Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
620 Wildfires Burning in California; Ferry Capsizes
Aired June 22, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Take a look, extreme weather leads to extreme firefighting. Five thousand lightning strikes sparking, get this, 602 wildfires in California.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Also, a race against time this morning. A ferry, like this one you're seeing here, has capsized, and there are over 700 people missing.
NGUYEN: And an unwelcome surprise in the Midwest. Water levels along some parts of the Mississippi are higher than expected. Several towns on flood watch this morning.
HOLMES: Also, a developing story in Saudi Arabia. We are keeping close tabs on an oil summit that could impact the price of gas here at home. But, I should probably just be honest with you. The price is not going to come down before -- you know, next year.
NGUYEN: Next century. I don't know.
HOLMES: All right, everybody. Good morning to you on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yeah, now that we have your spirits up about gas prices. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thanks for starting your day with us.
OK, we have some numbers just into CNN showing just how bad the fire danger is in northern California. A fire official is now telling us that there are more than 600 fires burning.
HOLMES: Yes, all those fires caused by thousands of lightning strikes. We have Mike Jarvis, the deputy communications director, for Cal Fire, who's on the phone with us right now.
Mr. Jarvis, thank you for giving us some time. Surprising you have any time -- 600 fires we're talking about, here. Help people put this in perspective. We know that they're not all massive fires, but how do you go about attacking 600 fires?
MIKE JARVIS, DEP DIR COMMUNICATIONS, CAL FIRE: Well, we used a lot of techniques. And to update you on that, that's in the last probably 24 to 36 hours, there were that many fires, now a lot of them have been put out because they're short and quick, they're what are called spot fires, but there are some large -- a couple larger ones that are still going. There's one over in Napa that's about -- I think it's gotten up to about 3,000 acres. They've lost a home, they've got about 250 homes that were evacuated over there, and they're hitting that pretty hard. We put an incident command team on it.
But, what we mainly do is just -- it's a lot of running and gunning. You just got to go out and chase these things and put them out as they happen. This is from an area spanning from down near Fresno and Madeira counties on the central alley and over to Monterey County, and pretty much from there north to the Oregon border. So, it's just a matter of deploying equipment, resources as fast as you can. A lot of these lightning strikes were in very remote areas where there's not many homes or people and in some areas no roads, so we kind of leave those alone. But, the ones that start jumping into neighborhoods and that type of thing, we hit it really fast with the aggressive initial attack.
HOLMES: And tell us, is that the -- you mentioned the one in Napa. Is that the largest one and the biggest concern, right now? You said homes are being threatened, people had to be evacuated. Are there any other evacuations going on anywhere else on a major scale and also any more structures burned that we know of, right now?
JARVIS: No, only the one house that we know of on that one fire. Now, we haven't had a lot of reports of structure damage, but we have had a lot of engines and fire personnel that have had to go out and do what we call structure protection, which is get between the fire and the homes. But no, the only real large evacuation that we even heard of yesterday was a commune up in northern California. You've got to remember a lot of this place is remote, a lot on national forestlands. We've been working very closely with the partners with the National Forest Service as well as local government to just try and get these fires as fast as we can.
I think it was yesterday afternoon Governor Schwarzenegger sent in some aircraft from the National Guard, they've been very involved. The governor is always involved with the fires out here. So, it's been very busy and very active and there's been people going all night in all directions. But, one of the really strange -- I don't know if it's strange, but one of the things that happened yesterday was some of these clouds developed on the coast near Monterey and Santa Cruz and eventually after starting fires there, worked their way across the width of the state, went over to Sierra, Nevada and started other fires. And that's just the central part. The northern part is where most of the activity has been. I think in Mendocino alone they had 90 fires and up around Clamette and Humboldt and some of these other places, it was just pretty craze country.
HOLMES: Wow, and crazy, exactly. I know you all are used to dealing with this stuff every season and have been doing it for a long time, but it's still 600-something fires, like you say, crazy might be the best way to put it. Mr. Jarvis -- Mike Jarvis, again, deputy communications director with Cal Fire. Sir, good luck to you out there, you all take care. Be safe.
JARVIS: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Now, to southern California, the power is still out for some people. So, the beach is the place to be to cool off, well, it was 111 degrees yesterday, after all. And High temperatures are expected again today. About 1,800 customers are still without electricity, that means no AC this morning. And the crews, well, they did work through the night to try to get that power back on, and they're still working, apparently.
HOLMES: And we're going ahead now to the Midwest flooding we've been talking about the past several days and our Reynolds Wolf, meteorologist, he's usually here with us in the Weather Center, and hasn't been the past couple of days. He's been literally in the water, in the Mississippi River, literally, for the past few days.
NGUYEN: And right now he's in Grafton, Illinois. It is just up the river from St. Louis.
