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The Situation Room
Water Rising in New Orleans; Survivors Plucked From Rooftops
Aired August 30, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where we are getting feeds from all along the Gulf Coast, simply devastated by a killer storm. We will get back to that dramatic rescue operation under way right now in New Orleans in just a moment. Standing by, CNN reporters across the region to bring us complete coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina happening right now.
In New Orleans, the water is simply rising. Eighty percent of the city is believed to be submerged, as helicopters pluck stranded survivors from rooftops. One Mississippi mayor calls it -- and I'm quoting now -- "our tsunami." In the wake of an all-out attack by wind and water, there's overwhelming destruction and death.
Far from the Gulf, Katrina spawning tornadoes as well. And 20 states face flood watches or warnings from what's now a tropical depression.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
A look now at some of the late developments, as the Gulf Coast copes with the aftermath of Katrina.
First, in Louisiana, Coast Guard crews chop through the roofs of flooded homes, so they can get to stranded residents and airlift them to safety.
The governor of Mississippi vows to rebuild coastal areas smashed by the storm. Right now, efforts are aimed at aiding survivors. Hundreds of National Guard troops are heading to the stricken region.
Hit hard, but not as hard, Alabama is already starting to clean up. A major highway bridge in Mobile remains closed after it was hit by a massive oil rig which broke loose in the storm.
Let's take a closer look at some of the numbers. In Louisiana, first of all, two dead. Officials predict many more. Officials concede that they don't yet know the full toll, 10,000 people taking shelter in the New Orleans Superdome right now. And 790,000 people are still without power.
In Mississippi, officials fear hundreds -- yes, hundreds -- of people may be dead, including 30 in one apartment complex alone. More than 12,000 people in that state are now in shelters, and up to one million people have no power.
Two confirmed dead in Alabama. Nearly 650,000 homes and businesses are without power, a 13,000-ton oil platform closing a key roadway.
We have been watching some of the dramatic video that's been coming in to CNN only within the past few minutes, showing some dramatic Coast Guard rescue operations in New Orleans.
Let's bring in our Jeanne Meserve. She's in New Orleans. She's joining us.
Jeanne, as we look at this video, it is simply incredible, what the U.S. Coast Guard and other first-responders are doing. But tell our viewers where you are right now and what you're seeing.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I am on the rooftop of the hotel where we're staying.
We have a vista of the city here. We have seen smoke starting to rise from a couple of places around us. We don't know what is on fire at those locations. We can look down at the streets from here, but I have been down in those streets. I have walked from here over to the Superdome to try and assess what was going on.
In the time that I was gone, the water rose from my knees to my upper thigh. In some places, it was almost up to my waist. We would have had difficulty getting back if we hadn't managed to hitch a ride with a National Guard troop that was coming back.
People are on the streets carrying satchels. They're oftentimes just plastic bags. Sometimes, they have a plastic box. They have put in these boxes all of their earthly possessions that they can. And they are dragging them, floating them, carrying them towards the Superdome, which is the place they understand they should go to get help.
When we got to the Superdome, we were told 15,000 to 20,000 people are inside or at that facility, most of them actually not inside at the hour we were there. Inside, there were a few people in the seats. There were kids down on the field actually playing football.
But most of the people seem to have wandered outside onto what appeared to be sort of a concourse level that's above the water. From there, they could watch all the helicopters coming in, bringing more National Guard troops to New Orleans.
Boy, do they have a job in front of them. It is unbelievable up there. It isn't just that there's water in the streets. It is filthy water. It is hazardous water. Just walking in it, you trip across trees. You trip across light poles, all those things that the hurricane brought down that never have been cleared away. You think you're walking on a steady sidewalk, and, all of a sudden, you'll fall off a curb because you don't know it ends.
A very difficult situation. It's bringing out the best in some people. I saw some people helping one another. I saw one quite elderly man being held and, around his body, being hauled into the Superdome by a much younger man. Clearly, some very positive things happening here.
Some complaints already about what's happening at the Superdome. I ran into one man who's on dialysis. He said he was brought there before the hurricane, was told there would be dialysis service available. He hasn't been able to get it. He says he's not a critical case. His understanding is that some other people who needed it more critically were taken out of the facility. But he was irate. The dialysis treatment -- patients had been taken there, and then there was absolutely no way to give him the treatment that he said they needed. That's one man's account of what was happening there.
They're eating MREs. They have some water to drink. The National Guard knows they have a huge situation on their hands. It's going to become a security situation sooner or later, because although people appeared pretty resigned right now, one can imagine that, over time, the anger is going to mount incredibly about what's happening at the Superdome.
The rest of the city, lord only knows. We saw some people in doorways. I see a few people in windows and other high-rises around us. I have no idea from here what's happening out in those residential areas. But, as you know, I saw it yesterday. And it makes my heart stop to think what might be going on out there today.
Wolf.
BLITZER: When you were walking out in those streets, was the water still rising on the streets of New Orleans in the areas where you were, Jeanne?
MESERVE: Yes. It definitely was rising where I was going.
When we went in, as I mentioned, it was about knee deep. When I came back, it was about thigh deep. And the projections from the National Guardsman I spoke to was that it would be going even higher. If there was one positive thing I saw, it was, in the vicinity of our hotel, there was some kind of a storm drain, and it seemed to still be taking in water.
Now, I may be wrong about whether that was a storm drain, but something was flowing down off of the streets. As I understand it, New Orleans has an electrical system that's largely underground. You don't see telephone wires on the streets. Well, that was a good thing yesterday during the hurricane. I'm no engineer. I don't really know how these things work. But it's a mystery to me how they could repower the city while they have all this water sitting on top of the streets.
