The quest to take back territory seized. We are live in baghdad. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is 4 00 a. M. In the east. Lets start in texas. Authorities in texas are ordering voluntary evacuations along two rivers. They are worried the predicted heavy rain will cause more flash flooding this morning. This as crews are cleaning up from major flooding this week. More than a foot of rain pushed rivers over the banks and houses torn from foundations and cars pushed downstream like toys. The search for bodies is underway with at least 21 known dead in texas and oklahoma. One family outside houston spent wednesday searching for the body of alice tobar when she did not show up for work. She is cold. Shes wet. She belongs at home. Thats where were trying to get her. You just got to do what you got to do. Her body was found less than 100 yards from the crossing where she went missing. The latest on the deadly flooding and aftermath. I want to bring in ana cabrera from wimberley, texas. Reporter this flood was catastrophic. Nine cabins on this Vacation Property were mutilated and left behind wood and twisted metal and tossed furniture. The owners of the property say they had this place for 70 years and they have never seen flooding like this. Normally the blanco river stays down there. Some people could not escape and several are still missing. The texas task force1 has been called in to search. We have seen people searching by helicopter and boat and along the river banks. That is the priority finding those missing. We continue to hear stories of survival and incredible stories like that have gail mcneil. She barely made it out of her home. She and her husband got to her car, but as the water rose around it the air bags went off. Listen to what happened next. I couldnt get out. I was driving and my husband got out on that side. This man appeared and pulled me out. Because i could not get out otherwise. Who was this man . His name is chance. Thats all i know. Reporter as residents like mcneil try to get their feet under them the rain remains with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast that could bring a huge amount of rain in a short amount of time soaking an already saturated ground. John and christine. Watching the forecasts closely. We continue to get harrowing images of the moments that water tore through the houses along the blanco river. Watch this. Oh, no amazing. Caught up in the flooding you are seeing now, three families sharing a vacation family in wimberley including jonathan and his wife and two children. The water picked up the cabin and tearing it apart along the way down the river. Joe said his son was separated from his family as they fought or survival. I kept praying. He had to get out of there. He was trying to swim. Grabbing for air. He did not know if he was going up or down. He said adrenaline was driving him. He was able to get up and he got up enough to see the light at somebodys house. Crawled over there and knocked on the door. And said our house got washed away and he needed help. Amazing he was able to crawl up to the house. Jonathan mccomb is in the hospital with a collapsed lung and broken sternam. And more Severe Weather in texas wednesday afternoon. This touched down in the panhandle. It damaged a gas drilling rig and injured three people. Two of them critically. With the ground saturated across much of texas and oklahoma it wont take much rain to cause more flooshash flooding. We have meteorologist derek van dam tracking the forecast. Not good news at all, christine. To show you how saturated the ground is we have 183 reporting locations along the rivers and streams from texas to oklahoma and arkansas that are at or above flood stage at the moment. With 20 plus inches of rain that has fallen since the beginning of the month you see why we have the flooding potential through the rest of today and into the weekend as well. We have forecasts of 2 to 4 inches of rain around texas and oklahoma. Near the border. Thats the area that has seen the most amount of rain. Just because we dont have the heavy rainfall forecast along the gulf coast doesnt mean this rainfall will eventually move down the streams and rivers potentially leading to more river flooding across the houston and austin region. We have 4. 