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CNN Sunday Morning
Severe Storms; Nicolas Cage Released; Secretary Clinton Announces Joint U.S.-Japan Venture to Deal With Japanese Nuclear Crisis
Aired April 17, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good Sunday morning to you all from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING for this April the 17th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Yes, we got hit once again yesterday folks. These severe storms just seemed like they would not let up, made their way to the east coast, ripping up signs, look at the stuff here scattered about, thousands without power this morning.
Also the death toll has gone up and our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras is here and she says the deadly storms are unusual, but she needs to explain why and she will do that. We'll check in with her in just a moment.
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HOLMES: Also, would you believe another air traffic controller falling asleep on the job. We'll tell you at which airport this time.
Plus want to say good morning as always to our servicemen and women who are watching us on the Armed Forces Network this morning, thank you for what you do. Thank you for spending some time. Glad we could be here for you.
You might have some competition actually to our servicemen and women.
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HOLMES (voice-over): It seems like your competition is getting younger and younger. See the little guy there. Just getting started with this training, 7-year-old soldier, we'll explain this fantastic story.
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HOLMES: But first let me start with that devastation we have been seeing, those storms, we've been dealing with for three days now. Strong storms whipping up tornadoes along the eastern seaboard, that storm system could be causing more problems today, farther north, we'll get to that in a second. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): But first take a look, it seems like we have been seeing these pictures for the past several days. Look at that, that's a school bus there. This is in south eastern Virginia, buses tossed around like toys literally.
Officials there say at least three -- excuse me, four people now were killed there. Also let's take a switch over other video we can show you out of North Carolina. North Carolina got hit pretty hard here as well, but such an outbreak of tornadoes we have seen several of them captured by video.
Also look at this in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is one of several cities badly damaged by high winds and tornadoes. The National Weather Service says more than 100 twisters spotted across the region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just told everybody get down, cover up, get into a cubby holes, get into a tight space and make sure to get away from the windows. It's the best thing you do.
HOLMES: Now this storm system being blamed for 30 deaths in several states, at least three in Raleigh in particular. Now take a look at South Carolina, take a look at what's left of a church. Yes, it was a church here we're told.
Near St. Stephen, South Carolina collapsed after reportedly being hit by a tornado. Six people were inside. They were hurt, but they did all survive.
We'll hop on the line right now with Mike Sprayberry. He's a deputy director at the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Sir, I appreciate you hopping on the line with us and give us some perspective here. Put it into terms just how bad off did your state get in?
MIKE SPRAYBERRY, N.C. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Well, it's very bad. We've got some fatalities in five of our counties. We had over 60 reports of tornadoes, over 50 reports of wind damage and scores of homes destroyed or damaged so actually very bad. We're still in the response mode as of this morning.
HOLMES: Sir, give us an idea as well, we know Raleigh sustained some damage. But for the most part where these tornadoes were hitting and where the damage is sustained are we talking about in population centers or more in the rural areas?
SPRAYBERRY: I would have to say both. It's a wide swathe. It started in the western part of our state and just jagged on across the state and it was characterized more in the west with some flooding, with light some tornadic activity. But the tornadoes increased in strength as they went further east and hit both urban and rural areas.
HOLMES: Sir, give us an idea. We've been getting some updated numbers, but the last one you have or the latest ones you have about your death toll, your injured and possibly any missing in North Carolina as well.
SPRAYBERRY: At this time, I'm not prepared to give any numbers on fatalities. We want to confirm with our local county partners today and to get exact numbers before we go public with those numbers.
HOLMES: That certainly makes sense there, sir. How about power, how many people are out?
SPRAYBERRY: Right now, we're looking at a minimum of about 160,000 folks without power, but that could be more. We do have a couple of our electric city partners that are unable to report to us. But we do have at least 400 workers coming in today and they anticipate having most of the power back up in the next couple of days.
HOLMES: Then give us one more idea here, sir. You said some of the population centers, the urban areas as well as the rural areas, but how big, I guess, a path through the state. Are we literally talking west to east, north to south that your state was touched in some way by the storms?
SPRAYBERRY: You know, pretty much. You know, when you look up all the way up to the Virginia border, all the way down to the South Carolina border, we also had resource requests from the outer banks to our east.
And we did some flood rescue up in the west of the mountains yesterday so it was a busy day yesterday for us and a very busy night. It continues to be busy. We're looking for our FEMA partners to come in today and help us to begin to do the damage assessment.
HOLMES: Mike Sprayberry, again, the deputy director of North Carolina Division of Emergency Management. Sir, I know it's been a busy night. It's going to be a busy day and the recovery is going to take days, weeks, months, who know, maybe even years.
But sir, we appreciate you giving us an update and good luck to you and your folks there in North Carolina.
SPRAYBERRY: Thank you very much, sir.
HOLMES: All right, a quick look at the toll from these storms now, the first day was on Thursday, yes, that's when Oklahoma and Arkansas felt the brunt of these storms. Seven people were killed in Arkansas and two in Oklahoma.
On Friday, the storms made their way east hitting Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia as well, seven people killed in Alabama. Then yesterday, the storms moved up the east coast. States hit by the tornadoes, talking about the states, one of the hardest hit was North Carolina as you just heard there. The governor there saying they had at least 60 plus tornadoes there.
Jacqui Jeras here with us now in for our Reynolds Wolf. Jacqui, good to have you here. You came and kind of gave us an update, you said guys this is a bit unusual. So we've moved beyond just OK, it's springtime and this happens.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, no. Yes, this is North Carolina. We're not talking Oklahoma. To see this many tornadoes this severe is really unusual, possibly unprecedented. We're comparing this next to an outbreak that happened in 1984.
Just to put in perspective for you, North Carolina on average in a year will see 19 tornadoes. We blew that away probably in a day. Now the reports are 89, but that's preliminary. And it's likely more than one report of the same tornado.
And in '84 as I mentioned that was 22 reports so we could get certainly very close to that when all is said and done. As we take a look at our Google earth, this will show you all the reports of tornadoes from yesterday.
And there were about 100 of them, just over a hundred and the large majority as I mentioned was in North Carolina. I want to zoom in and give you kind of an example of the history and the track of these storms so take a look.
This is the storm as it moved through the Raleigh area. It touched down first in the Sanford area. So, you know, may have been a couple of tornadoes from the same parent storm or we might find out later that it really had a track this long.
