U.S. Hikers Sentenced in Iran; Rebels: Tripoli is Next; 2011: Big Year for Weather Disasters
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Topping our news this hour, two Americans locked up in Iran on spying charges, and, according to Iranian state-run media, they have each been sentenced to eight years in prison. Iranian officials say the two men crossed the border from Iraq illegally. CNN's Susan Candiotti is watching this case from New York.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Again, this is being reported by state-run media, and specifically a judiciary source who is talking with them, telling them that the two hikers that remain in prison now, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, have been sentenced, as you said, to eight years. It's five years for spying, as they put it, the words, "cooperating with the American intelligence service;" and three years each for illegally crossing the border into Iran. Now, this information, according to the lawyer, for the hikers, they've not officially - he's not officially been told this yet, so he's still waiting for that. Until then, is withholding comment.</s>WHITFIELD: And a third American was arrested along with Fattal and Bauer. The Iranians released her last year due to medical reasons. A military jet crashed today at an air show in the United Kingdom. It was one of the Royal Air Force's precision Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows. They were performing at a big aviation festival on England's Southern coast. No official word yet on the pilot's condition. And rebels battling Moammar Gadhafi's army say they are in complete control of towns surrounding Tripoli, that Gadhafi's fuel and supplies are cut off and a stranglehold is in place that will now tighten. It's the most progress yet claimed by rebels as they push toward Tripoli. CNN's Sara Sidner and her crew were caught in the middle of a firefight in the city of Zawiya today. Here's her report.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just a 40- minute drive from Tripoli, rebels battle their way closer to the capital. This is the city of Zawiya. On this day, even if you could not see the firefight close up, you could hear its deafening sounds reverberating from the eastern part of the city. (on camera): So it is just getting too close. There are snipers on tops of building. There's loud bangs. There's artillery fire. There are mortars. So we've got to get out of here. (voice-over): Despite the firing around him, a rebel fighter who did not want to be identified to protect his family was confident of victory. (on camera): Considering the fighting is fierce here in Zawiya, how long do you think you could push into Tripoli?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, in a couple of days.</s>SIDNER: A couple of days?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of days or one week maybe.</s>SIDNER: You think it is that soon?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so because we are controlling 80 percent of Zawiya.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): But to push forward, they need to secure the whole city for Gadhafi's army is doing everything it can to keep a hold of this strategically important town. (on camera): Why is Zawiya so important?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of oil factory.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): Zawiya has one of the last remaining functional oil refineries in the country and is the most direct supply route to the capital, Tripoli. As of now, the rebels have captured the refinery. We are told there is a large amount of oil still left in the storage tanks. But the opposition fighters say, for them, this is not about oil, it's about securing their homes and neighborhoods. Most of the town is shuttered, abandoned by frightened residents, but some families remain. This family is staying put, including the children, even though missiles and mortars are falling around their home.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): A person feels unsafe and can't rest because of the</s>SIDNER: She and the rebel fighters are convinced the end of the Gadhafi regime is near. But most here agree, trying to take control of nearby Tripoli will be one hell of a fight.</s>WHITFIELD: And Sara Sidner joins us on the phone now from Zawiya. So, Sara, while we see the forces are very active there, what about unarmed citizens? What are they thinking and feeling, and what are they doing to kind of protect themselves through all of this?</s>SIDNER (via telephone): That's a really good question, Fredricka, because we keep seeing just a few families. But we do see children, which is always sort of shocking, in one of these areas where literally there are bombs falling around their homes and inside the city. And what they're saying is we are scared, and sometimes their children are scared. Sometimes, they will take them, for example, down to the basement. Sometimes you'll see them just up against the wall when - when they can hear firefight. But, a lot of times, what you start to notice is that the children have started to become accustomed, almost, to this kind of - of fighting in their city, and - and that is always hard to take from an adult's perspective, seeing a child who becomes used to seeing men with AK-47s roaming the streets and tanks roaming the streets. It becomes sort of an everyday kind of life for them. But certainly sometimes there is definitely fear in their eyes, as there should be. There were definitely injuries from that firefight that you saw in those pictures just a - a few hours ago. But I do want to give you an important update, Fredricka. We were in the city center today, which is the first time that we've been able to push in that far, and the troops from the Gadhafi forces have now been pushed outside of the city of Zawiya. So now, instead of taking control of 80 percent of the city, the rebels now appear to have taken control of the entire city of Zawiya. A big victory for them today.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. That's incredible. All right, Sara Sidner, keep - keep us posted there, from Zawiya. Now, back in this country, an Indiana community is saying goodbye to a hero. Funeral services were held today for 49-year-old Glenn Goodrich, caught in the middle of this when this stage collapsed at a state fair. Goodrich's mother says her son saved the lives of a woman and a child who were near the stage when it fell. Goodrich leaves behind a wife and two sons. And on to California, a police officer, who is a former Oakland Raiderette, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Vacaville. She claims she was sexually harassed and teased for her cheerleader past.