And Reynolds, we were talking a little earlier that water levels on parts of the Mississippi are actually higher than expected. What's it like where you are?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right now it is certainly getting pretty deep, to say the very least. Hey, we're going to switch gears for just a moment. We're going to talk about the river again in just a second, but right now let's talk a little bit about shopping.
On a Sunday morning, if you were going to go shopping in Grafton, Illinois, you wanted to go someplace and get great cabinets, Moby's is the place to be. But today it's closed for business. No one is going in except for a CNN crew, a couple of crawdads, and a few minnows. Let's take a look.
Also, the Mississippi floodwaters have found their way in today and you can see in this place, we've got water as far as you can see to the other side of the room. Thankfully, Mr. Mosby, who also happens to be the town mayor, was smart enough to go and get most of his supplies and bring them out. The reason he knew to do that is because this was not the first time this happened here. In 1993 the water was so high in here it got all the way up to the ceiling. In '95, pretty much the same story.
I'll go you one better, back in 1995 and in 1993, the water was so high, they had to come in here and get a tractor, a front end loader, and actually scoop up all the silt, all the dirt, all the garbage and get it out of here. But today, here's the situation. We've got the water, it is expected to rise a few more feet. And wow, certainly a scary prospect for many people, but many of them have been through this before.
Well, let's head on back outside for a moment. As we do so, we've got to step lightly. Photojournalist, Emmanuel Tambakakis, is the one who's showing you these great pictures, and unfortunately with our technology, we have these cables we've got to pull the cameras with, so we've got to be really careful where we step, and obviously we can't really see the floor due to all the water, which as we do anticipate should get a little bit higher.
As we step outside -- Emmanuel, be really careful, dude. Here you go.
Take a look at the top of these eaves, I was told by the mayor that's how high the water got back in 1993. Gives you a little perspective how high it is now, still a major flood, and what we anticipate. Something else we anticipate, which I'm sure Karen Maginnis will tell you about later on -- look off in the distance, we do see some clouds, the possibility of rain in the forecast, something we really don't need, especially in places like Grafton. That's the latest we've got, let's send it back to you in the studio.
NGUYEN: Yeah, we'll defiantly get with Karen to see what the forecast is for that area, because as you mentioned, water is everywhere. The last thing you need is more rain. Thank you, Reynolds.
HOLMES: Well, we do have a massive cleanup underway as well in areas of the Midwest, where a lot of that water that's gone.
NGUYEN: And in some Iowa neighborhoods, streets are piled with debris. Look at this, all this garbage from flooded homes and businesses. According to the "Des Moines Register," officials expect to haul away some 96,000 tons of trash just from the city of Cedar Rapids.
So let's get to Karen Maginnis, as we talked about not only the cleanup, but the possible rain that may be heading in.
We saw those clouds in Reynolds' live shot there, Karen. Are they expecting some of the wet stuff today?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They certainly are. As a matter of fact, right now we're starting to see mostly light precipitation. There area a few areas where the precipitation is a little heavier, right on St. Louis, you're right on the fringe of it down towards Springfield. But it is this corridor that we're most concerned about.
Speaking of this corridor, the Mississippi River, we've been talking about this for weeks, now. A lot of this is agricultural land, but they're already saying billions of dollars worth of damage. At Canton, we saw the river crest early this morning. We move on though towards Hannibal and Clarksville during the very early morning hours of Monday. But for St. Louis -- now the irony is that St. Louis has only seen about an inch and a half of rainfall so far for the month. Well, there's going to be a little bit more, maybe a quarter of an inch, that's not going to be anything substantial. But, this is a weather weary area.
The other big news, record high temperatures. Look at that, Los Angeles 92. Phoenix, 115 degrees, yesterday. T.J., Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, Karen, thank you for that.
Want to move now to the tragedy in the Philippines. More than 700 people are missing, feared dead, after a passenger ferry capsized and sank during a typhoon. Now, the Red Cross says an air pocket could be keeping some of those passengers and crew alive. So, set's talk more about that. Joining us by phone is Paul Alexander, the "Associated Press" bureau chief in Manila.
And Paul, before we get to the air pocket, want to make it clear, when we talk about this ferry that capsized -- and we're looking at some video of a ferry very similar to the one in question, here -- was it because of the typhoon that was in the area at the time?
PAUL ALEXANDER, ASSOCIATED PRESS BUREAU CHIEF: That appears to be the case. Obviously, an investigation is going to have to be held to determine exactly what happened, here. But it appears that the high winds from this typhoon that blew in and has devastated other parts of the Philippines just ran this ship aground and then capsized it. What we're hearing is that it's sticking basically upside down with one end sticking up in the air. You can sort of see the anchor hole in it, so something pretty major had to have blown this over.
