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Recovery Teams Going House to House in New Orleans to Search for Victims, While Rescuers Hunt for Stranded Survivors

Aired September 05, 2005 - 09:31   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you. We are live in New Orleans, where search and rescue is the focus for today. Recovery as well. There are still -- one week after the storm, there are still people who are being pulled alive from their homes.
President Bush is on his way here. But there have been some big developments, some changes in his schedule.

And for that, let's get right to Deb Feyerick.

Deb -- good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, we're now being told from a member of the governor's staff that, in fact, the governor is not going to be going to Houston. And one of the reasons she's going to be staying in Louisiana, she said, apparently according to the staff member, everybody knew about the president's visit except the governor's office. They did not tell her until very early this morning.

So, the governor decided to change her plans and stay here in order to travel with the White House. It's not clear whether, in fact, she was invited to do that, or whether she invited herself.

And the reason for all of this contention between the White House and the governor's office is because the White House wanted the governor to federalize the National Guard. The governor refused to do that even though there were some very strong-armed tactics being used.

She believed that she would lose control over the situation and not be able to be in a position to rebuild the state. The governor did not want that to happen. The National Guard would not have been able to do any sort of law enforcement work. Instead, they would only have been able to fire in self-defense. And, again, the condition in the streets at that time, not a good situation, so she did not want to cede that power.

And there was a big battle going on between her office and the White House late Friday into Saturday. We are told that about a half- an-hour before the president was supposed to speak on Saturday morning, she actually faxed him a letter saying that she would not cave, that she would not federalize this effort -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, it will certainly be an interesting meeting then today. Deb Feyerick for us this morning. She's in Baton Rouge.

Let's get right back to Miles. He's in New York.

Good morning -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that meeting. Thank you very much, Soledad. Appreciate that.

A massive military operation under way in New Orleans and other devastated areas.

Barbara Starr is in Camp Shelby, a Mississippi National Guard base, a major FEMA staging area. Barbara has been traveling with Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who is in charge of the military operation.

Barbara, he is an interesting guy. I think he was the one who ended the interview with me, and I basically clicked my heels and said, 'Yes, sir.'

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is right, Miles. There's a reason they call him the "Raging Cajun" in these parts.

We are at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, which is General Honore's headquarters. Every morning while the sun is not yet up, he gets on his Black Hawk helicopter and starts flying around the devastated areas.

The latest news from here this morning is that by this afternoon they expect the first of the 82nd Airborne Division to start moving through these outlying parishes around New Orleans, to start that search and rescue effort, where they still believe that thousands of people, thousands of people may be trapped, essentially needing food, water and rescue. That is going to be one of the major missions of the 82nd Airborne.

And you can even hear the helicopters overhead this morning at Camp Shelby. Things are very, very busy here.

Now, on this question of federalizing the National Guard, essentially General Honore himself, we are led to believe, is not in favor of that solution. He says he doesn't need it; that he is basically moving out, doing what he needs to do.

Let's listen one more time to some of what he had to say to you, Miles, earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, JOINT TASK FORCE KATRINA: Look, the storm had a vote here. It's the storm that did this. It's not anything any government did or any individual. The storm had a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) vote, and the storm is still there. The water is there! You can't vote that water out of the city of New Orleans. That's reality, folks. We need to get on with it. We need the big- brain people in America finding a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) solution and stop worrying about the first-half. The second-half is yet to come. Take care of the evacuees. Let's get it on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: And, you know, Miles, there is one underlying thread here about this question of federalizing the National Guard. National Guard troops are serving and dying in the war in Iraq. And one of the feelings of the military here is, it would be incredibly demoralizing to those National Guard troop in Iraq if they are serving and dying there that back here at home it would be declared that they're not capable of doing their job unless they are put under the federal government. Right now, of course, they are under state control.

And we were at the Superdome late last night. I can tell you, the National Guard troops that are there, now they, those young troops are living in the most miserable conditions at the Superdome. They are doing a real hero's lifting job out there, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr, thanks very much.

