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CNN Live Sunday

Tornado Sweeps Through Indiana; President Bush Meets With Brazilian President

Aired November 06, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could see from behind us people are trying to pick up what's left of their lives.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly two dozen dead and more than 200 injured in the Midwest. We'll bring you the latest on a deadly twister that ripped through two states.

Are the French riots getting worse? Why after 10 nights of violence, there seems to be no end in sight.

And he's been on the run for three days. Are Texas police any closer to much catching a convicted killer who simply walked out of jail? We'll have a live report from Houston.

Hello. And welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All of that and more after this check of the headlines.

New details today about a band of brazen modern day pirates who attacked a luxury cruise liner yesterday. It happened off the coast of Somalia. And maritime officials believe the same pirates may be responsible for hijacking a U.N.-chartered vessel carrying food last June.

President Bush touts democracy and his plan to expand free trade during a visit in Brazil. The president is trying to secure support for the free trade zone of the Americas. Did he succeed? We'll find out straight ahead. Our report from Brazil is just about 12 minutes away.

And two people aboard a small plane were killed today when it crashed near an airport in Houston, Texas. The pilot was attempting to land when the plane hit power lines and smashed into a car on the road. It's the second deadly -- it's a second deadly plane crash in Houston in two days.

Quote, "it was as if a big bomb went off." That's how one Indiana resident is describing the moment a deadly tornado tore apart his home earlier today. Hours later, authorities are still trying to find victims and assess the damage. At least one twister tore through southern Indiana near Evansville striking at a vulnerable time and in a vulnerable place at 2:00 be in the morning in a mobile home park.

When it was over, at least 22 people were dead and 230 injured. It's the deadliest day of tornado activity in the U.S. since 1998.

Parts of Evansville, Indiana now look like a war zone. Shanon Sampson from our affiliate WFIE is there -- Shannon.

SHANNON SAMPSON, WFIE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka. It's a much different scene than when I spoke to you earlier. Here we are 13 hours into the aftermath of this disaster. And I'm sure you can hear the buzz of the chain saws. It is a flurry of activity.

While law enforcement told many folks to stay away, if you didn't need to be down here, please don't come, you'll just be in the way. And a lot of these folks are with church groups. They got permission. They said we want to come down here. We want to bring our chain saws. We want to help get these people out from whatever they're buried under and in most cases it's just limbs, limbs. I've never seen so many chain saws, so many volunteers, so many people seemingly enjoying this.

While it's a sad day and a terrible thing, there are smiles on their faces because they feel like they are doing something right and really helping out. And help is in dire need.

And over here is a group from Crossroads Christian Church in Newburg. And actually, that's where we are. And to give you some perspective, a few miles north of the Ohio River, a very scenic town along the Ohio River, a lot of historical value.

And these folks are just trying to make it a pretty place to live again. And they're doing a good job. It's amazing how much they've gotten done in just the short amount of time they've been out here.

Now I want to talk to one of volunteers from Crossroads Christian Church. His name is Justin Manning. Justin, when did you heed the call?

JUSTIN MANNING, CROSSROADS CHRISTIAN CHURCH: We found out in church service this morning that we were going to have a crew out. We're going to leave about 1:00 from the church this afternoon. And I believe we got about 75 to 100 volunteers out here.

SAMPSON: Tell me what the service was like this morning. I'm sure it was the talk of the town. And did everyone decide collectively, hey, we need to do something?

MANNING: Yeah. I think our team of pastors actually decided this was a step that the church needed to take. And we had a special prayer service where we actually prayed for the homeowners, the people who were family members who were killed the emergency workers and things like that. So it was a real somber service this morning.

SAMPSON: You work for the Vanderburgh County Health Department, a Monday though Friday job. You work some long hours. Here you are giving up your Sunday. What made you decide to do it?

MANNING: Well, it's what Christ would want us to do. We really feel like -- we sent a group of people down to the hurricane victims in Mississippi. And it was practice for what was going to happen here at home.

SAMPSON: What's been your reaction to what you've seen?

MANNING: Well, you cut up one tree, you feel like you've done work and then you turn around and there's another one waiting for you. So, there's just going to be several days worth of hard work here. And we're going to try to get it taken care of.

