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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Katrina Aftermath; Refugee Crisis
Aired August 31, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody.
Tonight, the grimmest assessment yet of the disaster. The mayor of New Orleans fears hundreds, perhaps thousands, may be dead in his city.
Tonight, conditions are rapidly deteriorating in New Orleans. Emergency crews are making progress in fixing the broken levees, but they are in a desperate race to stop the flooding.
And tens of thousands of flood victims are now being removed from the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome.
There were more desperate rescues as trapped residents were pulled to safety. But many New Orleans residents have not left this increasingly dangerous city where the streets have turned into cesspools.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is joining the relief efforts. Four Navy ships filled with supplies are heading to disaster areas, and 10,000 additional National Guard troops are on their way.
And tonight, gas lines in Mobile, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia. Gas spikes to nearly $3 a gallon nationwide.
Tonight, we bring you comprehensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and what is now a national crisis. We begin in New Orleans, a city struggling for its very survival. New evacuations in that city are under way amid fears of an outbreak of deadly disease.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice over): At the Superdome, 23,000 New Orleans residents stranded, running out of food and water, forbidden to return home. Today, they started moving to the next holding place, Houston's Astrodome, 330 miles away. Nearly 500 buses will make the trip.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: We realize that by the grace of God, we could be the ones that have this extraordinary need hundreds of miles to the west. And it could be Houston today that is facing this devastation.
These are our neighbors. These are people in need. And Texas is going to do everything that we can in our power to address those needs.
PILGRIM (voice over): With federal aid mobilized, the Army Corps of Engineers continues working to repair levees.
Mississippi is also trying to recover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody else down there?
PILGRIM: The town of Slidell completely destroyed. Officials say it was the worst-case scenario for the small town. Half the residents are now homeless.
Throughout the region, the search for survivors continues. Ashley Marcussen is desperately trying to find her husband, Jason.
ASHLEY MARCUSSEN, HUSBAND MISSING IN HURRICANE KATRINA: In the eye of the storm was the last time I talked to my husband. And my kids told him that they loved him and they wanted him to come with us. And he told them as soon as the storm was over, and he could get out, he was going to come to us. But I haven't seen him since.
PILGRIM: Officials are setting up triage centers, trying to take care of the sick and injured. The environmental impact more evident as these pictures show contamination in the waters that flooded the city of New Orleans.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You could be sitting there in absolutely untenable conditions, in water that is filled with disease and germs for months to come, walking through it, slogging through it.
PILGRIM: Temperatures are above the 90-degree mark, and more than two million people are still without power. Desperate people are turning to desperate measures, running away with bare necessities. But some people were taking advantage of the chaos.
KIM SEGAL, CNN PRODUCER: These people are worrying about what size shoes they were going to pick up, you know, from a store they looted. I mean, it's really a little crazy down here.
The cops aren't really stopping the looting. Here and there they do, but I think they think it's just, at this point, safer to just let them go on instead of causing any kind of a riot.
PILGRIM: This family safely escaped from Lake Pontchartrain and is now in a Texas shelter. But the reality of the long road ahead is sinking in.
EDWARD MCGRAW, HURRICANE KATRINA REFUGEE: This is extremely devastating. And right now trying to bear the brunt of being the head of the family, I'm trying to really not break down.
PILGRIM: They may not return home for at least two months.
Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, from the roof of an apartment building, the desperate pleas for help continue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Emergency workers are desperately trying to fix the broken levees in New Orleans tonight. But the threat of further flooding persists, and now there are new fears tonight, fires.
Chris Lawrence is in New Orleans with the very latest. Chris?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, we're standing right in the heart of downtown New Orleans, right on the edge of the French Quarter, watching this fire burn. It's at the corner of Canal and Bourbon Street.
It's been going now for at least a few hours. And these firefighters, there are no working fire hydrants at all down here. There's no water pressure. But they're very concerned about this fire.
The way New Orleans is down here, these older historic buildings, they're all connected. Even though it started in this Foot Action building, they're very worried about it jumping to some of the other buildings. And if it does that, with no water pressure down here, I mean, there's no telling how much of this area could go up in flames.
They're standing, literally -- right now, we're in knee-deep water. The street is completely flooded. And they are pumping the water from the street.
It's not going all that well, to be honest with you. There's a lot of debris in this water, and they think that's clogging up the suction somewhat. They're not getting a great flow. But they're keeping at it.
And, you know, these guys, a lot of these firefighters, I know the chief and some of his men, they lost their homes. So they're still out here doing their job, and they don't have a home to go back to right now.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much. Chris Lawrence in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Thanks, Chris.