NGUYEN: All right, Paul, but here's the question. If a typhoon was in the area, why was this ferry allowed to set sail? Why wasn't it just docked?
ALEXANDER: Well, that's obviously the question that even President Arroyo is asking. She left on Saturday night for her already scheduled trip to the United States and she has already been talking to officials here demanding to know why this boat was allowed to go with so many people onboard, even though everyone knew that a typhoon was going to be hitting this area. This boat was going from Manila down to Saibou (ph) and was going right into the path of the typhoon.
NGUYEN: Goodness, so far there's over 150 reported dead because of that typhoon. Now, let's shift over to the ferry. It was carrying about 700 people at the time. And only just a handful, maybe three or four, have actually made it to shore alive. And the question now for a lot of people is since this boat was so big -- when we think of a ferry, we think of something much smaller than what we're looking at now, it looks more like a cruise ship. There's the possibility that maybe an air pocket inside has allowed for some of those survivors to make it through?
ALEXANDER: Well, the thing is that nobody knows what really has happened, here. All we have are a handful of bodies and a handful of survivors out of over 740 people. Now, you know, there have been reports that some of these people might be alive and on some other islands that lost communication and there are reports that, you know, a life boat possibly being seen off of another island. We don't know. And an air pocket is certainly a possibility. The Philippine government has already talked about possibly even bringing in some U.S. military assistance to see if they could get inside that ship.
NGUYEN: Yeah, I'm reading here that the Philippine government has asked the U.S. Navy for some sea borne helicopters that can bring in divers. Very quickly, let me ask you this. And because of this storm, is it still causing some problems for the rescue efforts? ALEXANDER: Well, only one boat was able to really even approach the stricken ship, today. A number of other ships were in the area, but only one was able to approach, and it saw no signs of survivors. That doesn't mean that there aren't any somewhere there, but...
NGUYEN: It's a race against time, no doubt. All right, Paul Alexander, with the "Associated Press" there in Manila. We do appreciate your information, today. Thank you.
Well, in other news, a political get together this week is sure to make headlines. All right, here it goes -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigning together. Yes, we're going to talk about it in our "Political Roundup."
HOLMES: Also, Elian Gonzalez? Eight years after his return to Cuba, he is stirring up debate about Barack Obama. We will explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The bullet has replaced the ballot. That quote from the opposition leader you're seeing there in Zimbabwe who has announced, that's Morgan Tsvangirai we're talking about here, has announced today that in fact, he is pulling out of Friday's runoff election in Zimbabwe. This goes back to the March 29 election in which he challenged sitting president Robert Mugabe who has been in power there since 1980, since Zimbabwe gained its independence. But he did get, according to official tallies, more votes, but they did have to go to a runoff, but Tsvangirai now is saying because of violence that has plagued the campaign season leading up to this runoff, several people have been killed, threatened, intimidated along the way in this runoff election, and now he is saying because of that atmosphere, he is pulling out of the runoff election. We don't know now what this means going forward.
It does mean if the runoff does go forward on Friday, the that man you're seeing, Robert Mugabe, the president, would be unchallenged, essentially. So, we don't know what happens moving forward, but again, we have been watching this story for the past several months now and there has been violence and intimidation alleged in this election. But, the opposition leader, once again, has pulled out now of the runoff elections scheduled to happen in Zimbabwe on Friday. We'll see what that means moving forward.
NGUYEN: As we will indeed be watching it as well as these stories. A female suicide bomber has struck in Iraq. At least 16 people died in this morning's attack in central Baquba, that is northeast of Baghdad, and another 40 people were wounded. Police and children were among the casualties near a government complex. More than 20 female bombers have struck this year in Iraq. U.S. military officials say they're being heavily recruited by al Qaeda in Iraq, and the reason, women can more easily avoid beefed up security measures.
HOLMES: Well, Saudi Arabia is hosting an International Energy Summit, today. Delegates from 36 countries, including the United States, are attending. The main goal here is to come up with ways to bring down crude oil prices. Saudi Arabia announced it has increased output from nine million barrels a day to 9.7 million barrels a day.
Well, Barack Obama and John McCain trading shots and pointing fingers over the Midwest flooding. That's just part of our "Political Roundup" this morning. And with us from Washington, always good to see our CNN political producer, Sasha Johnson.
Sasha, good morning to you.
SASHA JOHNSON, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Good morning.
HOLMES: Let's start with the levee thing. Barack Obama, the first shot coming from his side. They're going back and forth. Does this seem like, or could come across and turn off people that this looks like -- I mean, you're using what has been a tragedy, and people right now still in that tragedy, to make a political point and take a political shot at your opponent. Is this going to come off looking bad?
