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CNN Live Sunday

Floodwaters Damage Homes Near Manatee Dam

Aired June 22, 2003 - 16:04   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, back to our story in central Florida where floodwaters have already damaged a handful of homes near the Manatee Dam. Engineers hope by lowering the water level in the lake they can keep that from happening to more of those structures. The Manatee Dam is located about 40 miles southeast of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast. And Rochelle Ridgeway with CNN affiliate WWSB is live at the dam with the very latest.
ROCHELLE RIDGEWAY, WWSB CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka. We want to tell you that right now that the lake level has dropped to 41.04 feet. That sounds really high. They want it down to 38, but just about four hours ago it was at 42.5 feet almost. So in four hours since that gate has been opened, they have gotten rid of a foot and a half of water. Still a ways to go. And you can see around me pouring down rain. Not what they want to see right now. This is what's happening.

We went out and we looked at the dam earlier, about an hour ago. We got to see all the gates open now so that the video that you are about to see is what it's supposed to look like. The right-hand side of the screen is what you are looking at, is going to be the dam gate that would not open this morning, or last night, that was causing some of the problems. What they had to do was bring in a private contractor and take divers down there to reattach some of the cables that had apparently become unattached at some point in time. Of course, the workforce here, right now, continuing to watch the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we are trying to get ahead of the curve, so to speak, by getting the discharge rates where we want them, to get the lake level down, to be able to handle what we expect to be more inflow due to more rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDGEWAY: The rain's already coming down, like I said. They're looking for 38 feet. The questions that we do not have answers to at this point, is why it malfunctioned, when was the last time that gate was opened. At some point during this year, Manatee County risk manager, Mike Terrell (ph), believes the gate was open, but he cannot pinpoint the last time it was open. None of those flood gates, all three of them, have been opened all at one time since the beginning of this year, and no one wants to speculate, Fredricka, as if to whether -- if that flood gate had been open when it was supposed to be, if there would have been the flooding and the evacuation that there has right now. Reporting live in Manatee County, Rochelle Ridgeway. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Rochelle, you explained that divers had to help in freeing up that stuck spill gate. So, are you able to know whether or not they manually hand cranked that spill gate open? How were they eventually able to free it?

RIDGEWAY: What we heard is that's just it. You are exactly correct. No machines were brought in. To use that, they had a crane that they had standing by. What happens is that in that video -- I am not sure if you saw -- there's a big yellow bar at the top of the dam on each one of those doors. The cables come off of that. A motor turns that, those cables wind up and the doors come open, just as they would as a lever door. So what happened was then the cable that goes in the little eye hook on the bottom of that door had come out, and from what we understand, the divers went down there, put that back in and the door came open.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rochelle Ridgeway of WWSB, thanks very much for the live report.

RIDGEWAY: You're welcome.

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 - 16:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, back to our story in central Florida where floodwaters have already damaged a handful of homes near the Manatee Dam. Engineers hope by lowering the water level in the lake they can keep that from happening to more of those structures. The Manatee Dam is located about 40 miles southeast of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast. And Rochelle Ridgeway with CNN affiliate WWSB is live at the dam with the very latest.
ROCHELLE RIDGEWAY, WWSB CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka. We want to tell you that right now that the lake level has dropped to 41.04 feet. That sounds really high. They want it down to 38, but just about four hours ago it was at 42.5 feet almost. So in four hours since that gate has been opened, they have gotten rid of a foot and a half of water. Still a ways to go. And you can see around me pouring down rain. Not what they want to see right now. This is what's happening.

We went out and we looked at the dam earlier, about an hour ago. We got to see all the gates open now so that the video that you are about to see is what it's supposed to look like. The right-hand side of the screen is what you are looking at, is going to be the dam gate that would not open this morning, or last night, that was causing some of the problems. What they had to do was bring in a private contractor and take divers down there to reattach some of the cables that had apparently become unattached at some point in time. Of course, the workforce here, right now, continuing to watch the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we are trying to get ahead of the curve, so to speak, by getting the discharge rates where we want them, to get the lake level down, to be able to handle what we expect to be more inflow due to more rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDGEWAY: The rain's already coming down, like I said. They're looking for 38 feet. The questions that we do not have answers to at this point, is why it malfunctioned, when was the last time that gate was opened. At some point during this year, Manatee County risk manager, Mike Terrell (ph), believes the gate was open, but he cannot pinpoint the last time it was open. None of those flood gates, all three of them, have been opened all at one time since the beginning of this year, and no one wants to speculate, Fredricka, as if to whether -- if that flood gate had been open when it was supposed to be, if there would have been the flooding and the evacuation that there has right now. Reporting live in Manatee County, Rochelle Ridgeway. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Rochelle, you explained that divers had to help in freeing up that stuck spill gate. So, are you able to know whether or not they manually hand cranked that spill gate open? How were they eventually able to free it?

RIDGEWAY: What we heard is that's just it. You are exactly correct. No machines were brought in. To use that, they had a crane that they had standing by. What happens is that in that video -- I am not sure if you saw -- there's a big yellow bar at the top of the dam on each one of those doors. The cables come off of that. A motor turns that, those cables wind up and the doors come open, just as they would as a lever door. So what happened was then the cable that goes in the little eye hook on the bottom of that door had come out, and from what we understand, the divers went down there, put that back in and the door came open.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rochelle Ridgeway of WWSB, thanks very much for the live report.

RIDGEWAY: You're welcome.

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