In Mississippi tonight, the unofficial death toll from Hurricane Katrina stands at 110. But the death toll is expected to rise. Seventy-five percent of the state is still without power.
Now, Rob Marciano is in Biloxi, Mississippi, where emergency search and rescue efforts intensified today. Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kitty. You're right about that. Search-and-rescue operations have intensified. As a matter of fact, off-the-record commends by some of those search and rescue crews is that it's no longer much of a rescue, but a "bag and tag type of operation." But even so, just getting back from taking a look down the road where some of those operations are occurring, a bit of good news coming out of Biloxi.
I'm going to pan over to a spot where we were. And as we do so, you'll see the Hard Rock Casino behind me. That's 50 percent destroyed, at least the casino that was floating is pretty much destroyed. That was supposed to open tonight, by the way, a grand opening. Obviously, canceled.
But as we continue our pan to the west, or to the east, down Highway 90, there's a tattered Exxon station. And then very difficult to see off in the distance, there is probably about a 10-story building still standing. That is a retirement home.
And we were down there just a few minutes ago shooting the search-and-rescue efforts of people. Rescue crews banging on some of those doors on the stairways. And then lo and behold -- here comes a chopper over us right now. It's a Coast Guard chopper coming from the west to the east, likely coming from the more ravaged areas down towards Bay St. Louis and maybe even New Orleans.
So that building, with them banging on the doors, out comes a rescuer carrying an elderly man, a woman, and their Jack Russell Terrier mix. So amid the rising body counts, a bit of optimism here out in Biloxi that some of the rescue crews actually finding some people to rescue.
You know, and that's one of the -- one of the stories that probably echoes down the coast line, Kitty, is that even though mandatory evacuation orders that were in place, yes, there were people who were stubborn, who didn't want to leave because they felt, I rode out Camille, or it's not a big deal, I'm going to go down with the ship, what have you, there are still frail and elderly people that just didn't have the ability to leave.
And just minutes ago, we were able to find rescue crews digging a survivor, an elderly gentleman, and his family out of the home. So good news, a bit at least here, from Biloxi.
That's the latest, kitty. Back to you.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Rob Marciano in Biloxi.
Well, tonight, the mayor of New Orleans says Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in his city. Mayor Ray Nagin says there are significant numbers of dead bodies in the water and many victims dead in their homes.
Now, Nagin promised today there will be a total evacuation of New Orleans. He says thousands of residents could be evacuated from the city each day.
But there is still a significant number of New Orleans residents left in the city. Nagin says between 50,000 to 100,000 remain, and many of those residents are living in increasingly unsanitary conditions. Federal officials tonight declared a health emergency not only for New Orleans, but for the entire Gulf Coast.
John Zarrella was forced to leave New Orleans earlier today. Now he's standing by live in Baton Rouge right now. John?
ZARRELLA: Kitty, the comments you relayed from Mayor Nagin certainly hitting hard in New Orleans. There's no question about it. There was always a fear that there were about 100,000 people who simply didn't have the wherewithal to get out -- they were stuck, they were stranded -- and in a worst-case scenario, this might happen.
Now, today, when we woke up this morning and heard that the water was rising, potentially rising another five feet, we decided there was a window of opportunity for some of us to go ahead and leave New Orleans, come out with our stories, come out with our tapes, bring that stuff out, which we did. And as we were evacuating, some of the hotel was evacuating as well.
I can tell you that what they were doing, they were carrying people out from the hotel. The hotel workers putting them on wheelchairs, putting them in the backs of pickup trucks, bringing the people out through the knee-deep, waist-deep water.
We did the same thing. We brought some people out of the hotel, brought them with us. We drove on the sidewalk, from the sidewalk which was still up above the wheel well, up to Canal Street, where it was a dry area. We dropped a mother and her baby and another woman off with the authorities, with the police in the high ground on Canal Street, as well as another CNN crew doing the same thing.
As you made your way down Canal Street and turned on Camp Street, people just walking around in total bewilderment, just staggering around on the street. As you looked around, you saw children's shoes, you saw broken glass, broken windows. Many of those stores had been looted the day before.
As we wound our way around the back streets and the side streets to make our way out of the city, it was remarkably dry along the Mississippi bank. There was no water along that part of the city. Just trees down, power lines down everywhere as we wound our way through.
It took us about three hours to make it into -- into Baton Rouge. But I can tell you, Kitty, that during that entire drive, we would see people standing in front of their homes, or walking just aimlessly in the streets. Some of them, apparently, with no intention to leave. Others packing up and putting stuff in cars and making their way out as well.
