Wildfires in California Contained; Rare Typhoon Heading to Ireland; EPA Officials Worries for Puerto Ricans
VANIER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier.</s>ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Let's update you on our top stories this hour. Philippine officials say two ISIS-linked militants have been killed in the southern city of Marawi following a long standoff with government troops. Officials say one of the militants was a top ISIS leader in Southeast Asia and was wanted by the FBI. The other led a local militant group. They spearheaded a deadly siege in Marawi which had sparked fears ISIS would gain a foothold in the region.</s>VANIER: Ten days of joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises just gone underway. South Korea's naval commander said the drills are to counter North Korea's provocations. The U.S. and Pyongyang had exchanged escalating rhetoric over the North's nuclear program. Pyongyang renewed its threat to launch missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam.</s>ALLEN: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson say the U.S. is trying to stay in Iran nuclear deal, though it needs serious revision. This comes after President Donald Trump threatens to pull the U.S. out of the agreement on Friday, he says Iran is violating the terms and betraying the</s>U.S. VANIER: And the Catalan president is refusing to clarify whether he indeed declared Catalonia independent from Spain. Instead of that, Carles Puigdemont is asking Madrid for two months of talks. The central government had threatened to suspend the region's economy if his answer was not clear enough. Now some residents in northern California is returning home to piles of metal and rock after dozens of wildfires that scorched their neighborhoods the past few days. At least 40 people have been killed in the fire since Sunday.</s>ALLEN: Nearly 88,000 hectares or 217,000 acres have burned throughout California. The crews are starting to get the fires under control. CNN's Dan Simon has the latest from Kenwood, California.</s>DAN SIMON, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: For the first time in a week firefighters are now striking optimistic tone about these fires that's because the winds have died down, and with that the containment numbers have gone up. That's other stores and trouble spots. Take a look behind me, that's the Oakmont fire you can see the smoke billowing. There are some flame there on the mountain but firefighters not too concerned because the fires are not burning towards any populated communities. We have seen though, some airplanes making some drops just to make sure things don't get out of control. Saturday night it was a difficult night for the community of Sonoma which is south of here. We did see some structures burned. There were some evacuations, but Sunday a whole different story because the winds have died down. The area no longer under a red flag warning. And with that, we've seen a number of fires including the Tubbs fire which was the most destructive fire in the community of Santa Rosa. The containment number 60 percent or more so firefighters now think they're beginning to turn a corner. Dan Simon, CNN, Kenwood, California.</s>ALLEN: Finally, we take it. Pedram Javaheri following the latest too, for us as well. That's some good news from Dan Simon, Pedram.</s>PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Yes, absolutely for a long time coming. You know, we had winds up to tropical storm force about 10 days ago where it all initiated if you look 20 large active fires across this region. And of course, the concern now is how it is improving, how quickly it is improving. And we've seen about 8 to 15 percent improvements as far as containment is concerned of the past 24 hours. And you see the Tubbs fire still only 60 percent contained but still seen dramatic improvements just in the past 24 hours alone. Winds have generally calm down a little bit, say two to five miles an hour, some areas of the 10 miles per hour down from the 35 to 40 miles per hour we have just a few days ago. And then the temperature is within onshore component. Look at this San Francisco of course from 85 down to 65. Los Angeles from the middle 90's down to the lower 80s, so the firefighters certainly going to be appreciative of the improving conditions across that area of the Western U.S. Now into Western Europe, we go where something very interesting, very unusual taking place right now. Post-tropical storm Ophelia working this way ashore. And notice the winds are actually 140 kilometers per hour, which is 85 miles per hour. That is equivalent to a category one hurricane. But the reason it's not called hurricane is that it's moving over cooler waters, it is a cold core systems versus tropical systems are one core. But really it doesn't change the fact that the winds are just as strong as a category one hurricane. And of course, the impact is going to be significant around the western area of Ireland here over the next several hours. It will move ashore with winds equivalent to a category one hurricane first time since 30 years ago today the great storm of 1987 impacted this region. It left behind 22 lives lost and also brought down 15 million trees across North Western Europe. We know the impact it could be significant, in particular for Ireland. The education department saying the storm is unprecedented as a result for Ireland they've actually close all schools across the board across the island today work your way into portions of the U.K. there. A low impact is expected but still could see power outages widespread. In fact, Heathrow reporting about 20 flights that been halted so far. Dublin much the same about 20 flights have been canceled going into Monday. There is the center of the storm going to the afternoon and evening hours, notice a lot of these winds pushing into the channels could be upwards of 100 kilometers per hour and then it works its way towards northern areas of the U.K. there. So, a big story for folks across an area that's do get hit with very hard and significant storms but of course having one that has tropical origins is something you don't see every day, guys.