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CNN Saturday Morning News
Emergency Unit Combats Flooding in Texas
Aired June 09, 2001 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take it down to ground level and check in with the mayor of Houston, Lee Brown, who was on the line just a moment ago from the emergency center there in Houston. We hope to raise him in just a few moments to get an update on the situation.
And apparently he is with us now. Mr. Mayor, thanks for being with us.
R.T. JONES, EMERGENCY AGENCY OFFICIAL (on phone): Actually it's R.T. Jones, executive public information officer for Houston TranStar.
O'BRIEN: All right, Mr. Jones, you're on the air with us. Thank you for joining us. Just bring us up to date. How are things on the streets of Houston this morning?
JONES: Well, as you probably were able to tell from the images you saw -- we saw on your network that a flash flood warning has -- watch has totally devastated the Houston area here. Flash flood warning continues for Galveston, Harris, Montgomery, Resori (ph), and Fort Bend Counties throughout the early morning, and likely will be extended.
Severe flash flooding is expected to continue for the Harris County area for the remainder of today, and we're encouraging those on the roads not to attempt to travel. This could not only jeopardize your life but the lives of others.
Record-setting rainfall over the region, with a total of 28 inches was reported in the Houston area.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Jones, could you give us a sense of the emergency response that you've been able to marshal there? Do you have enough resources and personnel to cope with this? And we're looking at some pictures right now of people stranded in some very deep water. I presume there is -- it is taxing your resources.
JONES: Well, I would totally agree with you there. We have totally in many ways exhausted them, a wider variety of the resources we have available to us here in the greater Houston metropolitan area. That is why Mayor Lee P. Brown has reached out to the governor of the state of Texas to provide some additional assistance so that we could try to lessen the impact on this region.
O'BRIEN: Looking at these pictures, it's always hard to tell how wide an area is affected. Give us a sense of scale and perspective here. Houston is a big, sprawling city. How big an area are these flash floods really impacting?
JONES: Well, as you probably know, Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country, and to give you a closer analysis, with you in the Atlanta area, just consider the central business district, your downtown, all the way throughout Buckhead is flooded. That's just to give you a clear indication as to what we're dealing with here in the Houston area.
O'BRIEN: All right, R.T. Jones is with the city of Houston on the mayor's staff in the command bunker, as they try to marshal resources, limited resources, to try to combat this flash flooding, seeking help from the governor. Mr. Jones, thanks for being with us on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
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