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American Morning

Rescue Crews Act to Save Hurricane Victims

Aired August 30, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Good morning. Critical hours ahead in New Orleans. Rescue teams getting back to work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They're trying to save people trapped in their homes since the storm hit.
Eighty percent of that city is under water. And news overnight that a levee has failed and more water is pouring in from Lake Pontchartrain. We're live in New Orleans just ahead.

In Mississippi, beach-front homes disappearing into the storm devastation along the entire coast. And estimated 55 people killed in that state alone. The number expected to rise. We're live in Biloxi this morning.

And in Alabama, some of the worst flooding in 90 years. And a massive cleanup ahead. Enormous destruction across three states on this AMERICAN MORNING.

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Hello, I'm Miles O'Brien, live in Biloxi, Mississippi. And take a look at the scene behind me. One person has called it America's tsunami or Mississippi's tsunami. And you can see why it is like that.

This was a 25-foot storm surge that came across here. A 25-foot wall of water as Katrina stormed across the Gulf and then made its way across land about 24 hours ago.

In its wake, it has left terrible destruction and caused several fatalities. Just here in Mississippi, 54 have died, 30 in one apartment complex alone about a mile down the beach, which we so far haven't been able to get to. We're working on that right now.

Extending out to Alabama and Louisiana, the toll just grows even greater. As we speak in New Orleans, there are rescue operations underway. The water continues to rise as a levee in Lake Pontchartrain has broken. Katrina may very well be put down in history as the worst national disaster to ever hit the United States -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. More on that right now. Let's tell you what's happening in New Orleans.

In fact, it looks as if the breach is about two blocks long, dumping water into the downtown area. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says about 80 percent of the city now is under water. It's about 20 feet deep in some parts. No deaths officially confirmed in Louisiana. Witnesses, though, say they have seen floating bodies. And the governor says, quote, "We believe we've lost some lives." The governor also urging those who evacuated the city to stay where they are. He says it's too dangerous to come home.

Nearly 800,000 people are without power in Louisiana. Still unclear just how many folks are trapped in their flooded homes. Adaora Udoji is in New Orleans. She's near the Interstate 10 overpass in the ninth ward, where rescue operations are underway right now.

Adaora, good morning again. How does it look?

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

More water than you could see past the -- rather than the eye can see. And that levee break that you just mentioned has had some very dire consequences for the hospitals in the downtown New Orleans area.

In fact, Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, they, at some point, thought they were going to have to evacuate. There were ongoing discussions. They -- after the storm blew through, there was no flooding by late last evening. They had about six feet of water in the hospital. Of course, that brought up some major questions as to whether or not their emergency generator was going to keep going.

So in downtown New Orleans, they are certainly battling their own water problems and, here, we're about three or four miles north of the city. You see there are dozens and dozens of homes that are -- have been flooded. Six to ten feet of water.

And all night long, nearly two dozen rescue workers have been riding the boats up and down these lanes and pulling out people from their homes. Some who were stuck in their attics, others who were on roofs. Some had cell phones that they were able to call and tell rescuers where they were. Others did not. Some were just screaming for help.

Upwards of 500 people are taken -- have been evacuated from this area. From what we understand, no major injuries. All very minor, except for one man broke his leg. But no fatalities at this location.

Again, the same scene taking place further west. There are neighborhoods, some estimated as many as 40,000 homes are underwater. The rescue crews are now fanning out. It has been an absolute logistical nightmare, Soledad. Rescue crews getting to their equipment, getting to their supplies and getting those things to the areas where they need it the most.

And as the sun comes up today, they're going to have a really good opportunity to get an absolute sense of the extent of the damage. We've heard that over and over from officers. And they expect things are only going to get worse from here as they do discover exactly how much damage Hurricane Katrina carried with it as it blew through here -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: The sunlight will certainly help the rescuers, Adaora, but it will also make it very clear just how bad it is. Adaora Udoji for us. Adaora, we'll get back to you in just a little bit.

