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American Morning

Crisis in New Orleans; Conflicting Reports Regarding Whether Transit of Evacuees From Superdome to Astrodome Halted

Aired September 01, 2005 - 09:02   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A developing story to tell you about this hour. The evacuation in New Orleans at a critical moment. Shots fired at an Army helicopter suspending some of the evacuations. And crowds apparently setting small fires.
Now, within the last few hours, 50,000 to 60,000 people are estimated to have swarmed the Superdome. They're hoping for their spot on any bus out of the city.

The scene this morning along Interstate 10, thousands in shock and waiting. They're hoping they might escape as well. No one knows if today will be the day.

And across the country, signs of Katrina seen at the gas pump -- $4, $5, even $6 a gallon in some places, and very, very long lines to buy it.

Those stories all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien. Welcome from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I am at the command center here, the nexus for all information for state and federal officials as they focus on this situation in southeastern Louisiana, specifically on New Orleans.

In just a little bit, we'll talk to -- one of the many layers of issues and problems and concerns is what is going on in the hospitals. And we'll talk to one person who has a good sense of what is going on there.

In the meantime, back to Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. It's pretty devastating, the reports coming out of some of those hospitals, which apparently, Miles, are lacking all the critical supplies, and actually some folks begging for some assistance and supplies. More on that just ahead.

First, though, a scene that's developing at the Superdome right now. Buses this morning have been arriving to try to take folks out of the city. In our last hour, a Louisiana National Guardsman told us that when people saw those buses, they swarmed to the area, hoping that they could get a spot on a bus.

It is a very confused situation right now. There are clearly not enough buses to take everybody out. Some people have been setting small trash fires. Authorities, though, are concerned because the fire department cannot get to them. And even though they're small right now, they could grow with no ability to control them. Also, reports that an Army Chinook helicopter shot at that was helping in the evacuation process.

Elsewhere in the city, police say they are overwhelmed by the widespread looting and mayhem. They've been diverting search and rescue efforts to focus on the lawlessness.

CNN affiliate WWL-TV is reporting that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has told police to do "whatever it takes" to regain control of the city.

Let's get right to Chris Lawrence. He joins us by videophone. He's on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans.

How bad is it where you are, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one good thing, about the only good thing right here, is that the water, at least in this part, seems to be receding just a little bit. And by that I mean in certain parts where it was above your knee, maybe now it's just slightly below the knee. I mean, we're literally talking inches here.

But again, when you talked about that security situation, the police officers down here in the downtown area tell me one police officer walking along with a handgun, he wouldn't even feel safe doing that. He said, "If you're out here, especially at night by yourself, you're taking your life in your own hands."

He said they basically have to show a force, five, six, seven officers at one time. You know, shotguns out. You know, the assault rifles out. He said that it's the only thing, that show of force, that can deter people at this point.

And you get the feeling that that sense of desperation is just getting stronger and stronger. I mean, every hour, every day, the people go without freshwater, without food, with their children, it makes people desperate. And for good reason.

A lot of these people are just simply trying to get a fresh drink of water, get some food, and take care of their family. And when those needs aren't met, people become very desperate.

And as one officer told me, "Desperate people do some very desperate things." And he told me yesterday he felt the actions were only going to increase today and tomorrow if things didn't get any better. Obviously last night they did not get better, and today we see it is getting worse -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're looking, Chris, at some of the pictures from New Orleans, which shows clearly the conditions, the flooding across the city, and, of course, just how bad and overwhelming it is. You've seen some people now who are camped out with their kids. What are they doing -- let me see if we -- oh, there we go. We got the shot back again.

What are these folks doing, Chris? Are they -- are the people you've talked to angry? Are they just distressed? What are you seeing?

LAWRENCE: Angry, sad. I mean, they're begging. These people are begging for help. Entire families begging for...

S. O'BRIEN: We're clearly having some problems with Chris Lawrence's audio. We should mention that all of our correspondents who are there are dealing, just as the people who live there are, dealing with very difficult circumstances. And so getting any kind of shot out at all is pretty remarkable.