3 million americans under a flood watch. We have 7 million americans with a Flood Warning this morning. That includes the greater houston region. Here is the rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours. You can see just how much more rain is expected. Oklahoma city wichita falls, dallas you are in the line for more prescription. Isolated tornadoes in the texas panhandle and western kansas and western nebraska as well. There is silver lining. We like to look forward in the next 6 to 10 days. We are expecting a drying trend by the end of next week for these hardhit locations. A bit of good news. John and christine. Thanks, derek. Breaking news overnight. Federal officials launching an investigation over live anthrax samples to nine states and a south korea military base. There is no threat to the public but four defense workers in the u. S. And as many as 22 have been put on post exposure treatment in south korea as a precaution. Cnns kathy novak has joined us from the air base in south korea. Reporter john as you say, we are told that the 22 people are not showing any signs of exposure exposure. If this was a mistake, it was a big one. The anthrax was supposed to be inactive. It made it from the lab to south korea. On wednesday, here, Emergency Personnel moved in to destroy the sample and isolated facility and decontaminate it and put in precautions for the people exposed. That includes testing and they were given antibiotics and vaccinations. There is no threat to the public but a Serious Investigation into what went wrong and how we prevent that from happening again. I would say, to say the least, when will they know the concern has passed . Reporter well we are waiting for more updates. We have not heard anymore from the department of defense here. Today, we hope to hear another update. What we heard is that the people so far have not shown symptoms. The bigger question will be what went wrong here. The anthrax left a lab in utah and went to nine states and south korea. All of the labs will have to check inventory to find out what is going on here john. Kathy novak, thank you. To the middle east now and the battle for ramadi. The iraqis insisting they have launched a major offensive to retake ramadi from isis. There are no signs inside ramadi. Isis appears to lay roadside bombs and traps while bringing in supplies. We have cnns Nick Paton Walsh monitoring latest from baghdad. Reporter christine, it was not the most aweuspicious start. The good news is we will point out they managed to get to the southern outskirts and university of anbar on the edge of ramadi. All of this of course you have to pass and analyze because we are in a war here and every side will make grand statements about success. Yes, it is clear at this stage. We are seeing no massive sweep into ramadi or territory changing hands. Not expecting that would happen but we ourselves saw a stalemate. You are seeing pictures of it there have been in place for months. Troops firing. Part of the Golden Division that was set to have left ramadi criticized by the u. S. For leaving. The key issue there is they wanted to show us they are willing to fight. They cannot barge in or isis may blow it out of play. Extraordinary messy situation there. That is one part of the fight. These are dense urban areas. Pressure on the Iraqi Security forces to be cohesive with the militias and sunnis and take the land back and washington giving an hour by hour commentary. And a big concern, nick about sectarian divides here. You have the Iranianbacked Shia militia and sunni tribes that want to be armed, but not armed by the baghdad Central Government and iraqi army criticized for not being able to unite the populous. Reporter yes. If you look at the scale of tasks ahead of the operation here before they get going. Its monumental frankly. As you say, sunni tribes who at the start of the operation were numbered in the thousands set to be on board, but they long had issues of weapons to join the fight. We have seen the name of the operation answering the call of hussein. That is to answer the call of iraq but it is still called the shia militia doing the fighting. That gave a sense of branding that was far away from the iraqi feeling many in washington would have liked to have seen at the beginning of the fight. We will see a shia army at the end of the day. A shia militia to kick out isis, a sunni group. That issue for the last decade flaring up in the key fight for ramadi. Thank you, nick. The irs believes a cyber data breach from taxpayers originated in russia. Criminals were able to access tax records and file 50 million in fraudulent returns. Cyber security is a problem at the irs for years. The irs will reach out to people who have been breached and you have to have a new p. I. N. When you do your taxes because they will have to have extra special monitoring of 100 Million People. 100,000 people i think. Time for an early start on your money. Stocks are mostly lower around the world. European and asian shares are lower and u. S. Stock futures. Stocks near record territory. The nasdaq topped record close in april. The dow climbed a solid 120 points. The fbi investigating a surgical device found to spread uterine cancer. Johnson johnson was the largest maker. The fbi looking into what the company knew about the dangers before being pulled off the market last year. That tool was used in thousands of procedures a year. Mostly hysterectomies. Now spreading undetected cancer. Some people came forward and said they warned Johnson Johnson about the risk years ago. 13 minutes after the hour. Hillary clinton in South Carolina for the first time as a candidate since the bruising 2008 primary campaign which she lost there. She was not