Rain and Mud Swamp California; Bombing in Rome
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Thanks so much. We are going to talk about that. It's 9:00 a.m. right now on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning. That developing story John just mentioned out of Rome, well, bombs have exploded at the Swiss and Chilean embassies there. Italian police say a mailroom worker was seriously wounded when he tried to open the package. No claim of responsibility at this point. All eyes on the Korean Peninsula this morning after North Korea threatens to launch a quote, "sacred war." The threat comes just after South Korea wrapped up this morning's military exercises. Tensions in that area have been rising for weeks. And if you're hitting the roads this holiday, get ready for some sticker shock. Gas prices passing the $3 mark for the first time in more than two years. Take a closer look at the big pocketbook issue. All right. Well, let's start with parts of California caked with mud. Take a look at this. One hillside comes sliding down, neighborhoods just punished by the storm. For now, a little breather, though. And time to survey the damage. But throughout the southwest, roads, bridges, no match for the drenching rain. Waterlogged homes breaking apart, washing away. Los Angeles is getting a break from the monsoon-like conditions. Check out this spectacular double rainbow coming up in just a second here. There it is. Right next to the Hollywood sign in the background but some of that wet weather is sweeping east now. All right. We are going to get the latest on where that storm is headed in just a moment but first we want to get to CNN Radio's Jim Roope. He's on the phone from L.A. Tim, the pictures are pretty stunning. So much water and a heck of a lot of mud.</s>JIM ROPE, CNN RADIO: And to see it live, the impact is just incredible. The pictures do not do it justice. Every corner you would turn especially yesterday, there was running water or debris, everything from rocks or branches in the roadway to felled trees to running water, flooding water. It was quite a sight yesterday. I saw the pictures you had up on Highland, California. That's where most of the mud damage is. A huge mudslide yesterday, maybe 10, 20 homes have mud damage right now. Filled -- not really sure what the conditions of the homes are if they are actually destroyed because we can't get inside them or authorities can't get inside them yet. But it is absolutely -- it's devastation is what it is.</s>PHILLIPS: And so, what happens at this point right now with regard to trying to get people back into their homes, you know, traveling across parts of the city there? I mean, what's next for everyone that got evacuated or is stuck?</s>ROOPE: Well, a lot of the evacuation orders, for instance, in the La Canada, Flintridge area, above Los Angeles, below the Station Fire burn areas, those evacuation orders have been lifted because the damage wasn't as extensive as they thought it was going to be. No debris flows there yet. In Highland, however, where all that mud damage is, evacuation orders are still in effect. They're not sure when these people can get back into the homes to assess the damage or even rescue some or any items they may have left that are not damaged in that area. So it's unclear yet exactly when they're going to allow people back into the homes. The mud-filled homes, anyway, especially in Highland.</s>PHILLIPS: And the time couldn't be worse. Just around the holidays. Jim, thanks so much. We'll --</s>ROOPE: My pleasure.</s>PHILLIPS: Yes. We'll keep checking in with you. Well, Rob Marciano is also tracking the storm system. So what do you think? Where is it headed next?</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's finally pulling out. And I think that video that you showed of the rainbow really - it illustrates the rain that was moving east and the sun that was setting in the west and peeking through the clouds, but I think you got -- a good handle on what's going on. And these kinds of situations the pictures don't do it justice, although this particular picture certainly gives these folks a little bit of hope. It's going to be a long cleanup, for sure. And quite sometime in many places. Even the beaches for that some contamination issues to get cleaned out.</s>MARCIANO: Back over to you.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: You bet.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, turning now to politics. President Obama concedes that his party took a self-described shellacking in the midterm elections but just one month later some key congressional victories suggest that the president may have recaptured momentum. Here's some of the big scores. Extending the Bush era tax cuts, winning the congressional repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, adoption of the START nuclear arms pact with Russia -- that's awaiting the president's signature -- as is the 9/11 healthcare bill. It will provide free medical treatment to workers exposed to the toxic dangers of ground zero. CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is in Honolulu where the president is now beginning his vacation.</s>ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president landed here in Hawaii in the middle of the night after the long flight from Washington. This Hawaiian vacation have been delayed by the lame duck session of Congress. And before he left Washington, the president had an end-of-the- year news conference where he really touted some of his victories in that lame duck session, a lot of people had been skeptical that after the big midterm election loss that this president's standing had been hurt so much that it probably would not get a lot done at the end of this session of Congress. Instead, he had a laundry list of victories. Let's look at them. The new START treaty, the missile reduction plan with Russia. Secondly, that tax deal with the Republicans. It'll make sure the tax rates don't go up on January 1st. Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Now allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military. A big food safety bill, securing America's food supply, and finally a bill that will give health care to 9/11 workers. Some of the first responders who dealt with that tragedy so these were five big victories for this president. He got a question from a reporter that said, look, are you the new comeback kid?</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I said right after the midterm elections, we took a shellacking and I take responsibility for that.</s>HENRY: Those victories came after a pretty bruising 2010 for this president. He spent the first part of the year really trying to finish that long health care reform battle. He got victory in March but then almost immediately was hit by the worst oil spill in American history. Spent the summer still dealing with unemployment, extremely high. The jobs crisis in America. And then what he called that shellacking in the midterm election. So a long year for this president. That's why aides say here in Hawaii he will be doing very little. No public events planned. Basically just some rest and relaxation with his family because he's got a big 2011 ahead of him. He's got to pick a new chief economic adviser to replace Larry Summers when he gets back to Washington at the beginning of January. Then he's got a big State of the Union message to Congress to sort of lay out what he hopes to get done with the new Republican U.S. House and a shrunken Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. And then after a busy legislative session in 2011, he's got to start looking ahead already to that 2012 reelection battle. Ed Henry, CNN, with the president in Honolulu.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. More on that breaking news out of Rome. Those explosions that we just reported at the Swiss and Chilean embassies. On the phone with us now, Barbie Nadeau with "Newsweek," following the latest developments for me -- for us. Barbie, what can you tell us?</s>BARBIE NADEAU, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE: Well, over the course of the morning, there have been two bombs scares -- telephone calls to Rome government city offices and two bombs that have exploded at embassies. The Swiss embassy bomb exploded in the hands of the security guard who was opening it around 11:00 local time. He was seriously injured. His hands are very, very seriously injured and he was in a state of shock. He was</s>PHILLIPS: All right. And do we have any other information on who is claiming responsibility, Barbie?</s>NADEAU: No one has claimed responsibility yet. But the city officials here are leaning towards this being related to the anarchist movement that has really basically woken up again here in Italy. This is something that was prevalent here in the 1970s and 1980s, and they were quite concerned. The type of violence they've been seeing on the streets of Rome and in Naples and in Palermo and in Milan yesterday. It's very indicative of this sort of civil disobedience, violent behavior, but they haven't ruled out that this could be also some sort of international threat so they're really just in the early hours of this happening so they're really -- they're taking good look at what traces have been left. So far, though, they've made no concrete announcement about who they think is responsible for either of these.</s>PHILLIPS: Barbie Nadeau with "Newsweek" reporting to there from Rome. Please keep us updated. This is actually video that being fed in to us right now. Do we know which embassy this is, guys? OK. So we'll continue to follow the story and bring you more information as we get it. All right. Ahead, we're also going to take you to the tiniest town in America. Let me put it this way. The village people had more people.