And there you can see another tornado track that moved through here and yet another one that moved through that area. So these were a couple of tornadoes or at least of couple of parent cells that caused all of this widespread damage, just incredible.
Here's a look at the radar from about 10:00 a.m. yesterday to 10:00 p.m. the height of the storms came through between 3:00 and 6:00 and there you can see as they push on in.
The good news is the severe weather threat for today is over and done with. Our storm in the northeast, but not expecting any tornadoes, it's just going to be a raw, wet and windy day.
HOLMES: After what we've seen in the past three days, we'll --
JERAS: Take it.
HOLMES: All right, Jacqui, good to have you here with us. Thank you so much. We're going to turn to some other news now.
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HOLMES: Crews are working around the clock trying to reach a miner trapped underground in Idaho. Part of the silver mine collapsed on Friday. The miner has not been heard from since then. He's about 6,100 feet underground. A second miner in that same area was able to get out OK. According to the locals there, the second miner is actually the other miner's brother. Extra equipment now being brought in, being flown in from the east coast to try to help with the search.
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HOLMES: And here we go again, another air traffic controller has been suspended for sleeping on the job. This is a total of at least seven now in the past couple of weeks.
This one happened during Friday's overnight shift in Miami. The FAA says no aircraft were ever in danger. The Center was actually staffed by 12 other controllers at the time.
Also, there are two managers there so he wasn't the only one there. The FAA is going to be meeting this week to address controllers falling asleep on the job.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Well, actor Nicolas Cage is now out of jail in New Orleans. Here is his mug shot. Cage was arrested late Friday night on domestic abuse, battery, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness charges. CNN's Alec Duke explains what was going on.
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ALAN DUKE, CNN WIRE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: He grabbed her arm and that would constitute the domestic abuse battery charge he's now facing. The other part of the charge is the public drunkenness and also disturbing the peace is what happened after the police arrived, when some onlookers were disturbed about his behavior.
Apparently, he was arguing with her saying "this is the place we've rented. This is where we said." She said "no, it's not." He was apparently heavily intoxicated. Somebody called the police, they came and there was yelling the way the police say, he was banging on the trunks of cars and he was yelling at them and they finally arrested him.
HOLMES: Cage now out on bond. He has to appear again in late May. He is in New Orleans right now filming a movie.
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HOLMES (voice-over): If you're planning on taking Amtrak today, Amtrak is upgrading its reservations system that means you can't buy a ticket until the upgrade is done, which won't be until sometime this afternoon. You can't even get a ticket at the train station. Around 78,000 people ride Amtrak every single day.
Meanwhile, the White House has announced that President Obama will bestow medals of honor posthumously for two soldiers killed during the Korean conflict. The families of Privates First Class, Anthony Kaho'ohanohano is on the left and also Henry Svehla. They will attend a White House ceremony for the awards that's coming up on May the 2nd.
Well, in some sporting news here with the big day yesterday. The first round of the NBA playoffs and man, if this is any indication we're going to have a good playoff run, the Bulls, the number one overall seed if you will in the NBA had the best record this year, well, they didn't lead the game until the final minute.
What you're seeing here though, Tyler Hansborough took an elbow to the head and was knocked out it appear for a little while, but it took them a while to finally pull ahead, had a great run, Derek Rowe led the way, 39 points there.
But Chicago was able to pull it out. They're up 1-0. The Pacers also the Miami Heat, the Atlanta Hawks and the Dallas Mavericks won their first playoff game. Up today, the Lakers, the Spurs, the Celtics and the Knicks, all of them will be in playoff action.
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HOLMES: It's 11 minutes past the hour now. There's more trouble for the damaged nuclear reactor in Japan this morning. Emergency workers have been trying to shut down the plant for five weeks now, of course, and we're now finding out it's going to take a lot longer. Plus new evacuation orders go out this weekend. We're headed live to Japan in 60 seconds.
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HOLMES: It's 13 minutes past the hour now, startling new developments this morning in Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Two more cities on the perimeter of the government mandated exclusion zone are now slated for evacuation as concern grows of another possible leak of radioactive water from plant reactors.
The utility owner, Tokyo Electric, now says it may take up to nine months to fully shut down the damaged reactors. The first time the utility has offered since the March 11th disaster. We'll have more on that in just a moment.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in Japan just a few hours ago announcing a joint venture between the U.S. and Japan to deal with what she calls a multidimensional crisis.
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HOLMES: Now let's get a detail breakdown on these headlines. Head to our Paula Hancocks live for us in Tokyo at our bureau there.
Paula, good morning to you. Help us understand this and put into perspective a possible nine months for a total shutdown, does that mean we could be looking at sometime next year before the danger is gone?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Potentially, T.J., yes. I mean, this is a time line that TEPCO has given us. It's the first timeline that they've given and only really gave it because the prime minister insisted that they give a timeline.
So what they basically said is it could take three months to actually lower the radiation levels in and around the Fukushima nuclear plant and to try and get these cooling systems back online. It could take six to nine months to be able to fully shutdown these reactors and make sure that they've completely cool and stabilized the situation.
So it could potentially take up to months they're saying and it could take that amount of time before some these evacuees who had to move out of that area or in and around the nuclear plant can actually get back home.
But of course, there could be other problems along the way. As they're moving more debris away from this particular nuclear plant and away from the reactors themselves they could find more problems.
As you say, there does appear there to be another leak near the number two reactor, the sea water levels spiked again five times what they were before so, of course, that's raising fears that maybe there is another leak.
So at this point, these are tenuous timelines really. It's very difficult to see how they'll be able to keep to them specifically. But we did know that also the U.S. Secretary of State, as you say, Hillary Clinton was here.
She was here to show her support and show the U.S. support for Japan and she said she was incredibly admiring the resilience and the strength of the Japanese people. Let's listen to what she said.
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HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: After the Indian Ocean tsunami, after the Hurricane Katrina, after the earthquake in Haiti, Japan sent aid and often aid workers.
In places unsettled by conflicts, from Somalia to the Golan Heights, Japan sends peacekeepers, to help Pakistan meet its security and economic challenges, Japan organized a donor's conference and pledged $1 billion itself.