BLITZER: We have been showing...
(CROSSTALK)
MESERVE: ... emergency generators going around the city. I don't know how long -- go ahead, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes. I -- I was just going to say, Jeanne, we have been showing our viewers these dramatic pictures of Coast Guard personnel literally lifting up people stranded on their roofs, putting them in baskets, and getting them on a helicopter to fly them to safety.
We're getting some new pictures, in fact, right now in from -- from New Orleans showing the extent of this -- of this devastation. Have you actually seen people stranded on roofs in the areas downtown, where you are?
MESERVE: Not where I am, no. These are all high-rise buildings down here. I haven't seen anybody in that situation at all. Most people are, at this point, downtown, are safe on their first floors. I mean, in the lobby of this hotel, for instance, there are a couple of inches of water. It's not too bad inside here. And -- and so, it's not as critical here as it was out in those residential areas that you saw.
About those searches, a general who I spoke to over -- over at the Superdome was in charge of the search-and-rescue effort. He said they've divided the city into zones, different helicopters and different services, because I understand the National Guard helicopters are involved in this, as well as the Coast Guard. They're responsible for a zone and taking people out.
But one Guardsman who I spoke to who had been involved in the rescue effort yesterday said the numbers of people who are in trouble are just beyond comprehension. He said he'd been working an area about five blocks square, and they pulled out hundreds of people yesterday. So, this is -- this is an incredible job. And, clearly, trying to save people's lives is a priority. People at the Superdome, although they don't realize it, are in better shape than so many other people in the city right now.
BLITZER: And we're showing, Jeanne, our -- I assume you can't see CNN right now, but we're showing viewers another location in New Orleans where a huge fire has now erupted. As if these people didn't have enough to deal with, to cope with, now they have a fire that's breaking out in one area of New Orleans.
And we see some of these areas that were streets at one point, but now they look like rivers, Coast Guard and other personnel trying to deal with this situation. I don't know how these firefighters are going to possibly get close to dealing with this fire in this one area of New Orleans. But it seems like such an enormous problem has further been complicated.
Jeanne, go ahead and tell our viewers why -- why the streets of New Orleans are now flooding, because, in the immediate aftermath, when Katrina -- when -- when Katrina hit, there was no flooding, but, all of a sudden, something happened.
MESERVE: Wolf, I'm sure that you have a better understanding from where you are than I do where I am, because our mobility is limited. It's a miracle that I could get this phone call through to you. Communication is just unbelievable.
What I hear from the people I have talked to who have been trying to listen the shortwave is that the levees just broke down in several different areas, and they're big breaks. And so, the water is coming in.
If I could get back to the fire matter for just a moment, we do see smoke on the horizon. You're right. There are fires going on here.
And there is oil and gas on the top of this water that's going through the city streets. I mean, it's hitting gas tanks in cars, the water is. And so, I mean, taking water out of there, there's stuff on the streets. There's stuff in the storm drains. It's all coming up to the surface of the water.
Now, in addition, before this began, before the hurricane began, I stopped in at a firehouse and talked to them about what they were going to do. They, at that point, said, when the water got high, they were going to have to evacuate. They couldn't operate their equipment. They were going to have to leave it, for instance, on highway off- ramps to keep it out of trouble. And then they'd come back in when they could come in.
Now, did they do that? I don't have a clue. Can they get to where those particular fires are? I don't know. But this is a really big problem.
Wolf.
BLITZER: The whole Superdome, where you are, there's still, what, about 10,000 people in what is now this super shelter? They're still inside? Is that right, Jeanne?
MESERVE: From what I understand, there are now 15,000 to 20,000 people. Every person who's being rescued, who's being plucked from a rooftop or anything else, is being taken to the Superdome. That's what I was told. And so, the numbers there are only growing.
They are getting larger and larger and larger. And the conditions are deteriorating. There is, I'm sure, no water service here -- there. We don't have it here, and the sewers aren't working. So, you can imagine, this is going to get really unpleasant really fast. But my guess is that they don't have any place else to take these people. At least there, it's a central area. They can helicopter in what they need to helicopter in terms of supplies and in terms of personnel.
But, you know, the entire region is devastated. How are they going to take out that number of people? It just -- it boggles the mind, much less how they're going to deal with the rest of us who are trapped in the city, who have absolutely no way to get out of the city. And shortly, I imagine, it will be very difficult for us to even get out of our building.
BLITZER: And I'm sure that everyone is worried. You point out that the nature of the water that's coming in, this isn't beautiful, clean lake water that's coming in. This is pretty disgusting water and fully hazardous to people's health.
How are authorities going to deal with this problem? And I'm sure you're first and foremost worried not only about yourself, but all your friends and our colleagues who are there as well. MESERVE: Well, it's a mystery to me how they're going to deal with it. I know that FEMA was prepositioning medical disaster assistance teams. I'm sure they have brought some more in.
You'll have to excuse me. I'm in a vacuum here. I don't really know the big picture. But they've got to be bringing in those medical supplies. I was very nervous walking through this stuff. One of our colleagues broke his foot yesterday covering that -- that hurricane. And he's up here on the roof, because we don't want him anywhere near that water.
You know, I thank God that many of us are very well inoculated, because we always run the possibility of being deployed overseas. For average people, who may not have immunizations, I just can't begin to think of what the health implications of this are going to be.
Wolf.
