Thai Flooding Worst in 50 Years
WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories right now. A suicide bomber slams into a NATO convoy traveling through Afghanistan's capital city. At least 13 American service members are killed, making this one of the deadliest days for U.S. forces there since the war began 10 years ago. A U.S. military official says the troops were going from one base to another. And here in the U.S., much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast bracing now for heavy, wet snow. In some parts it's already falling and on the ground. The rare October snowstorm is expected to dump more than a foot on some areas, and there is a pretty big concern about power outages and travel delays. And among those out there in the storm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, our Chad Myers. He is on the road, and you are experiencing the snowfall in a big way?</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): I am, Fred and visibility down to about 200 feet here. Now I'm on I-83 heading from Harrisburg down to New York to meet up with a crew. On the turnpike, I had an interesting conversation with a man taking my money. It was $1.10 and I said I'm from Atlanta and this is terrible. He goes, well, at least you're on the road. I kind of stopped and I looked up and said what are you talking about? You should hear the scanner traffic. There are so many cars off the road right now. You need to be really careful. That's why I got the four-wheel drive from the rental car company. What you don't want to see on this road are taillights turning into brake lights in front of you. That means people are stopping on the roadway for something as cars are sliding off the roadway. It's treacherous out here, and it will get worse as the sun sets. At least right now, I'm at 32 degrees. When the sun sets, it gets down to about 28. All of these slush on the road is going to be one big ice chunk, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: So what are people bracing for?</s>WHITFIELD: I'm afraid people don't know about this because when I went to the counter, I said I need a four-wheel drive car. They said we have a Durango, but it's two-wheel. I said, well that's (inaudible) that would be worst yet. And I said give me something four-wheel and they said, well, there's only going to be a couple of inches? I said, a couple? There's going to be 12 right here and he said no, I haven't heard that. I went, well you heard it now. Get home as soon as you can. I'm not sure people -- this came up so fast. You know, on Wednesday this storm didn't really even exist. A couple inches, sure, but by the time we looked at the computer model yesterday morning. We knew this was a 10 to 15-inch snowfall for a large area west of I- 95 from Maryland all the way up even into Maine.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, pretty miserable conditions, especially for those feeling like they've been caught off guard. Chad Myers travelling there in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He's going to keep us posted. We're looking at the radar picture right now. You can see it's pretty significant. The area, that wide swath that is going to be engulfed by a lot of snowfall over the next few hours and then a moment ago, you also saw live pictures out of Columbus Circle in New York. Hard to believe seeing that dusting of snow on the ground, and it's not even quite Halloween right there. We'll keep you posted on this snowstorm in the northeast. In the meantime overseas to Thailand now where parts of the country are at the crisis stage as floodwaters there sweep across cities, towns, and farmland. Much of the high water is in Bangkok and the suburbs. CNN's Sara Sidner is in the flood zone in the Thai capital.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High tide in Bangkok's Chinatown. Water pours in from the swollen Chao Phraya River just on the other side of these homes and businesses. Despite the severe flood warnings and this reality, residents who stayed put were far from panicked here. Children even delighted in the murky water. The drainage system of the city pumps it out immediately if there's overflow, and that is why it's not heavily flooded here. I'm not worried, this resident says. In this riverside neighborhood, the floodwaters came in quickly and receded quickly, but business here has dried up as well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water has come out from the Chao Phraya River and now it's flowing out because of the flood.</s>SIDNER: This was the day that the government warned could be the worst for central Bangkok, but much of Bangkok's commercial district remained dry. Not so in the northern, eastern and western parts of the city. High floodwaters have remained for weeks in parts of the city ruing homes, shutting down thousands of factories and discouraging tourism. Though people are trudging through it, the stagnant water is beginning to stink. A public health crisis could be the next wave of trouble. (on camera): The government estimates these floods have caused about $6 billion worth of damage so far. It's impacted the economy here so much that the Bank of Thailand has now revised the country's growth from 4.1 percent down to 2.6 percent. (voice-over): The cost of this disaster will continue to rise, as long as the floodwaters remain. Sara Sidner, CNN, Bangkok.</s>WHITFIELD: It is Halloween weekend. Richard Herman is here with me. We've got a Halloween story for you, Richard, right?</s>RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We're ready, Fred. We're ready.</s>WHITFIELD: OK, we're going to talk about batman, the cape crusader and how he got hung up and in legal trouble. We'll have much more from our legal guys straight ahead, Richard and Avery.