elizabeth cohen has the story.l gonzalez.born ten weeks early...so tiny.so fragile-- her parents so worried.and then - on friday they were separated.the five-week-old had to be airlifted out of baptist hospital in beaumont, texasnats of helicopterbecause the hospital had no clean water martha sifuentes, newborn evacuated from beaumont hospital:"i just broke down, to think that i couldn't see her again before she left, knowing she was going to get on helicopter without us. i got really emotional. it was really heartbreaking."martha sifuentes and angel gonzalez couldn't follow their baby to the university of texas medical branch at galveston, 120 miles away.martha sifuentes, newborn evacuated from beaumont hospital:"we didn't know when we were gonna be able to see her again - thank god everything cleared out on the roads so were able to make it like the next day." on saturdaythey were reunited with their baby.natselizabeth cohen, reporting:"so angel, do you remember how you felt when you first saw your daughter here

as elizabeth cohen pointed out, dangerous bacteria in the water. snakes, alligators in the water. this is the reality for people that they have to deal with trying to get back to their homes. and it will take some time for recovery. if you'd like to help, there are ways that you can donate to people here in the state of texas. you can visit cnn.com/impact. you can find links there to charities that are working to help people that have been hardest hit with this storm. looking at that piece from anderson, it just kind of raises the hair on my arms to think about what people are going through, try to think of what would i do if i were in that situation. again, that's the reality for people as they try to move forward. >> absolutely. and as you explained to us, it's not over. and over the next few days, we're going to see new dangers emerging. you'll be there reporting on that, george. thank you. >>> parts of the los angeles metro area are kurcurrently unda mandatory evacuation order because of a wildfire. the it has now consumed 8,000 acres. it is only 10% contained. about 260 firef

elizabeth cohen is out front. >> baby gonzales bornd ten weeks early, so fragile.n on friday they were separated. the five-week-old had to be air lifted out of baptist hospital in beaumont, texas because the hospital had no clean water. >> i just broke down. to think that i couldn't see her, knowing she was going to get on the helicopter without us. i got really emotional. it was really heartbreaking. >> reporter: martha suente and angel gonzales couldn't follow their baby to galveston medical, 120 miles away. >> we didn't know when we would see her again. thank god everything cleared on the roads so we were able to make it the next day. >> reporter: on saturday they were reunited with their baby. angel, do you remember how you felt when you first saw your daughter back here in galveston? >> yes. it is almost like i seen her again for the first time. i was real happy. i got to see her again. >> reporter: her parents are among the lucky ones. let me introduce you to some of the other beaumont babies. this little boy, born seven weeks early. now this little girl righ

cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is live for us in houston. elizabeth, you and your team have been testing the water and you found some very nasty stuff in it. >> that's right, fred, we went out with some professional water testers who are wondering what lurks in this sort of brown water and the results were shocking, even to these professional testers. let's take a look. let's look at the e. coli results, e. coli is an indication of the presence of various kinds of bacteria, including fecal bacteria. our first sample we took in this area, 8,600 cfu's or colony-forming units, the second 3700, the third 6300. the epa standard for recreational water is -- zero you're not supposed to have anything in this water. total coloform. another indication of fecal bacteria, the first sample, 57,000 cfu's, the second 43,000, the third, 45,000. the epa standard for recreational water according to a & b labs, we work with in houston, less than 100 for recreational waters. the manager of that lab, he said these numbers are huge. his lab tests water day in, day

elizabeth cohen joins us and william shatner joins us from nashville. with an expert who called this water a toxic stew. what are the health risks here? >> as we recover from the hurricane, john, there's a whole list of them. let's go through it. contaminated drinking water could be a concern. bacteria, fungus. outbreaks in the crowded shelters like the one i'm in now. also an increase in disease carrying mosquitos. i was out and felt the presence of mosquitos, the risk of ptsd for the hardest hit. you can see the looks on faces and the trauma they have been through. john? >> doctor, we always hear that it is the health concern that is follow national disasters you have to be most careful of. what would your advice be to people right now as they deal with the contaminated water? >> john, stay out of the contamination as much as possible. make sure when you are drinking water, it is safe. wash your hands thoroughly. as you start to get back into the house and do republicnovati wear a mask so you don't inhale a lot of fumes. i think, actually, the gatheri

elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. >>> now to the white house. jeremy diamond is there. wheels up is what time this morning? >> well that is in just under an hour. we expect president donald trump and the first lady melania trump to head for texas and louisiana. the president and the first lady will be visiting houston, texas, where of course many parts of the city remain inform several feet of water. the president there expected to meet with storm victims. and also first responders as well. and we'll be doing the same in southwestern louisiana and this is the president's second visit to the area since the storm made landfall but the first opportunity for the president to meet with many of the victims and to kind of demonstrate some of the presidential ability here that many people expect in the wake of the natural disasters. meeting with some of the victims, hearing their stories, expressing sorrow for their losses. we did not see a lot of that during the president's first visit to the area. all of this coming just after the president yesterday, his administration sent

cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here. contributor and retired ie e joins as well. dr. anthony fouche national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. man, that water, looking at how much water has been dumped there is amazing to watch. dr. fouche, i'm going to start with you. you heard tom foreman talk about the contaminated water from harvey. epa and texas officials now warning the water koucould be t biggest threat to public health. what kind of infections and diseases can people exposed to this water face? >> there are two aspects, don, when you're sloshing around in water not only contaminated with toxins but also with bacteria, first of all, just the skin e exposure. see people there on the cnn footage up to their waist in water. if you have even an incidental cut or some sort of wound on your body and get contaminated, you can get a significant wound infection. also and probably as important, more important, is the fact that you can almost inadvertently ingest some of this when the water splashes in your face

. >>> let's go to cnn's senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen. she's at the horrific scene in hollywood, florida where at least six people died after a nursing home incident right next door for a hospital, of all places. elizabeth, do we know how long these bodies were inside? there must be tremendous concern that nobody was checking on these seniors. >> reporter: right. exactly, jake, especially since there is a hospital -- big, well respected hospital right nearby so that's especially frustrating. there are so many questions and there are so few answers at this point. >> reporter: the call for help came in shortly after 4:00 wednesday morning. an elderly resident at this holed woho hollywo hollywood, florida nursing home having a heart attack. >> we arrived on scene with the fire and rescue crews and saw there were a number of people in respiratory distress and other distress. >> reporter: three people found dead in the nursing home. three more people died after they were evacuated to a nearby hospital. the cause of death, still under investigat

senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has more from houston. >> reporter: countless people have waded through the floodwaters. some for hours. now the question is, what's in it? alligators. hoards of fire ants. and many things you can't see. we asked a senior scientist at a houston water testing lab to investigate. what do you think is in this water? >> based on sampling that we have done during previous flooding events we are pretty sure there are various bacteria sewage related. things like fecal strep. >> reporter: that's not all. we're testing for chemicals. >> yeah. this is for the various regulated metals that are of immediate health -- >> reporter: like arsenic, lead. >> yeah. cadmium. >> reporter: this water is everywhere and the contamination -- >> everywhere. >> reporter: what does this mean for the people in the water? we asked the doctor an emergency medical specialist. you cannot see what you're stepping on. it will be very easy to get cut. what do you worry about next? >> a lot of fecal material and sewage in this water. >> what worries you the most, a lot of peopl

elizabeth cohen, cnn, houston.y area from texas. a shelter in austin needed help finding homes for the animals it already had in order to make room for the large number of pets that were lost in the storm. crews brought in 50 dogs and 20 cats. 4 different bay area crews are working together to find these animals a home. those groups include the san francisco s-p-ca... and charlie's acres of sonoma who donated the private jet to bring the animals to california. "it's challenging. it's a challenging time. and to see animals that are lost. like literally we couldn't take dogs that were picked up as stray because those dogs probably belong to people. so it was challenging to leave so many behind but knowing that they probably have families and knowing that there's more work to do."(vicki) these pets should be available for adoption by the end of next week. if you want to help foster or adopt you can find a list of the participating organizations on kron 4 dot com. (anchor) time now to check on our weather... with chief

our elizabeth cohen is there and we've been digging, trying to figure out how this could happen, elizabeth>> john, here's what we know so far is that on sunday, this nursing home lost its air conditioning, so they were without air conditioning sunday, monday, tuesday, into the early morning hours of wednesday for elderly people their systems can't handle that. they can get very sick, very quickly. emergency workers and officials tell us we were in contact with the nursing home. they had told us that they lost air conditioning, but when we asked them, hey, do you have any medical needs, do you have any emergencies for your patients, do they need anything, they didn't say that they did. and so we haven't been able to ask the facility about that, but that's what officials are saying. so let's take a listen for a minute to what the mayor of hollywood, josh levy, had to say this morning. >> the u.s. senator that came here yesterday, the state senator, the state representative, at all levels of government we demand to know what happened there, what were the regulatory deficiencies, but certainly