Japan is one of the world's most generous nations and the dozens of countries that have sent support in the past five weeks are honoring Japan's legacy of caring for others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: There's been a significant U.S. effort to try and help the Japanese after these disasters. About 20,000 U.S. troops were involved in the first days with the search and rescue effort and then of course the grim task of trying to search for bodies.
They also helped open the Sendai airport, which is crucial because it's right in that worst affected area. People and aid can get to the area and of course, they have U.S. nuclear experts also trying to advise those at Fukushima. T.J. --
HOLMES: All right, Paula Hancocks for us with the update from Tokyo. We appreciate you as always, Paula. Thanks so much.
Japanese automaker, Toyota, has revamps its production plans in light of last month's disaster. All Toyota factories in Japan will reopen tomorrow for a nine-day stretch then close for a previously planned spring break.
Toyota will restart its assembly lines May 10th through June 3rd at roughly half of capacity. The world's largest automaker says it, quote, "deeply apologizes" to its customers for any delays due to limited parts.
Well, we have a homecoming that's more than 60 years in the making.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can I say? He was a good friend, period. His mother and dad should certainly be proud looking down on him.
HOLMES (voice-over): A World War II airman disappeared over the pacific 67 years ago. His body has finally made it home.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we are at 19 minutes past the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Hello once again to you all. Thanks for spending some of your weekend here with us. Take a look at some of the stories that are making news across the country.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Take a look at this video. Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey, are looking for the driver who sped away - you see somebody holding on there - sped away without paying for gas, dragging the attendant along with him. You see him in the middle of the street, almost hit by passing cars.
This is part of it where he was holding on trying to get the guy to pay. The guy just would not stop. This place the station had been hit several times in recent months by so-called "pump and run" drivers. We often see this go up when the gas prices go up. They are high as you know right now.
A small plane crashed into a minivan in New Orleans. The pilot lost power and was attempting to land in a grassy area between two streets. He slammed into a minivan with a family with two small children inside, but again, everybody's OK.
And this is - some great video. A little guy in fatigue, you see the little guy in the middle? The Make-A-Wish Foundation, you see them there, he's in training. The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Fourth Army Brigade in Fort Riley, Kansas, teamed up to make a young boy's dream of joining the army come true.
It's 7-year-old Ian Field, he actually suffers from a rare muscular degenerative disease. That didn't stop him though from finding out what it's like to be in the army only if he was able to find out for a day or two. He got trained on tanks, on guns and he even stayed a night in the barracks and was administered the oath of enlistment.
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HOLMES: We turn now to Lowell, Massachusetts. A World War II Army Lieutenant Martin Murray, he was buried with full military honors, 67 years after his plane and crew disappeared during a mission over the Pacific. Our affiliate WCVB with the story.
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AMALIA BARADA, NEWS CENTER 5 (voice-over): After 67 years, Army Air Corps 2nd Lieutenant Martin Murray will finally rest in peace at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell.
He was 22 when he and his crew were lost in the South Pacific while on a reconnaissance mission during World War II. That was in October of 1943. Four years after the wreckage was discovered in 2003 in Papua, New Guinea.
Murray's remains were positively identified on this blustery spring day the wind whipped his dog tags attached to his casket.
JACK FLOOD, FRIEND: Today is a sorrowful day. What can I say, he was a good friend, period.
BARADA: The 89-year-old Jack Flood came back from the war he also fought in. He was among the many who attended today's funeral including extended family who never met the relative they were burying today.
KATHLEEN CLANCY, SECOND COUSIN: It's just an honor. It's wonderful to have him home and to be buried along with his family.
BARADA: Murray's funeral procession included a pass by 30 Costgroove Street, the house where he grew up here in Lowell. When he disappeared, he was survived by his parents and three sisters, but they have all passed away. What is it they wrote to him, came back, missing in action.
Inside the house, family members went through a treasure throve of memories, a trunk filled with old pictures, letters returned to the family by the military, many writings to his mother. And even the Western Union telegram from Washington bearing the terrible news that he was missing in action. Murray's immediate family would not live to know that his remains were found.
EILEEN RYAN, SECOND COUSIN: And that's the sad part to know that they all predeceased him and they would have enjoyed this moment.
FLOOD: As good a boy as you could ask for. His mother and dad should certainly be proud looking down today.
BARADA: In Lowell, Amalia Barada, News Center 5.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, at the end of World War II, about 79,000 American service members were missing in action. More than 74,000 still unaccounted for.
Well, it will be remembered as yet another blow to a region still feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina. One year ago this week that massive oil spill on the Gulf Coast, 12 months later the effects of the tragedy remain for thousands living in that area and even beyond.
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HOLMES: It's 27 minutes past the hour now. This week marking the one-year anniversary since that deepwater horizon disaster began, changed the face of the Gulf Coast for years and years to come.
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HOLMES (voice-over): CNN will be bringing you special reports from the Gulf Coast to see how people are faring one year later and what still needs to be done. As CNN's Sarah Endo now reports, damage from the fishing industries is still being felt across the region and beyond.
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SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., a year ago shrimp boats replaced their nets with booms to skim Gulf Coast water for oil. The fishing industry came to a standstill with the focus on cleanup.
Prices for coveted Gulf Coast seafood skyrocketed nationwide and fears of food safety also hurt the market. With the height of seafood season just weeks away, we revisited a popular Maryland crab house to see if market prices are any better a year since the Gulf oil spill.
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ENDO: This is the freezer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I normally would have, you know, 500 to 1,000 pounds of shrimp in here. There's 10, 20, and what's that 15, so I got 35 pounds of shrimp in here. That's it.
ENDO: Nothing out there especially from Louisiana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I prefer Louisiana. I just can't get it. Well, from last year at this time, it's gone up about $5 a pound.
ENDO (voice-over): We first visited cantlers in Annapolis, Maryland to last year where crab prices soared because of the spill. But now, it's the shrimp is so expensive it will likely affect the menu.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Increase the prices a little bit just so we can keep our people employed and you know, everybody happy.
ENDO (on camera): This is the jumbo sized shrimp?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ENDO: And size matters?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Size matters. Yes, it does.
ENDO: This is what customers want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Cantler-style jumbo shrimp, oiled with some seasonings, some red potatoes and onions.
ENDO: Not only is the seafood industry still hurting and feeling the effects of the oil spill, now the crisis in Japan could be another factor, which could drive seafood prices up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they're leaking any radioactivity into the water, I mean, everybody is going to be looking at that. That is a volatile area right now.
