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American Morning

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; Relief Efforts Under Way

Aired August 30, 2005 - 08:32   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's 8:32 here on the East Coast. Our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continues now across a wide zone of destruction.
An important development during the night. A levee holding back waters from Lake Pontchartrain has been breached. It's dumping water into the downtown area. The breach is said to be about two blocks long.

Let's get right to Chad Myers to talk about that.

Chad, so it's not the lake itself; it's those canals that run along the lake that broke?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Correct. Those canals are used for shipping interests to bring things and in and out of some industrial areas. One almost breached yesterday. This one actually broke a little bit late last night. And the water has continued to pour through.

Let's go to my other machine called the VIPIR machine. There it is right there. Lake Pontchartrain, the big blue circle right there in the middle, and then into New Orleans itself right in the center. We'll zoom in for you a little bit more. New Orleans down here. That's the center of the city, where the French quarter is and everything that you know about New Orleans, not where the people actually live.

Up here on the north side of the city, this is actually called the 17th Street Canal. The levee broke right about here. As it broke, water has been pouring into the city from this side. So this is the levee that separates the two parishes.

The parish here on the right side of your screen, this is the one that's been the most affected. The water has poured in all the way from this levee all the way to this canal.

Now, there's another levee right there, because there's another canal.

So, this is the area that's been flooded with water. That water has poured to the south. And into the south right here, this right here, Metairie Cemetery, the country club right here, and then one more spot for you where the water has flown right down into New Orleans itself.

Now, it's a little bit higher there than where the people live, where those residential areas are. And so, there's not as much flooding in the downtown area. But water is still coming up.

We just talked to our John Zarrella. He said the water is still coming up a little in downtown, which means clearly the water is still coming in. The Army Corps of Engineers, they are trying to work that out. But I tell you what, that could be a developing story for most of the day.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to Biloxi, Mississippi. That is where we find Miles. And, of course, as much as they are having trouble in New Orleans, a similar situation in a lot of ways where you are -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a fact, Soledad. You know, just in Mississippi alone, a quarter-of-a-million people are without power this morning. Roads are in many cases impassible. Very difficult to get around here. We can attest to that last night. Just getting to where I stand right now was very difficult.

About a mile down the beach from where I stand right now is an apartment building that in the midst of this 25-foot storm surge collapsed. We're told that at least 30 have died in that event. Fifty-four people in all in Mississippi.

But looking at the bigger picture, more than a million people are without power this morning. And no likely prospects that they'll get it back anytime soon. At least 10,000 people no longer have homes, but those numbers are apt to change, and that number in particular is apt to go up.

Forty-three thousand people are in Red Cross-run shelters this morning. And we are told this is the largest Red Cross response to a natural disaster ever in the history of the U.S.

And joining us to talk a littler bit about this is Peter Teahen, national spokesman for the Red Cross.

Peter, first of all, just logistically, we've had such a terrible time just getting around, making phone calls, doing everything. How is the Red Cross able to do its job?

PETER TEAHEN, RED CROSS NATIONAL SPOKESMAN: Well, the Red Cross before the storm decided to stage personnel and equipment in outer areas like Birmingham and Houston. So they are staged and ready to come in. They're waiting, as you're saying, for the dangerous materials to be removed from the roads. And they'll be in within the next day or two and starting to take care of and address the very basic human needs we have of food, shelter and clothing.

M. O'BRIEN: This is going to be a long-haul response for the Red Cross. I don't know if you know how long the Red Cross was involved in Andrew in the wake of that, but it was a long period of time.

TEAHEN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Is the Red Cross up to the challenge? Because this is a big one.

TEAHEN: It's a mandate that Red Cross, and it's a promise the Red Cross makes to the American public. We are still involved in hurricanes from six years ago. We're still working with families from disasters 10 years ago. We're a long-haul organization. We have the chapters and the volunteers in the communities throughout the country. When a major disaster occurs, we bring in all of the volunteers from all over the country to support it. But when the national response leaves in months from now or years from now, the local chapter, the local volunteers will still be here serving their community.