It is a very, very difficult situation in New Orleans. And as the mayor described, it is certainly deteriorating conditions there by the minute, by the hour, and certainly by the day.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much. John Zarrella.
Well, Hurricane Katrina has created a refugee crisis unlike anything ever seen in this country. Tens of thousands of people are homeless and have no idea when or if they will ever be able to return home.
Lisa Sylvester reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Johnell Williams and his family fled the rising waters of Hurricane Katrina to a shelter in Little Rock, Arkansas, 444 miles away from New Orleans.
JOHNELL WILLIAMS, HURRICANE KATRINA REFUGEE: They're telling us it's two to three months before anything will be back on, or everything -- two or three months for school. That's what I'm thinking about, my kids.
So I might just start enrolling them in school or whatsoever. So therefore, you know, they can at least get some education while they're up here for those two or three months.
SYLVESTER: The American Red Cross is caring for 75,000 people in shelters as far away as Arkansas and Tennessee.
DEBBIE TURLEY, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Currently, we have several thousand evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi in local motels. And they're needing to check out of those motels because their resources are running low. And so I don't think it would be uncommon at all for us to have several hundred people, maybe even 1,000, sheltered here in the Little Rock area within a few days time.
SYLVESTER: It's hard to pin down the number of refugees, but consider the population of New Orleans, nearly 500,000 people. Eighty percent of the city is now under water.
Biloxi, Mississippi, 50,000 people. Thousands lost their homes and jobs when the hurricane swept through.
Slidell, Louisiana, with 30,000 residents. The mayor says at least half of the town is now homeless.
The evacuees need more than a place to sleep. The families need clothing, food, medicine and places for their pets.
MAJ. GEORGE HOOD, SALVATION ARMY: There's no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a very, very long-term restoration period. We spent 18 months at ground zero in New York City. And our earliest estimate is this is going to be much bigger, much larger, and much longer in terms of total recovery time. We have an entire major city of the United States that's been evacuated.
SYLVESTER: For the evacuees, this is the start of not just a few days away from home, but months of future uncertainty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: And this will impact the cities receiving the tens of thousands of people displaced. School class sizes are going to increase, more textbooks will be needed, additional social services. So the hurricane is having a ripple effect throughout the United States.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Lisa Sylvester. Still ahead, America responds. An unprecedented cross-country effort is under way to get emergency help to millions of Americans in dire need. And we'll tell you how you can help the hurricane relief effort.
Plus, the director of the Army Corps of Engineers on the race against times to save New Orleans and stop floodwaters from rising. He'll be my guest coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Joining us live tonight from Gulfport, Mississippi, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina, is Kathleen Koch. Kathleen?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, what you see behind me right now, and what you hear, they're the sights and sounds of recovery, the beginning of something that seems to many people here like a mission impossible that will take months, that will take years. We're standing in downtown Gulfport. Behind me, you see one of the 12 casinos that dot the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Copa Casino, it should be a floating casino. It's been thrown up onto the shore.
You see these huge 18-wheelers, massive rolls of paper. The Port of Gulfport was also not far behind me, the biggest, most bustling port on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And what we're seeing now behind us, besides the trucks, there is rotting food, hundreds and hundreds of cases of chicken, all sorts of things that had been on their way out to other parts of the world, now rotting and stinking in the sun.
We made our way to some areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast where no one else has managed to get, to cities just west of here, Long Beach and Pass Christian. These are smaller cities, populations of roughly 24,000. And what we found was just devastating.
As you near the beach, the last three blocks, there's just nothing left. It looks like a bomb hit it. You can't tell what any of the structures were.
Amazingly, we caught up with a couple, David and Jennifer Taylor, who managed, incredibly, to survive through the storm in their home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE TAYLOR, SURVIVED HURRICANE KATRINA: About 8:00, when the water started rising, so we got in our truck and left and come down the street and got blocked. So then we had to climb on our truck and run across the tracks. And probably 110, 120 mile-an-hour-winds to my mama's house. So...
KOCH: But the water came up how fast?
M. TAYLOR: Quickly.
JENNIFER TAYLOR, SURVIVED HURRICANE KATRINA: A matter of a minute. I mean, from, say, from where that red truck is to right here, a matter of a minute.
M. TYALOR: Ten minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: And so the cleanup continues here. What we are beginning to see, obviously, also, besides the cleanup, is people coming through asking for help, asking us to reach out to relatives. These are the scenes that are playing out up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast, obviously in New Orleans, in Alabama.
And there are so little that anyone can do here. There's such a feeling of helplessness.
And as we interview public officials, officials here in Harrison County, officials with the county, officials with the various cities, so often they tell you their stories. They tell you they're doing the best they can to help their own citizens.