Let's get back to Soledad in New Orleans.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

You know, as many as a quarter-million evacuees may be in Texas. Those are some estimates. Sixteen thousand of them, as Barbara was just mentioning, are living at the Astrodome, including a lot of help from the National Guard as well.

And there are some big names visiting today. Two former presidents, George Bush, Bill Clinton, will come by to visit the evacuees at the Astrodome, and also to talk a little bit about their fund-raising efforts.

Let's get right to Keith Oppenheim. He's at the Astrodome for us this morning.

Keith -- good morning.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And the former presidents will be holding a news conference in just about 25 minutes or so. And then they'll have the chance at the Reliant Center, one of the arenas here at the stadium campus, if you will, to talk to hurricane victims themselves as they raise money for their hurricane relief fund.

And, of course, in the last couple of days, we've been talking to hurricane victims as well, getting a sense of what they are in the big picture coping with in shelters, large and small.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (voice over): Inside the crowded Astrodome, there were moments of joy. This couple discovered their mother and nephew were alive and well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're in Arlington, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, good, that's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're in Arlington, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God is good!

OPPENHEIM: But for many others, there is ongoing uncertainty. People scan a message board hoping to reconnect with lost family.

Some came outside to make a plea on camera. Javette Garner's 16- year-old daughter, Brittany (ph), was in a different part of New Orleans when Katrina struck.

JAVETTE GARNER, SEARCHING FOR HER DAUGHTER: Brittany (ph), I love you. Just try to call me at the Reliant Center, so I can see if you're all right, Brittany (ph).

OPPENHEIM: As individuals struggle to regain their bearings, Houston is getting good reviews from managing a massive operation well. Sixteen thousand evacuees are in the Astrodome alone. Some evacuees are taking in the news. Others, playing games. Catching up on sleep. Or just getting a little appreciation for what they've been through.

BETTY GILBERT, EVACUEE: They're trying to help us out the best they can. And they're working with us. I mean, they really are working with us. And everything's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray that we have plenty of volunteers, dear Lord, the provisions that we need.

OPPENHEIM: Churches are playing a major role in helping the hurricane victims. The Christ Church Baptist Fellowship is an American Red Cross shelter for 250 people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're grateful to Houston.

OPPENHEIM: Some who lost their livelihood in New Orleans are so taken by the welcome, they're thinking about starting anew in Houston.

CARLA MAGEE, EVACUEE: Home is home. But when I got here, these people here, I felt like home. They made me feel like family.

OPPENHEIM: In a nursery at the church, I came across 7-year-old Matthew Johnson, who made it clear even a nice shelter is a very hard change.

(on camera): What's it like to be here at this church and not have the house that you used to have?

MATTHEW JOHNSON, EVACUEE: I'm -- I'm stressed. We don't got no home. And I want to go home and watch my own TV and stuff. But I can't watch TV here, because where the TV?

OPPENHEIM (voice over): Not home, and in many cases not complete with family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go fish.

OPPENHEIM: But in shelters big and small, the newcomers to Houston are praying they'll find who they're looking for, and that they'll figure out how they'll go on with their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Soledad, a theme that we keep hearing from hurricane victims is that they are not planning to go back to New Orleans, in part because of the trauma, but also because of logistics. In Houston, for example, people are looking for apartments. They're looking for jobs. And one has to think as you look at what's going on in various cities that are taking in the hurricane evacuees that there could be a significant population shift as a result of this disaster.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, god, Keith, to hear from that little boy. I mean, you really get a sense of the trauma of that entire population of evacuees. That just kills you. All right, Keith, thanks for that report.

Let's get right to Carol Costello. She's got a look at some of the other stories that are making news today.

Carol -- good morning again.

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

"Now in the News."