BLITZER: You've spoken, I'm sure, with a lot of people in New Orleans over the past 24 hours, Jeanne. When we spoke almost 24 hours ago, you described your initial reaction when you saw what was happening on the streets as an apocalypse that has fallen upon this once beautiful city and hopefully, we hope, one day will once again be a beautiful city.
What are people saying to you? How are they dealing with the enormity of what has happened?
MESERVE: Well, you know, I only have very small snapshots, mostly people who were heading for the Superdome, many of them expressing regret that they didn't heed authorities to get out.
I think our camera is going to move. Is that what we see? Oh, the smoke has gotten intense on the horizon again, so, we're going to switch over. I don't know if, on this videophone, you can make it out. But, in the distance there, you can see the fires rising.
BLITZER: We definitely see it, Jeanne.
MESERVE: But, Wolf, now I have lost my train of thought.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: We definitely -- we definitely -- we definitely -- we definitely see the smoke rising.
And, Jeanne, you were giving us a snapshot of how people, the human side, how individuals you've had a chance to speak with are dealing with -- and we will continue to watch the smoke coming up from another part of New Orleans.
But there's no doubt, there's no doubt that compounding all of the problems of flood, flooding, is now a problem of fire.
MESERVE: That's right. And getting back to the personal stories for just a moment, if I could, many people are doing good deeds. I mean, yesterday, when I was out on I-10, watching that horrible flooding and the people trapped in their houses, there was one family who wouldn't evacuate until the elderly woman who lived next door was taken out.
And they inflated an air mattress and put her on that to try to keep her afloat. I saw people who were disabled today being hauled through the streets by other younger, healthier people. Everybody wants to know, what's the situation? Everybody wants to know, is it better over there? Everybody wants to know, how is it in the Superdome?
Let me tell you, if they get to the Superdome, they don't know that they actually are in a good position. If you're in a hotel, you don't know it. You think it's the worst of the worst, but, you know, it really isn't. It's those people who still are out there, still in their homes, still struggling.
Wolf, it's just -- the magnitude of this is so huge. It -- it defies my comprehension. You know that I cover homeland security. And you know that they rehearse for things like this. But to have this on- the-ground experience is so eye-opening. And -- and no amount of planning and preparation, I don't believe, could have adequately prepared them for this.
Unless they can bring this water down and bring it down quickly, I just can't imagine where this is going to go, if it takes another week, if it takes another two weeks. And most people here, you know, they just haven't come to grips with the fact that that's what they could be facing here. People are discontent, want to know when we can get out. And they just haven't come to grips with the fact that they're going to have to hunker down and they're going to have to deal with it.
I might mention, too, Wolf -- and I haven't mentioned this -- in addition to the very positive things we have seen in terms of behavior, there is looting. There is looting going down. I watched a young man break into a watch shop and take things out and put them in a plastic bin and drag it along.
Someone told me they had seen a motorboat, a guy in a boat going along, loading that up with absolutely anything he could find. It's impossible for the police to provide security here, because their cars are stalling out in the streets. Pretty soon, if the water keeps going up, the National Guard vehicles are going to have trouble getting through the streets.
The only comfort at that point is that people will have, getting -- trouble getting through the streets, too. They won't be able to get to stuff. But, you know, security concerns are significant. They're serious. I'm sure, if I was a business owner here, I would be apoplectic. But there are so many people concerns here. That's the thing that just I find just overwhelming, Wolf.
BLITZER: Jeanne, I want to show our viewers some pictures that we have just gotten in of individuals now stepping outside the Superdome. They're lining up outside. I don't think you can see this, but our viewers can see what's going on. Are people based -- I think you've been in there. Are people free to go back and forth inside and outside from the Superdome? And is the water that's flooding the streets around the Superdome, is it getting closer and closer to the actual complex?
MESERVE: Well -- well, they were stepping outside of the Superdome to get some sunshine and some fresh air. Frankly, even as hot as it is, it's a lot more pleasant outside than inside.
And, once they go outside and they see the water around the Superdome, I think most of them realize they don't have any choice. They've got to stay there, because the water around the Superdome when I left was hip deep, and it's only going to get deeper. So, I think that -- that -- that they know that, for the time being, they have to sit tight.
Do they want to get out? You bet they do. But there's just no way they're going to do it at this point in time. It really looks like a homeless person's encampment. And, as I said earlier to Kyra, that's exactly what it is over there.
The conditions inside, they're tolerable at this point in time. It looked to me like they were trying to take care of the trash situation. But with the sewers not working, boy, and that number of people, I didn't personally see any port-a-potties. I sure as heck hope that's one of the first things they are bringing in, simply to make it marginally livable over there over the long term.
Wolf.
BLITZER: And what about the French Quarter? Have you had a chance to get anywhere near the French Quarter over the past 24 hours, Jeanne?
MESERVE: No, I have not gone down there. I chose to make my way over to the Superdome.
I do not know. I have heard, by word of mouth, that it's flooded over there, too. Frankly, it would amaze me if it wasn't flooded at this point in time. But I haven't personally seen it. I'm not sure if my colleague John Zarrella might have been over there. I think maybe you'll have a chance to talk to him shortly. Maybe you'll be able to ask him about that.
BLITZER: What about National Guard personnel and police officers? Are they very visible or are they hard to spot in the areas where you've been?
MESERVE: Well, they're certainly very visible over at the Superdome. I mean, they're flying in National Guardsmen to the Superdome to help with the security and to help, I gather, with the rescue effort.
There are thousands of them coming in over there. And, elsewhere, I saw -- I saw a fair number. We hitched a ride on a National Guard truck to get ourselves partway back here. So, they're out there. The police cars were stalling out. They had no way to get around either.