the only president ial candidate campaigning in the palmetto state. We will have details next. Ere trin. Motrin works fast to stop pain where it starts. Make it happen with new motrin liquid gels. You wouldnt do half of your daily routine. So why treat your mouth any differently . Complete the job with listerine®. Kill up to 99 percent of germs. And prevent plaque, early gum disease and bad breath. Sfx ahhh listerine®. Power to your mouth™ Rick Santorum is in. He made it official on wednesday. I am running for president of the United States. Santorum is the seventh republican candidate entering the race. The former pennsylvania senator won several states in 2012. At the time the campaign made a strong pitch to christian conservatives. The kickoff announcement santorum focused on his middle class appeal which is part of his platform. Hillary clinton has Unwanted Company at a Campaign Event in South Carolina wednesday. Carly fiorina holding a News Conference just outside and blasting clinton on the trust issue. Cnns jeff zeleny in South Carolina. Reporter she had a bit of company on the campaign trail. Carly fiorina is trying to break out of the pack showed up outside of secretary clintons event. She would make a point to be the strongest nominee to take on clinton. She was hammering her for not being transparent. Hillary clinton ignored fiorina and went on and saying republicans are not for equal pay laws. The most interesting part of clintons trip to South Carolina was the olive branch she extended. In 2008 she lost South Carolina by 28 points to then senator barack obama. That was the beginning of the end of Hillary Clintons campaign. She now needs the democrats to support her. That is the block of africanamerican voters. The key piece of the old Obama Coalition that Hillary Clinton is trying to build. She will be back in South Carolina next month. She goes on to florida on thursday and friday. John. Thanks jeff. Big news from jeffs home state nebraska. Nebraska has abolished the Death Penalty there. State lawmakers voted to override the veto from governor ricketts there. People are looking at this as the first conservative state to abolish the Death Penalty and the beginning of a national trend. I think the public actually voted to raise the minimum wage there. A solidly red state where often you see things happening you would not expect. Sometimes the conservative argument. They have not executed anyone since 1997. It is costing more money and perhaps it makes more sense to get rid of it. Chilling evidence presented at the trial of accused colorado Movie Theater james holmes. A notebook containing instructions on how to kill people. Emailed the notebook to his psychiatrist hours before he went on his rampage. His mental state is the main question. Prosecutors want the Death Penalty. The defense claims holmes was insane. There is ammunition for both cases there. Sometimes he sounds so calculating and clear. Others it is almost as if you see this trouble in his brain. It is called the world cup of fraud. Sportings biggest corruption bust ever. This morning, there are new developments in the fifa scandal. Dont call it soccer. Its a scandal and its live right after the break. Justice department is vowing to wipe out corruption in International Soccer after a 47count indictment of racketeering and money laundering. The irs accusing fifa officials of taking 150 million in bribes in exchange for marketing deals spanning the last 24 years. Lets bring in alex thomas live from zurich this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning, christine. This is arguably the biggest scandal to effect world soccer. It is fast moving and i ammpossible to predict. Not because soccer is fast moving but it is effecting relations with the u. S. And russia. The u. S. Department of News Conference on wednesday. It was incredible. It read like a hollywood movie script about a mob or mafia. We have seen the response from the Russia Foreign ministry and telling american to butt out and leave fifa alone. World soccers key sponsor agreeing to take their sponsorship out of the game. And sepp blatter, we have not seen him in public since all this broke on wednesday morning, and he is widely expected to be at the head of the agency for next year. What a story, alex. The russian government response to the whole thing saying its a conspiracy among americans to make russia look bad after winning a world cup date. Sepp blatter, with friends like these, why not change the elections. No problem here. 26 minutes after the hour. Happening now, more evacuations in texas and more rains on the way and more bodies recovered from the flood waters. We will have the latest next. Happening now, some parts of texas evacuating as more rain moves in. Rescuers pulling victims from the receding flood waters. Community facing historic devastation and it is not over. Storms still to come ahead. Anthrax alert. The u. S. Military ships live anthrax across the United States and around the world by mistake. Dozens