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Hurricane Charley
PUNTA GORDA, Florida (CNN) -- Thirteen deaths have been blamed on Hurricane Charley, a Florida official said Saturday.According to Guy Tunnel, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, four victims were found in Charlotte County, where the storm made landfall on Friday; two people were killed in Orange, Polk and Volusia counties; and single deaths were recorded in Desoto, Lee and Sarasota counties."All of these can be attributed to the hurricane," Tunnel said. Not all were killed by wind or rain; some were victims of traffic problems or stress, Tunnel said.In Lee County, a sheriff's office spokesman said a man in his early 20s stepped outside in North Fort Meyers during the full force of the hurricane to smoke a cigarette.In Orange County, high winds blew a moving van into oncoming traffic on a freeway, killing a young girl and seriously injuring seven others, according to Kim Miller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol.Florida officials expected more bodies would be discovered and linked to the storm throughout the night and Sunday."Our worst fears have come true," Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said after taking a helicopter tour of Punta Gorda, the town hardest hit by the storm.Tunnel said there were more than 30 trailer parks housing hundreds of people in Charlotte County, and it was a tedious process to check them all in addition to other homes. Rescue teams were going door to door, in some cases smashing doors down, to check on occupants."The problem is we really don't know who evacuated and who did not," said Punta Gorda Police Chief Charles Rinehart. "It was a voluntary evacuation, and then it turned to mandatory. So there's no real head count on who may have left and where they might be."Charley made landfall Friday with winds of 145 mph (233 kph). At its worst, Hurricane Charley's wind gusts topped 180 mph (289 kph) in Punta Gorda."It is hard to describe se0eing an entire community flattened," Bush said.He said what he saw reminded him of the infamous Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Damage, he said, is clearly in the billions of dollars.Hitting Florida's western coast Friday, Charley pounded Punta Gorda, a town north of Fort Myers, causing deaths and injuries and destroying houses and buildings.The storm continued across central Florida, hitting Orlando before heading into the Atlantic Ocean at Daytona Beach.After making landfall Saturday in South Carolina, Charley was downgraded to a tropical storm, National Weather Service officials said.At 11 p.m. ET, the storm's intensity was nearly dimished below tropical storm status. It was centered about 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) south-southeast of Ocean City, Maryland, and was moving northeast at 35 mph (56.3 kph).In Florida, dozens were treated for serious injuries, including crushed bones and cut arteries, according to Josh Putter, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda.He said 50 or 60 injured people drove to "or dragged themselves into" his hospital in the hours after the storm passed Friday evening. The flow of patients stopped around 2 a.m. ET Saturday.The hospital lost power during the storm, but emergency power kept it going, Putter said. Still, the damage to the facility caused him to order the hospital closed, which meant ambulances and helicopters from all over the state were sent in to transfer patients to other hospitals, he said.
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British biding time for Basra push
British commanders will decide when to push on into Basra in southern Iraq, the armed forces minister has said.
Iraq's second city was now "contained" but military personnel on the ground would use sound military judgement to decide when to enter the city, Adam Ingram told reporters.
He argued there was no "humanitarian crisis" in southern Iraq, although the situation was far from ideal.
Military sources revealed on Friday that British special forces were operating undercover in the city, unearthing Baath party figures and ordering air strikes.
The elite troops, believed to be SAS, are posing as locals to locate key targets - at the weekend they identified the Baath party building which was then destroyed by air strikes. |
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Saddam walkabout mystery
Saddam captured
Still photograph from a video of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein taken shortly after he was captured shows what the once-feared dictator looked like after months in hiding. Saddam had grown a beard, and looked tired and haggard. |
WHO'S WHO IN POST-SADDAM IRAQ
As Iraq moves into a post-Saddam Hussein era, a wide range of religious, ethnic and nationalist groups are jockeying for position in an attempt to gain national or local political power.
The US military and General Jay Garner, director of the US's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq, will have to contend with the rivalries, tensions and sometimes violent confrontation between and within these groups. General Garner will rule Iraq for an unspecified period of time until an interim government can be established.
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The Struggle for Iraq
Violence in Hilla, Samarra
Clashes between forces loyal to al-Sadr and Iraqi police in Hilla ended early Saturday, with three police and 40 Mehdi Army fighters killed, according to a Hilla police official.Four Iraqi police officers and 100 insurgents were wounded, Col. Hadi Hatef said. Police are in control of the city, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Baghdad, he said."We detained dozens of Mehdi Army with the help of the people of Hilla," he added. "We believe that the group of fighters were foreigners ... but I cannot confirm their nationalities."Some militia fighters tried to free detainees from jail cells in Hilla, Hatef said.Meanwhile, U.S. forces bombed insurgent positions in Samarra, north of Baghdad, killing about 50 fighters identified as "anti-Iraqi forces," according to the 1st Infantry Division.The Samarra operation began early Saturday. U.S. forces took fire from the insurgents, armed with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and called in air support, which dropped several 500-pound bombs.No coalition forces were injured in the operation, according to the U.S. military. American soldiers detained three suspected weapons suppliers and a cache of weapons and ammunition.Samarra is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.Iraqi officials have said the violence across the country will not affect a political conference set for Sunday.Some 1,300 delegates are to meet in Baghdad amid tight security to elect a 100-member national assembly.The assembly will pave the way for Iraq's first democratic elections, scheduled for 2005. - CNN |
NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's national security advisor has said the government "left no stone unturned" in its efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff in Najaf.Efforts to broker a peace agreement with rebel Shiite forces in the embattled south-central city of Najaf failed on Saturday and the government has vowed to resume "clearing operations" to restore law and order."The Iraqi interim government has exhausted all efforts and did not leave any stone unturned to lead to a peaceful conclusion to this crisis," said Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, at a news conference.Al-Rubaie said that military operations would resume to "return the city of Najaf to normal city functions."The development came as thousands of people headed to Najaf on Saturday to show their support for Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has engaged U.S. and Iraqi forces in several cities across the country.Al-Sadr supporters were trekking toward the Imam Ali Shrine in the center of Najaf, where th00ey hope to protect the mosque, among the most sacred sites in the world to Shiites.Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said the Iraqis are welcome to visit the shrine but no one will be allowed to bring a weapon.In a fiery speech Friday, al-Sadr, one arm wrapped in a bandage, demanded U.S. forces leave Iraq and told the crowd to defend Najaf and "be a martyr."An aide to the cleric said al-Sadr suffered minor shrapnel wounds while he was in the Imam Ali Shrine compound."Nobody can force me to leave or depart you," al-Sadr said. "We got rid of Saddam [Hussein] only to have him replaced by something worse than him."Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has been battling U.S. and Iraqi forces in Najaf for more than a week. The huge mosque compound is surrounded by Iraqi forces, but authorities have said there is no immediate plan to storm the site.In his speech, al-Sadr sounded like he was in no mood to extend an olive branch."I am demanding that the people of Iraq in all provinces to call for the immediate resignation of the Iraqi government because it is an imperialistic American government," he said. "We are demanding the occupier to leave our country."He said, "The crisis of the holy city of Najaf opens the door to unity and solidarity for the sake of a free and independent Iraq far from occupation."Al-Sadr led the crowd in chants of "No, no to occupation," "No, no to America," and "No, no to Israel." |
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