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EARLY START

Historic Flood Swamp Texas and Oklahoma; Six Top World Soccer Officials Arrested; White House Backs Ash Carter; Iraqis Launch Offensive Against ISIS; DOJ, Cleveland Agree to Police Reforms; Cavs Reach NBA Finals. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And all the fake colors and flavors will be gone by the end of July in Pizza Hut. And then, Taco Bell will follow suit by the end of the year.

Separately, baby formula Similac is launching a new product free of genetically modified ingredients or GMOs. It's all response to demands. Younger customers --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Not the babies themselves. The younger parents? I don't think the babies have been outraged over the baby food, have they?

ROMANS: Babies have been choosing very deliberately -- no, just an interesting trend, all kinds of packaged food -- fast food, packaged foods moving away from some of these things that are perceived as unnatural.

BERMAN: It doesn't make it healthy.

EARLY START continues right now.

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BERMAN: Breaking news this morning, the death toll is rising in Texas. The historic flooding destroying communities. This morning, neighborhoods are under water. Rescuers still struggling to save people stranded in the deluge. And it is not over yet. More severe storms are on the way.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, May 27th, 5:00 a.m. in the east.

Let's begin with our breaking news in Texas. Tens of thousands of people in Texas and Oklahoma cleaning up following historic flooding. They are bracing this morning for more.

At least 18 people are dead. More than a dozen people still missing.

In Houston, where the storms killed at least five -- dramatic scenes like this have been playing out. Crews rescuing people trapped in their homes. At least 2,500 waterlogged cars -- look at that -- lining Houston's roads and highways, abandoned by people who didn't follow repeated advice by authorities including Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Don't drive in the rising water. You know the common phrase, "Turn around, don't drown." It has a sense of reality to it right now that we need everyone in the state of Texas to heed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Governor Abbott called the flooding the worst that Texas has ever seen. It was so bad that a lost these drivers they couldn't move in time. They were out on the roads anyway. They couldn't get themselves to safety in time. The governor declared a disaster emergency in at least 40 counties and deployed the National Guard to help with the recovery.

For the latest, let's turn to CNN's Ed Lavandera in Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Emergency officials here in the city of Houston describe the flooding scene around this area as a mad house. More than 1,000 cars stranded on roadways because people racing and rushing to get out of the way of these walls of water that flowed into the bayous that you see throughout many parts of the city of Houston. This is a bayou that cuts and winds its way normally rather quietly around downtown Houston. But as you can see, embankment to the other, the water levels here rose dramatically. In fact, at some point, at its worse point, reaching just to that bridge that you see behind me.

These waters spilled out everywhere. Emergency officials and city officials here in Houston say there are still a number of people that are considered to be missing. So, search and rescue operations continue.

Waiting for these floodwaters to recede so they can get into some of the hardest hit neighborhoods and to continue the search processes in homes and throughout neighborhoods, very dramatic efforts going on. We saw some rather ingenious kind of operations going on as well. Fire rescue teams trying to get to people making 911 calls, abandon ambulances and lower lying cars traded them in for public works vehicles. These massive trucks and use those as makeshift ambulances to pull people out some of the hardest hit neighborhoods.

So, a dramatic scene here. The good news is, is that for most of the day, it did not rain. However, in the coming days, more rain is continued -- is expected to be in the forecast. And that means these floodwaters could rise up quickly again.

And state officials across the state are warning people, once these flash flood situations emerge to react quickly. We've heard time and time again from people around the state, that it takes just a matter of minutes. Water around their ankles and then just minutes later, they find themselves in knee deep water.

So, state officials urging people to react quickly. Take the warning seriously, when these flash flood warnings go in effect -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Ed Lavandera, thanks for that.

Another epicenter for flood damage is Hays County. That's between San Antonio and Austin. In the county seat, the city of San Marcos, the rushing San Marcos River Marcos, downed trees and flooded homes with 2 to 4 feet of water. Crews resorted to using a bulldozer there to rescue people stranded in their homes by that swiftly rising water.

BERMAN: Elsewhere in Hays County, the threat came from the Blanco River. The record rainfall drove the Banco from its usual depth from 5 1/2 feet to more than 40 feet, 28 feet above flood stage. Raging water knocked over trees, washed away above 400 homes.

ROMANS: Many of those homes were in the Hays County town of Wimberley.