elizabeth cohen has the story. itzel gonzalez.born ten weeks early...so tiny.so fragile-- her parents so worried.and then - on friday they were separated.the five-week-old had to be airlifted out of baptist hospital in beaumont, texasnats of helicopterbecause the hospital had no clean water martha sifuentes, newborn evacuated from beaumont hospital:"i just broke down, to think that i couldn't see her again before she left, knowing she was going to get on helicopter without us. i got really emotional. it was really heartbreaking."martha sifuentes and angel gonzalez couldn't follow their baby to the university of texas medical branch at galveston, 120 miles away.martha sifuentes, newborn evacuated from beaumont hospital:"we didn't know when we were gonna be able to see her again - thank god everything cleared out on the roads so were able to make it like the next day." on saturdaythey were reunited with their baby.natselizabeth cohen, reporting:"so angel, do you remember how you felt when you first saw your daughter

elizabeth cohen on the ground, we're staying close to the updates to come.ing up for us, did president trump strike a deal with democrats to protect d.r.e.a.m.ers? what are republicans saying about it today? we're going to be live with a top republican senator coming up next. directv has been rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like banging their head on a low ceiling. drinking spoiled milk. camping in poison ivy. getting a papercut. and having their arm trapped in a vending machine. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable switch to directv. call 1-800-directv. for over 100 years like kraft has,natural cheese you learn a lot about what people want. honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it? oh, thanks. bon appe-cheese! okay... for your skin? insta-detox l'oreal's pure-clay masks with charcoal brightens eucalyptus absorbs oil. red algae refines pores, and new seaweed comforts. pure clay your way.

melanoma that had spread to his brain and was being treated with a hard to pronounce drug named elizabeth cohen all of you to remember that name. just a few months later president jimmy carter said he was cured when i went this week they didn't find any cancer at all but i have read there's. a striking difference for what jimmy carter thought. the same thing it's only playing for me some drugs different manufactures. this new wave of cancer fighting drugs called immunotherapy come in part from the lab and the brain of this scientist dr james alison and his partner dr. jim alison's breakthrough actually change the whole field i mean what he recognizes that time doesn't just have on switches it also has off switches that they hang in the yang and the man says that if you keep trying to turn it on it has its own internal controls to keep it turned off and he recognized that if you want to really attack cancer you have to turn off the off signals the blocking the brakes basically and he developed the first body this way which is enticing tele for busy identify some telling for as the off signal are

i want to bring in senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. a chance to test the water. you were collecting water samples. what did you learn? >> ana, we went out on these waters with folks from a professional testing lab here in houston. we did sampling in three different part of this little area. here's what we found. when they looked at e. coli, the first sample had 8,600 cfus. the second sample, 3,700 a, and the third sample, 6,300. and the folks at the labs tell us that this is way above the epa standards for recreational standards. let's take a look at the coliform that also indicates fee cal bacteria. the concern that the folks at this lab had was not just for fecal bacteria, but when you get numbers like that it increases the likelihood there's something called vibrio vulnificus. they're concerned it could be here and they're concerned about what that means for people who send hours waiting in these waters. >> it's not just the bacteria. there could be chemicals, all kinds of things that are potential hazards. when you think about what

elizabeth cohen joins us. to what degree, elizabeth?er: we were on the floodwaters yesterday. they are brown and murky. watch as we set out to find out what was in them. countless people waded through the floodwaters, some for hours. now, the question is, what's in it. alligators, hoards of fire ants and many things you can't see. >> let's start sampling. >> reporter: we asked the senior scientist at the water testing lab to investigate. what do you think is in the water? >> based on sampling we have done in previous storm events, we are sure there will be bacteria, sewage related, fecal strep. >> reporter: that's not all. we are testing for metals? >> yeah that are health hazards. >> reporter: like arsenic, lead? >> yeah. >> reporter: this water is everywhere. >> yes. >> reporter: that means the contamination is. >> the potential is everywhere. >> reporter: what does it mean for the people in the water? we asked an emergency medical specialist. >> reporter: if you are walking in the water, you cannot see what you are walking on. >> the

elizabeth cohen up in hollywood, florida. thank you so much for that. still so many questions those families will be asking for sometime. thanks, elizabeth. poppy, back to you. >>> again, the president is headed down to florida where john is and you will see that live here when he arrives to survey the damage of irma. and then president trump is making headlines and shocking some of his fellow conservatives saying there's one group this won't help, the rich. listen. >> the rich will not be gaining at all with this plan. we're looking for the middle class and we're looking for jobs. i think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are. pretty much where they are. if we can do that, we would like it. if they have to go higher they will go higher. >> christine romans to discuss. that's different than he and the administration said in the past. >> he said tax cuts for everybody. and somebody said the president was free-lancing because a lot of people that are working on tax reform want lower taxes, and the president said cutting the corporate tax to 15% ye

