Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Water Slowly Draining from New Orleans; In Mississippi, Thousands Left Homeless After Katrina

Aired September 06, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
It might be hard to tell from here, but the water is slowly draining from New Orleans. The pumps are finally working, sending a mixture of water and waste back into Lake Pontchartrain. It's going to take weeks to do the job and all that's left behind will not be pretty.

In the submerged city, a story of survival goes on. The old, the sick, the tired just being rescued, while others are refusing to leave.

And in Mississippi, thousands are left homeless after Katrina. Is federal red tape keeping them from getting a temporary place to live?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome.

Here are the latest mission critical issues in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans police say the city is absolutely destroyed. They're urging anyone left in the city to get out, saying there are no jobs, no homes, no food, no reason to stay. Mayor Ray Nagin said that officers will no longer give water to people who refuse to evacuate.

Government officials have delayed plans to move 4, 000 evacuees in Houston to cruise ships off the coast of Galveston. They said evacuees told them they would rather stay put for now and focus on finding their loved ones or other places to stay.

Meanwhile, Mississippi struggling to find long-term shelter for tens of thousands of evacuees. Senator Trent Lott called on President Bush to authorize the immediate release of 20, 000 trailers sitting idle in Atlanta. Lott said FEMA has refused to ship the trailers because of red tape and paperwork.

And the Army Corps of Engineers has closed the breaches in two levees in New Orleans. Water now being pumped out of the city, as we've been telling you. The process could take 30 days, or perhaps much longer. All of that, of course, weather dependent, as well.

Back to Soledad in New Orleans -- good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, good morning to you, Miles. Two things that you mentioned there are directly related to where I am today. You know, as you say, Mayor Ray Nagin said they're not going to hand out water to the people who refuse to leave. It's going to be a huge problem. As we were flying over the area -- and we covered the entire scope that's been flooded by helicopter -- there are lots of people who are out on their porches, a large number, just refusing to leave.

We'll see what he's claiming he's going to do is going to do to that.

And, of course, you talk about federal red tape, we've heard that story over and over again, as well. There are sheriffs deputies who say we came to help out. We wanted to help and we were turned away; they said they didn't need anything, even as our colleagues were calling us saying please help us out, please help us out.

So today we're going to tell you about some of those folks who have now been rescued. In fact, we're on a rescue area ramp. This is the on ramp at the Elysian Fields exit off of I-10, which is right over my head.

They'll be working here soon. The boats will start coming in. And they basically will rescue people, bring them here and then transport them out of the city now that the police want everybody out.

Also, after a meeting with President Bush, the governor, Blanco, Kathleen Blanco, says they are united. They're working as a team. She, though, is still blaming the Feds for their slow response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO: The mayor and I were both asking for the same thing. We wanted troops. We wanted food. We wanted water. We wanted helicopters. We asked for that early in the week. I asked for everything that we have available from the federal government. I got it from the National Guard. I got as much as possible. And the federal effort was just a little slow in coming. I can't understand why. You know, those are questions that are yet to be answered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That's Governor Kathleen Blanco, who's standing with the former FEMA director, James Lee Witt, by her side. They're now working together as a team.

Let's get right to Deb Feyerick.

She's been covering the story from Baton Rouge, which, of course, is where the governor is -- good morning to you, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, we can tell you when the president came to town yesterday, it began as a very frosty morning, a very chilly morning. But by the end of the afternoon, it seemed that everybody was on the same page. The meeting between the president and the governor, I asked the governor about it, she said that the president really reinforced that they were going to work together, that this was a no nonsense opportunity to get things done and get things built.

The message then coming out of the White House was that everybody was unified, everybody was on the same page. The governor using words like "shoulder to shoulder" and "hand in hand." So it seems as if, at least for now, everyone is playing nice.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): When the president touched down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's governor was there to meet him. It wouldn't have seemed strange, except the governor hadn't exactly been invited by the White House.

A White House official explains, saying they left messages for Governor Blanco, but didn't hear back. The governor's staff categorically denies receiving any calls and says they officially found out at 6:00 Monday morning, after placing a call to the White House chief of staff.

The president and governor have been at odds over the National Guard. The president wanted troops to be controlled under the military. The governor wanted to keep the troops under her control, so they could be used to keep the peace, even shoot if they had to. They can't shoot except in self-defense once they're federalized.

After an hour-and-a-half long meeting, it seemed everyone was ready to say they were on the same page, from the White House...