ENDO (voice-over): At Cannon's fish market in Washington, a coveted delivery from the Gulf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Louisiana.
BOBBY MOORE, CANNON SEAFOOD: A lot of the fishermen stopped fishing because they took payouts from BP and there are not as many fishermen. So it's driving the price up.
ENDO: Although Gulf waters are open now for fishing and shrimping, they were closed for months after the spill taking a toll on inventory.
MOORE: There's less product now so supply and demand, we're paying probably double in price right now.
ENDO: Unnecessary paying for these businesses to stay alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last thing you ever want to do is take something popular and not have it. That's like me not having crabs. I mean, it's just unheard of. You can't do that.
So, I got to scratch and whatever, claw to find this product. And I've been able to, but I'm paying for it.
ENDO (on camera): As you can see, it comes down to simple supply and demand and consumer confidence. And as the summer season approaches, it's safe to say everyone will be looking at their bottom line -- T.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Thanks as always to our Sandra Endo there.
And coming up in about 45 minutes, we're going to be talking to the mayor of Gulf Shores, Alabama, to see how his community is recovering. Also, how he's personally trying to calm fears ahead of tourist season. Again, he's coming your way in just about 45 minutes.
Well, Passover, the Jewish holiday, starts tomorrow. But how much do you really know about it? Our Nadia Bilchik with the Passover one on one. That's in our "Morning Passport."
Also, the price of postage is going up again but not everything you put in the mail is going to cost you more. You need to hear about the changes, though.
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HOLMES: We're at 34 minutes past the hour now. Welcome back to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Thank you all for being here.
I want to turn to Libya right now, where NATO is keeping up the pressure on Moammar Gadhafi. But the airstrikes don't seem to be slowing Gadhafi's forces. Take a look and listen.
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HOLMES: This is what it's sounding like on the streets of Misrata. Heavy fighting there between rebel and government forces. A spokesperson by the rebels says shelling by Gadhafi's troops there this morning killed at least six people. A human rights group says government troops are using so-called cluster bombs in Misrata -- those are especially deadly to civilians and for the most part banned internationally.
But let's turn now to the capital of Tripoli, where NATO airstrikes have hit targets around that city, taking aim at Gadhafi's power base. But as CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports, the strikes are serving as a rallying cry for government troops.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a clear sign that NATO's air campaign is still in full swing, we had several loud explosions here in Tripoli Saturday night, it was about four or five very loud explosions coming in part from downtown Tripoli. But it also seems as though somewhere on the outskirts, there might have been some explosions as well. This was followed by a lot of anti-aircraft fire which went on for quite awhile, at least for half an hour, after these airstrikes were done. But it's clear that NATO is still keeping up its air campaign and still very much hitting targets here in the Tripoli area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our message to the NATO and the United Kingdom and France, we say to them, we will kill you, if you come to our land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will die and everybody here will die for Moammar Gadhafi and Allah, and our Libya.
PLEITGEN: Shortly after the airstrikes, several hundred people gathered here at Gadhafi's compound to swear allegiance to the Libyan leader and also to denounce NATO for its airstrikes.
Many of those who came here swore that they would stay here to act as human shields for Moammar Gadhafi and that they wouldn't leave until the NATO bombing campaign ends.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tripoli, Libya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Some of the other stories making headlines now -- at least 30 people have been killed in a three-day outbreak of severe weather spanning from the southern plains to the mid-Atlantic. Nine people killed yesterday in North Carolina alone as a series of tornadoes called mass destruction there. The remaining bulk of the storm system is affecting Canada's coastal provinces.
Cubans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion with a huge military parade Saturday. Are you seeing this? Tens of thousands marched to Havana to march with the beat of U.S.- backed Cuban exiles back in 1961.
Also, President Raul Castro addressed the first convention of the communist party congress, first time in 14 years, and outlined major political reform.
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RAUL CASTRO, CUBAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We recommend limiting the fundamental political and state offices to a maximum of two consecutive periods of five years.
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HOLMES: That was just one big part of it, talking about actual term limits. We will see if reform takes place.
What you're seeing here now video of stamps because I need to tell you that the U.S. Postal Service is raising rates, but not on the stamps. The 44-cent stamp, that forever stamp you've been buying, it's not going to go up, but some rates are going up on other things.
Now, also, express and priority mail, those aren't going to be bothered either. But you will see a three-cent hike if your first class letter weighs more than an ounce and you'll also be paying a penny more for post cards. Also, commercial mail rates will be slightly higher as well.
We've been telling you, at least 30 people killed in the outbreak of tornadoes and strong storms you've seen over the past several days. But these storms such an outbreak and so many people are out chasing these things that we actually got a lot of them on video. Take a look at some of them.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go, that's start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's start. That's a tornado. Whoa, there's another one left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about to the right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You know what? You can imagine people sound a little excitable, but frankly, when you're seeing this. But he's watching this video and we are seeing it, he was right there in front. It looked like a series of tornadoes all being caught right there on film, maybe up to four. That was in Alabama -- just one of the powerful systems that was caught on camera.
Here's another one we can show you. This one out of Mississippi.
Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras -- there where that one is. But our Jacqui Jeras is here with us this weekend. She will put all of this in perspective for us, what we have seen over the past several days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 41 minutes past the hour. Jacqui Jeras is here with me now.
You seem like it used to be a time it was rare to catch a tornado on camera.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HOLMES: But, now, we get them every time there's a tornado.
JERAS: Well, with technology out there and there's so many storm spotters and enthusiasts, I think it has some of these shows that are out there, too, have a lot of people getting out.
HOLMES: A lot of people were saying they're not real storm chasers. They're just enthusiasts?
JERAS: Well, some of them are, and some of them aren't.
HOLMES: OK.
JERAS: But either way you slice it, it's amazing pictures. And, you know, safety, I always want to say, you got to be safe. You better know what you're doing when you're taking these pictures. Or you could be putting your life in jeopardy.
All right. Let's talk about the first one. Look, this is amazing from Pine Apple, Alabama. This is taken on Friday as this storms moved through. And there you can see, there's one tornado for sure that's kind of more on the right-hand side of your screen that touches down. And look just to the left of that, we've got a funnel developing.
And just to the left of that, you know, maybe. That was a maybe. That might be scud hanging down but looks like it might be rotating there, too.
