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CNN Live Sunday

Allison Remnants Flood Portions of Eastern Pennsylvania

Aired June 17, 2001 - 17:01   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin now with Southeastern Pennsylvania, where four people are confirmed dead now and three others are missing in a flood-related explosion and fire at an apartment building.

Officials are blaming what's left of Tropical Storm Allison for this. It dumped up to nine inches of rain overnight in suburban Philadelphia. The heavy rains flooded homes, washed out roads and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. At the apartment where the fire took place, crews are now working to stabilize the structure so rescuer can get inside.

CNN's Jason Carroll is live in Horsham, Pennsylvania on the phone now, joining us with the latest details -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Stephen, as you look at the Village Green apartment complex, the first thing you're struck by is how much destruction is here. As you said, crews are trying to stabilize the structure so the search for the missing can continue.

So far, four bodies have been found; three people are missing. Firefighters can't recover those bodies until the building is shored up. Part of it collapsed, and it's just too unsafe right now to go back inside. Earlier today, I did speak with some of the people who lived inside the complex.

One woman, Victoria D'Amico (ph), she's 75 years old, she told me how scared she was last night when the flood waters rose to the first floor. She says it all happened very quickly. First, she smelled gas and then there was some sort of an explosion in one of the buildings. The fire then spread to two other buildings in the complex. Fire officials have not given us an official cause, but they tell me they do believe the flooding had something to do with it.

Stephen, as you know, sections of Southeastern Pennsylvania were hit very hard from what could be the last blow from Tropical Storm Allison. This all happening Saturday night. The storm triggering power outages. At one point, 50,000 people were without power, but most of that power has now been restored.

There was flash flooding throughout the area. It all happened so fast. Cars flooded -- cars were flooded on the roadways. Some people were trapped and had to be rescued from their cars. A major exit on the Pennsylvania Turnpike had to closed for a time. Residents today are mostly just cleaning up, and most of those who were in the shelters last night are now headed back home. There are still about 60 people at one shelter that we found. Dozens of those people are from the Village Green apartment complex, who obviously no longer have a home. But the Red Cross is here to help those people relocate -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: In a moment, Jason, we're going to talk to Jacqui Jeras about the forecast, but as you stand there now, do you have any sign that Allison is moving out of the area?

CARROLL: Well, you know, Stephen, what's so strange about it -- I'm from Southern California. We're really used to flash flooding, and for those people who are not familiar with it, it's a very strange sort of a beast. The water rises very quickly, and then disappears just as fast.

Right now, we're looking at blue sky, a puddles out here on the roadways, very little evidence that a flood was here. But that's what happens during a flash flood.

FRAZIER: Well, we're glad you're all right, and we're grateful for your coverage of it. Jason Carroll reporting from Horsham, Pennsylvania.

For some details now on how the government plans to help out in these flood-ravaged cities, we're joined on the phone by Marko Bourne, who is spokesman for Pennsylvania's Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Bourne, thanks for joining us.

MARKO BOURNE, PENNSYLVANIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Glad to be here.

FRAZIER: As you heard there, it almost seems in some areas as if there never was a flood, but I'm sure that the damage is going to be plenty and you're going to have quite a time in finding it all.

BOURNE: Well, no doubt about it. This is an area that has been flooded before: in 1999 following Hurricane Floyd and also back in 1996. So, it's an area that is, unfortunately, used to flash flooding and they do come and go fairly quickly, but unfortunately, the aftermath can be pretty devastating.

FRAZIER: Is this an area that is in a flood plain? Is this near sources of flooding? Or was this purely just rain that couldn't ruin off fast enough?

BOURNE: Well, a little bit of both. There's a tremendous amount of rain that fell, upwards of nine inches in some places within Bucks and Montgomery Counties, plus the Neshaminy Creek watershed, when it does rise, it rises rapidly. It also feeds into the Delaware River, which is a tidal river, and what we had was the crest of the river -- the Neshaminy meeting a high tide in the Delaware River, and that certainly can back things up considerably throughout the entire region. FRAZIER: Would it be your intent to help people get back to where they were or is this the kind of flood plain where you'd like people to move out permanently?

BOURNE: Well, in many of the areas down there, the commonwealth, working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been very successful using the hazard mitigation program to purchase homes that are in the flood plane. Many more of these areas are not naturally in a flood plain, and this type of flash flooding can be particularly troublesome to them.

One of the things that we are doing is that Governor Ridge has directed and we are working closely with our Federal Emergency Management Agency partners to go into the area, starting tomorrow morning, in force to do a complete damage assessment. We have actually had teams from PEMA on scene there throughout the day today, working with the county emergency management folks on the local level and tomorrow, FEMA will be joining us to do a detailed survey to determine what kind of assistance might become available down the road.

FRAZIER: A lot of acronyms in there. PEMA is Pennsylvania, FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I guess, then, this is the kind of story where we'll be talking to you for several days, Mr. Bourne.

BOURNE: There's no doubt it's going to take us a couple days to at least assess, initially, here the damage, put those numbers together and send that off to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine whether or not we're going to be able to seek federal assistance for this.

FRAZIER: Well, coming as it does in the middle of all of this, we're grateful for you taking time to join us today. Marko Bourne from Pennsylvania's Emergency Management Agency, thanks very much.

BOURNE: You're welcome.

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