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CNN Saturday Morning News

From Scene of Tropical Storm Fay

Aired September 07, 2002 - 07:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And right now we're going to go live to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is in Galveston, and looking mighty wet there, Ed. How are you doing?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, it's not doing too bad here, and sure enough, this is- -- you tossed to me here, we're kind of in a moment where it hasn't been raining for quite a bit. In fat, we're -- directly over my head here is -- you can see the stars. The sun hasn't broken through the clouds here yet in Galveston.

We're on the waterfront boardwalk here along the Gulf of Mexico, and further down shores, where a lot of the heavier rains have fallen throughout the night, the heavier parts of Tropical Storm Fay started coming on shore in the middle of the night here in the Galveston area, in the southeastern Texas area.

And basically what folks along here are expecting is just a wait- and-see game throughout the day. And so of course this storm isn't packing heavy winds or incredibly powerful winds that could cause much serious damage, but of course the major concern here is what kind of flooding that might be expected here.

So far, the rains that have fallen have been kind of sporadic throughout the southeastern Texas area, depending on where you live. And, like, where we're standing right here, it isn't raining right now, but it is raining in several other parts of the area.

So a lot of here, a lot of people here in southeastern Texas will be waiting throughout the day to see just exactly how much rain this tropical storm will bring. And of course the main concern is, last year Tropical Storm Allison, a slow-moving storm that just stopped and just continued to pour -- downpour rain on this area, caused billions of dollars of damage, killed 22 people.

So of course Tropical Storm Fay as well, moving very slowly, expected to continue to move through the area throughout the day. So that's why I stress here that it's kind of a wait-and-see game as people wait and, wait and see just how much rain this tropical storm is going to bring to this area.

Jacqui?

JERAS: Ed, have you heard much in terms of flooding so far?

LAVANDERA: We haven't seen a lot of flooding here. I mean, there have been some reports in some rural areas, where some roads have been under water, but nothing major by any means.

And throughout here on -- in Galveston, for example, we've been -- done several passes. The restaurants along here throughout to the last night were packed with people. We haven't -- we had no problem getting in whatsoever, so we haven't seen any kind of major flooding so far at this point.

JERAS: All right, thanks very much, CNN's Ed Lavandera, live in Galveston.

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