SAMPSON: Well, I'm sure these people are very grateful for your actions, you and your congregation. Thank you so much, Justin.

So I think a lot of them are going to bring flood lights out here and work well into the night as much as they can. And they're putting a major dent in this devastated area. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Now Shannon, what about the search for any people who might be missing, which is often the case after such a devastating and widespread tornado like this?

SAMPSON: Well, I know that they are making headway in that respect. They have crews from as you can imagine all over southwestern Indiana. Actually, have I not heard that the fatality count has gone up, which is a wonderful thing, obviously. So I'm guessing that they are not finding anyone.

But what I'm hearing from other reporters at my station that, there are searches still underway. A mobile home park, just maybe a mile up from the river in Vanderburgh County, the hardest hit. And that's where the most casualties were. And they're still searching that area.

But as we know, it's remained relatively constant. So we have nothing new to report on that front.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shannon Sampson of our affiliate WFIE, thanks so much.

Well he says he feels pretty lucky to be alive. Casey Lockhart lost his home, barn, garage and two cars in the storm. He now joins us on the telephone from Degonia Springs, Indiana.

And Casey, where were you when the storm hit when this tornado game through?

CASEY LOCKHART, TORNADO VICTIM: I was in my bed. And I heard something hit the window. And all of a sudden, the window blew out. Then the back room come in on top of me and spun me around about twice and moved me about, oh, 30, 40 feet. And the whole house come down on top of me. And I had to dig myself out.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And here it is in the darkness of night. You dug yourself out. Then what happened? How were you able to go try to get help or even did you hear any voices of others who were in the same predicament as you?

LOCKHART: Well, I didn't know anybody else was in the same predicament. Three people across the road from me got killed. And when I dug myself out, I had to pull a piece of steel out of my leg to get out. I was penned in. And then some friends just happened to be driving down the road and I saw their headlights. And when I finally got out and dug myself out and stood up, then they finally saw me and they come and took me to the hospital.

WHITFIELD: Well Casey, did all of this come without warning? Did you have any inkling?

LOCKHART: I had no knowledge.

WHITFIELD: That this kind of thing could potentially happen? No.

LOCKHART: I had no clue. I was in bed and never didn't have any idea there was going to be bad weather.

WHITIFELD: What had the weather been like over night, or earlier in the evening?

LOCKHART: When I went to bed, it was great.

WHITFIELD: So this really just came out of the clear blue for you?

LOCKHART: To me it did. I understand there was warnings on TV, but I worked all day with my horses and I went to bed early. And the neighbors have done a terrific job. They took care of my horses and got them pen up, some of them are cut up a little bit. I was cut up and in the hospital for a little while. But the neighbors have been super terrific.

WHITFIELD: So, I'm sure your horses are pretty spooked even though you say they seem to be all right. What kind of community are we talking about? Is this mostly a farm community? A horse community? Describe for me...

LOCKHART: It's a rural farm community. And several people have horses. That's the people here helping me out today. There's -- they doctored my fences and rebuilt fences because the house is totally gone. The barn's totally gone.

WHITFIELD: So, what are you going to do now?

LOCKHART: Well, what can I do. I have to rebuild. I have to go on. I can't sit down and die. I've got to do something.

WHITFIELD: And you will choose to rebuild right there in Degonia Springs.

LOCKHART: Well, probably. I don't know yet. I haven't talked to the insurance people. And there's still a lot of stuff going on. The coroner is across the street. It's a pretty sad situation. A lot of friends really came down. They cooked meals for all the helpers. And they've done a great job. WHITFIELD:: All right. Well, obviously still very early. But we appreciate you being able to take the time to talk with us. And best wishes to you in the recovery efforts there in Degonia Springs, Indiana. Casey Lockhart, thanks so much.

Our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is keeping track of this storm system from our weather center. And Bonnie, it's remarkable that we heard from Casey who said the weather was great. There was no expectation that something like this was going to happen. And this falls at a very strange time of the year, doesn't it?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does. Not only -- you know, you can get tornadoes any time of the year, any time of the day. Typically, though, we see them between 5:00 p.m. and 8 p.m. That's why it's a little unusual to see them overnight. Not that it never happens because it certainly does. It's not incredibly rare.

