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CNN Saturday Morning News
Can an Invention Stop Storms Before They Start?
Aired July 21, 2001 - 09:48 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to talk about a way to stop bad storms, even hurricanes, before they hit. That's the question, actually -- a Florida inventor believes he may have the cure.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Jill's going to join us to talk about this now, but let's hear the report from Felicia Rodridguez with CNN affiliate WPBF, who went on a test run.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's your cloud right there, brother.
FELICIA RODRIGUEZ, WPBF REPORTER (voice-over): Peter Cordanny is hopeful his newest invention will prove successful in weakening storm clouds. It's called Dynagel, a powder-like substance that turns water into a gel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, drop now, baby. There you go.
RODRIGUEZ: The substance was dropped into rain clouds a few miles off the Jupiter Inlet, where Danny and his associates watch closely for several minutes for any sign of change.
Finally, a break in the clouds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That old cloud, you see the way it's separating in half, and there's only a little piece left over there? Cloud is dissipating, and it's still dissipating right now as we speak from the fluff that's still floating up there.
RODRIGUEZ: Cordanny claims the moisture in the clouds solidify into a gel-like substance. That substance then falls into the ocean and liquefies.
Cordanny has teamed up with scientists and weather experts over the past two years to come up with a way to slow down threatening storms and hurricanes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we pretty beyond proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that we can get that done.
RODRIGUEZ: The next step for this team is to test Dynagel using larger planes, like C-130s, to drop the substance into huge storm clouds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're making history at this point. We feel in the future we'll be able to protect shorelines all across the world.
RODRIGUEZ: Felicia Rodriguez, WPBF, Eyewitness News 25.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NELSON: Well, I -- there -- that's really interesting. I don't know if I learned a lot about how it's done, so maybe, maybe you've got some insights on that, Jill.
JILL BROWN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, wish we had a little more information.
NELSON: Is it...
PHILLIPS: Yes, he talks about making history but not about how it really works.
NELSON: Right, what is this, is this similar to dropping foot powder into something, you have this foot powder absorb it?
BROWN: No, you see the stuff he's dropping, what's in that? What is in that powder?
NELSON: Right.
BROWN: It's, I guess, a little mysterious until they really have something. But you hear about this occasionally, and it would be wonderful to think that we really could control the weather, especially hurricanes.
NELSON: Right. Now, is it realistically possible? I mean, how much would you have to throw into a hurricane to stop a 100-mile-an- hour-plus winds?
BROWN: That's a good point, because what he's -- what you saw there was a little cloud, and it dissipated. And obviously you're going to start small. So the question is, you know, will this work on a bigger scale? And as we were talking about, it's -- we're supposedly in this active hurricane time, 30, 40 years of a more active season. Well, we'd love to see something that could dissipate those big storms, but I think we might be still a little ways off on that.
NELSON: Yes, it's something to keep in mind, because there's billions of dollars at stake. If we in -- if we head into an intense hurricane period, like there was between, what, 1940 and 1960, a lot of new building construction along the coast of Florida and along the Gulf Coast has come up since that time, and there's billions of dollars at stake.
BROWN: Right. There's really no way to protect those people on the coast. There's no way to get people to quit building on the coast. You know how it is, when you're there, you say, I'll roll the dice. But boy, I tell you, you get something like an Andrew coming through, we'll have big, big problems, so on that note...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: ... the tropics very quiet right now...
NELSON: Right.
BROWN: ... which is not unusual. Give it another month, and things will likely pick up.
NELSON: OK, get the foot powder ready.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jill Brown.
NELSON: All right, thanks, Jill.
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