[05:05:00] The Blanco River tore through that college, ripping bridges off from their piers, uprooting trees. Smashing cars off flooded roadways and then wrecking those cars, destroying dozens of riverside home by simply lifting them off their supports, off the foundation and sweeping them away in the river. Officials say at least three people were killed in Hays County, and 13 are still missing.

BERMAN: Among the missing, 11 people who were enjoying the holiday weekend in a family cabin in Wimberley. The river tore the cabin from its foundation. It floated down the river. The cabin floated down the river and hit a bridge.

That's when one of the victims Laura McComb who is now missing with her two small children. She used her cell phone to call her sister and describe the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE SHIELDS, SISTER MISSING IN FLOOD: She called me and said, I just want you to know the ceiling has caved in. And the boat -- the house is floating down the water. And tell mom and dad that I love them. I love you, and pray.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN's Ana Cabrera is in Wimberley with the latest -- Ana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the devastation here in Wimberley is remarkable. We're hearing from residents that the water rose so fast and with such force, it was like a tsunami hit. You can see the house behind me buckled. And now that the waters receded, you realize just how high the water came. The Blanco River lies behind those trees, and at the peak of the storm, the river rose more than 30 feet in just two hours.

We got a chance to visit the heart of the devastation, where we saw home after home, torn to bits and pieces. Some homes completely gone, nothing left but the concrete slab foundation. In all, more than 1,400 homes were damaged or destroyed just in Hays County alone.

We talked to one man who lost his home. And he said he was there with eight other people when the river started rising. Many of them were asleep. It was dark. They rushed to higher ground, while they couldn't see much, what they heard was horrific.

NEAL TINSLEY, RESIDENT: Just loud cracking and breaking. You can imagine, it was probably houses breaking apart and flowing down the river.

CABRERA: It must have been terrifying.

TINSLEY: It was. It was. But I got out, so that's good.

CABRERA: The water was so powerful it ripped trees right out of the ground. Some of those trees were 500 or 600 years old, we're told. They've endured past floods. This one was just too much -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Severe storms hit the Oklahoma City are as well. There was a confirmed tornado touched down in Custer County. This one in Blaine County. Those storms dropping golf ball size hail. So far, no significant damage has been reported.

BERMAN: Yes. This is a problem in the region right now. There is more weather on the way. More rain in the forecast, just how much? Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning.

Yes, guys, you know, in the next couple of hours, we can get another additional inch maybe more in some of these areas that were so hard hit. The fact that severe thunderstorm warning right now in effect in areas about 40 miles north of Houston, a line of active weather, believe it or not, this is one of the only lines of active weather in the entire state and it's pushing towards Houston. So, we're going to watch this very carefully as this develops. And again, any additional rainfall is going to exacerbate problems across this region.

But you take a look at this, because we know the water over the past seven days absolutely remarkable. Areas indicated in pink showing you where we pick up six to 10 inches of rainfall -- look at this -- 6 million to 9 million people across Dallas Metro, one of the heaviest areas hit Houston, of course, 6.5 million people. If you work your way towards Wimberley, of course, just in that area, picking up 10 inches of rainfall.

So, some of these areas that are extremely populated, picking up easily the heaviest rainfall in the entire state. Houston in particular, from Monday night into Tuesday morning, of course, we know the 10 inches or so came down but the average across Harris county, the county where Houston is located in, the average for the entire county would be 5.3 inches.

Now, you tabulate that because of the service area here, that gives you about 160 billion gallons of water. That is how much water the storm has released over this region in a short time period. That's equivalent to 500 times filling up a sporting venue, 500 times over.

So, it gives you the scale of the amount of water we're talking about they're dealing with here. Just the next four days, and notice, Houston can pick up an additional 1 to 2 inches. Around Dallas, two to four inches, work your way into eastern Oklahoma, a possibility of another half a foot of rainfall in the forecast.

Notice the flood stage, as far as the river gauges are concerned, nearly 200 rivers reporting some flooding over the last couple of days. And this is going to continue, if it rains upstream. Of course, the water levels will continue to rise downstream, and the forecast showing additional rainfall possible as we head through early next week, as well guys.

ROMANS: And, you know, Pedram, they haven't even cleared the streets in Houston of all of those cars. All of those cars, more rain, give us a reminder. It doesn't take very much rain, a couple of inches on a road to sweep a car off the road.

