14 Wildfires Burning in Texas; Gulf Coast Prepares for Storm
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: T.J., have a great weekend.</s>T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: I sure will.</s>MALVEAUX: Have a great holiday weekend.</s>HOLMES: Yes, you too.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for this Friday, September 2nd. Just a week after Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast, the central Gulf Coast is now getting ready for a storm with flooding rains. There are already warnings in place, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has already declared a state of emergency. Oil companies are pulling workers off the rigs in the Gulf. Some places including New Orleans could get as much as 20 inches of rain. Texas could really use some of that rain from the tropical system, but it doesn't look promising. Fourteen big wildfires are burning in that state. Just one of them west of Dallas. Now, firefighters there are finally making some progress. They've got the fire about half contained or so.</s>STEVE GREEN, FIREFIGHTER: We can do all the work by air that we want, but as my instructors told me a long time ago, it's always boots on the ground that gets it taken care of.</s>MALVEAUX: -- report is out. It's pretty bleak. It shows employers added no jobs during August. The unemployment rate is unchanged at 9.1 percent. Now, there are a couple things that we should point out. The report was distorted because it counted thousands of Verizon workers who went on strike, but that are now back on the job. The numbers also included Minnesota employees who are temporarily out of work because of the government shutdown. Well, this discouraging jobs report is driving stocks down across the board. The Dow fell more than 200 points in early trading. It remains in the red now. Right now, we are looking at down 201 points or so. We're going to be keeping a really close eye on the markets throughout the day. Firefighters who say they got cancer after the 9/11 attacks, well, they have more evidence today. A new study finds those who were at Ground Zero were 19 percent more likely to get cancer than firefighters who didn't go to Ground Zero. Now, right now, the government does not cover cancer costs for those first responders.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The firefighters we're watching, who were there, the World Trade Center, and developed cancer over the last 10 years, they have the lingering question, why did they get this cancer, and was it related to the dust? And you would say what?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For most instances, it was World Trade Center related.</s>MALVEAUX: Our reporters in Libya are uncovering more evidence of torture, abuse at the hands of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's family. A former Gadhafi staffer in Tripoli told CNN's Dan Rivers that it happened all the time to workers for the former dictator's son Hannibal Gadhafi.</s>DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds like a lot of the staff suffered abuse to varying degrees. We've spoken to one man who is still too afraid to give his name or to show his face, but he took us to another compound that Hannibal Gadhafi used as an office complex. And in that, there was a sort of secret prison room cell where they locked people up, staff, if they felt that they had done something wrong.</s>MALVEAUX: Attorneys for Casey Anthony are back in court in Florida. Now, you may recall she is the young mother who was acquitted in July of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, but found guilty of lying to law enforcement officials. Well, right now, a judge is hearing arguments over whether or not she should pay back more than $500,000 spent in the search for her daughter. Can you believe this? A referee gets decks moments after he called an end to a youth football game. Adults then took to the field and started kicking him. He eventually stumbled off the field. Now deputies in Sarasota, Florida, are investigating and saying charges will probably be filed. The teen involved has been suspended. Now more on two big stories that could affect millions of people during this Labor Day weekend. Parts of the central Gulf Coast including New Orleans could be under water if a tropical storm hits. Now, right now, it is just a depression, but warnings are already in place along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. Texas could actually use the rain from that storm, but it's not likely to get much. More than a dozen major wildfires are still spreading in the state of Texas. Jennifer Delgado is tracking the tropical storm system, and Jim Spellman, he's covering the big wildfire west of Dallas.</s>MALVEAUX: We'll see how it goes in Texas, because as you mentioned, Texas really needs that rain from that tropical system. And most of the state, it's bone dry from drought. The wildfires, a huge problem there, still. Our CNN's Jim Spellman, he is covering the big fire west of Dallas. That is where firefighters, Jim, I understand are making some progress. The situation is a little bit better today. But is there concern that these winds are going to come back and spread this fire again?</s>JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but they really made a lot of progress yesterday on the ground with hand crews out, using hand tools and bulldozers, creating fire lines to separate the fire from the unburned fuel in the surrounding woods, and from the air with helicopters and planes. And it's really paid off. Now they are up to 60 percent contained. And they feel really good about where this fire is going. But they are not going to let the last of the residents into the most heavily-affected areas until they can really mop up 100 percent, because, like you said, with these severe drought conditions, it's so easy for a new fire to get sparked off by just a single amber picked up in the wind. So they really want to be sure this thing is 100 percent mopped up before they let the final residents back into those heavily burned-out areas -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And Jim, I understand Possum Kingdom Lake, it's a big tourist area. Is that going to be open for Labor Day weekend, or is it just too dangerous?</s>SPELLMAN: Yes, Suzanne. I think it's important to realize that these are big economic stories, not just a fire story. And amongst all the fire trucks, we are starting to see boats come back here towards the lake for the final Labor Day weekend. So that's good news for them here. That's been a big priority, is getting this lake back open to tourists to come back to boat, to camp. There's a lot of getaway homes here, and all the cafes, gas stations, motels and stuff, rely on that. So they're hoping that everything is done today and they can get everybody back here tomorrow. They've already been hit by missing a week in this economy. A business can't lose a week of revenue. So they're glad they'll be back open, at least for this weekend -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. A big economic story as well. Thank you, Jim. Here is a rundown of some of the stories that we are covering. First, an analysis of the weak new job numbers and a check of the markets as stocks plunge on morning trade. Then, a police dashcam captures an amazing rescue. Police pull passengers from a burning car. Also, an amazing story of survival. Hear how a New Jersey man saved himself from drowning in his own house.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, "I've got to get the heck out of here." He goes, "What are you, nuts?" I said, "I'm swimming out of here. I'm getting out of here."</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you walking or sort of swimming?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm swimming where I hold on to branches. OK? And I get pushed over here.</s>MALVEAUX: And later, this is not backed-up traffic. It's a line for gas in Libya.