Conditions After Frances; Interview With Red Cross President Marty Evans; Bill Clinton in Surgery
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News." Frances, now a brutal tropical storm, lumbers toward Apalachicola in Florida's Panhandle. The storm could regain hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall later today. And looming on the horizon, Hurricane Ivan threatens to be terrible. Our continued hurricane coverage begins in one minute. Seven U.S. Marines are dead in Iraq. They were killed when a car bomb exploded outside Fallujah earlier today. It was the deadliest single attack on U.S. troops in Iraq in four months. Three Iraqi guardsmen also died in that attack. We get details from Diana Muriel in nearby Baghdad in just about 10 minutes from now. And right now, former President Bill Clinton is undergoing heart bypass surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The surgery involves temporarily stopping Clinton's heart. We'll get a detailed report on that procedure from medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in about 14 minutes. And a Labor Day mix of state fairs, picnics and politics. Vice President Dick Cheney is addressing a town hall meeting at the Minnesota State Fair this morning. Democratic vice presidential hopeful John Edwards is expected at a Labor Day picnic in St. Paul later today. Minnesota is considered a tossup state in the race for president. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in today for Daryn Kagan. Skies are calming today across south central Florida, giving folks their first good look at the widespread damage left by Frances. Early estimates put the coast of the slow-moving hurricane at anywhere from $2 to $5 billion. That's well short of Charley's toll from three weeks ago. Frances is back over water and could grow to a minimal hurricane before slamming Florida again. Landfall is expected this afternoon along the south central Panhandle as the storm moves from the Gulf of Mexico. Well, Frances first came ashore late Saturday near Fort Pierce, on Florida's central east coast. CNN's Sean Callebs is getting a look at the damage there this morning. And Sean, is it worse than first thought?</s>SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the damage is significant. At first thought, it's very difficult to say, because for a lot of people, they're just getting out here for the first time. We spent most of the time during the hurricane down in West Palm, about an hour to the south of us. That area fared pretty well. But just look at the marina here in Ft. Pierce. Really the centerpiece of this town. They spent a lot of money fixing this up in recent years. They had 200 slips, all kinds of luxury boats here, everything from $3 million crafts down to $25,000 sailboats. But virtually trashed at this hour. There were a hundred boats in here at the time the hurricane hit. Twenty boats are simply missing, believed destroyed. Of the 80 boats that are still here, many of them suffered just sheer devastation. You can see the personal effects, mixed along with the debris and the stock (ph). And really, police and National Guard troops came in here within the last hour, and they're keeping any onlookers, any people who have boats here from coming in to this area. And there's a good reason why. You can see the dock down here has just been devastated by the boat continuing to slam during the hours and hours and hours that Frances hit. And if we can get over here and show you some of the water, too, here is the reason why authorities don't want people. A lot of diesel fuel in the water. A lot of oil. They're concerned that perhaps people could be smoking. And you could just smell the oil in the air around here. There are barricades set up where we're standing right here. Also, down here at the gate of the marina. And you can see it's being patrolled by officers, as well as National Guard troops. They really came in about an hour ago. We have some video. At that time, there were a number of people here who either have boats or spend a great deal of time, and it was simply heartbreaking for these folks. A lot of people who were very actively engaged in boating, they spent a lot of time. It's a very costly hobby, something that is a real passion for them. And for a lot of people as well, these aren't just boats they had fun on. Many people live on the boats out here as well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of these boats are weekend cottages for people. Or they go out once a month and go sport fishing on them and so forth. They're an expensive toy, but other people who actually live on it and have their life on the boat, I know a half a dozen who have lost their boats, and they're all crying, and rightfully so, because it's not an easy thing to replace.</s>CALLEBS: And then you can see some of the green police tape that really lines this whole area up a dock. This is about as close as many boat owners can get. You see there are a lot of sailboats down in this area, and then you see the mast of one. This boat simply gone under. It is a complete loss. The marina folks tell us really once salt water gets into the boat, gets into the engine, things of that nature, it is just -- it's just not practical that they're going to be able to fix it again. So real devastation out here. Part of the millions of dollars, Betty, billions of dollars in damage that Frances is bringing, still bringing to this state.</s>NGUYEN: No doubt, costly repairs there. All right. Sean Callebs, thank you for that from Ft. Pierce, Florida, today. Well, Frances' second hit on Florida won't be quite the wallop we saw this weekend. CNN's Tom Foreman is in Carrabelle, on the Panhandle, waiting for the second landfall. And Tom, have the winds and rain started to pick up any?