Then you ask them, well, how are you doing? How is your home?
And they'll go, Oh, my home's gone. But, you know, we'll manage.
And so just such devastation, such a feeling of helplessness. But as you can see, Kitty, they're beginning to put things back together.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Kathleen Koch from Gulfport, Mississippi. Thanks, Kathleen.
Now, President Bush today said it will take years to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The president saw the damage firsthand as he flew Air Force One over New Orleans and the Mississippi coast.
Bob Franken reports from the White House. Bob?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That, Kitty, after cutting his vacation short in Crawford to come back to be at the head of what is becoming a massive, massive federal undertaking. The president, as you pointed out, flew over the Louisiana area. Air Force One dipping to about 5,000 feet.
The president saw down below what he called devastation. He said that he was personally devastated by what he had seen.
Then he came back to the White House and quickly convened a meeting of his interagency heads. They had already started implementing a plan because of an event of national significance, as it's called, to try and also convince the people of the area down there that things are not as hopeless as they seem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, the days seem awfully dark for those affected. I understand that.
But I'm confident that with time, you get your life back in order, new communities will flourish, the great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet, and America will be a stronger place for it. The country stands with you. We'll do all in our power to help you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: It's going to take at least months for anything to get back to a semblance of normal. The president made that clear. But there is a massive undertaking at the same time.
The president is going to allow the release of some crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That is ultimately going to get into the system as gasoline, but not quickly enough to stop gas prices from spiking even higher.
So there's a reverberation throughout the country. But most of the focus, Kitty, is on the devastation of the area that was hit by Katrina.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Bob Franken. Thanks, Bob.
Now, the federal government is not alone in providing relief to Americans hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. While federal agencies coordinate the massive recovery effort, communities from around the country are sending much-skilled workers.
And Christine Romans has our report on that. Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kitty. Food, water and, of course, skilled workers are what the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast needs. And across the country, Americans are responding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice over): From New York, a convoy of professionals to repair electric lines. Fifteen utility teams on the way to help restore power.
With downed power lines in three states, more than 3,000 electrical linesmen and contractors from utilities all over the country are on the way. As are these Salvation Army volunteers, traveling 600 miles from Louisville to serve 1,000 hot meals.
Communities from coast to coast are sending fire and police responders.
As fresh water supplies dwindle, Anheuser-Busch is sending 825,000 cans of clean water from Georgia. Food Lion is taking donations for water shipments.
From Michigan, Kellogg is sending seven truckloads of cereal. And medical teams are en route from Iowa and Nevada.
At Dodger Stadium in California, community groups collected big checks for disaster relief.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: That money is important, but what this disaster needs right now are those skilled workers -- tree trimmers, power linesmen, doctors. Maine is offering veterinarians. And Iowa, ravaged by flooding more than a decade ago, it sent two of its top flood experts, sent them before Hurricane Katrina actually hit.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Christine Romans. Thanks.
Now, still to come, the Army Corps of Engineers has the overwhelming task of repairing the broken system of levees in New Orleans. The commander of the Corps is my guest.
Also, we'll go live to Biloxi, Mississippi, talk with some of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
And we'll have the latest on what could be the single deadliest day in Iraq.
So stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The United States military has launched its biggest response ever to a natural disaster in this country. The Pentagon has dispatched thousands of troops, dozens of helicopters, an armada of ships to the Gulf Coast. But some are questioning whether the military can be doing more.
Jamie McIntyre reports from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At the request of the governors of both Louisiana and Mississippi, the Army is doubling the number of National Guard troops deployed to the hardest-hit states.
LT. GEN. STEVEN BLUM, CHIEF, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU: Over the next 48 hours, about 11,000 citizen soldiers will be flowing in from about 12 other states of the nation.
MCINTYRE: The extra troops will bring to 22,000 the number of Guard forces activated for disaster relief. And they will focus on three tasks -- rescuing stranded people, delivering fresh water, and restoring law and order.
PAUL MCHALE, ASST. SEC. DEFENSE FOR HOMELAND DEF.: We anticipate at this point that the nature of the criminal activity is such that civilian law enforcement and the National Guard and state status will be able to establish and preserve civil order.
MCINTYRE: The deployment of fresh troops comes at as the U.S. military is battling the perception it could be doing more, especially to stop brazen looting and rampant lawlessness that has added terror to the tragedy in New Orleans. SIDNEY BARTHELEMY, FMR. MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: We can't wait. We've got to send the military in now who have the resources to save this city and save those people down there that are trapped.
