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CNN Live Today

Eastern Gulf Coast Devastated; CNN Opens Relief Desk

Aired August 31, 2005 - 10:34   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: We're just past the half hour, so let's take a quick look at the crises unfolding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In New Orleans, there is no electricity or water. Food is said to be scarce. Widespread looting has broken out in many areas. There are also buildings on fire, though the causes of those fires aren't clear. The sound of gunfire can be heard in some neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the water continues to rise downtown as the failed levees allow yet more of Lake Pontchartrain to pour into the low-lying city.

In Mississippi, the governor says Katrina's toll will likely be even worse than Camille's. That 1969 storm killed 143 people in that state. All of the waterfront casinos in Mississippi have been destroyed. Each day without them costs the state $500,000 in tax revenue. And 80 percent of Mississippi remains without power at this hour.

Thousands of Katrina victims are simply trying to figure out what to do next. If you would like to help, we're going to tell you how you can contribute, after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: On Grand Isle, Louisiana, the five intrepid residents who rode out the storm did survive. The small town's mayor says three of them weathered the storm in City Hall, but two others had to be rescued from trees.

The bridge to the island buckled in the storm.

Moving east, into Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour says the damage to the state's southern counties is worse than even was expected. Hundreds of homes in the town of Pass Christian have been reduced to splinters. The bridge connecting the area to Bay St. Louis has been destroyed.

In Long Beach, Mississippi, up to 90 percent of the buildings are simply gone. The governor says it likely will be years before that area is restored.

And on Dauphin Island in Alabama, a wayward oil-drilling platform washed ashore, just sitting on the beach. The resort island's 1,200 residents are all evacuated. The area's emergency management official says he has no idea where that oil platform came from. No oil company has claimed it yet.

Another Mississippi town decimated by the storm is Gulfport. That is a coastal community perhaps best known for its floating casino. Today, the casinos are part of the losses.

Our Kathleen Koch is there with the latest. Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, what you see over my shoulder is the Copa Casino. Again, that used to be out on the water. Now it's up on the shore. Also, this a bustling port, the largest port on the coast of Mississippi. But that's why you see thrown up here and piled behind me like toys, 18-wheelers, three-ton rolls of paper. Tons and tons of goods were shipped on a daily basis in and out of this port, paper, bananas. We're told that there are hundreds and hundreds of cases of chicken that are now rotting out here because of the storm.

We have some -- they're -- what they're do is, they're cleaning up. They're just starting to clean up this area right now, if my cameraman, Emanuel, can pan off to the left. You can see they have backhoes operating, they've brought in dump trucks. They're beginning this process that will clearly take months, if not years.

We have some aerial shots of Gulfport. And as you said, this city was very much decimated, in particular, all the areas very close to the beach.

Same scene in Long Beach. We got in there yesterday. We were the first camera into Long Beach, first camera into Pass Christian. These are smaller communities that are to the west of Gulfport. Everything that we saw, the first two blocks from the beach, there's nothing left. Piles of debris, you don't even know what the buildings used to be. On the streets where you can see buildings -- and there are still some buildings standing -- you can't make it down the streets. They're full of rooves and trees.

We talked with one man, though, who, despite all the warnings about Katrina, despite how severe everyone thought it would be, he rode it out with his pets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take a nap, woke up to find that the water was actually seeping through the concrete slab of my house. And it was moving at such a pace that I was stuck. There was no way I could get out, as much as I would have liked to have actually been smart enough to get out.

I had to do everything I could. And I had to get me and my dog and my cat.

It came up high enough that I was actually able to, because it was so high, force Willow and the cat out the window, and push them up onto the roof. And once I had gotten them out, I did the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOCH: As you see the massive and really unfathomable physical devastation up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, and even over into Alabama, what is not seen is the emotional devastation. The residents of these areas are really completely shell-shocked. They have not really fully comprehended the magnitude of this disaster, in many cases because, again, they have no power, they have no water, they can only see -- they only know what's happened in the area that they can walk to or drive to, if they have any gasoline.

And it -- to say it's difficult is obviously an understatement. And people are coming and giving us names. And I used to live here. I lived in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I don't know if my family's home is standing. My brother lives in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He rode out the storm in Biloxi with his wife and his four children in Keesler (ph) Air Force Base Hospital. I know they're OK. We don't know if his home is standing.