HOLMES: OK. How far away -- they look like they are right next to each other, but how far? I mean, are they literally next to each other or could there be distance between these --
JERAS: From this distance, it's hard to tell. But this is, you know, obviously, one parent storm. See? There you see the left hanging down a little bit more. That looks more potential. But this is definitely a multi-vortex tornado that was shot there.
HOLMES: OK. We have several more of these. And again, can these things still be helpful, the video, do they still --
JERAS: Sure.
HOLMES: -- the meteorologists still study some of these videos and they could still help us down the road?
JERAS: Absolutely. There's all kinds of things you can learn. This one is over a reservoir in Mississippi, in Madison County there. That one also on Friday. This was over Ross Barnett Reservoir. So, we call it a waterspout when it's over water basically. And as soon as it touches land, we called it a tornado.
But, you know, you can study of how a tornado reacts as it moves over structures, you can, you know, see how it behaves as it moves over different terrain. You can see how, you know, goes down and comes up. There's all kind of things that we can learn about tornadoes just by watching the video.
HOLMES: All right. As we turn to one more -- I'll ask as well, do a lot of these folks we're seeing, do they just happen to be in a place and record these or they are literally watching the forecast and they are going to spots that they have a pretty good idea these things are going to develop?
JERAS: Yes. A lot of the storm chasers are the ones that know what they're doing. And they've got, you know, the radar even in their vehicles, a lot of times, up there on wheels, as we call it.
This particular one from Sanford, North Carolina, yesterday -- this was just somebody who is in the car and happened to see it, and you know, got out their iPhone and started shooting that.
HOLMES: What should they have done?
JERAS: What should they have done --
HOLMES: You're driving down the street, you see a tornado -- you don't recommend stopping and getting video. What do you do?
JERAS: If you don't know where you are in relation to the where the storm is and where it's moving and what tornadoes typically do, you certainly, you want -- there's an argument to be made right now. And so, we used to say, get out of your car, right, and get to a safe place.
But, now, because cars can turn into a missile, right?
HOLMES: Yes.
JERAS: Basically, and that will move. But there's some argument that you might actually be safer in your car now, if you can get underground, that's the best thing to do.
HOLMES: OK. Jacqui Jeras, we appreciate you. Much more to come weather-wise and still we're kind of done with or this system cause us problems these past three days.
JERAS: Yes. No more tornadoes today. Tuesday will be the next day that we're watching for severe weather.
HOLMES: All right. We'll check in with you. Jacqui, good to have you here with us.
JERAS: OK.
HOLMES: What in a world could a $222 million apartment look like? Not my place.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The Jewish holiday of Passover begins Monday at sundown. For the next eight days, the time for reflection and gratitude for Jews all over the world. But how much do you really know? We dub this as Passover 101.
Our Nadia Bilchik here to explain the historical significance of the holiday and explain the Seder as well.
But let's start just basically the short answer -- NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: The story of Passover.
HOLMES: Passover. What is Passover?
BILCHIK: The tenth plague that God visited on the people of Egypt. Because remember, Jews or the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. So, the tenth plague was the smiting of the last born and what happened is the Israelites were passed over because they had blood on their doors that signified that they were the Israelites. So, that's in essence.
So, what had happened was Moses said to pharaoh, "Please let my people go." Pharaoh didn't, and eventually through the plagues, the Israelites were allowed to leave. And they left in a terrible hurry, which is why their bread was not leavened, which is why you have matza. So, matza is unleavened bread.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: It is bread that was in a rush. And for the seven days during Passover, Jews do not eat anything that can rise.
Now, other things that will happen during the Passover are the following: is that bitter herbs signify the bitterness of the slave experience. And then you have the shank bone, which is the arm of God and the powerful arm of God in freeing the people. And you have an egg which is continuous and round. Note that it's burnt, which is also about the charring and experience of slavery.
And this is interesting. This is called harosis. And haroris has nuts and apple and it is the mortar of the bricks that the Israelites slaves were forced to make.
But, again, let's look at the largest significance of Passover is looking at all people who are still enslave, or people who are oppressed. And Obama always has a Passover Seder.
He had one the year he was running for president. And Jews always say next year in Jerusalem. He said next year in the White House and he won -- which is why tonight he will be doing this tonight, drinking wine and leaning. You have to be comfortable because slaves were uncomfortable.
So, the idea is you have to be leaning. The idea is you have cushions and you have this comfortable evening because slaves were not. So, emancipated people are comfortable.
HOLMES: OK. But each -- now, this is, I've never had someone break this down for me, but everything served at the Seder has some kind of significance?
BILCHIK: Absolutely. A very symbolic holiday. And to all our Jewish viewers, we wish them a very happy and healthy Passover.
HOLMES: Well, thank you so much. This was Passover 101. We got into this in our newsroom today. I just asked a general question of our folks sitting there, our team members, what is Passover? And I got about 12 different answers. No one can quite nail it down. So, there you go.
BILCHIK: It's a celebration of freedom worldwide.
HOLMES: Nadia Bilchik, for our "Morning Passport," a very good one this morning -- thank you so much.
BILCHIK: Thank you.
HOLMES: We turn now to this recession. Some people may be not affected by the recession the way others who have been, particularly somebody who could afford right now a $222 million apartment. Yes, that's how much one penthouse and the building you're looking at sold for.
The developers there claimed it's the most expensive apartment in the world. It is in London's trendy Knightsbridge area. It's even not completed yet. They sold 50 other apartments in this building. Only 30 more are up for grabs. Hey, you better get your bid in. You'll have to pay, though, about $10.5 million for a one-bedroom flat.
Well, maybe Donald Trump bought one of those. Donald Trump, as I transition to this next story, you know, he's been pretty good for a, quote, "year" lately it seems. And, yes, he was out at a Tea Party event slamming the president. But slow down, he wasn't slamming that president, not President Obama. We'll tell you his target in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: About seven minutes to the top of the hour here now.
Federal investigators are taking a closer look at President Obama's record-breaking fund-raising efforts. The Federal Election Commission is now auditing the president's 2008 campaign, where he reportedly raised around three-quarters of a billion dollars. You may have heard he set the ambitious goal of raising a full billion for his re-election campaign. A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign says the review is simply routine.