We, fortunately -- in this hotel, there are a couple of policemen here. They're, you know, very concerned about their families and their homes, but they're here. And it's unclear to me whether they were assigned to stay at this hotel or whether they just happened to be able to find a room here. And it's fortuitous. I mean, I'm very happy that we are going to have some police in this hotel. They've been extraordinarily useful and helpful already. I'm sure they will continue to be.
But they're overwhelmed. I mean, there's absolutely no way that any police department anywhere in the world could cope with what's going on here. And, with the National Guard, you know, I'm not clear on the numbers coming in. But it's going to -- it's not just people they need. They need a system. They need to get people out or something. And I just don't know how, logistically, that's going to work, when you have this number of people involved in the catastrophe.
And I know I have only got a small snapshot here. I have no idea, really, what's happening in the parishes around here and in the city that were hit. I just have no idea. And I don't know how all those needs are addressed across the board.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jeanne. Stand by for a minute.
Our colleague Barbara Starr is over at the Pentagon. She's getting new information on what the U.S. military is planning to do to help everyone in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf.
Barbara, what are you picking up?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this word just coming in from the Army Corps of Engineers. They have put out an announcement saying they are on scene. And here is what they are doing in New Orleans specifically to try and deal with those rising waters.
The Army Corps tells us that they are now at the 17th Street Canal flood wall that was breached in New Orleans overnight on Monday. What the Corps believes in their initial assessment of that 17th Street Canal wall is that the water overtopped the flood wall, causing the entire structure to collapse. They also tell us that they now say there was a second breach at a place called Industrial Canal in New Orleans during the storm.
Closing both of these breaches, the Army Corps says, is essential -- in their words of this announcement they have just put out -- essential to closing those breaches, so that the water can be removed from the city. They tell us they are now trying to assemble rock, super sandbags, cranes, helicopters, and barges, so that they can begin to repair those flood wall gaps and stop the flow of water from Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans. They tell us they are very concerned about a third flood wall structure. It is called pumping station number six. The Army Corps says this is one of the largest pumping stations in the world. It is a major facility that will be used to try and drain the water from New Orleans, but that it is very critical they get these gaps closed now, so they can begin to do this work. The Army Corps saying it is on the scene in New Orleans and is also beginning to move to other surrounding areas to try and deal with the flooding situation.
Wolf, we also still, within the next couple of hours, do expect an announcement from the Pentagon that they will establish a military Joint Task Force Katrina to start dealing with this situation, so that they can better coordinate assistance between the National Guard across all of these states and the active-duty military, if it is called into action, Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara, we know that many of the National Guard personnel in Louisiana, in Mississippi and Alabama have been activated and are serving in Iraq.
Are there enough personnel -- I don't know if you know the answer to this question, but, if you don't, you'll find out -- are there enough personnel in those three states to get the job done, or will they have to start deploying troops from outside those states to beef up the U.S. military presence to deal with this catastrophe?
STARR: Wolf, the National Guard is in relatively good shape. The National Guard, once the war in Iraq started, made a promise to the states that they would at least leave 50 percent of National Guard capacity behind in all of the states to deal with these very types of issues like natural disasters, including brush fires, out in the West. It was an issue of great concern to the state governors once the war in Iraq began.
The numbers are fine with the National Guard, but the massive destruction that this storm has caused now is causing one additional development. And that is, the states in the region are sharing amongst themselves. For example, earlier today, we saw Arkansas activate 350 National Guard members in its state. They will go to Mississippi to try and help out there. So, everybody is pitching in, lending a hand.
If the active-duty military is called in, it will be because the National Guard has some other additional requirement, because the destruction is so widespread or because these state and local forces simply are going to rapidly become exhausted trying to deal with the scope of this disaster, Wolf.
BLITZER: This new task force that is being established to deal with Katrina, who will be in charge? Who will run this operation, a one-star, a two-star, a three-star or a four-star general?
STARR: Our understanding at this point, Wolf -- and the announcement is not officially out yet -- is, it will be a three-star Army general. It will be the commanding general of an organization called the 1st Army. Essentially, that is all U.S. Army forces east of the Mississippi River. When they are in the United States, they fall under an organization called 1st Army. The idea is that this will give one place for everyone to go to coordinate military assistance, whether it's active duty or National Guard, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state and local governments, will be able to tap directly into the military expertise.
They expect to work with FEMA and basically set up shop at Maxwell Air Force Base in Arkansas, Fort Gillem in Georgia, and begin to move out. But I can tell you, Wolf, that these TV pictures that the world is watching this afternoon are very closely being watched in the Pentagon. People see what is happening here. And they are trying to pull the assistance together, they tell us, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with the latest on what the U.S. military is doing and is about to do over this, do with this devastation in New Orleans.
But there's devastation way beyond New Orleans -- Biloxi, Mississippi, specifically, as well as in Alabama.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we will go there live. Much more of our coverage, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're getting some new video incoming here in THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Let's put it up and show our viewers what we're seeing in Mobile, Alabama. These are pictures that have just come in to CNN. You can see the floodwaters that are hurting some of these areas right along the Gulf Coast.
New video coming in to CNN, but the devastation not only in Mobile, but all over the area. We're seeing the devastating level of damage from the ground, from the skies.
Bill Flowers is a pilot who recently flew over the Biloxi, Mississippi, area. He's joining us on the phone now from Mobile with more on what he saw.
Bill, thanks very much. And I know you can see CNN. We're going to show our viewers some of the video that you managed to shoot while you were flying over this area. And tell our viewers what exactly -- how you got yourself into this situation, what you saw.