But as we look back on our radar perspectives starting from 1:00 in the morning and then going to 4:00 a.m. over Indiana and Kentucky, it's really amazing. We'll pause here over Evansville. You can see we've got a squall line, a band of strong thunderstorms, and a by- product, unfortunately, when you have that recipe for severe weather can be tornadoes.

And what happened was, around 2:00 in the morning, a tornado first touched down in Kentucky near Henderson, Kentucky, then jumped across the Ohio River into Indiana. And when that happened, it came through a pretty popular area, Evansville. And that's why we saw so much damage. And certainly numerous deaths were reported as a result of this powerful tornado that traveled about 20 miles, which is pretty far.

Now this same storm system wasn't done yet. It stopped again, dropping another tornado in parts of Northeastern Kentucky. And we had a report of a tornado touchdown in Munsterville. And that also certainly caused a lot of damage, as well.

But the question is how strong were these systems? Were they an F1 or and F2 on the Fujita Scale of intensity. And as we look at that scale, you'll see that we're talking about preliminary reports for both of these as either an F2 or and F3. And an F3 could have winds as strong as 206 miles per hour. That's a very strong tornado.

And on the Fujita scale it indicates a severe tornado that can actually rip the roofs off of well constructed homes. And that's what we saw with the first tornado I mentioned that came across Evansville. So that's why the preliminary reports from the National Weather Service are indicating this was a category three.

Not confirm yet. What they need to do is kind of evaluate the situation, check out the debris, the pattern of debris, the way it was spread out and that will give them a better idea to confirm what the actual touchdown was.

Now as we look at conditions right now, that same squall line is working its way from west to east, coming over parts of Western Newark on into of Central Pennsylvania. And we do have a tornado watch in place for that region as well.

The ingredients are ripe, certainly, for strong thunderstorms to break out and severe weather. We have one of the factors, which is a temperature contract -- temperature contrast, where you have 58 degrees there coming on into some warmer conditions as well as the front works its way from west to east.

But The good news with the system currently is our area of low pressure, our strongest area of instability is not parked over the system as it was yesterday. We're actually seeing the low pressure further back off to the west and to the north over parts of Michigan. So that separation between the frontal boundary and the area of low pressure will help a little bit and hopefully prevent another outbreak of tornadoes. But we're not ruling out that possibility. There is a tornado watch for this region right now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Bonnie, you said it's still a little bit debatable as to whether on the scale it was an F2 or F3. At what point will it be officially determined?

SCHNEIDER: Well, because this happened over a weekend, I anticipate certainly by Monday -- we should know by tomorrow morning when they put the official report out. But they did put out from the National Weather Service a preliminary report indicating the damage that we saw was an F3, which is classified as a severe tornado.

WHITFIELD:: Wow. Indeed it was. And right now the death toll standing at 22 and potentially it could rise from there. Thanks so much, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WHITFIELD:: Well after protests in Argentina, what kind of reception is President Bush getting in Brazil? The latest on Mr. Bush's visit to Latin America straight ahead.

And later, we'll get a live update on the search for a missing convicted killer in Texas on the loose. But first, a look at some of the devastation left behind in Kentucky and Indiana.

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WHITFIELD:: This is CNN SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

President Bush is on his way to Panama, the third and final stop on his visit to Latin America. In Brazil today, he tried to persuade his Brazilian counterpart to endorse his plan for a free trade zone. But as CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash explains, Mr. Bush has a lot of selling to do.

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DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day after failing to convince a 34-nation summit to embrace his call for a giant free trade zone, the president stood with one of his main dissenters, Brazil's leader, and acknowledged his sales pitch fell short.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's got to be convinced just like the people of America must be convinced that a trade arrangement in our hemisphere is good for jobs. It's good for the quality of life.

BASH: Brazil is a Latin American economic powerhouse. By joining four other nations in refusing to restart trade talks, its leaders snatched away a much need victory from the embattled Mr. Bush.