of people exposed. Now being tested. We are live with how it happened. New setbacks for iraqis trying to take back seized territory. Welcome back to early start. Im christine romans. Im john berman. And texas officials are worried that heavy rain will cause more flash flooding this morning. This as crews push ahead from the clean up from the major flooding that hit this week. More than a foot of rain pushed water over the banks in hays county texas. The search for bodies is still underway with at least 21 known confirmed deaths at this point in texas and oklahoma. One family outside houston spent wednesday searching for the body of 73yearold alice tovar. Reported missing when she did not show up for work. She is cold and wet. She belongs at home. Thats where we are trying to get her. You got to do. Her body was found less than 100 yards from the crossing where she went missing. The latest on the aftermath of the deadly flooding. I want to bring in ana cabrera from wimberley, texas. Reporter john and christine, the flood was catastrophic. Nine cabins on this Vacation Property were mutilated leaving behind the huge piles oftwisted wood. The owners have had this place in the family for 70 years and they have never seen flooding like this. Normally the blanco river stays there, but the water rose with such fury, several could not escape. We have seen people searching by helicopter and boat and on the ground along the river banks. That is the priority now. Finding those missing. We continue to hear stories of survival. Stories of gayle mcneil who barely made it out of her home. She and her husband got to her car, but then as the water rose around it, the air bags ss went off. I could not get out. I was driving and my husband got out on that side. This man just appeared and pulled me out. Because i could not get out otherwise. Who was this man . His name is chance. Thats all i know. Reporter as residents like mcneil try to get their feet under them the flood threat remains with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast that could bring a huge amount of rain in a short amount of time soaking an already saturated ground. The water has nowhere to go. John and christine. Ana, thank you. We continue to get harrowing images of the moment water tore through houses along the blanco river. Watch this. Oh, no the water just churning through there. Caught up in the same flood were three families sharing a vacation cabin in wimberley. Including jonathan mccomb, his wife and two children, 4 and 6. The raging water pibldcked up the cabin and tearing it apart. Jonathan mccombs father joe, said his son was separated from his family as they fought for survival. I just kept praying and saying i got to get out of here. I was swimming. Trying to swim. Grabbing for air. He did not know if he was go up or down. He kept adrenaline driving him. He was able to get up enough to where he could see light at somebodys house. Crawled over there and knocked on the door and told them our house got washed away and needed help. His energy level just collapsed. Jonathan is in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Everyone else in that cabin is still missing this morning. A new round of Severe Weather in texas wednesday afternoon. Look at this. A tornado touched down in the panhandle and damaged a gas drilling rig and injured three people. Two critically. The ground saturated across texas and it will not take more rain to cause more flooding. Unfortunately, there is more rain in the forecast. Meteorologist derek van dam tracking the weather for us. A persistent weather pattern causing this heavy rain. Talking about the saturation john and christine, we had over 20 inches of rain falling in some locations and as we speak, we have 183 reporting stations along the creeks and rivers along arkansas and texas and oklahoma at or above flood stage. There is more rainfall in store today and through the weekend. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Well talk about that in a second. Look at the shading of yellow. The area we have received the most rainfall expecting 2 to 3 inches of rainfall. Just because we dont have the heavy rainfall near houston and Austin Austin doesnt mean this will not move downstream causing the potential for more flooding. Flood watches and warnings in effect for the region including the greater houston region. Upwards of 4 Million People under a flood watch as we speak. Here is the radar across oklahoma and texas panhandle and parts of kansas. This system continues to move east and once we get the daytime heating from the sun, we will see more shower and thunderstorm activity. We have the possibility of Severe Weather in western texas and oklahoma panhandle and western kansas and nebraska. Large hail and damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. I talked about silvering lining in the forecast, a drying trend. Breaking overnight, federal officials investigating after the Defense Department accidentally shipped live anthrax samples to labs