Speaking of rescues, we want to talk to Mark Vislay. He's from the U.S. Coast Guard. He joins us from Alexandria, Louisiana. It's about 120 miles northwest of New Orleans. And he took part in a rescue that was caught on videotape. Let's show the videotape while we talk to Mr. Vislay.

Thank you very much, Commander. We appreciate your time this morning. You get the call; someone is trapped on top of their roof. The water is rising. What happened?

MARK VISLAY, U.S. COAST GUARD: Well, good morning, first. Actually, it was kind of -- when we got on the scene last night, we pretty much arrived. And there was pretty much no notification of individuals that were in distress. Basically, several helicopters in the area and on scene just basically moved in over rooftops. And then people started to basically poke out and climb on top of the roofs, waving to us in need of assistance.

S. O'BRIEN: How many people did you see up there? How many people were on their roofs waving to you, having cut their way through their own homes?

VISLAY: Last night, we -- our helicopter personally, we took on board 15 individuals, including women and children. All in pretty good condition. But I would say I saw at least another 40 to 50 people in the surrounding area. I know the other helicopter, our other 60 counterpart out of Mobile took on at least another 20 people. And there were three other 65's in the area also doing the same work that evening.

S. O'BRIEN: We're looking at videotape of one of the rescues. I'm certain you're familiar with it, the guy you plucked off the roof. You can see, I mean, these homes, all that's left, the only thing that's above water are the roofs for pretty much as far as you can see.

Was he screaming for help? Was he panicking? What was he like when you finally got your arms around him and started lifting him up?

VISLAY: Well, the crew member in the back had the best vantage point of that. But as we were flying around, everybody was actually pretty calm, and I think they were pretty relieved to see the Coast Guard in the area and see us starting to assist and lift people off the roofs.

To be certain, there was some panic in the small children, et cetera, but other than that, everybody was pretty much calm, but they really did want out of the area. And the individuals that we did take on board were extremely relieved. You can see it in their faces. You could see the relief that they were finally out of that situation and the water up to the homes, it was just pretty devastating. And they just wanted out of there.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I bet. How shocking was it to you? I mean, I guess I still haven't gotten over it, and I've seen it many times now, dozens of times now. People holding hatchets, standing on their rooftops because they've had to save their own lives as they got trapped in their own attics. Maybe you've just seen everything and it wasn't that shocking to you.

VISLAY: That kind of devastation in an area like New Orleans, to see a place that you've been before, pretty much wiped out in the north proper New Orleans was extremely shocking to me. Every house was pretty much -- the water line was all the way up to the attics, to the roofs.

There were people, like I said, just coming out of everywhere. As soon as they heard the helicopters, they came down in their area. People were coming out of everywhere.

There were small fires all over the place. A little bit of, you know, gasoline and oil coming out from gas stations, et cetera. Power lines down. Trees split in half, fallen down. So it was definitely something that was pretty shocking to you, and when you first got on the scene, it was pretty amazing.

And you just wanted to help everybody you could and take everybody out of there, but, unfortunately, you know, the capabilities that we have are only so much and eventually you've got to leave for fuel, et cetera.

S. O'BRIEN: What happened to the people you couldn't rescue? We've had reports from our people, from CNN on the scene, saying that the cries for help as the rescuers when it got dark and they couldn't fly any more, the screams for help from people was just heartbreaking. What was that like for you?

VISLAY: Yes. Yes. It's always tough to leave somebody that you really want to get out of there. But we really try to do a really good job of taking the people that we thought were in the worst situation and leaving the people that we thought were in a stable house or structure that were pretty much above the water line that we could leave there for assistance either later in the evening or in the morning.

You could definitely tell people were in a little bit of a panic. They were waving clothing to get our attention, et cetera. And after we left off the scene or you had to go drop off some people, they did -- they were quite panicky about the situation. They really wanted out of there.