But here on President Lula da Silva's compound in Brazilia, the two took pains to express personal fondness for one another and common ground on a different set of trade talks.

PRES. LUIS INACIO "LULA" DA SILVA, BRAZIL (through translator): Our relations today are going through one of their best moments ever.

BASH: A White House goal for this trip was to strengthen America's poor standing in a region that's long felt ignored even wronged by U.S. policies. But even as he made his way to see the Brazilian president, Mr. Bush passed a familiar sight: protests that have become more and more personal.

The president tried to embrace the demonstrations he's encountered on this trip with the thousands in Argentina as democracy in action.

BUSH: I expect there to be dissent. That's what freedom's all about. People should be allowed to express themselves. And so what happened in Argentina, you know, happens in America. That's positive.

BASH: Later in the day, the president took aim, though not by name, at Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez who stirred anti-American protests in Argentina. He slammed his brand of democracy.

BUSH: Playing to fear. Pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people.

BASH (on camera): The White House is trying to down play Mr. Bush's failure to return home with a victory on trade, saying it's been in trouble for awhile. But some believe because world leaders know the president is weak politically, they were more emboldened to say no.

Dana Bash, CNN, Brazilia, Brazil.

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WHITFIELD: Paris is burning. Are French authorities any closer to regaining control?

Does your spouse speak for you in the eyes of the law? The Supreme Court is about to take up a case involving a search warrant and an angry wife. Find out what happens right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's an issue law enforcement officials say needs clarity. Can police search homes without a warrant by getting consent from just one spouses? That's at the heart of a case going before the Supreme Court this week. Gary Nurenberg brings us details.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open up! Police!

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police know in most cases they need a warrant to search someone's home without permission. Scott Randolph refused permission for police to search his Americas, Georgia home after a dispute with his wife in 2001. But he was arrested when she did permission and led police to an alleged stash of illegal drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Randolph was charged with cocaine possession. The Georgia state courts threw out the charges explaining that this search was unconstitutional.

NURENBERG: Unconstitutional because state courts ruled it violated fourth amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think the lower court got this case right because Mr. Randolph, who objected to the search is the one who has the constitutional right.

NURENBERG: Prosecutors declined comment prior to trial but the president of the National Sheriff's Association says each spouse has the right to give permission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we're giving away the constitutional rights. I believe what we're doing is maintaining the rights. She has just as much right.

NURENBERG (on camera): Lower courts are divide on the issue of whether a search can go forward when one spouse explicitly objects and the other gives permission, is one reason this case is making it to the Supreme Court. Law enforcement says it needs clarity to do its job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first of all, this happens almost every day. This is not an uncommon type of situation that arises. And a local law enforcement officer who is arriving on the scene is not a constitutional lawyer.

NURENBERG (voice-over): The case joins a post 9/11 wave of government attempts to expand police powers to search, interrogate, detain and is your veil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The federal government merely has tried to use the concerns of terrorism in a post 9/11 world to expand its powers and to keep the courts out and say no, the police, the FBI, the CIA need substantially greater discretion. NURENBERG: The court has recently been sympathetic to those appeals. It's expected to decide this case within months.

Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Our check on other stories around the world begins in Morocco where thousands of demonstrators took to the streets today to protest al Qaeda's threat to kill two Moroccan hostages. The men were seized last month in Iraq. Marchers holding banners chanted, quote, "Muslims are brothers" and "No to terrorism and barbarity."

The U.S. military is reporting more progress in its second day of Operation Steel Curtain. U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained some 50 insurgents and killed dozens of others along the Syrian border. The operation is designed to root out al Qaeda-led insurgents.

There's word neighboring Iran is calling for resumption of talks over its nuclear program. Iran's state-run news agency reports Iran has contacted three European nations to restart negotiations months after Tehran broke off the talks. Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes. The U.S. fears Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

Communities across the Midwest are reeling from a series of severe storms and at least one killer tornado. Straight ahead, find out how survivors are coping with the destruction.

Also, the former head of FEMA wrote some e-mails during Katrina that became very embarrassing when they were made public. Coming up, we'll get important tips on how you can avoid this same fate.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some clues found near the jail indicate a death row convict may have had some help in his escape. I'm Keith Oppenheim in Houston. A live report coming up.

