Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Looting In Cancun After Wilma; Florida Braces As Wilma Approaches; Doctor Helps Victims Of Katrina; FEMA Planned Carefully For Wilma; Discussion Of Possible Karl Rove Indictment
Aired October 23, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Rob, it sure looks like you're feeling some of the effects right now. Wilma, so devastating in Mexico. Mexico, in fact, parts of the resort areas there in ruins. At least four people are dead. More than 10,000 Americans are stranded in shelters on the Yucatan Peninsula, and while we hear a number of people are seriously injured, we don't know yet if any U.S. citizens are among them.
Now, Wilma is picking up speed as it heads for Florida's southwest coast. The Category 2 hurricane could strengthen back into a more powerful, major hurricane again before it strikes the sunshine state in the coming hours. A hundred sixty thousand Florida residents were told to leave. Buildings are boarded up. Streets are emptying out and sandbags are filled. The storm-weary state is once again bracing for the roughest weather nature can dish out.
Now, looters are taking anything they need in Cancun. They are hungry and desperate for water. Police are shooting in the air to scare them away. Our Susan Candiotti knows what the suffering is like. She is in Cancun. Susan, you were without food or water for a good 24 hours at least?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a punishing time here for people who had to survive this Category 4 storm, Hurricane Wilma, something that they'll never forget and it's been something to live through for our crew as well. But if anyone has been to the resort area of Cancun, they would have a hard time recognizing it this day, as people finally were able to get out and survey the damage.
Most of the hotels did suffer flooding from the wind, from the rain, and lobbies, hotel lobbies appearing trashed in many cases. Downtown Cancun, parts of it, the streets are flooded, people getting around whatever way they can, And amazingly, they are able to begin picking their way through the roads. We saw a number of bulldozers, already out, starting to clear debris from the road, cutting down trees that were blocking it.
People are wading through the water to get to where they can to get supplies that they need. Down at city hall, there were long lines enveloping it, and across the street we heard stories from store owners who were looted directly across the street from city hall. But we also saw the looting going on ourselves, and in some cases, police were on hand to stop it. In other cases they were not.
Sometimes people were taking food and water, things to eat. In other cases, however, they were not, things like alcohol, things like household items from stores. We heard this from storekeepers ourselves.
We can say that for the most part, in the shelters, tourists seem to be getting by. These are people from countries all over the world. And they are being supplied with food and water. Sanitary conditions are not the greatest in the world, but they are managing to get by. It is easier for some people than for others, but they are all looking forward, as you can well imagine, to get out.
The question is, when will they be able to? As we understand it from officials, there is no structural damage at the airport in Cancun. However, it is flooded at the moment. And so the early plans may call for, according to the Mexican government, to evacuate tourists to Merida, which is roughly 150 miles or so away and possibly to fly them out from there, when they are able to. We don't know when that will be -- Carol.
LIN: Susan, this all could be just a preview of what Wilma could do to Florida. All of Florida's southern peninsula is under a hurricane warning right now. It extends from Longboat Key on Florida's west coast, all the way down to Key West, and on the eastern side of the state from Titusville down to Key Largo. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras tracking Wilma right now. Jacqui, is it picking up speed?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it has been moving a little faster. And that whole area you mentioned along the west coast that under a hurricane warning, much of it is also under a tornado watch. And now we have a report of a possible tornado on the ground. This is a near I-4 right now, just to the north and west of Tampa.
Lakeland -- this is the storm that we're concerned about, and emergency management reported several public sightings of a tornado on the ground just to the southwest of Zolfo Springs. So the counties that this includes is Hardee, Polk, Hillsborough, and Manatee Counties, and this particular storm is moving up to the north and to the west.
Our computer is also picking up a possible tornado just offshore but that is moving away from the coast. So not of immediate concern, but we are expecting the threat of tornadoes to continue throughout the evening and even into the overnight hours.
The Florida Keys has been getting hit hard on and off with some of these rain bands. A little bit of a lull here right now for Key West. But we're going to put the wind indicator on there, and can you see that sustained winds at 26 miles per hour now, gusts at 32, but we have seen gusts at tropical storm force and we are expecting the sustained tropical storm winds to be arriving probably about three or four hours from this time.
There you can see the whole area underneath the tornado watch, and where that threat is, and the rainfall amounts throughout the Florida peninsula will be quite heavy. Four to eight inches expected widespread, but locally heavier amounts, possibly as much as a foot. This is a very large storm. It has increased in intensity a little bit over the last three hours or so.
It's a Category 2 hurricane, still, but if you haven't watched since this since morning, the wind speeds have increased. They're now up to 105 miles per hour. We're expecting it to continue to accelerate in forward speed. Right now about 200 miles away from Key West or about 295 miles away from the southwest coast.
And if you do the math there, as we expect the storm to accelerate, we think tomorrow morning will be our best bet for landfall, possibly in the window of maybe 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. for landfall, but we think the hurricane force winds will be arriving before dawn tomorrow morning, so now is the time to hurry up and finish everything that you need to in order to prepare, and it's not just the west coast that needs to prepare.