Let's go back to Miles.

You know, Miles, I think you put it best just a moment ago. When you see these pictures, you realize the idea that this is happening in a major American city, where people are on the streets begging, where there are bodies, bodies that have been there for days on the streets that no one is claiming, I think those descriptions are really hitting home and people are beginning to understand just -- when elected officials say the situation in New Orleans is out of control and the police can't rescue people anymore because they just have to maintain the crowds, the crowds who are hot and hungry and tired and need water and are living in filthy conditions, it really is bordering on just a massive disaster at this point.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, it reminds me, Soledad, of kind of a grade B Hollywood script, some of the movies we saw during the Cold War. You know, post-nuclear Armageddon. I sort of wish it was a nightmare and I would wake up. How about you?

S. O'BRIEN: You know, I just -- I've got to tell you, the coordination in the tsunami to some degree seemed better than the coordination that you see out of New Orleans. And I understand the elected officials who say, this is not the time to point fingers and to lay blame. I understand that perspective.

I understand that there are people who are suffering. And of course everyone's heart goes out to those.

I mean, look at these people in this picture here. They are sitting out there. They have absolutely nothing except for what you see them with in these pictures, which often is just a bag of their belongings.

These people are so angry because it seems, certainly from our perspective, that this is -- this is not a tsunami that came upon people unaware. People have been predicting this exact scenario for many, many years. And I think the elected officials are going to have to at some point, if not now, while they're dealing with search and rescue efforts and dealing with the lawlessness, but at some point are going to have to answer the question of why were they not prepared for a scenario that had been predicted -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, we will be asking those questions, and those questions will be on our minds for many months to come.

You know, another thing that perhaps we didn't predict is a really heartening scene, is the scene we're seeing in Houston, Texas, this morning at the Astrodome. People in that city have just opened the doors and opened their arms to these evacuees.

What is ever -- what is bad about human nature is being reflected on the streets of New Orleans. What is good about it, in Houston. It's a tale of two cities, really. And Keith Oppenheim has the Houston component.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. I'm going to show you something that just started next to me just a few minutes ago. And what you're seeing is some people who are not the official folks coming from dome to dome, from Superdome in New Orleans to Astrodome in Houston.

They are folks who got here another way, but they are being allowed onto the grounds here. And officials are going to try to see if they can get them shelters. And I'm pointing that out just because of what you just said, Miles, because the folks here are truly feeling the emotions of what it's like to be accepted after they've been through such trauma.

Having said that, this is a temporary exodus on hold. About 60 buses have made it here, but there are still at least 400 to go. And as we've been reporting, officials here in Houston have told us that because of shots fired at a Chinook helicopter used to transport people out of the Superdome, that because of that there's a sense that it's just not safe to continue the transport, and there's going to be a delay for five hours. And things will stay in a delay mode until things are more settled in New Orleans.

Still, about 3,000 people have arrived here. That's far short of the 20,000 or so that need to come. Before all those buses started to arrive, though, there were two school buses looking very unofficial with the words "Orleans Parish" on the side.

And the people on that bus actually fibbed a bit and said that they were from the official caravan. Officials here at the Astrodome could tell quite quickly that they were not. But they were from Louisiana. There were adults, children and babies board on these buses.

They were tired. They were hungry. And you're going to hear now from a man who expressed his desperate emotions at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just disgusted right now. My head is killing. I'm just stressed out right now.

I'm tired. I need a bed. I need a bath. I'm just overdue for everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP) OPPENHEIM: Now, again, some of the folks like that man who came -- or allowed into the Superdome, they may not actually stay in the -- I should say Astrodome -- they may not actually be allowed to stay inside. Instead, they will be sent to overflow shelters that are being set up in the Houston area.

Miles, before I go, I just want to point out that some of these folks behind me, I just learned from my producer, Michael Kerry (ph), you know how they got here? They got here in a bread truck.