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WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour. And now in the news, Pennsylvania's governor is hoping to work out a deal to settle a strike that has crippled public transportation in Philadelphia. Governor Ed Rendell met separately today with leaders of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority and leader of two unions representing striking workers.

French president Jacques Chirac is vowing to restore order after more than a week of violent unrest started in the suburbs of Paris and spread across the country. More than 1300 vehicles were set on fire overnight. Ethnic minorities began rioting ten days ago. They're frustrated over high unemployment and what they consider racism.

A top Democrat, Senator Joe Biden, says he doesn't expect a Democratic filibuster to block a vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. President Bush picked the conservative Alito to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The Senate Judiciary Committee Begins Alito's confirmation hearings in January. WHITFIELD: Now back to our top story. The deadly twister in the Midwest it moved from Henderson County, Kentucky, to a mobile home park in Vanderburgh County, Indiana killing at least 22 people in all. Five of those killed took place in Warwick County, Indiana. Many people were sleeping when the tornado hit early this morning. Rescue crews are looking for anyone who may still be trapped in the rubble. It's the deadliest day of tornado activity in the U.S. since 1998.

It was a terrifying night for people caught in the storm. Here's what it looked like and sounded like in their own words.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It all started, it was five after 2:00, and we heard like they said, the train coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tornado is much worse than the storm we had a year and a half ago. The storm a year and a half ago was only an f2. This is definitely going to be way more. We've got a lot more damage. It was a very eerie feeing when the tornado sirens went off and then the very still quiet calm outside. And then the hail and then the freight train sound. So it was personally very scary for me and my family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was down stairs; I heard the tree hit my window. All I could see was the sky and I just screamed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a phone call from my daughter and she called me right after the storm blew through and said daddy, our house is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was just glass and wood debris flying all around my head. So I had to pull my covers over my head for 45 seconds to a minute. Then I managed to walk through the ceiling that I was on my floor and my bed and I managed to get down our stairs to the rest of my family.

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WHITFIELD: And now you're looking at some live pictures there of the devastation cut over a 20-mile swathe in certain parts of Indiana as well as Kentucky. Right now, again, the death toll at 22 and people already starting to try to remove some of that debris trying to assess the damage there.

Now to the manhunt for an escaped killer, Texas authorities believe death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson may have had help escaping from a county jail in Houston on Thursday. New details are emerging about how he made his brazen get away. Keith Oppenheim is in Houston with the latest. Keith.

OPPENHEIM: Hi, Fredricka. The reason Harris County officials are giving stronger indication that Charles Victor Thompson may have had some help is because the clothes that he wore when he was making his escape were actually found right near the jail. The specific place is near a building. Actually behind a building across the street from the main jail building, and when a deputy found those clothes, the question came up was, who might have been giving Thompson some help to get his next outfit.

Police are telling us they also found his prison I.D. with the clothes. It was the I.D. that he flashed as a badge when he was posing as an investigator for the attorney general's office and police used these words. They said the badge; the I.D. was rigged up to look different. The U.S. Marshal's office Fredricka is offering $10,000 for information that would lead to the recapture of Charles Victor Thompson. And one of the things investigators are trying to find out is who may be helping him and where he may be getting support.

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LT. JOHN MARTIN, HARRIS CO. SHERIFFS DEPT: You're exactly right. You know, you have to figure you've been in jail for a few years; you've got no place to go. You've got no house of your own, you got no vehicle, and you got no job, no money coming in. You're going to have to rely on other people for your means of support. That's a very important part, trying to determine where that support would be coming from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: It was on Thursday afternoon that Thompson went in his civilian clothes posing as an investigator. Went to a security checkpoint and essentially was able to convince people that he was who said he was and he walked out the front door. Keep in mind that this guy has been condemned to death twice in the state of Texas. He was back at this jail because he was to have a re-sentencing hearing, and then after that, when he was able to make his escape. Police consider him to be quite dangerous and they are notifying the airports as well as border patrol to keep on the lookout for him -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right Keith Oppenheim thanks so much in Houston.

