Florida's Rising Flooding Crisis; Starting Over after the Storm; Tampa Bay Area Drenched by Debby; Wildfire Nears Popular Tourist Sites
JOE JOHNS, HOST: You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now, thousands of people in Florida are knee deep in water and misery. And Tropical Storm Debby isn't done with them yet. This hour, a new hurricane advisory on the storm, the flooding and the danger ahead. Plus, a powerful U.S. lawmaker and Republican fundraiser the target of at least four high level investigations. Now a witness against Congressman Vern Buchanan is speaking exclusively to CNN about allegations of a money laundering scheme and cover-up. And some people say Chicago has become more dangerous than the war zone in Afghanistan. We're taking a hard look at gang violence and the teenagers who are doing the shooting and the dying.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They might want to kill me and then they end up killing you, you and you and not killing me.</s>JOHNS: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Joe Johns. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. People who live along Florida's Gulf Coast are used to rain, they're used to hurricanes, but they haven't seen a downpour quite like they've gotten from Tropical Storm Debby. This is what happens when you get hammered by as much as two feet of rain, some of it falling in just a matter of minutes. Mandatory evacuations were ordered today for 2,000 homes along a flooded river in the Tampa Bay Area. Parts of the main interstate across Northern Florida were closed today, as Debby hovered offshore. This very slow-moving storm has weakened, but that's not much consolation for folks who are bailing water out of their homes or those who may get hit when Debby crosses land. John Zarrella and George Howell are standing by in the flood zone. First, to our severe weather expert, Chad Myers. Do you have that new advisory from the National Hurricane Center now -- Chad?</s>CHAD MYERS, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Brand new in my hands, Joe. Now, still a 40 mile per hour storm, which means it's still a tropical storm. But the latest here, the big breaking news here, the just in, is that it is now on land. It did cross over land west of Gainesville. And so that's now going to allow the storm to begin to weaken even more. I would say the center will be right about there and it's going to travel probably just to the south of Jacksonville. But the problem has been north of that area, right along the I-10 corridor. That's where the flooding has been today and that's where it was yesterday, all of that flooding here south of Tallahassee. We'll show you pictures in a minute. You might not believe what you're going to see here with those pictures, how much water in the streets of some of those towns there just to the south of Tallahassee. There it goes. There's the rain. There's the thundershower activity. Here's the rain we're talking about, Joe. We talked about this yesterday, where, at times, five inches of rain per hour were coming down right near the town of Sanborn. It's probably more like a crossroads, not even a city. But 25 to 26 inches of rain in 48 hours. And it just continues to rain in some of these spots. And the flooding continues, as well. We have an onshore flow where John Zarrella is. We could see a little bit of thunderstorm activity, maybe even a small waterspout coming onshore. But the big threat with this is not that kind of weather. The threat is inland, rainfall. We call it fresh water flooding -- rain that comes down, gets into the creeks, valleys, streams, and all of a sudden, your car, house, whatever you're on, underwater. We're also seeing, on the I-10 -- the I-10 Interstate there that goes out of Jacksonville and goes west, a sinkhole right on the interstate. The interstate is closed right along the I-75/I-10 Corridor. The I-10, nobody going east to west because of flooding. And now we have reports of that sinkhole -- Joe.</s>JOHNS: So ready to say the worst is over for some people at least?</s>MYERS: Yes, absolutely. The worst is over. Although it takes time for the water to go down. Even though the rain stops, that doesn't mean your flood is over. Sometimes it rains upstream, too. And all that upstream water has to come downstream. And so you think it's over because the rain stops, but there's still more water to come.</s>JOHNS: Chad Myers, thanks so much for that. Some Florida officials have had to get used boats to get residents trapped by flooding. More than 50 people were rescued from their homes in the city of Sopchoppy in the Florida Panhandle. CNN's George Howell is there. What kind of damage are you seeing there -- George?