That just shows how improvisational this whole thing is. You know, the idea, of course, was that there would be an organized exodus from dome to dome, then everyone would figure out what to do. And on some level that is happening, or hopefully will continue to do so. But when you find that people just find their way here to Houston, it shows you that this is perceived by people from Louisiana as the place where they can get help.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim in Houston at the Astrodome. I apologize. Obviously a helicopter is landing right near where I am.

We should tell you that the -- we received a phone call from the Department of Homeland Security indicating some confusion ability whether, in fact, that bus transport had been suspended. We do know this: fires were set in the area around the Superdome. There might have been shots fired, although we do not know that for a fact.

And -- but what the net message from the Department of Homeland Security at this point is, that the buses never stopped rolling. We had heard from an official from the Louisiana National Guard just a few moments ago who said that that bus transport had, in fact, been suspended. So bottom line here is we've got a lot of conflicting reports. And what this says a lot about is our lack of communication with New Orleans at this point.

Chris Lawrence is there, but unable to actually have direct reporting right at that location. And so we apologize for the confusion.

We know you understand. This is a very chaotic scene, and it is compounded by the fact that there is virtually a communication blackout with the city of New Orleans.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: As the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina's destruction becomes more clear, anger and frustration is growing. And people want to know why there wasn't a better plan to respond to such a major disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are dealing with one of the worse natural disaster in our nation's history.

S. O'BRIEN (voice over): After surveying Katrina's destruction from the air, President Bush said the federal government is doing everything it can to help the hurricane-ravaged victims in the Gulf Coast region. But for some whose lives have been shattered by Katrina, help's not coming fast enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had many years to prepare for this, the professionals at the Corps of Engineers. Why had not they brainstormed this? Why would they not be prepared?

S. O'BRIEN: Initial shock and sadness seemed to give way to anger and, with it, cries for answers.

SIDNEY BARTHELEMY, FMR. NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Everyone thought there was a plan. Everyone thought that we could handle most of the problems that would come due to a hurricane. No one ever dreamed that it would take -- be such devastation.

S. O'BRIEN: The former mayor of New Orleans told me yesterday the situation is almost unfathomable.

BARTHELEMY: This is a national disaster. We must save those people and save that city. That means sending the military in right now. We can't wait.

S. O'BRIEN: Almost everyone seems to agree help's needed immediately.

JOSEPH GIBSON, BILOXI RESIDENT: This is an emergency. We need help now. Not tomorrow. Right now. They need somebody here right now.

BARBARA BARHONOVICH, BILOXI RESIDENT: I need a place to live. Something to where I can just feel secure and not sleeping out on the porch.

S. O'BRIEN: Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu says authorities could have been better prepared, but cautioned against assigning blame.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: We'll talk about what we didn't do later. There will be plenty time for that. And the truth will speak for itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: So far, Americans have given more than $27 million to help pay for what will be the largest relief effort in U.S. history. That's according to the "Chronicle of Philanthropy," which tracks charitable giving.

The Red Cross -- the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other nonprofit groups say hundreds of million more dollars are needed, though. To find out how you can make a donation, you can go to CNN.com/relief. Also, on this Saturday night, Larry King is going to host a three-hour special. It's called "How You Can Help." That's on Saturday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Let's get back to Miles.

Miles, good morning again.

M. O'BRIEN: All this morning we've been focusing on two domes, one Super, one Astro, and the transportation between those two places that is the heart and soul of this evacuation effort to get the most needy people out of the city of New Orleans and into a place that is more comfortable, more safe, more secure. Give them a better opportunity to get back on their feet.

But another story that we haven't talked quite as much about is all the separated families that all -- each and every one of these evacuees has a story to tell about someone they lost track of in the midst of all of this, in the midst of the confusion, in the midst of the lack of communication.

We're joined by one such person, Ryan Samuels, who got in his own car with his immediate family, wife and three kids, went to Dallas immediately after the storm, and has lost track of his extended family. He's looking for his mother, his mother-in-law, uncles, aunts. And he's among several hundred people in Houston doing just the same thing.

Ryan, are you going to stay there until you see them?