</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the big concerns out here is exactly the same thing that Sean Callebs is talking about. These boats that I'm standing next to here, many of these are worth $70,000, $80,000. And there are dozens of them in here, many worth a whole lot more. And they are a part of way of life here, not just for recreation, but for many people it's what they do for a living, taking people out on charters, things like that. A lot of concern as this storm is coming in because all of these are at risk as they're sitting here. And one of the people who most has to deal with that is the owner of this marina. Glad to have you out here. Tell me a little bit, if you would -- this is Harry Andrews -- about how you can even begin to protect these.</s>HARRY ANDREWS, MARINA OWNER: Well, Tom, about -- I guess it starts 24 hours out. We actually have a contingency plan. We start on every -- every part of the marina, we start dissecting from the garbage cans, up to the marquis sign, to our customer safety, our -- all the furniture we have out. We start -- we have a time frame set when we start pulling all that in, and we actually have manpower 24 hours a day here.</s>FOREMAN: Just to try to keep it from flying out here in the wind and hitting something, breaking something, creating a hazard?</s>ANDREWS: Yes, sir. We had some stuff already fly off boats that hit other boats already.</s>FOREMAN: But how do you -- how do you protect the boat itself? I mean, you've got them latched in here, but once a storm comes, all they can do is ride it out.</s>ANDREWS: Well, we keep a small boat. And right before the main -- main line of the storm hits, we check all lines on the outside. And once it does hit, we can't go outside of the boats. We manpower right along the sidewalks, and we check all lines inboard and keep tying and loosening whatever we can do. And there's a certain point when the water rises over the</s>FOREMAN: And what is the worst possible thing that can happen here, for a boat to actually break loose or tip over into another boat, or what?</s>ANDREWS: Well, the first thing, a large boat, the worst thing that can happen is they stay in the marina. Because once the water rises, if they have one line that comes loose, it will plummet on top of the pile and on top of the sea wall, and it will immediately sink, like in the pictures you all have from down south Florida. That is the first thing that's the worst. The second thing, once the water rises so high, we can't manage the lines anymore for the people. And people can't get on and off the boats to try and tie them up or loosen the lines.</s>FOREMAN: One of the things we have to bear in mind -- thank you very much, Harry Andrews...</s>ANDREWS: Yes, sir. Thank you.</s>FOREMAN: ... is that this is actually an island we're standing on right now. And when the water comes in, if there is enough of it, it can cut off all of the roads here, and people here can be isolated here for days, maybe even weeks, in which case, boats are the way they're going to get supplies back and forth and get people back and forth. So the concern about boats here is very pronounced as this storm comes in, especially when they look at what has happened down south -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Definitely. Tom Foreman in Carrabelle. We want to get a look at the situation with Frances right now because it is a tropical storm. They're waiting for it in the Panhandle. When is it going to make landfall, Rob?</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's starting to drift that way now, Betty, although the official forecast still has it holding for a couple of hours. You can kind of see the center of the storm right through here. The eye is consolidated a little bit. But most of the action is off to the east as far as rainfall and gusty winds. I mean, Tampa is seeing wind gusts at 40 miles an hour, all the way to Jacksonville wind gusts to 49 miles an hour. So we're still seeing tropical storm winds in excess of 80 miles out from the center. You go north and west of the center, there is not a whole lot of rain. There is some wind. So it pretty much is just offshore, say, about 50 or 60 miles to the east of Apalachicola, and will likely drift onshore. But because now we've seen a bit of a closure of the eye, you know, it could still strengthen as long as it stays offshore. But we're having a hard time with it doing that. It looks like it wants to make landfall. All right. A couple of red areas for you. There are tornado watches out for this area because of the spin. And a couple of radar-indicated tornadoes as far away from this system as Savannah, Georgia. That is the latest radar-indicated tornado we have out right now, so it's a wide system. All right. Let's go back to the maps, and we'll show you our satellite imagery, and the latest coordinates, or at least the latest numbers for you. Winds at 65 miles an hour. It is 65 miles east-southeast of Apalachicola. And that sustained wind makes it still a tropical storm. We have to get it to 74 miles an hour to make it a hurricane. So it still has some work to do to do that, and it may squeeze on land before it does that. Northwest winds at about eight miles an hour. The sooner we get this thing on shore, the better. The sooner this thing goes away from us, the better as well. But it looks like it may not do that just yet. This is Hurricane Ivan. Increased rapidly in strength yesterday to a Category 4, now a Category 3. But still strong, an forecasts could get even stronger to Category 4 status as it scoots right past Barbados in the next 48 hours, and then into the Caribbean, and then maybe heading towards the island of Hispaniola. So Haiti might be under the gun with 150-mile-an-hour winds. After that, it could get back into the Bahamas. Hopefully it stays south, hopefully it dies. That's unlikely, but it would be nice.</s>NGUYEN: Of course people watching all that. Thank you, Rob. Convoys of utility workers are rolling into central and south Florida today to repair downed power lines and transformers. Now, out of state medical teams are also prepared to help with emergencies. More than 90,000 people remain in shelters, and the American Red Cross has added shelters in Georgia and Alabama. Earlier, I spoke with Red Cross president, Marty Evans, about relief efforts.