Families in northern Sumatra are waiting for word of their loved ones after a jetliner crashed in a large residential area today. One hundred seventy people were on board the Mandela Airlines flight at the time of the crash. It's feared most of the passengers and crew were killed, including some people on the ground.

President Bush is calling on the Senate to confirm chief justice nominee John Roberts within the month. The president tapped Roberts for the top judicial post. It happened just about an hour ago. Roberts had been nominated for associate justice earlier this summer as replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor, who resigned in July.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court has announced funeral plans for the late Chief Justice Rehnquist. His body will lie in repose at the Great Hall of the Supreme Court starting tomorrow. Rehnquist, who died this weekend from complications from thyroid cancer, will be buried Wednesday next to his wife at the Arlington National Cemetery.

And another storm is brewing in the Atlantic, the 13th of the season. Forecasters say Hurricane Maria is gaining momentum with winds of 90 miles per hour. It's located about 400 miles to the east of Bermuda and is forecast to head north. But it is not, I repeat, not expected to threaten land.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, an incredible reunion for one New Orleans family separated in the aftermath of Katrina. We'll have their story for you when AMERICAN MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Amid so many tragic stories this past week along the Gulf Coast, we've got a happy one to tell you about. Last night, seven children were reunited with their parents in San Antonio, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see him! I see him! I missed you so much! Mommy missed you so much. Give mama kiss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: No sweeter hug than that one. The families had been separated during a rooftop rescue by helicopters in New Orleans. The children were all found in the same shelter in Baton Rouge. Their parents were in San Antonio.

Ernie Allen is the president and chief executive of The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He joins us from Washington.

Mr. Allen, good to have you with us.

ERNIE ALLEN, CTR. MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Thank you, Miles. Glad to be with you.

M. O'BRIEN: You're rolling out a Web site today. Tell us a little bit about what that Web site will do to help reunite children and their parents.

ALLEN: Well, the Justice Department has asked us to create a national hotline and Web site that will gather information about the people who are missing as a result of Hurricane Katrina, and also seek information from the public that will allow us to reunite families.

M. O'BRIEN: So, it's a clearinghouse for pictures, as well as information about these people that are missing?

ALLEN: Absolutely. We currently have representatives, part of our Team Adam program, on-site in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, who are going into shelters, using digital cameras to take photographs of people who have been dislocated from their families. We're going to be putting that information on the Web site. We're also reaching out to the public to help us identify the missing. M. O'BRIEN: The idea here is a good one, but obviously very early on here. We checked the site this morning. There are about a dozen pictures on there. Give us a sense of the full scope, and whether this one particular Web site is enough to answer the problem.

ALLEN: Well, Miles, we really don't know what the full scope is, but we suspect that there are thousands of missing people. Just yesterday, we were able to identify seven children in a shelter in Baton Rouge pulled off a rooftop in New Orleans, who were in the shelter, but their parents were somewhere else. And so, working with other agencies and authorities, we were able to identify that the mothers of these children were in a shelter in San Antonio. Military aircraft flew them to San Antonio, and the families are reunited. So...

M. O'BRIEN: We're glad to hear that. How did you make that connection?

ALLEN: Well, we had a Team Adam representative who went into the shelter in Baton Rouge and talked to the children, tried to identify who was missing. So, this is not just an exercise in trying to identify who is missing, but in identifying the found and trying to connect found people to loved ones in other communities.

M. O'BRIEN: What about the youngest children? How are you going to identify them?

ALLEN: Well, we're going to try to identify them through photography, like we do any other missing child. And we're going to work with law enforcement, state and local law enforcement in the area, along with the FBI, the State Missing Children Clearinghouses in the four states, other agencies. And we're going to reach out to the public for help as we get these photos. We hope that you and other media will help us air them to try to identify the family members to whom they belong.

M. O'BRIEN: The sadder side of this is you are also helping identify bodies.

ALLEN: Well, we recognize that this is a very likely reality, and that for many families, the worst is the not knowing. So, we're going to use forensic technology and our forensic specialists, again, working with law enforcement to identify the unidentified deceased.

