Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Hurricane Dennis Heading For U.S., London in Recovery Mode

Aired July 09, 2005 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, Hurricane Dennis is swirling in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 storm, down from Category 4 last night. But right now it's barreling straight to the U.S.
First, though, we want to get to the weather center.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, let's check in now with Rob Marciano upstairs in the CNN weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: We do want to get you straight to the news conference that's happening right now in Florida. Here is Governor Jeb Bush. Let's take a listen.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Irrespective of the fact that we may not -- the entire state won't be hit by a hurricane, we're going to have a significant amount of rain and lots of wind. And today's probably a day to stay home and read to your child.

How about that? Spend some time inside. It's -- I think it's an important time to be with family and not to be taking chances outside. And that extends through the entire peninsula.

As we can see, there's going to be a significant amount of rain. And as the storm approaches northwest Florida, perhaps, there will be continued rainfall in the peninsula.

And finally, in the panhandle, it is important to heed the instructions of -- to evacuate. There still will be time to evacuate for this day. And if you're in a mandatory evacuation area, please do so.

For people, residents of Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, particularly, you know the devastation of a Category 3 or Category 4- force storm. This is serious. This is a very dangerous storm, and we hope that you will evacuate.

There are shelters opening up, both special needs shelters, as well as shelters. And please evacuate if you're asked to do so. And if you're going to shelter in place in your own home, make sure that you have water and nonperishable food and a radio to be able to follow events. Batteries, of course. And now's the time to go get the prescription medicines that you might need.

Finally, we've been getting calls. Commissioner Bronson has been -- his office has been getting quite a few calls about price gouging. And I wanted to give everybody the telephone number that they could use if they believe that there has been -- if they think they're getting ripped off.

Now, our first efforts here are for the relief and recovery efforts, but on an ongoing basis we will investigate these -- these calls. And the number is 1-800-HELP-FLA, which is 1-800-435-7352. This is not the time to be taking advantage of the misfortune of others.

Finally, my heart, my prayers and thoughts go to the folks of northwest Florida particularly that were hit last summer by Hurricane Ivan and now are preparing for a storm that may have similar type power and destruction. And I want to tell them that we are working around the clock to prepare in the event that the hurricane does hit in that area. We will respond efficiently, quickly, and with resources that will allow the relief effort and recovery effort to -- to take place.

With that, I will ask Craig Fugate to add -- add a few more details.

CRAIG FUGATE, DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor. Again, this morning...

NGUYEN: You've been listening to Governor Jeb Bush with a news conference there out of Tallahassee, Florida, warning residents, if you're not -- if you have not been ordered to evacuate, to go ahead and stay inside, because a lot of rain is expected with Dennis. While it is not expected to make land until tomorrow afternoon, the rain has already made its way toward the area. So Jeb Bush ordering folks, if you haven't been told to evacuate, stay inside today and just wait this one out.

HARRIS: A good day to read to the kids is what he said.

NGUYEN: That's what he said.

Well, Hurricane Dennis was blamed for at least 10 deaths in Cuba before churning out into the Gulf of Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated to higher ground.

And CNN's Havana bureau chief, Lucia Newman, covered the devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: It's still raining here in Havana. These are the leftovers of Hurricane Dennis, which exited Cuba through the northern coast, just near here shortly after midnight.

Electricity is totally out. No power in Havana. Authorities say they don't know when it will be restored.

We've seen light damage so far, a lot of trees down, light posts as well. But all in all, people here say it could have been a lot worse.

This hurricane entered on Cuba's south as a Category 5. That's the most dangerous and most destructive hurricane. That's where it caused the most damage.

President Fidel Castro said 10 people were killed. There has not been a final toll of the damage or of the deaths. Hopefully that will be all that there was.

In Havana, it's expected to get slowly back to normal. It's still (INAUDIBLE) pouring down here, and it's still very, very windy.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And imagine, if you would, strong winds, powerful winds, so powerful they could actually push a small plane 300 yards down a runway. That gives you a sense of the scene in south Florida, where strong winds and sheets of rain have already snapped trees, cracked windows and popped power lines.