MCINTYRE: There continues to be a critical need for airlift, primarily rescue helicopters. And dozens are being sent in, including an aviation brigade from the Army's 4th Infantry Division in nearby Fort Hood, Texas. But other helicopters are on ships that won't arrive until next week.
A four-ship task force has left Norfolk, Virginia, part of an armada of a dozen ships converging on the disaster zone. They should arrive by Monday, followed by a few days later the hospital ship Comfort, which is scheduled to leave Baltimore this weekend.
And the Army Corps of Engineers is under the gun to explain why it's taking so long to repair the breaches in the levee that's keeping most of the city under water. But it's a difficult engineering feat that doesn't lend itself to a quick fix.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: So far, some 22,000 National Guard troops have been mobilized, and thousands more are standing by, awaiting requests. One of the reasons those requests haven't come is that communications are so bad that local officials often don't know exactly what they need or where to send the extra manpower -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
Well, joining me now for more on the frantic efforts to fix the broken levees in New Orleans is the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Lieutenant General Carl Strock joins us from Washington. And thank you for being with us, sir. A difficult time for you.
You're in charge of fixing this mess. What are the projections on fixing the levees?
LT. GEN. CARL STROCK, COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Well, Kitty, fortunately, nature is helping us in a great way here. First of all, the effort has been very difficult because the very people who would perform this mission were themselves victims of the flood. So, finding the people, the equipment, the resources necessary to do this work has been very difficult. It's also been difficult to get access to the site because it's essentially surrounded by water.
And even water access is difficult because of bridges and other obstructions in the way. But what has really happened now is that the forces of nature have taken over. The real problem here was that Lake Pontchartrain had risen about four feet and that lake level then, had drained through this breach in the levee.
Over time, the lake has receded, and what we have now is a situation where the water levels are stable and the flooding is no longer moving into the city from the lake. And very soon, we expect those flows to reverse and actually begin draining the city through natural gravity processes.
PILGRIM: We're actually looking at new video we just got in, some aerials of the situation. And it does look dire, indeed, with water everywhere.
You know, Governor Blanco referred to the sand-bagging effort as dropping into a black hole. Is it possible to fix the levees?
STROCK: Well, certainly it is now. Once the water stops flowing, we'll be able to get in and do a proper repair. In fact, right now, the break in the levee will actually work in our favor, because the water will begin draining out of the city through that breach and we will not have to use the pumps initially to make that water move.
In fact, a part of our own watering program is the deliberate breach of certain levees to move water to where we can better handle it and move it out of the city either through gravity or through pumping stations.
PILGRIM: I know it's not a fair question, but how soon do you think you can get that water level down?
STROCK: Well, we're looking at that right now. I would say we're talking weeks, perhaps a month, to get the water down. But then the real work begins, because we'll have to deal with the structural damage associated with that, the debris, the mud and all that sort of thing. So, as the president indicated, we are months, certainly, away from any degree of normalcy in the affected parts of the city.
PILGRIM: There's been much discussion about the levees not being appropriate at all and causing some of this problem. What's your view on that, the new plans to do something different besides building levees?
STROCK: Well, the fundamental problem is that New Orleans is about 18 feet below sea level. So, given the situation we face, levees are the only practical solution. But certainly there are major efforts afoot to really analyze what's going on, on the coast of Louisiana.
We have experienced impacts of the work we've done in the Mississippi River, in channelizing (ph) the river for navigation and flood control. We have denied some areas of the bayous from the sediment, which normally builds land down there.
So, there is an erosion problem that we must deal with. There's also natural subsiding associated with geologic processes. And some sense that the oil and gas industry is causing a bit of the problem. But fundamentally, what we're seeing is a degradation of the coastal areas of Louisiana, which contributes to this.
But for the time being, levees are the only solution for New Orleans, coupled with pumping plants to move the water out that does come in through precipitation or flooding. PILGRIM: A very tough and critical job. We thank you very much for being on it, and for talking to us about your challenges. Lieutenant General Carl Strock, the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, thanks very much for joining us tonight, sir.
STROCK: Kitty, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
PILGRIM: CNN producer Ben Blake is at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, as tens of thousands of people are being evacuated to Houston tonight. So, we'll turn to him for what's the latest. Ben, what's it like?
BEN BLAKE, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Kitty, New Orleans is a city in crisis. The downtown area today around Canal Street has become bedlam. Looting is widespread and almost acceptable. We've seen police officers allowing people to take all sorts of things, including shoes that fit them. You can't take shoes that don't fit you, but you can take shoes that do fit you.
The downtown area is now becoming so dirty. The water is particularly impure and that's one of the reasons that many hotels are choosing to evacuate their residents.
