, way down. I would say maybe 15 miles an hour, 20 at the best. We're in a little bit of a sheltered area so it's kind of hard to tell.
But I would say sustained at maybe 20 miles an hour. But the rain is continuing to fall. It's not going to be a very pleasant day out, for sure, but the good news is that the storm has been downgraded now to that category I and it looks like the strength will continue to diminish and so I'm hoping that means the wind gusts won't be as strong here in Orlando as it continues to move on across the state -- Betty.
NGUYEN: But you're continuing to see some rain there. Earlier it was a lot heavier where you're standing. Seems to have died down just a little bit?
SIDNEY: Yes, the rain has tapered off a bit, too. I haven't looked at my radar because I'm running out of battery power so I can't use my radar as much. But I get the feeling that we're probably jus - up, here comes a gust. Here comes one right now. So you can see how quickly that comes up. And actually I'll use that to illustrate a point. A lot of people, when the center of the storm comes over and the winds get very calm they think, oh, this is good, I can go outside and do some repairs or look at damage. But you see how quickly that wind gust came up. It was totally unexpected.
And when you're outside in the calm of the storm, you can get swept off your feet or hit by debris, totally unexpectedly. It's just completely dangerous until your local officials tell you it's OK to go back out, you need to go ahead and stay on in. But we're definitely getting the brunt of it now.
Again, we're in that right front quarter of the storm. That's where you get mostly the strongest action, the strongest thunderstorms and the heaviest winds, the heaviest rain. And this will be with us, I would say at least until sundown. That's my guest. Maybe a little bit sooner, perhaps mid-afternoon we might see things improve. But it's just going to be one of those days here in east central Florida, Betty.
NGUYEN: A wet day all day long. Thank you in Orelon Sidney in Orlando this morning. I want to go on the phone now to the American Red Cross and the spokesman there, Michael Spencer. There are a lot of people in shelters this morning. What's the situation? Because this has been downgraded. I imagine many people frustrated, ready to go back home and check out the damage but you're urging them not to, correct?
MICHAEL SPENCER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Yes, we're urging people to stay in a safe place. Here at the shelter we're still moving everyone away from the windows. The winds are still very, very strong. We're getting hurricane force winds here. So we want to make sure people are safe. And that's really our main concern right now. We're in the emergency sheltering phase of this relief effort and we've already sheltered over 86,000.
NGUYEN: 86,000 people. How many shelters are we talking?
SPENCER: Over 250 shelters are located throughout Florida. And also into the Carolinas and in Georgia as people evacuated that far up north.
NGUYEN: How long do you expect most of these folks to stay in the shelter?
SPENCER: It just depends, until we get the all-clear from local government officials. But the shelters are going to be open for a very long time. Many of these people who are staying in the shelters are probably going to go home this morning when the sun does come up. When they do get home and they're going to find out they don't have a home any longer. And we're going to be there for them. We're going to have our shelters open when they need us the most and have a place for them to stay.
NGUYEN: So this could possibly be a long-term event. Do you have enough resources, enough supplies to sustain 86,000 people, if not more?
SPENCER: We do. We pre-positioned resources into the local area before the storm hit. But we were responding to Charley just weeks ago and we still had 2,000 volunteers there so it's very taxing on the Red Cross to move so many resources. We've already fed over half a million mills meals for Hurricane Frances. So we really need the help of the American public. If we just ask every American to get behind us and give anything they can, if it's $5, $5 could mean the difference between someone having a hot meal today and not.
NGUYEN: And you're looking for monetary donations, not supplies?
SPENCER: Financial gift is the best way to support these victims. That allows us to move in here before the storm and that's what's going to allow us to help them what with what they need the most. Right now it's sheltering, but that could change in the next few days. We're bringing trucks in with comfort kits, shampoo, toothpaste, those essential items and also cleanup kits.
And we're also setting up emergency aid stations over the next few weeks. We also have crisis counselors on the ground. So we're doing a wide range of services. We're going to be expanding those services as soon as it's safe for our volunteers to hit the streets.
NGUYEN: Let's talk about that just for a quick moment. How is the stress level and frustration in those shelters? People must be anxious to get out of there.
SPENCER: People are very anxious. I mean, the feeling of not knowing whether you have a home to go back to or whether your whole life has just been completely ripped apart. I talked to a few people in our shelter this morning. They were waking up very early, just hours ago literally, and they're just so nervous. They don't know what to expect. The sun's just beginning to come up. We're really afraid it's going to be a sad day for a lot of these folks. And that's why we need the help the entire country to bring Florida back to what it is.