It's also the east coast. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach will likely be experiencing Category 1 conditions as the storm will be ripping very quickly across the peninsula. It will be back out to sea by midday likely on Monday. Back to you.
LIN: Boy, Jacqui, it looks like Wilma is going to be pretty busy even in the hours before it makes landfall. It's going to be a busy night.
JERAS: Sure will be. Big storm, yes. Very wide.
LIN: Huge. All right. Thanks very much, Jacqui.
Well, Florida's emergency crews have a lot of practice getting ready for hurricanes. Wilma will be the eighth one to hit the state since August of last year. Craig Fugate is director of Florida's Emergency Management Division in Tallahassee, a busy night ahead for you, Mr. Fugate. Are you ready for this one?
CRAIG FUGATE, DIR., FLA. DIV. OF EMER. MGMT.: Well, we're ready but we're hoping our residents get ready. As you're hearing from all the reports, now is the time to finish up. And the thing we need to point out to people, they've had a nice day and the weather is just now starting to get bad. But when it gets bad later tonight, it's going to get bad fast. So don't think you've got much time left, just because conditions may still be, you know, not too bad as you get ready this evening.
LIN: Mr. Fugate, you imposed a mandatory evacuation order for the Keys. A lot of people just didn't leave. I mean, they're not even really taking it very seriously just yet. Can you do anything to penalize these people?
FUGATE: Well, unfortunately, they're penalizing themselves by putting themselves at risk. And you need to understand, that it's actually Monroe County, the county seat, that ordered the evacuation, the mandatory evacuation. This is something our counties do, that we support them on.
But when people make a conscience decision not to evacuate, they're really penalizing themselves but they're also going to put responders at risk when they call 911, if it's still working, and ask for help.
LIN: Well, what can you do though for the sick and the elderly who maybe just can't evacuate?
FUGATE: Well, we've always had plans in Florida for those folks to call, get with their emergency managers and transport them out. We're actually working with the county. They have a special needs shelter up in Miami-Dade County, up at the FIU campus where they shelter. They've been offering bus rides the last couple of days.
We've assisted in evacuating the nursing homes and hospitals. So those people that needed assistance, all they need had to do is ask and we're going to get them out. But far too many people that could have gotten out are making a decision that's very risky.
LIN: You see this as being a dangerous one, a dangerous storm.
FUGATE: Well, all ever these storms, you know, to say with absolute certainty two, three days out where the greatest damage is going to occur means we oftentimes order evacuations and we're lucky and the storm is not as damaging. Keys have been spared a lot in the last two years, but I think the luck is running out.
Particularly with this storm, we're going to see a lot of wind down there. Storm surge and possibly tornadoes as you're already reporting, we expect that to increase throughout the night. Again, dangerous conditions. Please, heed these evacuations orders where you can.
LIN: Craig Fugate, good advice. Craig, thank you very much. It's going to be a busy night for you. Let's stay in touch, OK? CNN is going to be here all night long as we track Hurricane Wilma. Rob Marciano out at Fort Myers beach. Rob, you know, people just weren't taking these hurricane warnings very seriously, and the hours are ticking away and pretty soon it's going to be too late.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's one of those deals maybe because we've waited so long for this storm to get its act together, and now it's made its finally made its turn towards the Florida coastline, maybe folks, you know, started believing it wasn't going to get here.
And certainly after the hurricane season last year, you know, maybe they're thinking we've been through them all. We'll get through this one as well. But there are mandatory evacuations in effect for especially the coastal communities.
Right now we're at Fort Myers beach. Actually, earlier today there were folks here on the beach. It was really pleasant, kind of warm. It's starting to sprinkle or shower a bit now, feels pretty good, to tell you the truth.
Behind me is one of the many piers that line the western Gulf coast beaches here in Florida. You see the waves rolling in very gently right now. And all indications right now is this storm may very well pass to our south. As mentioned, mandatory evacuations for about 160,000 people who live across this part of Florida. And that includes all of the Florida Keys. We go live to Key West. Kareen Wynter is down there live for us this evening. Kareen, what do you have?
KAREEN WYNTER: Rob, good evening to you. Well, what we have is something quite interesting. We want to bring it in right now, something that a citizen journalist right here in Key West captured during the last squall that came through here. The snapshot is of a waterspout right off of the coast of Key West.
And what a waterspout is, it's similar to a tornado except it's not on land, but instead it's out over the water. And there were actually sightings of a couple waterspouts. This amateur photographers managed to capture one. It came -- it was actually generated from the outer bands that came through here. And, Rob, this is what most people here in Key West after speaking to them say that they fear the most, not the hurricane, but the potential for waterspouts and also tornado activity.
We haven't had much in the area of rain over the last couple hours or so, since the last time we were hit. But one constant here? Well, the wind around us. You can see by the leaves, the trees that are blowing here in the background. We are actually sandwiched downtown on Duval Street between buildings. So this isn't even the force of the wind that we're picking up here on the island. To the south of us, we're told that it's actually much, much stronger.