M. O'BRIEN: A couple of lessons to be drawn upon this one. And, you know, still rescue efforts are under way, particularly in New Orleans, where the flood waters are still persisting. Many people still decided to ride it out in their homes. And we're told that even down this beach, certainly we know 30 people at least were in this apartment building here. Clearly that is not the advice of the Red Cross.

TEAHEN: No. And for days before this storm hit, I and other members of the Red Cross were on television telling people to take cover, to evacuate, to leave, to check on your neighbors, make sure if there are special needs or elderly to take them along, because this was a very, very dangerous storm.

And we regret when people for one reason or another choose not to or cannot leave. It's a hardship, not only for the families that lose family members, but for a community that loses any member of their community. And we just ask in future disasters evacuate ahead of time. Don't wait to see what kind of video or what kind of story you can tell afterwards.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. And one other thing. We were yesterday at a scene where people were trying to get back to their homes in New Orleans.

TEAHEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: People were getting hot and bothered that they couldn't go back. What's the advice from the Red Cross on that?

TEAHEN: Stay away until emergency management tells you to come. It may be several days or weeks, but to come back with no electricity no water, no sewer. I saw somebody drive through high-tension power lines yesterday. He didn't even see them. He was coming down the roads. Stay away. It's not safe.

M. O'BRIEN: Peter Teahen, national spokesman for the Red Cross. Thank you and good luck to you and your team as they respond to the largest -- it is the largest Red Cross response to a natural disaster ever -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And when you see the pictures, Miles, from New Orleans, you can see why it is the largest response. It looks terrible. We've got John Zarrella in downtown New Orleans. We're going to get to him in just a moment, so he can update us on the situation there. As we heard from Chad just a moment ago, the levee has failed there, and it looks as if there's a two-block chunk that is not holding water anymore. And it is flooding parts of the downtown. It looks as if that water is still rising. We're going to get an update on that with John Zarrella coming up in just a few moments. First, a break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are still monitoring that situation in New Orleans. We're trying to get John Zarrella back on the phone. One of the levees there has been breached. It's got a two-foot chunk missing. And, of course, that is adding to the flooding problems in New Orleans. When we get John Zarrella on the phone, we'll get his report right to you.

As you know, CNN has been working day and night to bring you the very latest on Katrina. And our reporters have witnessed the utter devastation Katrina has caused.

Here, Jeanne Meserve talks to CNN's Aaron Brown about the physical and emotional toll it has taken on her and her crew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Quite a dramatic and difficult night down there, hasn't it?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been horrible. As I left tonight, darkness, of course, had fallen, and you can hear people yelling for help. You can hear the dogs yelping, all of them stranded, all of them hoping someone will come.

But for tonight, they've had to suspend the rescue efforts. It's just too hazardous for them to be out in the boats. There are electrical lines that are still alive. There are gas lines that are still spewing gas. There are cars that are submerged. There are other large objects the boats can't operate.

So, they had to suspend operations and leave those people in the homes.

As we were driving back, we passed scores of boats, fish and wildlife boats that they brought in. They are flat-bottomed. They are, obviously, going to put them in the water just as soon as they possibly can and go out and reach the people who are out there who desperately need help.

We watched them, some of them come in. They were in horrible shape, some of them. We watched one woman whose leg had been severed.

Mark Biello, one of our cameramen, went out in one of the boats to help. He ended up being out for hours and told horrific tales. He saw bodies. He saw other just unfathomable things. Dogs wrapped in electrical lines who were still alive that were being electrocuted.

The police are having radio problems, at least they were earlier this evening. They didn't have enough boats. They put out an appeal to various police who had personal boats to bring them to the scene. But the problem was the people who had the boats couldn't get to the boats to bring them to the scene to go out and rescue the people.

People are out there in the night. One EMA worker told us that the water was rising. And I can tell you that when we came back into the city tonight, it certainly was higher here. Whether it's rising in that neighborhood as much as it has here, I don't know -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, let me walk you through a couple of things. Are they able -- are authorities able to, in any way, communicate with these people who are stranded and scared and hungry and cold and desperate?

MESERVE: They aren't tonight. When the boats were in the water, as the boats went around through the neighborhood, they yelled, and people yelled back. But Mark, when he came back, told me that some of the people they just couldn't get to. They just couldn't get to them. They couldn't maneuver the boats in there.