BILL FLOWERS, PILOT: Well, I'm an airborne traffic reporter with Metro Networks here in Mobile and some of the area that you're looking at right now is flying along down in south Mobile County; a lot of destruction.
I mean, it's -- you know, pretty much just debris paths, just about everywhere you look. In fact, I think what you're showing right now is actually one that I shot over Biloxi, Mississippi. And the area from Highway 90 up to I-10 is just about total debris. I mean, it's just a total mess. You know, a lot of the casinos, down in the area, just completely off of their foundation. Some of those -- some of those casinos were actually just moved inland, you know, about a half a mile across Highway 90 -- the whole casino.
BLITZER: These areas that we're seeing, are these isolated pockets? Or is this kind of devastation, the destruction that we're seeing in the video that you shot, spreading over vast areas?
FLOWERS: It's actually over vast areas. In fact, it pretty much goes from Dauphin Island, which is where I shot, and the destruction goes farther east than that into Gulf Shores, Pensacola Bay. But Dauphin Island, actually, was -- most of the island is completely underwater.
This that you're looking at right now is still just portions of Biloxi, Mississippi, which seemed to be the heaviest hit as far as just pure destruction. But a lot of this actually isn't wind. This is actually storm surge that moved up from, you know, the Gulf of Mexico inland a couple of miles up to I-10.
BLITZER: When you shot this video and you were flying over this area, did you see people on the ground or was it basically evacuated?
FLOWERS: Well, you know, I actually saw quite a few people out there. You know, people just kind of roaming around. But you know, kind of hard to tell what they were doing.
But a lot of these areas are areas that emergency workers and police haven't even been able to move into yet. So, I think there's actually going to be a lot more destruction and a lot more casualties than people even realize once they can get into some of these areas.
BLITZER: So once they get in, your fear -- your fear is that once people get in there, they're going to find bodies. That's what the governor of Mississippi suggested earlier. It's his great fear as well.
FLOWERS: Exactly. In fact, one area in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, there were a lot of the shrimp boats and big fishing vessels -- when the water rose and came up over land, some of the ships and some of these big boats, once the water finally receded, these things were sitting out in the woods.
BLITZER: Are you from this area, Bill? Or are you from someplace else?
FLOWERS: Actually, originally I'm from Mobile and I've been through a number of hurricanes. In fact, I was in Frederick. I remember going through Biloxi when I was a kid after Camille hit. And you know, I was -- you know, I've always been taken with the destruction that, that caused. But this just almost seems to be -- seems to be beyond Camille.
BLITZER: This area we're seeing now on the screen, where is this?
FLOWERS: This is at Dauphin Island, Alabama. In fact, that's actually the east end of the island as you're moving toward the west. There's actually -- once you get a little farther into the video here, you'll see an oil rig that was out several miles out in the Gulf that's actually moved in.
Here you see a lot of -- in fact, one of the anchors here at the FOX station here in Mobile, his house, he saw this for the first time and realized his house was gone. In fact, it's probably just a few more seconds. It's right about in there; where the pilings are on the right side of the screen. But it's -- a lot of these houses you see, the water lapping up, you know, past their houses.
And this was -- some of these houses actually set back, you know, 100 yards before the storm. Once you get a little farther here, you see that the island's almost completely overswept with water. And here in just a bit, the island actually goes about four or five miles beyond that. But the island's pretty much just eaten up now and just totally demolished.
BLITZER: Is that an oil drilling rig that we just saw with the helipad there?
FLOWERS: That's the one I was telling you about that was several miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.
BLITZER: And that one just simply moved? That's a huge structure. And the wind and the hurricane simply just lifted that and brought it close to shore like that?
FLOWERS: Exactly. And that was not there before. That's actually brought in by the storm. And that's a mighty big structure.
BLITZER: And there are a lot of those kinds of drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. And presumably many of them have been destroyed like this one.
FLOWERS: Exactly. And that's -- you know, that's -- you know, I just can't fathom, you know, the kind of intensity and power that brought that thing, you know, so close to land.
BLITZER: Have you ever seen anything like this in all of the other hurricanes that you've covered?
FLOWERS: I haven't. And you know, the biggest one that comes to mind, of course, Camille. You know, I was a, you know, a teenager during that time and I remember it impacted me pretty big. But the biggest one before this was Hurricane Frederick, which, you know, just seemed to totally devastate the area. But this just goes way beyond anything that I saw in Frederick.
BLITZER: Bill Flowers, you've shot some dramatic video for us. Thanks for spending a few moments with us in our special coverage here in THE SITUATION ROOM -- appreciated it very much. We have some additional video we're getting in from New Orleans. We're going to go there momentarily, but first I want to check in with Jack Cafferty. He's in New York.
Jack, we're watching all this together and we're learning and we're seeing and it's pretty powerful. It's very amazing. And I don't think I could adequately describe what we're seeing. But give it a shot.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I don't pretend to be able to either, but I would suggest that the impact of this storm, Katrina, will reach far beyond the Gulf Coast before the story is finished. Governor Jeb Bush, for example, in Florida said yesterday that his state could soon see shortages of gasoline. He put it sometime in the coming days.
And Florida might not be alone. These are cars that were lined up in Jackson, Mississippi, yesterday to get gasoline after Katrina passed through. The hurricane shut down production, as you suggested a minute ago, of thousands of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and the experts haven't begun to total the damage there.
The Gulf of Mexico provides about one-fourth of all of our domestic oil and gasoline production. Some analysts are saying that retail gas prices could jump by as much as 20 cents a gallon just as the result of Katrina.
