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CNN Saturday Morning News

Hurrican Fabian Hit Bermuda with 120 mile per hour winds

Aired September 06, 2003 - 08:04   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.


SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, now to those two storms that had been threatening the United States. Hurricane Fabian increasing in power before lashing Bermuda with winds topping about 120 miles per hour. And right now it is moving beyond that island area, showing signs of weakening. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Henri is slowing, as well. It is becoming a real rain maker for soaked areas of south Florida.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our Gary Tuchman was in Bermuda before Fabian came blowing through. He hunkered down, though, and has come out now to look at what Fabian did to the island.

Gary joins us on the telephone -- Gary, how do things look to you now?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, when the sun came up this morning, Bermuda looked like a dramatically different land than yesterday. The sun is up, the winds are down, but now the work. And a new type of concern begins. Bermuda police have told us they are investigating reports of two missing Bermuda police officers and two civilians. Many phone lines are down in this British territory right now, so it's possible authorities have not been able to get in touch with these people. But a police source tells us two squad cars were found without the officers in them and search and rescue operations are under way as we speak.

Nearly all of the roads in Bermuda are blocked by huge trees. So there are some people who abandoned their cars and walked home. So that possibility is being investigated. But these police cars were found near a causeway that partially washed away, a causeway that connects most of Bermuda to its airport. There is currently no way for everybody on these islands west of the airport -- and the airport is on the easternmost islands, so anyone there could get there -- but no one else can get to the airport right now. So it's not clear when or how the airport would reopen.

So as of now, there are no confirmed deaths or injuries. There is much damage, however, but it does not appear to be catastrophic, for the most part. But the fact is hurricane force winds pounded the islands that make up Bermuda for about six hours yesterday, which is an extraordinary amount of time for a category three storm with gusts as high as 132 miles per hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Wow, Gary, I'm also trying to think of what the police officers may have been doing in their cars. I'm wondering if maybe they were trying to help with some sort of evacuation. But then the question also comes up, what kind of evacuation can you do on an island that is so tiny like Bermuda?

TUCHMAN: Right. Well, the working theory is here is that these two police officers were helping or trying to help these two civilians who are also missing. And that's why there's concern. It's the thought that maybe all four of these people were together. But then again, they could be together in some safe area right now. It's really hard to get in touch with people.

We almost got stuck, also, on the roads last night. We had six guys with our CNN crew, so we were able to move heavy trees out of the road so we could continue driving. But that is one of the problems. There are just huge gigantic oak trees just lying across roads and there's no way to get places in many parts of Bermuda.

COLLINS: All right, well, Gary, play it safe for us and we will certainly check back in with you to find out more about the situation just as soon as we can do that.

Gary Tuchman, thanks so much.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, any loss of life is terrible, but in an island with 64,000 people, two police officers, that's just devastating.

COLLINS: Yes, no doubt.

CALLEBS: Rob Marciano now joins us for the latest of what Fabian did, where it's heading now and the continued concern that it has for the eastern portion of the U.S.

COLLINS: Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi, Sean.

It's just mind boggling the size of this island and the strength of his hurricane and the track it took. It's almost as if it had it out for us. And, you know, you look at this over the past 24 hours, it heads up to the north, west and then it takes a turn to the north and then it heads to the northeast. I mean it's like boom, out of here, done with my business, gone.

So, anyway, it had hurricane force winds over six hours because the winds extended about 100 miles outside of the storm and the core of it, the strongest core of it, went right over the island of Bermuda. And we did have a wind gust, unofficially, at 132 miles an hour. So damage, no doubt, today as they pick up the pieces, is going to be extensive.

All right, touch briefly on what's going on with Henri. It's a tropical depressions now, so very weak winds, but, you know, it's still spawning some trouble, especially in and around the Tampa area. We had a couple of water spouts touch down yesterday. Also, a bit of a tornado warning out this morning for the same sort of scenario.

And as far as the stats are concerned on Hurricane Fabian, it has weakened to 150 miles an hour winds. It is moving off to the north and east at 21 miles an hour and that's good news for folks who live along the coast of the eastern seaboard. It's not going to get here, but as we mentioned about 20 minutes ago, it's going to create big waves across the Carolinas and as far north as Cape Cod.

