|
CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
How People Are Making Do After Hurricane Isabel
Aired September 22, 2003 - 05:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now it's time to take a look at how people are making do after Hurricane Isabel. President Bush travels to Richmond, Virginia today for a briefing on damage and recovery efforts. Water damage is quite extensive in Virginia. Nearly 900,000 homes and businesses still without power this morning. Long lines formed when word got out that ice, water or a hot meal were available. Patience in short supply.
The mayor of Newport News blamed FEMA for a poor response and some residents vented their frustrations at weary Red Cross workers.
Residents of North Carolina's Outer Banks are used to storms, but many locals had never seen anything like Isabel nor the extensive damage left in its wake.
CNN's Susan Candiotti checks it out for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hatteras islanders who evacuated before Isabel now have the green light to start returning. But with the road washed out, they'll have to do it by boat. The U.S. Coast Guard will help ferry them, concerned about those who might attempt to go it alone.
PETTY OFFICER RANDY WITKO, U.S. COAST GUARD: You can't see the logs, the lumber that's floating around, the pieces of doors and windows, appliances that are out there. It's not safe to be out there when you can't see.
CANDIOTTI: This is what it looked like when the storm surge from Isabel began wiping out Highway 12, cutting off access to Hatteras.
(on camera): This is where Highway 12 actually stops now, where it broke up. You can still see a bit of the yellow line here on the highway. But everything in this direction is now covered by sand, everything behind me now water.
(voice-over): Food, water and gasoline are slowly arriving for those who rode out the storm. Utility repairs are under way and roads are being cleared leading to the Cape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the eye wall.
CANDIOTTI: CNN obtained this exclusive footage of Isabel as it bore down on Cape Hatteras. The eye wall battered homes and businesses with waves of up to 30 feet. The water made this car barely visible. A once beachfront home now adrift in the ocean days after the storm.
In the northern part of the Outer Banks, residents also staring disaster in the face.
MICHAEL BRIGHT, KITTY HAWK RESIDENT: It's actually a terrible situation.
CANDIOTTI: Michael Bright recovered a few valuables from his first floor apartment in Kitty Hawk. Everything else is underwater.
BRIGHT: I'm probably going to stay with friends and wait a couple more days and hope that the water goes down a little bit more.
CANDIOTTI: But for some homes, receding water may not be enough to save them from the wrecking ball.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
|