cnn's liz wetting elizabeth cohen is live >> reporter: one of the major questions is why people werefering at that nursing home right there, why weren't they immediately taken down the street to the hospital? police launching a criminal investigation after the deaths of eight senior citizens from this florida nursing home where the air-conditioning system lost power. the call for the help coming in the night. one elderly resident having a heart attack. first responders arriving to find three others dead. four more died in hospitals. >> once we determined we had multiple deaths at the facilities, and the facilities are extremely hot, we made the decision to evacuate all the patients. >> reporter: the massive evacuation with fire and rescue teams mobilizing nine rescue units. this blue tent tree aplgiiaging evacuees. >> as we arrived with our fire rescue crews, there were a number of people in respiratory distress and other distress. >> residents enduring humidity and sweltering temperatures for about three days. >> most have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydrated and heat r

and elizabeth cohen has exclusive access and is there. what are you seeing? >> i watched as they loaded up the planes you see behind me, these are coast guard planes. they loaded them up with equipment and personnel and we are talking about doctors and nurses and pharmacist, and they are taking medical equipment and drugs and other medical equipment and law enforcement will be with them, and also search and rescue teams. they had a little gathering before they got on the plane, and their leader said we are here and florida needs us and the florida keys need us. john? >> we were just talking to the county administrator from monroe county said he does not want people to evacuate, and he thinks and knows help is coming in the form of the people right behind you there. when they get on the ground, what will their priority be? >> the first thing they are going to do is surveillance. actually, they were really asking us, and we were asking each other, what are we going to find when we get down there, and people don't know. they need to be smart and look around and

(elizabeth cohen/reporter): "did it make you sad? frank/suffers from sickle cell anemia): "yeah, sad. it made me cry." tyler and her family had to sit outside in the floodwaters for another day until another coast guard helicopter rescued them. she was taken to the hospital where she stayed for four day. tyler and her family are now staying in a hotel until they can go back home. now to our four zone forecast... taking a live look outside at s-f-o all the haze has hampered some take off and landings .kron-4's meteorologist lawrence karnow is here now with the forecast now to our four zone forecast... taking a live look outside at s-f-o all the haze has hampered some take off and landings .kron-4's meteorologist lawrence karnow is here now with the forecast lawrence karnow: plenty of clouds swept across our skies today and we even had some rain too. highs were much cooler with the warmest locations in the 70s. doppler radar is picking up the subtropical showers as they swept north through the bay area. it wasn't much but it was enough

cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen with more from houston. >> reporter: thursday we went out on a boat with an expert in water testing. he took samples, and he's going test the floodwaters for all sorts of things, for bacterias and materials, cadmium, arsenic, and lead. thousands of wading through the water. some spending hours there. we want to know exactly what's in that water. we don't have the results yet, but this expert told us that what he thinks is in there is phoenix am bacteria -- fecal bacteria, as well as the heavy metals that i mentioned, as well as the chemicals. he says he's seen it before in floodwaters. he expects to see it again here. he and others are concerned about the people who spent time in the water. they're especially concerned if people got cuts while they were walking, which was, you know, not a hard thing to do because it was so murky. you can't see where you're going. also, concerned about people with underlying illnesses. also concerned about pregnant women. >> thanks so much. important information there. >>> the strains on the health care system i

elizabeth cohen is out front live and elizabeth break the news here. you were out yesterday. i know you collected samples of the flood water. you have gotten these results back and what is in it? >> unfortunately the numbers are stunningly high. talking about bacteria, especially fecal bacteria. when we looked at e.coli, the numbers in our first sample, we took three in a small area, 8,600 cfus, 3,700 in the second sample, 6,300 in the third. the epa standard for recreational waters is zero. you are not supposed to have any. now let's look at total cola form. the first was 5 ,000. the second 43,000. the third sample 45,000. the epa standard tells us the standard is less than 100. so as you can see these numbers are much, much higher than that. now, the lab manager at the lab said these numbers are huge. he said we do water testing every day. that's what we do. he's never seen numbers like this in water publically accessible. it is not just fecal matter, but these numbers are an indication there could be something that is the flesh eating bacteria. he's really worried about th

elizabeth cohen, cnn. >>> also, in puerto rico recovery efforts got everyone helping out even our four-leggedcredible cleanup story, next. >>> make sure your stroke is nice and straight and even coming back. >> dragon boating is about 2800 years old and started in china. ♪ >> a dragon boat is 41 foot long. everybody has to be synchronized with their paddle. you do what the person in front of you and the person across from you does. and if you can do that, the boat goes straight and very fast. >> it's the cardio. the constant motion. constant like short burst of energy. i recently was hired as an orlando police officer after 25 years. no matter what i dealt with on the street, the water feels good, splashes up on you. it's kind of like a zen moment. >> for me, it's about getting my heart rate up, get something exercise in. >> charge, lengthen your strokes. >> i like being out in the open, rather than being in a gym. i have a lot of core strength now. when i first started i could only paddle a minute at a time. now, i can probably do an hour continuous. >> let's take the lead. >> the waves toda