But you know, we have to do the best we can and move in and take as many people as we can out of there. We just had to depart for fuel that evening.

S. O'BRIEN: Will you go back up again this morning?

VISLAY: I will be relieved just because of my rest time, because we flew so long yesterday. But there's a new crew that's relieving me that will take the helicopter I was in out again this morning. And we had two other helicopters from my unit that were flying last evening, and I'm sure air station New Orleans had several helicopters in the vicinity last night.

S. O'BRIEN: They will all be busy. All of you will be busy today. Mark Vislay from the Coast Guard, thanks for talking to us. Congratulations on that rescue that we saw the remarkable videotape from and all the other rescues, as well, that you were talking about.

From New Orleans now we move east along the path of Katrina to Mississippi and to Alabama. In Mississippi, officials say an estimated 55 people there are dead in that state, 30 thought to have been killed in one Biloxi apartment complex alone.

The storm surge was described as a wall of water maybe 25 feet deep. Streets and homes flooded as far as six miles inland. The beach highway absolutely buried. Biloxi mayor A.J. Holloway says, "This is our tsunami."

Let's get right to Miles. He's in Biloxi this morning. Miles, looks bad where you are, but there are many areas that you can't even get to because it's far worse.

M. O'BRIEN: Exactly, Soledad. Not far from where we stand is that apartment building where we are told 30 people died in one building. Lots of questions we have as to why it wasn't evacuated, what happened there.

But was we do know this. If I was standing here 24 hours ago, I'd be under about at least 25 feet of water. Richard Leland is standing beside me today. And he was here yesterday. Fortunately not standing in this spot. He was up on a little higher ground. Richard is from California. He came here, truthfully, to come and see what a hurricane was all about.

You picked some hurricane to do it, Richard. What -- I know you got up on this parking deck here with a video camera. First of all, why did you do that?

Well, I wanted to have a record of what a hurricane looks like. I've been at the outskirts of hurricanes since I was a little kid. One of the things I wanted to do in my -- in my life was to see one. And this was an opportunity a little more than I had expected.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's roll some of your videotape, what you captured. And as we're rolling it, I'd like you to kind of explain where you are and what we're seeing. What are we seeing right here at this point?

LELAND: That's debris early in the storm that had blown off of the building somewhere. That's a pelican that stayed there in the lee of the parking garage the whole time.

M. O'BRIEN: Stayed there the whole time?

LELAND: This is the marina outside of Beauregard Hotel (ph), doing a real good job of standing up to the waves and the wind.

M. O'BRIEN: At any point while you were shooting this, were you frightened at all?

LELAND: No. It was a well-built structure. Some of the walls would come down, it happened to that little lighthouse out there. But I figured the structure would remain intact.

M. O'BRIEN: Did you expect the water to go as high as it did? It kept coming up. And did it come up fairly rapidly?

LELAND: It did come up rapidly in the course of four or five hours. It came up to 20 feet. That's about what was to be expected so it's about what was predicted.

M. O'BRIEN: Obviously, that helicopter survey we've been talking about continues, a Black Hawk helicopter flying over us right now. What are we seeing here?

LELAND: The waves eating away at the first floor of the parking structure. Some more debris.

M. O'BRIEN: What is interesting there, I think you got the pelicans out there who stayed there the whole time. You say this is on the leeward side, right?

LELAND: Yes. The wind was coming in from the west. And that was the leeward side, the east side.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. And what -- at this point, we're talking about 25 feet of storm surge, is that right?

LELAND: That's about right. It was up to the cantilevered portion of the street lights that you see around here, so that's about 25 feet.

M. O'BRIEN: And at this point, I mean, did you feel like were in a safe place at all occasions in this? I guess you could go higher and higher on that parking deck which is behind us, right?

LELAND: Yes. There were six floors. And I was on the fourth. So I was well above the water even at the maximum storm surge. I wasn't worried about the structure. It seemed intact at the time.