RYAN SAMUELS, NEW ORLEANS EVACUEE: Yes, I'm going to stay as long as I possibly can.

M. O'BRIEN: What's the mood like among those people who are looking for lost loved ones and friends?

Just pray and hoping. I mean, just looking for anything, anything we can find. Any information on anybody we can find out here, any relatives, anybody, friends, neighbors, anybody we can find.

M. O'BRIEN: What is -- it must be so difficult to be in this situation, so frustrating to just not know and not be able to do anything about it.

SAMUELS: It's -- it's very hard. I mean, I'm looking for maybe -- it was almost 12, 13 people in one apartment on the third floor of an apartment building in New Orleans. He's across from George Washington Carver High School. I'm looking for Gale Denly (ph). I'm looking for Anita Denly (ph).

I'm looking for Sylvester Frances (ph). I'm looking for my uncle, Thomas White. He was last seen uptown.

Any information, if you can call our house number, keep trying. Every now and then the answering machine picks up. We changed our outgoing messages. We have all phone numbers, all cell phones that we have with us that are working, Nextels, Sprint, Verizon. Whatever is working, try to call.

We have numbers in Dallas. Any numbers you can call.

I have a Web -- I have an e-mail address. It's ryansamu -- I'm sorry. RyanSmls@Yahoo.com, if you can get to a computer. RyanSamue -- I'm sorry. It's just frustrating.

M. O'BRIEN: No, that's OK. Take your time, Ryan. Take your time. Just slow down. It's all right.

SAMUELS: And anything, if I can get anybody to call, it doesn't matter. My neighbors, anybody who has seen anybody in my family, contact us.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

SAMUELS: My neighbors, if you -- if you can get to Dallas, give us a call. Anything.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Ryan, here's what we're going to do. We're going to put your information on CNN.com, where we're trying to help families connect. OK? We'll do that for you, and we'll make sure we get all that correct information on there.

SAMUELS: I definitely appreciate that.

M. O'BRIEN: And are you optimistic you're going to see them at this point?

SAMUELS: I'm just prayerful at this moment. That's all I can do is pray and leave it in the hands of the good lord, and hopefully he'll make everything all right.

We love you all. We're waiting on you all. We're here for you. We miss you all.

We want you all here. We need you all with us. Please give us a call. Please.

Anybody knows anything about any of my family members, please help them, help them get to a phone, help them get to a computer. It doesn't matter. Please help them.

We love you all, if you all can hear us.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Ryan Samuels. All right. Ryan Samuels, don't go away. We want you to give that information after we go to break here.

Really, we wish you the best. Our hearts go out to you as you try and find your loved ones there.

SAMUELS: Thank you, sir.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll be back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: As we talk about the situation, the appalling situation in the city of New Orleans, one of the areas of great concern has been the medical care system, the hospitals.

You know, of course, hospitals are set up for disasters. They have backup generators, they have phones that work in times of need and all the kinds of things you would expect when a typical storm comes through. But nothing was typical, of course, about Katrina.

And as a result, these hospitals now are out of power. And you can imagine what that's like in a hospital. We're not just talking about air-conditioning here. We're talking about pumps that keep people alive. And as a result, there are heroic efforts under way even as we speak right now to keep people alive in the absence of 21st century technology, which is all but gone in the city of New Orleans.

Myra Waddell is a nurse who specializes in transporting pediatric cases, infants who are very sick, premature, that kind of thing. She's with the University of Alabama. And she was part of an airlift effort to get four critically ill babies out of the Oschner Hospital in New Orleans.

And Myra, good to have you with us. What was that journey like? What did you see inside that hospital?

MYRA WADDELL, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA HOSPITAL: Words will never describe what the mood was when we got there. The staff there were just happy to see some relief coming in.

Tuesday night was the first night that outside crews had been able to get into the hospital to help take some babies out. So they were just beside themselves with joy to actually see somebody actually come in and just -- and grief-stricken all at the same time. Just they know that they had lost most everything.

M. O'BRIEN: And we're looking at some of the babies now. How many babies have you transported, and how are those babies doing, first of all?

