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CNN Live Sunday
Stuck Spill Gate Opened on Manatee Dam
Aired June 22, 2003 - 16:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Florida engineers have managed to get a stuck spill gate opened on the Manatee Dam. It is allowing millions of gallons of water to flow out of the lake. Hundreds of residents who live near the dam have already been evacuated, and they're bracing for more rain today. We'll take you there live in a moment, but first we want to check on how much rain could be hitting that area. And for that we go to our weather center with meteorologist, Orelon Sydney -- Orelon.
ORELON SYDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, thanks a lot. This is excellent news that the flood gates are open, because earlier today I talked to emergency management in Bradenton/Sarasota, and it was basically a situation of, if you spill a can of coke in the lake, it's going over the top of the dam. Excellent news for those folks there, but the flooding is still going to be a problem, and rain is still falling. Take a look at the radar picture right now. Heavy rain expected to continue across the state of Florida for the next 24 hours.
The good news is, a lot of this is going to slump southward as the front starts to move towards Fort Myers and Miami. It is going to push all of that rainfall southward towards south Florida and the Florida Keys. Take a look at the 24-hour totals though: Over five inches in Punta Gorda. The Bradenton Airport picked up almost three inches. And this is just since 8:00 yesterday morning, ending at 8:00 this morning eastern. Doesn't include the rain that's fallen today, and remember that some of these areas, since June 14, have seen as much as 15 inches of rainfall across that area.
Continuing to see the showers and thunderstorms down in the Gulf. This activity continues throughout the evening, but I wanted to give you a little idea of how all this is oriented, and what we're actually looking at as far as the Manatee Dam is concerned. We're going to start off with a picture of Florida, and then zoom in to where the Manatee Dam is located, which is east of the town of Sarasota and Bradenton. The bridge across, at 75, has remained open, but a lot of local bridges, local roads have been closed.
We're following the river now, westward toward Sarasota, and you can see how marshy it is with lots of tributaries and developed areas along the river. As we get closer, of course, out to the bay, things look a lot better, but notice, of course, the development increases. We are going to continue to see a flood wave now working down the river towards the bay, but the good news is it's controlled.
Now that they have got the floodgates open, things look like they are going to be a lot better across the area. Rainfall comes to an end by Monday night and Tuesday, but not before dumping as much as 20 inches across portions of central and western Florida. And this isn't even a tropical storm. We still got that stuff to come -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: No kidding. And we're still in the throes of a season that could produce a lot of that kind of tropical weather. So we talk about these low-lying areas that are already dealing with high levels of water, Orelon. With rain over the next couple days yet to come, what are the likely downfalls that come with that?
SYDNEY: Well, the bad part is that you are going to continue to see the water flowing from north to south. Remember, it's not just the rainfall in the actual Manatee Dam in the river, but it's also from the river basin. That is going to continue working its way southward. So even if it stops raining right now, there's still more rain upstream that has to work its way through the river and out to the bay.
The excellent news is, the reason the dam is there is to control the amount of flooding and amount of water that's going into the bay. The problem of course was they couldn't control it earlier. Now with the floodgates open, things look a lot better.
WHITFIELD: All right, Orelon Sydney, thanks very much.
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 June 22, 2003 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Florida engineers have managed to get a stuck spill gate opened on the Manatee Dam. It is allowing millions of gallons of water to flow out of the lake. Hundreds of residents who live near the dam have already been evacuated, and they're bracing for more rain today. We'll take you there live in a moment, but first we want to check on how much rain could be hitting that area. And for that we go to our weather center with meteorologist, Orelon Sydney -- Orelon.
ORELON SYDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, thanks a lot. This is excellent news that the flood gates are open, because earlier today I talked to emergency management in Bradenton/Sarasota, and it was basically a situation of, if you spill a can of coke in the lake, it's going over the top of the dam. Excellent news for those folks there, but the flooding is still going to be a problem, and rain is still falling. Take a look at the radar picture right now. Heavy rain expected to continue across the state of Florida for the next 24 hours.
The good news is, a lot of this is going to slump southward as the front starts to move towards Fort Myers and Miami. It is going to push all of that rainfall southward towards south Florida and the Florida Keys. Take a look at the 24-hour totals though: Over five inches in Punta Gorda. The Bradenton Airport picked up almost three inches. And this is just since 8:00 yesterday morning, ending at 8:00 this morning eastern. Doesn't include the rain that's fallen today, and remember that some of these areas, since June 14, have seen as much as 15 inches of rainfall across that area.
Continuing to see the showers and thunderstorms down in the Gulf. This activity continues throughout the evening, but I wanted to give you a little idea of how all this is oriented, and what we're actually looking at as far as the Manatee Dam is concerned. We're going to start off with a picture of Florida, and then zoom in to where the Manatee Dam is located, which is east of the town of Sarasota and Bradenton. The bridge across, at 75, has remained open, but a lot of local bridges, local roads have been closed.
We're following the river now, westward toward Sarasota, and you can see how marshy it is with lots of tributaries and developed areas along the river. As we get closer, of course, out to the bay, things look a lot better, but notice, of course, the development increases. We are going to continue to see a flood wave now working down the river towards the bay, but the good news is it's controlled.
Now that they have got the floodgates open, things look like they are going to be a lot better across the area. Rainfall comes to an end by Monday night and Tuesday, but not before dumping as much as 20 inches across portions of central and western Florida. And this isn't even a tropical storm. We still got that stuff to come -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: No kidding. And we're still in the throes of a season that could produce a lot of that kind of tropical weather. So we talk about these low-lying areas that are already dealing with high levels of water, Orelon. With rain over the next couple days yet to come, what are the likely downfalls that come with that?
SYDNEY: Well, the bad part is that you are going to continue to see the water flowing from north to south. Remember, it's not just the rainfall in the actual Manatee Dam in the river, but it's also from the river basin. That is going to continue working its way southward. So even if it stops raining right now, there's still more rain upstream that has to work its way through the river and out to the bay.
The excellent news is, the reason the dam is there is to control the amount of flooding and amount of water that's going into the bay. The problem of course was they couldn't control it earlier. Now with the floodgates open, things look a lot better.
WHITFIELD: All right, Orelon Sydney, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