M. O'BRIEN: Storm surge. And was there a lot of surf on top of that in addition to the surge itself? That bubble of water?

LELAND: Yes. Right about 3 or 4 in the morning there was big waves. And I've got some footage in there of them eating away at the casino structure.

M. O'BRIEN: There you see the deck where you were. And there's no regrets about doing this and capturing this. It's pretty amazing footage to actually see that surge in action and to be that close to it.

LELAND: Yes. It was quite an experience.

M. O'BRIEN: Richard Leland from California came out here to see a storm. You saw a storm all right.

LELAND: Yes, I did.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for sharing your footage with us. We appreciate that.

LELAND: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll be back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

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S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We continue to discuss the storms aftermath as we follow Katrina's path to the east.

Let's go to Alabama now. Governor Bob Riley declaring a state of emergency there with southwest parts of the state designated as federal disaster area.

Two storm related deaths confirmed there, 345,000 people without electricity in and around Mobile this morning. And streets in downtown Mobile are underwater. It's the worst flooding to hit that city in 90 years.

Let's get right to CNN's Ted Rowlands. He's live in downtown this morning.

Ted, good morning.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Katrina has left a mess in Mobile, Alabama. And this morning, people with raking up to that mess and the reality of what is expected to be not just days, but weeks of cleanup here.

There is no power, and residents have been told to expect no power for at least the next few days and possibly more than a week. It is a monumental job.

That said, city officials here did -- are thankful that the 20- foot surge they were expecting did not show up here. There was extensive flooding, the worst in 90 years, but there wasn't extensive loss of life.

And the thought of people here are to their neighbors to the west, specifically Mississippi and Louisiana and what those states are going through. In fact, one city council person said that one of the things they'll be doing here is helping out their neighbors.

And there's real concern about some of the smaller towns that they have not been able to get into in between New Orleans area and the Biloxi area. Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Waveland, these are all smaller communities. And there was not been much in terms of information out of those communities.

They range in population between 6,000 and 17,000 people. The big question: how many of those people tried to make it out or tried to withstand this hurricane and how did they fare?

There are some images coming out of that area, and they are heartbreaking. If you look at them, the devastation of some of the homes and the human devastation that you can see and the emotion of some of the A.P. photos that are coming out of those areas.

There is a planned search and rescue throughout the day. Sunlight is up here. And they are presumably starting that operation, going into those areas to try to assess the damage and the toll. They do expect that the death toll in Mississippi and Louisiana will rise as the day goes on -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ted, you see those pictures and of course, it will. Those homes are obliterated. They're blown off the map essentially. I think that that's a very fair guess that we're going to see those numbers rise and maybe even very significantly.

Ted Rowlands for us. Ted, we'll get back to you in just a little bit.

There are other stories making news this morning. Let's get right to Carol Costello with that.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, police in Baghdad say at least 56 civilians have been killed in U.S. air strikes in western Iraq. However, that report has not been verified. The attacks were aimed at members of al Qaeda.

In the meantime, a U.S. helicopter pilot has been killed in northern Iraq. Military sources say the chopper was hit by small arms fire in Tal Afar. A second pilot was hurt but was able to get the helicopter out of the area in time.

Three former Lebanese officials are being detained in connection with the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. The suspects may face formal arrests. The detentions are part of the U.N.'s probe into the February killing.

President Bush is set to compare the fight in Iraq with the struggle against the axis powers in World War II. The president is speaking at a naval base in California later today. The ceremony will mark the 60th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. CNN will have live coverage of the president's address. That begins at noon Eastern Time.

And cleanup from Katrina begins this morning as remnants of that storm moved further north. An apparent twister touched down Monday in Carroll County. That's near the Georgia-Alabama border. There are reports of one storm-related fatality. Some 30 homes were destroyed.