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We have to have a unified headquarters. We will all be next to each other. The execution will be, I think, as somebody said, seamless.

FEYERICK: To the governor.

BLANCO: We are partners in this effort. We are a team. And I want to say it again, we are a team. We're a powerful team, because we have everything it takes now to make this work like a finely oiled machine.

FEYERICK: Disagreements put aside, at least in public.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FEYERICK: And it's very clear from here on the ground that both sides have very, very strong teams in place. The governor has brought in reinforcements to advise her, to counsel her during this crisis. Obviously, the White House has very powerful people looking after this effort. Both sides making sure that things are going to get done. They just have to now do it together and they're saying that that's what's going to happen now that people are on the ground. Everybody is focused on moving forward and restoring some sort of vision of hope -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Well, I'll tell you, with the massive disaster that is here on the ground, there is going to be lots of blame to go around. And, also, at some point they're going to have to clear up the story of what exactly happened. How exactly was the ball dropped and who exactly is to blame?

Deb Feyerick for us this morning.

Thanks, Deb.

Appreciate it.

Let's get back to Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Soledad.

In Mississippi, tens of thousands of hurricane victims are homeless and hungry this morning. Relief aid is getting through, but some state officials say bureaucratic red tape is slowing the progress.

You hear a recurrent theme here this morning?

Chris Huntington live in Biloxi -- Chris, tell us about the effort there.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, a recurring question we're hearing from all sorts of folks here, whether it's civilians or law enforcement or even military, is who's in charge? I'll get to that specifically in a second.

Let me tell you where I am. I am in front of what is now being called Camp Restore. Directly behind me is a naval amphibious unit out of Norfolk, Virginia. Just down the beach here in Biloxi, a sizable element from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, made a rather dramatic amphibious landing yesterday. More than 100 Marine soldiers on the ground right now with all sorts of heavy duty equipment to do, frankly, whatever is needed.

I have asked several of the soldiers what is your mission here? And that is simply the response -- we are here to do whatever we can. For instance, a navy cook is going to one of the shelters here in Biloxi to help serve hot meals to folks that need it. The heavy equipment, big bulldozers and such, obviously useful in clearing the debris. And, furthermore, they are very helpful in restoring order here.

As we've been saying for the last couple of days, the basic state of emergency here in Mississippi has stabilized. Folks are getting essential elements -- food and water and some sanitation. But very few people around here have had a hot meal for more than a week. And that's going to be a long time in coming.

Now, back to the issue of who's in charge. Throughout the hurricane region, but let's just take here in Biloxi, you've got people flooding in from all over the region and the country. For instance, this morning we met a sheriff from Lansing, Michigan who is an advanced scout for the Red Cross convoy that is making its way down from Michigan with supplies. He's trying to find out where they should set up.

He encountered a police officer from Biloxi, asked the simple question who's in charge, where do I go? He didn't get a simple answer because, in part, you can't necessarily reach the people who are in charge. Now, here in this part of Mississippi, there is a fairly direct chain of command, ultimately run by the Harrison County emergency operations center. So they do have a sort of county by county operations system here.

But, still, Miles, very cumbersome to find out exactly who is in control, exactly what all of these folks should be doing. There are a lot of folks here to help. It's not always easy to find out where they should go or get the message to the people they're trying to help -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Communication and coordination, it's the big problem.

Chris Huntington, thanks very much.

Let's check the headlines now.

Carol Costello here with that -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, coalition troops in Iraq have launched air strikes against perpetrated al Qaeda sites. The U.S. military says troops are pounding bridges in the Al Anbar Province. The sites were believed to be used to move foreign fighters and equipment across the Euphrates River Valley into central Iraq.

In the meantime, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is warning that Iraq has become a hub for terrorism. The secretary general calls Iraq an even greater threat for terrorism than Afghanistan was under the Taliban. He says young Muslims are angry at what the United States is doing in Iraq. Annan also said he's ready for more criticism of the United Nations when the final report on the Oil For Food scandal is published on Wednesday.

In about two hours, Chief Justice William Rehnquist's coffin will be brought to the Supreme Court. Rehnquist's body will lie in repose for two days, during which time the public is invited to pay their respects. Rehnquist will be buried tomorrow afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery, following a funeral at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington.

