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Senate Delegation Visits Wreckage

Aired September 20, 2001 - 15:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOODRUFF: To New York City where our Gary Tuchman is at the site of the World Trade Center recovery and rescue effort -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Judy, the gloomy atmosphere here is only being compounded by the weather today. It's been raining quite heavily for much of the day and that makes the scene behind me at ground zero three blocks back, much more dangerous. There are more than 2,200 emergency workers on the scene. They are being implored by their bosses to be very prudent in the work they're doing because it is very slippery and very muddy.

Some of those workers are still participating in a search mission. No one has been found alive in the rubble since last Wednesday morning, but officially they have not given up. They are hoping beyond hope they could find somebody alive. Many other workers working on the recovery expedition, over 60,000 tons of rubble. That equals 120 million pounds that have been taken away on 4,400 trucks so far. That is only a small percentage of the rubble that is there.

It is estimated it will take six months to remove all the rubble from the scene. We want to show you a picture of the Lower Manhattan skyline, taken from Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River. We don't have the picture right now. We had it before.

The reason I wanted to show you that picture, though, is because of on of the most beautiful views of the World Trade Center complex came from Jersey City, its gleaming towers -- now we have the picture to show you -- this is where the most beautiful view of New York City you could get from Jersey City. Now you can see the void where the Trade Center towers used to stand. After all this, nine days you still see the smoke rising.

Major Garrett talking about Tony Blair, the British prime minister in Washington tonight. Right now he is in New York City. Later today he will be visiting a fire station and a police station to offer his condolences.

Meanwhile 38 U.S. senators came from Washington. They came via Amtrak from Washington to New York's Penn Station, at the Amtrak terminal in New York City. They were joined by New York's two senators, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and they paid a visit to the site today. Forty senators, that means 40 percent of the U.S. Senate is in New York City today and they talked about seeing the site in person afterwards, and their support for New York. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: We here because we recognize this loss must be shared not only by New Yorkers but by all Americans. We're here to demonstrate that support, and that support will be here for whatever length of time this it takes.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: So many of us here have had to deal with disasters. But I must say I've never seen anything comparable to what we have seen here today, the magnitude of it, and the horror of it. And so that's why it was so important that we come and see what we're dealing with here. We are here to commit to the people of New York City, and New York, regardless of the region of the country that we come from and the entire country is represented here by this delegation, that we will stand with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Just before the Senate leader spoke, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City. They were standing right next to each other as Senator Clinton praised him for the job he has done. And it was very notable because we remember when they were running against each other, Rudy Giuliani eventually dropped out.

It was very antagonistic and they had a lot of mean things to say about each other, but these times they're much different. Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: Gary, just quickly, tell us if you can, specifically what's different about what those rescue workers are able to do when it's raining. It has been raining so hard compared to what they're able to do when it's dry?

TUCHMAN: I should point out, Judy, there is one slight advantage. You've had small fires starting for nine days and the rain helps put the fires out. But the scene is very muddy and the steel they're walking on is very slippery, and that is one of the dangers, that they can trip from very high up.

Keep in mind some of the wreckage is 10 stories high, and you have people on top of it. They're afraid people can slip and get hurt because of the slippery steel.

WOODRUFF: All right, Gary Tuchman, showing us the site of the ongoing efforts in Lower Manhattan.

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