So, here's the question for this hour: At what point should the government consider rationing gasoline? A radical idea until, perhaps, Katrina showed up on the scene. CaffertyFile -- one word -- at CNN.com. We'll read a few of your letters in a few minutes.
Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Jack, we'll be anxious to get that result of our viewers; what they have in mind as well. Jack, we'll check back with you shortly.
Rob Marciano is joining us now. Rob, you're in Biloxi, Mississippi. And we can see the devastation in the shot right behind you, but give our viewers a sense what has happened to this beautiful community.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Wolf, Biloxi, Gulfport, the entire southern shoreline of Mississippi just nailed with this storm surge mostly. I mean, we talk often when we talk about hurricanes, the danger of the storm surge; how much damage that wall of water can do and we're seeing it firsthand in Biloxi, Mississippi -- estimations anywhere from 20 to 25 feet of that storm surge coming our way.
We went out along Highway 90. This is the main strip. It runs from Gulfport to Biloxi. There's a number of casinos here, most of which have been damaged, all of which have to float on the Gulf of Mexico. And because of that, when the storm surge came in, many of them were lifted off their moorings, across this road and dumped on the other side. It's quite a visual, no doubt about it.
They're starting to clear this road a little bit. They've got bulldozers and frontloaders out to try to make way. This is a six-lane road. And right now, there's only really only one lane that's possible. But cleanup is slowly but surely happening.
I want to talk about people who lost their homes, maybe some stories of survival. I have one person here we would like to talk to. Terese Collins, you have not one, but two homes here. What happened? Where are they located?
TERESE COLLINS, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: Our homes -- one's a rental, but our home is located on Back Bay of Biloxi on Kensington Drive. And we have a slab left. But our neighbors, they were -- all the homes on that area of Kensington were destroyed.
MARCIANO: And when -- talk about Kensington, talk about Back Bay. This isn't right on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. This is somewhat inland.
COLLINS: Biloxi -- the old Biloxi is a peninsula, and we're on the backside of the peninsula. So, we're on -- you're on the Biloxi Beach. We are on the bay. And it's got as much water as this did.
MARCIANO: But you didn't stay in those homes. You evacuated to higher ground?
COLLINS: No. We didn't. We had some neighbors that did and they, you know, swam for their lives. But we stayed with my mother-in-law in a brick home and we were fine. You know, the water came up the street. We watched it, but we were fine.
MARCIANO: Why wouldn't people -- why didn't your neighbors evacuate?
COLLINS: They're older people for some part. And a lot of them said, we survived Camille and our homes were OK then and the tidal surge didn't get us then, so it won't get us now. We felt the storm had greater potential to be stronger and higher than Camille and that's why we left.
MARCIANO: Well, we're happy you did. And we hope that your neighbors turned out OK. Thanks very much.
One of the many stories of survival. Some folks got out of the way. Some folks, obviously, didn't. And we're hearing some of those stories of people hanging on for their lives, swimming for their lives, going from rooftop to rooftop in an effort to escape some of the water, in some cases 20 to 25 feet.
She spoke of Camille, 1969. That was the benchmark hurricane, a Category 5 storm that made landfall across southwestern Mississippi. The difference with this storm was it was wider. The extent of hurricane-force winds extended much farther to the east. So it was able to push all that water up and much farther inland. Also another issue, Wolf, is that, you know, it's a lot more built up now than it was back in 1969. A lot more concrete, a lot more structures to funnel some of that water further inland, up streets and corners, around nooks and crannies to get to homes that maybe weren't even there in 1969. So it's a whole another ball game.
I'll mention one thing in regard regards to the action that's happening in New Orleans right now. Obviously, that's the focus of our coverage as things continue to happen. The weather right now is, as is often the case after a hurricane rolls through, is absolutely blazing. Temperatures are easily into the mid-90s. Obviously, lots of humidity, not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. So victims and rescue workers, I'm sure, Wolf, are having a hard time with the sizzling heat that's happening this afternoon.
Back to you from Biloxi, Mississippi.
BLITZER: Rob, we've been showing our viewers some of those high- rises. Many of those are gambling casinos in Biloxi which I'm sure have been devastated by this, including that building right behind you?
MARCIANO: Well, actually, this is the Beau Rivage behind me. And, actually, it's one of the newest. And they've poured tons of money into getting it engineered to withstand a hurricane.
So we're not sure what kind of damage this particular building withstood. But safe to say a lot less than some of the other casinos.
The way they work is their parking structures are on land. Their hotels are on land. But where they do the gambling has to be on a floating barge.
And so you can imagine what would happen when a 20, 25-foot storm surge with 135-mile-an-hour winds would do to that, in most instances, lifting them off their moor moorings and in some cases, across the road.
So the structures on land, most of which, the first and second stories, completely wiped out. That's for sure. That's happened in that casino. What's gone on up in the higher floors, I can't say.
BLITZER: All right. Rob, we'll be checking back with you. Rob Marciano is in Biloxi, Mississippi.
We're going to take another quick break, but we're going to go back to New Orleans when we come back. We're getting new pictures. Eighty percent of that beautiful city now believed to be submerged. We'll go back to New Orleans right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're going to go right back to New Orleans. Our John Zarrella is on the scene for us. We're getting new video in from New Orleans as well. But we want to check some other developments. We've been telling you about Katrina's violent visit to Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. But the hurricane remains also a serious problem elsewhere including in Georgia where there have been tornadoes.
CNN's Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center in Atlanta. She's joining us with more on those developments. Daryn?