JOHNSON: Well, I mean, it could. It sort of depends who's paying attention to this particular skirmish. But, I think, if you take a step back and take sort of the wide perspective view, I mean, it all comes down to these guys running for president are trying to say, look, I care about people like you, I care about your problems, I care about your needs. And so for Barack Obama to come out and say John McCain voted against funding that might have kept the levees intact. And then John McCain, obviously, needs to come back and say, well, wait a second, no, I didn't. This isn't the kind of campaign Barack Obama promised to run. In fact, Barack Obama voted against an amendment that would have given more to these levees. So, I think they're both trying to say, hey, we feel your pain, we want to help you. And any indication that they didn't feel that way, would obviously hurt them.
HOLMES: Yeah, and you make the point here, is that going to hurt Barack Obama? Because this is not the type of politics he has promised to practice from the very beginning and it could be tied into the comment he made about Republicans possibly using the fact that he's black to scare people. I mean, he's injecting race into his race, something he said he wouldn't do. And now here he is attacking John McCain. Does he have a bigger problem, perception issue, trying to run this kind of campaign?
JOHNSON: Well, I mean, I think we saw Barack Obama kind of deal with this during the primaries when he went after John Edwards on various issues and then went after Hillary Clinton, but his argument is, look, I do want to practice a new kind of politics, but I'm also not going to take any kind of criticism lying down. You know, we've seen John Kerry fell victim to that in 2004. We've seen other Democrats who haven't fought back hard enough on those issues.
So you mention the fundraiser the other night. I mean, in that, when he talks about that and says, look, they're going to bring up the fact that I'm black, they're going to bring up these rumors over the fact I might be Muslim, they're going to say I don't wear a flag pin and I don't love my country. Well, you know, well, it may seem odd that he brings them up on his own, I think that he's taking a lesson from history and saying, look, I'm going to confront these issues head on, they exist, I can't ignore them, if I do I might lose.
HOLMES: All right, last thing here that we have time for. The photo op of all photo ops coming up this week. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama side-by-side and not going at each other, but she's there to support him. How big of a deal will this be? Will this the picture that her supporters need?
JOHNSON: I think so, I mean if you look -- there are a couple of things, here. I mean, Thursday he's going to get to meet some of her donors, which is a big deal. I mean, we've talked to donors this week who still don't really feel like Barack Obama has done enough to bring Hillary Clinton and her supporters into the fold. So, he needs to get them to raising money for him, because obviously he's not taking this general election financing.
And then also, when you look at the polls, he's still underperforming a bit among Democrats, if you can believe that or not, and those are some of her supporters. So, I think a picture of the two of them together in a place we don't know where it's going to be just yet, might actually help them, might seal the deal, might convince some of those people to come over and give him a chance and vote for him in the election, so I think that is something that he wants. And she needs it too. I mean, she's in pretty heavy campaign debt, so if he can help her raise money, that would be great for her.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: That's just interesting. You help me get votes, I'll help you pay your bills.
JOHNSON: It all comes back around.
HOLMES: It all goes around. Sasha, always good to see you. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
JOHNSON: You too.
HOLMES: Well, the American Red Cross has been helping disaster victims for more than a century.
NGUYEN: Now its finances, though, have been pushed into the red by the vicious weather over the past six weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started with tornadoes throughout the central U.S. We had wildfires on the coast and now we're having this very significant flooding. And the important point is, it's only June.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So, with hurricanes on the horizon, only borrowed money on hand, will the Red Cross be there in you need it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Well, Elian Gonzalez, you remember that name. It's actually been eight years now since the Cuban boy was in the middle of an international custody battle.
NGUYEN: Well, today some people in south Florida are still mad about the whole thing, and the presidential race may be stirring it up all over again. CNN's Susan Candiotti explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Elian Gonzalez may be long gone from Miami's little Havana, but his American great-uncle won't let anybody forget what happened, least of all Senator Barack Obama.
DELFIN GONZALEZ, ELIAN'S GREAT UNCLE (through translator): I want him to change his advisers, they won't give him good advice.
CANDIOTTI: Back in front of the house, now a museum where Elian used to live, his uncle who speaks little English, said Obama should "reconsider two of his advisers." First Eric Holder, who used to be a deputy under former attorney general, Janet Reno, who ordered Elian's return to his father in Cuba. Holder is now helping Obama choose a running mate.
Second, campaign adviser, Gregory Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer. Craig represented Elian's father in his successful effort to get his son back. For some Cubans, that can never be forgiven.
RUBY FERIA, GONZALEZ FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: It is clear since that day, Elian is a trophy in the hands of the Castro brothers.
CANDIOTTI: This week 14-year-old Elian appeared on Cuban TV as the newest member of the Young Communist Union. A small group outside Elian's house then attacked Obama for his position on Cuba. The problem is, they got it wrong.
FERIA: Barack Obama represents an alliance -- a very dangerous alliance with the Castro regime.