These residents will be evacuated to Superdome, which is in equal bedlam and authorities are attempting to get them out of town. We heard today that up to 15,000 people will -- they'll attempt to evacuate that many people out of the city tonight by buses.
But as you can maybe see from pictures -- the shot earlier by CNN producer Jim Spellman -- the roads around the Superdome are chaos. People have left, the National Guard has lost control and these people have no idea where the buses are or where they can go.
PILGRIM: So, are they evacuating at this point, Ben?
BLAKE: They are trying to evacuate. We saw some buses that were empty. We didn't see any that were full. There were two points for evacuating. I believe my colleague, Chris Lawrence, is down at the convention center, where they're also attempting to evacuate people.
I don't believe that they have yet started from the Superdome, but this is imminent and people should be getting out tonight. But it won't be all of them. There will be thousands left. And people are panicked. There have been reports of dead bodies and shootings around that area.
PILGRIM: It sounds to me like the information is not getting to the majority of the people. Is there an information breakdown?
BLAKE: There's been a terrible information breakdown. Not only is it not getting to the people, it's not getting to authorities either.
Yesterday, the entire police radio and fire radio system was in serious trouble because of issues with headquarters and repeaters. They couldn't talk to each other, let alone pass this information on to people. Now the National Guard has lost control of the Superdome. They've allowed them to leave in thousands. There is no way of communicating with them.
PILGRIM: We're rapidly approaching evening. Do you see any resolution this evening?
PILGRIM: There is a chance. The buses have arrived and they are empty. And we do know of a route out of the city. All we can hope is that many of those in the deepest need, those without food and water, they will get on those buses tonight and will find themselves either in Texas or upstate in Louisiana or at least somewhere that is not in such a critical situation as the city of New Orleans.
PILGRIM: One could anticipate great confusion as buses turn up and many people try to board them. Do you see -- sense that there's any kind of a plan for allocating people to buses?
BLAKE: There was no obvious plan from where we were, but nothing -- no plans appear to be in place. They could be working behind the scenes. Bus drivers appear to know where they're going and we didn't actually get an opportunity to talk to them, because they took the buses away from the people and put them up, up on I-10, where they could be stored and not be stormed by the thousands of people trying to get out.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much for that update on the situation, Ben Blake, CNN producer, near the Superdome in New Orleans. And thanks, Ben, for that.
Coming up, we'll hear from a survivor in one of the hardest hit areas: Biloxi, Mississippi.
Plus, President Bush gives the go-ahead to tap emergency oil reserves, but consumers will still feel pain at pump and we're going to have a special report on gas prices. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Health officials are warning residents of the Gulf Coast about extreme dangers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Bad drinking water, spoiled food, contaminated flood waters, just a few of the hazards that victims face.
My next guest is the head of an organization that focuses on the nation's ability to prepare for and respond to health issues during major disasters. So, joining me is Dr. Irwin Redlener and he is the director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness. And thanks very much for being with us.
DR. IRWIN REDLENER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: My pleasure.
PILGRIM: This is the sort of thing you study and you know a lot about. What's going right and what's going wrong?
DR. IRWIN REDLENER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well, this is an incredible situation that's really without precedent. And people have been saying this all day. It's almost a cliche. The fact of the matter is -- and I was involved in some of the rescue and medical efforts after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in Florida. This really dwarfs that experience, as horrific as that was.
And part of the problem is there's such a wide swath of geography involved that is involved here. So what we'd typically see, whether it's 9/11 which happened a few years ago, or Hurricane Andrew, is that the surrounding communities would rush in and offer assistance to help the community hardest hit get through.
Now we have a situation where there are so many communities hit that your next door neighbors are as in bad shape or worse than you are. So, the local ability to provide extra capacity is almost demolished, especially true around the healthcare issues.
PILGRIM: And access, you're saying, is the big thing.
Now, was that never anticipated? Were there never any plans about not being able to access an area that had been hit?
REDLENER: Well, there had been preparedness plans in New Orleans, as in many other cities, especially in places that are prone to certain kinds of natural disasters. I don't think anyone has planned for the scope and scale of this kind of incident.
So typically, let's say there was a bad earthquake -- I mean, a hurricane that hit, say, Biloxi, you'd expect resources to come in from New Orleans and the surrounding areas to help them. In this case, you have the whole region affected. That makes the local authorities really unable to help their neighbors, a very unusual situation, and logistically incredibly challenging.
PILGRIM: Now the Red Cross, FEMA doing a fabulous job. They're now under Department of Homeland Security, under the same agency. Do you think that helps coordinate efforts?