[05:10:00] JAHAVERI: That's right. Ankle deep water tends to knock you off your feet. If you get up to knee high, it moves your car. You think about waters that high. Moving 3 miles per hour at knee high, that exerts about 20 pounds of force on your legs.

So, you bring that up to 6 miles per hour, so you double that speed. It doesn't exert 40 pounds. It actually adds four times the amount, 80 pounds of weight just getting up to 3 miles an hour, 6 miles per hour moving water.

So, it's kind of akin to when you think about earthquakes, magnitude scale of 4 to 5, it's not a one-fold increase. It's an exponential increase. That is what we're talking about with the force of water that people a lot of times fail to notice. They think it's a couple inches deep, but a couple of inches versus half a foot can cause major, major problems there.

BERMAN: Again, I've got to tell you, the emergency crews don't need any other situations on their hands. So much work to be done. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much.

We have more breaking news this morning. Six arrests made this morning in Switzerland. The U.S. Justice Department is set to announce corruption charges against senior officials at FIFA. That is the world's governing soccer body. This follows years of investigation into corruption allegations surrounding FIFA for years.

Now, this is the U.S. Justice Department that launched this investigation. And it's effectively charged as many as 14 people with taking bribes and kickbacks.

FIFA, this world governing body, was in Zurich for an election that could give that man right there, Sepp Blatter, a fifth consecutive term, at the helm of the organization. He is not among the group being charged. He is expected to get reelected on Friday, which is stunning when you think about it, when the severity of the allegations comes to light against the people who work for him.

ROMANS: There had been another investigation, international investigation, that had found no corruption but the U.S. continued --

BERMAN: Well, it did not find no corruption. What it found, this lawyer did the investigation, a judge who works for FIFA read it and said there's nothing in here that's suspicious.

And you know what the lawyer did? He quit. He said that's not what this says at all.

ROMANS: Wow!

BERMAN: But the details have never been made public. You know, FIFA is not a transparent body at all. So, this is big.

ROMANS: Not very many people watch soccer.

BERMAN: Just many, many billion, right?

ROMANS: Many billion. All right. We'll continue to follow that for you.

This morning also, the White House standing behind controversial comment about Defense Secretary Ash Carter about the stunning fall of Ramadi. Carter has questioned the Iraqis' will to fight in that particular case, claim they go outnumbered ISIS when they fled Ramadi. Iraqi officials have strongly rejected the accusation.

But the White House is backing the defense secretary's comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What Secretary Carter said is consistent with the analysis that he's received from those who are on the ground, who are looking at the situation.

REPORTER: Does the White House agree with that assessment with the defense secretary, the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight?

EARNEST: Well, that's certainly been a problem that we've seen in the past that's what allowed ISIL to make significant gains last summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are launching a sweeping racing to retake al Anbar and other territories that have fallen to ISIS.

Let's bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She's monitoring developments live from Baghdad.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And this is a fairly sweeping operation. Really, unfolding in two provinces, Anbar where Ramadi is located and also Salaheddin. And this is a key because there are crisscrossing, logistical routes that ISIS does use to move its fighters and its weapons around. And so, there seem to be a concerted effort to cut off logistical supply lines, gain back territory that ISIS does control before launching that massive assault into Ramadi.

Forces, though, do have that key area surrounded on all sides according to state television. Now, we did go out to one of these front lines that is located between Anbar and Salaheddin province. It in particular is being held by one of these Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary forces known as the Badr Brigade in this instance. And they moved in, did not find any ISIS fighters, there wasn't any face to face combat.

But the ISIS fighters that were there had buried and hid roadside bombs, a number of them detonating, causing at least 11 casualties.

Now, we were speaking with the commander of this force. He was very quick to criticize the United States, saying anyone who relied on America as an ally may as well rely on a shadow. It was quite clear who it was that at least this source was relying on and that is Iraq's powerful neighbor Iran. In fact, we did see their advisers there. However we were not allowed to film or speak to them.

When it come to the American defense secretary's comments about Iraq's willingness to fight, this is causing quite a few people here to bristle, saying that the issue was not with the desire to fight but rather a lack of military leadership and a structural failure, which many do blame the United States for, given that it was America that did train up the Iraqi security forces and declare them combat ready before they withdrew.