</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, we are seeing homes underwater. We are seeing fast rising rivers here in Wakulla County, one of the hardest areas hit here in the state of Florida from this storm. In fact, we were on the other side of this bridge just a few minutes ago, talking to a family, covering this story. And crews forced us to evacuate, to move here to this side, concerned that water would, as it did, overtake this bridge. So even though the sun is out, we found many residents still dealing with the fallout from this tropical storm.</s>LARRY PESEK, SOPCHOPPY RESIDENT: When it's your own place, you know, of course, that's -- that's a little different.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): Dodging power lines and low-hanging branches, we took a boat ride with Larry and Crystal Pesek, as emergency crews took them through what used to be their neighborhood.</s>CRYSTAL PESEK, SOPCHOPPY RESIDENT: That's our road going to -- it leads to our -- it leads to Seminole Lane.</s>L. PESEK: I just can't believe the current through here. I mean the current is really, it's ripping.</s>HOWELL: After passing several homes...</s>C. PESEK: It should be down -- just down here on the left somewhere. I don't recognize anything now.</s>HOWELL: The reality of what's left became painfully apparent.</s>C. PESEK: So we're kind of</s>HOWELL (on camera): This is all you've got?</s>L. PESEK: Yes. We have a -- a utility trailer underneath that house. Who knows where that is?</s>HOWELL (voice-over): The Peseks evacuated. But officials in Wakulla County say crews had to rescue dozens from their homes.</s>MAJOR MAURICE LANGSTON, WAKULLA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The amount of rain that we had, the water levels came up so fast, some of the folks didn't have time to actually pack their things and move out. So they're having to do it after the fact.</s>HOWELL: On the other side of the county, some residents were luckier than others.</s>PAULIA ROSE, SOPCHOPPY RESIDENT: I'm praying that it's OK. I'm praying God's taking care of it.</s>HOWELL: These are pictures of Paulia Rose's house when the floodwaters were rising. She returned to find her prayers had been answered.</s>ROSE: Yes, nothing got ruined. Even though the water -- I didn't think we was going to get out yesterday.</s>HOWELL: No one expected the water to rise as fast as it did. The water rose to the second floor in some homes. But the Peseks are determined to start over, though, they can't help look back a little regretfully at all the hours they put into their house that they now have to rebuild.</s>L. PESEK: We're OK. But it's just -- it's a lot of investment in time and -- and, you know, where you could have been doing other things. So that's kind of disappointing.</s>C. PESEK: All those sunny days, we could have been fishing, honey.</s>HOWELL: People are keeping an optimistic attitude, but a live picture here back in Wakulla County, where you see the -- the water over this bridge. And keep in mind, it is the convergence of all of the different rivers, also, the flow of floodwaters flowing out into the Gulf. And many of these rivers are still rising -- Joe.</s>JOHNS: You know, I look at that video and the first thing I think of, George, is gators and snakes. I would assume that could be a bit of a problem there, too.</s>HOWELL: I will tell you, when we were out on -- I would say river, what used to be a street, but what seemed to be a river -- that was definitely a concern when we were dodging power lines. You're also looking for those things out in the woods, the snakes that could be a problem.</s>JOHNS: And you bet. All right. Thanks so much for that. Stay safe. I hate gators and snakes. Now to Tampa, where the flooding and storm damage is raising concerns about what might happen in a couple of months when the Republicans come to town. Our John Zarrella is there -- John, what's the flooding situation there right now?</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Joe, what a difference a few hours makes. This is Bay Shore Boulevard. And it's the main artery here in the Tampa area. And you can see it's dry. Now, you were talking with -- with Chad, you know, and with George all about inland flooding. What we had here was tidal flooding. And for two days, all of Bay Shore was closed because of that flooding, up until just a few hours ago. That's Tampa Bay behind me there. The water coming across, coming because of the onshore flow that they have had constantly, just building up and pounding over the shore -- over onto the roadway and closing it entirely down. But now, even though high tide is just a couple of hours away, a good sign, a silver lining, the water has actually receded here along Bay Shore. And you can see, they're going to start to probably reopen this area pretty soon. But again, earlier today, just like six hours ago, Joe, all of where I'm standing was under probably six inches to almost a foot of water -- Joe.