REDLENER: Well, Red Cross is, of course, a private group. FEMA's under Homeland Security. I think in general, those agencies, private and public, are working together much better than they have in the past. And I think there are things to be encouraged about.
The problem is there's so much devastation, there's so many things that nobody ever thought of, including what to do with so many evacuees now. We have basically a refugee crisis in the United States of America, really, completely unprecedented.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for being with us. Dr. Irwin Redlener, thank you very much.
REDLENER: Sure.
PILGRIM: Well, the extent of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is becoming more clear in Mississippi. Emergency officials say 100 bodies have been found in Harrison County, which is home to Biloxi and Gulf Port.
Rob Marciano is in Biloxi with the very latest. Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kitty. We mentioned in the last half hour about a search-and-rescue operation that was happening just down the road, not a whole lot of luck in rescuing until they found an elderly man boarded up in a retirement community. And he was brought down to his family. And that was a touching sight to be seen.
Just to give you an idea of some of the things that we've seen in the last 24 hours. As late as last night, driving back to our hotel without power and water along I-10, there was a caravan of law enforcement officers in their vehicles coming from the east to the west, likely heading towards New Orleans. And then during the day today, Coast Guard and Army Reserve -- or Air Force Reserve helicopters have been cruising up and down this strip to get to the people that need it. And FEMA trucks now on the scene have been going up and down Highway 90.
So it looks like the operations are starting to take shape here to get people the things they need. But as you know, it takes a lot of time for that to happen.
One thing that also hasn't been talked a whole lot about, are people that have special needs. I mean, there are elderly people. There are infirm people who have special needs for medical things. And they're having a lot of problems now that the storm has passed and there are no -- there's no equipment, there's no power. And the last two days now we're starting to see people who need that stuff really start to get sick. And in some cases, they're on the verge of dying.
Just in our hotel, there was a woman who needed a breathing machine. Her air tanks were back in her home. Her home was destroyed. So air tanks gone, no air tanks. And then the last of the air she had, there was no power to power the machine to get the air in to her. So, just one example of people with special needs having a great deal of difficulty.
Jonathan Freed is working on a piece in the next hour. He'll bring that to you.
The other issue, Kitty, is blazing hot temperatures the past couple days both here and in New Orleans. I'm sure taking a toll on the folks in the rescue crews. So weather not ideal for the operations that happened from New Orleans all the way to Mobile.
That's the latest from here in Biloxi. Back over to you.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Rob Marciano. Thanks, Rob.
Well still ahead, tens of thousands of refugees begin the long journey from New Orleans to Houston. We're going to have a live report from Houston. And the governor of Texas will be my guest.
And later, Gulf Coast residents face deadly health risks in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. And we'll bring you the very latest on that. Stay with us.
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PILGRIM: Residents choosing to stay in New Orleans tonight are playing a dangerous game with their lives. In the city tonight, there's looting and lawlessness. There's a fear of an outbreak of disease.
Ed Lavandera is in New Orleans tonight and joins us by video phone. Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kitty. Well, we're at the New Orleans International Airport. And this has been the site that has been set up today as one of the preliminary, or one of the -- what will probably end up being one of the busiest field hospitals in the Gulf Coast region.
FEMA officials have deployed, I think a little bit more than 40 of these field hospitals.
And to give you a sense of how massive an operation this is, consider in the four major hurricanes that struck Florida last year, there were never more than five of these field hospitals set up anywhere in the state of Florida. In this region alone because of one hurricane, 40.
And we're talking dozens of FEMA officials with these medical teams made up of doctors, nurses, nurses' aides from around the country. And essentially, they've descended on this area here at the New Orleans International Airport and they have turned a portion of the New Orleans Airport terminal into a hospital.
They've got trucks, generators, trucks that are actually playing like pharmacies, have been turned into pharmacies.
Throughout the day, you might see behind me several military aircraft that have already landed. The airport is in good condition. It is functioning. But that does not mean any kind of commercial flights are landing here. This is strictly for humanitarian and relief effort missions that are flying in and out of this airport.
The military aircraft, we understand are bringing in much-needed supplies -- water, food, those types of things. That will continue to happen. This is one of the most major airports in the area that is functional. So that will be depended on quite a bit in the days and weeks to come as well.
We've also seen a steady stream of patients being brought through here. None that we could tell of so far of people who were rescued today. I think mostly what we're seeing at this particular field hospital are many elderly folks who were being treated in other locations and transferred here. The helicopter traffic through this airport has been nonstop throughout the days, as many people have been airlifted in to receive the medical attention they might be able to get here.