CANDIOTTI: The thing is Obama, like Republican John McCain, supports the decades old trade embargo. However, Obama favors lifting travel restrictions for family visits to Cuba, McCain does not.
But that kind of misinformation can spread like wildfire, mainly among Miami's Spanish speaking community. Despite this flap, the latest Quinnipiac poll gives Obama a comfortable double-digit lead among Florida Hispanic voters -- 53 percent to 43 percent say they would vote for or leaning toward Obama over McCain.
(on camera): What prompted Elian's relative to stage a news conference remains unclear. Some who know him don't doubt his sincerity, but wonder if someone suggested he do it on the eve of Obama's appearance in Miami. The Florida GOP says it did not help him in any way, and Delfin Gonzalez says no one put him up to it.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, with a little pep in his step even after 3,000 miles.
NGUYEN: Yes, the former Super Bowl champion takes a walk, long walk. But he was raising money for a pretty good cause. We'll check in with him, check his steps when this CNN SUNDAY MORNING rolls on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hello and welcome back, everyone. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's a quick look at the top stories.
A powerful typhoon hits the Philippines. The Red Cross says the storm killed up to 150 people, and there are fears that that death toll could go higher. There is a race against time to find nearly 750 people missing after their passenger ferry capsized after that typhoon.
We have numbers showing just how bad, though, back here in the U.S. the fire danger is in northern California. A fire official is now telling us there are more than 600 fires burning, and those fires were caused by thousands of lightning strikes.
Let's go back now to Grafton, Illinois, where the Mississippi River has taken up temporary residence in the town. The picture on the left is what downtown looked like just last weekend. Shopkeepers then were confident the river would not get this high, but oh, look at it on the right. The picture shows just what went wrong. Reynolds Wolf is in Grafton, he joins us now.
Is the water going to get much higher where you are or are we seeing the worst of it right now?
WOLF: Well, we've got a little bit of problem right now, Betty, because we've got water coming from two directions. Here's what I'm talking about. We're at the CNN live truck. If you look behind me, well, right here on radar, you can see we're pointing to the west, and you see the showers that are coming in. You've got rain that's falling on me. If you look in this mirror, you can see Emmanuel Tambakakis, he's our photographer, he's getting rained on. You come over here and look at our friends in the live truck. You've got Aaron over here and you've got Michael Humphrey, they're dry.
But look, Betty, we still have rain that's going to start falling from the sky, and these floodwaters are going to continue to rise. In the river expected to crest over the next 24 to 48 hours, and then the water is going to stay pretty much that same rate as we go through Thursday maybe even into Friday before it begins to drop.
So, rain from the sky, rain coming -- or rather, water coming in from the river precisely where we don't need it. This is a problem that we're going to seeing up and down the Mississippi. We're being affected by all this water hundreds of miles up and down from this very point, affecting millions of Americans. That's the latest we've got from here, let's send it back to you and let's hope this rain begins to fizzle out.
NGUYEN: Yeah, I hope that's just the worst of it, just a little drizzle, and it will be done, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like that on radar. Thank you, Reynolds.
HOLMES: Of course, a key to dealing with disaster is how well you prepare beforehand and also how you respond after.
NGUYEN: Very key. And we're getting expert advice this morning from a man who played a key role in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and you probably will recognize him, right here to my right, retired lieutenant general, Russel Honore. And if they can take a wide shot of this, it looks like you're moving in, here. You've got a ton of stuff. But this is all very important when you're preparing for a disaster.
LT GEN RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET): Well, you know, we live in a new normal and we see out in the Midwest places normally quiet, now suffering from the wrath of a great storm that pumped a lot of water. And preparation -- how you survive a disaster is directly in proportion to what you were doing before and how you prepare. And the No. 1 thing is to save your life.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. But, what do you need to put in that bag, that emergency bag to make sure you're ready when the floodwaters come or the fires come?
HONORE: First thing, if you have anyone in the family who's depending on medicines, make sure you have medicines available and they go in that bag and go in there quickly. No. 2, to try and have some cash on hand in your bag, because what we depend on, banks and ATMs, probably won't be available if you have a disaster of the proportion as you're seeing now in Iowa and other places.
These masks are very important because there are many times when you go back into the disaster area, you will be ingesting some of the air, and you don't know what's in it. Particularly out in fire land because this is equally important to those who are threatened with wildfires out West to have their preparedness kit.
Food -- this is things you can pick them up and you can buy them on sale.
NGUYEN: It has a little bit of everything in it.
HONORE: It's substance that will keep you alive -- a survival pack.
HOLMES: Do you recommend -- I mean, we see a lot of stuff here, a lot of different items. Do you recommend this for everybody, or do you need a kit that is specific to your area? HONORE: Everybody. Everybody should have the basic things. And you can have a little comfort item in there, stuck in every now and then. Some people got a little attitude in the morning, if they can't get their Coke.