</s>NGUYEN: You have 200 plus shelters already in the state of Florida, and you're going to have to be opening more shelters as people move back in, check the damage and see what's happened to their homes?</s>MARTY EVANS, RED CROSS: That's right. We'll be opening shelters as needed, county by county, to accommodate people whose homes are either destroyed or damaged to the point where they can't stay in them. We'll also be opening eight stations, so that people who need a break, who need to pick up cleanup supplies, personal hygiene supplies, water or food...</s>NGUYEN: Necessities.</s>EVANS: ... can stop -- exactly right.</s>NGUYEN: Now, this is a massive operation. Do you have enough resources for this? Because, you know, Charley came through. Now we're looking at Frances. It seems like you guys may be stretched a little thin.</s>EVANS: Well, we have a wonderful core of volunteers who are in Red Cross chapters across the country, but the real need for the American Red Cross are financial contributions. We are not a public agency, and so we depend on the generosity of the American public so we can help Americans. And it's a real challenge for us to get the message out that everyone can help by being a Red Cross donator.</s>NGUYEN: So how much do you need to raise in order to meet this need?</s>EVANS: Well, the Hurricane Charley operation, to provide disaster relief, is about $50 million. We're very early in the assessment process to figure out what the real needs are from Hurricane Frances. We know they're going to be extensive. Just looking at the geography of what the storm covered, we know that it's going to be at least as much or greater an effort than Hurricane Charley.</s>NGUYEN: What about manpower? Are you still having people come in from other states? And that's going to take a little time.</s>EVANS: Well, we have volunteers staged in Atlanta. They're moving in today, about thousand of them. We already have 1,700 in Charley's operation. And then we also depend on local Red Cross volunteers in the communities that are affected. And the good thing is that we have spontaneous volunteers, people who show up and say, "Help me -- let me help my community." And we can put those people to work. So it's a real team effort.</s>NGUYEN: A lot of the focus today is going to be on folks leaving those shelters, actually getting out to their homes and assessing the damage. Is it safe for them to do that? Because there was some talk over the weekend that Red Cross workers were going to try to ask folks that, if you don't have to leave, please stay in the shelters where it's still safe, because there is debris all over the roadways, there are downed power lines, flooding in many areas. All of this could be very dangerous.</s>EVANS: We suggest that people listen to their radios so they can hear exactly what parts of the state are open, which counties are open. Pay attention to the direction of local authorities, police, fire. And only when you know it is specifically safe, then go in. Don't guess.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Quickly, for those who do want to help the Red Cross, is there a number they can call?</s>EVANS: They can call 1-800-HELP-NOW to make a financial contribution or go online at redcross.org.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Marty Evans, president of the American Red Cross, thank you so much for your time.</s>EVANS: Thank you, Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Now, for more on Frances, we are joined by Cragin Mosteller with Florida's Emergency Operation Center. She is on the phone with us. Good morning to you.</s>CRAGIN MOSTELLER, SPOKESPERSON, FLORIDA EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER: Good morning.</s>NGUYEN: A lot of people want to be heading back into Florida, for those who have left the state to seek shelter. What kind of message do you have for them today?</s>MOSTELLER: Well, we're just asking everyone to please stay put for one more day. We understand that people are anxious to get back to their homes and see how things are happening down where they live. But we're really asking everyone, for their safety and the safety of our emergency personnel, that they please stay put where they are. Please be patient. Wait till their local authorities let them know that it's safe to return home.</s>NGUYEN: How daunting is the challenge right now for emergency crews? Is it difficult to get into the areas hardest hit?</s>MOSTELLER: Well, we are mobilizing many resources to come into the areas as quickly as possible. We're making it a priority to make sure that they can get in and clean debris, move downed power lines so that it's safer for people to get access to the roads. But at this time, that is what they need to do. And so we need people to leave the roads clear so emergency personnel can get in and clear any large debris.</s>NGUYEN: I know it's early. Any indication of how long it's going to take before people can actually go back into their neighborhoods and assess the damage to their homes?</s>MOSTELLER: You know, we hope -- we hope it will be soon, especially for those East Coast Florida residents that the storm has already passed through. But as you are aware, the storm is now hitting the Panhandle and Tallahassee, where I am. Until the storm is completely gone and local authorities give everyone the OK that it's safe to return home and travel, we're asking everyone to stay put. Make room for emergency personnel to get into the areas, and make sure that things are safe, first.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Cragin Mosteller, with Florida's Office of Emergency Management. Thank you.</s>MOSTELLER: Thank you.</s>NGUYEN: Bill Clinton's heart bypass surgery is now under way. Up next, we'll take you live to New York. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have the latest. Also, an attack on U.S. Marines in Fallujah ends in death and destruction. We're live with those details. And later, more from the path of a very big storm. The country's oldest city weathers a brush with Frances. CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.