M. O'BRIEN: For people who don't have access to computers -- and there's a fair number of people who barely have access to electricity at this point in that region -- you do have a hotline as well, a phone hotline. How will that be used, and how will that be helpful?

ALLEN: Well, Miles, the hotline, 888-544-5475, goes up today, Labor Day at noon. And we hope that people will call us with reports of missing loved ones, will call us with information when they see photographs. We want it to be a kind of nerve center, a clearinghouse, working with Red Cross and other agencies to do everything we can to identify these families. We encourage America to use it. M. O'BRIEN: Ernie Allen with The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children. Thanks for being with us.

ALLEN: Thank you. Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" with Daryn Kagan is up next.

Daryn, what's going on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, there's a lot going on over the next three hours. At the top of the hour, former Presidents Bush and Clinton will visit the Astrodome in Houston. They are teaming up for a new effort to help the hurricane victims, and we'll hear from them live.

Also, President George W. Bush revisits the Gulf Coast. He arrives in Baton rouge just about 45 minutes from now. We are there live. Another busy day ahead on "CNN LIVE TODAY." We're taking it three hours once again.

Miles -- back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: You are just the person to preside over it. Thank you very much, Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Appreciate that.

In a moment, we'll go back to New Orleans, where the Louisiana Superdome was once a temporary shelter to thousands of people, as you know. Well, now it's just a tragic reminder of the chaos that gripped that city. We'll show you some stunning pictures ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The Superdome first seemed like a pretty incredible refuge for the people who were trying to escape Hurricane Katrina's wrath, but it quickly became a miserable home for the tens of thousands of people who were then stuck there. We wanted to see just how bad it got.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: First of all, we've been talking a lot about the smell of urine. Nothing different. Smells, stinks. One medic told us she'll never get the smell out of her mind. People's clothes, blankets. Personal belongings. Cans of food, but no can opener.

It's a pretty rough thing when you see military people who have served in the military for decades look like they're going to cry when they describe to you what they saw here.

Look at this. Mounds of garbage and filth. I mean, the smell, it's pretty overwhelming. Forty thousand people came through here, and the most seriously wounded were triaged right pretty much under that sign that says "New Orleans Center." The people who were taking care of them, medics, whose job was to take care of the troops.

(voice over): Airman Susan Sullivan was one of just four medics suddenly overwhelmed who treated hundreds of patients.

AIRMAN SUSAN SULLIVAN, TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD: We had two bags of supplies.

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): For 40,000 people.

SULLIVAN: Forty thousand people, two bags of supplies. You know, we had a package of gloves. That was it. A couple of IV packs.

S. O'BRIEN (voice over): Still, out of an estimated 500 patients in over more than 48 hours, they lost no one.

SULLIVAN: You know, 12, 13 hours went by, and I didn't even realize it. People just kept coming in. I didn't think I was ever going to see it like this.

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): Empty?

SULLIVAN: Empty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Everyone felt they could have all used more help, not only the evacuees, but some of the troops as well.

A short break. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: With most of the city empty, here's a sight that caught our attention. A parade, the Southern Decadence Parade, usually a week long, but organizers say that they wanted to bring a little bit of energy back to the Big Easy. It's a parade that usually is organized by the city's gay and lesbian population. This year, only about a dozen or so people showed up -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nothing easy anymore in the Big Easy, Soledad. You know, having said that after all we've seen today, it's nice to see that spirit there, even if it's just a few people.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, it's a dozen, and that's a start.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a start. All right. Great work once again. We'll see you again back there tomorrow.

That's all from here on this AMERICAN MORNING. Daryn Kagan at the CNN center to take you through the next three hours on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

Good morning again -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Miles, good morning to you. You have a good day there in New York City and to Soledad.

In New Orleans, we have a lot to get to over the next three hours. We're going to start by taking a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

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