Something else that the city is concerned about, the potential for severe flooding. That's because when Wilma strikes, it's expected to happen during high tide. There are going to be storm surges generated and so the mayor says that he's going to be keeping a eye on some of the systems here in place. Hopefully that will keep some of that water out -- Rob.
MARCIANO: OK, Kareen. I saw a report from you earlier, a couple of hours ago, claps of thunder in the background. That's pretty rare, actually, for a tropical system, so we'll checking in with you throughout the evening. Thanks for that report.
We're interacting with a very strong cold front. That may be one of the reasons that we're getting some cooler air interacting with this tropical air. We're got tornado watches up pretty much for the entire southern two-thirds of the peninsula.
So that is going to be an ongoing threat, not only tonight but likely through the day tomorrow. All right, up the road in the west coast and down the road here is Naples, Florida. Jeanne Meserve our correspondent down there live for us tonight, closer to the path of this storm. Jeanne, how are folks taking it so far?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rob, first let me give you a little update on the weather. We've gotten a few showers here, but it really doesn't look much like a hurricane at this point in time. Officials nonetheless are warning citizens here that if they want to get to a safer place, they better do it now. Things are only going to get worst, obviously.
Now, the elevation here in Naples about 11 feet or so, but there are parts of Collier County that are much lower, closer to three feet, places like Plantation Island and Everglades City. We went down there earlier today. There were a lot of homes and businesses right on the water there, some of them only at an elevation of about three feet. And they're talking about a storm surge in that area much, much higher than that. Nonetheless, there are some people who are making the decision to stay right where they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. BRUCE HITCHCOCK, CHOKOLOSKEE FISHING CHARTERS: Between here and the Gulf, there's 10,000 islands to buffer the storm surge and I think that it's not just going to come rushing in like we on the beach. It might come up slowly, but I don't think it's going to come up high enough to cause us a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Of course, those areas and other parts of Collier County are under a mandatory evacuation area. The Red Cross tells me 20 shelters have been set up that can handle 25,000 people and more if they need to. Rob, back to you.
MARCIANO: Thanks, Jeanne. We'll check in with you a little bit later on. Carol, later on as well in about a half hour from now, we'll check in with the National Hurricane Center. Max Mayfield will be on with us and we'll get the lowdown, his inside information, as to where the storm may be headed in the next 12 hours. Back to you.
LIN: All right, Rob, we'll be looking forward to that advisory to figure out where Wilma is exactly going to be headed.
Now you all can track Wilma day and night on CNN.com and keep up on where it's going. There's also a huge archive of photos and video reports from recent hurricanes. CNN.com/hurricane.
Although, imagine watching your home get washed away by Wilma. You're going to be hearing from an American living in Mexico. He actually saw what Wilma could do when it made landfall right on top of his apartment building.
Plus, helping those in desperate need. One doctor cares for almost 4,000 patients who are homeless and lost everything to Katrina.
But first, some of today's other headlines, including a plane crash where at least 117 people are feared dead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We've got more hurricane updates, but these are the stories also making news. In Baghdad today, a car bomb exploded outside a movie theater, killing three people and wounding 14. The U.S. military also announced this weekend that four more U.S. troops died in Iraq. That brings the U.S. military's death toll to 1,993. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Lithuania for a meeting on whether to expand NATO. Ukraine is seeking membership, something that Russia opposes.
On another topic, reporters asked Rumsfeld about allegations that U.S. soldiers burned the remains ever Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: One hates to see the adverse effect of it, if it is true. You also recognize the damage that can be done by the allegations alone, if they're not true, or if there's some explanation of some sort. But that's the world we live in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: The defense secretary said the U.S. military hopes to quickly determine the facts of this case.
Now, the Nigerian government says there were no survivors on that Nigerian passenger jet that crashed with 117 people onboard. The plane went down last night shortly after takeoff from Lagos. The Nigerian president's office told CNN that several high-level Nigerian officials may have been on that plane.
Right now, we want to get back to Hurricane Wilma. The storm is expected to hit Florida's southwestern coast tomorrow morning. Now, it's spent two days beating up Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Some hotels and homes crumbled under Wilma's powerful wind.
John Harrell was in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, just across from Cozumel, when the storm hit. When he witnessed the hurricane's ferocity, he jumped in his car and got out of town. John Harrell is joining me now by telephone. He is on his way back to the United States. John, good to have you, and you're in good condition.
JOHN HARRELL, PLAYA DEL CARMEN RESIDENT: Carol, I'm fine. I've driven 918 miles since 5:00 yesterday.
LIN: What did you see when Wilma actually started to make landfall?
HARRELL: Well, it came during the day, just the opposite of what Hurricane Emily did on July 17th when it came totally at night and was moving very quick and you couldn't see anything. So it came in about 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning.
Keep in mind, the tropical storm force winds actually arrived Thursday afternoon. But for six hours, from 10:00 a.m. on Friday until about 4:00 p.m. on Friday, all hell broke loose.