[05:15:11] There's also a sense that Washington is perhaps trying to distance itself from any responsibility it may have for the failure of the Iraqi security forces and for the failure of its strategy so far in Iraq -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Arwa, thank you so much for that. Of course, all of this, John, trying to make sure they don't stoke new sectarian divides as the Shia-led -- the Iranian-led Shia militia groups go in there --

BERMAN: Yes, they're calling the mission -- answering the call of Hussein. Hussein, of course, the Shia martyr. So provocative to say the least. A quarter past the hour right now. Strict new rules for Cleveland police, the Justice Department demanding and getting serious policing reform. We'll tell what you these new changes are. They're big -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Following months of negotiation, the city of Cleveland and the Justice Department have asked for sweeping changes in police practices. The deal could make Cleveland a model of reform for big city police departments.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin in Cleveland with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Cleveland's mayor said this agreement takes police reform to another level. The court-ordered consent degree was announced on Tuesday. It calls for the Cleveland Police Department to retrain and review its officers to make sure they use force properly. The terms will be supervised by an independent monitor over a five-year period.

ROGER CANAFF, FORMER PROSECUTOR: The community, when they figure, wow, this is the top level of government. This is the most universal, the most powerful level of government. When they're actually stepping in and getting involved, then probably we're going to -- we're going to see our needs get met a lot quicker than when he might going through local politics or even within the states.

MCLAUGHLIN: New Orleans, Seattle and Cincinnati all have similar agreements. The Cleveland decree was the result of the Department of Justice investigation that concluded in December.

[05:20:00] It found the department to have a pattern of using excessive force.

One of the examples cited in that report, the 2012 fatal shooting of two unarmed people following a car chase. Over the weekend, the officer charged in that incident was acquitted, triggering mostly peaceful protests.

The other investigation into police misconduct outstanding, including the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, but community leaders say they are worried there could be unrest in the long summer ahead -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Erin, thanks for that.

LeBron James looking to make an appearance in the NBA finals for the fifth straight year. Could he lead the Cavs to a sweep over the Atlanta Hawks? Andy Scholes has the latest on the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The party on in Cleveland this morning. The Cavaliers going to the NBA finals for the second time in team history.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more of this morning's bleacher report.

Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

When LeBron made the decision to go back home to Cleveland last off season, this is exactly what the fans were hoping for. The Cleveland going for the sweep of the Hawk last night, eastern conference finals and they control this one from the tip.

Here, LeBron, the steal, gets it back. Here he goes into for the tomahawk slam. Take another look at this, where he jumped from. Just incredible. LeBron was showing off all his moves in this one here. Here, the spin move.

Cavs, they would just cruise to victory in this game, winning 118-88. LeBron is now just four wins away from delivering Cleveland their first championship in more than 50 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:25:06] LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: I understood what these people are going through. People here, not only in Cleveland, but in northeast Ohio and all over, all over the world, who love and bleed wine and gold. To be at this point tonight, sitting up here talking to you guys is, like I said is very emotional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: LeBron is the first player since the 1960s to make it to five straight NBA finals. After the game, he celebrated by taking an awesome selfie with his wife and two sons.

The Stanley Cup playoffs. The Rangers in a must win game in the eastern conference finals. Derrick Broussard coming up huge for New York. He had a hat trick. The Rangers ran away with this winning 7-3 to force a winner take all game 7 Friday night in New York.

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick likes to use the #sevenstormscoming on social media to apparently warn people of this improved skill. Well, yesterday he decided to use it while referencing the terrible flooding that's happening in Houston. He posted this pic with the caption, "I warned you #sevenstormscoming. #houston." Well, he quickly deleted that picture and apologized. Tweeting, "I'm sorry about my intention to post, I didn't understand how many people are struggling in Houston right now and I feel horrible."

Guys, it's another example of athletes gelling themselves on social media posting for no reason.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: I know. React first, think later. It's like social media allows you to just, you know, react. And that sometimes, it's not good.

BERMAN: I hear you're supposed to wait for a second before you post on social media.

SCHOLES: Ten seconds.

ROMANS: Count to 10.

BERMAN: All right. Andy, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: Don't do it at all.

BERMAN: The death toll is rising this morning in Texas. The historic flood just buried communities there. It is not over yet. We have new developments coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)