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America Recovers: Weather Affecting Rescue Operation

Aired September 21, 2001 - 05:02   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: When the British Prime Minister visited where the World Trade Center once stood, the rain was already beginning to fall. And the conditions for those workers out there already getting more dangerous.

Brian Palmer is out there live this morning. Brian, all day yesterday we were hearing about how this was going to change the rescue operation -- the weather.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Carol, the weather -- the wet and windy weather has indeed complicated the rescue operation today.

And in fact, the wind has changed, and we're actually beginning to get a sense of what the rescuers are smelling: sort of acrid, burning odor.

It's a grim task. No survivors have been pulled out since September 12th. Search-and-rescue teams labor 24/7, but still, only a fraction of the missing have been pulled out. Two hundred forty-one bodies recovered out of over 6,000 missing.

Now, the mayor's trying to prepared New York for the moment that it ceases to be a search-and-rescue operation and it becomes a recovery and a removal operation, when they just move in the heavy machinery and take out those huge chunks of rubble.

So that's the story with the search-and-rescue operation.

Yesterday, a congressional delegation of 40 senators came through, including the two senators from New York, Chuck Schumer (ph) and Hilary Rodham Clinton. They got a tour from Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- the mayor really trying to get New Yorkers back to their regular routines.

Carol.

LIN: All right.

And fortunately, that delegation, once they saw all the damage, are pledging financial support to help rebuild New York -- which is good news, indeed.

Brian, is it too early to talk about any plans for that site where the World Trade Center once stood? Are they actually going to rebuild these towers?

PALMER: Well, some people think it's too early to be talking about rebuilding. But the leaseholder on the property, Larry Silverstein, has sort of floated a plan to erect smaller towers -- four or five smaller towers, 60 stories each. It's -- that, I think, is just a trial balloon, and it would really need input from the city and also from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Carol.

LIN: Sure.

Would anything that's rebuilt there have a memorial to the victims of this terrorist act?

PALMER: Again, I think 99.9 percent of New York is concentrating on search-and-rescue, recovery-and-removal, and then I think they'll move on from there.

LIN: All right.

Thank you so much, Brian Palmer, and I hope you stay dry and warm. I know it's a tough assignment out there.

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