LIN: And when you say all hell, what do you mean?
HARRELL: Well, there's about a 500 foot tower, some kind of radio tower, just next to the gate to my apartment. We watched it just -- the cable snapped. It started whipping in the wind like a bullwhip, and then the tower crumbled. We saw cement walls knocked over by the wind.
There's a palm tree on the corner that didn't even break off at the top; it just snapped in half at the middle. The grocery store that we do all of our shopping at, called the San Francisco market, all that's left remaining is just the frame. I mean, it is just ...
LIN: Oh, my goodness.
HARRELL: It's a disaster. I stayed around for Emily. For five days it took the electricity to come back on. But without electricity and no Internet service, I can't work in Mexico, and I've got to be able to work. So I've got to get back to the United States, to my office in Ft. Worth.
LIN: And is your apartment building OK?
HARRELL: No. My apartment is demolished.
LIN: Demolished?
HARRELL: It is demolished. What happened was, the hurricane force winds were gusting so high that it just ripped the plywood off the windows, and then everything crashed in just as it did in many, many homes and businesses in Playa Del Carmen. This was far more powerful than Emily.
LIN: Plywood. So you actually -- you and your neighbors prepared for this and still it wasn't enough to save the building?
HARRELL: We prepared. Lots of people prepared. There were no broken windows during Hurricane Emily. There are many, thousands of broken windows, for Hurricane Wilma.
LIN: All right. John Harrell. John, you sell chicken hats, yes?
HARRELL: I do, chickenhats.com.
LIN: What is a chicken hat, anyway?
HARRELL: Well you know, one size pecks all. And I actually went down to the beach at the beginning of the peak winds ever the hurricane, around 10:00 a.m. with Wilma written on the side of a chicken hat.
LIN: That's going to be a souvenir indeed.
HARRELL: I am definitely a chicken.
LIN: Chicken hats taking you back to Texas. All right. Welcome back stateside. Glad you survived. Thanks, John. John Harrell.
HARRELL: All right. Thank you.
LIN: All right. We are looking for citizen journalists. So if you're out there and you see something, you take picture, video of Hurricane Wilma, logon to CNN.com/hurricane. We want to see -- send us your pictures, OK? We want you to be safe, though, when taking those pictures, so please don't put yourself or anybody else in any danger when doing it.
Now, in just a matter of hours, Wilma's rains will start to pound Florida. You're going live to Marco Island where residents are trying to evacuate. And it looks like gas might actually get even cheaper, even though another hurricane is on its way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: You know, every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the front line. And today we bring you the story of a doctor so tough she needs neither money nor a clinic to help her patients. And her patients really do need a lot of help. Hurricane Katrina left 4,000 people virtually homeless in a town called Bayou La Batre in Alabama. And I wish every doctor had this kind of drive.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LIN (voice-over): Doctor Regina Benjamin sees her patients the old-fashioned way, face-to-face and door-to-door. That is, wherever Hurricane Katrina left a door to knock on. Even before the storm, Bayou La Batre, Alabama's seafood capital, was poor. When Katrina tossed its fishing boats into the trees, the fishermen lost their income add the only life they ever knew. Ninety percent of the residents are homeless.
(on camera): You've been through a lot in the storm.
DR. REGINA BENJAMIN: Yes, ma'am.
LIN (voice-over): Most patients don't have medical insurance. Right now, Dr. Benjamin is not making them pay their bills.
BENJAMIN: There's no charge for today. Not doing any charges or anything right now during the storm.
LIN: Dr. Benjamin is trying to make sure her 4,000 patients stay alive, and well enough to rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon I got down there, I called down there, and she's in my house and telling me to come home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glad she did.
LIN: Dr. Benjamin is the only family physician in Bayou La Batre. When people see her blue pickup, they know she's making rounds.
BENJAMIN: We've been working around the clock since the storm.
LIN: On this day, she's checking on mother and son's in the advanced stages of muscular dystrophy. The daughter of a waitress and maintenance man, she grew up in a rural town near Bayou La Batre in a segregated south in the 1960s. But the teargas and student protests were a world away. Regina Benjamin's mother always told her she was as good as anyone else and that as poor as they were, they still had enough to help others.
BENJAMIN: It's about making a life, and the more you give, the more you feel like you have really contributed to something and to someone else.
LIN: So when she graduated from Morehouse Medical School, she decided to go home. Dr. Benjamin started her clinic with $800 16 years ago. Her work with the uninsured is one of the reasons "Time" magazine named her a future leader and President Clinton consulted her on his patient bill of rights.
But Hurricane Katrina nearly did her practice in. Dr. Benjamin is working out of a double wide trailer, because Katrina devastated her clinic. She's already rebuilt once before, after a hurricane seven years ago.
Now her patients' files lie drying in the October sun. Most of her patients are shrimpers and fishermen, people who in normal times earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford standard medical fees. Dr. Benjamin has worked out her own system.
BENJAMIN: They will pay $5 a month forever, because they want it pay their way. They don't want something for free. And so you allow them to keep their dignity, and see them.