in nine states and a u. S. Military base in south korea. Officials say no one has become ill. There is no threat they say, to the public. Four defense workers in the u. S. And 22 in south korea are on post exposure treatment. We have kathy, with the latest from the Osan Air Base in south korea. Reporter christine it was an emergency situation here in south korea that the live anthrax was sent from the lab in utah. 22 people were involved that may have been exposed to the anthrax. We are told at this stage, they are not showing symptoms of exposure but they have gone through tests and antibiotics and some cases vaccinations. The pentagon working with the cdc to find out exactly how this happened and how to find the links in the chain that just went wrong. Utah lab shipping to nine states and in the meantime they are shutting down a shipment of the anthrax until they get to the bottom of it. What a terrifying mistake, obviously a mistake. Thank you for that kathy. Happening this morning, new information on the battle for ramadi in iraq. The Iraqi Government insists they launched a major offensive to retake ramadi from isis. In the u. S. , pentagon officials see no signs of that in ramadi. Isis holds the city laying bombs and booby traps and sending in new supplies. We have cnns Nick Paton Walsh live in baghdad this morning. Trying to separate fantasy from reality. Reporter john that is a complex task given the level of access we get to the battle fields. It is clear there is a mixed picture. 30 iraqi soldiers killed by suicide bombs. That is some distance away from ramadi still, remember fallujah is held by isis as is ramadi. It is around those two key Population Centers that the shia fighting groups are maneuvering at this stage. Also the Iraqi Security forces claiming yesterday they got to the outskirts of ramadi. Not something the u. S. Can verify. They say that iraq Security Forces are near the university of anbar which is southwest of that main population center. It is an extraordinarily mixed picture and slow going. We have seen how sand storms have slowed down. Yesterday, to the north of the Anbar Province by the oil refinery to see how Iraqi Special forces are facing off with isis. One group described how during the sand storm of two days ago, isis used that cover to get within 20 meters of the place they were defending. The sand storm dropped and a firefight began there. Slow moving and particularly in the oil refinery to push isis. They leave behind a burning oil refinery if they were forced to retreat retreat. They have to move slowly and they are willing to fight. They wanted to wield their fire power around us. They say they have the ammunition they need and people they need but it is slow going. That is replicated. It will be tough dislodging a group like isis who are willing to die, but that is the task ahead of the Iraqi Security forces with washington providing at times unhelpful 24 hour comment as how this is going. Nick thank you. 41 minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money. Asian stocks are lower. Look at shanghai down 6 . That is a big move for one day. European stocks and u. S. Stock futures are down too. The nasdaq yesterday topped the record high close. Fifas corporate sponsors are worried, but not backing out of dealing over corruption charges. Visa warned the organization clean up your act. It is important that fifa change now. If you fail to do so we will reassess our sponsorship. Other sponsors expressing concerns. Adidas and cocacola and mcdonalds and budweiser pay 19 million each a year. They have brands and logos in front of millions of soccer fans. Thats a really valuable relationship. The most important relationship is between the companies and the viewers and the fans. Not necessarily fifa. The question is how uncomfortable will they get . That may determine Sepp Blatters future. Rick santorum is officially running for president. He won the Iowa Caucuses for years ago. What are the challenges he faces . We talked to cnn. We will tell you what he said next. Im caridee. Ive had moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis most of my life. But that hasnt stopped me from modeling. My doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. With only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® helps me be in season. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before starting stelara® your doctor should test for tuberculosis. Stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. Always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. Do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. Alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. These may be signs of a rare potentially fatal brain condition. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. In a medical study most stelara® patients saw at least 75 clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. Stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. Ask your doctor about stelara®. After a surprising showing four years ago, Rick Santorum running for president again. We get more from cnns joe johns at the campaign kickoff. Reporter john and christine, Rick Santorum kicking off the campaign for president at the manufacturing plant ten miles down the road where he grew up in pennsylvania. Striking conservative themes as expected saying he will fight for working americans in the race for the white house. He had a surprisingly strong run for the republican nomination four years ago. He is back at it again. This time he faces more competition. Last time he finished second behind mitt romney. No ones calling him a front runner. He did it on a shoe string and shoe leather last time. This time more support. Santorum has more organization than last time around. He says he has people working for him in all 99 counties of iowa and other states. His supporters are not expecting santorum to change the message drastically from four years ago because it helped him win republican primaries in 11 states. That includes his appeal to social conservatives. It is clear he has tweaked his message and adjusted the focus a bit. Listen. When you think that Rick Santorum being the runner up for years ago doesnt make you the front runner this time . If you look at what i had to do when i left the race i have seven kids. I had to go to work. I had to provide food for my family and i wasnt in front of your tv often over the last three years. I couldnt be. I have responsibilities to my family. That may have something to do with it. That doesnt matter. I did what i felt was right for my family. Now here i am. Reporter today and tomorrow santorum heads to iowa where he narrowly won the caucuses four years ago. John and christine. Joe johns, thank you. Rick santorum has the drive that any politician wants to succeed needs. I interviewed him four years ago. He was ninth in the polls. I said why are you doing this. You have no chance. He said he thinks he did. The biggest Corruption Scandal to hit the world of spots. We have new developments in the absolutely monstrous soccer investigation. Live right after the break. The u. S. Justice department is vowing to wipe out corruption in International Soccer. Thats after unsealing 47count indictment. Charged fifa members with racketeering and wire fraud. The u. S. Is accusing fifa officials taking more than 150 million in bribes. Spanning two generations. I want to bring in cnns alex thomas live in zurich. This is a monster level scandal. The allegations are of that. Reporter john a massive storing and fast moving one. We will struggle with the u. S. Department of justice News Conference on wednesday. With all those allegations that read like a hollywood mafia movie script. As for the godfather, sepp blatter, is nowhere to be seen. Cancelling public appearances with the dorm raids at a luxury hotel across town in zurich. Blatter, wherever he is will have noticed the strongly worded statement from the key sponsor Credit Card Company visa threatening to pull its money out of the game unless there is change in the game. Ten members of fifas executive committee interviewed over the world cup bids in the 2018 tournament. Which was awarded to russia and then the 2022 to qatar. Then despite the controversy, sepp blatter is still expected to be the next president. It is stunning that this election is still scheduled for tomorrow. The next 24 hours will be fascinated. Alex thanks. Debt free college. Debt free college. It sounds like a fantasy. It sounds like 25 years too late. The idea is gaining powerful backers in congress. It will not help you, john. U. S. Stock futures are lower after a great day yesterday. Nasdaq record high close. Dow jumped 120 points. The market hasnt had a true correction since 2011. The economy is strong and jobs market is improving. I think that will mean more wild swings. You could see lots of weeks with some days up 100 points. Graduate college debt free. That sounds unbelievable. More democrats would like to make that reality. Just yesterday, nine more Democratic Senators support the resolution by senator warren. It backs up more federal government help to support states and increased Financial Aid for students. It aims at curbing soaring tuition costs. Bernie sanders has a proposal to eliminate tuition at all public collection and pay for it with a tax on wall street. Lowering tuition would seem to benefit everyone. They are looking for a populous call heading into 2016. Looking for something to resonate they can get behind. Debt free college would be very difficult. Early start continues right now. Happening now, evacuations in parts of texas this morning. Residents bracing more more rain following historic deadly flooding. The death toll rising. The damage done and danger still on the way. Live anthrax shipped across the United States and around the world. The u. S. Military sends samples through the mail by mistake. Dozens exposed now being tested. How could this happen . We are live
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