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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath; Over 600 Killed in Baghdad Stampede

Aired August 31, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, August 31.
Katrina's floodwaters recede in some places and worsen in others. The headline in the Gulf Coast this morning, fighting the floods to save lives. And, again, daylight will reveal more devastation.

The other top story this morning, a deadly stampede in Iraq kills hundreds -- 600 or more. We'll have more on that story later.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

We want to go straight to our coverage Katrina's aftermath now, starting with Chad in the Weather Center -- Chad, bring us up to date as to where this storm is now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The center of the lowest pressure, Carol, is now very close to Erie, Pennsylvania. And the cloud shield and the rain shield has now spread through Upstate New York into Maine. It rained most of the day in Boston yesterday. There were showers in New York City from the same storm and then there's still a little bit of rain back into Indiana, also into Ohio.

I can show you this better on our Titan radar system. Upstate into Vermont, also in New Hampshire and into Maine, still a tornado watch in effect for parts of Pennsylvania. There is severe thunderstorm warning there in Susquehanna County, about ready to get into almost Luzerne County, which would be that county that encompasses, oh, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth, all the way down to Shickshinny and even into Nanicop (ph). So watch out for that.

This line of weather here is kind of making its way toward 81, which would be also even eventually toward the Northeast Extension and Hazleton itself.

Rain showers here from Pittsburgh back into Ohio. The heaviest showers now around Dublin and Hilliard, back into Dayton, down into Cincinnati.

Many areas across Kentucky picked up four to eight inches of rain yesterday, some of it running off, some of it flooding. But for the most part, what we've seen so far today will be the minor flooding compared to what we're talking about down into Louisiana. And that's all part of the same storm system here, Carol, that has made its way up. Now just a depression, now just what we call the remnants of Katrina. It really shouldn't have a name at all, but there you go.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

We'll get back to you.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: "The bowl," that is, New Orleans, has begun to boil. National Guard troops and police are patrolling the downtown streets due to widespread looting. But the looting has not been confined to businesses. People are also taking things from their neighbors' empty homes.

At least one looter says it's just the last act of some very desperate people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's bad around here. People are trying to eat and survive. This is, you know, trying to take care of their family. I've got about six or seven little grandchildren and everything. People are just trying to eat around here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, others are taking, you know, things like microwaves and TVs. And we're trying to get in touch with John Zarrella, because he knows a lot more about this looting than I do because he is there. He is in New Orleans. As you can understand, though, getting a cell phone signal out of that city is nearly impossible sometimes. We will continue to try to get him throughout this hour of DAYBREAK.

In the meantime, the mayor of New Orleans says people at the Louisiana Super Dome will have to be patient. Ray Nagin says it'll likely be at least a week before people can be relocated from the stadium. That's because the water is still rising around the arena. There are between 12,000 to 15,000 people in there now. No air conditioning. The toilets have stopped working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: You can't take care of people under these conditions.

QUESTION: How long do they stay here?

BLANCO: Not really much longer than another day or two. In fact, I think in the next two days, you know, we're going to try to ferry them out.

QUESTION: Are you going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

BLANCO: Right. I'm -- I don't see us being able to function in New Orleans. They need a place where there's electricity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: People at the Super Dome are being given food and fresh drinking water. But things are very tense inside that dome.

Over in Biloxi, Mississippi, the streets are littered with debris. The rubble used to be homes and businesses and the area's trademark casinos. Governor Haley Barbour says there are 20 block areas that have been literally wiped out. He also says they will rebuild, but that may be little comfort to those who have now lost everything.

Randi Kaye talked to one of those victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you grow up in the house that's now gone?

KELLY MCCARTHY, HURRICANE VICTIM: Yes. Yes.

KAYE: And what is that like for you?

MCCARTHY: It's just the memories, the Christmases and the Thanksgivings and the -- my babies were in there.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: It's just hard to imagine such incredible loss. But of course, people have lost much more. They've lost loved ones in that wall of water that hit Biloxi.

Ted Rowlands is in Biloxi this morning -- good morning.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

A lot of emotion, obviously, and that is only going to increase over the next few days. A lot of worried people that haven't heard from loved ones and the grim reality is that there are expected to be a lot of bodies recovered, not only in Biloxi, but around this area, in the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The destruction is unbelievable. This is an example of some homes that are completely leveled. This scene is being played out over hundreds of miles or over a hundred miles along the Gulf Coast here. The key, how many people tried to weather this storm, how many people left.

FEMA has sent in rescue teams specializing in collapsed buildings. There are 18 70-person teams on the ground and more on the way. They are looking for any potential survivors. They also have mortuary teams here dealing with the bodies that they do come across.

The governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, toured this region yesterday and he compared it to the aftermath of nuclear war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And the work will continue and work is continuing overnight here, according to officials. It will continue at a much higher level at daybreak. Of course, the problem now, trying to get to all of these outlying areas, assessing them, trying to find any survivors and then going in and processing the bodies that they come across. And after that, trying to get lives back to normal.

There is no power and it is not expected that there will be power here for some time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ted Rowlands live in Biloxi, Mississippi this morning.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama are still without power, too, this morning. But there is a bit of good news in Mobile, where a main bridge was cleared for at least some traffic to get by. It's the bridge that was hit by a runaway oil rig.

CNN Radio's Ed McCarthy joins us now with more.

He's in Mobile -- hello, Ed.

ED MCCARTHY, CNN RADIO: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, we've got that good news to spread around because people will be trying to get over that bridge. And that's a wonderful thing because of the transportation problems we've had in this area.

COSTELLO: And tell us about, though, have recovery -- have recovery teams managed to get in previous to this?

MCCARTHY: Well, in this area, it's a very good area, even though we do have some damage here, certainly not to that extent that the other areas of Mississippi or Louisiana have experienced.

So federal officials can use this area as a bit of a staging area. The Coast Guard is here and they are moored off the coast here. And therefore they're able to get some help in and obviously they'll need some boats to get to get into the areas along these river ways that lead in to, for example, the Touro River in Mississippi and those areas, which are so cluttered with debris right now.

Here in Alabama, Carol, Dolphin Island took a major hit. And we remember Ivan. Those people went through that and they were hit hard. But they found out yesterday in looking out to see an oil drilling platform that washed onto Dolphin Island off the Alabama coast. So in addition to their cleanup, they're finding out that they're getting other debris floating in, as well.

Just a catastrophic storm.

COSTELLO: Yes, do we know where that oil drilling platform came from?

MCCARTHY: Well, it got loose from its mooring, just like the other one did, the other one that hit the bridge. Now, they took a good look at that bridge and they thought that, well, two lanes would be passable and it would be safe to get over that bridge. But they weren't so sure in the beginning, because it had lodged underneath.

It's just -- we've heard so many stories about this category four storm and, you know, we've seen the video of cars that have come from maybe a half a mile in the air and ended up inside houses. The vehicle didn't belong at that residence, but it ended up there.

So we're not surprised by anything we hear and find out now in the aftermath.

COSTELLO: You know, I know a lot of people from New Orleans went to Mobile, Alabama, you know, when they were told to evacuate.

What are they saying about stories of the incredible damage there and of the looting that's happening?

MCCARTHY: It's terrible. I've talked to some people. We have a lot of people here in this hotel that I am staying at, which is without power still, but they're just happy to have a place to stay and they're talking about the looting. It's in their area. They're saying they have nothing left. They know that. They can just tell. And they've been watching the video that's been on CNN to learn of certain areas and they can discern the areas of where they're from and know that they just don't have anything left.

They're just very, very sad at this particular point, but trying to move on with their lives.

They're looking for relatives in other areas, Carol, that they can go visit and at least ride this thing out for a while until they can get their lives back in order.

COSTELLO: Yes, because at some point, you know, if they're staying on hotels, the hotels probably have reservations from guests that are going to come.

So what do you do with all those people? Do you kick them out? Do you accommodate them, you know, being the hotel manager?

MCCARTHY: It's so hard. There are waiting lists here and people come in and they've come to the point now where they come in asking if there's any food in the vending machines that's working that they can get food when they pull in. And they're looking for gasoline. They're looking for a place to stay.

We have waiting lists here for hotel rooms now. It's become that severe that you just don't know from day to day if you're going to be all right to stay somewhere. And it's true, you have people coming in, what do you do?

COSTELLO: Yes. Ed McCarthy reporting live from Mobile, Alabama this morning.

Still to come this hour on DAYBREAK, a moment of panic turns into an all out stampede. Hundreds are dead. We go live to Jennifer Eccleston. She's in Baghdad. She'll tell us more.

Also ahead, the U.S. Naval fleet to the rescue. Live to Norfolk, where relief is being organized for the Gulf region this morning.

And getting out alive -- a first hand account from a young woman who evacuated New Orleans, leaving a home, a job and now she has nothing.

But first, we'll give you a look at the current conditions in the communities hit hard by Katrina.

Here's a look at the situation in Bay, St. Louis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: At least 635 people have been killed, more than 200 injured in a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad. Thousands of Shiites were heading to a mosque. Witnesses say the stampede started when someone screamed there as a suicide bomber, and that created panic. Several people were seen throwing themselves off the bridge.

Earlier, at least seven people were killed in three separate mortar attacks on the crowd of Shiites as thousands of them marched to a mosque.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston joins us live from Baghdad in less than 15 minutes. She will have more for you.