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, I have to tell you, when you see what we're hearing from the Gulf shore and the coastline, what we're seeing here in Georgia seems to pale by comparison. But we bring you these pictures to give you an idea of just how far the devastation from Katrina continued.
These pictures are from Helen, Georgia. Anybody who knows Atlanta probably knows Helen. This is the third most popular tourist place in the state of Georgia. It's a little alpine village north of Atlanta.
Tornado ripped through there, took an entire second floor off an EconoLodge. Now, there weren't a lot of folks there. They were on the first floor. But get this, one of the couples staying there, that's now been displaced, a couple from New Orleans that had taken refuge in Helen, Georgia. They now are displaced yet again.
Let's show you Carroll County. So we go from the north of Atlanta to the southwest of Atlanta. Carroll County sits on the state line between Georgia and Alabama. A lot of poultry farms in this area and a number of homes completely devastated by a number of tornadoes that had touched down there. Here we go.
This is Carroll County. You get an idea. It's much flatter than the mountains of north Georgia. About 30 homes from tornadoes that touched down there. Over 10,000 people in the state of Georgia without power. A number of poultry farms, chicken houses just completely blown away with the birds inside right along with them.
Checked with our CNN weather department, weather conditions here in Georgia still very unstable at this hour. These tornadoes hit in the western part of the state. Now it's the northeastern part of the state that's threatened with possible tornadoes today, in the Carolinas, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky and that area.
Things pretty clear and calm here in Atlanta today, but many eyes and a lot of people here in the city having family along the Gulf Coast, eyes all on the Gulf Coast today.
BLITZER: All right, Daryn. We'll check back with you. Thank you very much.
With digital recorders and cameras and even cell phone cameras, Katrina may be the most documented storm ever in terms of pictures.
CNN's Mary Snow has been sorting through some of the more compelling images. She's joining us now live from New York. Mary, it's very heartbreaking to see it, but share some of these pictures with our viewers. MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, just watching these pictures of destruction, it's really hard to believe that someone would willingly go toward the hurricane before it hit. But one man did. And he shared a story with us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over) Richard Leland (ph) chose to come face-to-face with Hurricane Katrina. He brought his video camera.
RICHARD LELAND, PHOTOGRAPHER: 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. And one of the things I wanted to do in my life was to see one. And this was an opportunity, a little more than I had expected.
SNOW: Leland told CNN's Miles O'Brien he rode out the storm with his video camera rolling on the fourth floor of a six-story parking garage. He described a wall of water rising about 20 feet.
LELAND: This is the marina outside the Beau Rivage Hotel doing a good job of standing up to the waves and the wind.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What are we seeing here?
LELAND: Those are the waves eating away at the first floor of the parking structure.
SNOW: Through the fierce wind and water, one thing remains steady, pelicans who rode out the storm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And Wolf, that video was taken near the site where Rob Marciano was just standing. I'm sure in the coming days, we'll be seeing much more of this amateur video.
BLITZER: All right, Mary. We're going to check back with you in the next hour for more of these compelling images. Thanks, Mary Snow.
In New York, we're getting some new video. You can see it right behind me, coming in from Biloxi, Mississippi. This is new video, video showing some of the destruction. These houses simply destroyed by the wind, the surge. Biloxi, Mississippi, one of the hardest-hit areas along the Gulf Coast.
We're also following these stories online. CNN's Internet reporter Abbi Tatton is standing by. You're getting some amazing stories out there, Abbi. Share some of those with our viewers.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Actually heading back to the Gulf Coast there of Mississippi to Gulfport, an area much flooded. You saw the buildings destroyed. They're very hard to get to right now.
Mike Keller and Josh Norman are two young reporters for the "Sun- Herald" newspaper. They were bunkered down in the news room when the storm hit. And now they're reporting heading out and seeing what kind of destruction is out there.
I have to tell you, they started off quite lightheartedly about this. They were looking out to see as the storm rolled in, just saying they were two dumb guys not wanting to get out of the eye of the storm. But now it's changed very much. What they're saying is what began as an adventure has quickly turned into a heart-wrenching tragedy.
Mike went out earlier today reporting from what was happening on the streets there. What does he say? The smell of gas is thick in the neighborhoods. He saw National Guard trucks rolling into town, headed out towards Biloxi. Edgewater Mall there, you can see the flooding. The areas that weren't flooded, here an Olive Garden you can see completely destroyed.
People have been checking this blog -- it's DancingWithKatrina.blogspot.com -- for information about the area. What does he tell the people that are reading there? First of all, there's a lot of confusion a lot of destruction. He doesn't want to give out too much information, because there's just so much confusion about what is going on.
But what he does say, the roads are mostly impassable. Almost all the buildings along there are experiencing bad damage. Don't try to come here yet. The rescue teams are overworked. The hospitals are overflowing. The looters are rampant. He's also talking about his personal experience. We can't get to our houses, because the trees, light poles are down, and the roads are impassable right now.
That's DancingWithKatrina.blogspot.com there from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Are we getting a lot of this kind of information out there on the Internet, Abbi? Or is this just coming in sporadically? I assume a lot of the people in the hardest-hit areas can't get online.
TATTON: This is one of the things we're seeing is the difficulty people are having getting their posts out there. Yesterday we saw people posting from their Blackberries. People who were running out of power were powering their laptops from car batteries, trying to get the information out there. More and more is coming on as we get -- as we keep looking. But yes, it's sporadic at least.
BLITZER: All right. Abbi, we'll check back with you. I think we've connected with CNN's John Zarrella. He's in New Orleans. He's watching all of this. John, where are you? And tell our viewers some of your initial impressions of this devastation.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've lost it.