WADDELL: We transported -- are team and Children's at UAB has transported a total of six patients. Out of the four that we picked up Tuesday night, one has been discharged home yesterday, so -- and the other three are doing very well.

M. O'BRIEN: Discharged home, though, but is there a home for that baby to go to?

WADDELL: As far as I know, the four patients we brought up Tuesday night were from Mississippi. And as far as I know, that patient was able to make it home.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So this is kind of a regional center there. All right. I need you, as best you can, to try to put into words, try to describe the conditions that these really heroic medical personnel are operating under right now.

WADDELL: Most of them had been there for three days. They had not showered. Very few had changed clothes because they didn't have anything else to change into. It was very -- extremely hot in there.

They didn't have the IV pumps and such to administer the medications. They had some that were working, but some were hard or didn't have the power.

Most of the babies were hot and fussy. The one whose could eat didn't want to because they were hot and cranky.

It was just a very stressful time for everyone. You would be talking to -- some of the staff members would be talking to you, and they knew you just flew in, and they would ask you if it was -- and tear up and start crying and ask you if it was really as bad as everyone was saying, and all you could say was, "Yes, ma'am, it is."

M. O'BRIEN: I can't even imagine what you describe, and I heard reports, and you must have witnessed this, in the absence of electrically powered ventilators, people actually hand, as they call it, bagging, keeping a person breathing by hand. Did you see that?

WADDELL: Not at Oschner. They were -- most of the patients that were on ventilators, they were able to keep those powered up. So we did not run into that at Ushners.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. And just final thought here. What can be done about the rest of these patients? There's an urgent need here.

WADDELL: Hopefully we've offered to come down and pick up more patients if need be. And I know there's other transport teams that are out there that are picking up patients, and -- but, yes, we're available and will be happy to help.

M. O'BRIEN: Myra Waddell, thanks for all you're doing to help out. We'll be back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. As we continue our coverage in the path and the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I'm Miles O'Brien reporting live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in front of the emergency operation center, where the state and federal team is trying to coordinate a relief effort which clearly is overwhelmed this morning. We'll get into that in just a little bit. But first, let's go to Soledad in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We're going to get back to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in just a moment. First, we want to bring you some of the other stories making news this morning. Carol's got a look at those. Carol, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, mass funerals taking place today for the nearly 1,000 Shiite Iraqis killed in a bridge stampede. Most of the victims, the elderly, women and children, were trampled or drowned in a panic, apparently sparked by rumors of a suicide bomber. A three-day period of mourning now being observed.

The Pentagon announcing that the USS Harry S. Truman will be heading to the Gulf coast. The Truman will be deployed along with a smaller Navy docking ship to the Gulf near Mexico. It will apparently serve as a command center for some of the relief efforts.

Two pipelines supplying the southeast with gas are partially back up and running, but supply problems have created some panic at the pumps. Some drivers in Atlanta were facing gas prices of more than $5 per gallon. Georgia's governor Sonny Perdue says this is just a temporary problem due to Katrina. Gas was said to be so scarce in Mobile, Alabama that drivers waited in some very long lines, as you can see. As far as prices go, experts warn that the national average could potentially go as high as $4 per gallon, and that could happen very soon.

Former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton are being asked to head up an international campaign effort for the victims of Katrina. Request coming from the White House calling on the former presidents to play a role similar to the one they had during the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. Senior administration officials say an announcement could come as early as today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Back to New Orleans now, a city in crisis in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There's widespread looting going on in full view of police officers. A National Guard soldier was shot at the Superdome. An evacuation of the Superdome has been temporarily suspended after shots, we believe, were fired at an Army helicopter.

Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial joins us this morning. He's back. We talked, of course, as the storm was approaching, and now really the worse predictions have come true in a lot of ways. When you see the scene at the Superdome and you hear there are 20-plus thousand people inside. Another 50,000 to 60,000-plus people outside, desperate to get on these buses. What questions run through your mind? What's your thoughts?