Well, Donald Trump seems to be a Tea Party darling right now. There he is in Florida yesterday, he took the stage for a Tea Party rally there. He has been talking a lot about President Obama lately, but he was taking some shots at former President Bush yesterday as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Hey, whether you like him or not, George Bush gave us Obama and I'm not happy about it, OK? I'm not happy about it. We have a disaster on our hands.
We have a man right now that almost certainly will go down as the worst president in the history of the United States. Our current president --
(BOOS)
TRUMP: They call want me to say "You're fired." I mean, this has been like -- no. No.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We've got a long way to go before I start using that. It's too early and to be honest, it's too trivial. But I have it in the back of my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, still hasn't said whether or not he is actually going to run for president.
Well, going green -- of course, it has a lot of benefits for the environment. But it is actually saving you money, simple little things you can do, some easy tips on how to go green by Earth Day, which is coming up on Friday. This could save you hundreds of dollars the rest of the year, folks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're getting closer to the top of the hour and we're also getting close to Earth Day. It's Friday, did you know that, folks?
Well, you can get a jump-start on this, all right, and try to help save the planet literally. Many people will tell you that's what we're talking about, literally saving the planet. I asked eco-living and eco-living expert Laura Turner Seydel for pointers on how to be more environmentally-friendly. Here's how she says you can go green starting right now through Friday and save yourself some cash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Earth Day on Friday. People can start on Sunday, though, and do something every day to be greener.
LAURA TURNER SEYDEL, ECO-LIVING EXPERT: Sure.
HOLMES: What can they start doing on Sunday and do right now they can get up in their homes and be greener?
SEYDEL: Well, they can start by getting a smart programmable thermostat. A lot of houses might already have one. But you have to set it so that it knows when you're sleeping or when you're away at work. And you can save a tremendous amount of energy that way and it's really recommended that you keep your thermostat in the winter down to 68. And then, in the summer, we keep it about 75. You save a ton of money for every degree you can turn your thermostat.
HOLMES: On Monday, what do you have for them? What can they do? SEYDEL: Well, they can go to their home improvement store and spend anywhere between $50 and $200. You get a compost barrel. It allows you to take your system residual and you spin the bin around the barrel, and in 30 to 60 days, you have compost that you can amend your gardens with and there are no chemicals. And the fruits and vegetables taste great.
HOLMES: Let's move on to Tuesday. What else can people do trying to get to a greener Friday?
SEYDEL: OK. Well, what you want to do is look for green cleaning supplies. You want to spend pennies on the dollar, you can go back to what our parents and grandparents used to do and the major ingredients in some of these products you're buying off the shelves that are already pre-made, vinegar, lemon, baking soda. You use, reuse the same plastic spray bottle, you pour your little ingredients in there, you mix it with water and, you know, voila.
HOLMES: Move on to Wednesday. What can we do on this day to be greener?
SEYDEL: I'm an ice hockey mom and a soccer mom. But I would go out to the soccer game and still do and I just see that the trash cans (INAUDIBLE) are just overflowing with water bottles. What we decided to get those wonderful pitchers that you can get in grocery stores that filter the water and then your kids have their reusable bottles and fill it out on the way out the door. And it saves you hundreds of dollars because you're not buying bottled water.
HOLMES: Now, we move on to the next day. And this one is getting serious. People like nice showers now.
SEYDEL: You start by taking shorter showers.
HOLMES: Shorter showers, of course.
SEYDEL: Turn the water off when you brush your teeth, so you can save up to five gallons of water a day.
HOLMES: Yes.
SEYDEL: Simple and easy things that don't cost you anything and will save you money. There are low flow shower heads, and we bought one for $15, and the return on investment is like two weeks. You save to much more.
HOLMES: We get to Friday. We get to actual Earth Day. And this might be the simplest thing of all.
SEYDEL: I bet that this would be a really good one for you.
HOLMES: OK.
SEYDEL: The number one use of energy or number two between your heating and cooling is lighting. Now, they have other alternatives that you use a lot less electricity, the newest being LED technology. They're 90 percent more efficient than the bulbs you're using. So, you see that reflect on your bill. You're going to save 90 percent more energy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: Well, hello there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING for April the 17th. Thank you for spending a part of your weekend here with us. I'm T.J. Holmes.
And we just saw another battering from this storm system that has been hitting this country, parts of it for the past three days. Storm systems made its ways up the East Coast. You see some of the damage it did there.
But now, we have thousands of people without electricity this morning. The death toll has gone up as well.
Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist, is here. She'll explain why these storms that we've been seeing, calls them unusual. She'll explain why.
Also, Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, she's dominated the headlines over the past few days after announcing she is bipolar. What exactly is that condition? What are signs maybe you should look for in someone or maybe in yourself?
But let's start right now with this weather. There has been devastation and yes, we have seen death brought on by these strong storms that whipped up tornadoes along the Eastern Seaboard now. The storm system could be causing more problems today farther north. We'll get to that forecast for it in just a moment.
But, first, we'll show you some what this left behind. This is southeastern Virginia. Those are buses -- you see that school buses tossed around like toys. Officials there are telling at least four people were killed -- again, four people in Virginia.
Also, take a look at this in South Carolina -- Stephen, South Carolina. This is what we're told is left of a church. It collapsed after reportedly being hit by a tornado. We are told that there were some people inside -- at least six people were inside at the time.
Also, turn to Raleigh, North Carolina, now, just one of several cities -- look at that -- one of the several cities badly damaged by high winds and tornadoes. Thirty people have been killed by these storms since Thursday.
I talked to one North Carolina emergency management official this morning who told me they heard reports of at least 60 tornadoes in the state, some of the worst damage was around Raleigh, that you just saw there.
That is where Catherine Callaway is this morning. Catherine, try to give us some perspective. Describe what you've been seeing.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are actually northeast of Raleigh. We are in Wake County. We're here at the Stony Brook trailer park.
And, T.J., this is where three of the nine deaths occurred here in North Carolina, such devastation. They're not letting anyone behind the point behind me, only family members and officials.
But we do want to show you the aerials of what happened at this trailer park. As you can see by the video, the storm moved through, tossed about these trailer homes like tin cans. Many were split in half and we are hearing this morning that those fatalities were all young children, ages two, three and five, who had sought shelter in the bathtub of their trailer home, doing what they were supposed to do. But devastation here and such tragedy at the Stony Brook trailer park.
