Page 2 - Blown Down News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: gop favorite mike huckabee decided he is not running in 2012. that further clears a wide-open field. mitt romney is still flirting with the chance at a run. newt gingrich is in. >> i don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. >> reporter: ron paul is running, too, and making waves with his opposition to federal flood and hurricane insurance. >> to expect the government and people who are not benefiting to pay for me to live on the beach and get my house blown down, that's not morally correct and it's not in the constitution. ...

Power lines were blown down, major roads closed because of flooding and telecommunications were cut. over ten thousand people were huddled in evacuation centers as the storm raeupbld above them. some describe the winds like a jet engine going by. the area is best moan to being the gateway to the world's famous barrier reef which stretches for one miles of its shores. the town of cann was largely spared with only trees uprooted and minor damage to buildings. it was saved when the storm suddenly veered southward. australia feared a katrina-style disaster. they were largely spared. no deaths or i...

Mike seidel. >> reporter: i'm sorry, there was a feed back coming back about ten seconds later. unsure what's going on. look at the wind right now. these winds are gusting up to 50 miles an hour, alex, and it's blowing the sand down the beach. so, we're not only getting some beach erosion. we had some of that at high tide this morning, but we're getting wind erosion. the sand gets blown all around and kind of takes the top layer off the surface. next high tide is due in this evening, when we expect the worst of the storm. we have had minor damage up on the boardwalk, like a wooden barricade go...