MARC MORIAL, NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: There needs to be a massive effort by every available resource, military resources and civilian resources to evacuate the people, buses, helicopters, airport -- or military cargo planes.

Soledad, that effort, I can't say, we're dealing with a crisis of Biblical proportions. The people there don't have food. They don't have water. They don't have any...

S. O'BRIEN: What has surprised you about this? We're looking, Marc, as you know. These are the folks outside of the Superdome. They're trying to get on the buses. They're not going to be allowed to go to the Astrodome because they're only going to take people, supposedly, who are inside the Superdome and take them to the Astrodome. So they right now can't quite leave the city.

MORIAL: It's, you know, it's -- what you want to hesitate to do from here in New York is second-guess the wisdom and the judgment of people on the ground. But the evacuation effort should be an effort to evacuate not only those people in the dome, but everybody who happens to be in New Orleans. Everyone is without electricity, without water, without sanitary supplies. And I understand that there's one road that makes the city accessible, which means you can get supplies in, as I understand. So I think there ought to be a massive effort to bring in water, medical supplies.

S. O'BRIEN: On whose part? A massive effort by who?

MORIAL: I think that there's only one place where this kind of effort can be coordinated, an that is through the federal government, with FEMA, Homeland Security, and we need our military resources.

O'BRIEN: Are you saying FEMA and Homeland Security have not done enough?

MORIAL: I'm not going to say that, Soledad. I think it's counterproductive to make judgments of that sort, but it is a plea, it's call; it's a request for a 9/11 tsunami-type response. This is a crisis of biblical proportions, and we've got to get the people out of New Orleans.

O'BRIEN: There was a -- the engineer, the operations chief of the Army Corps of Engineers. He was interviewed and he said none of the plans they ran through, including -- ever included an event of this magnitude. As someone who is not from the area but whose read a lot about it, why would it never -- you were the mayor. Why was there never a plan of a massive hurricane striking New Orleans?

MORIAL: Let me tell you what I think. I think there was always -- the plan always seemed to suggest that a mandatory pre-hurricane evacuation would take all except a few people out of the city. When I say a few, those who, for whatever reasons, could not evacuate. I think that here is where, once again, hindsight is clearly better than foresight.

O'BRIEN: Too many people left behind.

MORIAL: Too many people left behind. And also no thought process perhaps, or inadequate thought process about what would occur, what was needed for the people who were left behind, but now four days have elapsed and it seems as though whatever effort, military, cargo planes, trucks -- any form of transportation to bring provisions in. Water needs to be brought in. Food needs to be brought in. Medical supplies need to be brought in. So that those people who may not be able to evacuate immediately will have a way to survive.

You've got babies. You've got children. You've got people with medical problems. Whether there was a plan or not, right now, my call, my appeal, is for the highest levels of our government to do everything within their power today to get the people out. And there are so many of us who want to assist that effort.

S. O'BRIEN: Marc, these are pictures coming into us right now from the convention center. I mean, look at all these people camped out at the convention center with clearly no real infrastructure taking care of them. The picture just froze there, but we -- while we were talking we were seeing the massive number of people just there. You know...

MORIAL: Our nation -- we have the resources. If nation has the resources to try to help these people evacuate. I think it's clear now that the only, only sensible course of action is to help people get out of New Orleans. And whatever it takes is what we need.

Today a number of us -- Wynton Marsalis, Russell Simmons, Debra Lee of BET -- we're going to announce an effort at noon today to support the American Red Cross and to encourage people to give to the American Red Cross by way of a telephone that will take place next Friday. I know a number of other people are doing things. But we want to encourage people. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people going to be left homeless. Many of them are in Houston.

S. O'BRIEN: This is only the first stage of the crisis.

MORIAL: This is beginning.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, I think you're exactly right. Marc Morial, thanks. As always, nice to see you. A short break and we are back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Each day it seems, each hour really, the situation in New Orleans is deteriorating even further. Now, federal, state and local officials are scrambling to try to regain some control. Many people who live in the area say for years there has been talk about when the big one would hit. Well, the big one hit, so why weren't they better prepared? What went wrong?