But people are coming by and giving you names and asking you, Can you check on my family, if you get to Long Beach, if you get to Bay St. Louis? Here's their address, here's their number. Can you see if they're alive?

And we're going to -- we're doing what we can. But so many of the roads are impassable, power lines draped everywhere, trees down. It's -- we're doing what we can.

And here in the port, we're even offering up dog and cat food. This was -- these were some of the goods that were shipped in and out of the port. And there's piles of this around here, and it could still be consumed by pets. We're going to see if we can get it to the Harrison County Emergency Center, because obviously not only are the people getting hungry, but the pets too, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, you're caught in that space between wanting to do what you can as a human being, and also having a job there to do, and trying to get the information out to the millions of people who are interested to see how that area went.

I'd like to call on your perspective, since you did grow up there, and the governor's saying this is so much worse than Camille, part of the situation, though, is, Mississippi, especially the coast, is so much more built up than it was back in 1969.

KOCH: It is. And that's why, Daryn, the damage figures will be far greater than they were for Camille. And already, even prior to this hurricane, Camille, when it came to monetary damage, was not even in the top five, because this was a very different coastal area back in 1969.

But now it is built up in a way that is so much more -- I left the area in the late '80s. And it's changed immensely since I lived here. So the devastation, the monetary -- it's hard to even imagine.

What people are telling us about the difference between Katrina and Camille was, the people who rode out their -- Camille in their homes in Pass Christian and Long Beach where they were, they said that that storm, Camille was much more targeted, had higher wind, didn't have the water that came in the way this storm did, the way Katrina did.

And these people said, We stayed in our homes because we were safe there in Camille. And they said in this storm, they would see the water seeping under the door, and within half an hour, they had nine feet of water in their homes.

And again, they said they stayed because of something I've mentioned a lot. And I call it the Camille survivor syndrome. They survived what they thought was the worst hurricane on record, and in some strange way, they thought that they were hurricane-proof, that they were in their homes, where -- and they've survived that, they could survive anything. But they were actually just very lucky once, but not lucky twice.

KAGAN: Yes. Kathleen Koch in Gulfport, Mississippi, and on a personal note, I'm so glad your brother and his family are safe and OK. Thank you.

To New Orleans now, a top priority today, trying to stem the floodwaters rushing through those broken levees. Sandbags alone aren't enough to plug the leaks, and the waters in the city are higher now than in the hours after the hurricane.

Earlier today on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," Louisiana's governor asked for the nation's prayers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: We've got an engineering nightmare trying to fill the breach of the levee, where the waters are pouring into the city. I think they've been working on it all during the night, continue to work on it all today.

We have search and rescue operations that continue. And now we absolutely must evacuate the people in the dome and other shelters in the city, because of the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Earlier this hour, an emergency management official in Houston told CNN that plans are in the works to take at least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina's refugees -- most will come from the New Orleans Super Dome -- and be sheltered in the Houston Astrodome.

Let's get more on the break of the levees and exactly what's taking place, and the efforts to try to shore up those levees.

Here's Bonnie Schneider in the Weather Center. Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Daryn, this is a great perspective, because it's an aerial one, and you could really see relationships between where the levees broke to the city, to the bodies of water. Let's go right to these views. You'll see Lake Pontchartrain, as we zoom on in, one of the water sources around the city of New Orleans, the Mississippi River to the south. And then when we start looking a little bit tighter in, you'll see there's a canal, right, that comes off that Lake Pontchartrain. And this, of course, has the water flowing on through it.

Here's the location of the first breach. It's just south of the Hammond Highway. And what happened here is, the water came under a metal wall that kind of divides the canal from the city. And I just want to note, if you're looking at this aerial perspective and saying, Well, it doesn't look bad, where's all the water? these pictures were obviously taken well before Katrina came through, and you can see how nice it looked back then.

Unfortunately, now, this levee breaking, and another one that we can show you is causing quite a bit of flooding around the Super Dome area, especially, and pretty much all through the streets of New Orleans.

Here's the second breach, in another canal coming off Lake Pontchartrain as well. And if we go back to where downtown New Orleans is, we have the Super Dome right over here. You can see that perspective. And this, again, is the dry picture, before the storm, the location of downtown.