</s>ALLEN: Yes, unusual like many of the storms we're seeing.</s>JAVAHERI: Yes, very true.</s>ALLEN: Pedram, thank you. Yes, Pedram said it's racing toward Ireland and the United Kingdom bringing hurricane force winds, heavy rain, and possibly a dangerous storm surge. Let's go to our Phil Black because he is live in Ireland. You are starting to feel the effect there, Phil.</s>PHIL BLACK, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, indeed. And Natalie, it's really extraordinary. The conditions here are changing so quickly, so rapidly, it's been very windy, blustery, and wet throughout the morning as the sun has risen here. But there are moments of relative calm and there are moments where the wind really picks up. Overhead at the moment was a huge patch of blue sky, it is changing very, very quickly. But over the hour from two hours that's when the authorities here tell us that this particular corner of Southwest Island is really going to start to feel the strongest winds coming from Ophelia. And as you heard there, this is no longer hurricane but the strength of the winds is still very much like one. And so that's why the authorities here are so concerned. They are initially just worried about the south, the southwest coast where we are, that's why they put in place what they called a red warning, the strongest possible weather warning. That warning now applies to the entire republican of Ireland because they are concern that the gust of wind could be so unpredictable and so dangerous in every county of this country. So the advised to everyone here is to stay indoors all day to sit this one out. They've been advised to do all the preparation stuff before today. And what the authorities here now hope is that the storm will pass, the damage will be minimal. And hopefully no one will be hurt. But they are worried about the wind, they're worried about the rain. They're expecting flooding, and of course big seas and a storm surge as well as this storm begins to move its way up to the West coast of Ireland. Back to you.</s>ALLEN: Tropical storm hitting Ireland that is so bizarre. Phil Black covering it for us. Stay safe, Phil. We'll talk to you again. Thanks. We turn now to Puerto Rico. Thousands of people struggling from basic necessity still nearly a month after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Eighty five percent of the island still has no power.</s>VANIER: And more than 30 percent of people don't have clean drinking water. In fact, the situation is so bad that someone drinking from contaminated wells. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on this.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Nearly a month after hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, there are still some serious questions about just where some Puerto Ricans are getting their water from. Now one area, in particular is of intense concern here. It's an area around a town called Dorado, just west of the capital of San Juan. There is an area there that has been labeled as a Superfund site. For those of you not familiar with what that term means, it's created by the Environmental and Protection Agency and it basically describes an area that is highly contaminated with toxic materials in the ground. There are a number of water wells on Superfund site and there are reports and we've seen it ourselves of people getting water from those wells. Now one of the wells that have been use has been efficiently cleared by government officials here in Puerto Rico, and they have actually dish -- passing that water out to people who have standing in the long lines to come and get that water. They say that the water has passed all of its testing. Some of the other wells is not exactly clear. A team from the Environmental Protection Agency went around this weekend testing some of those wells and it could most of the week to get the results back. And it is believed that in this water that there could be high levels of toxic materials from industrial waste that is in those waters that could be a cause serious health problems for people. EPA officials say it would require long-term exposure to that water. But we were with one of those EPA officials this is what he had to say about the testing that they're doing.</s>GARY LIPTON, EPA INCIDENT COMMANDER, PUERTO RICO OPERATIONS: There is the urgency it's a concern. And it's a concern both in public health and perception, but we understand that people are hurting right now. We understand there's a lot of thirsty people out there and they're accessing whatever water we can -- whatever water they can and we're trying to ascertain if it is pose any hazards or not.</s>LAVANDERA: Some independent experts that we have spoken with here over the last few days are getting them to examine the EPA documents about this of Superfund sites. It is disturbing that water wells are being used for drinking water. Some water have been exposed to that drinking water and have used it for drinking water. And what is more fascinating that many people as we've gone around to some of these wells many of the people who live in this area had no idea that this area had been designated as a Superfund site and they had no idea they were tapping into possibly contaminated water. So, the work on determining exactly what is coming out of those water wells will continue to be done this week.</s>VANIER: An anti-immigrant politician is set to become Austria's next chancellor who may form a far right coalition government. We'll have a live report from Vienna after the break.