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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with Charlie Burgess
Aired September 20, 2003 - 09:07 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to Virginia, the state reporting the greatest loss of life, with 14 deaths blamed on the storm. Virginia is also dealing with the largest power outage, with as many as 1.5 million homes and businesses still without electricity.
CNN's Kris Osborn is in Poquoson now with the very latest there. Hi, Kris.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning to you, Heidi.
Well, certainly, a lot of busy workers here this morning. I'm in Poquoson, Virginia. It is an area on a peninsula in southeastern Virginia. A lot of low-lying areas, there was some very heavy flooding here. It's a small community.
And all throughout the morning, there have been workers essentially driving up and down. And right now, there is Old Dominion Tree and Lawn, they're a branch of the power company. Of course, more than 1.5 million homes lost power during the storm.
One of the key aspects of today, efforts to restore them. And you're seeing live that taking place right now. That is Johnny, he's with the tree and lawn company. He's up there on top of that tree. And they're going to have a very large crane, which you may see just at the top, and they're going to move that essentially out of the way.
Of course, a lot of trees have been falling on power lines. It's a scenario quite familiar with what's been happening all across this state.
And for more on this community, we're talking with Charlie Burgess. He's the city manager of Poquoson.
Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us on CNN.
CHARLIE BURGESS, CITY MANAGER, POQUOSON, VIRGINIA: Good morning. Thank you.
OSBORN: Really tough, tough storm for Poquoson.
BURGESS: It has been a very difficult time for the community. Previously, we've always benchmarked our flooding events by a 1933 storm event. Unfortunately, we have a new benchmark courtesy of Hurricane Isabel.
OSBORN: It's a really tight-knit community. You see neighbors coming out trying to help each other here.
BURGESS: Definitely, definitely. This is a community that's always prided itself on its community involvement and community spirit and such. And it's even taken it to a new level in the past couple of days.
OSBORN: Yes, certainly showing its color in the face of disaster.
BURGESS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
OSBORN: Thank you very much. Charlie Burgess, the city manager here in Poquoson. Just one of a number of areas very hard-hit by the flooding, of course. The high winds were closer to the ocean here. So, of course, the hurricane-force winds came across the shore. So there's been a lot of heavy lifting, you might say, both literally and figuratively, here this morning in Poquoson, Heidi.
COLLINS: Kris, just wondering if you could tell us real quickly, as far as how you got to Poquoson. Did you have to go through the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel? And did the -- did you notice that the bridge sustained any damage?
OSBORN: You know, it's interesting, Heidi, because there were a lot of road closures. We tried to get into this area yesterday on Route 64. It essentially been closed off.
But one of the things that you see almost instant by instant throughout many areas of Virginia, particularly here in the southeastern part of the state, are utility trucks patrolling up and down, and cases like the one that's happening right here now, you'll see these truck go out, they'll get a crane, and they'll remove debris from the road to seek, of course, to open up roads as quickly as possible.
There's a direct land route here from Richmond. However, there are lots of other areas where bridges and tunnels have been compromised -- or complicated, you might say, by the serious aftermath of the storm.
Of course, equally dangerous, just as much as the intensity of hurricane-level winds, or tropical storm winds, is, of course, the aftermath, with flooding, with people without power, people without water, people in very difficult circumstances.
Back to you.
COLLINS: All right, Kris, thanks so much, live from Poquoson, Virginia. Appreciate it.
OSBORN: Sure.
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 20, 2003 - 09:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to Virginia, the state reporting the greatest loss of life, with 14 deaths blamed on the storm. Virginia is also dealing with the largest power outage, with as many as 1.5 million homes and businesses still without electricity.
CNN's Kris Osborn is in Poquoson now with the very latest there. Hi, Kris.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning to you, Heidi.
Well, certainly, a lot of busy workers here this morning. I'm in Poquoson, Virginia. It is an area on a peninsula in southeastern Virginia. A lot of low-lying areas, there was some very heavy flooding here. It's a small community.
And all throughout the morning, there have been workers essentially driving up and down. And right now, there is Old Dominion Tree and Lawn, they're a branch of the power company. Of course, more than 1.5 million homes lost power during the storm.
One of the key aspects of today, efforts to restore them. And you're seeing live that taking place right now. That is Johnny, he's with the tree and lawn company. He's up there on top of that tree. And they're going to have a very large crane, which you may see just at the top, and they're going to move that essentially out of the way.
Of course, a lot of trees have been falling on power lines. It's a scenario quite familiar with what's been happening all across this state.
And for more on this community, we're talking with Charlie Burgess. He's the city manager of Poquoson.
Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us on CNN.
CHARLIE BURGESS, CITY MANAGER, POQUOSON, VIRGINIA: Good morning. Thank you.
OSBORN: Really tough, tough storm for Poquoson.
BURGESS: It has been a very difficult time for the community. Previously, we've always benchmarked our flooding events by a 1933 storm event. Unfortunately, we have a new benchmark courtesy of Hurricane Isabel.
OSBORN: It's a really tight-knit community. You see neighbors coming out trying to help each other here.
BURGESS: Definitely, definitely. This is a community that's always prided itself on its community involvement and community spirit and such. And it's even taken it to a new level in the past couple of days.
OSBORN: Yes, certainly showing its color in the face of disaster.
BURGESS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
OSBORN: Thank you very much. Charlie Burgess, the city manager here in Poquoson. Just one of a number of areas very hard-hit by the flooding, of course. The high winds were closer to the ocean here. So, of course, the hurricane-force winds came across the shore. So there's been a lot of heavy lifting, you might say, both literally and figuratively, here this morning in Poquoson, Heidi.
COLLINS: Kris, just wondering if you could tell us real quickly, as far as how you got to Poquoson. Did you have to go through the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel? And did the -- did you notice that the bridge sustained any damage?
OSBORN: You know, it's interesting, Heidi, because there were a lot of road closures. We tried to get into this area yesterday on Route 64. It essentially been closed off.
But one of the things that you see almost instant by instant throughout many areas of Virginia, particularly here in the southeastern part of the state, are utility trucks patrolling up and down, and cases like the one that's happening right here now, you'll see these truck go out, they'll get a crane, and they'll remove debris from the road to seek, of course, to open up roads as quickly as possible.
There's a direct land route here from Richmond. However, there are lots of other areas where bridges and tunnels have been compromised -- or complicated, you might say, by the serious aftermath of the storm.
Of course, equally dangerous, just as much as the intensity of hurricane-level winds, or tropical storm winds, is, of course, the aftermath, with flooding, with people without power, people without water, people in very difficult circumstances.
Back to you.
COLLINS: All right, Kris, thanks so much, live from Poquoson, Virginia. Appreciate it.
OSBORN: Sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