In the meantime, the Senate is expected to announce today when it will hold confirmation hearings for Rehnquist's proposed successor, John Roberts. Hearings had been scheduled for today, but that changed because of Rehnquist's death and hurricane Katrina. And football fans across the country are saying a sad good-bye to one legendary receiver, the hardest working man in football and the nicest man. Jerry Rice announced his retirement on Monday. Rice helped lead the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s and '90s. He was hoping to finish out his career in a key role with the Denver Broncos, but was told over the weekend he would not be a top receiver so he walked. Jerry Rice is 42 years old, Chad. And he said he really wanted to make the team, but since he wasn't going to see much playing time, he would leave it to the younger players.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, so many times we beat up on players because, oh, they're not a role model, blah, blah, blah. But the man there was one that was right there.

COSTELLO: So hard working. Always in shape.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Always ready to play.

MYERS: He sure was. And 42.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: You know? OK. Let's sit down, have some fun in your retirement. Buy a boat and do some fishing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to talk to singer/songwriter Paul Simon. We'll find out what he's doing to help doctors treat the victims of Katrina.

Plus, hundreds of evacuees overwhelmed by the generosity of one small town. We'll show you what the town is doing to ease some of their suffering.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The people of one small town in Alabama opening their hearts and their doors to hundreds of survivors displaced by Katrina.

Daniel Sieberg has that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SHERIFF DIANE HARRIS, BUTLER COUNTY, ALABAMA: There's a lady here that's looking for a family of two with kids. They have two bedrooms that they're making available. Anybody that needs a place to stay, just get with them and we'll get you situated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much. DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Greenville, Alabama, population 7, 000, is not a wealthy city, but the rich generosity of its residents has overwhelmed many of the 500 or so Katrina survivors that discovered its small town charm.

TONY ORLANDO, EVACUEE: They have just opened their hearts and their arms and they've shown true citizen love all the way.

SIEBERG: At a Labor Day barbecue organized for evacuees, the spirit of neighborly help is hard to miss.

JEDDO BELL, GREENVILLE VICE MAYOR: This is how we live from day to day. We live very closely and we work together. And that's what it's all about. That's the thing that makes the thing tick. That's the thing that makes it stick.

SIEBERG (on camera): I mean it sounds like you guys could maybe give the federal government a lesson.

REV. FREDERICK LINDSTROM, JR. ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH: Well, it's -- it was wonderful because we didn't have the red tape.

SIEBERG (voice-over): The town's department of human resources acts as the command center. It's where we found Katinia Fullard and her 3-year-old daughter McHala (ph), from Gulfport, Mississippi. Katinia's car ran out of gas as she fled the storm.

KATINIA FULLARD, EVACUEE: All these policemen that saw us and everything, why didn't they stop us or try to help us or anything? They just looked at us like whatever. In Greenville that I've gotten, I've gotten a lot of hospitality, good people. I've never been to a town to where people are so nice and so giving.

SIEBERG: At the donation center, items flow in, all the basics these people have lost.

Casper Giglio, from just outside New Orleans, is trying to what he can to provide for his family.

CASPER GIGLIO, EVACUEE: I've talked to my boys for the first time today, you know? I told my oldest that he's going to have to be the man of the family and take care of his mom and his little brother. And I'm just trying to get some clothes together for them so I can send some clothes to them, because she said things are kind of tough over there.

SIEBERG (on camera): The streets here are quiet right now. It is the Labor Day holiday, after all. But in the coming days and weeks, they'll be some new faces around town, because some of the folks who fled the hurricane have decided to call Greenville their home.

(voice-over): Like four generations of Karen Davis' family. The hurricane virtually destroyed their town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

KAREN DAVIS, EVACUEE: I'm so thankful for Alabama, you know? The people that's here are wonderful.

SIEBERG (on camera): What was the hardest part?

DAVIS: Going and seeing our houses when we came back. That was the hardest, seeing everything we had destroyed. That was the hardest thing for me. My car, my house, everything I had and things that I'd had all my life.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Karen and tens of thousands like her must now start over. Not many will be as lucky as those who have made it to this town.

Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Greenville, Alabama.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: If you are willing to temporarily house a displaced family from hurricane Katrina, we invite you to go to Openyourhome.com. Openyourhome.com. That's all one. It's a Web site that matches evacuees with families willing to put them up -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, it's so nice that people do that, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It's amazing to me.