</s>NICOLE ROSENSTIEL, FORMER RAIDERETTE TURNED COP: Basically from the first day I arrived, I got snickers and comments about the way I looked, the fact that I was a prior Raiderette.</s>JERRY HOBRECHT, VACAVILLE CITY ATTORNEY: We have seen the claim and we don't feel that there's a lot of merit to her claim, and we plan to litigate this vigorously.</s>WHITFIELD: Rosenstiel is seeking $1.5 million in damages. And a 12-year-old Atlanta girl is being called a real life Nancy Drew after cracking a burglary case the police couldn't. Jessica Maple had just finished a summer forensic class when someone broke into her great grandmother's home. Police investigated, but couldn't solve the crime, so Jessica did her own investigating. Not only did she track down the stolen items, she also tracked down the thief.</s>JESSICA MAPLE, 12-YEAR-OLD CRIME FIGHTER: The investigator, he came and he was all, like, oh, my gosh, how did you find all this stuff here? I was coming here. And I was like, I did your job again.</s>WHITFIELD: So, how did she do it? Find out tomorrow, when Jessica joins me with her remarkable story. That's at 2:00 Eastern time, right here on CNN. Three people were killed as flashfloods swept through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last night. A car with a mother and two children inside was swept away. Flooding was so bad, rescuers couldn't even see the vehicle until the water receded.</s>RAY DEMICHIEI, PITTSBURGH EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: We were right over top of the vehicle that, unfortunately, the victims were in and never knew they were there. I mean, the bottom of the boat didn't even scrape against the - the top of the car.</s>WHITFIELD: One person is still missing. Police say 11 people climbed into trees to escape the rushing water that was nine feet deep in some places. And in Wausaukee, Wisconsin strong winds flipped big trucks and cars onto their sides. The high winds damaged buildings and snapped dozens of trees in half. One man died when the roof of his trailer collapsed. The National Weather Service is sending crews to determine if a tornado touched down. So this has been quite a year of bad weather. Huge disasters. Let's bring in Jacqui Jeras. Record-breaking in a lot of ways - monetarily, damage, and lives lost.</s>JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's right. Yes. Now we released a list this week, the top billion dollar weather disasters of 2011, and we tie with 2008, as of this point, for the most of them. There are nine so far, and it's only mid-August. We've got a long way to go. I think most of these you're going to remember, and they're really going to resonate with you. We're going to start out with the first $9 billion disaster, and that's the Southeast Ohio Valley and Midwest tornado outbreaks. Remember Tuscaloosa, Alabama?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>JERAS: Yes. I think we've got some video to show you of that one, just to refresh your memory a little bit. This was the deadliest tornado outbreak. An EF-5 hit Northern Alabama. Seventy-eight people were killed in that one. There were many, many other tornadoes that touched down in places like Birmingham, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and overall 327 people died from that outbreak. All right, the next one, May 22nd to the 27th, another tornado outbreak, this one in the Midwest and then into the Southeast. Remember, Joplin, Missouri?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>JERAS: You certainly can't forget that one. That was a $7 billion disaster, with this event. And, of course, Joplin just started school this week, and they're doing that in - in a mall -</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>JERAS: -- because their school was destroyed, and that was -</s>WHITFIELD: They were determined to, you know, try and resume some kind of normalcy for the kids, at least.</s>JERAS: Yes. Yes. Good to know that they're back in school and they're learning. An estimated 180 tornadoes from that outbreak, and 177 deaths overall.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.</s>JERAS: And that EF-5 that hit Joplin, that was the deadliest single tornado to strike the U.S. since modern tornado recordkeeping began in 1950. All right, let's move on to the next one. This one is the drought and the wildfires that have been burning across the Southern Plains states and parts of the Southwest. Take a look at the pictures of the wildfires. Who could forget, for example, the Wallow fire in Arizona - New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Kansas and Western Arkansas and Louisiana all dealing with those terrible conditions, and as much as 75 to 63 percent of all range and pasture conditions in Texas and Oklahoma are classified as very poor. So big agricultural problem as a result of this as well, and over 2,000 homes and structures were lost as a result of these drought and these wildfires that have been ongoing there as well. And then, as we move on, think of the flooding. Remember what's been happening across parts of the Mississippi River?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>JERAS: That was spring and summer of - of this year, including Tunica, Mississippi, $4 billion in damages associated with this one. Remember the heavy rainfall that we had, the record snow pack that we had up north?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>JERAS: All of that came down, and we had record flooding in many areas. Memphis, Tennessee had a lot of flooding. And, remember, we opened up some of those spillways that we've never done since they had been developed as well. So really</s>WHITFIELD: Hard to believe this is all in one year.</s>JERAS: I know. And it's only August.</s>WHITFIELD: -- the eighth month.</s>JERAS: So what - one thing is missing on this list?</s>WHITFIELD: I know, the hurricane activity -</s>JERAS: I know. Hurricanes, right?</s>WHITFIELD: -- as we reach that peak portion of the season.</s>JERAS: And often as you take - as you take a look at lists from years past, you'll find hurricanes are often in the top five. So we're just getting started with the - the peak of hurricane season, and unfortunately we're probably going to beat that record now from 2008.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui. Thanks for putting all that in perspective for us.</s>JERAS: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: Appreciate that. All right, so massive crowds, by the way, overseas, gathering for World Youth Day. We'll look at what firefighters did to actually keep them cool there.