Page 6 - Root Systems News Today

Down. there may be a foot and a half or two feet of freetboard above what the levee is. so you still have all of this tremendous pressure. im also a certified scuba diving instruction. youre talking about 30, 40 feet worth of water. there are double atmospheres, atmospheres of pressure pushing down from the top of the water to the bottom of the water and the water is trying to push itself under the levees because really all they are, in spots, theyre walls, of course, and that could be concrete,...

swollen levee system, a taxed levee system, and they dont know if its going to hold even with this. theyre being inundated with water. people who have dealt recently with tornadoes just a couple weeks ago, and hurricane katrina and rita that hit the area and have done so much devastation to louisiana. you cant take your eyes off the pictures. imagine if this was happening in your community. this much water, knowing your homes, your hafarms, your livelihood would be flooding. wheler get...

Tuscaloosa thought it was going to happen. i dont think that its something that both bama fans would do. i think were all surprised that that actually did happen. were keeping the trees and his family, the auburn family, in our prayers right now. >> the plan today is what? youre expecting a lot of people to come out there and show their love and support for the trees? >> well, hopefully from noon to 3:00 central standard time were going to come out here and just hug each other, essentially. we s...

Reynolds is here, hes a man who knows how to rock a vest. hes been in the field on the gulf coast, but hes back with us now. washington, d.c., power outages, storms, even the white house affected? >> the place got jackhammered by strong storms. most of those moving out into the atlantic. youll see an area south of washington, d.c. shaded in a yellow box where you have your severe weather possible. in fact thats a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 6:00 p.m. local time. lets show you some ...

Do we have those pictures? >> we do. >> gaithersburg, right? >> yeah. >> thats montgomery county? >> absolutely. >> maryland. and a thunderstorm, a series of thunderstorms? >> a long line of thunderstorms came straight-line winds. causing all kinds of damage. and there are the pictures that viewers are seeing. and just widespread damage. when you have the tall trees, very shallow root systems, when they get knocked over, they tend to fall over streets. theyve fall noon buildings, like this. and ...

Die out, you have those root systems that hold on to that soil, if the root systems are gone, then the island no longer exists, and thats a problem. you have to remember the animals. there was actually a bird that was actually picked up in the gulf of mexico yesterday, lets go right to the video and show you that, this from wwl one of our cnn affiliates on the coast. this bird is called a northern ganette. these migratory birds dive below the surface of the water to get their food, and without t...

Sensitive spots. right over my shoulder, you can see some of the grasses. when the oil moves into these places, it can kill some of the grasses. the roots are the anchor for some of the soil that you have back in these areas. if you have those grasses die out, the root systems are gone, it will change the landscape here forever. some of the other animals affected, the oysters, bottom feeders where you have the river and the salt water meeting. they could be contaminated. birds affected very quic...

Ever closer. lets pan off a little bit. off in the distance, you can see some of the grasses. that is one of the first things that could be affected by that oil coming onshore. as the oil gets closer, those grasses can dry. once they die, the extensive root systems that hold on that soil, those die too. that is the anchor that holds that soil together. another thing that will be affected, obviously, the wildlife. more specifically, some of the birds. the birds, when they get that oil that gets o...

Over the next three days, it could get eight months -- eight months worth of rain. thats on top of the 90-mile-an-hour winds we are beginning to feel. the eyewall fwinibeginning to p over us right now. this is the sign of what is to come for the north carolina coast down into south carolina. thats where we find cnns chris cuomo in north myrtle beach. chris. >> john, you are our future. we are just getting our first taste of florence here. that is the concern with hurricanes, you think 6 hours or...

Intensity. what does that mean? it creates more vulnerability every area that it passes over. ground that has been soaked for many hours. root systems of vegetation. structures taking on a lot of water. so vulnerabilities increase over time and so does the pressure on people that have to hunker down. for that lets go to brian todd. they thought they had seen the worst. its going to last throughout the entire day and into the night. brian, whats it like right now? >> well, were pretty much gettin...