Under pressure to stop the riots, French officials are scrambling to get control of the situation but last night, the destruction intensified. Across France, some 1,300 vehicles were torched. Government officials held more crises meetings today. Our Chris burns is in Paris with the latest.

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CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The violence crept closer to the showpieces of Paris. A half dozen cars were set on fire for the first time in the capital's upscale 17th district that stretches west from Belmont to the Arch de Triumph. President Jacques Chirac held an emergency meeting Sunday with key members of his cabinet.

JACQUES CHIRAC, FRENCH PRESIDENT (Translator): Today, the absolute priority is to reestablish security and public order. The law should have the final say and the republic is determined to be stronger than those who want to spread violence and fear. BURNS: In Eastern Paris (INAUDIBLE) youths torched several cars and damaged shops. All together, authorities say rioters burned some 1300 vehicles across the country overnight Saturday. By far the highest figure since the violence began more than a week ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Translator): It was a difficult night, even if the police displayed a lost presence on the ground; they worked with a degree of control and allowed us to avoid many incidents. There were more than 300 arrests.

BURNS: The rioting exploded among France's poor immigrant neighborhoods plagued by high unemployment and discrimination and frustration was growing among rioters victims too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to send the army. There's no solution.

BURNS: The list of cities attacked was growing. From Lee in the north to Huwal in the west, from Nice and Cannes in the south to Cosguil in the east. Among the targets, schools, shops, another police station. Firefighters were attacked by youths with baseball bats in one Paris suburb.

With the cost of the rioting rising into the millions and the violence getting closer to tourist areas like this one, the government is under increasing pressure to take more action and faces a dilemma how much of an iron fist to use and how much more aid to promise to poorer neighborhoods without making it look like they're rewarding the rioters.

Prime Minister Dominick Devillepin has held crises talks in recent days with community leaders, with youths, teachers and police. His government aims to complete an urban renewal plan by the end of the month. In the meantime, there's the task of restoring order to areas where renegade youths are difficult to control.

Chris Burns, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well have you ever hit the send button on your e-mail and then immediately thought uh-oh? Well, some powerful people have been pretty embarrassed by their e-mails lately. Straight ahead, tips on how you should conduct yourself online.

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Brad Huffines with your cold and flu report across the country as we are starting to see the cool weather come in place. You notice also we're starting to see some sporadic outbreaks of the flu across parts of the lone star state. For the rest of the country, no real activity except sporadic activity starting off in Florida across some of the New England and northeastern states as well as out west, expect to see the cold and flu activity continue to spread. Again, the regional activity occurring across Texas and across the southern plains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Embarrassing e-mails surfaced on Capitol Hill this week from embattled former FEMA director Michael Brown. In them, critics have said Brown seems more over whelmed and more concerned about himself than hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. CNN's Jeanne Meserve has details.

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JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Monday, August 29th. Hurricane Katrina has just ravaged New Orleans. Beginning at 9:36 in the morning FEMA director Michael Brown receives a series of e-mails reporting levee failures. One FEMA staffer was hearing of severe flooding. Police report water level up to second floor of two-story houses people are trapped in attics. Michael Brown's one-line response to awful this, I'm being told here water over, not a breach. Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon from Louisiana who released the emails says Brown's response shows he didn't grasp the dire situation.

REP. CHARLIE MELANCON, (D) LOUISIANA: Top to breach doesn't matter, water's going over the top. There's another circumstance that needs to be addressed. He should be asking for more information.

MESERVE: Brown receives a flurry of e-mails about shortages of water and ice but there is no response in the e-mails that have so far been released and when Marty Bahamonde the only FEMA representative in New Orleans tells Brown the situation is past critical, thousands are gathering in the street with no food and water and many medical patients will die within hours, Brown answers thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?

Brown does, however, answer e-mails about his appearance on television. When a staffer tells him, you look fabulous, Brown responds I got it at Nordstrom's. Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home? And later calls himself a fashion god. Brown's lawyer says his client was doing his job and that there were phone calls and face-to-face meetings and many more e-mails.