NGUYEN: And we have two reports. Elaine Anchari is in Ft. Lauderdale. But first, though, we want to check in with Arlene Rodriguez, who is in Key West.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLENE RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me tell you, it has not let up. It is a driving rain. I feel like a drowned rat out here because it really has not let up.

You can see down in the streets here there is some flash flooding. And a little more importantly, Mario, if we can go up to that -- to that site over there, you can see that aluminum part of that structure is blowing around. Any second now you know that's going to come flying off.

Now, the bigwigs of Key West, the police chief and the mayor and all sorts of other officials, are out here. You can see this is their car. And the police chief is right over there with other news crews.

And they are assessing the damage. They have been driving up and down Key West just to see what daylight brings out here. And they said that they've seen a lot of debris on the roadway.

And, in fact, we took a ride out in the car, too, when things were calm. And this was hours ago. And already we were seeing all sorts of tree limbs down, palm fronds.

We also found a garbage can out in the middle of the road. We had to swerve around that because there was no daylight and no electricity out here, so it was pitch black.

So you can see some of the hazards that they're worried that when people get up, they're going to want to do the same thing. They're seeing the pictures on TV. They're going to get out for themselves and see what's going on around Key West.

But, as the police chief told me just a little while ago in our interview, they are not recommending that. They are asking that residents stay indoors.

Obviously, this onslaught of rain is not over. And it won't be over for a while. John said it could continue for six to eight hours.

So while it's not -- excuse me -- while it's not expected to get a whole lot worse, there's no letting up. It's going to be a continuous thing. And it really is a driving rain out here.

That's the situation as it stands. As soon as we get any more info out here, we're going to try to drive around as soon as it gets a little safer. And we'll let you know what's going on out here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE ANCHARI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People in south Florida have been enduring several hours of severe weather now. Heavy rain falling, strong wind gusts. In fact, a very strong wind gust took down the tree back there that is now laying across five lanes on A-1A here in Ft. Lauderdale, a popular roadway.

In fact, a taxi that was attempting to cross the roadway but couldn't see the tree because of the power outage here nearly crashed into the tree, but was then rear-ended by the van that was behind the taxi. Fortunately, no one was injured, but it is an unfortunate result of the severe weather that people here have been enduring.

Reporting from Ft. Lauderdale, I'm Elaine Anchari for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Federal emergency teams are at the ready to help victims of Hurricane Dennis just as soon as possible. CNN Correspondent Kathleen Koch is at FEMA headquarters in Washington, where those preparations are under way -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, indeed, this building behind me is bustling with activity. Dozens of Federal Emergency Management Agency officials working around the clock, on the phones, at computers, strategizing, organizing, deploying, getting ready for whatever Hurricane Dennis brings.

Already, they have deployed, pre-positioned in the states that will potentially be affected, all sorts of supplies: ice, water, food, plastic sheeting. All of that material is either in place, and there's even more on the way.

In the way of personnel, they have sent disaster assistance medical teams already to the area in case of any medical emergencies. FEMA liaisons have been deployed to each and every potentially affected state's emergency operation center. And thousands more workers are on standby to deploy if necessary.

Now, compare this to last year. Last year, more than 20,000 disaster assistance workers were deployed throughout the South to respond to that spate of hurricanes that we had, a record spate in 2004. In Florida, for example, FEMA spent more than $5 billion in recovery, when they normally spend just $3 billion nationwide, responding to hurricanes, tornadoes, et cetera.

So it was really a record year for them last year. And Tony, they're hoping that the early advent of hurricanes, including Dennis this year, doesn't mean that this season will be even worse -- Tony.

HARRIS: Boy, let's hope not. Kathleen Koch in Washington. Kathleen, thank you.

I want to make it clear here, we're not trying to put you at risk in making this request, but if you get some great video or a photo of Hurricane Dennis on your cell phone, send to us here at CNN. Just long onto CNN.com/hurricane. Click on "Send Us Your Stories" and share some of your video and photos, or even your comments about the storm. And stay tuned to CNN all weekend long for live coverage of Hurricane Dennis as it bolts up the Gulf Coast.