NGUYEN: A little caffeine kick.
HONORE: Documentation, for the tech savvy, those in the family can help the family document important papers, put them on a CD.
NGUYEN: Scan them and put them on your CD.
HONORE: That's right. And then have that saved. Even historical papers about the family, photos, all that can be scanned, put on here, and important papers. Hard copies that you might want to have inside your survival pack. So, also, let's talk a little bit about medicine. A lot of people suffer from diabetes and they need to have the insulin. You can freeze these water bottles; have them on hand in the freezer. Disaster come and you have to evacuate, you put the insulin here, and it will keep it for about a day, which is, will keep it safe and we can keep people healthy.
A poncho, emergency poncho. Most of these items you can pick up at Wal-Mart on discount or Target, places like that. You can build your own kit.
HOLMES: Are you encouraged by what you see? Because you've been going around and you've been talking this and preaching this, are you encouraged that -- by what you're seeing, are people getting the message and starting to do this, or are you having a little fight, trying to get people to do what they need to do?
HONORE: We're behind, but we're catching up. We're going to continue to, through the Red Cross, which is the bellwether of this effort, in every community, Red Cross agencies are trying to get people to be Red Cross ready, which is have a plan, have a kit, and stay informed with the weather radio.
NGUYEN: How many days do you need to be prepared for with that kit?
HONORE: You need to be prepared with at least three days of food and water. And you have these expandable plastic packs that you can put water in here. When you see the disaster coming like a flood, you have days to talk about it, you need to be prepared, move your animals out. In the case of Iowa and Missouri, move your farm equipment out, move your trucks out. It gives you days warning. Then what you're going to do in hours before when you go to flood, though, watch or warning. And then what are you going to do minutes before, which is to get that kit, get out of there. And then at some point in time, as in the case of Iowa, right now the Red Cross is working, they have about 2,000 volunteers on hand helping people with shelter, primarily food and water and cleaning supplies. Further downstream, in Missouri and Illinois, they're still working on shelter. Feeding about 20,000 people a day, which is significant.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Considering the Red Cross...
HONORE: They will help and keep your family alive, but in the long term, people need to be prepared and having these kits will keep alive if you get isolated or you get to a point where you have to go to a shelter. One of the other important things is bring a little change of clothes with you. These are the type of things, this is old army towels, stuff people hand out, this is a t-shirt.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: So, three days worth of items in this.
HONORE: And a change of clothes.
NGUYEN: One thing we need to mention very quickly, though, is not only do you need to be prepared and so does the Red Cross. And they need funds at this time and we're going to be talking about that very shortly. But General, as always, we appreciate your information and bringing all of this in.
HONORE: Speaking of that, I want to challenge the CEOs out there and big oil people who are making all that money. I'm a company of one and here's my $1,000 check...
NGUYEN: Thousand dollar check, right there.
HONORE: From me and my family to the American Red Cross. And corporates, eat one less lunch this week, and let's pool that money. The Red Cross is very short money, they need money right now to help take care of the people along the Mississippi River Valley. Let's get it done, and let's get it done now. We can do better.
NGUYEN: All right, General, we do appreciate it. I know the Red Cross appreciates this check. Thank you so much for that.
HONORE: God bless.
HOLMES: As we're just talking about here, disaster strikes, America often turns to the Red Cross. And now the relief agency is turning to the public for help. With some help from General Honore, as you just heard from that appeal, but only for the second time in its history, the Red Cross is out of money. A long hurricane season now looms, CNN's Kate Bolduan explains this dire situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like so many homes in Iowa, Josh Clemens' house was under water.
JOSH CLEMENS, RESIDENT: The downstairs is pretty much a complete loss. Our kitchen ceiling has collapsed.
BOLDUAN: Now, Clemens begins the painstaking cleanup, thankful for the food and supplies the American Red Cross has offered.
CLEMENS: They've already been past here a couple of times this morning already and they're doing whatever they can to help.
BOLDUAN: But that very organization needs help itself. Red Cross officials say they're out of cash and working on borrowed money.
SUZY DEFRANCIS, RED CROSS SPOKESWOMAN: It started with tornadoes throughout the central U.S. We had wildfires on the coast and now we're having this very significant flooding. And the important point is, it's only June.
BOLDUAN: Red Cross spokeswoman Suzy Defrancis says this is only the second time in its 125-year history the Red Cross has needed a loan to cover operations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you need to cleanup kit? You need a shovel and a rake?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh yeah, that would be great.
BOLDUAN: Thirty-five hundred personnel on the ground in the Midwest and about 2,000 people coordinating everything from its Washington headquarter.
(on camera): This is the nerve center of Red Cross disaster operations with daily conference calls like this one to get the latest information from the hardest hit areas. Now, when all is said and done, they estimate their efforts in the Midwest alone will cost $15 million.
