Hurricane Dean; Jamaica Cleans Up; Midwest Flooding
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today. Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown. Dean taking aim at Mexico after ripping past Jamaica. Island residents venturing out this morning to check the damage. Frightening moments during flood rescues on the plains. A dying tropical storm system turns stretches of Oklahoma into a lake. And horror on the runway. A plane bursts into a fireball, but amazingly everyone's safe and sound this Monday morning, August 20th. You are in the NEWSROOM. A killer hurricane in the Caribbean, deadly floods in the U.S. Extreme weather topping this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're going to be going live to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano. He's in Cancun, Mexico. And Susan Roesgen in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Plus, the very latest from meteorologist Reynolds Wolf in the CNN Severe Weather Center. In fact, let's go ahead and begin there. Reynolds, good morning to you.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. I wish I could say it was a great morning in the Caribbean. It is not. And here's the reason why. Hurricane Dean continues to roll westward. As it does, it leaves Jamaica, it leaves Montego Bay, Kingston and it's way out to the south Cayman Islands, where the Cayman Islands are getting battered by heavy, heavy surf, heavy rainfall, winds that are of tropical storm force. And the storm is expected to gain strength as it marches westward towards the Yucatan Peninsula. The latest map that we have, the latest path, from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm is expected to gain strength. It's going to move into a minimum sheer (ph) environment, meaning it's not going to have a lot of upper-level winds, which can rip the storm apart. Plus water in that part of the Caribbean is incredibly warm. So the storm could strengthen to a category five long before landfall, which is expected at 2:00 a.m. Tuesday and south of Cancun and Cozumel, north of the Honduras and north of the Belize/Mexico border. Now, the storm, once it's on shore, should begin to weaken immediately. That's what happens when these storms are away from their primary source of power, which is warm, warm water. That warm water is almost like rocket fuel to an engine. It's just a big power maker. But as long as it is away from its power source, it should begin to weaken. And by the time it crosses over the Yucatan and back in the Bay of Campeche, it should be downgraded to a category one. That is if it stays at the present speed. Now if it were to move a little bit faster and zip across the peninsula, well, then it may retain more power and be a category two when it makes its way across. However, if it were to go across and stall out altogether, this storm could possibly just die out. We're not expecting that. The latest path, as I mentioned, brings it as a category one offshore at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday with winds of 85 miles per hour, then back into the Bay of Campeche, where it's going to feed on that warm water, again that primary power source, and upgrade to a category two. A lot can change. Notice the cone of uncertainty. The storm could move further to the north, perhaps striking Cancun, perhaps farther to the south, hitting Belize or even Honduras. So we've got to watch it for you. Although this is the biggest story, it's not the only show in town. We've had some issues in parts of the Midwest. Some flooding in Missouri. Back over into Oklahoma. You better believe we had some flooding there yesterday, although conditions there are improving. Things are getting worse. In Springfield, right along I-44 over to Raleigh, in parts of Missouri. Also northward into south of the twin cities, we're seeing some scattered showers in the corn belt. And we even had some flood warnings in effect for the Chicago area, all because that stationary front, that moisture which continues to feed from the Gulf of Mexico. So from the Midwest, the central plains and, of course, back into the Caribbean, we've got a full plate this morning. Let's send you back to the news desk.</s>COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. And we're going to be talking more about the Midwest here in just a few minutes. Reynolds, thanks for that. But first we want to get to Jamaica, where Hurricane Dean battered the island's southern coast. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Montego Bay.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The day after Dean, cleanup is already underway after Jamaica was spared a direct hit from the storm. The eye passing just south of the island. However, the winds and the rains were particularly fierce in the capital city of Kingston on the southeast end of the island. There they had a lot of reports of downed trees, of roofs being ripped off. There are unconfirmed reports of injuries and no deaths. They do have reports of dangerous landslides, especially in the rural parish called St. Andrew. Five thousand people fled their homes for shelters during the course of the storm. At first only 20 shelters were open. By the time Dean had passed, more than 250 has been opened. Power remains out across the country. And there is no water in some areas as well. Both the electricity and pumps were turned off on purpose in order to spare the system serious damage. The airports in Montego Bay and in Kingston remain closed until authorities get a chance to assess damage to the runway. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Montego Bay, Jamaica.