LIN: The hurricane season exposed how vulnerable her patients are. The federal government lists Bayou La Batre as one of America's most medically underserved towns. It is 6:30 in the evening and the sun is setting in Bayou La Batre. Just the beginning of evening rounds for Dr. Regina Benjamin. Her day seems to never end, but finally she is starting to believe that the worst of the storm has passed.
BENJAMIN: We'll come back stronger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: But the worst of Hurricane Wilma is yet to come. Right now, already feeling the effects of Hurricane Wilma on the ground in Florida. Jacqui Jeras tracking this at the CNN Weather Center. Jacqui, what's going on?
JERAS: Well, Carol, we have a couple of possible tornadoes to report. First one right here. You can see our storm tracker. A lot of lightning associated with this, too. This is for Sarasota County. If you live in Laurel, if you live in Bee Ridge, you need to be taking cover right now.
There is a possible tornado indicated by radar moving very quickly on up to the north and to the west around 35 miles per hour. There can you see the counties highlighted in red. This is moving away from land. It is moving off the coast and should be over open water. There you can see the timing on this. This is until -- it expires at 5:45. That should actually say 6:45 p.m. That's in Central time right now. It should 6:45 p.m. We also have a tornado warning in effect for Osceola County that's in -- possibly a tornado near Yeha (ph) Junction.
There you can see the counties highlighted in red. That is moving up to the north and the west, that storm a little bit slower, moving at 10 miles per hour. We did have a republic report of the tornado in Florida earlier this evening. No damage to report from that one, but the tornado threat increasing now, and there is a watch in effect across much of the southwestern Florida coast, from north of Tampa Bay all the way through the Keys throughout the evening -- Carol.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Jacqui.
We've been waiting for this moment right now to get the latest from the National Hurricane Center. The director of the center, Max Mayfield, joins me now right now.
Max, it looks like already we're feeling the effects of Hurricane Wilma.
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We are. Those tornadoes are always a problem with the systems coming out of the Gulf of Mexico like this. And back in 1998, we had a tropical storm, Mitch, that spawned several tornadoes, one F-2 tornado that did a lot of damage down in the Florida keys. Of course, from Gabriel in 2001, made landfall on a track similar to this, and it spawned 16 tornadoes. And so we're going to be in for a long night here, and half the day tomorrow, with the tornado activity.
LIN: Max, the tornadoes that are spawned out of a hurricane, though, are those as dangerous as tornadoes that we see in Tornado Alley in the United States?
MAYFIELD: No, they're not.
LIN: They're different, aren't they?
MAYFIELD: Typically they're not at strong, but occasionally you'll get one of the F-2s, and, you know, rarely an F-3 tornado. And if that, you know, goes over a mobile home park, you know, that's going to cause a lot of damage and potential loss of life. So people need to be very alert for that.
LIN: All right. Max, we make a lot, a big deal, out of when a hurricane technically makes landfall, when the eye reaches the shore. But actually, that really isn't always that relevant, especially when you have a storm of this size and this intensity.
MAYFIELD: Absolutely, Carol. And those tornadoes are in these outer rain bands. You know, you're already -- Jacqui's already been talking about those well out in advance of the eye of the hurricane, and the core of the hurricane, right here, where the really strong winds are. You know, that's in a relatively large area. So if that stays intact, which it sure looks like it's going to do, that's going to bring a swath in red here of hurricane-force winds over a pretty good section of the southern part of the peninsula.
LIN: Max, we've got our Rob Marciano, who is a meteorologist and also a severe weather expert, standing by down at Fort Myers beach -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Hi, Carol. Well, Max, I'm nowhere near the expert you are, so I want to ask you a few questions so you can share your ideas with the...
MAYFIELD: You bet.
MARCIANO: ... with our viewers at home. This storm, as you probably mentioned, is accelerating, and the Florida, southern tip of the Florida peninsula pretty narrow. How strong is it going to be when it reaches the east coast? And you think that people on that part of Florida may be dealing with a pretty strong hurricane tomorrow afternoon.
MAYFIELD: Yes, well, normally, we typically are moving the hurricane 10 to 15 mile per hour. We usually say it'll move one category. This one, you know, once it gets close to the peninsula, it's going to take off like a rocket, and really accelerate out into the Atlantic. So, you know, I think the best thing to do is plan on the possibility of a Category 2 hurricane, you know, in the eyewall itself here, as it moves across the peninsula.
MARCIANO: What has been the biggest challenge with this storm? It looks like it's taking the track that you folks had forecast the past, maybe, two days. But what's been the biggest challenge since Wilma developed?
MAYFIELD: Well, it's really been the forward motion. And, you know, I think the track has been very, very consistent for a number of days, and it's really, to me, pretty remarkable that even when this hurricane went down the Caribbean, headed northwestward, you know, most of the computer models indicated it would brush the Yucatan Peninsula, slow down, and then gradually turn out to the northeast and accelerate.