Joining us to discuss these issues, reporter John Zarrella. He just returned from New Orleans. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. And reporter Tom Foreman. He's lived and worked in New Orleans. Gentleman, thanks for being with us. We certainly appreciate it.

And, John, let's start with you because you're just out of New Orleans. You were there to cover the story. You got trapped in the hotel, essentially. How bad did it get? What was it like on the inside?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the hotel did as best they could to provide food and water for us and for the people that were in the hotel. But you can feel the temperature literally rising within the hotel, the frustration level among the guests that were stranded. People leaving in the middle of the night going through knee-deep and sometimes waist-deep water just to get out, who could not take it anymore. So the limited supplies, limited resources.

And then you're literally an island, Soledad, because we were, in fact, surrounded by water. And in the distance you could hear periodic gunfire going off as police were initially trying to stop the looting and then eventually just gave up and just couldn't do anymore. Bottom line was they had nowhere to -- if arrested people, they had nowhere to bring them, anyway.

One police officer said to me yesterday -- he said, we're out here in the middle of Canal Street -- this is before we left -- standing in Canal Street. And that's pretty close to where we were, around Canal Street. Said the reason we're here is in the middle of Canal Street is because we can't get back to our precincts. Everything we have is underwater -- Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, you know, Jamie, I want to ask you a question about the support for those officers. We've heard many calls over the last several day for a bigger National Guard presence. What exactly is the protocol? How many boots are on the ground and will be on the ground?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the four hardest hit states, there are about 11,000 on the ground. There are 11,000 more coming in. The protocol is essentially that these troops are under control of the state governments. They're activated by the state governors.

But that said, the military here is very sensitive to criticism that it's not moving fast enough. In fact, almost all of what they've done, including all these ship movements, flying in boats, bringing in helicopters, getting other ships underway, have all been done in anticipation of requests, not as a result of requests. So they say they've been trying to be very pro-active.

But the big problem is lack of coordination, fueled by a lack of information on the ground from the local officials of where to direct these resources. They still have thousands of troops standing by to go in who haven't gone in yet.

S. O'BRIEN: So are you saying, then, that they're not getting official requests for these troops? I mean, if you have bodies that could go in and at least provide some of the help to the law enforcement officials?

MCINTYRE: Well, it's sort of along the lines of what John was saying, in that they don't have specific requests, because a lot of times, local officials don't have the information to know exactly where need to go, what they need to do. I mean, it sounds incredible, but it does reflect a lack of planning to deal with the scope of this situation, particularly the flooding, the inability to get around and the lack of communication with cell phones and regular phones being down. Clearly there's not enough of that communication to coordinate the response effort, and that's why people are there, still waiting to see troops on the ground.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk to Tom Foreman now. Tom, we were talking the other day about infrastructure, specifically the levees. There are some who think this is -- they're not going to be able to fix them. What's the word on that now? Can the levees be fixed? And also, the other infrastructure. I mean, the banking infrastructure. Every -- the transportation generally around -- you're shaking your head no.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, all of this can be fixed and all of this will be fixed and all of this has to be fixed. If this were Chicago or Brooklyn or San Francisco, people wouldn't be saying should we rebuild it? Even though all of those cities have their own natural potential problems they've faced over the years. There's no question this has to be fixed and it can be fixed.

The question right now, though, is, you know, what Jamie's talking about, no request for where things -- that's true. Everybody in the country knows where the help needs to be right now. The west end of town is largely open. Why there has not been a steady parade of buses, help, and helicopters in and out -- with deference to my old friend Marc Morial, the former mayor -- I really do find myself baffled that this is not moving any faster.

And frankly, I think if it doesn't start moving, people of New Orleans are going to start stacking up bureaucrats and walking out over them, because I think they're baffled themselves why this isn't happening. And when you say we'll delay the buses because it's dangerous -- you know if it weren't dangerous, we could all do it. That's why we have emergency management people.