NGUYEN: Right now, though, new information about the terrorist attacks in London that's happening this morning, that new information. British authorities wrapped up a news conference about an hour ago. We will take you live to London next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: The story of September 11 is the significant amount of coverage it took for those photographers and reporters to go down there, to remain there, and not just on the day that it happened, but on the days after that, because the site was a dangerous one for quite some time. And CNN's coverage was very valuable and very important, and done very well.

All those scenes that we now have of the attack, of the fire, the search and rescue effort, the photographers and reporters that had to go there and do that took a tremendous risk. Well, I think that CNN helped the people of New York by showing us what was happening, and as it was happening, including the relief and recovery effort, by giving us a sense that we were sharing with the whole world.

CNN, being there and knowing that it was broadcasting it all over the world, and then seeing the reaction that people had, the support that we got, the people that came, it really helped our recovery. It really helped that psychological part of the recovery that said, you're not alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris.

In case you're just waking up with us, here's a check of our top stories this morning.

Hurricane Dennis is heading for the Gulf Coast. Its strength fluctuated overnight from Category 4 down to 1 and up to 2 within the last few hours. That means the storm has sustained winds around 100 miles per hour, and it could get stronger before hitting land tomorrow afternoon. Dennis is already bringing high winds and heavy rain to south Florida.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are in the middle of Operation Scimitar, the latest in a series of offensives in western Iraq. They've arrested more than 20 suspected insurgents.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Beijing, China, this morning, her first stop on a four-nation Asian tour. Rice is trying to find ways to get North Korea to resume nuclear disarmament talks.

NGUYEN: About an hour ago, police investigators in London released new information on Thursday's bombings, including the timing of the blasts and how they think the bombs were detonated.

Let's go straight now to our Jim Clancy, who is in London, standing by live with the latest on this.

How do they think it was detonated, Jim?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the police and the investigators that have been working on this are not giving us the exact means that they have concluded thus far. What they are doing is giving us some of the timeline, as they see it now.

They made an important correction this day. They had earlier thought that these bomb blasts, the first one went off at about 8:50 in the morning here on Thursday at the height of the commute hours. And now they are saying -- and they were saying then that some of the other ones went off in subsequent minutes. Now they say all three blasts went off within a matter of seconds, around 8:50.

Let's listen to what the deputy police commissioner of Metropolitan Police had to say earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bearing in mind these were almost simultaneous, we think within 50 seconds of each other, that maybe, maybe that leans more towards timing devices more than people actually with the bombs manually detonating. But we are not ruling out either of those possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: All right. Now, that would affect three of the bombs that went off on the underground, the tube system here in London. But remember, there was a double-decker bus that exploded 55 minutes later. They say the only new evidence that they have on that is that they are fairly certain now that that was contained inside some kind of a bag.

Meantime, Tony Blair, here at 10 Downing Street, of course returned from the G8 summit yesterday. Tony Blair taking some fire from his critics, but keeping his focus very much on the people of London, who he said have responded in an extraordinary fashion. He even took some time to go out and visit with some of the emergency workers, workers who tended some of the victims onboard a bus bombing on Thursday morning, that last of the four blasts that hit this city, to praise them for all of their efforts.

Meantime, if you looked at the papers this day, Betty, what you would see is an outpouring of understanding of the people of London for those who have people that are still missing, not identified, it is not known what happened to them. Many of them have been going around this city from hospital to hospital, posting pictures, showing it to the news media, trying to enlist any support they can get.

And we heard just a short time ago that the process of conducting autopsies and really beginning the positive, the official identification process, is going to get under way this afternoon -- Betty.

NGUYEN: And we also learned, too, Jim, in that press conference that some 120,000 calls have come in about missing people. So hopefully we will learn more about those who were indeed killed in the subway attack, which many of the bodies have not been recovered as of yet.

CNN's Jim Clancy. Thank you, Jim.