ANDREW LESTER, MICHAEL BROWN'S ATTORNEY: We're looking at one tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of the information. To release that tiny sliver, the selective sliver that clearly was released, it strikes me, designed to embarrass.

MESERVE: The house committee investigating Katrina would like to see more of that record but says the administration has been slow to turn over all of the other e-mails it has requested. The administration says, it's working on it.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well Michael Brown's e-mails certainly came back to bite him. Think it couldn't happen to you? Well hopefully not on that scale. E-mail isn't as secure as you might think. So what can you do to protect yourself? Michelle Conlin, the working life editor for "Business Week" joins me now from New York. Good to see you Michelle.

MICHELLE CONLIN, "BUSINESSWEEK:" Hi. Great to be here.

WHITFIELD: I guess what happens these days is when you're at work, you're using e-mail an awful lot of people get very comfortable with their e-mail address thinking this is their personal mail slot. Are there universal I guess protections or regulations when it comes down to using your corporate e-mail, things you need to respect?

CONLIN: One thing to keep in mind is that you know, tomorrow morning people that saw this episode about Michael Brown on TV today will go to work and pretty much treat that e-mail account as if it were a phone conversation. And really what's happening is with e-mail.

WHITFIELD: You think it's private.

CONLIN: Exactly. And what's so dangerous about that is it's actually, with e-mail, we're all becoming one giant archive. In fact, anything that you send on that corporate account could come back to haunt you as we're seeing with Michael Brown. So e-mail kind of is the strange thing because it provides this psychological sandpaper that sort of gives you the false buffer. You're tapping away. There's a sense of privacy. It's much like when you're in a car and you have road rage. You tend to say and do things in e-mail researches have found that you wouldn't necessarily do over the phone. But unlike the phone, which probably isn't recorded most companies, your e-mail is. In some cases in the financial industry up to seven years.

WHITFIELD: So not only is some of that e-mail recorded but can you expect if you're working for a corporation, now the difference with Michael Brown, he works for the federal government, we'll talk about being a federal government employee in the public domain of your e- mails in a minute. But when you're talking about working for a company and your e-mails are in a library or are being archived, can't you also expect that perhaps in some way, shape, or form, someone just might be reading some of your e-mail more immediately?

COLIN: Absolutely. I mean, you know, every IT department, you know, anyone in the I.T. department at some point if they're going in to fix your computer and even if they aren't can have access to what you said. A lot of companies employ monitoring software to look for sort of words that might raise red flags. I mean, a really good rule of thumb is just to think, if you wouldn't want what you're saying to end up in a deposition in court to have your boss and friends and family see it, don't put it in an e-mail.

Unfortunately, employees just started learning that lesson. Michael Brown is the latest example. Remember Henry Blodgett trashing these dot coms in his e-mails, that came back to haunt him. Frank Petron.

WHITFIELD: And those sound like really simple rules that you just handed out. If you don't want anybody to know about other than the person you're conversing with to hear your thoughts, don't even convey it in an e-mail. Now lets talk about if you are a federal government employee. As the case of Michael Brown that's a little bit different. We are talking about a federal position. We are talking about the public domain of his very dot gov. type of e-mail address.

COLIN: That's right. I mean, if you work for a private company that e-mail is your company's property and through a lawsuit, it might get thrown up as a part of discovery. The thing with Michael Brown, as any government employee and a lot of government employees don't know this, because they work for the public government, those e-mails are not just their employer's property but they are the property of taxpayers. They're public information. Just like you can find out people's voter registration information, if you work for a government agency, everything you write is really the public's and the public's right to know. That's why we're seeing all this fallout from Michael Brown.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tough lessons. We understand he's now learning. A lot of tough lessons a lot of us are learning by virtue of what he's going through. Thanks so much, Michele Conlin.

COLIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Lots of people across the Midwest are trying to pick up the pieces this evening. We will get the latest on the deadly tornado and a check of the current weather conditions right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Checking other news across America now. Two people aboard a small plane died when it crashed in Houston today. The FAA says the Piper PA34 hit power lines, then a car on the road. One person in the car was injured. It is the second fatal small plane crash in the Houston area in the past 24 hours.