S. O'BRIEN: Tinderbox, I think, is a word that is fair to use this circumstance. Tom Foreman and Jamie McIntyre, John Zarrella. Thanks, guys. Appreciate that.

Straight ahead this morning, the very latest on what U.S. companies are doing to help in the relief effort. AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Yesterday we told you the story of a woman from Slidell, Louisiana, desperate to find her husband who was missing. Today we have a happy ending.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tallying the damage and counting blessings. Ashley and Jason Marcuson are back together again, even if their home is in pieces. The winds and water of Katrina destroyed their mobile home, but they know their loss could have been much worse. On Wednesday morning, Ashley could told CNN her husband had been missing since the storm. ASHLEY MARCUSON, WIFE: I have children that cry to me at nighttime, that they want their daddy, and I promised them that their daddy would come home, and I don't want to break it to my kids. I don't want to.

M. O'BRIEN: Ashley had left with the kids, Jason stayed behind, but he waited too long.

JASON MARCUSON, SURVIVED HURRICANE: I got stuck in, and until I seen the water rise up, because I didn't want to get trapped in the trailer.

By the time I got in here, it was waist deep and I walked out to there and it was up to my neck.

M. O'BRIEN: Flailing amid fallen trees, downed wires and rising water, he found shelter in a nearby building.

J. MARCUSON: As soon as day broke, I was on a bicycle until nighttime trying to find my family.

M. O'BRIEN: Dazed and disoriented by the debris-strewn landscape, Jason lost his way back to his mother-in-law's home.

J. MARCUSON: And I was worried, you know, you couldn't think. And I was just doing the best I could, and I couldn't find it. So I just -- I just kept trying until I did find it, and I did find it.

A. MARCUSON: I seen him and I just started crying. He started crying. You know, the kids came running up and it was just -- I was so relieved.

M. O'BRIEN: Now Ashley says the loss of their home seems like it hardly matters.

A. MARCUSON: I didn't lie to my kids, their daddy's home. So, you know, that's great. Daddy's home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That's the kind of scare that puts things in perspective, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It certainly does. She's so grateful today. I'm sure there are other people who will hear that story and they wish that their could be their story, too.

Miles, thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, corporate America is reaching out with some help for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Andy Serwer has got a look at that as he minds your business this morning. A little good news to talk about there, and here, too.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right. It's nice to have some brighter things to talk about here. Corporate America really stepping up. We told you about some of this yesterday, and we have some more to share with you. Some companies really making some big donations here. The folks at Abbott Labs called me directly yesterday to tell me about this $4 million donation in cash and supplies. They make Similac and pedolight (ph). That's going to be going there. Pfizer and Bayer, you better believe some Aspirin is needed down there.

We're talking about some food companies. Kellogg, now can see here they're sending cookies and crackers. Why not cereal? Well, because you need cold milk. There's not cold milk. So they're going to be sending Keebler cookies and Nutrigrain bars. Interesting. Johnson & Johnson, we need that Tylenol down there.

And when you get to the phone companies as well. This is very interesting stuff here, Soledad. Free calling at various places, at some of the stores, Verizon, Motorola. Some of those got to be walkie-talkies.

When you get down to some others, like Sprint, and Nextel and Quest, interesting stuff here. Phone cards. These are going to some of the people in the Astrodome. They can take the phone cards and use them at the pay phones at the Astrodome, to start calling relatives, let people know they're around, alive, safe, well, where they are located. So that's good some stuff there. You know, maybe a 30-minute card. That's good stuff as well.

Just a quick financial note here in terms of the market. The price of oil seems to be stabilizing at $68.80. And you can see here the markets up a little bit. Maybe, finally things are coming down on the financial end of things a bit.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll continue to watch it. Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: A short break. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: That's all the time we have for this edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Miles O'Brien in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the emergency operations center. There will be a briefing in just a few moments, and we'll keep you posted on all the developments relating to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- Hurricane Katrina all throughout the day -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, and we're out of time here on AMERICAN MORNING, but obviously it is a story we continue to follow. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center, going to take you through the next couple of hours on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

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