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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Assessing Damage of Tropical Storm Isabel
Aired September 19, 2003 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: People in Virginia Beach have to wait another hour before they can get out onto the streets to assess the damage. They're under a curfew there.
But our Kathleen Koch is up and out, and she can give us an early look.
Good morning -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, as you can see, the winds are still pretty darn gusty here. I'm having to hold onto my hat, so I don't lose it.
Now, we're talking obviously this morning about damage, about after-effects, and everyone says that at this point it is just impossible to tell how bad the damage from this storm is going to be. But state and local officials agree that it is unprecedented.
Norfolk's director of -- coordinator of emergency management told me that in the 32 years that he has been here that this is the absolute worst that he has experienced.
Of course, throughout the area, many, many homes lost roofs. We stood here and actually watched the roof of a hotel next door and the restaurant across the street coming flying off. Windows in areas near the ocean here, where the highest wind gusts hit around 70 miles an hour, if they were not boarded up, they simply just smashed in.
Flooding from the nine-foot storm surge swamped many streets. In some areas, water was up to waist-deep.
Now, of course, exacerbating all of that was the 6 to 10 inches of rain that Isabel dropped on this area. And this area already had 28 inches above-normal rainfall, and so that's one of the reasons why so many trees, hundreds if not thousands, came down throughout this area of Virginia and then on up going toward Richmond. Many of them ended up on homes, a great deal of damage to homes from falling trees.
The last calculation was that about a million residents in the state of Virginia at this point were without power. And who knows when it's going to be restored? It's going to take quite some time.
They did, at least in this region of Virginia, have some 7,000 workers the power company had on standby to help restore power, but it is going to be a massive undertaking. Finally, state troopers and local police are back on the roads. They had pulled them off the roads, some of them for hours, yesterday during the height of the storm, because it was simply too dangerous for them to be out there. They would only respond to life-threatening emergencies.
A few minutes ago, we saw a patrol car going up and down the Boardwalk here in Virginia Beach, because obviously looting is a concern. But they are putting a curfew in effect. It's going to be in until 7:00 a.m. at least this morning. Roads are too dangerous, many of them impassable. And, again, of course, they just believe it's too dangerous for people to be out right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: We can understand that. Kathleen Koch surviving the hurricane in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Let's move north to Pennsylvania now, because people there are feeling the force of a weakening Isabel. That's right. It's your turn.
Reporter Marissa Carney of CNN affiliate WTAJ joins us live from Bedford.
Good morning. What's it like there now?
MARISSA CARNEY, CNN AFFILIATE WTAJ REPORTER: Good morning.
I can tell you that we don't have too much to worry about here in Bedford County, but it is raining, and we do have some high winds to worry about.
But Bedford County officials are saying we should be out of the clear by now. We've had some heavy winds that have brought down tree branches and limbs and leaves covering the roadways, kind of making some slippery, dangerous conditions for drivers who are out this morning.
But we've also had some power outages, power lines down, phone lines down. But really, that's just been scattered from one end of the county to the other. So not too much to worry about there.
The rain is also not too much of a factor. If you can see behind me, the rain is still coming down steady. It's been steady since about 11:00 last night. But it's that fine, misty rain that you almost can't tell if it's there or not.
At last check, Bedford County had about an inch and a half of rain to worry about. But I just recently spoke with a correspondent from the Bedford County Fire Department, who says Bedford Township should be fine, as we still have about two feet of rainwater to go before some of our rivers start overflowing.
But, of course, anything can happen. Flash flooding can crop up as Hurricane Isabel makes her way up toward us. But for now, Bedford County, Pennsylvania seems to be surviving this part of Hurricane Isabel. COSTELLO: Oh, and, Marissa...
CARNEY: For CNN News...
COSTELLO: Go ahead, Marissa.
CARNEY: I'm sorry?
COSTELLO: Oh, go ahead, I just interrupted you and I'm very sorry. But thank you for that report. Marissa Carney of CNN affiliate WTAJ joining us from Bedford County, Pennsylvania. And, of course, Isabel now a tropical storm.
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