The skyline in Memphis, Tennessee, is changing right there before your eye. Today the 50-year-old Baptist Memorial Hospital came down. Once all the debris is cleared, a bioscience research park will be built in its place.

California's Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, out pressing the flesh Saturday. He's drumming up support ahead of Tuesday's election on four reform proposals. One couple he apparently did not want to see, Warren Beatty and Annett Benning. Well they were blocked from entering the airport hanger where the governor was speaking. The hanger door was literally closed in their faces. Jeez. Still not really sure whether that was intentional or not. That sounds rude, doesn't it Carol?

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bitter. It's a very contentious election on Tuesday. A lot at stake for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Coming up at 6:00 Eastern, we are going to have a fascinating story out of the Middle East in edition to today's tops stories. Of the first Christian church. Our guy Raz out of the Jerusalem Bureaus going to be reporting on that.

Also at 7:00, you heard about that miraculous rescue of the passengers inside the SUV, they were crossing a bridge in Tampa. Tire blow out, this truck ends up in the water, there's a little boy who is hospitalized but there were people on a boat passing by who jumped into the water to the rescue and saved these peoples lives. The parents are going to be talking in the 7:00 hour. So we got a blockbuster two-hour block of news coming up starting at 6:00.

WHITFIELD: All right. We will be looking for that Carol. And thanks so much.

Well, the death toll has been climbing all day from that deadly tornado in the Midwest. It now stands at 22. And more victims may be trapped in the rubble. All of the dead are in Indiana. Most killed in Vanderburgh County where the twister devastated a mobile home park early this morning. The National Weather Service issued warnings for the area about 30 minutes before the storm hit, but many residents were in bed because it hit at around 2:00 a.m. local time.

Our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is keeping track of the storm system and helping us to understand what in the world happened because so many of these residents say it caught them by surprise.

SCHNEIDER: You're right. We were talking to people earlier who said it was a clear day; it was breezy throughout the day. We knew the cold front was coming through. But what happened was very, very quickly, just an area of thunderstorms turned into a tornado popping off of one. We saw that really into Kentucky and into Evansville, Indiana. This is a look at radar back from 1:00 this morning. And as we put this into motion and watch the storms work their way through, it doesn't look that menacing on radar. But of course it certainly was. We had not one but two reports of tornadoes into Indiana, Kentucky and also into Kentucky as well and reports of these storms especially the one in Evansville that we've been showing pictures of, looks like according to the preliminary reports this was a category 3 on the Fujita scale.

Now as we look at this, what it means is, winds 158-206 miles per hour. Classifying it as a severe tornado. Roofs and some walls completely ripped off, even a well-constructed homes, most trees completely uprooted. Trains overturned, that's how strong the winds could be with these tornados. Cars lifted and thrown about. And really when we see the most deaths caused by tornadoes, it's because of that flying debris. When you have winds strong enough to move a car or train, certainly you can see a lot of deaths like we saw with the one that moved across into Evansville. Not the only one.

We also had another one reported into Kentucky that possibly was a category f-2, but we're still getting reports coming in. It hasn't been confirmed yet. We'll keep you posted. Now looking at the way things are shaping up right now. You'll see another watch box that's been recently posted. This area in yellow indicates a severe thunderstorm watch and this affects parts of New York State and even into northern New Jersey. As we watch this funnel system work its way from the west to the east, we're expecting it to advance through and eventually bring strong winds and rains to this region. But it looks like because the area of low pressure is back up towards Michigan, we should probably not see as strong weather we saw overnight tonight, not to rule out the possibility of more severe weather breaking out into this region especially into upstate New York on into Canada as we have the cooler air colliding with the warm, moist humid air ahead of the front.

So that is the way we are standing right now. We'll be watching the system through the night tonight.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Walking the thin line in America. Coming up next, CNN takes and in depth look at eating disorders. You might be surprised to find out who's affected and what's being done to help those obsessed food and those who are trapped by the scale.

And stay tuned for "CNN Live Sunday" at 6:00 Eastern. We will bring you the latest on today's deadly tornado with live reports from Evansville, Indiana. When we come right back, a look at the headlines.

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