And that's what it's doing. There's always some uncertainty in the timing there. We have some models a little bit faster, some a little bit slower than we're forecasting. But the idea here is that the center should be near the southwest Florida coast by tomorrow morning.
MARCIANO: Well, it's certainly impressive to watch that jet stream now into October get stronger and pick this storm up.
I don't mean to slam you with a bunch of people, Max, but Jacqui Jeras also wants to ask you a question.
MAYFIELD: Sure.
MARCIANO: Jacqui?
JERAS: Hey, Max. I wanted to ask you what your primary concern is. I mean, because we're worried about rain, we're worried about wind, we're worrying about surge. But what's the most important thing that we're worried about here, the biggest threat?
MAYFIELD: Well, really, Jacqui, you've got to consider all those hazards. The first concern is usually that storm surge, and we're saying nine to 17 feet near and south of where the center crosses the coast. Now, if the track sets up to the north, that's going to get in towards Naples, or even northward. A little farther south, you know, it's a whole different story there.
But it's difficult to have a storm surge on the Gulf Coast. We're very concerned. In fact, one of my greatest concerns, I think, is down in the Florida keys. We're hearing reports of people still on boats, and I'm convinced that people, some people, love their boats more than their spouse, and they'll try to ride out this hurricane on the boat.
And that's absolutely not the right thing to do. People will lose their lives if they do that. So please, don't do that.
And then we've already talked about the... , well, they'll have rainfall and, of course, those tornadoes.
JERAS: And, Max, I wanted to -- is the surf going to be in a relatively concentrated area, where the worst of the surf will be? Is this going to be really widespread?
MAYFIELD: If the eyewall stays as large as it is right now, based on the aircraft reports that we're getting, it's going to be over a pretty large area. There's some possibility here -- I mean, if it comes in near Marco Island -- and this is Marco Island right here, a little town called Chokoloskee and Everglade City just to the north of that, there's really nothing -- nobody lives here, south of there, until you get all the way down to Flamingo. And that's been evacuated, I'm sure, by now.
So the best thing that could happen, storm surge-wise, would be for that to come in here over the Everglades, where there are no humans. But a little shift to the north, and we've got Marco Island and even Naples in that high storm surge zone.
JERAS: OK, thanks.
MARCIANO: Max, on behalf of Jacqui and Carol, we thank you very much for your expertise. You've been working hard for us all season long, and especially tonight. We'll get back to you a little bit later on. Thanks.
MAYFIELD: OK, thank you very much.
MARCIANO: Max Mayfield from the National Hurricane Center. Boy, they've done an amazing job this season, and last season, and they're are on this one as well, Carol. LIN: Yes, isn't that so? And we're going to be hearing from Max throughout the evening. And I know, Rob, that you're going to be looking forward to the later forecast, the 11:00 advisory, as kind of definitive. But it tends to come in around 10:30, 10:40. So we're going to be hearing from the National Hurricane Center throughout the night to see whether Wilma is changing its path.
In the meantime, 160,000 people were told that they needed to evacuate. We are going to check in with the FEMA headquarters, what emergency officials are doing to help those affected by Hurricane Wilma.
You are watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: This live picture for you from Marco Island, just down the road a piece here from Fort Myers Beach, where I'm located on the southwest coast of Florida, as we await Wilma.
You see the winds starting to pick up. It's been actually a pretty nice day, and just a few rain squalls moving through. Some of those rain squalls, though, have turned into more violent thunderstorms as far north as Sarasota County. So even in advance of this system, we're definitely wary.
And they've had plenty of days to plan in advance of this system. And honestly, it seems as though there's no state better than Florida to set the stage and to get prepped. They had all last year to practice, they've fine-tuned their plan, and after watching a news conference with Governor Jeb Bush, they seemed fairly relaxed and very well ready for Wilma to move along on shore, hopefully quickly, without doing a whole lot of damage.
But they also said they'll take any help from the federal government that they can get, and that would include FEMA.
Gary Nurenberg is our reporter and correspondent in Washington, D.C., with more on that at the FEMA headquarters. Hi, Gary.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening, Rob.
You know, if the country has learned nothing else about FEMA this year, it is that planning for natural disasters is a key to the agency's success. FEMA says it has planned carefully for Wilma, but with landfall now only hours away, there's not much planning left to do.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
R. DAVID PAULISON, ACTING DIRECTOR, FEMA: Time is running shorts. The storm is moving very quickly.
NURENBERG (voice-over): FEMA has nearly 1,000 personnel in Florida, 15 teams of state and federal officials scattered at emergency management centers throughout the state, 300 truckloads of food, water, and ice prepositioned, emergency medical workers and search and rescue teams in place.
PAULISON: We are as prepared as we can be right now, with us in the state of Florida. We've taken pretty much all the steps that we can take.
NURENBERG: Paulison was asked about reports that some residents of the Florida keys are not heeding evacuation orders.
PAULISON: If anyone is remaining in the Florida keys after the evacuation order is given, particularly the size of this storm it's where it's headed, they are making a significant mistake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NURENBERG: Bottom line here, Rob, FEMA is convinced it's ready.