I also want to show you the strength of these storms a little south of us, in Sanford, North Carolina. Take a look at what is left of the shopping center. This was a Lowes. As you can see, the roof is gone, not much to see left of this store. Busy Saturday afternoon, T.J., when the storm hit, full of employees and the store manager is being credited with herding those employees to safety. No fatalities here, but it does show you just how strong the system was.
Governor Beverly Perdue of North Carolina saying that this is the worst storm systems she has seen moved through this area since the early 1980s. She's declared a state of emergency. The intensity, the frequency, as you said, there were some 100 tornadoes -- we're hearing that 62 of those tornadoes touched down in this state alone.
A couple hundred thousand people were still without power this morning.
And again the tragic story of these three young children, two, three and five, doing what they were supposed to do, what we tell everyone to do, seek shelter in the strongest room of your home which in this case was the bathroom. But debris hit their trailer home and split it in half. And we have quite a tragic story this morning to tell from Stony Brook here in Wake County, North Carolina.
HOLMES: It's horrible to hear. Catharine Callaway for us this morning -- we appreciate you. You'll check in with you again. But some new details there about the young children being killed.
I want to bring our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras.
Before we get to exactly what happened last night, this still seems to be a question some time. We've been taught this since you were little kids, frankly, what you're supposed to do during a tornado. But sometimes, it still seems like we still don't know what to do.
JERAS: Right.
HOLMES: What is one supposed to do -- and this is a different story almost when you're talking about a trailer park, OK?
JERAS: Yes.
HOLMES: So, what should people do in a home, a trailer park, wherever you may be and a tornado is coming?
JERAS: Well, if you can get underground that's your best bet, that's the best place to be -- to be in a basement or storm shelter. A lot of mobile home parks have storm shelters, which are built, where you can because a mobile home is one of the worst places that you can possibly be.
But we do say the bathroom and the bathtub is the best place. We don't know the situation of these people, what happened, if they weren't able to get to maybe a sturdier home next door if that place had a shelter or not.
But the lowest level of your home, away from doors and windows, because most people are killed by debris, you know, it's not the tornado itself, it's tornado winds that pick up pieces that have been damaged and you get hit by that and oftentimes that's what can happen.
Now, we had just an incredible number of tornadoes. For North Carolina, this is almost unheard of. I can only think of one other case in recent years, 1984, where, you know, more than 22 tornadoes we think were reported then. Many of the reports we had in North Carolina, by the way, were probably from the same parent cell.
And as we zoom in here on Google Earth, let's use the Raleigh area as that example, this is a tornado that started down here towards Sanford, moved through Raleigh and then continued -- and this was probably up here, even the same storm. So, that's more than 100 miles that we're talking about that this thing hopped, skipped and jumped and moved along into North Carolina.
Here we see another tornado that moved on through east of there, and there is another one as well. So, the numbers are high at this time, and just want to kind of give you a look at what happened here in the past, with that tornado system as it moved on through, and there you can see that line of storms that advanced with multiple tornadoes that pushed across the state really between 3:00 and 6:00 yesterday was the most devastating.
And when all is said and done, T.J., this very well, you know, is probably going to make the record books. You hear about this stuff happening in Oklahoma and Texas, you know, often enough in the spring but not so much North Carolina.
HOLMES: North Carolina. All right. Jacqui Jeras, appreciate having you here this morning. We'll check in with you with plenty.
Let's turn to some other news right now -- where crews are working around the clock trying to reach a miner trapped underground in Idaho. Part of the Silver Mine collapsed on Friday. The miner hasn't been heard from since that time.
A second miner in that same area was able to get out OK, according to local officials there. That second miner that got out is actually the brother of the trapped miner. Extra equipment is being flown in from the East Coast to try to help in that search.
Also, it's happened again. Another air traffic controller suspended for, you got it, sleep on the job, that's seven -- at least now -- in the past couple of weeks. This one happened during Friday's overnight shift at the air traffic control center in Miami.
The FAA says no aircraft were in any danger at any point. The center was actually staffed by 12 controllers and two managers at the time, so other people were in there, unlike some of the other incidents where there's only one air traffic controller in the tower. Now, one of the sleeping controller's co-workers actually reported him.
Well, actor Nicolas Cage is now out of jail but -- well, here's the mug shot. Cage was arrested late Friday night on domestic abuse, battery, disturbing the peace, and public drunkenness. The details from our Alan Duke.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAN DUKE, CNN WIRE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: He grabbed her arm and that would constitute the domestic abuse battery charge that he's now facing. The other part of the charge is the public drunkenness and also disturbing the peace is what happened after the police arrived, when some onlookers were disturbed about his behavior.
Apparently, he was arguing with her, saying, "This is the place we've rented." You know, this is where -- she said "No, it's not." And he was apparently heavy intoxicated.
So, somebody called the police. They came and -- well, there was yelling, the way the police say. He was banging on the trunks of cars and he was yelling at them and they finally arrested him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, the "her" our Alan Duke is talking about there is Nicolas Cage's wife. Cage is out on bond right now, has to appear again in late May. He is in New Orleans filming a new movie.
The first round of the NBC playoffs tipped of yesterday. Chicago Bulls, team with the best record in the league this season, had a tough time with the eighth seed Indiana Pacers. The Chicago Bulls didn't lead until the final minute of regulation, finally pulled ahead and beat the Pacers.
The scene you're seeing here was an ugly moment. You see that elbow Tyler Hansborough took to the head. It looked like he was knocked out cold there for a while on the ground, had to be taken back to the locker room but he actually returned to the game. Now, besides Chicago, the Miami Heat, the Hawks, the Dallas Mavericks all won their first playoff games. You got the Lakers, the Spurs, the Celtics and Knicks all in the action today.
Well, it was a year ago this week, more than 200 million barrels of oil began spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. Twelve months later, tar balls are still washing up on some Gulf Coast beaches. And this week, instead of mourning the tragedy, some Gulf Coast residents have something to celebrate. A live report from Gulf Shores, Alabama, is next.
But, first, a lot of team would like to work 9:00 to 5:00 or a lot longer than that, Monday through Friday. Maybe you put in extra hours on the weekend. Maybe you're doing that today. Well, Americans are known to be hard workers, of course we are. But we're not putting in nearly as many hours as some other countries -- the U.S. not even in the top three.