Former Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for Israel to build massive new settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu left his cabinet post in protest of the disengagement plan and he says he will challenge Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the Likud Party leadership.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

The highest gust I can find this morning is about 20 miles per hour. That's even really smaller, almost, than a tropical depression for that matter. But there still are some gusts in some of these stronger storms. One right now moving over northeastern Pennsylvania. The rest, really, is all just runoff at this point in time. Not a lot more to talk about with this storm.

There will be some showers across Upstate New York into Ontario and Quebec. And if you're flying through the Northeast, things look pretty good.

We've had a lot of people saying can I get back into the Southeast here? Yes, the Southeast is in good shape, Miami, all the way over even into Pensacola pretty good at this point. But all the airports over there toward the west, over to where the hurricane hit, completely shut down.

Debris on the runway, for that matter, and a lot of folks calling saying should I leave now? I evacuated to Atlanta or wherever it might be, I evacuated, can I go back now?

No. You just can't get there. You just don't want to be there, for that matter. I've lived through enough aftermaths of hurricanes to know that you're better off wherever you are. If you can see me, you're better off than those people down there.

Rain showers and thunderstorms from Syracuse back into northeastern Pennsylvania. Some of them are strong.

Carol, the only strong one I can find right now, though, moving just almost to about the -- into Wyoming County there, into Pennsylvania. And that weather will be with Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and Ohio for most of the day today.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

We'll get back to you.

MYERS: Sure.

All right.

COSTELLO: With roads and bridges washed out by hurricane Katrina, the government is now turning to the Navy to ferry supplies into the hard hit areas. Several ships now preparing to leave from Norfolk, Virginia.

Reporter Carl Leiman of CNN affiliate WBEC joins us now live -- good morning, Carl.

CARL LEIMAN, WBEC CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, perhaps no other organization can provide the kind of large relief support that the U.S. Navy can. Four ships leaving Norfolk today. One of those ships, the USS Iwo Jima, is the largest ship in the pier, just behind me, being loaded with supplies, getting ready to head down to the Gulf Coast. It's going along with the USS Shreveport, the Tortuga and the Grapple. They're leaving Hampton Roads, headed down to that area.

Now, on board these ships will carry critical supplies and rescue personnel to the hurricane area. On board six disaster relief teams, including medical experts that can provide help to the victims, medical supplies, construction equipment, fresh water. All of that is going down.

And this operation is a joint effort between the Department of Defense and FEMA. The Navy has said that they are able to provide whatever help is necessary, including housing people, providing them food, water, bringing them on board if necessary. I'm Carl Leiman live in Norfolk -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Carl, let's expound on that. I asked you in the last hour, you know, the governor of Louisiana is looking for some very large ships so she can get all those people out of the Super Dome onto something to transport them somewhere else.

Would the Navy be willing to accommodate her?

LEIMAN: Yes, Carol. They said that they would be able to provide that kind of help. They could put everybody on board. They could feed them, provide them water, do whatever is necessary to help those people out in the Super Dome -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Well, maybe we should hook them up and get them talking, huh?

LEIMAN: Yes. It sounds like a good idea.

COSTELLO: All right, Carl, thank you very much.

If you have loved ones in the storm zone, stay close for the very latest from our Victims and Relief Desk. Here's what we're working on. We'll talk to people stranded, unable to get manages out to their loved ones. And we'll try to get the word out to survivors' families that they're OK.

You can send us information on people you need to hear about at hurricanevictims@cnn.com. We'll try to post the details of what we find and get you connected with your loved ones.

One of our anchors, Carol Linn, is going to be manning that station. That will be up and running at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. So please let us try to help you this morning.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, big business shows that every little bit helps. See how they're trying to make it easier for Katrina's victims to pay their bills.

And prayers answered -- hear how a football superstar finally got in touch with his family.

But first, here's a look at the conditions this morning in Mobile.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: So many people devastated. So many family members worried about loved ones they have not heard from.

Green Bay Packers' quarterback Brett Favre describes not being able to reach his mother, grandmother or other family members in one of the hardest hit areas in Mississippi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRETT FAVRE, GREEN BAY PACKERS: You know, in my gut I feel like they're OK. But with each minute that passes, you know, I'/m beginning to wonder. I know cell phones are down and communication has been lost. But, you know, I would hope that if they could get to a phone -- I know there's other issues right now, getting out. They're saying no electricity for maybe two months. It's 100 degrees. You know, flooding is a problem in a lot of the places in that county.

So, you know, this is one of those situations where I would love to do whatever I could to help -- there's a lot of people -- but I don't even know where to start.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, good news for Brett Favre. He finally spoke to his mother late Tuesday, when she was able to reach him with the help of a TV reporter in the area. You see her there. The mother -- his mother says the family spent the night in the attic after the entire house filled up with water within a matter of five to 10 minutes. She says the family home is completely destroyed and she ran into a reporter and asked to borrow his cell phone so she could make a call to the Green Bay Packers front office to get a hold of her son. And they did connect. So that's a happy ending for Brett Favre, at least, this morning.