HARRIS: Let us know, are you worried a similar attack could happen here in the states? E-mail us your thoughts now at WEEKENDS@CNN.com. And we're reading your e-mails all morning long.

And time now to check on some of the other stories making news around the rest of the world.

NGUYEN: There has been more coalition action against insurgent in Iraq. And for the latest on that and our other top international stories, let's turn it over to Anand Naidoo at the CNN International Desk.

Hi, Anand.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey. Thanks, and good morning for that.

That's right, U.S. Marines are leading a new offensive against rebels in Iraq's Al Anbar province. Most of the action is centered on the volatile city of Falluja.

Marines detained at least 22 insurgents, alleged insurgents, I should say, in the operation which has been dubbed Operation Scimitar. About 500 U.S. troops and 100 Iraqi forces are involved in the action. The U.S. military last led an offensive in that particular part of Iraq, in fact, in Falluja, and that was last November.

Now, a grim anniversary being commemorated in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was 10 years ago this week that 8,000 Muslim boys and men were massacred in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. It was created as a supposed United Nations safe haven, but Serbian troops overran a small Dutch peacekeeping unit stationed there and slaughtered the civilians.

U.N. -- United Nations war crimes prosecutors have indicted two Bosnian Serb leaders in connection with that massacre. Those leaders are Radovan Karadzic and his top general, Ratko Mladic. They have not yet been captured.

Finally, for me, a stop in Spain. It's the annual running of the bulls in the Spanish city of Pamplona. And one Frenchman won't be talking or eating solids for a while. He was gored by a bull in the mouth in the latest run.

Three others were also injured in the legs and buttocks. So there will be a few of them who won't be sitting down, either. Officials estimate some 2,000 to 3,000 people crammed together and run with the bulls.

That's all for me. Back to Tony and Betty.

NGUYEN: Ouch! Oh, I always wonder every year, why, why, why must you do it?

NAIDOO: Exactly. What is the thrill?

HARRIS: Well, it's all fun and games until you get gored in the buttocks, right?

NGUYEN: Or the mouth, for that one guy. Poor guy. Ouch. Yes, that hurts just thinking about it.

Well, hey, speaking of things that we're thinking about, we're keeping in our minds, it's Category 2 right now. Talking about Hurricane Dennis. It is expected, though, to gain strength a little bit later today.

HARRIS: Meteorologist Rob Marciano brings you the absolute latest on this powerful storm next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Evacuation orders have been sent out, shelters are up and running. The question is, where is Dennis? And here's Rob Marciano with that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: And live updates from Rob and the rest of the weather team all day long, as well as our reporters all along the Gulf Coast as we track the progress of Hurricane Dennis all weekend long. NGUYEN: Our crews are standing by along the Gulf Coast, and we will take you there live throughout the morning. We'll have a look at the forecast again. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now to our e-mail question this morning. The terrorist bombings in London prompted this question this morning. Are you worried there will be similar attacks here in the United States?

This is from Dave in Michigan, who writes, "This administration has done nothing to stop the flow of people over our Mexican border since 9/11, and it won't surprise me at all when another attack happens."

NGUYEN: Tiziano from Brooklyn says, "Living in New York, we are always concerned about our daily realities, but we must go on with our lives. I think it is impossible to completely stop crazed lunatics."

And we want to thank you for your responses all morning long. We will have another e-mail question for you tomorrow.

HARRIS: And thank you for joining us this morning. We will see you back here again tomorrow morning.

NGUYEN: "OPEN HOUSE" is straight ahead.

But first, we are tracking Hurricane Dennis, and we want to go live to Rob Marciano for that.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: One hundred miles sustained winds, a category two storm. It is offshore of Key West by about 90 miles, but there is a tornado watch out for much of the lower Florida peninsula, and we had a tornado warning out for a violent waterspout that's around Ocean Reef in the upper keys till 9:45 this morning.

So this kind of thing is going to happen all day long, as it tracks up towards the north and east. Landfall expected tomorrow afternoon.

"HOUSE CALL" is next.

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