Look at this. You see China there, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. China is number three, putting in 8.4 hours a day. Japan number two, working about nine hours a day.
Would you believe who's working the hardest? I'll tell you in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A quarter past the hour now. Looking at the hardest working countries in the world. We work hard here but China and Japan apparently working harder than we do here. You see that, 8.4 hours for China, nine hours for Japan.
But would you believe the hardest working country: our neighbor to the south, Mexico. The Organization for Economic Development says the worker there puts in some 9.9 hours a day.
Well, can you believe it's been a year? This week marks one year since the Deepwater Horizon disaster changed the Gulf Coast. Approximately 205 million gallons of oil spilled out for months, businesses were crippled, some of those tourist towns still trying to recover. But a year out, they're certainly still struggling.
In Gulf Shores, Alabama, they have tar balls washing up on the beaches there. Joining me now is the mayor of Gulf Shores, Robert Craft.
Mr. Mayor, we appreciate you being here.
And we're talking about this one year anniversary. Is anniversary the right word? Is it a commemoration? I guess, how are you referring to it down there? What's the right way?
MAYOR ROBERT CRAFT, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: Well, we are celebrating the year being over. I don't think any of us will wish 2010 to come back. We're excited about 2011 and moving forward for the future. So, an anniversary and celebration I think would be accurate, celebrating our recovery more than anything else.
HOLMES: Yes, that was going to be my next question. You kind of hit, but I'll ask you to expound on it a little bit. What are you celebrating this week?
CRAFT: We are having a supper on the sands this evening on the beach, 500 people sitting on the beach, enjoying fresh gulf seafood on clean white beaches and beautiful gulf behind us -- is our way of demonstrating to the world that we have recovered and we know this story is going to be told, it needs to be told. And we know it will begin with the explosion and tragic deaths of 11 people and year-long misery that we've gone through, trying to recover.
We want to frame the ending. The ending of the story is recovery and resiliency of our people and moving forward. So, our goal is to show the world that we have -- that we're open for business and everything is recovering and clean and beautiful as usual.
HOLMES: Now, you're talking about open for business. How important is tourism to Gulf Shores in particular?
CRAFT: It is 100 percent of what we do. We're unique along the coast in that we don't have diversity, we don't have state docks or naval stations or air force bases or any type of gaming industry that the other areas have. We are in Baldwin County, Alabama. We have 100 percent tourism. The tourism dollar basically supports everything that happens here.
HOLMES: And, sir, how has it been, we're coming up on a year now. But we just had spring break season. How has that been and are there signs maybe that tourism is coming back?
CRAFT: We have had a good year so far, thank goodness. We -- our winter visitors, our snowbirds came back this year in about normal volume. Our spring break so far has been good. We still have, you know, this week and Easter week coming up that we anticipate good participation.
So, we've done well so far. Our tax dollars in the city are up over last year, and the first quarter of last year was pretty good. So, all signs show that we're headed towards recovery and we're hopefully optimistic or cautiously optimistic about summer, because those are the folks that were so displaced last year.
And a large percentage of our people that come here every year and they didn't come last year. They were displaced. And we're hoping that they come back and signs -- early signs show that they're starting to book reservations. So, we're hopefully optimistic.
HOLMES: Yes, that is great news to here. Last thing I'll to ask you -- you're still dealing with tar balls. You're still having to clean a lot of that stuff off. But are you getting that under control or are these things still coming fast and furious to your beaches?
CRAFT: They're still coming in, when we have rough surf conditions. It will break up these tar mats that we know were out there. But we have BP crews positioned working the beach line every day, cleaning them, and we have chemical equipment standing by in case we need that.
So, I think we've got a good plan to deal with it and it seems to be diminishing on a regular basis and getting better and not worse. That's the good news.
HOLMES: Well, Mayor Robert Craft, sir, like I said to you moment ago, during the commercial break -- these interviews were a lot different than a year ago. So, it's good to be talking to you and hearing about a possible recovery and things looking up.
So, sir, thank you so much for your time. Good luck today and good luck this week and the rest of the season. We'll talk to you again soon.
CRAFT: Thank you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. That's great to hear that the Gulf could be coming back and that city is doing so well.
Well, coming up here in a moment, bipolar. Do you know what that means to be bipolar? Well, a conversation has been parked after Catherine Zeta-Jones has announced that she is, in fact, bipolar. We'll tell you what you need to know -- maybe some signs you need to look out for yourself or someone else.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, millions of people in this country have bipolar disorder and now we're getting word that Catherine Zeta-Jones has it as well, the popular actress.
Here with Elizabeth Cohen, our senior medical correspondent.
Help people understand. First of all, we hear it. What exactly is it?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think a lot of people aren't familiar with it. But it really is, T.J., what it sounds like.
So, someone who is bipolar has very high highs and very low lows. And so, when they are high, they are manic. They feel like they can do anything.
And they feel like -- for example, if someone's really, really manic, they might go around buying four cars in one week because they can and they want to and they do it. And they feel like they can conquer the world.
And then when they are low, they are severely, severely depressed.
HOLMES: Now, how do some people end up being affected and become a bipolar person and some others don't? Do you know? COHEN: Yes, it's not known. There's a thought that genetics play a role -- that you may be wired for this in some way, shape or form. And there's a thought that things can trigger.
For example, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who says that she has a type that's more mild than other people have. She's the more mild type. But she's had a tough year. I mean, her husband was diagnosed with cancer and her stepson went to jail. And her husband's ex-wife sued them financially, and, yes -- and so, you know, that's tough. Maybe a stress that kind of sets this off.
HOLMES: Do you treat it? Do you manage it? I guess curing it is going too far.
COHEN: Curing is going too far. But managing is probably a good word. And so, there are drugs that people take called mood stabilizers, which makes sense, right? So, instead of going up and down, they are more stable and lithium can help with depressive episodes. And also, therapy.
And it's interesting to me that psychiatrists tell us that part of the therapy is to tell people what signals to look for, that tell them they are becoming manic because they think it's great. It feels good. Right.
And so, they need to be told, you know what? You don't look good when you're manic. And so, when you're feeling this way, you should know that you should sort of try to be manic in private, as much as you can, because other people will notice that something is going on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: I'll be back at the top of the hour, to tell you about the nation's first jurisdiction to allow--.