But again, the airport here functioning as kind of a ground zero- type point for the medical teams that are working this area. As far as other types of flights that might be able to land here in the days to come, I spoke with the aviation director here at the airport. And he said it will be at least two months before this airport is running like normal.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Ed Lavandera. Thanks, Ed.
And just ahead, tens of thousands of refugees evacuate the Superdome in New Orleans to travel hundreds of miles to a new shelter in Texas. The governor of Texas will be my next guest. Stay with us.
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PILGRIM: An estimated 25,000 people who took refuge at the New Orleans, Superdome, will be bused to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Now the Superdome is being evacuated because of a number of problems, including lack of power and a deteriorating roof. And my next guest gave Louisiana the go-ahead to use the Astrodome in Houston.
Texas Governor Rick Perry said his state wants to do its part and help refugees get through this tragedy. And Governor Perry joins us now from Austin, Texas. Thanks for being here, sir. Any estimate on the timetable on this evacuation?
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) TEXAS: Yes. They should be arriving at the site in New Orleans at approximately 6:00 p.m. Central Time. We expect a relatively quick turnaround with the first ones arriving back in Houston at the Astrodome around midnight, Texas time. So it's going to be a long process, and -- but we're going to be ready for them. We can handle upwards of 27,000, the way that the Astrodome is now set up. So we suspect that it will be completely full.
PILGRIM: And what's the duration of time they're expected to be in the Astrodome?
PERRY: Well nobody knows that. As you heard from some of your earlier people that you've had on your show, this is all relatively new for all of us. No one's been through a disaster of this scope and we just know that by the grace of God, this could be Houston, Texas that's facing this rather than New Orleans and we're going to take care of our neighbors the best we can.
PILGRIM: You know, by the grace of God, it could have been Houston. Does this change the way you assess your preparedness plans?
PERRY: Well, obviously, we have been looking at these types of eventualities with a substantial number of exercises. We have in place, both through the legislative process and through a substantial amount of work with the local authorities and the federal authorities, processes in place.
The fact of the matter is when you see a Cat 4 or Cat 5 hurricane coming at you, there are certain things that you're not going to be able to stand up to. But evacuating those people out of Houston, Texas, for instance, or anywhere along the Gulf coast has been a real high priority in setting up these types of evacuee stations away from the Gulf Coast. We hope we're ready. We know some day it's going to happen to us. You know, as we said earlier, by the grace of God, we've dodged the last few years.
PILGRIM: Well thank you very much for joining us this evening, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Thank you, sir.
Still ahead, Americans lining up for gasoline in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We're going to have a Special Report on how the storm has impacted our supplies, what the government is doing about it. Stay with us.
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PILGRIM: The Bush Administration today said the U.S. will tap its emergency oil reserve after Katrina shut down a number of Gulf Coast refineries. Gas prices across the country, meanwhile, continue to climb. The average price for a gallon of gas now closing in on $3.
Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For the first time since Katrina hit, administration officials took action to address growing concerns about a possible energy crisis.
BUSH: This storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and distribute gasoline.
STEPHEN JOHNSON, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Today, I'm exercising my authority under the Clean Air Act to temporarily waive specific standards for gasoline and diesel fuels to ensure that the Hurricane Katrina natural disaster does not result in serious fuel supply interruptions around the country.
SAMUEL BODMAN, ENERGY SECRETARY: As many of you know already, last night, I approved a company's request for a loan from our nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve or the SPR, as we call it. Currently we are reviewing additional requests.
TUCKER: The relaxation of rules and the news that crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be made available helped calm the energy markets. But the extent of the damage to the nation's energy supplies remains unknown. That uncertainty is fueling fears of gasoline shortages and worries that diesel and jet fuel will soon be in short supply. Eight refineries, or 10 percent of the country's refining capacity, are shut down. Complete assessments of the damage not expected for a week. Refiners are pointing out that while production is lost --
BOB SLAUGHTER, NATL. PETROCHEMICAL & REFINERIES ASSN.: There is production in the area. The refineries in Texas are operating. Refineries -- there's product being produced in around Houston. Some of the Louisiana refineries are operating, at least, at reduced levels. And they're producing product.
TUCKER: But those products need a pipeline to flow through for delivery to customers. The two key pipelines supplying gasoline, diesel and jet fuel are the Colonial and the Plantation Pipelines supplying the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. They escaped damage but lost power.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER (on camera): Colonial says it expects power to be restored this evening allowing for the resumption of partial service through its pipeline tonight. Additionally, they expect to provide about 25 to 35 percent capacity, hoping to reach 60 percent by the weekend.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much, Bill Tucker. Well that is our broadcast for this evening. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina throughout the night. A special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360 starts right now.
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