Imagine that water. Now, it's coming in from two different sides straight through. So we're seeing it flow across the city. The French Quarter does have flooding, certainly, but the French Quarter is actually at a slightly higher elevation than the downtown area, so it's a little bit better here, not much. But the water is certainly rising around the Super Dome.

We have water literally flowing in all these streets you see here. So quite a messy situation to contend with there.

If you're wondering where Katrina is right now, the remnants are pushing across the Northeast, not really in the coastal sections along the big cities like Boston and New York, but back out further to the west. Certainly Montreal getting hit hard with a lot of rain.

And it looks like weather conditions in New Orleans aren't so great. I'd like to say that it's going to be a little bit more comfortable and cool, but after you have a hurricane come through, it gets very, very humid, very, very muggy. The current temperature in New Orleans is 85 degrees. It feels like it's 100 due to that heat, that condensation, evaporation from the moisture that's on the ground right now with flooded streets, really creates a low-level feeling on the atmosphere of just heat, mugginess, and just uncomfortable weather.

And naturally, Daryn, with temperatures in the 90s, it's just going to stay hot for a while there.

KAGAN: Absolutely miserable. Bonnie Schneider. Bonnie, thank you. SCHNEIDER: Sure.

KAGAN: We were speaking with Ed Lavandera a little bit earlier this hour. He is live at the New Orleans International Airport and has an update for us. Let's go back live to Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

We were talking about just what will be happening in the near future with the New Orleans International Airport.

I'm joined right now real quick by Roy Williams, the director of aviation here at the airport.

What would be happening here? Let's take it just a few days at a time right now.

ROY WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR OF AVIATION, NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Absolutely. Right now, we're very pleased that Armstrong International Airport is open and operational. We have FAA air traffic control. Both runways are functional. The airfield is dry, and we're already receiving relief aircraft.

So for the next few days, that's what we're going to have. We've had American Airlines in. We had the Coast Guard in this morning. We expect other airlines and other military and civilian relief agencies will be coming in frequently.

And it's not just bringing in, which it's very important to get water and medical supplies in, but we've got to get a lot of people evacuated. We have medical emergencies existing and developing. The hospitals downtown are all being evacuated, and all those people need to be transported to other medical facilities.

LAVANDERA: OK, let me be clear real quick. When you say open and operational, does it mean that if you feel like taking a vacation and coming to New Orleans for whatever bizarre reason that might be, you just can't show up here?

WILLIAMS: We're open and operational to serve the very important humanitarian needs of this community. Regular air service, both passenger and cargo, is still many days away. We expect that there will be some passenger cargo service commencing fairly soon, but it will be on a very restricted basis, controlled with the various federal agencies to make sure that only the flights that need to operate come in here, because obviously, anyone who comes in here, they need to have a place to stay, food and water, supplies, because the city cannot provide that.

So it's going to be a very, very restricted air service for the weeks to come.

LAVANDERA: And then for tourists, for anyone who might want to come down here in the future, or maybe come into fly and see loved ones, what are we looking at there? WILLIAMS: I think the answer will be that, obviously, American freedom of travel is one of our very important freedoms, and people are going to want to come here and see family, and see, frankly, see what's happened to their possessions for those that evacuated. Those processes will be put in place, and I expect that will be happening in the next 10 days or so.

I think that will be most of the story for September and October, and I would hope that by the November time frame, that some level of the traditional hospitality, tourism, and business activities that we're known for can be underway.

But again, with so much of our housing stock, so much of our utilities -- (audio interrupt) ... it's just not going to be a place where you can accommodate guests for a while.

LAVANDERA: So at least two months before this airport truly gets back to normal.

WILLIAMS: The airport and the community, that's right. I mean, thankfully, the airport itself is physically in very good shape. But the rest of the community really has a lot of rebuilding before it can live up to its hospitality reputation.

LAVANDERA: And a personal note here for Mr. Williams, you're like the captain of a boat here. You didn't leave your post. You kind of stood by your airport throughout the (INAUDIBLE) -- you waited out the hurricane here.

WILLIAMS: That's right. And although the building did very, very well, the most severe damage occurred immediately outside my office window, so I have an immediate visible reminder at all times of just how powerful this storm was. One of our newer parts of the building, it just completely shattered the roof, and that part of the building is now open air.

LAVANDERA: All right. Roy Williams, thank you very much. He's the director of aviation here at the New Orleans International Airport.