(elizabeth cohen/reporter): "did it make you sad?/suffers from sickle cell anemia): "yeah, sad. it made me cry.">( mark ) tyler and her family had to sit outside in the floodwaters for another day until another coast guard helicopter rescued them. she was taken to the hospital where she was treated. she is expected to be okay. (james) your bay area forecast is after the break. ( mark )( darya )( robin ) checking bay area roads before you head out the door.. major bart delay due to track work and caltrain delays due to a fatal accident in redwood city. bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 (james)it's warm and humid once again this morning, but that should change by tomorrow morning as the marine layer returns bringing fog and cooler air back to the coast. today will see temperatures continue to drop as we return to normal levels for this time of year. inland highs will reach the upper 80s to low 90s. bay shoreline temps will reach the low 80s. coastal com

elizabeth cohen is with them. she's live for us. what's the plan, elizabeth? >> dozens of medical assistants personnel will be flying from here in orlando to key west. they're called dmac teams, disaster medical assistance teams. the team from hawaii has already gathered and more folks are due to come in. they're going to go to key west, assess the situation and then they do searches and provide medical assistance. doctors, nurses, pharmacists, all sorts of medical assistance teams. they'll be coming in on c-7 military planes. these are gigantic planes that can carry not just people but lots of equipment. the vehicles behind me, hopefully you can see behind me. those vehicles can get on the plane. boats can get on this plane. it can carry huge amounts of vehicles, equipment and people to help the folks down in the keys. alisyn? >> that is so great, elizabeth. that's what they need, exactly that kind of equipment and all sorts of manpower. thank you for being there and, obviously, we'll track your progress as well. >>> we are, as we said, awaiting a fema briefi

elizabeth cohen spoke with parents who say their children's survival depends on keeping the affordableul, gabriel, all children with special health care needs. in july these children and their parents took a bus from baton rouge, louisiana, to washington, d.c. to confront republican lawmakers trying to repeal obamacare. only to be kept on the steps of the republican national committee headquarters. today these parents fear the new graham-cassidy health care bill will strip their children of the most basic care. among other things, the bill proposes drastic cuts in medicaid. >> the graham-cassidy bill would take away gabriel's ability to live. and the ability to thrive. the medical bills alone would be too costly with the medicaid cuts. >> reporter: for months gabriel's mother, jessica, and other parents have asked for a meeting with louisiana senator bill cassidy. thursday in baton rouge, michelle met with a staffer for the senator and she says it did not go well. >> if our senator from our state is putting out this bill, and this huge bill that could affect our state so greatly, then

elizabeth cohen is joining us from florida right now. you've done a lot of reporting on these nursing homes around florida, around the state and indeed, around the country. this is what so many people had feared going into irma. what's going to happen to these elderly folks who can't simply move. >> reporter: right, it's such a huge concern in this state. that's why they have very strict rules here about standards for structures and for various services. it's unclear what happened here, wolf. but there are inspections by the state agency for health care administrations, there's an om but theman suppos om buds man in charge. we did look up some of the state reports. there were deficiencies listed in reports in hrs years. that's not unusual. that often happens. the ones we saw were you pretty quickly corrected. so the question here is, what happened at this nursing home and why didn't the state -- should the state government have anticipated that something might happen. what kind of history did this facility have? that's going to be looked

cohen spent 17 years as investment banker and writes about wall street for van >> i personally think it goes back to antipathy, senators and elizabeth they want to zing her a little bit. >> in june, his bill passed its first hurdle in the house. despite strong opposition by consumer groups, and concerned academics. you received a letter seend by 158 professors from all major universities in the country. all opposing your bill. all supporting the bureau. are all of those professors wrong? >> yes. >> they are. >> they're all wrong. >> obviously they dent believe in freedom, capitalism. consumer prosperity. they've don't believe in markets. >> i believe in freedom. >> christopher peterson, law professor at university of utah and several of the letter writers met with us at georgetown university. >> it seems to me that chairman hensorling believes in freedom, big banks and financial institutions. what about consumers who end up in debt traps? >> patricia mccoy of boston college. >> even the choice act would not apolish the bureau. and instead it would just leave it an empty husk. >> kathleen angle, a suffolk university law school. >> we