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 September 6, 2003 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, now to those two storms that had been threatening the United States. Hurricane Fabian increasing in power before lashing Bermuda with winds topping about 120 miles per hour. And right now it is moving beyond that island area, showing signs of weakening. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Henri is slowing, as well. It is becoming a real rain maker for soaked areas of south Florida.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Our Gary Tuchman was in Bermuda before Fabian came blowing through. He hunkered down, though, and has come out now to look at what Fabian did to the island.

Gary joins us on the telephone -- Gary, how do things look to you now?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, when the sun came up this morning, Bermuda looked like a dramatically different land than yesterday. The sun is up, the winds are down, but now the work. And a new type of concern begins. Bermuda police have told us they are investigating reports of two missing Bermuda police officers and two civilians. Many phone lines are down in this British territory right now, so it's possible authorities have not been able to get in touch with these people. But a police source tells us two squad cars were found without the officers in them and search and rescue operations are under way as we speak.

Nearly all of the roads in Bermuda are blocked by huge trees. So there are some people who abandoned their cars and walked home. So that possibility is being investigated. But these police cars were found near a causeway that partially washed away, a causeway that connects most of Bermuda to its airport. There is currently no way for everybody on these islands west of the airport -- and the airport is on the easternmost islands, so anyone there could get there -- but no one else can get to the airport right now. So it's not clear when or how the airport would reopen.

So as of now, there are no confirmed deaths or injuries. There is much damage, however, but it does not appear to be catastrophic, for the most part. But the fact is hurricane force winds pounded the islands that make up Bermuda for about six hours yesterday, which is an extraordinary amount of time for a category three storm with gusts as high as 132 miles per hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Wow, Gary, I'm also trying to think of what the police officers may have been doing in their cars. I'm wondering if maybe they were trying to help with some sort of evacuation. But then the question also comes up, what kind of evacuation can you do on an island that is so tiny like Bermuda?

TUCHMAN: Right. Well, the working theory is here is that these two police officers were helping or trying to help these two civilians who are also missing. And that's why there's concern. It's the thought that maybe all four of these people were together. But then again, they could be together in some safe area right now. It's really hard to get in touch with people.

We almost got stuck, also, on the roads last night. We had six guys with our CNN crew, so we were able to move heavy trees out of the road so we could continue driving. But that is one of the problems. There are just huge gigantic oak trees just lying across roads and there's no way to get places in many parts of Bermuda.

COLLINS: All right, well, Gary, play it safe for us and we will certainly check back in with you to find out more about the situation just as soon as we can do that.

Gary Tuchman, thanks so much.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, any loss of life is terrible, but in an island with 64,000 people, two police officers, that's just devastating.

COLLINS: Yes, no doubt.

CALLEBS: Rob Marciano now joins us for the latest of what Fabian did, where it's heading now and the continued concern that it has for the eastern portion of the U.S.

COLLINS: Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi, Sean.

It's just mind boggling the size of this island and the strength of his hurricane and the track it took. It's almost as if it had it out for us. And, you know, you look at this over the past 24 hours, it heads up to the north, west and then it takes a turn to the north and then it heads to the northeast. I mean it's like boom, out of here, done with my business, gone.

So, anyway, it had hurricane force winds over six hours because the winds extended about 100 miles outside of the storm and the core of it, the strongest core of it, went right over the island of Bermuda. And we did have a wind gust, unofficially, at 132 miles an hour. So damage, no doubt, today as they pick up the pieces, is going to be extensive.

All right, touch briefly on what's going on with Henri. It's a tropical depressions now, so very weak winds, but, you know, it's still spawning some trouble, especially in and around the Tampa area. We had a couple of water spouts touch down yesterday. Also, a bit of a tornado warning out this morning for the same sort of scenario.

And as far as the stats are concerned on Hurricane Fabian, it has weakened to 150 miles an hour winds. It is moving off to the north and east at 21 miles an hour and that's good news for folks who live along the coast of the eastern seaboard. It's not going to get here, but as we mentioned about 20 minutes ago, it's going to create big waves across the Carolinas and as far north as Cape Cod.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com