Back to you.
MARCIANO: That's always good to hear. Thanks very much, Gary, at the FEMA headquarters. The Florida state government ready as well, they've got 23 shelters open, 20 special-needs shelters. Some of those shelters are pet-friendly. Twenty-four hundred National Guardsmen have been activated, 3,000 ready to go on top of that, 10 Chinook helicopters, eight medical teams, 220 trucks with ice, 200 trucks with water, 86,000 meals ready to go. And that doesn't include the help they're getting from FEMA.
So to say the least, Carol, they are ready. Hopefully Wilma doesn't get much stronger than she already is, or it already is.
Back to you.
LIN: Yes, absolutely. And hopefully that lots of people who were told to evacuate won't need any of those supplies, because they'll already be in a safe place.
We want to see what's going to be happening in parts of the country, or parts of Florida, actually, where Hurricane Wilma may actually make landfall. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place in much of south Florida along the coast, including Marco Island.
And that's where we find our chief international -- chief national correspondent, John King. John? I just spread your territory around the world. But anyway, you're focusing on our -- on hurricane coverage in Marco Island.
You know, the National Hurricane Center says that right there, where you're standing, you could see an eight- to nine-foot storm surge sometime even in the next, well, 12 hours.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just starting to get windy now, Carol. We expect the rain to come soon. And you're right, they say expect nine, maybe a little bit more of that, of a storm surge.
Peaceful at the moment. And that's one of the reasons they're worried here, because our -- the city manager told us today, he thinks some residents will think, Don't worry about this one. But he says this is the first hurricane to come at Marco Island for a potential direct hit from the west since 1960.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The Sunday rush hit Breakfast Plus Cafe. Eggs over easy, home fries, steaming coffee, and the debate over whether Marco Island's mandatory evacuation order means you really need to go.
Denise Forbat (ph) lives 30 miles down the road in tiny Everglade City. All but a handful of people left town Saturday, she says. And Denise plans to move inland after one more shift.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a big scare, but, you know, sometimes you got to listen to it and go. So by afternoon, I'll be gone.
KING: Going, it appears, for good reason.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Cell phones off, please.
KING: At Marco Island's emergency operations center, word Wilma is aiming this way, likely to deliver winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and a tidal surge of seven to 10 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the modeling, everything indicates it's still staying on target with us. BOC indicates Marco Island as the direct hit as of right now.
KING: It is a town of expensive coastal condominiums and pricey yachts, far different now than in 1960, the last time a hurricane hit directly from the west.
The mandatory evacuation began Saturday. City manager Bill Moss says 90 percent of the 20,000 people who were on the island have left.
BILL MOSS, MARCO ISLAND CITY MANAGER: There still are too many people on the island. We're an island, we're surrounded by water. There's going to be a lot of water, likely the total disruptions of all utilities.
KING: Nudging holdouts who want to stay is the most urgent mission.
Detective Linda Guerrero's patrols focus on Latino neighborhoods.
DETECTIVE LINDA GUERRERO, MARCO ISLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH).
KING: At Marco Island Catholic Church, the pews, mostly empty, the pastor's homily mixing the Scripture and storm preparedness.
FATHER TIM NAVIN, MARCO ISLAND CATHOLIC CHURCH: We're all supposed to be someplace other than Marco Island as of 8:00 this morning. So we should be on the other side of the border. If you want to get to the other side of the border, and you don't have transportation, there are buses that are leaving from the post office up until noontime.
KING: Most everyone on Marco Island is gone or going, most businesses closed. It is tradition that storm humor goes hand in hand with storm preparedness, a hurricane named Wilma no exception.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Relatively peaceful on the beach right now. They expect, though, the rain to come quite soon. And again, a storm surge from these beaches could easily reach these hotels and condominiums. Most are gone, Carol, but outside of that Catholic Mass this morning, I spoke to a 70-something-year-old gentleman -- he wouldn't give me his exact age -- who said he's staying right here. Says he has a 17th floor condominium. He's going to watch and ride it out, Carol.
LIN: Good grief. All right, John, thanks so much. John King in Marco Island.
All right. Well, you know, you could be actually watching our storm coverage on your new iPod. And that means that anyone from FEMA to the next guy or gal running for president could be reaching you directly through your iPod. So how is that going to impact politics in 2006 and the year beyond? We've got a fresh take.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We're still tracking Hurricane Wilma, but the winds of change may be blowing in Washington. What is going to happen if Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush's reelection, gets indicted?
It's time to get a fresh take on the news this week from our political analyst, Carlos Watson. Carlos?
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Carol.
LIN: All right, you must know something that we don't know, because usually you don't talk about politics as usual. But in this particular case, Karl Rove testifying before the grand jury four times, the president being peppered with questions in the Rose Garden ceremony about Karl Rove and what's going to happen. What do you think is going to happen?