And as he was mentioning, in the -- for the next two weeks, if you have any business, you have to have some sort of business to fly into New Orleans here. And as he mentioned, two months, probably, before things seem to get back to normal here at this particular airport, Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera live at in Kenner, Louisiana, at the New Orleans International Airport. A little tiny ray of hope there, in that two of the runways are operational for rescue operations. But as Ed was saying, at least two months before that is a regular airport operating so that just ordinary Americans can come in and out.

We have much more news ahead on Katrina, also other news from around the world, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: CNN now wants to help provide a link between those who are missing, and the worried loved ones who are awaiting word.

To explain how we're going to do that, here now is CNN's Carol Lin. Carol?

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We have gotten hundreds of calls and e-mails from people trying to find their loved ones. And we can't physically search for the individuals, but through the power of television, and our Web site, cnn.com, we want to give people hope and a way to find each other, even if it's just to let each other know that they're OK.

We're posting e mails on our Web site, and CNN has crews covering the entire hurricane-hit areas. And they are sending back video and photos. And we're going to air them here every hour.

In fact, here's what a couple people are telling us right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

ASHLEY MARCUSSEN, MISSING HUSBAND: I had contact with them all through the storm, and he called me quite a few times. And he was in the bathtub, and I could hear the wind going around the trailer, and it was horrible sounding. I mean, it didn't sound like that where we were at, but it was horrible sounding.

And it just -- it was -- When I finally was able to -- you know, during 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. And I haven't seen him since.

SUZANNE PERRON, MISSING FATHER: I'm terrified about whether or not he is alive or healthy. I told him on the phone on Sunday, I said, Dad, be safe. I'm coming home soon. I want you home when I get there. And it's very frightening. Called us on Monday morning around 8:00 and said he was there, and the wind was starting to pick up. And that is the last time we've heard from him.

KEVIN, IN TOUCH WITH MOTHER (on phone): But I'm OK here. I'm -- if I could get out of here, I'll probably head that way, yes, ma'am. Love you. Love you. Bye. Bye. OK, I know you have been. That's why I got this phone. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LIN: We want to hear more stories just like that one.

Every hour, I'm going to be sharing some of your e-mail as well.

In fact, here are some of them.

Scherry Sherrill is looking for her father, Dan Lukers. He lives in St. Bernard's Parish in Louisiana, which was hit very hard. Scherry has not heard from her dad since Sunday.

And ReNee Grant is looking for any information about her brother, Gregg Kelly. He was going to ride out Katrina at his house, which is about three miles from the Super Dome in New Orleans. She is really worried about him, because Gregg has epilepsy, and she hasn't heard from him since Katrina hit.

And another plea from Dionne Nichols-Hightower. Her sister, Jennifer Gray Smith and other family members are missing. They were last seen in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

Also, help us help you. If you are looking for someone in the hurricane zone, e-mail us your stories at HurricaneVictims@cnn.com. We are going to post as many names and photos as we can.

And cnn.com is setting up a list of people who've contacted us to say that they are OK.

Also, our CNN crews are all over this story, and they are going to be sending more fresh sound and pictures from people looking for loved ones, which we're going to air right here from the Victims Relief Desk.

Daryn, we'll be right back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We have for you now the latest developments from the Gulf Coast.

Two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, because of rising water, authorities in New Orleans plan to bus refugees from the Super Dome. They're sending them to Houston, Texas, and they will be put up in the Astrodome.

Engineers are dropping sandbags and concrete barriers on a breached levee in New Orleans today. They hope to plug a three-block- long hole. The break is letting water from Lake Pontchartrain pour into the flooded city.

Thirty-five-hundred National Guard troops are moving into New Orleans, trying to stop looters. The Guard is backed by state police and SWAT teams.

Swarms of people are stealing everything from diapers to sneakers to television sets.

Thirty percent of Mississippi doesn't have electricity today, make that 80 percent doesn't have electricity today. The governor says it's nothing but devastation along the state's wrecked coastline. Katrina, he says, is far worse than Camille a generation ago.

And President Bush has decided to tap the strategic oil reserve to make sure there's enough crude after Katrina. The storm cut Gulf production. A quarter of U.S. output comes from the area. One analyst saying gas is headed to $4 a gallon, no doubt about it. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com