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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tropical Storm Erika Will Hit South of Brownsville
Aired August 16, 2003 - 07:36 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.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about Erika and making land fall just south of Brownsville at this hour.
We have a reporter on the scene in Corpus Christi from our affiliate News 9 San Antonio.
Max Fernandez joins us.
Max, you're kind of on the northern fringe of this storm. What have you felt so far this morning as far as impact?
MAX FERNANDEZ, NEWS 9 CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as the impact goes, we're pretty much experiencing some strong gusts of wind. Things are about at 25 miles as far as sustained winds go, with gusts of winds reaching about 30.
We didn't see too much rainfall here in Corpus Christi, just a few sprinkles throughout the night. We understand that Brownsville got about an inch of rain, but they did get the brunt of the storm as far as the coast here in South Texas.
Overall, things are pretty much restoring back to normal. Yesterday fishermen were asked to dock their boats over at the marina. We've already seen a few people already head back out on the bay. The waves are a little choppy out here, but nothing too dramatic. We understand the storm surge over in South Padre Island reached about two and a half feet. Nothing quite so dramatic here in Corpus Christi. There were no evacuations, a pretty calm atmosphere overall.
I think most of the people here were pretty pleased with that. It was about a month ago when everyone was concerned with Tropical Storm Claudette. But there was really more rain activity and even stronger gusts of wind back then.
Things overall here in Corpus are looking pretty good, actually, as the sun comes up. We're pretty excited that things turned out as they did.
ROBERTS: Well, we're showing a satellite radar picture which shows just how far away Corpus Christi is. But when Claudette came ashore last month, Max, obviously a little bit more in the path of that particular storm.
Were folks skittish as this thing took aim towards the South Texas coastline in the last couple of days?
FERNANDEZ: Well, keep in mind, of course, that the hurricane season begins in June and the people out here do normally prepare themselves for things like that. We spoke with the emergency management center yesterday and they've been sending out alerts since June. And the peak for the storm season here isn't till September the 15th and it lasts until November. So, overall, it was, I think, a pretty secure atmosphere as far as the attitudes go from the people. There were quite a bit of tourists out here yesterday and surfers taking advantage of the waves. But a calm atmosphere, a pretty calm attitude. Everyone was pretty excited.
ROBERTS: All right, Max, excitement and little damage, especially to Corpus Christi, kind of a good combination.
Thanks very much for your reports this morning and have a safe trip back to San Antonio.
FERNANDEZ: We appreciate that.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: You bet.
That's Max Fernandez from our San Antonio affiliate, and made the drive to Corpus Christi. It probably wasn't a big enough storm to go all the way down to Brownsville to cover it, so they just hung out there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 16, 2003 - 07:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about Erika and making land fall just south of Brownsville at this hour.
We have a reporter on the scene in Corpus Christi from our affiliate News 9 San Antonio.
Max Fernandez joins us.
Max, you're kind of on the northern fringe of this storm. What have you felt so far this morning as far as impact?
MAX FERNANDEZ, NEWS 9 CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as the impact goes, we're pretty much experiencing some strong gusts of wind. Things are about at 25 miles as far as sustained winds go, with gusts of winds reaching about 30.
We didn't see too much rainfall here in Corpus Christi, just a few sprinkles throughout the night. We understand that Brownsville got about an inch of rain, but they did get the brunt of the storm as far as the coast here in South Texas.
Overall, things are pretty much restoring back to normal. Yesterday fishermen were asked to dock their boats over at the marina. We've already seen a few people already head back out on the bay. The waves are a little choppy out here, but nothing too dramatic. We understand the storm surge over in South Padre Island reached about two and a half feet. Nothing quite so dramatic here in Corpus Christi. There were no evacuations, a pretty calm atmosphere overall.
I think most of the people here were pretty pleased with that. It was about a month ago when everyone was concerned with Tropical Storm Claudette. But there was really more rain activity and even stronger gusts of wind back then.
Things overall here in Corpus are looking pretty good, actually, as the sun comes up. We're pretty excited that things turned out as they did.
ROBERTS: Well, we're showing a satellite radar picture which shows just how far away Corpus Christi is. But when Claudette came ashore last month, Max, obviously a little bit more in the path of that particular storm.
Were folks skittish as this thing took aim towards the South Texas coastline in the last couple of days?
FERNANDEZ: Well, keep in mind, of course, that the hurricane season begins in June and the people out here do normally prepare themselves for things like that. We spoke with the emergency management center yesterday and they've been sending out alerts since June. And the peak for the storm season here isn't till September the 15th and it lasts until November. So, overall, it was, I think, a pretty secure atmosphere as far as the attitudes go from the people. There were quite a bit of tourists out here yesterday and surfers taking advantage of the waves. But a calm atmosphere, a pretty calm attitude. Everyone was pretty excited.
ROBERTS: All right, Max, excitement and little damage, especially to Corpus Christi, kind of a good combination.
Thanks very much for your reports this morning and have a safe trip back to San Antonio.
FERNANDEZ: We appreciate that.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: You bet.
That's Max Fernandez from our San Antonio affiliate, and made the drive to Corpus Christi. It probably wasn't a big enough storm to go all the way down to Brownsville to cover it, so they just hung out there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