WATSON: Well, so maybe I know a little, Carol, but not a lot. I know enough to know that it could go in lots of different directions. But if Karl Rove is indicted, let's say this, let's say that it will not only be a big political moment, but maybe a big psychological moment, meaning the Democrats, who, in some cases, have thought they've got a chance in 2006 to change the balance of power, may all of a sudden get a lot more confident.
In fact, it reminds me a little bit of 1968, when Eugene McCarthy, then a relatively unknown senator, ran against the president of the United States, recording north of 40 percent of the vote in New Hampshire. And all of a sudden, Democrats around the country started saying, You know what? He is vulnerable, and I will run. And they got off the sidelines.
You might see a similar phenomenon if Karl Rove is indicted. I mean, there are Senate candidates in 2006 who right now are saying, Not really sure I want to take on Republicans, who may get a little bit more courage.
LIN: Yes.
WATSON: The other very significant thing is that, Carol, if Democrats are able to win in 2006, one of the two chambers of the house, and in part that happens because the president's smartest and most trusted aide is gone, and in part because there's the taint of corruption, the big deal may not just be a change in policies, whether it's on tax or education, but maybe, Carol, that you may see more investigations into the party in power than we've seen in 30 years.
So, for example, we haven't really seen a major investigation into questions of war profiteering,, which we've seen in every major war going back to the Civil War and beyond. But you actually may see Democrats launch that kind of investigation. The Tom DeLay may just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of investigations into corruption, and certainly into the questions on how we got into the war, you might see a lot.
So think that this could be a domino effect if, in fact, Karl Rove goes down. There could be some long-range implications that right now might not be obvious from here.
LIN: Just in time for the 2006 races.
All right, I want to do a follow-up with you, because you're kind of our predictor, all right, of future trends in things to come. I don't know, it was a couple of months ago you mentioned a name no one here had really ever heard of, Angela Merkel, a woman you said may very well be Germany's next chancellor. And she won. All right, she is now Germany's chancellor.
And the implications, you said, for us here in America is that we might seem more likely a chance that a woman is going to run for president and maybe get elected.
WATSON: Well, first of all, we got to remember that her story's been an uncanny one. I mean, here's a 51-year-old former physics professor who wasn't even involved in politics 15 years ago, who goes from nowhere growing up in East Germany, and all of a sudden she's chancellor of one of the largest economies in the world. And by the way, it was a tough battle to get there.
But here's why it could be relevant to us here in the United States. As we start to talk about whether or not a woman could become president in 2008, whether it's Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton, or other folks, and now four out of five voters say it's possible, Angela Merkel being on the world stage could help influence the way we think about that.
Among political insiders, those who are wondering whether or not to invest their money in a Condi Rice or Hillary Clinton, you could see Condi Rice or Hillary Clinton turning to them and saying, Look, if you have doubts about whether or not this could happen in the United States, then you're saying that we're not as advanced as Germany.
And certainly, not many people are going to want to think that.
(LAUGHTER)
WATSON: The other thing, though, is that, remember that she's going to be an important partner, Angela Merkel, for President Bush...
LIN: Right.
WATSON: ... on the world stage. And more Americans are going to see this woman, whether it's on issues of terrorism, issues of the economy, and may start to say, You know what? If Germany, who hasn't had a female leader in the 2,000 years that it's been around in one form or another...
LIN: Yes.
WATSON: ... now can have her, maybe we should too.
LIN: Right, making history.
All right, speaking of new technology, you actually predicted a while ago that the iPod was going to make a huge impact in politics and how politicians reach out to us. And now iPod developed new technology to make that very thing happen.
WATSON: Well, iPods, which are not jut the Walkman that you remember 20 years ago, but, in fact, are kind of a combination of a Walkman a cell phone, the Internet, now has added the ability for you to actually watch TV. So you can watch "Desperate Housewives" from ABC, or "Lost," or other shows on it now. You can download it off the Internet and watch it.
And I've said before, Carol, that I thought these would be a big and important factor in upcoming elections, one, because just having it around makes you seem kind of young and hip. But number two, because now a candidate, in effect, can send commercials, or at least can have a conversation with voters directly, by going through their iPod, as opposed to going through television, radio, Internet, or traditional mediums.
So keep watching this, 100 million Americans may have it by the 2008 election.
LIN: All right, Carlos Watson, thank you so much. Great fresh take.
WATSON: Good to see you.
LIN: And I'm sure you'll be watching our hurricane coverage throughout the night.
WATSON: My family's down in Dade County.
LIN: Yes, I know.
WATSON: So I'll be watching very closely.
LIN: I hope they stay safe. Thanks very much, Carlos.
WATSON: Thank you.
LIN: All right. This hurricane season is making history. We've got much more on Hurricane Wilma, where it's headed, and how fast.
Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Showing you some live pictures right now of Fort Myers Beach and Marathon Beach, both places that could be severely affected by Hurricane Wilma, if it stays on track.
I'm going to be here all night with special coverage of this killer storm, and we've got correspondents all over the hurricane zone. We are going to bring you live reports throughout the night.
Straight ahead, we are going to take you live to Marco Island, Key West, and Naples, Florida, for the very latest. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