Pro-basketball players are planning to help out in the wake of hurricane Katrina. The NBA Players Union says they want to contribute as much as a million dollars in aid to the victims. The players are being asked for ideas on how to help out the affected areas. The league's New Orleans Hornets play at the arena next door to the Super Dome.

Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Detroit's big three are going the extra mile.

Carrie Lee tells us what new incentives they're offering for hurricane victims.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're doing what they can to try to help people out. Now, let's be clear -- a lot of people don't have much of a car left. We saw a lot of damage to cars in footage over the last couple of days. But the nation's big automakers are helping out in the wok. They're giving customers in affected areas up to a 90-day grace period on their car loan payments. The best thing to do is contact your local dealer to get a deferment.

Now, G.M. is offering the full 90 days. It's also donating 25 cars and trucks to the American Red Cross to help in relief efforts.

Rival Ford is notifying customers in declared disaster areas by letter if they're eligible to defer up to two payments. Recipients then have 60 days to register.

And DaimlerChrysler is sending a crisis team to help dealers in the region. Now, it's open to working out specific payment plans if you call them, as well. So, that's is the latest on the big three.

COSTELLO: I was just trying to think, you know, if you lost your car, the insurance wouldn't cover the whole loss, right?

LEE: Well...

COSTELLO: So you'd still have to pay off the bulk of the loan?

LEE: Exactly. So this is going to get complicated for people. Of course, Chrysler sending a letter -- well, that's assuming that your mailbox is still standing. So I guess people are just going to have to try to work this out as best they can on an individual basis.

COSTELLO: And the other problem is, is, you know, many people's places of employment have been destroyed. And they're not getting -- I don't know, maybe they are getting a paycheck. I don't know.

LEE: Right.

COSTELLO: But eventually that has to diminish, right?

LEE: Right. Right. So people are going to have to do what they can, maybe explain their situation and just try to work something out. But for now, the big three auto companies are weighing in, doing the best they can.

COSTELLO: A look at the futures?

LEE: A look at the futures, things looking a little bit weak this morning. We saw oil just cents away from $0.79 a barrel yesterday. That's been the big reason here, oil problems. At least seven oil rigs are adrift. Eight refineries have been shut down in the Gulf of Mexico. So who knows? We could see more oil price hikes today.

COSTELLO: And hopefully not more gouging, because we've already seen some gouging at gas stations.

LEE: We've seen oil and gas at record highs every week.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, it wasn't easy leaving the "Big Easy." Now some people have nothing to go home to and may not return ever. We'll talk to one of those evacuees.

And getting away from the gators. Another danger lurking in the waters.

But first, here's a look at conditions this morning in Gulfport. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

DAYBREAK'S coverage of Katrina's aftermath continues in one moment.

But first, we have breaking news to tell you about out of Iraq this morning.

More than 600 people have died in a stampede near a Shiite mosque. Apparently the panic began when someone on a bridge crowded with Muslim pilgrims said there was a suicide bomber in the crowd.

Jennifer Eccleston live in Baghdad with more on this -- what can you tell us?

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it was a scene of total chaos at that annual Shia religious commemoration in northern Baghdad. Iraqi police now reporting at least 647 people have died. Among them, the most fragile -- women, children and old men.

They died during a stampede which erupted on a bridge over the Tigris River. It's a major thoroughfare to arrive at this mosque. According to a witness who told Iraqi police as the thousands of people walked across that bridge to the revered Shiite shrine, someone in the crowd shouted that there was a suicide bomber.

Panic then ensued as the crowds tried to flee. And there are early reports that the railing of the bridge collapsed because of the press of people leaning against it. People then tumbled off the bridge, tumbling some 30 meters into the Tigris River.

Now, police say while some of the people were crushed, some of those who died, the majority of the dead drowned in the river.

Now, the number of dead we don't expect to rise. We believe that 647 is the final death count. We also know now that the number of injured has risen to 301.

Now, it was already a very tense day, Carol. There was a mortar attack on that same shrine early this morning, the Kadhimiya Mosque, which killed seven people and wounded 36 others. The U.S. military responded to that attack with Apache helicopters and fired on the attackers. They then detained 12 people for questioning.

Now, just to put this into context, thousands of Shiites from across the Shiite areas in Baghdad and also across the country are gathering today to commemorate the death of Imam Moussa al-Khadhem. He was a prominent figure in Shiite history. He is buried at this mosque. And this is the third holiest shrine in Shia Islam -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jennifer Eccleston live from Baghdad this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com