(voice over): The Red Cross says the struggling economy is also to blame for sluggish donations.
DEFRANCIS: This is a difficult time for people with gas prices and food prices going up and so, they have less disposable income.
BOLDUAN: But critics say this may be more about credibility than tough economic times. They point to rapid turnover at the top of the Red Cross which has had five CEOs in just six years.
PAUL C. LIGHT, PROFESSOR, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Americans have lost confidence in the Red Cross to spend their money wisely so they're holding off until the next disaster until they can actually see where their money is going.
BOLDUAN: Red Cross officials know they face a long and threatening hurricane season ahead. Image problem or not, they just hope their financial forecast improves quickly.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, just how far would you walk for a good cause? Would you walk 3,000 miles?
NGUYEN: Three-thousand miles, folks. That's what one former football player did -- great, in fact. And we're going to tell you why when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now for some of other stories that we are following for you this morning.
HOLMES: Just a heart breaking story, here, and a horrible crash. There you see, this is drag racer Scott Kalitta, the driver of that car, you see it explode and goes down to the end of the strip and smashes into a barrier at the end. These cars, again, this is a drag race, so these cars really, they go 300-plus miles an hour. He is actually a former champion, won two NHRA championships in his career. Scott Kalitta is his name, 46 years old, really devastating for the racing community.
NGUYEN: A just a terrible accident, there. Oh, goodness.
OK, well, in other news, the father of singer Amy Winehouse says she has the early stages of emphysema from smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes. This file video of Winehouse performing in Los Angeles. The singer was hospitalized Monday after collapsing at her home near London. She does remain under observation. Mitch Winehouse, her father, tells the "Sunday Mirror" newspaper that his daughter has lung damage and may require a full-time oxygen mask to breathe. He also says she has an irregular heartbeat.
HOLMES: Bagpipes greeting former New York Giants great, George Martin. Martin's arrival in San Diego marked the end of his 3,000- mile journey that he made on foot to raise money for ailing 9/11 first responders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE MARTIN, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Three-thousand miles. 3,000 miles -- 3,000. So let's hear it for the people in uniform. Let's hear it for the people in uniform.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Martin raised more than $2 million during that trek. And on other benefits from more than a nine-month walk. Can you believe this? He actually did a little bit more than raise that money, as we mentioned, he lost 40 pounds and went through about, what, two dozen pairs of tennis shoes and it was all for a good cause.
HOLMES: We'll turn now -- talk a little bit about Herbie Hancock. You know that name. He's recorded songs with John Coltrane, Norah Jones, and brought us hits like "Watermelon Man" and "Cantaloupe Island." This year he became the only second jazz musician to ever win a Grammy for album of the year. And what an album it is. The living legend talks now about his music in our "To the Top" report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (voice over): Herbie Hancock is known as a great instrumentalist, but his latest album is described as "musical poetry."
HERBIE HANCOCK, JAZZ MUSICIAN: The focus was on the lyrics, first and then we went out and played.
HOLMES: Hancock paired his music with Joni Mitchell's word for the album "River." The combination captured the Grammy for album of the year.
Hancock's musical journey began five decades ago.
HANCOCK: When I was seven years old, my parents bought me a piano. That was a defining moment in my life.
HOLMES: At age 20, Hancock was already playing with jazz legends.
HANCOCK: My biggest influence was Miles Davis and the members of the band that he had at that time.
HOLMES: In 1983, "Rock It" hit the charts, influencing a new generation.
HANCOCK: It brought hip-hop to the attention of the general audience, and now it's all over the world.
HOLMES: And Hancock won an Oscar in 1987 for his original score for "'Round Midnight." While Hancock's music continued to evolve, his spiritual life remains a constant.
(CHANTING)
HANCOCK: I've been practicing Buddhism for the past 36 years and it kind of opens up my sensitivity to the natural inspiration that's out there.
HOLMES: And he inspires others. Hancock was recently named one of "Time" magazine's 100 most influential people. Naturally, he likes the sound of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is some good stuff, right there.
HOLMES: And "River," I was listening to that last night. I love that album.
NGUYEN: You've been talking about that album for awhile.
HOLMES: I've been taking about it for a while. I love it. I love it.
NGUYEN: You can see why.
Well, it's all about the money. And are you ready to break down? It's not good.
HOLMES: Yeah, this could get down right ugly, actually. We are in debt in a big way, but this one bill we just cannot ignore. A new film says you need to listen up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big is the federal debt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm guessing quite a bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three million?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's in the billions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trillions? Billions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somewhere about a trillion, trillion-and-a- half, somewhere in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it's a heck of a lot more than it was probably 10 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a stab at it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty-nine billion?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's probably huge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So, do you know what the national debt is? Get this. It's more than $9 trillion, nine trillion and counting. And many of us can't wrap our minds around a number like that. But, our guests say we have to. They are sounding the alarm about federal spending in their new film "I.O.U.S.A." Patrick Creadon is the writer and director and Addison Wiggin is the writer and executive producer and they join us today.