Because this had happened before in Hurricane Betsy, there were many people who kept axes in their homes and had them in the attic in preparation for this. And some people were able to use those axes and make holes in their roofs and stick their head out or their body out or climb up completely. But many others clearly didn't have that.

Most of the rescuers appeared to be carrying axes, and they were trying to hack them out as best they could to provide access and haul them out.

BROWN: I'm sorry. What...

MESERVE: There were also Coast Guard helicopters involved in it. Aaron, we could see them flying overhead.

BROWN: Yes.

MESERVE: It appeared that when they saw someone on a rooftop, they were dropping flares to try and signal the boats to get there.

BROWN: Is there any sense of that there's triage, that they're looking to see who needs help the worst? Or they're just -- they were just getting to whomever they could get to and getting them out of there?

MESERVE: I had the distinct impression they were just getting to whoever they could get to.

I talked to one fire captain, who had been out in his personal boat. He said he worked in area probably 10 square blocks. He had rescued 75 people. He said in one instance there were something like 18 people in one house, some of them young. One, he said, appeared to be a newborn. And he said other boats were working the same area at the same time, also picking up large numbers of people. And he doesn't believe they got all of them. And that's just one 10-block area.

I don't know how big the area is. I haven't been able to see any footage from the air.

BROWN: Yes.

MESERVE: But it appears to go on forever. It's hard for me to comprehend how many people might be out there and how many people's lives are in jeopardy or how many people may already be dead.

One thing we saw that was -- oh, I just couldn't imagine being in this situation. One of the boats had managed to pick up a fairly large group of people, and it brought them in. And the only land that was above ground were some railroad tracks. And they put them there. And then they had to sit there for what seemed to me to be a couple of hours before another boat could pick them up and bring them into the highway. And then when they got to the highway, there was no truck to bring them into the city. And they set off on foot into the city -- Aaron.

BROWN: If you mentioned this, I apologize. Do you have -- and when I say "you," I think people understand it. I hope people understand that it's not just you. You're working with a crew of people, a photographer and others. Do you have a sense of how many people may be stranded tonight?

MESERVE: No. Nobody has a sense of that. And may I say that the crew was extraordinary. We had very difficult situations. My cameraman is working with a broken foot since 9:00 this morning to try and get this story to you. Big words of praise for them, and for Mark Biello, who went out and ended up in that water trying to get the rescue boats over partially-submerged railroad tracks. It was a heroic piece of work by CNN employees.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And it's going to be another tough day today. CNN's Jeanne Meserve in New Orleans.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Live from Biloxi, Mississippi, Miles O'Brien on the day after Katrina. A terrible mess, a terrible toll. Lives lost. People trapped. A terrible financial cost as well.

Where I'm standing right now would have been 25 feet below water yesterday at this time. The waters have receded. And now the cleanup begins.

Many people decided to ride this storm out on this beach. And at least in one case, it was a terrible cost. Thirty people known dead in the collapse of one apartment building about a mile down the beach, which we can't quite even get to at this point.

A little farther down the coast to the east, Mobile, Alabama, a city that has seen its share of difficult, challenging killer hurricanes over the year. I remember Hurricane Frederic back in 1979. Today is dealing with something even worse.

Chief Sam Cochran heads the police department there.

Chief Cochran, good to have you with us. Just set the scene for us right now in your city. How do things look?

CHIEF SAM COCHRAN, MOBILE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, we're beginning to clean up, assess the damages. We were without power throughout the city last night. People are moving around quite a bit, though. We're very fortunate, though. We have not lost any life. We spent all day yesterday and last night rescuing people from the high waters. Several hundred people had been stranded in high water, and we got to them by boats and high water vehicles.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you reasonably certain, chief, that you've rescued everybody who need rescuing?

COCHRAN: Well, we're doing that this morning. We think that we've got to everybody that could contact us. But now, as the water continues to go down, we'll move into those neighborhoods just to make sure that someone is not still stranded in high water. But everyone that could contact us we've got to them by now.