BLITZER: John, can you hear me? It's Wolf in Washington. Can you hear me, John? Unfortunately, I think we may have lost John Zarella. We're going to try to reconnect. We have a satellite phone that he's been working on. But unfortunately, unfortunately that seems to have broken down. But we'll reconnect with John Zarrella.
These are new pictures that we're getting in from the New Orleans area as well. Joining us on the phone is Joe Oster. He's from St. Bernard Parish. He's the planning commissioner in that area. Thanks very much, Mr. Oster, for joining us. Joe Oster, is that you?
JOE OSTER, ST. BERNARD PARISH PLANNING COMM.: That's correct.
BLITZER: Give our viewers a sense of what we know.
OSTER: Well let me just say right now what you're looking at on TV is the Interstate 10 twin span heading out of New Orleans to Slidell. That is eastbound if you're leaving New Orleans heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. That is the main artery coming east into the city. Right there. That is definitely cut up.
The other thing I was calling about. Earlier, you were showing video of the industrial canal lock area where the levee had ruptured. That particular video was showing Coast Guard rescue helicopters, pulling people off a roof in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. That area is due south of the heart of the city. It is also an area that is currently under construction by the Corps of Engineers, constructing inner harbor -- inter navigational harbor lock system. The citizens of the lower ninth ward in St. Bernard Parish have been fighting this project for tithe past five years.
Unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers and the federal government haven't been heeding our warnings. The past 20 years, St. Bernard Parish has been attempting to have them shut down the Mississippi River Gulf outlet, which is a shortcut for marine traffic to the city. This area is underutilized, and is nothing but a highway for storm surge and tidal surge to hit. We've been talking about it for 20 years. And we see the results of it today.
BLITZER: Mr. Oster, I want you to stand by for a moment. I want to come back to you. But I think we've reconnected with our John Zarrella. He's in New Orleans. And John, can you hear me okay now?
ZARRELLA: We hear you this time, Wolf, for now, anyway.
BLITZER: All right. Give us a sense of what you're seeing and what you're feeling where you are.
ZARRELLA: Well, behind us what we are seeing is one of a couple of fires. It looks to be perhaps along the banks of the Mississippi which winds back that way. And I know on that side of the Mississippi over on the west bank, there are some chemical and oil storage facilities back there and there may be a fire in one of those storage facilities back in that direction.
Off to my right, which you can't really see, is Canal Street. And earlier today, there was extensive looting going on, on Canal Street. I saw police with automatic weapons. We've had people up and down the street down there who saw many people looting the stores, taking shoes and sneakers, hitting the sporting goods stores, and just not enough police to do much about it. I did hear a couple of gunshots. So while we've been up on the roof, that may well have been police trying to scare off the looters.
Of course, what we are seeing and hearing, of course, the reports of the water continuing to rise here in the city. When we first got up at 6:00 Eastern Time this morning, the water was barely up to the curbside. And then as the day progressed, it rose and rose and continues to rise. It's filling the first floor of the lobby now about ankle deep in the lobby area of the hotel. All of the guests have been moved up to the second floor, can't go down to the first floor any longer at the lobby.
The people have been absolutely tremendous handling the situation at the hotel -- a Marriott property here in New Orleans. And they have done tremendously with the guests, keeping them informed. They're turning the generator power on and off because they're running out of fuel. They want to conserve that fuel. But they have provided meals for all of the guests in the hotel.
And so what we are seeing here in this microcosm, I'm sure, is being played out, Wolf, at all of these main hotel structures and buildings here around the city. But it's oppressive heat. Of course, there's no electricity. The sanitation system is down. We've been told stay away from the water. Don't drink the water. And, of course, all of the water on the streets is contaminated. And, of course, we're slogging through that water. But you can see debris, bags of garbage floating down the streets.
And you know, the irony, I guess, in all of this is that it should not come as a surprise. Emergency managers, hurricane specialists for years have talked about this scenario transpiring, and what would happen if there were breaches in the levee. And indeed, it is playing out to a very horrifying magnitude here in the Crescent City.
Wolf.
BLITZER: John, we heard from the Mayor Ray Nagin, saying that perhaps 80 percent of New Orleans -- a city of half a million, another 1 million or so in the suburbs -- 80 percent of the city is now underwater. And you raise this problem of health. This problem could just be beginning right now if the sanitation and the health factors escalate, as presumably they will.
ZARRELLA: Oh, there's no question about it. This is just the very early stages. We're only 24 hours into this. And the conditions, you know, are -- to say that cliche, that conditions are deteriorating fairly rapidly is clear here in New Orleans.
I remember in '92, you know, after Hurricane Andrew went through, and the situation was that within three or four days, the military was here. The federal Army was on the ground. They were bringing in tents. They were bringing -- building tent cities for the refugees from Hurricane Andrew, the tens of thousands of people.
But there's a huge difference. There was dry land after Andrew. Here there's no dry land. There's nowhere to put things. They are going to have to mobilize to get the people out of the city to high ground, wherever that is. So it's a whole different scenario, and many times perhaps worse, even than what happened after Hurricane Andrew, because you've got to get the people out in order to provide for them. You cannot provide for the victims within these city limits.
Wolf.
BLITZER: The big difference, as you well know, better than anyone, you covered Hurricane Andrew in South Florida in 1992, that Homestead Air Force Base which was there. A lot of that area certainly not as thickly populated as a big city like New Orleans is. So, presumably, this is so much worse. But give us a little bit more perspective.
ZARRELLA: I'm losing you, Wolf.
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