</s>JOHNS: Now, John, you are not far from the site of the Republican National Convention, which is going to go on there in August. The city obviously is getting ready. And the thing that comes to mind here in Washington is, what are they going to do if another big storm hits during the convention?</s>ZARRELLA: Yes, and, you know, that's a gen -- genuine concern. Let me show you. We're about 400 yards, where we are now, from where the convention is going to be. That building in the distance, the convention center, right next to that is the forum, where they will also hold many of the activities for the convention. And I had an opportunity to talk to the mayor earlier today, because the convention is right at the height of hurricane season, the end of August. And he told me you know what, when we bid for the convention, we took that into consideration.</s>MAYOR BOB BUCKHORN, MADEIRA BEACH, FLORIDA: We actually calculated the odds when we bid on the Republican National Convention. And it is probably less than a 1 percent chance that a hurricane will hit, based on history. That doesn't mean we haven't stopped training, because we have. I don't want to be the mayor when that 1 percent odd occurs. But if it does occur, we're going to make sure that we get people out and we -- we deploy.</s>ZARRELLA: What would you do? I mean what are the contingency plans? Does the convention get canceled, delayed? What do they do?</s>BUCKHORN: Well, I think that depends on the track of the storm and the track of the storm. Obviously, the decision to evacuate the community is mine. The decision to cancel the convention is the Republican Party. We will get together if that situation presented itself. We will make the decision that's in the best interests of everybody here, whether they're residents or guests. But ultimately, that decision will be in terms of saving people's lives and making sure we get people out of harm's way, not the politics of the convention.</s>ZARRELLA: Now, the mayor was telling me that if they had a storm like this hit in -- in August, and the power doesn't go out and it's a tropical storm, most likely, the -- the convention will go on. That's not going to interfere. The question would be, if you had a severe storm, a more serious hurricane, for instance, a Category 2 or Category 3, what would they do then? And you heard the mayor say they do have contingency plans. But life is of the utmost concern. And that would be the consideration that they would have to -- to take at -- at the highest level, as far as whether the convention would actually go on or not, if they were to have a storm that bad -- Joe.</s>JOHNS: Less than 1 percent odds that a storm will hit during the convention. Boy, we're going to hold onto that video and see what happens when we get to the convention.</s>ZARRELLA: Yes.</s>JOHNS: Thanks so much, John Zarrella, for that. They could use some of Florida's rain in the Colorado fire zone right now. A raging wildfire is spreading closer to some of the state's popular tourist sites, including the U.S. Air Force Academy. CNN's Jim Spellman is near the front lines of the blaze in Colorado Springs.</s>JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at this. They're working hard from the sky and on the ground to make sure that stays the case. This is the edge of the fire nearest the city. They're dropping retardant from planes and they're using helicopters to drop water on it to try to keep all of the homes safe. They've only got 5 percent containment. And the really difficult operating conditions here -- high temperatures, high winds, low humidity -- are making the fire incredibly active here during the afternoon and incredibly difficult for firefighters to try to get the upper hand on. They've called in more crews and more equipment, though they say it can take up to three weeks before they have this fire fully contained. Jim Spellman, CNN, Colorado Springs.</s>JOHNS: Tensions between Syria and Turkey just keep ratcheting higher. Could it lead to another conflict in a region already reeling from bloodshed? Plus, a powerful U.S. Congressman and Republican fundraiser is being accused of a money laundering scheme and cover-up. Now, the key witness against him is speaking out, in an exclusive interview with CNN. Plus, Jerry Sandusky's adopted son, Matt, on tape talking about being sexually abused by the convicted child rapist when he was a boy.