NGUYEN: All right. Michael Spencer with the American Red Cross. We thank you for your time and insight this morning.
Tens of thousands of people in Florida have sought refuge from the storm in shelters as we just mentioned. As you might imagine, it can be a big motional strain, but CNN's Jason Bellini found one family taking it all in stride.
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JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Meet Madison, Meagan and Morgan, all 8 months old. Meet Daniel and Dalton, 2 years old, and meet the mom of all five, Lisa Yarnell Herr(ph). She's made the Red Cross shelter a home.
LISA YARNELL HERR, MOTHER OF FIVE: This is a strange place. The boys have done really well. They think it's a little party or a picnic. BELLINI: Lisa came prepared to stay a while.
HERR: We almost have the master suite here. Brought our own refrigerator and microwave and TV. Do you want to give Sissy a kiss, Daniel?
BELLINI: She moved here Thursday afternoon.
HERR: My first big hurricane, I guess. We have a lot of windows in the house in the back.
BELLINI: Even with the help of relatives, five children under 2 is a challenge.
HERR: They sleep in the tent. We raise up one of the sides so they can stay cool.
The first night was difficult. They were trying to get settled in and adjusted, so the boys were up until 3:00 a.m., 3:30, so that was hard. You try to keep them quiet, for respect for others in the hallways and that was hard, juggling all five. But luckily the girls were good. They're pretty good babies. In case the hurricane hits, we all grab a baby and run for shelter and just kind of hold them close, so we kind of have our own little plan. There's five of us adults to juggle and five babies, of course.
BELLINI: If what happens?
HERR: If the hurricane really got bad here as far as the building and all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And that was CNN's Jason Bellini reporting.
We want to give you a live look at the damage outside this morning as the sun comes up over Florida. Here is an affiliate, WSVN, which is showing some of the damage. And looking at a boat right now rocking at Haulover Beach. Let's listen in to some of their local coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're over this and to get mentally back into your daily life you want to take them off. It brings things back to normal if even for just a couple of days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voiceover): I think once ivan's threat is over we can assess that. I guess we have Diana Diaz, is it Broward County?
DIANA DIAZ, WSVN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No, Juno Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Juno Beach. Diana, how is it up there now?
DIAZ: I have to tell you coming through here was some of the worst weather we got. We made our way very slowly from West Palm Beach all of the way here. And here in Juno Beach one of the things that was different here was the amount of flooding.
The flooded streets, so not only do we have to contend some very large trees down in the middle of the roadway, the worse I have to tell you, a little bit frightening portion of it for me, was when we were to maneuvering around these trees you would have these street lights, the heavy street lights, the signals, they were just swinging around as if they were made of paper. They were just swinging around, dangling, many of them were down on the streets. Signs actually were gone.
We headed the wrong way at one point because we didn't realize we were going southbound on A-1A. The signs were gone. A lot of signs had been torn off. As we were driving there was aluminum flying into the middle of the street from I don't know where.
As we're driving into Juno Beach now some of the neighborhoods here the roofs have been torn off. There are large chunks of debris from people's homes, maybe sheds, structures that weren't secure, as well as, of course, large trees, power lines, and then the flooded streets.
People coming back here are going to have a hard time maneuvering. We may be that close at this point, I don't know yet because Ii can't really gauge where we are.
The ocean -- we must be pretty close because the streets are very flooded. And at one point we had to turn around and find another way around.
We're trying to make our way to the satellite truck, which had to power down earlier because of the bad weather moving in. But the winds and the damage that we've seen is much worse here than we saw driving to West Palm Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's still storming there now Diana, obviously.
DIAZ: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you weren't there yesterday. Can you give us an assessment of how windy it is or the gusts or how strong it is up there now?
DIAZ: It's hard to gauge. And the only example I can give is that earlier today we were driving on 95 heading north and we actually had to stop and kind of take shelter under an overpass because the winds were strong and our SUV was rocking back and forth and now it's worse than that, if you can imagine, at that point we didn't think it could get worse but we made our way to the Palm Beach County Airport and now here in Juno Beach is the worse weather we've seen so far. It is getting hammered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diana, I just want to tell you that, again, you're so close to the core of this thing. As it moves westward, it took all night to come on shore and I'm seeing some heavy thunderstorms around the east side. That's what you're getting battered with and that's going to take a while to move westward, even though it's moving faster today than yesterday, it's still only eight miles an hour, so it'll be a while.
NGUYEN: You've been listening to live coverage from affiliate WSVN in Florida. We are continuing to follow Hurricane Frances this morning, we'll have live coverage of our own coming right back. Stay with us.
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