</s>COLLINS: In the hurricane zone, stay with CNN throughout the day and night. We have correspondents, as you can see, positioned in the path of the storm to bring you live, comprehensive coverage from just about anywhere in those places. Meanwhile, thermometer watch along the Mississippi this morning. Finally a bit of a break from the relentless heat wave. A 10-day triple-digit hot streak broke yesterday in Memphis. The mercury topped out at only 94. But it is expected to climb back to the century mark a little bit later this week. At least a dozen death this month linked to the oppressive heat in Memphis. In all, around 50 deaths in the southeast and Midwest are now blamed on the heat. Families of six missing Utah miners blasting rescue efforts. They accuse company and federal officials of giving up. Officials say that's not true. The miners have been trapped for two weeks. Underground rescue efforts stopped Thursday after three rescuers were killed. Crews are drilling another hole in the top of the mountain now, but the families want them to do more.</s>RICHARD STICKLER, MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION: If we can find miners alive, we can keep them alive by lowering water and food through the bore hole. If we can find miners alive, then we'll start drilling a bore hole that would be large enough to put a capsule into the mine and bring the miners out through a capsule.</s>SONNY OLSEN, SPOKESMAN FOR MINER'S FAMILIES: The families feel that the rescue capsule is the safest and most effective method to rescue their loved ones. If rescue is not possible, the capsule is the only method to recover our loved ones so that they can have a proper burial.</s>COLLINS: There has been no sign of life inside the mine. Arraignments expected today in the brutal school-yard killings of three students in New Jersey. Newark police say they've got a sixth suspect now, an 18-year-old arrested yesterday morning. On Saturday, federal authorities arrested 24-year-old Rodolfo Alfaro and his 16- year-old half-brother. Both caught in the Washington, D.C. area. Three other suspects, Jose Carranza, and two juveniles were already in custody. All face three counts of murder and other charges stemming from the August 4th killing. Plane on fire, all on board off safely. Just watch what happens. There were just minutes to evacuate the plane. One hundred and sixty- five people survived with no major injuries reported. The pilot jumped from the cockpit at the very last second. The incident happen today on the Japanese island of Okinawa. It's the latest in a series of accidents involving China Airlines. All of the carriers 737-800 planes have been grounded pending an investigation. Extreme weather this morning and it's not just from Hurricane Dean. Rooftop rescues and evacuations in the Midwest. It's all because of Tropical Storm Erin, or what's left of it. Our Susan Roesgen is joining us now live from Kingfisher, Oklahoma. What's the latest situation there? It looks lovely, but I know it's not.</s>SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's starting to get hot, and I think that's really tough, Heidi, for people who are now getting all this mud out of their houses. They're dealing with a hot day. And one woman behind me in the house, that you can't see behind me, but the water has receded enough that now you she's got where there was two feet of water, there's now like about two or three inches of that red Oklahoma mud that she's trying to get out of her house. So not a good situation for a lot of people. There's going to be a 10:00 a.m. local news conference. That's in about an hour here. And we expect the fire chief and the local sheriff to tell us what they found in an aerial tour this morning. The first chance they've really had to get a look at some of the flooding and some of the damage here. We also have, of course, those dramatic rescues. And we have a woman who had never been rescued from a flood before and a helicopter crew that had never done a fast water-moving rescue. Here's what it's like for the woman who was dropped once and then saved.</s>BERNICE KRITTENBRINK, RESCUED FROM FLOODING: We were just thinking about how quickly we were moving with the water and we were trying to keep posts and such in sight to see whether it was rising. And just hoping that there was going to be a rescue. And we were doing some praying.</s>LEROY KRITTENBRINK, RESCUED FROM FLOODING: I couldn't get my hands around the pipe -- or the skid on the helicopter and hang on. So Randy here grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up high enough to where I could get my arms locked around that skid. And that took me out.</s>ROESGEN: So it wasn't the prettiest rescue on record, Heidi, but it was successful. Many people here have commented, as they've seen that video that we've been playing on CNN, can you imagine what would have happened if that woman had been dropped in shallower water. It obviously was deep enough for her to pop back up again. And then her husband dragged along there. What if he had run into some barbed wire or something just under the surface of the water. So they were both really pretty lucky because, again, this was a helicopter crew that had never done a high-water rescue before, had never done a water rescue period.</s>COLLINS: Yes. Rescue crews, everybody being tasked to do whatever they can, I'm sure, in the face of all of this. All right, Susan, thank you. I just want to remind everybody, that news conference that's coming up is 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, of course 10:00 Central. Susan Roesgen, thanks so much, from Kingfisher, Oklahoma, this morning. Popular tourists spots in the path of Hurricane Dean. We get the view from the Cayman Islands. Their Red Dross director gives us a call. Leaving work a day early. Endeavour astronauts pack up to head home, steering clear of Hurricane Dean. And first day of fall classes at Virginia Tech. Students already dealing with more misfortune.