S. O'BRIEN: I had this...

M. O'BRIEN: We had -- did you see the guy yesterday...

S. O'BRIEN: Isn't it? Isn't it?

M. O'BRIEN: The guy who had 40 to 50 people in his house in Houston?

S. O'BRIEN: And she said everybody spends two minutes in the bathroom. That's all they need.

M. O'BRIEN: That's all they need. Amazing. Just amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, it's -- in all seriousness, it's so incredibly generous. I mean you really have seen here on a lot of fronts people putting themselves out there and just taking on so much, whether you're talking about rescue workers or you're talking about people from other states who have come in or you're talking about citizens who have not been affected who are helping out in any way they can.

It's, you know, it's very moving. It's really -- it's one of the heartening things, I think, about this really terrible situation.

Ahead this morning, Miles, we're going to talk to a well known New Orleans musician. He was among those who were stuck at the convention center. He's going to describe the devastation inside for us and tell us how he thanks the city will recover, if ever.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

The convention center was a place that many, many thousands of people went trying to get some, a break, really, from the floodwaters that were rising.

Oliver Alcorn was one, he was one of many people. He tried to evacuate and couldn't, and ended up at the convention center. And what seemed like a great place to go at first turned into a horror.

He joins us this morning.

Oliver, thank you for talking with us.

You were evacuating and you say you got turned back.

What happened?

OLIVER ALCORN, NEW ORLEANS MUSICIAN: Actually, I got turned back around from Slidell. I was heading out to Slidell. And then so much traffic, where we had to get turned back around.

S. O'BRIEN: And you went to the convention center.

Why? Were they telling you to go to the convention center or did you just think that would be a good, safe place to head?

ALCORN: Actually, they told us to go to the convention center, that they was going to bring us to the convention center, that they had busses that was going to bring us from the convention center to the airport.

S. O'BRIEN: So you got to the convention center.

What was it like? Was there anything organized? Were there people in charge or was it just chaos?

ALCORN: It was very much chaos. People was getting stampeded on. Fights would break out. People was dying. Mostly the elderly people was dying. Little babies was dying and they didn't have any water, running water, electricity. They didn't have any electricity or nothing like that.

S. O'BRIEN: We went by a few days afterward and it was horrible even empty, to be perfectly honest. And there's a terrible report today, Oliver, that talks about 30 or 40 bodies that were found in the refrigerator, the refrigerator at the convention center.

I guess I would ask you how long did you stay? And what did you think when you were stuck in the convention center and no help was coming? ALCORN: Words cannot describe what I saw. I mean bodies was trampled on and bodies was left there. I mean they was just putting bodies in the back with sheets on them and there was chaos. I mean words cannot describe what I saw, you know?

S. O'BRIEN: It has to be incredibly traumatic. And I should mention that you're a musician and there's a litany of famous people who you've played along with, the Neville Brothers and B.B. King and Alicia Keyes, if I'm not mistaken.

ALCORN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What happened -- I mean look behind me. There's so much water everywhere and the water is filthy and toxic.

What happens now? Do they just plow over this city and the history that's with it?

ALCORN: Well, I would say that New Orleans will never be the same, especially, you know, from what I saw when I was in the waters. It was nasty, filthy. It was unbelievable. And I think that it will never be the same. I know New Orleans will never be the same, especially coming from a music part of it. I think the music industry will never be the same.

S. O'BRIEN: It just picks up and moves out of here? Is that possible?

ALCORN: Pardon me?

S. O'BRIEN: It just picks up and moves? I mean, you know, New Orleans is synonymous with jazz music.

What -- are you saying it...

ALCORN: Yes, it is. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... no more?

ALCORN: Up to this point, I don't think it would be the same, you know?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, Oliver Alcorn, I thank you for talking with us.

I know -- I mean, I think you're exactly right when you say words cannot describe the horrors that people saw. And as we get more details, it's horrifying even from a distance.

Thank you for talking with us.

We appreciate it.

And good luck to u.

ALCORN: You're welcome. Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: And let's go back to Miles -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Soledad.

Still to come on the program, the latest on the desperate search for children missing since Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. We'll have a live report ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

This is the scene, the scene off of Route 110, Highway 110. As you can see, we're heading east out of the city. We're only about four miles from the city. And you can see just how high the water still here is under the highway. We're on an on ramp. This on ramp is now being used to -- for the rescuers. They're going to be starting to work now that the sun has come up. And as they are able to rescue people, they'll deliver them here and then, of course, they're going to try to get them out of the city.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com