And steady rain and winds are now moving through central Tennessee. Flash flood warnings and a tornado watch are in effect in parts of that state. More on Hurricane Katrina's aftermath right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For those struck hard after Katrina made landfall, what steps do they need to take now regarding home insurance? Bob Hartwig is from the Information Insurance Institute and he joins me now. Good morning.

BOB HARTWIG, INFORMATION INSURANCE INSTITUTE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Before we get into that, let's take a look at how Katrina compares to some other big hurricanes in terms of damage like Andrew.

HARTWIG: That's right. Well, it looks like today Katrina is probably going to be the second most expensive in U.S. history. Hurricane Andrew cost about $21 billion. Right now, Katrina is not far behind that and in fact could ultimately exceed that.

COSTELLO: Wow. And we see Charley $7.4 billion and Ivan $7.1 billion.

Now let's get right to the most pertinent questions for those whose homes are damaged or completely destroyed. We've seen the pictures of the homes with water up to the roof. Are their homes -- are those homes destroyed or are some of them salvageable?

HARTWIG: On a case-by-case basis, adjusters have to go through these homes and determine whether totally destroyed or whether she are salvageable. In many cases when the water is up to the roof or in some cases over the roof, that home, in fact, it will be less expensive to rebuild that home if it's simply rebuilt from the foundation up.

COSTELLO: Now, do cover the loss of something like this, do you absolutely have to have flood insurance? Or is this an act of God and is covered?

HARTWIG: Any damage to the home that was related to the hurricane associated with high winds or wind-driven rain or tree falling on your house, for example, all of that will be covered under your standard home owners insurance policy.

But water rising from below, the flood waters is not covered by a standard home owners insurance policy and you need to purchase a separate policy to cover that loss.

COSTELLO: Why isn't that covered?

HARTWIG: It has never been covered by private insurers, simply because the losses are so widespread and devastating, as it would make the cost of standard home owner's insurance relatively high for everybody. The federal government provides such coverage. It's readily available and affordable.

COSTELLO: And to buy flood insurance, it's not -- it's expensive for some people to get those $300 on top of what you already pay.

HARTWIG: Right. It will add a few hundred dollars to the cost of your home owner's coverage, however, it is protecting your most valuable asset.

COSTELLO: OK. And as we look at the tips that people need to know when, you know, something like this happens, the No. 1 tip is to buy flood insurance.

HARTWIG: That's right.

COSTELLO: The next one, make sure you keep your insurance up-to- date.

HARTWIG: This is a terrible mistake that many people make. You know, people have poured $100 to $150 billion annually in home improvements over the house over the past few years. It's -- a whole equity boom has flourished.

But very often they don't tell their insurance company about that. So in effect, they're underinsured.

COSTELLO: And the third tip, and it's something I never really thought about is know what you have and their value.

HARTWIG: That's right. Many people don't realize what they have in their own home until they've lost it. And in order to document that, you should have a home inventory. And you can download free inventory software from the Insurance Information Institute web site at www.III.org.

COSTELLO: So all the tools are there. A final question. Will insurance premiums go up because of this? Because I know it did in Florida.

HARTWIG: That's right. Well, insurance premiums, in fact, have been rising around the southeastern Gulf Coast for a few years now. The best minds in meteorology tell us that, in fact, we are in for several decades of activity, where tropical cyclones and hurricanes are going to be more frequent and more intense. And so insurers are moving their premiums to be commensurate with this higher level of risk.

COSTELLO: In parts of Florida they went up by 15 to 30 percent?

HARTWIG: That's correct. In parts of Florida, they have gone up by that amount, yes.

COSTELLO: And will that happen in Alabama, Mississippi?

HARTWIG: It's too hard to say at this point, again, but it does put upward pressure on prices.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks so much for being here this morning. Bob Hartwig, the chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute.

HARTWIG: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the latest on Katrina's aftermath in Biloxi, Mississippi. The scene of some of the most devastating flooding. Thirty people killed in an apartment complex there. Their story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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