M. O'BRIEN: And the floodwaters have receded there, as well as they have here in Biloxi?

COCHRAN: Yes. They have receded, and we still have some high water in some areas. But, again, it's going down now. And we're, you know, trying to make sure that we just double back and checking back wherever we think there might be someone that would still be there.

M. O'BRIEN: And there was a picture that caught our eye yesterday. There was that oil rig or barge which broke free from its mooring, and it actually struck a bridge in your town. Tell us about that. Did that cause significant long-lasting damage?

COCHRAN: Well, I think that's still being assessed by the Department of Transportation. The bridge is still closed, but that, of course, was a scary moment at the time when it broke loose, because that was in the midst of the storm. And it did drift up to the Cochran Bridge.

M. O'BRIEN: Chief, you've been around there for a while. Compare this to storms you've weathered before. Is this worst you've seen?

COCHRAN: Well, this had the highest water I've seen. I've weathered Frederic and all but one since then. George had a lot of water. But this had the highest water. And just as predicted, the storm surge came. We tried to get people out ahead of time. Most heeded our call but not everyone. And then we had to go back in and rescue those that did not heed the call to evacuate.

M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting in talking to people here on the beach in Biloxi, many of them say every time they ask us to leave, nothing happens. And they're talking about recent storms that they had been told to leave from as a result. Did you run into that a little bit? Did people have a sense of false security?

COCHRAN: Well, I think that's true in some instances. We all -- if we err, we err on the caution of conservative, and that builds up over time. And then we just have to have one of these type of storms to wake us all back up. It's sad that so much loss of life occurs.

But this storm was unique for us here in Mobile in that it was not the wind so much as it was the high water. And we have been used to all of the storms with high winds the last 20-25 years rather than the high water. Most of the storms in the last recent history for us have come into the east of us, so we've not had the storm surge. We've actually had the water pulled out of the bay, whereas in this case the water was pushed up into the bay and, of course, into all of the tributaries.

M. O'BRIEN: And final thought. Any word on any fatalities there?

COCHRAN: No word on any fatalities resulting from the high water or, you know, the bad weather. But, of course, in this recovery phase, we also know this is one of the most dangerous times. We're trying to keep the intersections that are without power, trying to keep them safe. Many accidents occur, you know, in these situations.

M. O'BRIEN: Chief Sam Cochran, Mobile Police Department, thanks for your time.

COCHRAN: Yes, sir.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about not only the aftermath, which Miles was talking about, but also the impact, and then the ripple effect from Hurricane Katrina.

Let's get right to Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Outside of the cleanup, there's the dollars. And then there is, of course, everybody else who isn't even necessarily affected is going to be affected.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I think you put it best when you talked about that ripple effect. Soledad, because there really is a national impact here.

Let's talk about the airline industry very quickly. Disruptions across the United States yesterday and today as well.

Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans, also Gulfport and Biloxi and Mobile airports all still closed. Delays across the South and Ohio River Valley as well. Hundreds of flights cancelled yesterday. And again, planes will be flying around the storm this morning.

As far as the tourist industry in New Orleans, Soledad a lot of conventioneers go to this city. It is one of the biggest convention cities in the United States. For instance, you've got 70,000 conventioneers scheduled to come to this city just in September alone. The AARP is having a very big convention there. And, you know, that will surely be disrupted.

Just another quick note here from Hilton Hotels. They've noted that they have evacuated 13 hotels in Louisiana, five in Alabama and Mississippi. They are not accepting any arrivals at all in Alabama, most of the Alabama hotels for Hilton, and also a dozen-and-a-half hotels in Louisiana and Mississippi. If you have a reservation at a Hilton Hotel or for that matter any hotel chain, please check, because most of them are not accepting new arrivals until at least Thursday.

So that sort of gives you an idea of the disruption this is causing.

S. O'BRIEN: And all of this in total is going to be just a huge blow to the economy overall.

SERWER: Absolutely. And, again, not just the region, the Gulf Coast region, but the nation as well.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a problem. All right, thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: As we head to the top of the hour, let's take a short break. When we come back, we're going to tell you a little bit more about the devastation of Katrina. We'll tell you where she's headed next as well. Stay with us.

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