Wow, Patrick, let me start with you. When you think about that number, $9 trillion, the first thing people say is how in the world did we get here? So, where do you see the blame falls, I guess you'd say.
PATRICK CREADON, DIRECTOR "I.O.U.S.A.": Well, Betty, unfortunately there's a lot of blame to go around and that's not what our film really goes into. What it goes into is how did we get here? How did we get to this $9.5 trillion worth of federal debt? But more importantly, where we're heading. Where we're heading is a nightmare. Due to low taxes and high spending in the next 10 or 20 years, due in large part because of the baby boomers are going into retirement, we have a financial nightmare on our hands.
And so, what we did is followed David Walker, the former comptroller general of the United States, and followed his story. And I have to tell you, it's a very compelling story, it's a very exciting compelling film, and we're very proud of it.
NGUYEN: Yeah, but you also place blame, honestly, on the war, government programs, inflation, tax cuts, and a number of items, here. And I want to bring in Addison, because, Addison, the film really highlights, I guess, the problem with some traditional political promises, shall we say, and how the theory of do as I say not as I do isn't really working. I want our viewers to take a listen to a little clip from the film.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It stinks. You know, our parents talk our ears off from the time we're 10 about financial responsibility, this is what you have to do, don't get into credit card debt. You have to pay for what you buy. You have to save your money. And then the politicians who are supposed to represent your values and represent what you want, they just aren't doing the same thing. They're telling you one thing and doing another thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So does your film, Addison, offer any solutions as to how do we get out of this?
ADDISON WIGGIN, EXEC PRODUCER "I.O.U.S.A.": Yes, of course it does. You know, we try to offer very specific things that people can do as voters. You know, we're coming into the election cycle and we really want to inject the themes of the movie into the national conversation as people make up their mind who they want to be the next...
NGUYEN: So, what's the theme?
WIGGIN: Well, you know, we have a generation of baby boomers that's about to retire, and we can't afford for them to retire. They're going to have to keep working longer than they ever expected to and...
NGUYEN: But, they can't be the only solution to it, I mean, we're talking $9 trillion in debt.
WIGGIN: Well, there are a number of problems and we put them all in the movie, and you know, we mentioned the war. There are a number of spending initiatives in Washington that need to be addressed and we have to make the political environment such that it's possible for politicians, public officials to address these issues. Right now, if people raise spending issues, they generally just get voted out of office. You know, the people who promise more and then begin to deliver on that are the ones that get reelected, and we're trying to make an environment where people who are fiscally responsible and understand that a balanced budget is a good thing, can have a voice and be effective in policies and positions.
NGUYEN: Well, it is indeed a fascinating film. And you're right to say we all need to take more responsibility, not only just the politicians, but individuals as well and so I appreciate both of you coming on. I wish we had more time to talk about this film, but it's definitely one that is an eye-opener. And we do appreciate the time that you spent in collecting all this information and providing it to us. Thank you.
CREADON: Thanks, Betty.
WIGGIN: Thank you, Betty.
HOLMES: I thought I was in debt. It's time for us to now check in with Howard Kurtz, he's in Washington. We want to see what's ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.
Good morning to you, Howard.
HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Good morning, T.J. Coming up, Michelle Obama makes a huge splash on "The View," and television reporters try to stir things up with Cindy McCain. Are the media looking for a catfight?
A week of tribute on Tim Russert has some critics asking whether journalists have gone overboard in praising one of their own. And who'll get the coveted "Meet the Press" job?
Same sex marriage becomes a reality in California. Are news organizations throwing the confetti?
That plus the media's favorite new golfer, and it's not Tiger Woods, ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.
HOLMES: We are looking forward to all of that. We'll see you here soon, Howard. Thank you so much.
Well, we've got a picture here to show you that's worth a thousand words, bad words, really. A three-legged, one-eyed wonder named "Gus." Just ahead on CNN SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Wow. I don't even know what to say. That's not the prettiest pooch you're going to see. He's actually the ugliest you're going to see. He just won the title of ugliest dog in the world.
NGUYEN: He only has one eye, three legs and just a little white Mohawk of hair, but hear this. Don't feel sorry for him, all right, because he doesn't know how he looks. Plus, I guess his owner got 500 bucks and a chance to be on television because he's so doggone ugly.
Coming up, next on RELIABLE SOURCES, something that is a lot prettier, coverage of the candidates' wives in the presidential race, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama in the spotlight. But first, here's a check of the headlines.
